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A FORMER Qantas baggage handler charged yesterday with terrorism offences allegedly paid for the trip to Lebanon of an Australian associate caught travelling on a false passport and accused of plotting terrorist acts abroad. Bilal Khazal, named by the CIA as an al-Qa'ida operative, was also accused of compiling an assassination hit list, headed by US President George W. Bush, and urging Muslims to kill "infidels" in Western countries, including Australia. Khazal, 34, a well-known firebrand Muslim, was arrested yesterday morning at his Sydney home by Australian Federal Police agents and charged with collecting and making documents likely to facilitate...

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...