Free Republic

A sixth letter bomb was intercepted on Thursday at the U.S. Embassy in Madrid, similar to those sent earlier to Spanish President Pedro Sanchez, Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles, the satellite center at the Torrejon de Ardoz base, the Instalaza arms company in Zaragoza, and the Ukrainian Embassy in the Spanish capital. The new letter, which contained a homemade explosive device, was detected at 12:30 p.m., the Ministry of the Interior confirmed, adding that the permanent police protocol was activated after the discovery. The package was detonated in a controlled manner after specialized bomb disposal agents from the State Security...

ALBANY -- The spiritual leader of an Albany mosque repeatedly called a phone number in Syria that an FBI report indicates had been used to gather terrorist intelligence for Osama bin Laden, according to classified documents unsealed late Tuesday in U.S. District Court. The FBI report, which was based on information from a confidential informant, was among several once-secret documents that federal authorities say raise questions about Yassin Aref's connections to terrorist organizations across the Middle East. Aref, 35, a Kurdish refugee who moved to Albany with his family in 1999, is in jail without bond while awaiting trial on...

"Intelligence trafficker to the world" sets up shop in the nation's capital. “It [the Cuban embassy opening] is going to be a celebration on our part,” gushed Gustavo Machin, deputy director for U.S. affairs at Cuba’s Foreign Ministry. “Many Americans who have supported the Cuban Revolution will be among the 500 celebrants at the new Embassy.” Despite the innocuous professional title the mainstream media insists on using for Gustavo Machin, he’s actually a KGB-trained Cuban spy who was burnt and booted from the U.S. back in 2003 shortly before the invasion of Iraq. He was among 14 other Cuban spies...

Gerardo Hernandez, a spy for Communist Cuba and the man responsible for the murder of four humanitarian workers (three of whom were American citizens) over international waters, was freed from prison last year by the Obama administration, due in part to the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). This was revealed at a February 6, 2015, celebration of Hernandez’s release, along with two of his fellow Cuban agents (collectively known as the “Cuban 5.. At the beginning of the event, an IPS official thanked all who who took part in the 17-year campaign and singled out a number of organizations that...

http://www.investigativeproject.org/2973/al-qaida-issues-new-mail-bombing-threat “Al-Qaida Issues New Mail Bombing Threat” IPT News June 15, 2011 SNIPPET: “The FBI has issued a new warning about an al-Qaida-inspired plot to assassinate key government and private sector individuals with mail bombs. The plot is only “aspirational,” says a report reviewed by the Investigative Project on Terrorism. But FBI officials have expressed concern about the actions of lone wolf attackers already in the United States. The threats follow a June 3 video featuring American al-Qaida member Adam Gadahn “in which he encourages acts of individual jihad, members of several extremist Web forums posted names of companies and...

SNIPPET: "There are some good reasons for allowing at least a few jihadi forums to operate." SNIPPET: "However, there are limits to our ability to exploit all the intelligence opportunities a forum may present. To put it another way, jihadi forums contribute to future terrorism in ways that are unpredictable and/or beyond our ability to control. This would be the view held by those other government agencies who prefer to seek out and destroy forums and to take down forum activists. For my part, I can live with keeping online those forums we have sufficient access to monitor and resources...

THREE STAFF TAKEN ILL Police are checking one of BP's offices in Moscow after three female workers fell ill when they opened a bag of letters. Officers in the Russian capital said the employees "got sore throats, their eyes watered and one of them got red spots on her skin". A police spokesman added: "They packed the letters back in the bag and called emergency workers and chemical experts, who are now studying the letters." Russia's Emergencies Ministry said it had sent experts to BP's oil trading office. It was not clear what caused the employees to feel ill. But...

Excerpt - A primary school caretaker has appeared in court charged over a series of letter bombings. Miles Cooper, 27, accused of 12 offences under the Explosive Substances Act and the Offences Against the Person Act, appeared at Banbury Magistrates' Court in Oxfordshire. He was arrested at his home on the outskirts of Cambridge at around 3am on Monday following a surveillance operation. Seven of the 12 charges relate to seven letter bombs, three of which were posted to forensic science laboratories, one to a residential address and another three to companies with links to traffic enforcement. The other five...

Italian investigators are focusing their attention on a shadowy group thought to be based in Bologna after a string of bomb attacks beginning in the Christmas period. A Red Brigades logo was found near a murder scene in 2002 They suspect that a number of letter bombs received by EU officials, including European Commission President Romano Prodi, are the work of Italian anarchists. An Italian-based group calling itself the Informal Anarchist Federation has claimed responsibility for the attacks. Investigators believe the group has fewer than 300 members in Italy. The previously unknown group shares the Italian initials - FAI -...