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In recent days, pro-al Qaeda jihadists claimed to confirm a recent news report saying that several senior al Qaeda leaders have been released from Iranian custody. Sky News reported earlier this week that five veteran jihadists were released in exchange for an Iranian diplomat who had been kidnapped in Yemen. Several jihadists on Twitter who are connected to al Qaeda have said the report is accurate. One of them is known as “Al Siyasi al Mutaqa’id,” who has relayed accurate information on al Qaeda in the past. The five jihadists who were reportedly freed are: Saif al Adel, Abu Mohammed...

Show availability of Iran for al Qaeda training, plotting. This week, prosecutors in New York introduced eight documents recovered in Osama bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan as evidence in the trial of a terrorism suspect. The U.S. government accuses Abid Naseer of taking part in al Qaeda’s scheme to attack targets in Europe and New York City. The files do not support the view, promoted by some in the Obama administration, that bin Laden was in “comfortable retirement,” “sidelined,” or “a lion in winter” in the months leading up to his death. Some of the key revelations in the newly-released...

An alarming, must-see video at Big Peace shows prominent leaders of the Islamic community in the United States openly raising money for terrorism at a Saudi-funded mosque in central Florida. Organized by the Islamic Society of Central Florida’s Imam Muhammad Musri, the compelling video features leftist former UK MP George Galloway and three-time felon Mahdi Bray of the Muslim American Society’s Freedom Foundation raising at least $55,000 for Hamas. The fundraiser– held at Masjid Al-Rahman mosque in Orlando, Florida– was intended to raise money for Galloway’s Viva Palestina, then funneling money openly to the Islamist terrorist movement of Hamas in...

SNIPPET: "Some comments • I have to assume that al-Balawi was thoroughly debriefed by al-Qaida before being sent on this mission, and I'm surprised no one has sought to correlate his "infiltration" of al-Qaida with Abu Yahya al-Libi's book released over the summer: "Guidance on the Ruling of the Muslim Spy" • See also: Al Qaida: Western Spies Multiply "Like Locusts"."

Kemal Helbawi (aka Helbawy), former spokesman of Muslim Brotherhood in the West, recently gave an address calling for the U.S. to be “brought to its knees” and calling for the release of Omar Abd Al-Rahman (the Blind Sheik), convicted in the U.S. for his role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. According to a MEMRI translation: Following are excerpts from an address by Kamal Helbawy, former spokesman of Muslim Brotherhood in the West. The address was delivered at a rally, organized by the right-wing secular Al-Wafd Party, calling for the release of Omar Abd Al-Rahman (the Blind Sheik), who...

A Pennsylvania woman known to authorities as "Jihad Jane" was charged with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, conspiracy to kill in a foreign country, making false statements to a government official and attempted identity theft. The indictment, unsealed Monday, charges that Colleen R. LaRose, and five unindicted co-conspirators recruited men on the Internet to wage violent jihad in South Asia and Europe, and recruited women on the Internet who had passports and the ability to travel to and around Europe in support of violent jihad.

PHOTO CAPTION - SNIPPET: "Officials believe that more members of the so-called Düsseldorf cell may still be at large." SNIPPET: "Halil S. is a man who knows his way around computers. When he went online..." SNIPPET: "German security officials allege that the 27-year-old is the fourth member of the so-called "Düsselfdorf Cell." The group is believed to be the al-Qaida cell currently active in Germany and tasked with carrying out a major attack in Europe. Three other members of the cell, Moroccan Abdeladim el-K. and two accomplices, were arrested in late April and are being held in custody. Authorities believe...

Al-Qaida's second-in-command, Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, has been killed in Pakistan, delivering another big blow to a terrorist group that the U.S. believes to be on the verge of defeat, a senior Obama administration official said Saturday. The Libyan national who was the network's former operational leader rose to al-Qaida's No. 2 spot after the U.S. killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden during a raid on his Pakistan compound in May. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said last month that al-Qaida's defeat was within reach if the U.S. could mount a string of successful attacks on the group's weakened leadership.

The Obama administration finally highlights Iran’s key role in supporting al Qaeda On July 28, the Treasury Department designated six al Qaeda operatives involved in shipping money and men from the Persian Gulf to senior al Qaeda leaders in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The move targets a node of the global terror network that is critical to its overall strength, freezing any of its financial assets under U.S. jurisdiction and prohibiting any transactions with the operatives. Of the many conduits for al Qaeda funds and personnel across the world, the U.S. government believes this one is the most important. “This network...

Bin Laden Plotted New Attack By SIOBHAN GORMAN Osama bin Laden was working to assemble a team of militants to attack the U.S. on the 10th anniversary of 9/11, according to communications Navy SEALs seized from his Pakistani hideout when they killed the al Qaeda leader this spring. Bin Laden and his operations chief, Attiyah Abd al-Rahman, swapped views about the composition of the attack team, with bin Laden repeatedly rejecting names that Mr. Rahman suggested, according to U.S. officials familiar with the intelligence taken from the bin Laden compound. The plans were only in the discussion phase, U.S. officials...

SNIPPET: "So, what I’m seeing here is that the death of these two Mauritanian scholars offered a convenient opportunity for al-Qaida to start co-branding Abu Yahya al-Libi and Atiyah abd al-Rahman (Attiyatallah) together as the unified tip of al-Qaida’s ideological spear. In other words, the leadership transition has begun. The heirs are no longer apparent. They have been named. It began with letters to al-Zarqawi and videotaped interviews and recorded statements and sermons. The naming continued with getting props in Exoneration and photoshoots and now joint releases. This jointly written eulogy release (I have never seen AQ release a two-authored...

"Following Calls For Attacks On Islamist Websites, Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiyya Asks Supporters To Refrain From Violent Operations To Free 'Blind Sheikh'" ARTICLE SNIPPET: "In a communiqué, the Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiyya organization called on its supporters not to undertake any armed operation aimed at freeing Sheikh Omar Abd Al-Rahman. The communiqué followed official warnings in North Carolina and Minnesota about attacks to be carried out by extremists with the aim of freeing the sheikh. The warnings came in the wake of calls for attacks that appeared on Islamist websites." SNIPPET: "Source: Egyig.com, November 22, 2008; Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, November 24, 2008"

Ever since the horrific public assassination of Rabbi Meir Kahane at the Marriott Hotel in New York City in 1990, there has been a small, yet vocal group of individuals trying to get certain US authorities - both state and federal - to pay attention to his murder. Their many entreaties both for personal justice and for a wider investigation fell on deaf ears. Nonetheless, the ramifications from the inaction of these US authorities can no longer be ignored. This small group's personal pain at the rabbi's cold-blooded assassination fueled their initial anguished pleas. However, there was much more underlying...

The FBI has uncovered intelligence that al-Qa'eda terrorists are plotting to hijack an aircraft in Britain over the next two months and fly it into an important building. British Airways and other leading airlines operating in and out of Britain have been put on alert after the warning was passed to the security services. The most likely targets are aircraft taking off from Heathrow and Gatwick airports. The FBI and the American department for homeland security circulated a warning to American and British airlines on July 30, saying that terrorists working in teams of five were likely to try...