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Mohammed Siddique Khan

Mohammed Siddique Khan

al-Qaeda

Britain

20051026

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Britain

Police face scrutiny as third London attacker named

2017-06-07

[Al Jazeera] British police on Tuesday named the third London Bridge attacker as an Italian national of Moroccan descent, and Italian officials said they had passed on their concerns about him to British intelligence officials last year. UK police said that 22-year-old Youssef Zaghba lived in east London and had not been considered to be a "person of interest" to either police or the intelligence services - meaning they had no reason to think he was violent or planning an attack. The other two attackers were named on Monday as Khuram Shazad Butt and Rachid Redouane. The three, who were wearing fake boom jackets, were rubbed out late on Saturday after ramming a van into pedestrians on London Bridge and then slashing and stabbing people in nearby Borough Market. Seven people were killed during the attack and dozens more were maimed. A Canadian and a Frenchie were among the dead in Saturday's attack and citizens of other nations were among the 48 injured, including Australia, Bulgaria, La Belle France, Greece and New Zealand. Eighteen are still at death's door in hospital, according to health authorities. The third attacker, Youssef Zaghba, was born in Fez in 1995 to a Moroccan father and an Italian mother, reported Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. Zaghba was stopped at Bologna's airport in March 2016 as he tried to make his way to Syria via The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... An Italian interior ministry official told the News Agency that Dare Not be Named that British and Moroccan intelligence and law-enforcement authorities were informed that Zaghba had been flagged as someone who was a risk - but no other details were released. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to discuss details of the case. Italian news reports said authorities sequestered Zaghba's mobile phone and passport when he was stopped at the airport, but that he successfully got them back after a court determined there wasn't enough evidence to charge him with any terrorism-related crime. Italia has expelled more than 40 people in the past two years who were suspected of radicalisation activities but for whom there was insufficient evidence to bring formal charges. Zaghba's Italian citizenship prevented such an expulsion, Italian daily La Repubblica said. Zaghba was reportedly working in a London restaurant around the time of the attack and had not been seen in Italia since 2016. The other attackers Zaghba's two accomplices in the attack were identified by police on Monday. London's Metropolitan Police said one attacker was Khuram Shazad Butt, aged 27. Butt was previously known to police and the domestic spy agency MI5, and was a British citizen who had been born in Pakistain, the police said. "However, some men learn by reading. A few learn by observation. The rest have to pee on the electric fence for themselves... there was no intelligence to suggest that this attack was being planned and the investigation had been prioritised accordingly," police said on Monday, without providing details on why Butt had come to the attention of law enforcement. Butt had notably featured in a Channel 4 TV documentary entitled The Jihadis Next Door and, according to the British media, numerous people alarmed by his views had gone to the authorities. The second attacker was named as Rachid Redouane, aged 30, who also went by the identity Rachid Elkhdar and was not known to police. Redouane had claimed to be Moroccan and Libyan. Police on Tuesday carried out a new search in an east London suburb near the home of two of the London Bridge attackers. The search in Ilford, just north of Barking, is seeking to determine whether the group had accomplices. Police on Tuesday also tossed in the clink Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! a 27-year-old man in Barking on suspicion of violating the Terrorism Act and a residence there was being searched. London police have said 12 other people from Barking held since the attack have been freed. Also, courtesy of Bright Pebbles: London attacker who lived in Ireland was refused asylum in Britain [Reuters] One of the three attackers that killed seven people in London on Saturday was refused asylum in Britain but was able to remain there through a European Union residence card granted in Ireland, Irish state broadcaster RTE reported on Tuesday. British police on Monday named Rachid Redouane, a 30-year-old from Barking in east London who claimed to be Moroccan and Libyan, as one of the three attackers shot dead during the knife and van attack. Irish media reported that an Irish identification card was found on Redouane's body, and Prime Minister Enda Kenny confirmed that one of the attackers lived in Ireland for a time but did not attract the attention of law-enforcement. RTE said, without citing sources, that Redouane was refused asylum in Britain but was granted a '4 EU FAM' residence card after getting married in Ireland in 2012, which allowed him to apply for a permit to remain in Britain when he left Ireland. A '4 EU FAM' card grants a non-European Economic Area family member permission to stay in the EU. Ireland has a common travel area with Britain that allows the freedom of movement of people within the two islands as well as the rights to reside, work and access public services. It hopes to maintain the bilateral system, which predates its EU membership, after Britain leaves the bloc. Britain's Home Office and Irish police declined to comment on the report. London Bridge terrorist was arrested after violent attack on Islamic scholar - but let off with a caution From the BBC liveblog: NHS England says 15 people remain in a critical condition in hospital A further arrest has been made in the Irish Republic - a man in his 30s - related to Redouane. Another man also arrested in the Irish Republic earlier on Tuesday over ID documents in Redouane's name has been released without charge Theresa May has said she will change human rights laws if they "get in the way" of tackling suspected terrorists From the Telegraph liveblog: ISI raid Khuram Butt's former family home in the village of Mujahidabadand and a restaurant owned by Khuram Butt's uncle in the city of Jhelum, 60 miles south east of Islamabad "as a precaution." Butt, also known as Abu Zaitun, was a key contact of London bomber Mohammed Siddique Khan and hate preacher Anjem Choudary. Update from Yahoo at 10:30 a.m. EDT courtesy of Bright Pebbles: London terror attack: Police find body in River Thames thought to be French man Xavier Thomas

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Britain

Fanatic Who Trained 7/7 Bomber Set Up Islamic Primary School In Britain

2014-03-31

A terror suspect who trained the ringleader of the 7/7 terrorist bombings in London has been allowed to set up an Islamic primary school, teaching children as young as three, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. As a member of a banned extremist group, Sajeel Shahid, 38, called for violence against British troops and ran a training camp in Pakistan where known terrorists learned how to make bombs and fire rocket- propelled grenades. One of his 'graduates' was Mohammed Siddique Khan, who led the gang of four suicide bombers on the deadliest terrorist attack ever committed in Britain, killing 52 people on the London Underground and a bus on July 7, 2005. Shahid also allegedly trained four convicted terrorists who tried to blow up the Bluewater Shopping Centre in Kent and London's Ministry of Sound nightclub in a foiled plot. The jihadist -- who was raised in Britain but spent years in Pakistan after the 9/11 attacks -- was detained for three months in 2005 by the Pakistani security forces over his suspected links to Al Qaeda. He had been running the Pakistan branch of the banned British extremist group Al-Muhajiroun. After his detention he was expelled from the country. So even though he repudiates everything Britain stands for, the Brits took him back after the Paks said he was too crazy for them... But despite being known to British security services, on his return to the UK he was given permission to set up an independent primary school, where he taught lessons and employed his brother -- who also has a history of extremism -- as head of IT. The Department for Education said last night it was 'urgently' looking into Shahid's case, which critics said exposed the lack of checks on potentially dangerous individuals who set up schools in the UK. They're now looking into after letting him back into the country in 2005? Lord Carlile, the Government's former adviser on counter-terrorism, said: 'It is a matter of real concern that somebody should be able to slip through the net and run a school where there has been substantial concern about his activities in the past. 'People who have been involved in terrorist activity anywhere in the world should not be allowed to run schools, unless there is the clearest evidence they have rejected the views that made them turn towards terrorism.' Keith Vaz, chairman of the Home Affairs Committee which is investigating terrorism, including extremism in schools, said: 'It's extremely worrying a person with such a history, which should be of concern to the relevant authorities, should be in such a position. The DfE needs to look into this urgently.' How about expelling the man to Mauritania? Documents seen by The Mail on Sunday show Shahid was registered as director and proprietor of the Ad-Deen Primary School in Ilford, Essex, which teaches 54 pupils aged three to 11. He is thought to have founded the Â2,000-a-year school in 2009, where, using the pseudonym Abu Ibrahim, he taught children to recite the Koran. He was able to operate his school for five years, despite the DfE launching a Due Diligence and Counter-Extremism Unit in 2010 to prevent individuals with a history of extremist beliefs running schools. A cursory internet check on Shahid reveals his past as a terror suspect, as he even has a profile on Wikipedia stating his involvement with Al-Muhajiroun, the group founded by Omar Bakri Mohammed. In 2001, Bakri sent Shahid and his elder brother Adeel, 39, also a member of Al-Muhajiroun, to Pakistan to set up a branch of the group there. In December 2001, Shahid gave an interview to a British newspaper. He said: 'We say the Pakistan army, navy and air-force should be fighting US and British forces which are killing our Islamic brothers and sisters in Afghanistan. We see the US and British governments as the biggest terrorists in the world.' He also called on Muslims to rise up and 'throw out their rulers implementing kufr [infidel] laws to be replaced by the Islamic law and order,' adding, 'jihad was the only solution for Muslim lands under occupation.' More of Shahid's history at the link.

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Britain

MI5 to escape criticism over 7/7 bombings

2009-05-17

The long-awaited Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) report into the suicide bombings which left 52 people dead and hundreds injured in July 2005 will effectively clear MI5 and the police of failing to prevent the attacks. Sources have revealed that the report, to be published on Tuesday, will state that no new intelligence has emerged since the publication of the first report in May 2006. ISC report is said to be the most detailed ever compiled by the committee and will contain accounts of the tactics used by MI5 and the police during the monitoring of suspected terrorists. The document will also reveal that MI5 monitored meetings in early 2004 between Mohammed Siddique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer, who planned the 7/7 attacks, and Omar Khyam, the ring leader of a plot to blow up shopping centres and nightclubs. Details of their conversations will appear in the report but sources have said that there was no intelligence to suggest that the London bombings were being planned at that time. The ISC document will show that MI5 knew that Siddique Khan and Tanweer were planing to travel to Pakistan to take part in Jihad, or holy war, in either Kashmir or Afghanistan, and that the two men were also involved in fraud to fund their activities. But, crucially, the report will show that at no time did MI5 obtain any intelligence that the 7/7 ring leaders were planning the attacks. An intelligence source said: "MI5 had to put its resources into those suspects who represented a threat to life. It was known that Khyam was planning to carry out bomb attacks. That was not the case with Tanweer and Siddique Khan. Difficult decisions had to be made and those two men, although of interest, were not a prime threat. They were just two of many associates of Khan, and neither MI5 or the police had the capability to monitor them all." The report's findings are unlikely to satisfy the survivors and family of those who died, especially if key questions remain unanswered. The investigation into the bombings cost £100 million, the biggest inquiry in modern times, yet it failed to yield a single conviction. The police and MI5 have conceded that it is now unlikely that anyone will be brought to justice for the attacks even though intelligence officials believe that 20 people were involved in the attacks. Last month the only three men to be charged in connection with the suicide bombings were acquitted.

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India-Pakistan

Pakistan: origin of three-quarters of all terror plots

2009-04-10

At least three in every four terror plots currently under investigation in the UK have their roots in Pakistan, according to the security services. Decisions, decisions: surprise meter? Patience meter? Cynicism meter? Whilst Afghanistan was seen as the training ground of terrorists in the immediate aftermath of the September 2001 attacks, recent experience has shown that increasing numbers of al-Qaeda extremists are being trained across the border in the tribal areas in the north west of Pakistan. President Obama openly refers to his "Af-Pak" strategy for combating militancy, such is the prevalance of terror suspects who have been radicalised in Pakistan. "have been" radicalized? They've been radicalized from day one. Of the four men who carried out the London suicide bombings in July 2005, three were young British men of Pakistani origin who had travelled to the country to receive religious and military training. Just rounding out their education, much like Brits of old would travel to the continent to learn about wine and which fork to use at dinner ... Mohammed Siddique Khan, the leader of the plot, was raised in Beeston, West Yorkshire, but was understood to have made regular trips to terrorist training camps in southern Punjab, and was captured on video at Karachi airport in November 2004 with his accomplice Shehzad Tanweer, 22, another British national of Pakistan origin. They returned to Britain the following February. The third bomber of Pakistani origin, Hasib Hussain, aged 18, had travelled to Pakistan 12 months before the attack. Meanwhile, the alleged plot to bomb shopping centres in Manchester has been linked by MI5 to two al-Qaeda suspects in Pakistan - British Pakistani Rashid Rauf, who has been implicated in at least one other alleged terror plot, and Baitullah Mahsud, the leader of Pakistan's Taliban movement who has promised attacks on the West in hate-filled pronouncements in recent weeks. So many UK terror suspects have links to Pakistan that thousands of innocent travellers between the two countries every year are now closely monitored for signs of suspicious activity. Which apparently is wrong, or at least suspicious, since the poor dears will be traumatized by having been briefly considered as terrorists ... Latest estimates suggest 4,000 young British Muslims have been trained in terrorist camps in Pakistan, and with 400,000 British citizens visiting Pakistan each year, there are fears that many more will become radicalised. They aren't being radicalized in Pakistan, they are radicalized in Britain by imans in British mosques. They're going to Pakistan to polish their skills. Monitoring of regular visitors has intensified, which has raised the possibility of a change in tactics by terrorists, who may have switched to using Pakistani nationals who may not be so closely monitored when they visit the UK. Shahid Aslam, a British employment solicitor who runs an immigration consultancy in Lahore, said terrorists could easily take advantages of gaps in the British visa application process to enter Britain on a valid visa. He claimed there had been a number of cases where employees of agencies processing visa applications in Pakistan had accepted inducements to speed and guarantee entry visas. So the agencies and their employees need to be screened, tossed and turned to Brit advantage.

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Afghanistan

British Muslims fighting alongside Taliban, commanders claim

2009-01-03

Military intelligence reports suggest that a small number of UK nationals are among the range of foreign fighters who regularly clash with British troops in Afghanistan. British military sources have told The Daily Telegraph that they believe that some of those Britons have been killed fighting against their own country's forces. The revelation comes amid growing concern among British military and intelligence officials about militants based in Pakistan launching attacks on British interests in Afghanistan and at home. Foreign fighters enter Afghanistan from Pakistan's lawless border areas, home to the reconstituted al-Qaeda leadership. British commanders in Helmand say that they have intelligence suggesting that British Muslims are among the enemies they face, albeit in small numbers. "We're talking about ones and twos at a time," said one officer. "It's not big numbers, but they are there, definitely." Some of those British Muslims may have been killed in battle with British troops, military sources said. Confirmation is near-impossible, but British troop commanders believe that UK nationals are among the enemy dead. One officer said: "We can't say for sure. If they don't carry passports, who can you say what nationality a corpse is? But it's a reasonable assumption that we've killed some of them." Another security source highlighted the case of Rashid Rauf, the Birmingham man wanted by British police in connection with a 2006 plot to bomb transatlantic airliners. Rauf is believed to have been killed inside Pakistan in a CIA missile attack in November. "He's not the only [British Muslim] to die out here," said the source. In August, Brigadier Ed Butler, the former commander of UK forces in Afghanistan, told the Telegraph that there are "British passport holders" in the Taliban ranks. And earlier this year, it was revealed that RAF Nimrod surveillance planes monitoring Taliban radio signals in Afghanistan had heard militants speaking with Yorkshire and Midlands accents. The Ministry of Defence says it does not comment or give estimates for the number of enemy dead. But privately, British officers in Afghanistan estimate that several thousand Taliban fighters have been killed since 2006, among them the citizens of several foreign countries. Foreign fighters entering Afghanistan from Pakistan are a significant component of the eclectic mix of enemy forces UK troops face. Patrick Mercer, the chairman of the House of Commons sub-committee on counter-terrorism, said it was "to be expected" that British Muslims were among the enemy dead in Afghanistan. He said: "The terrorist operations undertaken by British citizens at home and abroad shows the scale of British Muslims' involvement in extremism around the world. "It should not come as a surprise that some of the enemy dead in Afghanistan can be traced back to the UK." The ease with which al-Qaeda and its associated groups can operate along the Afghan-Pakistan border is causing growing concern in Whitehall. In December Gordon Brown visited Islamabad and told Asif Ali Zardari, the Pakistani president, he must do more to stop militants operating in the border area and launching operations inside Afghanistan. In particular, Mr Brown demanded more Pakistani action against the training camps set up by extremist groups inside Pakistan. Several known British terrorists have passed through those camps. Mohammed Siddique Khan, the ringleader of the July 7, 2005 bomb attacks in London, trained at a Pakistani camp. He went to the camp with the intention of passing into Afghanistan to fight against British forces there, but was persuaded to return to Britain instead. International Jihadis are also said to be active inside Pakistan. Earlier this month Major General Tariq Khan, a senior Pakistani officer, said that over 300 foreign fighters are still operating in Pakistan's tribal region that borders Afghanistan. British commanders and intelligence officers working in Afghanistan have largely abandoned the term "Taliban" in favour of the phrase "enemy forces." They say the change in language reflects the diverse nature of the forces they face, which include local tribal fighters, Afghan nationalists, drug gangs and hired gunmen paid by the Taliban leadership.

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India-Pakistan

Terrorists in Pakistan planning over 20 attacks on Britain

2008-12-14

The Prime Minister named Pakistan as a haven for terrorists planning attacks in Britain, revealing that around three quarters of the most advanced plots monitored by MI5 are have Pakistani links. Officials say that the Security Service is aware of around 30 serious plots at any given moment, suggesting that at least 21 of them are tied to Pakistani groups. On a visit to Islamabad, the Prime Minister delived a blunt demand to President Ali Asif Zardari to improve his goverment's work to prevent al-Qaeda and other groups operating in the lawless area that borders Afghanistan. "The time has come for action not words," Mr Brown told Mr Zardari. Or else what, Gordo? At a press conference, Mr Brown revealed that he had told Mr Zardari that "three quarters of the most serious plots investigated by the British authorities have links to al-Qaeda in Pakistan". Many known terrorists including Mohammed Siddique Khan, ringleader of the 7/7 bombings, are known to have trained at al-Qaeda inspired camps in the Pakistani border areas. In a private meeting Mr Brown told Mr Zardari he must do more to close those camps. Mr Brown told reporters: "We must break the chain of terrorism that links the mountains of Afghanistan to the streets of Britain." Mr Brown also announced increased British support for Pakistani counter-terrorism work, including greater support for Pakistani police work on detecting and defusing bombs. The UK will also fund more scanning equipment at Pakistani airports. So that the ISI can figure out how they work and learn to defeat them ... British police will also work with their Pakistani counterparts providing help with forensic science and contingency planning for major terrorist incidents. There will also be a £6 million British fund to help Pakistan counter the radicalization of young Muslims. £6 million into someone's pocket without any accountability ... The Prime Minister said his aim was to form "the most comprehensive anti-terror programme Britain has with any country". Mr Brown said: "I want to help Pakistan root out terrorism. It is right that we help Pakistan root out terrorism." He added: "People know that what can happen in the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan can affect directly what happens on the streets of our towns. I want to remove the chain of terror." Mr Brown also demanded Pakistan do more to stop miliants moving over the border into Afghanistan to attack British troops. He said: "We have talked about how we can do more to ensure there is more security at the border. It is in all our interests to root out the problem where there are people who practice terror who are moving with ease."

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Britain

British terror preacher out by Christmas?

2008-10-12

A terror preacher convicted of raising funds for suicide bombers could be free by Christmas, the Sunday Mercury has learned. An appeal by lawyers for Muslim cleric Abu Izzadeen, who was caged in April for a string of violent jihadi rants, casts doubt on crucial evidence filmed at a community centre in Small Heath, Birmingham, and at mosques in London. Izzadeen, 32, whose real name is Omar Brooks, was convicted of terrorist fund-raising and inciting terrorism overseas after jurors at Kingston Crown Court were shown video clips of extremist speeches. He was jailed for four-and-a-half years. Today, the Sunday Mercury can reveal that the authorities were alerted as early as November 2005 to images of Izzadeen calling for jihad and holding bile-filled lectures. The clips from his rants in Small Heath were handed over in July 2006, but the hate preacher was not arrested until April 2007. The Birmingham videos formed the evidence for his arrest, but were not shown in court. A source close to the law firm acting for Izzadeen, Ahmed and Co, outlined the significance of the Metropolitan Police’s decision not to follow up on footage of the Birmingham hate speeches earlier. “The concern that we have is that these videos were in the possession of the police for a long time,” he said. “The prosecution did convince a judge that they had to do work on the footage and that is why it took so long from the first reports of these speeches to the arrest and charge of Mr Brooks. “We’re concerned that they had it for this long. If it was that sinister surely they would have launched an inquiry earlier? The appeal will ask why there was such a gap between this material being submitted and him being taken in for questioning. We will also present fresh evidence.” Izzadeen is currently being held on the Isle of Wight at maximum-security Parkhurst Prison, referred to by inmates as Britain’s Guantanamo Bay. The appeal against his conviction could cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of pounds as the authorities defend their tactics in gathering information. Videos handed to the Sunday Mercury show the radical Islamist preacher laughing at the victims of terrorist attacks, and warning that Britain faced more death and destruction unless our troops left Muslim lands. In the exclusive clips, filmed in 2006 just days before the first anniversary of the 7/7 tube bombings, Izzadeen tells supporters at a community centre in Small Heath to listen to the words of plot ringleader Mohammed Siddique Khan. He says: “If we take the time to read Mohammed Siddique Khan’s will we can see the answer for our problems. If you stop (the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq), you will be saved, if you don’t stop we’re going to kill you – indiscriminately. Now you take the bus, you take the train, you could be the next target, you could be burned alive. Are you prepared to die?” Last night, a security investigator who alerted police to the terror preacher’s rants said he is worried that anti-terror cops do not pay enough attention when contacted by members of the public. He told the Sunday Mercury: “I rang the anti-terrorism hotline in November 2005 in relation to a number of videos downloaded from a password-protected website. In July 2006 a number of people alerted police to videos taken at a community centre in Small Heath, Birmingham, after I posted them across the web to raise awareness. “I was led to believe that the evidence would be followed up and I also forwarded emails containing links to the videos to MI5. The police had films from a London Mosque in November 2005 and never acted. The Birmingham videos were handed to detectives in July 2006, but Izzadeen was not arrested until April 2007. I believe the police should act on information given to them by the public. If this appeal is successful it could have a massive impact on how anti-terror operations are conducted.” A spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police, the force that led the initial investigation into Izzadeen, refused to comment on the appeal.

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Britain

Muslim preacher Abu Izzadeen found guilty of inciting terrorism

2008-04-18

A Muslim preacher who barracked former Home Secretary John Reid faces life in jail after he was found guilty of calling on his followers to train to be terrorists and telling them to kill non-believers to get to heaven. Abu Izzadeen, whose real name is Trevor Brooks, 32, led a group of Islamic radicals who stormed the moderate Regents Park Mosque in central London and then forced back police who tried to evict them. Izzadeen was found guilty of incitement to terrorism abroad along with three of his associates, Abdul Rehman Saleem, also known as Abu Yahya, the convert Simon Keeler, also known as Suliman Keeler, and Ibrahim Abdullah Hassan. Brooks, Keeler and two other men, Shah Jalal Hussain and Abdul Muhid were found guilty of collecting money for terrorists in Iraq. Hussain skipped bail while the jury were deliberating and is now on the run The group delivered a series of speeches from the middle of the mosque in November 2004, which coincided with a night of the Muslim festival of Ramadan known as the “Night of Power.” They were found on a DVD lasting nearly five hours in which Brooks told his followers: “Allah will remove all the kufr [disbelief] from the earth, and how? With dua [prayers] or with some books? No my dear Muslim brothers with jihad for the sake of Allah...So we are terrorists, terrify the enemies of Allah.” Brooks said anybody who sought “dignity outside of shariah [Islamic law]” would be “humiliated.” In another speech, recorded two years later in Small Heath, Birmingham, Brooks asked his audience; “Are you ready for another 7/7?” Jonathan Laidlaw QC, prosecuting, said this time Brooks was trying not to break a new terrorism law, making it illegal to “glorify terrorism.” But he said he had “clothed” his message in the words of Mohammed Siddique Khan, one of the July 7 bombers who left behind a videoed message. He said he was telling them “listen, absorb and follow the words of a suicide bomber.” Brooks told his audience: “These people have made a clear statement: If you stop, you'll be saved. If you don't stop, we're going to kill you indiscriminately. Now, you take the bus, you take the train? You could be the next target. You could be burned alive. You prepared to die?” Brooks claimed his arrest was politically motivated after he interrupted a speech on fundamentalism by then Home Secretary John Reid at a youth centre in Forest Gate, East London, two months later, causing a storm of publicity. Izzadeen was a follower of the radical cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed, one-time leader of a group called al-Muhajiroun, who left for the Lebanon in the wake of the July 2005 bombings. The Regents Park speech was found on a DVD recovered during a raid on Bakri's home in Haringey, North London, on March 15 2006 in the wake of the protests against the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. Running for four hours and 48 minutes it covered a period at the mosque between 3.48pm and 10.15pm. The police were called at 8pm by security staff at the mosque as the preaching began outside and returned an hour and 20 minutes later after the crowd had moved inside. But the crowd forced the officers from the mosque as they chanted “leave, leave, leave” and “out, out, out” as well as “Allah-u-Akbar”. One female officer said she was pushed, shoved and spat at. Inside the mosque speakers referred to the September 11 hijackers as the “magnificent 19” and the audience clapped those who had “chosen to answer the call by becoming martyrs.” Mr Laidlaw said the defendants had “crossed the line representing the boundary of freedom of expression by some considerable distance and become criminal.” He said that in the tape, largely recorded before the police arrived, “the speeches became progressively more emotive and inflammatory and insulting in their tone.” He added: “Much of what they say and believe is deeply, deeply offensive to liberal, fair-minded people. ”Their views are by ordinary standards, among other things, intolerant, racist, homophobic, and anti-Semitic. If others were to describe them and their religion in the language they use the defendants would understandably be outraged.” The men will be sentenced today.

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Europe

UK sharia creep

2007-05-06

MUSLIM radicals have established their own draconian court systems in Britain. Controversial Sharia courts have been set up in major towns and cities to impose Islamic law and enable Muslims to shun the legitimate British legal system. Last night religious leaders and politicians expressed outrage that Sharia law is gaining an increasing foothold in our society. Critics insisted that the Govern­ment is allowing a two-tier legal system to flourish in the name of political correctness and that the authority of UK justice is being undermined. The Daily Express can reveal that one of the controversial courts has been set up in the home town of the 7/7 London bombings ringleader. Mohammed Siddique Khan was responsible for the Edgware Road Circle Line explosion which killed six people and injured 120. Our investigation has found that the Sharia court system has been set up in the heart of Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, and that it is a model for others across the country which are operating outside the British legal process.

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India-Pakistan

Heroes, not wimps, make nations

2007-05-06

By Swapan Dasgupta A controversy being played out in Britain may offer lessons for India's war on terror. During the 'fertiliser bomb' trials that led to the conviction of five British Muslims, it emerged that the intelligence agency MI5 had put two of the perpetrators of the ghastly July 7, 2005 London bombings under surveillance in 2004. However, owing to a misjudgement the monitoring was discontinued, with tragic results. The revelation that Mohammed Siddique Khan and Shehzad Tanveer were actually on the police radar before they killed 52 people in the London Underground has outraged many people. The police and MI5 have been mercilessly pilloried in the media and there are demands for a public inquiry into the costly lapse. If only, it is being said, the surveillance had gone on many lives would have been saved. It is entirely possible that had Khan and Tanveer been detained by the authorities in a pre-emptive move, there would have been charges of human rights abuse by the same people who are today demanding an inquiry. It is unlikely that a conspiracy charge would have stood judicial scrutiny. Wisdom in hindsight being a part of the popular discourse, the anger is understandable. In India, every successful terrorist attack is followed by shrill accusations of "intelligence failure". Yet, it is entirely possible that had Khan and Tanveer been detained by the authorities in a pre-emptive move, there would have been charges of human rights abuse by the same people who are today demanding an inquiry. In all likelihood, the 7/7 plot hadn't fully materialised in 2004 when the two came under the scanner and it is unlikely that a conspiracy charge would have stood judicial scrutiny. The question of how much leeway the police should be given to fight fanatical terrorists has agitated democratic societies. Pre-emptive action is, of course, the best recourse but this may also lead to some wrong numbers being dialled. Arguably, many of those incarcerated by the Americans without trial in Guantanamo Bay were harmless cranks. Yet, can we honestly say that the world would have been a better place if Taliban-trained radicals were roaming free, plotting vengeance?

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Britain

UK-Pakistani radicals posing greatest threat

2006-08-29

The biggest threat to US security emanates not from Iran or Iraq or Afghanistan, but rather from Great Britain, America’s closest ally because of Pakistan-oriented young Islamists in that country, according to two noted terrorism experts. Peter Bergen and Paul Cruickshank write in the current issue of New Republic that for terrorist organisations like Al Qaeda, which has reconstituted itself in Pakistan, ethnic Pakistanis living in the United Kingdom make perfect recruits, since they speak English and can travel on British passports. There is anecdotal evidence for the influence of Muslim extremism on British Pakistani communities. The two authors found strong jihadi sentiments at a fitness centre in East London, frequented by Muslims, five of whose regulars are included among those arrested this month in England and Pakistan on terrorism charges. The authors point out that many of Britain’s young Pakistanis are filled with contempt both for the moderation of their parents and for a British society that won’t quite accept them. For many, this leaves a vacuum in their identities that radical Islamist preachers have been all too glad to fill. Young British Pakistanis are also unemployed and thus especially vulnerable to the temptations of radicalism. Bergen and Cruickshank write that it is primarily in Pakistan - not the United Kingdom - where British citizens are being recruited into Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups. About 400,000 British Pakistanis per year travel back to their homeland, where a small percentage embark on learning the skills necessary to become effective terrorists. According to a government report released this year, British officials believe that the lead perpetrators of the 2005 attacks in London - Mohammed Siddique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer - met Al Qaeda members in Pakistan. Several individuals allegedly involved in a 2004 plot to explode a fertiliser bomb in Great Britain also spent significant time in Pakistan. In April 2003, Omar Khan Sharif, whose family immigrated to Great Britain from Kashmir, attempted to carry out a suicide attack in a bar in Tel Aviv after visiting Pakistan. The two authors believe that what motivates many of these young men is Kashmir since a disproportionate number of Pakistanis living in Great Britain trace their lineage back to Kashmir. For the small number of British Pakistanis who want terrorist training, the facilities of Kashmiri militant groups have become an obvious first choice - as well as a gateway to Al Qaeda itself. Al Qaeda’s ties with Kashmiri militant groups date to the Afghan war against the Soviets, when bin Laden’s forces fought alongside Pakistani groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). Since September 11, the relationship between Al Qaeda and Kashmiri groups has only deepened. Bergen and Cruickshank believe that the danger to the United States of the nexus between British Pakistanis, Al Qaeda and Kashmir is becoming clear. One of the alleged ringleaders of the plot to blow up transatlantic flights is Rashid Rauf, a Pakistan-born British citizen whose family immigrated to Great Britain from Kashmir. This should raise two concerns for American officials. The first is that American Pakistanis could pose a similar threat. They add, “Yet it seems unlikely that radicalism in the American Pakistani community could pose as large a threat as radicalism in the British Pakistani community. American Muslims are, on average, more politically moderate than their British counterparts.” The two authors maintain that of more concern is the likelihood that British Pakistanis will continue to target Americans - both in the United States and abroad. To address this problem, the Bush administration should encourage the British government to monitor more closely the activities of UK-based extremist groups. Simply banning these organisations is not enough. In addition, Great Britain must step up efforts to identify its own citizens who attend Kashmiri or Al Qaeda training camps in Pakistan. The British government will need help from moderate Muslims, some of whom are waking up to the threat posed by the radicals in their midst. According to London imam Ghulam Rabbani, “These people are ill. I say very categorically and very clearly that they are misguided and they don’t know the basics of Islam.”

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Terror Networks

Virtual Incompetence: when do-it-yourself terrorists train online.

2006-08-22

DESPITE CHARACTERIZATIONS of last week's thwarted attempt to blow up ten transatlantic flights as "homegrown," Pakistan, rather than the United Kingdom, has emerged as the epicenter of planning. The incident is part of a wider pattern--the past six weeks alone have revealed that several other aspiring and successful militants had similar connections to Pakistan. This trend suggests that, contrary to conventional wisdom, a physical sanctuary and training ground are essential to a successful terror plot. On the first anniversary of the July 2005 London attacks, Ayman al-Zawahiri released a tape featuring the video wills of bombers Mohammed Siddique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer, suggesting that the two had trained with al Qaeda members in Pakistan before perpetrating the suicide bombings that killed 52 civilians on the London Underground. The video's release preceded the train bombings in Bombay, India, which killed 207 people, by less than a week. Indian authorities suspect the bombers trained in Pakistan before infiltrating Indian territory. Just weeks prior to the India attack, Lebanese police arrested Assem Hammoud on suspicion of planning to bomb the Holland Tunnel in New York. Hammoud told police that he had planned to train for the attack in Pakistan and to impart his knowledge to his co-conspirators. Hammoud is just one of dozens of terrorists who have been apprehended since September 11 while seeking training in Pakistan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Bangladesh, and several key African countries. All of these plots, successful and otherwise, contradict a prevalent theory in counter-terrorism circles that all the skills necessary to conduct a successful attack can be learned in the comfort of a terrorist's own home. This paradigm is based on the belief that internet technology has removed the need for terrorist training camps by creating a virtual safe haven where youth can self-radicalize and self-train. Bomb making and target selection are 'easy.' An attacker can simply download instructions and maps off the internet, purchase readily available materials to construct the explosive, and voilá, a fully formed terrorist emerges from behind his computer, competent to conceive, fund, plan, and execute a sophisticated terrorist attack. Such streamlined attack planning puts law enforcement at a disadvantage by decreasing the window of opportunity to detect and disrupt a plot.

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