Free Republic

AUSTRALIA has been listed by al-Qaeda as a prime target for attacks this year as have the United States and Britain, South Korea's spy agency has reported. South Korea, Japan and the Philippines are secondary targets, South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) told parliament this week, quoting a "senior" al-Qaeda member arrested last month. "According to NIS, this terrorist testified that South Korea, Japan and the Philippines are secondary targets, while the United States, Britain and Australia are the prime targets for this year," a parliamentarian said today. NIS did not reveal the name of the al-Qaeda member, where he...

A masked Islamic militant seen threatening Western governments in a terror video released this week has been named as a former soldier from Australia who has been missing for four years. The Australian Government has refused to confirm whether the figure seen in the al-Qaeda film is former Army Private Mathew Stewart, but agreed that the missing man may have trained with al-Qaeda. The Sydney Daily Telegraph and other newspapers reported that police interviewed Mr Stewart's family after the video was aired on the Dubai-based, Arabic-language Al-Arabiya network this week. It features a masked man holding an assault rifle and...

TRUTH in the David Hicks affair remains as elusive as ever after fresh allegations this week from inside the US military that the Guantanamo Bay commissions are so seriously flawed that a fair trial is impossible. The most damaging blows yet to the commissions -- still supported by the Howard Government -- came from three US Air Force prosecutors involved in the trials who have quit the investigation in protest. One, John Carr, said the process appeared to have been rigged and that the first four cases -- including Hicks -- had been been "handpicked" and would not be acquitted....

A radical Islamic group linked to the London bombings, and outlawed in British universities and across the Middle East, has launched an underground recruitment campaign aimed at Muslim youth in Sydney. The group, Hizb ut-Tahrir, which describes suicide bombers as martyrs and openly advocates the destruction of Western ideals, held its second meeting behind closed doors in western Sydney on Friday night. The British Home Office and Pakistan's intelligence agencies are investigating the group's links to Shehzad Tanweer, 22, one of the four suicide bombers who killed 56 people in London two weeks ago. Sydney's mainstream Islamic community is believed...

BOOKS of hate promoting jihad, hostility to Australia and "wiring up one's body" for suicide attacks are for sale in bookshops in Sydney's Muslim community. A special investigation by The Daily Telegraph in the wake of the London bombings found extremist literature on shelves near innocuous children's reading such as It's fun to wear a hijab. One incendiary tome bought for $11, Defence of the Muslim Lands carries an endorsement from Osama bin Laden on its cover. The book by Sheik Abdullah Azzam, found at The Islamic Bookstore at Lakemba, discusses the effectiveness of suicide bombings. "The form this usually...

MELBOURNE terrorist suspect "Jihad" Jack Thomas was in a precarious mental state ahead of his second bid for bail tomorrow, his lawyer said today. Joseph Terrence Thomas, 31, also known as Jack, was arrested during a raid by counter-terrorism police at his Werribee home in Melbourne's western suburbs last November. The former taxi driver and Muslim convert faces charges of receiving financial support from al-Qaeda, providing al-Qaeda with resources or support to help them carry out a terrorist act and having a false passport. He was refused bail in the Victorian Supreme Court in December. Today, his lawyer Rob Stary...

The al-Qaeda terror group remains active and has Australia on its radar, a parliamentary inquiry has heard. The parliamentary joint committee on ASIO, ASIS and DSD met on Tuesday to review the listing of six terror groups outlawed in Australia. A written submission from Attorney-General Philip Ruddock, which formed the basis of the review, said credible intelligence sources had assessed that al-Qaeda was continuing to plan terror acts. "In furthering its international objectives, Australia is seen as a legitimate target by al-Qaeda and associated groups," the submission said. "Since 11 September 2001, Australia has been named as a target in...

A MAGISTRATE has refused a bail application by Melbourne terror suspect "Jihad" Jack Thomas. Melbourne Magistrates' Court was told the former taxi driver and Muslim convert trained with the terrorist organisation al-Qaeda in Afghanistan before the September 11 attacks. The court also has been told that its leader, Osama bin Laden, wanted someone to conduct surveillance operations in Australia. Joseph Terrence Thomas, 31, was arrested last Thursday by officers from the Australian Federal Police and Victoria Police joint counter terrorism team at his Werribee home, in Melbourne's western suburbs. Thomas is charged with receiving financial support from al-Qaeda, providing al-Qaeda...

A man appeared in the Melbourne Magistrate's Court this afternoon charged with assisting the al-Qaeda terrorist group.   Jack Thomas, 31, also known as "Jihad Jack", is charged with two new counter terrorism offences - receiving funds from a terrorist organisation and providing support for a terrorist organisation. It is the first time the offences have been applied in Australia since new counter terrorism laws were introduced in 2002, the AFP said in a statement today.Thomas also faces charges for possessing a false passport.Thomas kept his head bowed throughout the short appearance. Defence counsel Lex Lasry QC said he would...

THE Howard Government has struck a secret deal with Saudi Arabia to crack down on the funding of extremist Islamic groups in Australia. Under the deal, Saudi Arabia - which has contributed an estimated $100 million to help establish Islamic schools and mosques in Australia since the 1970s - has promised to alert the Government of all donations to Australia's Islamic community made by Saudi citizens or organisations. The move will allow ASIO and other government agencies to keep closer track of Islamic funding reaching Australia to ensure it is not exploited by extremist groups with links to terrorism. Government...

You'll drown in blood: terrorists By Sue Dunleavy July 26, 2004 ISLAMIC terrorists have told the Government to pull troops out of Iraq or they will swamp Australia in "pools of blood". An internet site run by the Tawhid Islamic Group, which claims to be al-Qaeda's European wing, said: "We will shake the earth under your feet as we did in Indonesia, and lines of car bombs will not cease." Hostage... gunmen holding diplomat Mohammed Mamdouh Hilmi Kotb ASIO was last night investigating the credibility of the group, which was unknown until last Wednesday when it made similar threats against...

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia will ignore threats of attack by a group saying it is the European wing of al Qaeda and blamed Spain and the Philippines for fueling the threats by giving in to terrorists and withdrawing troops from Iraq (news - web sites). The Islamic Tawhid Group said in a statement posted on a Web site it would attack Italy and Australia with "columns of rigged cars" if they did not withdraw their troops from Iraq. "We are still investigating the authenticity and relevance of that body, but we will not take any notice of threats of...

A group calling itself the European branch of al Qaeda threatened to turn Australia and Italy into hellish "pools of blood" if the two nations did not withdraw their troops from Iraq, while a growing wave of kidnappings swept the country yesterday.

A group claiming to be the European wing of al-Qaeda threatened Australia with attacks if they did not pull troops out of Iraq. The statement signed by "Islamic Tawhid Group, the al Qaeda organisation, Europe" and posted on a website said it would attack both countries with "columns of rigged cars" if their demands were not met. "Australian people, if your government refuses to withdraw and respond to us we will shake the ground beneath your feet as we did in Indonesia and columns of rigged cars will not stop," it said. The statement also warned Italy to comply with...

<!-- A { text-decoration:none } --> Home -> News -> NEWS -> National Sunday 13 June, 2004 NEWS SEARCH Advanced search      NEWS     Top Stories   Tyler   East Texas   State   National   World   Business/Econ   Elections   Education   Science/Tech   Health   ET Weather   Obituaries   Texas Lottery   Bible Thoughts   Today's Crime Watch   UPI Wire      TYLER CATTLE BARONS' GALA '04      TEXAS ROSE FESTIVAL '04      COLUMNS      OPINION      LOCAL SPORTS      SPORTS WIRE          FINANCE  ...

CANBERRA: The first arrest made under Australia's new anti-terrorism laws, in fact the first Australian since 1978 to be charged with terrorism is a Pakistan-born medical student who allegedly attended a three-week training camp organised by the Lashkar-e-Toiba in Pakistan in January last year. Sydney resident Izhar Ul-Haque was arrested by the Australian Federal Police on April 15 and although he was released on bail on May 27, he is said to be under close observation. His lawyer has denied he was a terrorist but admitted that Ul-Haque was sympathetic to the “Kashmir cause''. Ul-Haque is said to have claimed...

PERTH, Australia (AP) - In testimony to investigators and scribblings in a pocket notebook, a British convert to Islam has shown how tightly knit the terror network of al-Qaida and Jemaah Islamiyah really is. Ties to men in both led Jack Roche to a meeting with Osama bin Laden himself. The 50-year-old Englishman pleaded guilty Friday to conspiring to bomb the Israeli Embassy in Australia in 2000 - a plot that was never carried out. He is to be sentenced Tuesday, and could face up to 25 years in jail. Roche told the court the idea for the embassy attack...

Al-Qaeda targeted Olympics, Jews: court By Martin Daly in Perth May 20, 2004 Al-Qaeda planned an attack during the Sydney Olympics and to target the Jewish community, according to notes revealed during the trial of an Australian man accused of plotting to bomb the Israeli embassy in Canberra. A notebook seized from Jack Roche's Perth home in 2002 describes in Indonesian how al-Qaeda leaders in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Malaysia planned the attacks. The Melbourne Jewish leader, businessman and football identity Joseph Gutnick was identified as an important target. The notebook says the goal is to have a "heavy" impact on...

Australian judicial authorities suspect a member of an Al-Qaeda terror cell of planning to blow up the Israeli embassy in Australia with a booby trapped truck. The man was born in Great Britain and converted to Islam.

GLOBAL JIHAD Australia's top mufti calls for holy warAccuses U.S., Israel of war aimed at 'annihilating the Islamic nation' Posted: February 18, 20041:00 a.m. Eastern © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com The top Islamic leader of Australia and New Zealand has called for a holy war against Israel and accuses the United States and the Jewish state of seeking to wipe out Muslims. Taj Al-Din Hamed Abdallah Al-Hilali, mufti of Australia and New Zealand, made the comments last Friday at the Al-Quds mosque during a visit to Sidon, Lebanon, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute. "The war waged by the U.S. and Israel...