Iranian smuggling ring busted near Mex border

A smuggling ring specializing in bringing Iranians into the U.S. over the Mexico border has been broken up in an FBI sting operation.

A 39-year-old Iranian with permanent legal residency status who is suspected of having smuggled 60 other Iranians into the U.S. was arrested Thursday inMesa, Ariz., according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

At his arraignment yesterday, Zeayadali Malhamdary, who owns a tailoring business, pleaded not guilty. He faces a detention hearing tomorrow.

Iran has long been designated a terrorist state by the U.S. State Department and FBI.

The FBI began investigating Malhamdary after a source told immigration officials that Malhamdary had sought help getting false Mexican visas so he could bring Iranians into Mexico and then across the border into Arizona.

Source: WorldNetDaily

Scheme by 2 to Train Terrorists Is Outlined in U.S. Court Papers

The decisive moment, federal prosecutors allege, came on May 20 in a ground-floor apartment off the Grand Concourse in the Bronx. There, gathered together for the first and only time, were the principals in what federal and local authorities say was a developing scheme to aid Al Qaeda: a jazz musician and martial arts expert; an emergency room doctor with a Columbia University medical degree who had worked in New York and Florida and had just returned from Saudi Arabia; and an undercover F.B.I. agent posing as a recruiter for Osama bin Laden's terror network.

At the meeting, prosecutors contend, the musician and the doctor talked with regret about a failed attempt in 1998 to attend training camps in Afghanistan, and of lives of persecution here, even by other Muslims, because of their militant beliefs. And then, in words prosecutors say were secretly recorded, the musician and the doctor swore a formal oath of loyalty to Al Qaeda, known as giving bayat. The musician, Tarik ibn Osman Shah, told the undercover agent he had been "preparing this for a long time," according to court papers. Then, the doctor, Rafiq Sabir, followed.

Barely eight days after swearing the oaths, with Dr. Sabir preparing to return to Saudi Arabia, the men were arrested in morning raids. They were each charged with one count of conspiracy to provide material support to Al Qaeda.

The two men, of course, have not been convicted of anything, and they are set to appear in court for the first time today - Mr. Shah in New York, and Dr. Sabir in Florida. Some who have known them over the years say they cannot fathom that they were seriously involved in an effort to harm the United States. And for its part, the government, which around the country has seen some of its high-profile arrests of alleged terror conspirators diminished over time, has made no claims the men were on the verge of any violent act.

But for law enforcement, that moment in the Bronx apartment earlier this month, and the arrests, were the high point of a government operation aimed at identifying and arresting people disposed to provide aid to terrorists. That operation has been under way for roughly two years, is continuing and could produce more arrests.

It is an operation that began, in some measure, with the work of a former jailhouse informer and evolved into an elaborate sting, complete with secret meetings, cellphone calls purporting to be from Yemen, and talk of travel overseas for formal terror training in the name of jihad.

Source: The New York Times
International

How Hurt Is Zarqawi?

June 6 issue - American intelligence analysts are working to make sense of a flood of contradictory Internet bulletins claiming Jordanian-born Iraq terror leader Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi has been severely wounded, or killed, say five U.S. counterterrorism officials who asked not to be named because they are not supposed to discuss intelligence publicly. When reports that Zarqawi was wounded first circulated—London's Sunday Times said he was "bleeding heavily" when a doctor in Ar Ramadi treated him in mid-May—some of the same officials dismissed them to NEWSWEEK as propaganda. But two of these counterterrorism officials now say the U.S. intel community is becoming less skeptical. The weight of intelligence is "trending toward: something is amiss with the dude," says an intelligence-community official with access to relevant reports. Jihadi Web sites are loaded with prayers for a wounded Zarqawi, and U.S. government analysts believe that Zarqawi's followers would consider it "un-Islamic" to post such paeans if the reports were fake.

Rita Katz, a terrorism expert who monitors extremist Web sites, says she believes Zarqawi was injured because it was confirmed in a statement posted on a password-protected jihadi bulletin board by Abu Maysara al-Iraqi, a name attached to earlier Zarqawi messages believed to be authentic. Katz says that Abu Maysara's May 26 message confirmed Zarqawi had suffered unspecified "injuries," but denied he was dead or that a succession struggle had erupted among his followers. Katz says she thinks this message is authentic because it was posted on a section of the site where only the moderator has access. Abu Maysara later posted a statement claiming Zarqawi was in "good health."

Source: Newsweek

Extremists 'plan to bomb' Jakarta hotels

The United States says extremists are planning to bomb the lobbies of Jakarta hotels in attacks targeting westerners.

The warning, posted on the website of the US embassy in Jakarta today, said the bombings were to happen around noon on an unspecified date.

"There is no additional information on the timing for the attack(s), or the method of attack," the warning said.

The US told its citizens in Indonesia to register with its Jakarta embassy or its missions in Surabaya in East Java province and Bali.

The US reopened its diplomatic offices in Indonesia just three days ago after shutting them last week because of a security threat.

Security experts said website tips on the best ways to attack the US embassy in Jakarta and movements by violent Islamic groups were factors in the closures.

A militant web site had suggested that firing a grenade into the Jakarta embassy would be more practical than a suicide bomber trying to get inside the facility, which is protected by walls, wire, concrete barriers and armed guards.

Source: Australian Associated Press

Iraqi on trial in Germany denies links to Ansar al-Islam group

MUNICH - An Iraqi man on trial in Germany denied on Tuesday he was a member of the Kurdish guerrilla group Ansar al-Islam which is believed to have links with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Iraq's most wanted man.

Lokman Amin Mohammed, 31, is accused of being the mastermind of the group's cell in the southern German city of Munich and a key part of its European network.It is the first time a suspect has been tried in Germany on charges of belonging to a terrorist group which is active abroad.

The German penal code was changed to include the charge in 2002 following the September 11 attacks on the United States the previous year.

Mohammed admitted he had helped Iraqis to enter Germany in 2002 but said he wanted to help them escape persecution by Saddam Hussein's regime.

One of his defence lawyers said the Iraqis in question were mainly women and children, but federal prosecutors maintain that Mohammed was a member of Ansar al-Islam until November 2002 and say that the Iraqis he brought into Germany were Kurdish fighters who were planning to carry out attacks in Europe.

Source: Agence France Presse

Internet Posting Says Zarqawi Has Been Wounded

BAGHDAD, Iraq, May 24 - An Internet statement posted in the name of his Islamic militant group said Tuesday that America's most wanted man in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, had been injured "for the sake of God," a term commonly used by militants in Iraq to refer to wounds sustained at the hands of American or Iraqi troops.

The statement gave no details of the injury or how it was inflicted, but it appealed to all Muslims to pray for the "speedy recovery" of Mr. Zarqawi, who has claimed responsibility for scores of suicide bombings, ambushes, drive-by assassinations and hostage killings, and attracted an American bounty of $25 million. Last week, a statement issued in his name on the same Web site justified the killing of Iraqi civilians in the course of insurgent attacks, saying it was "necessary if you must kill them to get at the enemy."

The Web posting, whose authenticity could not be confirmed, came as a series of insurgent attacks killed nine American troops across Iraq on Monday and Tuesday, bringing the three-day total of dead American servicemen to 14.

The attacks on Tuesday included a suicide car bombing on an expressway in southern Baghdad that killed three soldiers and reduced their Humvee to a tangle of charred scrap. The attacks continued a wave of insurgent violence that has killed 58 American troops and about 600 Iraqi civilians since the beginning of May.

The claim that Mr. Zarqawi was injured followed a series of unconfirmed reports that the Jordanian-born militant, named by Osama bin Laden as Al Qaeda's chief representative in Iraq, sought hospital treatment in the past month in at least two cities in the desert of western Iraq.

On Monday last week, Iraqi and American forces mounted a nighttime cordon around the Karkh Hospital in central Baghdad after a tip that Mr. Zarqawi had gone there for treatment, but they found no trace of him.

For weeks, American commanders in Iraq have said they believed they were closing in on Mr. Zarqawi, and they have cited the arrest of more than 20 of his "trusted lieutenants," including leaders of his terrorist cells, propaganda chiefs, bomb makers, drivers and others.

But an American general in Iraq who was reached by e-mail on Tuesday took a cautious view of the report that the militant leader had been injured, saying that while the American command did not discount the report, "we aren't banking on it, either."

Source: The New York Times

Belgian suspected of financing terrorism

BRUSSELS — A 37-year-old woman born in Belgium has had her assets seized on suspicion of financing terrorism.

The Albanian government announced on Tuesday it had acted against Patricia Rosa Vinck, as well as against a Lebanese man and four organisations which described themselves as charities.

"The Albanian authorities in mid-March ordered the seizure of the assets and investments made in the name of these foundations or in the name of a third party," said finance ministry spokesman Alban Beqja.

Source: Expatica

US govt warns of threats against its interests in Uzbekistan

WASHINGTON (AFX) - The US warned yesterday of possible attacks against its interests in Uzbekistan, urging Americans to avoid all non-essential travel there.

'The United States Government has received information that terrorist groups are planning attacks, possibly against US interests, in Uzbekistan in the very near future,' the State Department said in a statement.

'American citizens currently in Uzbekistan should consider departing Uzbekistan via available commercial options.

'Supporters of terrorist groups such as the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Al-Qaida, the Islamic Jihad Union, and the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement are active in the region. These groups have expressed anti-US sentiments and may also attempt to target US Government or private interests in Uzbekistan.

The Department of State 'urges Americans in Uzbekistan to exercise extreme caution, including avoiding large crowds, celebrations, and places where Westerners generally congregate,' it said, adding that it had authorized all non-emergency personnel and family to leave the country.

Source: AFX

Britain okays extradition to Spain of second September 11 suspect

LONDON (AFP) - For the second time in as many days, a court in London approved the extradition of a terror suspect to Spain over alleged links to the September 11 attacks in the United States in 2001.

Hedi Ben Youseff Boudhiba, 45, a native of Tunisia, flanked by two prison officers and helped by an Arabic translator, gave little reaction as judge Daphne Wickham delivered her ruling at Bow Street magistrates court.

His lawyers had argued that he might try to commit suicide if sent to Spain for trial, or face torture in Tunisia if Spain repatriated him. They can lodge an appeal within seven days.

On Wednesday, another Bow Street judge ordered the extradition of a Moroccan man, Farid Hilali, 36, to Spain where he has been fingered as a suspected co-conspirator in the September 11 attacks.

Nearly 3,000 were killed when 19 men affiliated with Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network hijacked four airliners and flew three of them into the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, prompting US President George W. Bush to launch a worldwide "war on terror".

The fourth airliner crashed in Pennsylvania.

Boudhiba, alias Fathi, is accused of belonging to a Spanish-based network which raised funds for Al-Qaeda and provided fake documents for suspects including Ramzi Binalshibh, a reputed kingpin in the September 11 plot.

Source: Agence France Presse

Muslim leader takes Norway to court over expulsion order

OSLO, June 2 (AFP) - 13h49 - Mullah Krekar, the founder of radical Islamist group Ansar al-Islam who is fighting an expulsion order from Norway, took his case against the Norwegian state before an Oslo court on Thursday.

Norwegian authorities decided in February 2003 to expel Krekar, whose real name is Fateh Najmeddin Faraj, due to national security concerns, but his deportation was suspended until the situation in Iraq improves.

But Krekar insists that he presents no threat to Norway, noting that Norwegian police have closed their preliminary investigation into his possible involvement in financing terrorist activities.

Krekar has lived in Norway as a refugee since 1991. He has been under threat of deportation for more than two years after Norwegian media revealed that he was the founder of Ansar al-Islam, which figures on the United States' list of terrorist organizations.

The Iraqi Kurd admits that he founded the group but insists that he no longer heads it.

Source: Agence France Presse

Iraq officials claims success for 'Operation Lightning'

BAGHDAD, Iraq Iraq's Interior minister claims success for "Operation Lightning," the government's bid to root out rebels in Baghdad.

The minister says the week-long crackdown in Baghdad has captured 700 people he labels as "terrorists" and killed another 28. The minister says it's improved security in the capital by "60 percent."

Despite the intensified effort by more than 40-thousand Iraqi police and soldiers, militants carried out attacks yesterday that killed 39 people nationwide.

There were three car bombings within an hour of each other. Last night, gunmen in the southern city of Basra killed a Shiite cleric outside his home.

The Interior minister says 12-thousand Iraqi civilians have been killed in the past year and a-half.

Source: The Associated Press

Philippine Muslim separatists agree to hunt down militants

COTABATO, Philippines - Muslim separatists holding peace talks with the Philippine government have agreed to hunt down 53 Islamic militants as a sign of their sincerity to end a 30-year-old conflict.

A list containing the names was recently handed over to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) by the government, MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said.

Under a "cooperation framework" signed with the government in 2002 the MILF said it would help Manila "interdict or arrest terrorist elements" operating in its areas, Kabalu said.

"We have a list of criminal elements the government has submitted to us to be apprehended," he told reporters late Sunday in Cotabato on the insurgency-wracked island of Mindanao in the southern Philippines.

MILF officials were now "validating" the list, which includes the names of renegade Muslim rebels with possible links to Jemaah Islamiya (JI) as well as Khadaffy Janjalani, leader of the Abu Sayyaf.

The Abu Sayyaf is a small gang of self-styled Islamic militants blamed for the Philippines' worst terrorist bombings and a spate of kidnappings, while the JI is said to be linked to Al-Qaeda. The JI has also been blamed for the deadly October 2002 bombings in Bali that killed over 200 people.

Tens of thousands of members and supporters of the MILF, which has been waging a separatist rebellion in Mindanao since 1978, have gathered at one its camps near Cotabato for three days of peace talks that opened on Sunday.

Kabalu said he was hopeful a final peace agreement will be signed this year but intelligence reports that foreign JI members are undergoing bomb making training in MILF camps have been a persistent thorn in the negotiations.

Source: Agence France Presse

Spanish court frees 5 al Qaeda suspects

MADRID (Reuters) - A Spanish court conditionally freed five suspected members of al Qaeda during their trial on Wednesday in what legal experts say is an indication the court may be leaning toward acquittal.

The charges of belonging to an armed group remain against the five, who are among 24 on trial for belonging to al Qaeda. Three of their co-defendants have been charged with mass murder for collaborating in the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Many of the suspects were arrested in November 2001 as police feared they may be planning another attack.

But now the court has allowed some free on bail after determining there was a greatly reduced risk the defendants would flee, a court official said. The five granted conditional release on Wednesday must surrender their passports and report to authorities daily.

Four were granted bail ranging from 20,000 euros to 150,000 euros ($184,900), and the fifth was released without bail.

Legal experts following the case have said such releases give a signal that the three-judge panel hearing the case does not see a strong case for conviction.

The same was said of Ghasoub Al Abrash Ghalyoun, a Syrian-born man who was accused of mass murder for the Sept. 11 attacks based on a videotape he made of the Twin Towers and other U.S. landmarks in 1997.

Source: Reuters

Police see al Qaeda link in Karachi mosque bombing

KARACHI (Reuters) - Eleven people were killed in a night of violence in Karachi when a suicide attack on a mosque blamed on a group linked to al Qaeda spiralled into a riot that burned to death six at American fast-food outlet KFC.

Angry Shi'ite Muslims set fire to the restaurant in revenge after five people were killed and 18 wounded in the Monday night suicide bomb blast at a Shi'ite mosque in Karachi's middle-class Gulshan-e-Iqbal district, police said on Tuesday.

The mob torched the KFC outlet minutes after the blast at the mosque, and then ransacked a hospital, two petrol stations and burned more than a dozen vehicles.

The latest violence in one of America's allies in its war on terrorism came three days after a suicide bombing at a festival in Islamabad killed 19 people, mostly Shi'ite Muslims, the worst-ever attack in Pakistan's capital.

A crowd of Shi'ite youths chanting "Down with America" tried to set to fire to another KFC outlet on Tuesday during a funeral for a victim of Monday's attack, but police repelled them with batons.

Source: Reuters

Probe Closed

June 1 - In a significant setback for the Bush administration's international crackdown on those it suspects of funding terrorism, Swiss prosecutors have "suspended" a long-running criminal investigation into Al Taqwa, an Islamic network that Washington believes has provided financing for Al Qaeda and other terror groups.

Youssef Nada, founder and head of Al Taqwa, told NEWSWEEK by telephone that his lawyer had received a letter from the Swiss federal attorney general's office earlier today informing him that an investigation which the office had launched in the weeks after the 9/11 attacks was to be closed. In an order issued earlier this year, a Swiss court had given the prosecutor's office until May 31 to either present the results of its investigation to a judge for further proceedings or close the file.

Mark Wiedmer, spokesman for the Swiss Attorney General's office in Bern, said that the investigation was not absolutely terminated but "suspended" because it could be restarted if new evidence was acquired by Swiss authorities. But Wiedmer acknowledged that prosecutors concluded that after three and a half years of investigation they could not put together enough evidence in time for the May 31 deadline to convince a federal investigating magistrate that a criminal case against Nada and Al Taqwa could be taken to trial. Hence the investigation had to be closed for now.

By the same token, Wiedmer said, "We don't say they [Nada and Al Taqwa] are innocent." The lengthy investigation, he argued, was a "qualified success" because prosecutors now know "what's the matter [with Al Taqwa], we know what's not the matter and we know where we don't know what's the matter."

Source: Newsweek

Thai court acquits four JI suspects over weak evidence

BANGKOK: Thailand's criminal court yesterday cited a lack of evidence in acquitting four Thai Muslims accused of belonging to the regional extremist group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) and plotting to bomb foreign embassies.

"The plaintiff failed to produce enough evidence to support the charges," a court official said, adding that the accused had all testified that they were not members of the organisation.

Singaporean national Arifin bin Ali was arrested in May 2003 in Thailand and extradited to Singapore where he testified against the Thai men.

The court ruled that charging the four based only on Arifin's claims amounted to hearsay.

"The court has carefully considered the evidence that alleged the four suspects were members of Jemaah Islamiyah, which was based on Arifin's confession that they were preparing to attack foreign embassies with the co-operation of Thais," the verdict said.

"Later police arrested four suspects based merely on Arifin's allegations and hearsay evidence."

Source: Agence France Presse