Pope Benedict XVI entered a mosque yesterday in an attempt to build bridges with Muslims just hours after a police operation netted 18 al-Qaeda suspects.
Pope Benedict followed custom as he took off his shoes to enter the famous Blue Mosque in the heart of Istanbul on the third day of his visit to Turkey. Two months ago the German-born pontiff had angered Muslims by giving a speech in which he quoted a Byzantine emperor who said that everything Islam had brought to the world was "inhuman and evil".
Security for his visit was tight and a ring of steel was thrown around the six-towered Blue Mosque and nearby Santa Sophia Museum.
As part of the clampdown and following a threat posted on the internet by an Iraq-based terror group, police carried out a number of arrests ahead of yesterday's visit and held 18 people they said were associated with Osama bin Laden's terror organisation.
KARACHI: An eyewitness in the trial for the killing of US diplomat David Foy identified on Thursday an al Qaeda suspect before an anti-terrorism court (ATC) as the man who came with the alleged suicide bomber in a car right before the bomb blast.
Osman Ghani and Anwarul Haq are charged with preparing a plot for a car bombing near the US consulate in Karachi on March 2, 2006 in which four persons, including US diplomat David Foy and three Pakistanis, were killed and 48 others were injured.
According to the prosecution, the alleged suicide attacker, who was later identified as Mohammad Tahir, rammed a car packed with explosives into a vehicle carrying the US diplomat as soon as it left the consulate’s gate. Prosecution witness Ali Zaman, who identified Anwarul Haq as the man who came with the alleged suicide bomber, was examined before the court. The witness said he was standing outside the canteen on the morning of March 2 when two persons came in a white Toyota car and stopped near the Naval surgical hospital.
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http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006/12/01/story_1-12-2006_pg7_16
Syria sent 200 terrorists to assassinate 36 Lebanese leaders
Wednesday, 29 November, 2006
Beirut- Syrian President Bashar Assad was reported on Wednesday to have sent about 200 terrorists to Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon to assassinate 36 Lebanese figures.
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http://yalibnan.com/site/archives/2006/11/syria_sent_200.php
Related to the above article/link:
Lebanon: Two Syrian-Sent Would Be Assassins Seized
Beirut, 29 Nov. (AKI) - Lebanese authorities have arrested two Syrian agents who were planning to murder 36 senior Lebanese officials, a Beirut-based daily reported on Wednesday. Al-Mustaqbal, a newspaper owned by the family of slain former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, also said Syria has sent some 200 pro-Damascus militants to the Palestinian refugee camps Al-Badwaii and Borge Al-Baragna in Lebanon. The militants were prepared to carry out instructions sent them from Syria, the report continued.
Two of the "terrorists", carrying Syrian passports, were arrested recently and admitted working under orders of Syrian intelligence, al-Mustaqbal said.
Excerpted
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Security&loid=8.0.364386710&par=0