| Europe |
| Terrorist attacks set to hit Italy before elections |
| 2006-04-07 |
| Italian authorities have thwarted terror plots against a church in Bologna and Milan's subway, the interior minister said yesterday, and a newspaper reported that the attacks were timed to happen before next week's elections. "There was a terrorist plot that was to be carried out in our country and the monitoring and prevention action of our forces allowed us to thwart it," said Giuseppe Pisanu. The plot involved seven people: three who had been expelled from Italy, two under arrest, one under surveillance and one at large, said Pisanu, speaking in Sardinia before the general elections on April 9 and 10. Italians will be voting in national elections for the first time since the September 11 attacks in the United States. Bombings in Spain and Britain raised fears that Italy could also be targeted by Islamic terrorism because the country is part of the US-led coalition in Iraq. The San Petronio basilica in Bologna, which was among the planned targets of the alleged plot, contains a fifteenth-century fresco Muslim groups have interpreted as insulting to Islam. Police arrested four Moroccans and an Italian at the basilica in 2002 and accused them of planning an attack there. The charges were later dropped. The daily Corriere della Sera reported that the alleged plotters aimed to carry out the attacks before the elections. The investigation stemmed from the arrest last month in Morocco of a Tunisian who lives in Milan, Corriere said. The man told investigators about the plan and Pisanu ordered the expulsions last week. |
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| Europe | |
| Two Terror Attacks Foiled, Interior Minister Says | |
| 2006-04-06 | |
| Cagliari, 6 April (AKI) - Italian interior minister Giuseppe Pisanu said on Thursday that security forces prevented two terrorist attacks against the church of San Petronio in Bologna and Milan's underground rail system. Pisanu said seven people were involved in the plot and that three were expelled from the country, two were arrested, one is under police surveillance and another is on the run. "Now I can say it: there was a terror project against our country and the control and prevention action of our police was able to foil it," Pisanu said on the sidelines of a rally in Cagliari of the leading cabinet party, Forza Italia, ahead of a general election over the weekend. "The operation was successfully carried out. There was a terrorism project which was quickly discovered, also thanks to the precious cooperation of allies," Pisanu said. Pisanu did not give any further details on the plot.
Additional: Mr Pisanu said one of the targets was the church of San Petronio, in Bologna. The church has a painting of the Prophet Muhammad in hell, which has been criticised by Italian Muslims in the past. The Italian Corriere della Sera newspaper reported that the suspects had planned to carry out attacks before the elections. According to the AFP news agency, Moroccan police arrested nine people in March who were "planning terrorist acts in Paris and Bologna". | |
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| Europe | ||
| Italy Welcomes Man Who Fled Afghanistan | ||
| 2006-03-29 | ||
ROME (AP) -- Italy granted asylum Wednesday to an Afghan who faced the death penalty for converting from Islam to Christianity, and Premier Silvio Berlusconi said the man was in the care of the Interior Ministry after arriving in Italy earlier in the day. Abdul Rahman "is already in Italy. I think he arrived overnight," Berlusconi said, declining to release more details.
Conversion is a crime under Afghanistan's Islamic law. Rahman, 41, was arrested last month after police discovered him with a Bible. He was brought to trial last week for converting 16 years ago while working as a medical aid worker for an international Christian group helping Afghan refugees in Pakistan. Afghanistan's parliament had demanded earlier Wednesday that the government prevent Rahman from being able to flee the country. Germany, where Rahman once lived, praised the Italian offer. "This is a humanitarian signal and we welcome it," German government spokesman Thomas Steg said. Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi says Italy would be glad to give asylum to the Afghan man who faced the death penalty for converting from Islam to Christianity. Anticipating that Italy's Cabinet would approve Rahman's asylum, Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu said Tuesday that such a move would bring "all the forms of protection and assistance" related to recognizing refugee status. Italy has close ties with Afghanistan, whose former king, Mohammed Zaher Shah, was allowed to live with his family in exile in Rome for 30 years. The former royals returned to Kabul after the fall of the Taliban regime a few years ago. Italian troops were sent into Afghanistan after the U.S.-led invasion of the country in 2001 to help with reconstruction. Muslim clerics in Afghanistan condemned Rahman's release, saying it was a "betrayal of Islam," and threatened to incite violent protests. Some 500 Muslim leaders, students and others gathered Wednesday in a mosque in southern Qalat town and criticized the government for releasing Rahman, said Abdulrahman Jan, the top cleric in Zabul province. He said the government should either force Rahman to convert back to Islam or kill him. "This is a terrible thing and a major shame for Afghanistan," he said.
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| Europe |
| A threat to the Italian general elections? |
| 2006-02-28 |
| The upcoming general elections in Italy, scheduled for April 9, present a perfect opportunity for Islamic militants to disrupt the Italian political process and destabilize a key U.S. ally by staging a massive terrorist attack. On January 24, the director of Italy's Military Intelligence and Security Service (SISMI), Nicolò Pollari, officially addressed the issue of possible terrorist attacks against Italy at a hearing before the parliamentary committee for oversight of secret services (COPACO). The government's key figure, Deputy Secretary Gianni Letta, also attended the conference. Moreover, on February 17, Rome's secret services stated in their six-month report to parliament that the riskiest time for an attack would be either during the Winter Olympic Games (February 10-26) or just before the elections. Although worries about terrorist threats to Turin's Winter Olympic Games have attracted the most global media attention, Pollari said that the upcoming April 9 legislative elections (followed by the election for a new head of state) are also a high-risk event in light of information collected by the Italian intelligence community. Pollari added that pro-active monitoring of extremist activities will have to be stepped up during the electoral campaign that started on February 11 (RAI, January 24). COPACO's director, Enzo Bianco, told the press after the hearing that "information from various sources collected both in Italy and abroad indicate particular exposure to risk in the coming months" as the elections approach. "There is concrete evidence, as well as analyses, which confirm the need for high alert in Italy," Bianco added, before calling for the avoidance of scaremongering in relation to this news (La Repubblica, January 25). Although Italy's secret services have avoided disclosing the sources of their information, the Italian media has identified some elements that may well be among those scrutinized closely by intelligence analysts. The first dates back to January 24, when a Lombardy-based private TV Channel, Odeon-Telereporter, broadcast an interview with Abdul Qadir Fall Mamour, a Senegalese imam deported to his home country by Italian authorities in November 2003 after he had been branded a national security threat due to his praise for Osama bin Laden. Mamour, the former imam of Carmagnola (Lombardy), said Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and other key political figures in the country "will be attacked in the vicinity of the elections" (La Padania, January 25). Mamour, whose trustworthiness is questioned by many counter-terrorism specialists, had told journalists that he had "personally heard bin Laden ordering the punishment of Berlusconi and Blair." Despite Mamour's dubious reliability, his declarations remain of obvious interest to analysts for two reasons. First of all, he had been living and preaching in Italy, and had therefore been able to make direct contact with Italy's Islamist circles. Secondly, he allegedly has close connections with al-Qaeda-related Islamist groups and is said to be personally acquainted with some prominent extremist leaders. Mamour had already warned Italy last July, immediately after the London bombings, that terrorist attacks were likely to be attempted in 2006 since Italy was "next in line" among the supporters of the U.S.-led war in Iraq. Furthermore, he even claimed that militants would strike with "weapons of mass destruction" in major Italian cities. In his recent interview, he explained to Odeon-Telereporter journalists that Rome, Milan, Turin, Bologna and Venice are the most probable targets of the planned attacks. A second source was highlighted by the Italian daily La Repubblica on January 27, which gave more precise and alarming information. Journalist Claudia Fusani extensively described the contents of a confidential document issued by Rome's Interior Ministry, which referred to "articulated information," carefully analyzed by the Anti-Terrorism Strategic Analysis Committee (CASA). CASA is based in the Interior Ministry and formed by officials of the Italian police, the Carabinieri, and the financial police, in addition to Italian and foreign intelligence analysts. The information in question consists of intelligence reports regarding a planned terrorist attack targeting Milan's main railway station (Milano Centrale) to be perpetrated "in the first half of March 2006, so as to strike the Italian government near the elections in order to condition the outcome." Further investigation, the article states, has confirmed the attack was conceived so as to coincide with the key political event. The intelligence reported by La Repubblica even specifies the operational method of the planned strike. Two powerful explosives would be detonated in the railway station, with an interval of one-half-hour between the two blasts. The idea is to target passengers first and then the rescue services quickly thereafter. Interestingly, the document reveals that the basic information had been provided to intelligence agencies by a "Middle Eastern man who has been living in Italy for a year" and collaborates with Italy's secret services. The man provided details, the document states, about a meeting he had with "four foreigners." One of them, called "A.M." in the report, is said to have described the planning of terrorist attacks against both the Olympic Games and the elections. In addition, "A.M." has reportedly spoken about a "bag," presumably containing explosives, that is supposed to arrive in Milan from Romania. It is unclear, however, whether the contents of this "bag" were intended for the "three aspiring Syrian suicide bombers," alleged to be planning to attack the Turin Olympic Games and who were identified in Milan in January and deported to Syria, or instead for the possible attack on Milan's railway station. Eavesdroppingdisclosed during the aforementioned hearing of January 24has added further evidence to those preliminary indications, confirmed also by intelligence material collected by SISMI and analyzed by CASA on January 20 at the Italian Ministry of Internal Affairs (La Repubblica, January 27). On February 2, after another hearing, COPACO's Director Enzo Bianco said that Dr. Mario Mori, the chief of Italy's SISDE (Secret Services for Democratic Security), had highlighted Italy's "high exposure" to terrorism during the interval between the Olympic Games and the elections. He also said, however, that Mori did not reveal any concrete evidence of plans to carry out specific attacks (ANSA Press Agency, February 2). Professor Arduino Paniccia, a strategic studies expert at Trieste University and a specialist on terrorism, told Terrorism Monitor that "a terror attack shortly before the elections is probably more likely to occur than one against the Olympic Games." Several elements, Paniccia said, suggest the coming political event will be a critical moment. "There are signals indicating a resurgence of al-Qaeda," he stated, "as the recent tapes by Ayman al-Zawahiri and Osama bin Laden seem to indicate." There is likely to be a "connection between such messages and the planning of new attacks in Western countries," he said, insisting that "today's context is very similar to those of previous attacks in Europe." In fact, Paniccia said, it is impossible to overlook the reality that the Madrid bombings of 2004 coincided with general elections, and that London was struck during the G-8 summit at Gleneagles. Moreover, the Italian specialist added, "the danger in Italy today is in fact greater than some months ago, given the furious anger unleashed by the irreverent cartoons of Prophet Mohammed and also because new key Islamist militant figures appear to have less respect for Rome and Italy as symbols of worldwide Christianity." Italian magistrate Armando Spataro recently told the media that Islamist terrorism cells had changed their strategic use of European territory. "Before the Madrid attacks," he said, "European countries were considered mainly as a logistics base," but "this situation has changed, and every EU country is now at risk" (Famiglia Cristiana, January 22). As with all intelligence analysis on terrorist activities, a crucial element is the identification of the most likely targets. Rome and the Vatican City are obviously exposed near election time due to their political and religious significance. Italy, however, is full of places of high symbolic value. For instance, Venice is a sensitive target for many reasons. One of Europe's major tourist destinations and a city unique in the world, it was once a powerful republic that successfully fought against the chief Muslim power in the 16th century: in the Gulf of Lepanto (Western Greece), Venice, allied with Spain, defeated a powerful Ottoman fleet. Apart from that historical memory, Venice is also a possible target because of its extensive chemical-industry site at Porto Marghera. "A massive strike against the chemical facilities in that area," according to Paniccia, "would be simply devastating." Similarly, "a suicide attack against the city carried out with boats would combine maximum damage with the greatest possible impact," he said. A high-casualty attack linked to the elections would prove "profoundly destabilizing for Italy," and could also be a heavy blow for the U.S. since "Washington's capability as a security provider would be severely damaged," Paniccia concluded. Commenting on the terrorism threat, Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu told the press that Italy's strategy of enhanced human intelligence and strategic cooperation with foreign secret services has already produced encouraging results and helped to prevent several terrorist attacks (Famiglia Cristiana, January 22). It is to be expected, therefore, that this strategy will be steadfastly pursued by Italy in the crucial weeks ahead. |
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| Africa North |
| GSPC shifting fighters to Europe to save them from US counterterrorism efforts in Africa |
| 2006-02-19 |
| Al-Qaida's biggest ally in Africa is faltering in its efforts to transform the Sahara into an Afghanistan-style terror haven. But a critical mass of operatives has emerged in Italy, with ample resources and a broad shadow network primed to strike civilians across Europe. Three Algerian members of the Salafist Group for Call and Combat, an Algeria-based terror group cited on the U.S. State Department's list of foreign terror organizations, were arrested last December by authorities in southern Italy and charged with planning attacks on civilians, according to Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu. More than $22 million was reportedly found in a vehicle used by the cell, which was preparing to target ships, stadiums and railway stations in a bid to trump the Sept. 11, 2001 al-Qaida attacks against the United States. Phone conversations intercepted by police contained discussions to kill "at least 10,000 people and blow up a vessel "as big as the Titanic," Pisanu said, a plot foretold by a GSPC statement four days after the 2001 attack, pledging its commitment to Osama bin-Laden's terror franchise and threatening to harm "the interests of European countries and the U.S." The GSPC, once estimated to have some 300 members in Algeria, was formed in the late 1990s to topple the government and create an Islamic state. Militants carried out a series of successful attacks last summer that reportedly killed 40 soldiers in remote parts of Algeria and Mauritania, but Algerian authorities have since cracked down and gained the upper hand. The latest GSPC offensive, a Dec. 24 bombing in Dellys, a northeast Algerian port, caused only one casualty. Three high-ranking GSPC officials surrendered two days later and reportedly called on remaining militants to do the same, echoing the words of founder and former leader Hassan Hattab, who gave up the gun last September. And just two weeks ago, Ahmed Zerabib, another founder and religious guru of the group was confirmed dead after a clash with the Algerian army. But while the GSPC's operational capacity may be drying up in the desert, the group's "emphasis on 'out-of-algeria' terrorist operations has made it the largest, most cohesive and dangerous terrorist organization in the al-Qaida orbit," according to a new report released by the Jamestown Foundation, a Washington based think tank. The report says Italy has "evolved from a logistics base" to a "de facto base of operations" for GSPC activities targeting Europe. The Italian network -- spanning Venice to Naples -- is said to be composed primarily of first-generation residents born in Algeria who immigrated to establish support cells for the ongoing insurgency in their homeland. Algerian GSPC operatives based out of a Milan mosque were first arrested in 2002 for illegally acquiring explosives and weapons. In 2005, Italian police detained five of 11 Algerians suspected of belonging to the GSPC and investigated their involvement in a failed terrorist attack against the Spanish National Court in Madrid, among other incidents. "GSPC cells in Italy employ a dual-track approach to planning terrorist attacks and provide support infrastructure -- safe houses, communications, weapons... and (forged documents) to cells elsewhere in Europe. "Although the cells appear to be composed exclusively of Algerian Salafi jihadists," the report says, "their interaction with mixed Moroccan and Algerian cells in Spain, Norway and other countries demonstrates that the desire for global jihad has overcome the historical animosity between these two national groups." Spanish authorities arrested 20 suspected terrorists Jan. 12 in Barcelona and Madrid, including Moroccan-born Omar Nackhcha, the head of a GSPC cell said to recruit and give logistical support to Iraq-bound militants and suicide bombers. A spokesman for Spain's Interior Ministry said one of the group's recruits was responsible for a suicide attack in November 2003 in Nasiriyah, Iraq, that killed 19 Italians and 9 Iraqis. Nackhcha is also thought to have led another terrorist cell that helped the escape of three suspects in the 2004 Madrid train bombings that killed 191 persons. Elsewhere, French authorities arrested 11 suspects last January with ties to the GSPC and charged them with recruiting suicide bombers to send to Iraq. In September, police seized three other Algerians affiliated with the group who were accused of preparing to bomb the Paris Metro. Western intelligence agencies estimate the GSPC has an exile network of 800 to 900 active operatives and supporters spread throughout Europe, where arrests have also been made in Belgium, Britain, Norway and the Netherlands. Authorities fear the GSPC may hold a growing appeal to the thousands of estranged young Muslims that idle at the fringes of major European cities. U.S. military officials, for their part, still insist that lawless swaths of Saharan Africa, coupled with high unemployment and swelling frustration with corrupt governments, gives the region significant "potential for instability" -- particularly since 50 percent of the population is younger than 15. Concerned the area could become the "next Afghanistan," the U.S. kicked off a seven-year, $500 million counter-terrorism initiative to provide military expertise, equipment and developmental aid to nine North and West African countries considered fertile ground for the GSPC and other jihadist groups to recruit and train militants. But a recent report by the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think tank, said the Sahara is "not a terrorist hotbed," and warned that heavy-handed U.S. military and financial support of authoritarian regimes could backfire. |
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| Europe |
| GSPC in Italy |
| 2006-02-10 |
| Italy has evolved from a logistics base for Islamic militants to a de facto base of operations for Algeria's Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) targeting Italy, other European countries and the United States. While the GSPC continues to engage in and support terrorist operations in Algeria, the group's emphasis on "out-of-Algeria" terrorist operations has made it the largest, most cohesive and dangerous terrorist organization in the al-Qaeda orbit. GSPC cells in Italy employ a dual-track approach to planning terrorist attacks and provide support infrastructuresafe houses, communications, weapons procurement and documentationto GSPC networks in other European countries. Italian security services' detention of and investigations into the activities of Salafist Islamists recently culminated in the exposure of a deep and wide network of GSPC cells throughout Italy. In November and December 2005, Italian counter-terrorist operatives arrested five Algerian nationals on suspicion of planning terrorist operations in Italy and the United States, and of providing financial/weapons/logistical assistance to other jihadi cells in Europe (La Repubblica, November 17, 2005). The November arrests involved Yamine Bouhrama, Achour Rabah and Tartaq Sami. Italian security services believed Bouhrama was the head of the Salerno cell, and had contact with other GSPC cells in Milan, Brescia and Naples (La Repubblica, December 23, 2005). Bouhrama's contact with other GSPC cell members in Italy enabled SISMI (the Italian military intelligence service) to identify two other GSPC members residing in Naples and Brescia: Khaled Serai and Mohamed Larbi. According to an intercepted conversation prior to his November arrest, Bouhrama discussed with Serai and Larbi an "attack against the infidel," and specifically discussed attacking a company somewhere in Italy (Corriere della Sera, November 17, 2005). According to Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu, Bouhrama, Serai and Larbi were planning a new series of attacks in the United States and considered targeting ships, stadiums or railway stations in an attempt to surpass the September 11, 2001 strikes by al-Qaeda. Similarly, the Italian police noted that these individuals were "primed" to strike targets in Italy (El Mundo, November 17, 2005). Based on the communication patterns of GSPC cell members, Italian security services now believe that Bouhrama, Serai and Larbi were members of GSPC cells in Naples, Brescia, and possibly Venice that were headed by Lounici Dhamel, whom the Italian security services suspected as a senior GSPC member (Corriere della Sera, November 11, 2005). In 2004, the Italian police arrested Dhamel and at least two other Algerians after they were convicted of providing logistical support to the GSPC: Dhamel was one of approximately 12 Algerians convicted of supplying arms and false documents to the extremist group in 2002. An interesting discovery arising out of the November and December 2005 Italian arrests is the connections between the Algerian jihadis in Italy and other Salafist Islamists in Europe. The relationship is based on logistical support, weapons procurement, communications venues, and propaganda mechanisms that enable GSPC and Salafist Islamists cells in Europe to plan terrorist activities in the countries in which they reside. Although the cells in Italy appear to be composed exclusively of Algerian Salafi-Jihadists, their interaction with mixed Moroccan and Algerian cells in Spain, Norway and other countries demonstrates that the desire for global jihad has overcome the historical animosity between these two national groups. An additional finding of the Italian counter-terrorism investigations is the extent of communications between the GSPC cells in Italy and the Maghrebi-dominated networks in Spain and other European countries. Italian police have been investigating contacts between GSPC members in Italy and Algerian jihadis in Belgium, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Switzerland (Corriere della Sera, November 17, 2005). Bouhrama, Serai, and Larbi, for instance, used false documentation to travel together through France, Norway and other northern European countries. They are alleged to have procured false papers and funds to finance GSPC terrorist activities. For example, the computer of one of the Algerians, code named 007, registers contact with mujahideen in Bosnia and with Islamic militants in Norway, France, and the United Kingdom, as well as communication with elements of the Takfir wal Hijra organization (Corriere della Sera, November 11, 2005). Milan Cells: 2002: 13 Algerians and a Moroccan believed to be members of GSPC were arrested for illegally acquiring explosives and weapons. They operated out of the Milan mosque. 2003: Italian police arrested five Tunisians and a Moroccan imam, Mohamed El Mahfoudi, in raids at the mosque and at 40 sites associated with the GSPC. The six suspects were associated with the GSPC. 2004: Hassine Ben Moahmed Snoussiforced to leave Italy for Tunisiawas associated with Arman Ahmed El Hissiny Helmy, an Egyptian imam of the Milan mosque. Rabei Osman El Sayed Ahmed (a.k.a., Mohamed the Egyptian)suspected head of al-Qaeda's networks in Europehad many contacts in Milan, including the influential Yahia Payumi, who frequented the mosque. September 2005: Italian police detained five of 11 Algerians suspected of membership in the GSPC, and investigated their involvement in planning a failed terrorist attack against the Spanish National Court in Madrid. Jamel Launici, alleged head of the Italian cell in charge of recruiting terrorists and obtaining explosives for the Madrid attack, was one of the detained. Salerno GSPC Cell: Yamine Bouhrama, Achour Rabah, Tartaq Sami and Lounici Dhamel. Possible Venice GSPC cell: Lounici Dhamel Naples and Brescia GSPC Cells: Khaled Serai and Mohamed Larbi, who were in contact with Yamine Bouhrama of the Salerno cell, and Lounici Dhamel. There are likely other members that have not yet been identified. Ben Khemais GSPC network: suspected by Italian and Spanish security services as leading al-Qaeda's regional network and one of the senior leaders of the jihadi networks in Italy. Khemais was arrested in 2001 in Italy and was involved in planning an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Rome. According to available information, the GSPC network operating throughout Italy is almost exclusively composed of Algerian nationals who immigrated to the country during the past decade. Italian GSPC members have the following characteristics: - They are first generation immigrants born in Algeria who immigrated to Italy probably for the purpose of setting up cells in support of the ongoing Islamist insurgency in Algeria and the GSPC in particular. - They are young, male and usually poorly educated. It is unclear if these individuals were employed in Italy and, if so, where they worked and with whom. - It is unclear if any of the men have family members in Italy. - The level and intensity of association with Italian Muslims remains unknown. Al-Qaeda's Second Front in Italy: Observations and Gaps While Iraq is the new center of gravity for jihad, Europe has become an important logistical center critical to ensuring the constancy of jihad in Iraq and, increasingly, in Europe. Some of the more significant observations include: - The return of jihadis from Iraq is transforming Europe from a logistical base to a forward terrorist planning center. - The recruitment of Muslims for jihadist activities likely remains in the cultural centers and mosques and through the internet, as well as the prisons (La Repubblica, June 19, 2002). Yet, given the surveillance of these sites by Italian intelligence services, it is possible that Islamists are being driven away from the central mosques to smaller, makeshift mosques and possibly schools, stores and homes. - The inter-personal relationships of GSPC members in Italy are crucial to the viability of these cells. Understanding these relationships would help counter-terrorism officials in devising effective programs to target their recruitment and logistical activities. Conversely, insofar as the gaps in knowledge are concerned, security officials should investigate the degree and depth of contact between cell members prior and subsequent to arrival in Italy in order to identify points of leverage and influence in the jihadi movement. |
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| Europe |
| Italy on heightened security for the Winter Olympics |
| 2006-02-10 |
| The worldwide Muslim protests against caricatures of Muhammad that appeared in a Danish newspaper last year have compounded Italy's security headaches for the Winter Olympics, which already suffer from possible disruption by local anti-globalization groups, opponents of a high-speed railway line and striking tram drivers. Signs of concern are all over this town near Italy's northwest frontier. About 10,000 police from all over the country are patrolling boulevards and back alleys. Bomb-sniffing dogs stand guard at the airport, train station, stadiums and street corners. About 300 specially trained troops will patrol the nearby mountain sites on snowmobiles and skis. Airspace over Turin will be closed to anything with mechanical wings except for F-16s from the Italian air force that will zoom about during Friday's Opening Ceremonies and two surveillance planes supplied by NATO that will monitor wayward flights. Missiles have been mounted around the city. All that was in the works before the Muhammad cartoon unrest overwhelmed the local news. Because of the uproar, Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu, Italy's top official for civilian police and the intelligence corps, called an emergency meeting of security officials Monday regarding possible new threats. Pisanu said the riots and protests in the Middle East, Central Asia and Far East countries have been "carried out coldly with political ends. We mustn't forget that Islamic extremism is an essentially political movement that cynically uses religious values." At least two Italian newspapers reprinted the Muhammad caricatures that included one showing the prophet of Islam wearing a turban shaped like a bomb. Nonetheless, Pisanu said, homegrown violence is the most likely problem for the Olympics. "For the Olympics I fear the rising aggressiveness of anti-globalization protesters, anarchists and all the domestic subversion movements that are pursuing the Olympic spotlight. Unfortunately, these people have already done very serious damage to the image of our country," Pisanu said. He was referring to the bumpy ride of the Olympic flame to Turin. Protesters blocked its passage in several Italian cities. In Genoa a few weeks ago, it had to travel by sea to arrive in town. The group of demonstrators include residents of towns near Turin who oppose construction of a railway tunnel through the Alps as part of a cross-European, high-speed train network. Assorted masked anti-globalization militants are protesting corporate sponsorship of the Olympics. On a clear, sunny Thursday, the flame arrived in Turin and guest runners carried it along streets lined with cheering people. But the flame had to compete with unemployed laborers who held up self-described "fake torches" to protest layoffs at the local Fiat auto plant. Police surrounded anti-globalization demonstrators who tried to approach the route. Plenty of gesticulating broke out, but no violence. More protests are planned for Friday, when the flame will once again navigate Turin. On Tuesday, the country's president, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, urged Italians to show a "sense of responsibility" and keep the Olympics incident-free. "For two weeks, Turin will be the capital of Italy," he said. "I am confident that everyone will work together for the Olympics." Italian politicians took the message as an opportunity to point fingers at each other for trouble that had yet to break out. Italy is in the middle of heated campaigns for parliamentary elections scheduled for April. Pier Ferdinando Casini, who is a leader in Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government, said it was up to the opposition, some of whom back the groups opposing the high-speed rail network, to head off any trouble. He called the opposition "irresponsible." Romano Prodi, who is running against Berlusconi for prime minister, countered that he did not endorse disruption, but understood that the government "had done little" to resolve the problems of the tunnel with local residents. Italian officials have long predicted that, with elections on the horizon, Italy would be the focus of a terrorist attack. Berlusconi supported the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq by dispatching about 3,000 soldiers to the southern Iraqi town of Nasiriyah. The Italians have begun a withdrawal, but it will not be complete until later this year. In recent months, Italian authorities have deported about 30 Islamic militants they said were inciting violence, including an imam preaching in Turin. The Italians rely on wiretapping to keep tabs on terrorist suspects and their supporters. Officials say they have 2,000 people under close watch. Turin is not the only possible target. Italy has several crowded tourist sites and Italy has intensified security at hundreds of them at a cost of more than $100 million. Italy has significant experience in dealing with high-profile events. Officials cite the trouble-free funeral of Pope John Paul II last year as a prime example. On the other hand, violence broke out at a summit of the Group of Eight industrialized nations held in Genoa in 2001, which was marred by mob violence and vicious police counterattacks. Pisanu described the Islamic threat as less to do with al Qaeda than with independent North African origin "Islamic-European" militant groups. The security nerve center in Turin is called the National Center for Olympic Information. Spread around the city and Olympic sites are 21 operation rooms all linked together by sophisticated communications. Officials at the center said that athletes from any country involved in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are at risk. In all, there are 2,500 athletes in Turin scheduled to perform in front of a million spectators during the Games, which end Feb. 26. Ciampi made a broader appeal on Thursday, calling for a worldwide "Olympic truce" during which no one would make war on anyone else, but instead "brotherhood prevails in the world." |
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| Europe |
| Turinese Muslim community under scrutiny for Olympics |
| 2006-02-07 |
| Turins Muslim community is feeling the pressure of tighter security for the Winter Olympics, with locals saying clerics are facing empty mosques as illegal immigrants are hiding from police until the end of the Games. Italys Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu has named militant Islamists as a chief threat to the Games, and last September the government expelled Moroccan-born imam Bouriki Bouriqi Bouchta who was accused of praising Al Qaeda in his sermons in Turin. There are more controls than usual because of the Olympics. I see it in a positive light as long as our rights are respected, said imam Abdelaziz Khounati, who preaches at the Peace Mosque where Bouchta used to work. Many people dont come here anymore because the police stop them and ask for their residence permit, so they feel uncomfortable. He added: Presence (in mosques) has fallen because the illegal immigrants have disappeared -- many of them have gone to other cities and are waiting until the Games are over. The Olympics open on Friday and end on Feb. 26. Hidden away in a small courtyard amid washing lines and childrens toys, marked only by a small sign next to an unassuming metal door, the Peace Mosque has an underground feel to it. But Khounati, who works as a religious representative for the Turin Games, was keen to show that his community is part of the mainstream, and said there were no extremist preachers in the city. Over the past few days, violent protests by Muslims outraged over a series of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in a Danish newspaper have added to security concerns at the Games. Some Muslims working in the halal butcheries and kebab shops around the Peace Mosque said they felt offended by the caricatures, which were reprinted by several European papers, but that they did not plan to protest in Turin, preferring to keep a low profile during the Olympics. Attendance at another mosque in the neighbourhood in northern Turin, home to many Muslims, has also fallen as more and more police are patrolling the streets, residents said. On Tuesday morning, several police vans were slowly driving around the neighbourhood and a member of the tax police was going from shop to shop, checking accounts and receipts. In a way we are used to it. They are always controlling us. Now there are even more controls. They talk about terrorism, but we are the ones being terrorised, said a local shop keeper who did not want to be named. |
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| Home Front: WoT |
| Major Terror Plot Against US Ignored By US Media |
| 2006-01-12 |
| Hat tip Powerline The mainstream U.S. media outlets have failed to report a major terrorist plot against the U.S. - because it would tend to support President Bush's use of NSA domestic surveillance, according to media watchdog groups. News of a planned attack masterminded by three Algerians operating out of Italy was widely reported outside the U.S., but went virtually unreported in the American media. Italian authorities recently announced that they had used wiretaps to uncover the conspiracy to conduct a series of major attacks inside the U.S. Italian Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu said the planned attacks would have targeted stadiums, ships and railway stations, and the terrorists' goal, he said, was to exceed the devastation caused by 9/11. Italian authorities stepped up their internal surveillance programs after July's terrorist bombings in London. Their domestic wiretaps picked up phone conversations by Algerian Yamine Bouhrama that discussed terrorist attacks in Italy and abroad. Italian authorities arrested Bouhrama on November 15 and he remains in prison. Authorities later arrested two other men, Achour Rabah and Tartaq Sami, who are believed to be Bouhrama's chief aides in planning the attacks. The arrests were a major coup for Italian anti-terror forces, and the story was carried in most major newspapers from Europe to China. "U.S. terror attacks foiled," read the headline in England's Sunday Times. In France, a headline from Agence France Presse proclaimed, "Three Algerians arrested in Italy over plot targeting U.S." Curiously, what was deemed worthy of a worldwide media blitz abroad was virtually ignored by the U.S. media, and conservative media watchdog groups are saying that is no accident. "My impression is that the major media want to use the NSA story to try and impeach the president," says Cliff Kincaid, editor of the Accuracy in Media Report published by the grassroots Accuracy in Media organization. "If you remind people that terrorists actually are planning to kill us, that tends to support the case made by President Bush. They will ignore any issue that shows that this kind of [wiretapping] tactic can work in the war on terror." "The mainstream media have framed the story as one of the nefarious President Bush 'spying on U.S. citizens,' where the average American is a victim not a beneficiary," commented Brent Baker, vice president of the Media Research Center, a Washington, D.C.-based organization dedicated to encouraging balanced news coverage, "so journalists have little interest in any evidence that the program has helped save lives by uncovering terrorist plans." The Associated Press version of the story did not disclose that the men planned to target the U.S. Nor did it report that the evidence against the suspects was gathered via a wiretapping surveillance operation. Furthermore, only one American newspaper, the Philadelphia Inquirer, is known to have published the story that the AP distributed. It ran on page A-6 under the headline "Italy Charges 3 Algerians." The Inquirer report also made no mention of the plot to target the U.S. - although foreign publications included this information in the headlines and lead sentences of their stories. Nor did it advise readers that domestic wiretaps played a key role in nabbing the suspected terrorists. One obvious question media critics are now raising: Did the American media intentionally ignore an important story because it didn't fit into their agenda of attacking President George Bush for using wiretapping to spy on potential terrorists in the U.S.? "It's clear to me," says AIM's Kincaid, "that they're trying their best to make this NSA program to be an impeachable offense, saying it is directed at ordinary Americans. That's why they keep referring to this as a 'program of spying on Americans' - whereas the president keeps pointing out it's a program designed to uncover al-Qaida operations on American soil." |
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| Terror Networks |
| Al-Qaeda videos are green lights for attack |
| 2006-01-12 |
| The recently released video message from al Qaeda's number two leader is part of a pattern that signals a countdown to a major terrorist attack within the next 30 days, warns a Washington D.C.-based analyst. The new video was aired by the Qatar-based al-Jazeera satellite network on Jan. 6. In it Ayman al-Zawahiri portrays U.S. government discussion of troop withdrawal from Iraq as a victory for Islam. "If your forces with all its aircraft, missiles, tanks and fleets are moaning, bleeding and looking for an escape from Iraq, then will the hypocrites, conspirators, infidels (the Iraqi government) resist what the 'greatest power in the world' has failed to resist?" al-Zawahiri asked. But it is not the content of the video that is a sign of a possible imminent strike, said terrorism expert Christopher L. Brown. Instead, it is the timing of the video that is consistent with previous patterns. Brown, a researcher with a Washington think tank, has briefed members of Congress and senior administration officials on key threats, and he has prepared testimony and briefing materials for officials at the Department of Defense, State Department, CIA, National Security Council and the White House. The pattern Brown observed is that each Zawahiri video appears to be part of a pair, with the second video followed by a significant attack within 30 days, outside of the major combat zones of Iraq and Afghanistan. The videos released on Sept. 9 and Nov. 9, 2004, were the first "set" and were followed by the Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, bombings on Dec. 6, 2004. The second "set" of videos was released Feb. 20 and June 26, 2005, followed by the July 7 London bombings. A third set of videos was released Aug. 4 and Sept 1, 2005, followed by the bombings in Bali, Indonesia, on Oct. 1, 2005. A Cybercast News Service exclusive report on Sept. 8 of last year detailed Brown's warning regarding an impending October attack. The fourth set of videos, according to Brown's theory was released on Oct. 23, 2005 and last week -- Jan. 6. "This pattern has held for at least three of al Qaeda's last large-scale attacks," said Brown, "This most recent video is likely a signal that a large-scale operation is about to be launched within the next 30 days. The question is where." A clue may be found in the Internet postings of the enigmatic Abu-Hafs al-Masri Brigades, said Brown. The brigades appear to be 'green-lighting' coming attacks prior to the release of the second video of each pair, Brown said. The video that preceded the London bombings was itself preceded by a post by the "European division" of the brigades under the title, "Letter to mujahedeen in Europe." The posting stated in part, "We now call on the mujahedeen around the world to launch the expected attack." The message appeared on an al Qaeda-linked Internet forum. Brown believes the larger pattern of two videos sandwiching an Internet posting by the Abu-Hafs al-Masri Brigades was repeated when a November web message declared that the upcoming attack would occur in the "land of the Romans," widely seen as a reference to Italy. The Internet posting, under the name of al Qaeda's reputed military commander Saif al-Adel, mentioned future attacks involving unidentified poisonous substances and surface-to-air missiles procured from Chechnya. Brown notes that the Abu-Hafs Al-Masri Brigades are overseen by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the top al Qaeda terrorist in Iraq who is also known to have ties to Chechnya. "It is even more interesting to note that Western intelligence officials believe that al Qaeda has had some of the most advanced Russian man-portable surface-to-air missile systems (the SA-18) within Europe for at least one year." On Oct. 29, 2005, the London Telegraph reported that Abu Atiya, an al Qaeda operative close to al-Zawahiri, revealed to French authorities that a group called the "Chechen network" entered France with the missiles and chemical and biological agents such as botulin, ricin and cyanide. The missiles were reportedly purchased in 2002 and eventually smuggled through Georgia and Turkey to be used in a planned attack against French airliners in 2004. Following the London bombings the brigades posted a communique on the Internet, stating: "We are in Italy, and not one of you is safe as long as you refuse [Osama bin Laden's] offer. Get rid of the incompetent (Prime Minister Silvio) Berlusconi or we will truly burn Italy." A July 19, 2005, story in Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper indicated that Italian intelligence feared the statement was a coded message activating known cells in Italy, which had previously been providing only logistical support. Three more messages from the Abu-Hafs al-Masri Brigades were posted in July, promising to "burn Italy down. "We will raze the cities of Europe to the ground and you will be the first, Berlusconi!" one of the messages declared. On July 31, the brigades claimed to be "calling up all our cells in Rome and other Italian cities for this war ..." Another Internet message followed in August. However, the November reference to the "land of the Romans" could be misdirection Brown said, since al Qaeda is known to use coded language in many of its communications. The Global Islamic Media Front (GIMF) has indicated that al Qaeda intentionally labeled Italy as its target, prior to the London bombings. If the "land of the Romans" doesn't refer to Rome, what might it refer to? Dan Darling of the Manhattan Institute believes it could be a reference to the United States. "It could just as easily apply to the U.S. -- America as the new Rome," said Darling. Brown also believes the al Qaeda threat could apply to the U.S. and that America is the likelier target. The "land of the Romans" could be a symbolic reference to the "countless examples of Romanesque architecture in Washington, D.C.," said Brown. The missiles reportedly obtained from Chechnya have not been located and Brown believes it is possible that some of the weapons have been smuggled into North America since individuals involved in the "Chechen network" who procured the missiles were allegedly involved in the 1999 conspiracy to bomb Los Angeles International Airport. About Brown's theory of a timing pattern and imminent strike, Dan Darling said "I definitely think there's something behind this theory. One of my earliest observations about al Qaeda is that when people look for patterns they tend to forget to include events in places like Kashmir, Chechnya, Iraq. " Darling also noted that analysts often fail to take into account thwarted attacks. "Italy has arrested several members of GSPC cells intent on attacking Italy or U.S.-related installations," said Darling. The GSPC is also known as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, an Algerian group linked to al Qaeda. Italian officials announced on Dec. 23 that the suspected terrorists had plans to carry out attacks against the U.S. that would have surpassed 9/11. Terrorism expert B. Raman told Cybercast News Service that Brown's theory is "fascinating" but that he was not in a position to agree or disagree with it. "I personally feel that while the London explosions were externally inspired from Pakistan, the timing and the modus operandi used were decided locally. I would have difficulty in connecting it to Zawahiri's second message," said Raman. He also believes that Zawahiri's importance as an operational head tends to be over-estimated by many Western analysts. "I also feel on the basis of my reading of the situation that there is a very high probability of a terrorist strike against Italian lives and interests this year," said Raman. "In Europe, Al Qaeda's next targets in the order of probability are Italy (its Prime Minister is closely identified with Bush), France (ban on head scarves, its interior minister is hated in the Islamic world) and Germany (its role in Afghanistan)." Raman is the former head of the counter-terrorism division of the Research & Analysis Wing in India's external intelligence agency and director or the Institute of Topical Studies, Chennai, India. Italy has been bracing for possible attacks targeting the February Winter Olympics in Turin or the April 9 general elections. Italian Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu told media last month, "The global resonance of the Games, and the coincidence with the election campaign could be of great interest to terrorist organizations, which carry out major attacks in order to rock public opinion and influence political stances." The CIA has declined to comment on Brown's theory. "We don't comment on our own analysis. And we can't comment on Mr. Brown's theory either," said the spokesman. Regarding the video release pattern, "once can be an interesting anomaly, twice could be a coincidence, but three times is a pattern," Brown said, indicating "that in all likelihood al Qaeda will launch a major attack sometime in the next month." |
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| Terror Networks |
| Who Saddam's al-Qaeda allies were |
| 2006-01-11 |
| SKEPTICS of Iraqi ties to al Qaeda appear prepared to argue that even if Saddam did have substantial connections to Ansar al Islam, the GSPC, and the Sudanese Islamic Army, these relations do not constitute ties to al Qaeda. But unless one is prepared to engage in an extremely legalistic parsing similar to that which has surrounded Abu Musab Zarqawi's relationship with Osama bin Laden, the issue is easy enough to resolve. Ansar al Islam: As noted by the U.S. State Department, Ansar al Islam "is closely allied with al-Qa'ida and Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi's group." Al-Sharq al-Awsat reported in September 2001 that it was al Qaeda emissary Abu Abdul Rahman who provided Ansar al Islam with $300,000 in "seed money" at its inception. Al Qaeda's close involvement in the formation of Ansar al Islam was likewise demonstrated in an al Qaeda memorandum from August 2001 which was recovered in Afghanistan and reported by the New York Times in January 2003. It noted the existence of the "Iraqi Kurdistan Islamic Brigade" and urged the unification of the various Kurdish Islamist groups based around Shinerwe Mountain in northern Iraq into an enclave modeled after that of the Taliban. After the September 11 attacks, Ansar al Islam was to take on an even more ominous role. As the 2002 Patterns of Global Terrorism noted, "al-Qaida operatives in northern Iraq concocted suspect chemicals under the direction of senior al-Qaida associate Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi and tried to smuggle them into Russia, Western Europe, and the United States for terrorist operations." GSPC: In the case of the Algerian Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC) and al Qaeda, the connection is even clearer. As Dr. Rohan Gunaratna documented in Inside Al Qaeda, following al Qaeda's falling out with Algerian GIA leader Antar Zouabri, "Osama's displeasure . . . prompted him to forge direct links with the head of the GIA's European network, Hassan Hattab." Following a final schism between bin Laden and Zouabri, "Al Qaeda severed all ties with the GIA leadership, denounced Antar Zouabri, and encouraged Hassan Hattab to break away and join GSPC." Jonathan Schanzer goes even further in Al-Qaeda's Armies, noting that the group was "responsible for financing, logistics, and planning attacks for al Qaeda" and that "since the late 1990s, an immense amount of GSPC activity was reported in Europe, both in support of the GSPC in Algeria, as well as the broader al-Qaeda network." Nor are the group's actions in support of al Qaeda merely logistical in nature--in June 2003, ABC News reported that a plot by GSPC commander Mokhtar Belmokhtar targeting the U.S. embassy in Bamako, Mali had been thwarted by "a coalition of African anti-terror units." As if to clarify any lingering doubts, in October 2003, then-GSPC leader Nabil Sahraoui issued a statement declaring that the group "strongly and fully support Osama bin Laden's jihad against the heretic America as well as we support our brothers in Afghanistan, the Philippines, and Chechnya." The ongoing connection between al Qaeda and the GSPC continues to play a role in the Iraqi insurgency: The U.S. military announced in June 2005 that roughly 20 percent of the suicide bombers were Algerian in origin. More recently, Italian Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu was quoted as saying that three GSPC members arrested in December 2005 in southern Italy "are suspected of being linked to a planned new series of attacks in the United States." Sudanese Islamic Army: The exact identity of the Sudanese Islamic Army is a bit more murky, but there are two likely possibilities. The first is that the Sudanese Islamic Army refers to bin Laden's al Qaeda terror network (called the "Islamic Army Shura" by the 9/11 Commission report) while it was headquartered in Sudan between 1991 and 1996--though this would seem somewhat counterintuitive given that both the Algerian GIA and later the GSPC were members of the Shura. It is far more likely that the Sudanese Islamic Army are in fact members of the Sudanese Popular Defense Forces (PDF), which Dutch counterterrorism expert Ronald Sandee has described as a Sudanese "pro-government militia" that "was used to militarily support the power of the Khartoum regime, often taking the brunt of the fighting against SPLA, and later was used in the Numamai Mountains to fight against the Nure people." He notes that "we also see Sudanese who were trained in PDF camps turning up at the border with Israel." Sandee quotes Sudanese President Omar Bashir as saying, "We now order the Popular Defense Forces and all the political and military leaders to now open all the military camps to be opened in estates and villages. No peace with the Jews or surrender to the Jews, for war is jihad, jihad is jihad." According to the 9/11 Commission, bin Laden "agreed to help [Sudanese political leader] Turabi in an ongoing war against Christian separatists in southern Sudan," activities that would have almost certainly resulted in a close alliance between al Qaeda and the PDF. Dan Darling is a counter-terrorism consultant for the Manhattan Institute Center for Policing Terrorism. |
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| Europe |
| Italian GSPC involved in planning attacks Italy, Iraq |
| 2005-12-24 |
| Police in southern Italy arrested three Algerians Friday on international terrorism charges and accused them of planning attacks in Iraq and Italy, police and the Interior Ministry said. The three were arrested in a nationwide sweep against an extremist group in Algeria, for whom they allegedly provided logistical support, the Carabinieri paramilitary police said. Officials suspect that they are members of the Salafist Group for Call and Combat, or GSPC, an Algerian group that allegedly provides fake documents to al-Qaida and seeks recruits. But recently the cell had acquired a new role, said Gen. Giampaolo Ganzer, head of the Carabinieri special forces group that made the arrests. "They were set to move to Iraq for terrorist actions, also suicide ones, and at the same time they studied more wide-ranging actions on Italian territory" Ganzer told news agency ANSA in quotes confirmed by his office. In recent years, the GSPC has turned its sights on jihad, or holy war, beyond Algerian borders. Specific targets of the allegedly planned attacks were not immediately known. One of the Algerians was already in prison on other charges, and the other two were picked up in Salerno, near Naples, and the province of Catanzaro, the Carabinieri said. Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu said in a statement the three were arrested on international terrorism charges as part of a broad investigation that involved other countries "against the terrorist threat hanging over Italy and Europe." Police conducted dozens of raids across Italy, seizing instructions on how to build explosive devices, documents containing addresses for web sites tied to al-Qaida and videos showing guerrilla warfare scenes and executions of prisoners, the statement said. |
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