PARIS - French authorities held five men suspected of links to the al-Qaida branch behind a deadly bombing at U.N. offices in Algeria last week, a police official said Thursday.
The men, who are suspected of providing logistical support to al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa, were rounded up for questioning Tuesday in the Paris area and near the Normandy city of Rouen. Al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa claimed responsibility for twin truck bombings of the U.N. offices and an Algerian government building Dec. 11 that killed at least 37 people, including 17 U.N. staff members.
Three other men who were also detained Tuesday have been released, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. The five men still in custody were being held at the headquarters of the DST counterintelligence service, the official said. The DST's operation was based on a request from an anti-terrorism judge who suspected the men of providing computers and telecommunications material to the Algerian terror group.
Police seized computers as they searched the men's homes, the official said. The suspects were North African and French. Le Figaro newspaper reported that the men, all in their 30s, had police records and had been under surveillance for months.
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071220/ap_on_re_eu/france_terrorism
Moroccan charged with helping al-Qaida
Thu Dec 20, 2007
BERLIN - Prosecutors said Thursday that they have filed terrorism charges against a Moroccan man accused of helping recruit foreign fighters for al-Qaida in Iraq. The man, identified only as 25-year-old Abdelali M., was arrested in Sweden in March and handed over to Germany in May.
Federal prosecutors said they filed charges against him Nov. 18, accusing him of helping found a terrorist organization abroad and of supporting al-Qaida in Iraq by helping recruit Islamic militants and smuggling them to Iraq. Prosecutors alleged he was an accomplice of a German-Moroccan dual citizen, identified only as Redouane E.H., who went on trial in Germany in July on similar charges.
They said that, between June and July 2006, he was involved in recruiting and then smuggling into Iraq three militants — one each from Morocco, Egypt and Said Arabia. At the same time, they said, the accused helped found a terrorist group in Sudan whose aim was to "build up a front ... against the crusaders" and wage holy war.
Prosecutors said that the group — allegedly set up by Redouane E.H. and four others — planned to set up a terrorist training camp in Sudan, and that the Moroccan pledged to provide funds and help recruit fighters for it. There was no immediate word on when a trial might begin.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071220/ap_on_re_eu/germany_terror_suspect
“terrorst group in Sudan” and “terrorist training camp in Sudan”
That’s interesting and thanks Oorang.
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http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&q=Abdelali+%2B+Redouane&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wn