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Police in Hamburg shut down the notorious al-Quds mosque, renamed the Taiba mosque in 2008, led by German-Syrian national and voluntary imam Mamoun Darkazanli. Darkazanli (a.k.a. Abu Ilyas al-Suri) has been a suspected al-Qaeda operative, primarily as a financier and logistician, in the European Union for close to two decades. Long active in al-Qaeda circles, Darkazanli first surfaced on the radar of Western intelligence agencies when he purportedly helped procure a cargo ship named “Jennifer” for Osama bin Laden as early as 1993 (Hamburger Abendblatt, October 16, 2004). Germany’s Bundeskriminalamt (BKA- Federal Criminal Police Office) admitted that it had been...

After Madrid, Terror Leader’s ‘Balkan Map’ Worries Italy Posted on Sunday, March 28 @ 13:20:00 EST by CDeliso Italian authorities are concerned about a possible link between the Madrid bombers, Al Qaeda and Bosnia, reports Croatia’s Slobodna Dalmacija newspaper. According to their investigation, mujahedin who participated in the Bosnian civil wars were imported from an al Qaeda training camp near Zenica to help with the bombings in Madrid, and other attacks possibly being planned for the future. “Their road was from Zenica through Split to Ancona,” says the paper, citing Italian authorities who point to the Balkan map found in...

Spain acquits Sept 11 suspect of conspiracy charge MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's High Court acquitted on Thursday a man accused of conspiring to help commit the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington, court papers said. Judicial sources said the man, known as Abu Dahdah, would serve 12 years in jail for leading a terrorist group rather than the full 27 years to which he had been sentenced. Abu Dahdah, whose full name is Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, was accused of being an al Qaeda member. "We must absolve, and we do absolve, Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas of the...

AP Enterprise: Suspect in Madrid Bombing Is Tied to Sept. 11 Suspect Mar 14, 2004 By Andrew Selsky/ Associated Press Writer MADRID, Spain (AP) - One of the three Moroccans arrested in the Madrid train bombings is linked to a man jailed in Spain for allegedly helping plan the Sept. 11 attack in the United States, according to court documents reviewed by The Associated Press. It was the latest suggestion that Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist group may have been involved in the bombings. A Sept. 17, 2003 indictment named Jamal Zougam, 30, as a "follower" of Imad Yarkas, who...

CANBERRA, Australia, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- A former baggage handler for Qantas Airways has been identified by the CIA as an al-Qaida member. Government officials told The Australian newspaper they are aware of claims that Bilal Khazal of Sydney and Melbourne cleric Sheikh Mohammed Omran have been linked to an al-Qaida detainee known as Abu Dahdah. The allegations, made public this week by the Australian Broadcasting Corp., reportedly stem from telephone intercepts revealed recently in a Spanish court. The newspaper said the intercepts suggest repeated contact between the two Australians and the Spaniard. The Australian said, among other things, Abu...

AS the net closed in on alleged Bali mastermind Hambali - Asia's most wanted man, who was arrested in Thailand a month ago - it transpired that he was carrying a forged Spanish passport. It was yet another piece in the jigsaw puzzle linking global terrorism to Spain. The al-Qa'ida cell in Spain made videos of potential targets in the US including the twin towers in New York. It also had videos of terrorist training camps in Indonesia and Afghanistan with footage on the preparation of car bombs. The pilots of the suicide flights met in Spain. Part of al-Qa'ida's...

A SYDNEY man allegedly telephoned the suspected leader of al-Qa'ida in Spain – Abu Dahdah – seeking help to move a "brother" and his family throughout Europe. The allegation about former Qantas baggage handler Bilal Khazal – made in documents tendered in Mr Dahdah's terrorism trial – contradicts claims by him that he had never spoken to the alleged terror chief, or even knew who he was. As more details of a network of alleged terror supporters in Australia emerged yesterday, it has been claimed a second Australian named in the Spanish court documents, Melbourne cleric Sheikh Mohammed Omran, was...

Melbourne man Sheik Mohammed Omran has denied he has ever had contact with Spain's top Al Qaeda suspect. The ABC has obtained Spanish court documents that allege Sheik Omran, and another Australian, were both in contact with the Spanish man, Abu Dahdah. Dahdah is being held as Spain's top Al Qaeda suspect. He allegedly met the ringleader of the September 11 attacks, Mohammed Atta. Spanish court documents allege repeated contacts between Abu Dahdah and both Melbourne man Sheikh Mohammed Omran and Sydney man Bilal Khazal. The court documents say Mr Khazal and Sheik Omran also met another alleged terrorist in...