Threat Matrix: July 2007

Threat Matrix:
July 2007

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US Steps Up Security Following Attack in Britain

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff made appearances on several television talk shows.

He told ABC's This Week program there is no indication of a linkage between the events in Britain and any specific attacks on the United States. "We do not have, at this point, specific, credible intelligence that there is an attack, a particular attack, focused on this country," he said.

But at the same time, speaking on CNN's Late Edition program, Chertoff said U.S. authorities are concerned about the threat of terrorism, especially in the coming months. "We have had a number of al-Qaida leaders quite publicly talking about how they want to carry out their threats against the West. So, given that and given the history that we have had over past summers, with attacks in Britain, I think we were clearly focused on this as a possibility," he said. Full story...

	More United Kingdom Attacks Possible
	More US Air Marshals on Flights to Europe
	Officials: Car Bomb Plot Bears al Qaida's Trademark

Thanks. In that interview, I think Ervin and Bergen were talking about apples and oranges. Ervin talking about cells already here for a while and Bergen talking about cells trying to get in the country.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/11/AR2007071102443_pf.html

U.S. Warns Of Stronger Al-Qaeda
Administration Report Cites Havens in Pakistan

By Spencer S. Hsu and Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, July 12, 2007; A01 (excerpted)

. . .the terrorist network is gaining strength and has established a safe haven in remote tribal areas of western Pakistan for training and planning attacks, according to a new Bush administration intelligence report to be discussed today at a White House meeting. The report, a five-page threat assessment compiled by the National Counterterrorism Center, is titled “Al-Qaida Better Positioned to Strike the West,” intelligence officials said. It concludes that the group has significantly rebuilt itself despite concerted U.S. attempts to smash the network. . .

Robert Cardillo, the Defense Intelligence Agency’s deputy director for analysis, traced al-Qaeda’s resurgence in Pakistan to an agreement last year that Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf made with the tribal chiefs when he withdrew army units from the northwest area. In return, the tribal leaders were to prevent the Taliban, bin Laden and al-Qaeda from carrying out training and sending terrorists and arms into Afghanistan and elsewhere. But, Cardillo said: “At the end of the day, we see a worse condition than [there] was before the agreement.” . . .

“It’s not that we lack the ability to go into that space,” Fingar said, “but we have chosen not to do so without the permission of the Pakistani government.” Attempts by Pakistan army units last year to capture or kill bin Laden with the assistance of CIA officers and U.S. Army Special Forces, had been “costly for [Pakistan’s] security forces and has caused the government concern over tribal rebellion and a backlash by sympathetic Islamic political parties,” Fingar said. He added that “sooner or later you have to quit permitting them [al-Qaeda] to have a safe haven there,” and he warned that “it is not too great an exaggeration to say there is some risk of turning a problem in northwest Pakistan into the problem of all of Pakistan.”

High Levels of Explosives In Manholes Causes Evacuations (Missouri)
July 11, 2007

A portion of Willow Springs that has been evacuated today will remain so overnight. Willow Springs city administrator Tony Sigman said the explosive gas found this morning in a portion of the city’s sewer lines still hadn’t been identified, nor has the source.

Environmental emergency crews from DNR’s offices in Springfield and Poplar Bluff were on the scene by late afternoon, and have taken a sample to the lab in Jefferson City for analysis. Sigman said DNR asked the city to flush the sewer lines with another 1,500 gallons of water to see if that helps. The lines were flushed in the afternoon with between 2,500 and 3,000 gallons of water, but the levels of explosive gas in the sewer line returned to the same high levels as before.

The ordeal began around 11 a.m. today when an unusual odor was reported at Main Street Café, near the corner of Main and Center streets in Willow. Preliminary investigation revealed a high level of explosives in the sewer in the block behind Hocker Oil and the Flying Swine bar.

Main Street Café owner Tom Pringle said there was a faint, unusual odor in the café yesterday. Today, the odor was much stronger – overpowering the exhaust fan in the kitchen. He said the odor couldn’t be smelled in the dining area, but while there were no customers in between the breakfast and lunch crowd, he said he decided to call city hall. “There was a funny smell in there,” he said. “Everyone who got a whiff said it doesn’t smell like gasoline.”

Pringle, who used to work for a propane company, said the odor also didn’t smell like propane gas. He called city administrator Tony Sigman, who went to the café. Sigman, who used to work for a petroleum company, said the odor made him dizzy, adding it smelled more like Coleman lantern fuel.

Sigman called wastewater water treatment supervisor Rob Rackley to run tests and to narrow down the source of the odor. Four manholes were tested. Two were fine, but in two holes, tests revealed a level of 24 percent explosive material, he said. “We knew we had something we needed to get cleaned up,” said Sigman.

The hazardous materials team from the West Plains Fire Department has been on the scene all day, as well as Willow Springs firefighters and police officers. “At this point, we still don’t know what we’re dealing with,” said Sigman. Nearby businesses and apartments were evacuated. Main Street remained blocked from Highway 137/Harris Street and Ferguson Street. Westside Family Life Center has opened as a shelter for those evacuated from their homes.

Sigman said levels of the explosive gas will be monitored overnight, and the situation will be reevaluated early in the morning to determine whether residents can return to their homes and whether businesses can be opened.

http://www.howellcountynews.com/Stories/fphoto_20070711_203910_11074_.php

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=carbomb

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=ferry
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=ferries

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http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n116995

“Eta plot to bomb Plymouth ferry foiled’”

12 July 2007 | 05:53 | FOCUS News Agency

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Madrid. Spanish police have foiled a plot by Eta terrorists to blow up a ferry carrying thousands of British tourists, officials said yesterday.

The Pont-Aven ferry carries up to 2,400 passengers and 183 crew between Plymouth and Santander

They said the Pont-Aven, which sails twice a week between Plymouth and the northern Spanish port of Santander, was one of three possible targets.

If the bomb had exploded at sea a major disaster could have occurred on the vessel which carries up to 2,400 passengers and 183 crew.

Since the end of an Eta ceasefire just over a month ago, Spanish officials have warned of “an imminent major attack” by the terrorist group which is demanding an independent Basque region encompassing parts of northern Spain and southern France.

Two Eta vehicle bombs have recently been intercepted on their way to Spain; one from Portugal and one from France.

A spokesman for the Spanish interior ministry said that the ferry plot was foiled when police arrested a young Eta terrorist at Santander bus station on Tuesday.

Aritz Arginzonic Zubiaurre, 22, was carrying a rucksack containing a Smith & Wesson pistol, a detonator usually used by Eta for car bombs and false identity documents.

He had been staying at a campsite 27 miles away with his girlfriend, Saioa Sánchez Iturregi. Among their camping gear police said they found details of targets in Santander: the ferry, a law court and a popular plaza.

Police said the couple were planning an “imminent attack” and had been waiting for the delivery of a car bomb when Arginzonic was detained. Sánchez escaped.

It would not be the first time that Eta has attempted an attack at sea. Several years ago the group planned to load a van bomb on to a ferry sailing from Valencia to the Balearic Islands, but the van broke down and the plot was abandoned.”

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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1864544/posts

‘ETA Plot To Bomb Plymouth Ferry Foiled’ (UK/Spain)
The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 7-12-2007 | Edward Owen

Posted on 07/11/2007 6:39:30 PM PDT by blam

“’Eta plot to bomb Plymouth ferry foiled’”

By Edward Owen in Madrid
Last Updated: 2:17am BST 12/07/2007

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Spanish police have foiled a plot by Eta terrorists to blow up a ferry carrying thousands of British tourists, officials said yesterday.”

ICC-CCS.ORG - THE WEEKLY PIRACY REPORT - SNIPPET - QUOTE:

http://www.icc-ccs.org/prc/piracyreport.php

Weekly Piracy Report
4-10 July 2007

The following is a summary of the daily reports broadcast by the IMB’s Piracy Reporting Centre to ships in Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Ocean Regions on the SafetyNET service of Inmarsat-C from 4 to 10 July 2007.

ALERT

Chittagong anchorage, Bangladesh
Fifty two incidents have been reported since 28.01.2006. Pirates are targeting ships preparing to anchor. Ships are advised to take extra precautions.

The 2006 Annual IMB Report on Piracy and Armed Attacks against Ships is now published. Please see the end of this page to order.

Suspicious crafts

18.04.2007: 2320 LT: Entrance Cartagena Colombia.
A container ship, while disembarking her pilot on the port side noticed, on radar, one unlit suspicious boat approaching from the stbd side at high speed. The master alerted the crew. The boat came very close to the vessel (about 10 m from the hull). On seeing the alert crew on ship’s side, the boat retreated and disappeared into the darkness. The master informed the Centre to alert other vessels calling Cartagena, Colombia.

Recently reported incidents

05.07.2007: 2215 LT: Posn: 22:11.00N – 091:43.50E, Chittagong anchorage ‘B’, Bangladesh.
Several low wooden boats were roaming near a container ship at anchor. One boat, near the port bow, stopped the engine and drifted towards the ship pretending her engine had broken down. All crew concentrated their attention on this boat. Meanwhile another boat approached the ship unnoticed from the stbd quarter. Robbers boarded the ship using grappling hooks and stole ships stores. Later the robbers tried to board again but alert crew raised the alarm and directed the search light towards the boats. The boats moved away. Port control informed.

02.07.2007: 0215 LT: Posn: 05:59.00S – 105:56.00E, Merak Port, Indonesia.
A third engineer on a LPG tanker at anchor noticed four armed robbers in the steering flat. The bridge was informed, alarm raised, crew alerted and head count taken. Port control and local agents informed of the incident.
A search carried out by ship crew revealed nothing stolen.

01.07.2007: 1942 LT: Chittagong anchorage, Bangladesh.
About 40 robbers armed with long knives and steel bars boarded a RO-RO ship at anchor. Alarm raised; crew mustered and all access doors closed. Master fired rocket flares, picked up anchor and proceed at full speed to the open sea. Crew caught two robbers. The others jumped overboard and escaped in their speedboats with ship’s stores. Port control and coast guard informed. A coast guard patrol boat arrived for investigation and took the two robbers for interrogation.

30.06.2007: 0640 LT: Jakarta outer anchorage, Indonesia.
Around six armed robbers, from two boats, boarded an anchored container ship, from the port and stbd quarters. The duty AB was attacked and hit on the head with an axe, causing sever bleeding. Ships alarm raised and crew mustered, however robbers stole ships’ stores and escaped. Pilot and local agents informed. Injured crew taken ashore for medical treatment, in pilot boat, and later repatriated.

26.06.2007: 0055 LT: Belawan outer anchorage, Indonesia.
Duty AB on an anchored chemical tanker noticed three robbers trying to open the forward locked. The duty AB informed the OOW and ran forward; however, one of the robbers threatened the AB with a knife and chased him back to the accommodation. Alarm raised and crew mustered. The pirates stole ship’s property and escaped in a small boat. Port control informed. No injuries to crew.

26.06.2007: 0700 LT: Chittagong anchorage ‘A’, Bangladesh.
A container ship at anchor found the aft rope locker open and ship stores missing. The master informed the coast guard who arrested the pirate boat and returned the stolen items to the ship.

24.05.2007: Mogadishu, Somalia.
Pirates attacked and seized a dhow with 14 crewmembers. The hijacked dhow remained at anchor, off Haradhere, until negotiations with the owners were completed. The dhow was released on the 21 June 2007.

17.5.2007: 0345 LT: Chittagong anchorage ‘A’, Bangladesh.
Three robbers boarded a bulk carrier during lightering operations. They opened the aft rope locker, stole ship’s stores, and escaped. Coast guard informed.

Before 15 May 2007; Somalia.
Verbal communication from the Taiwan Fisheries Dept confirms that a fishing vessel has been hijacked by Somali pirates and held at Haradhere.
Official notification from the owners is awaited

03.05.2007: 0430 LT: Chittagong anchorage ‘B’, Bangladesh.
Five robbers boarded a ship and stole ship’s stores. When spotted by crew, they jumped overboard and escaped. Master reported the incident to the coast guard who promptly responded, recovered the stolen items, and returned it to the vessel. The robbers were prosecuted.

Adding more details to post no. 1079:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1859319/posts?page=1079#1079

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6291232.stm

Last Updated: Wednesday, 11 July 2007, 21:49 GMT 22:49 UK

“Soldiers killed in Algerian bomb”

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “A suicide lorry bomber has killed at least eight soldiers at a military barracks in Algeria - on the opening day of the All-Africa Games.
More than 20 people were injured in the blast near Bouira, 120km (75 miles) east of the capital, Algiers.

Al-Qaeda’s North Africa wing said it carried out the bomb at the barracks in the village of Lakhdaria.

The attack came as 8,000 athletes from more than 20 sports gathered in the capital for the opening ceremony.

The bomber also died after detonating a refrigerated truck packed with explosives at the military encampment in the mountainous Kabylie region at 0530 local time (0530 GMT).”

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “It is the second time that the North African country has hosted the games - the first being in 1978.

Some athletes had expressed concern about going to the games given recent insecurity in the country.

The suicide blast came a day after new French President Nicolas Sarkozy visited Algiers, in his first trip outside Europe since coming to power.”

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