British National Party
Anti-Jihad News Bulletin w/c July 9th, 2007
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1. BOMBING PLOTS ‘CARRIED OUT WITH BIN LADEN’S BLESSING'

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article2034118.ece

The London and Glasgow bomb plots were carried out with the approval of Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader, a top foreign intelligence source said last night. ‘It was an established fact from Day 1 that al-Qaeda was behind this and it was planned by its followers in Great Britain with bin Laden’s blessing,’ the source told The Times. British security officials were more guarded, saying that it was too early to say whether the plot was masterminded by some foreign hand or hatched in Britain. The warning an al-Qaeda leader in Iraq delivered to Canon Andrew White, a British cleric working in Baghdad, in April certainly suggested that he knew of the doctors’ plot. ‘Those who cure you will kill you,’ the man said. The Times also learnt yesterday that Bilal Abdulla, 27, the Iraqi doctor who allegedly helped to drive a Jeep into the front of Glasgow airport last Saturday, disappeared for a year during his medical training in Baghdad. He is thought to have visited Pakistan or Lebanon.

A friend who attended the Medical College of Baghdad University with Dr Abdulla told The Times that he was a religious fanatic, and that in 2001 or 2002 he mysteriously abandoned his studies for a year. ‘There was some talk that he went outside Iraq to develop his religious culture. I heard that he went to Lebanon or Pakistan,’ the friend said. On his return Dr Abdulla adopted a much more intense demeanour and isolated himself from his former friends. ‘He became more radical, but not to the degree that he took part in actual actions or clashes. He kept silent and became more isolated. He prayed and he kept himself away from the rest of the group.’ Dr Abdulla was born in Britain, where his father was working as a doctor, and has a British passport. His family returned to Baghdad when he was 5. He showed religious leanings from an early age, attending Friday prayer each week and even sounding the call to prayer from his grandfather’s mosque. At medical school he fell in with ‘a group of radicals and extremists’. ‘They carried extremist thoughts,’ said a friend, who also went to the elite college. ‘They had beards and talked about religion. He was against people wearing Western clothes and asked female doctors to put on a headscarf and gloves.’ After he graduated in 2004 he went overseas — the friend did not know where — and finally turned up in Scotland, where he worked at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley. Dr Abdulla appears to have met some of the extremists during several periods he spent living in Cambridge.

Police are presently searching several properties in the city. One of those suspects is Khalid or Kafeel Ahmed, the man with whom Dr Abdulla drove a jeep into Glasgow airport. Mr Ahmed is thought to be another key figure, but he remains critically ill in the Royal Alexandra hospital in Paisley and his true role and identity remain unclear. He was originally believed to be a doctor working at that hospital and the brother of Sabeel Ahmed, 26, the Indian doctor arrested in Liverpool last Saturday. The Australian Medical Association said yesterday that a Khalid Ahmed applied numerous times, using slightly different names, to work as a doctor for the Western Australia Department of Health between February 2005 and January 2006. He was repeatedly rejected because his professional qualifications and character references were inadequate. ‘It was quickly picked up in the process that he was the same bloke,’ a spokesman said. Sabeel Ahmed also applied to work for the Western Australia Department of Health in January 2006. He made one unsuccessful application. A cousin of Sabeel Ahmed in Bangalore told The Times yesterday that he did not have a brother called Khalid but did have one called Kafeel. Investigators are still trying to piece together precisely how the eight suspects knew one another, but sources told The Times that a few could soon be released without charge. A week after the event it also remains unclear whether the plot was directed from overseas or hatched by conspirators in Britain. ‘It’s just too early to tell,’ a source said. While Dr Abdulla appears to have been radicalised long before he arrived in Britain, other suspects may have been converted to the cause of Islamic militancy while living here. The Government’s new Office of Security and Counter-Terrorism is engaged in an intensive search for the ‘trigger point’ that persuades Muslims who may dislike Britain’s role in Iraq or the Middle East to engage in terrorist plots against the state.

2. TERROR INVESTIGATORS FOCUS ON CAMBRIDGE LINKS

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/article2739771.ece

Five of the eight suspects in the London and Glasgow bomb plots were in Cambridge together at a time when they began to embrace fundamentalist Islam for the first time. Piecing together the links between the members of the group, the security services have come across repeated references to the city. Cambridge, where Philby, MacLean and Burgess were radicalised in the Thirties before becoming Soviet spies, had become a place where jihadist tenets were being discussed among young Muslims in the early part of this decade. Seven of those arrested are said to be based in the health sector. The US television channel ABC News reported that a syringe was part of the firing mechanism for the London bombs, but this was not confirmed by the police. Investigators are coming round to a view that the Iraqi doctor Bilal Abdulla was the leading advocate of violent action against the perceived iniquities of the West. Angered by the US-led invasion, Dr Abdulla is said to have become embittered by the suffering of his family and friends in the anarchy which followed. While many middle-class Iraqis were trying to escape their homeland, Abdulla's trips back to Iraq increased.

At Cambridge, which he visited before and after the invasion of Iraq, Abdulla is said to have met Dr Sabeel Ahmed and his brother Khafeel, Indian Muslims from Bangalore. Khafeel Ahmed, it is claimed, later went on, with Abdulla, to try to carry out the London and Glasgow bombings. Khafeel Ahmed and Dr Abdulla, were ‘best mates’, their associate in Cambridge Shiraz Maher told BBC Newsnight. Mr Maher, a former member of the militant Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir, has said Dr Abdulla was radicalised by the events in Iraq. A spokesman for Hizb ut-Tahrir last night denied that any of its members were involved with the men arrested. Sabeel Ahmed was arrested by police in Liverpool after being hit by a Taser gun after a two-hour stand-off. Also living in Cambridge was Dr Mohammed Asha, a neurosurgeon. He worked at Addenbrooke's Hospital, along with his wife, Marwa. Dr Asha and Dr Abdulla knew each other from Amman, Jordan. More than one of the suspects had links with Anglia Ruskin University. A spokeswoman said: ‘At this time identities are still unclear; it would be inappropriate to comment further.’ Police have searched a Cambridge address where Dr Abdulla had rented a room from a mosque. They have also carried out inquiries at Muslim centres and searched internet sites to try to track extremist activity in the city.

3. 45 MUSLIM DOCTORS PLANNED US TERROR RAIDS

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/07/05/nterror405.xml

A group of 45 Muslim doctors threatened to use car bombs and rocket grenades in terrorist attacks in the United States during discussions on an extremist internet chat site. Police found details of the discussions on a site run by one of a three-strong ‘cyber-terrorist’ gang. They were discovered at the home of Younis Tsouli, 23, Woolwich Crown Court in south-east London heard. One message read: ‘We are 45 doctors and we are determined to undertake jihad and take the battle inside America. ‘The first target which will be penetrated by nine brothers is the naval base which gives shelter to the ship Kennedy.’ This is thought to have been a reference to the USS John F Kennedy, which is often at Mayport Naval Base in Jacksonville, Florida. The message discussed targets at the base, adding: ‘These are clubs for naked women which are opposite the First and Third units.’ It also referred to using six Chevrolet GT vehicles and three fishing boats and blowing up petrol tanks with rocket propelled grenades. Investigators have found no link between the Tsouli chat room and the group of doctors and medics currently in custody over attempted car bomb attacks in London and Glasgow. However, sources said it was ‘definitely spooky’ that the use of doctors for terrorist purposes was being discussed in jihadi terrorist circles up to three years ago. Part of the inquiry into the London and Glasgow incidents will focus on whether al-Qa'eda has recruited doctors or other medical professionals because they are less likely to attract suspicion and can move easily around the western world.

The three ‘cyber terrorists’ - a British national and two who had been given the right to live in Britain - are facing lengthy jail sentences after admitting using the internet to spread al-Qa'eda propaganda inciting Muslims to a violent holy war and to murder non-believers. They had close links with al-Qa'eda in Iraq and believed they had to fight jihad against a global conspiracy by kuffars, or non-believers, to wipe out Islam. The three are the first defendants in Britain to be convicted of inciting terrorist murder on the internet. They waged cyber-jihad on websites run from their bedrooms. Tsouli promoted the ideology of Osama bin Laden via email and radical websites. He said in one message he was ‘very happy’ about the July 7 bombings in London in 2005. Tsouli, along with Tariq Daour, a biochemistry student, and Waseem Mughal, a law student, were intelligent, computer-literate men who promoted violent propaganda. They created chat forums to direct willing fighters to Iraq and discuss murderous bomb attacks around the world.

Films of hostages and beheadings were found by police. Daour, 21, of Bayswater, west London, who was born in the United Arab Emirates, yesterday admitted inciting another person to commit an act of terrorism wholly or partly outside Britain. Moroccan-born Tsouli, 23, of Shepherd's Bush, west London, and British-born Mughal, 24, of Chatham, Kent, admitted the same charge on Monday. They are due to be sentenced today. They also admitted conspiring together and with others to defraud banks, credit card companies and charge card companies. Daour had instructions for making explosives and poisons, the court was told. Police found instructions on causing an explosion with ‘rocket propellant'' and constructing a car bomb. In one on-line conversation, Daour, asked what he would do with £1 million, replied: ‘Sponsor terrorist attacks, become the new Osama.’ The three men outwardly appeared to be leading normal lives, studying and living with their parents. Tsouli had come to the UK with his family from Morocco in 2001. Mughal had a degree in biochemistry from Leicester University and was studying for his masters. Daour, who was granted British citizenship in May 2005, had applied to start a law degree.

4. KAFEEL AND SABEEL ORIGINALLY HELD JORDANIAN PASSPORTS

http://www.hindu.com/2007/07/06/stories/2007070661401600.htm

Investigations by the Bangalore police have revealed that Kafeel Ahmed and his younger brother Sabeel, detained by the U.K. police for their suspected role in the Glasgow terror attack, originally held Jordanian passports. Highly placed sources in the city police told The Hindu that the two spent their early years in Jordan as their parents, Maqbool Ahmed and Zakia Ahmed, worked as doctors there. Though the siblings were Indian citizens, investigations were on to ascertain whether they were born in Jordan. The doctor couple would be questioned to investigate their antecedents. The Ahmeds returned to India about 25 years ago. They live in Banashankari, an upper middle-class locality in south Bangalore. Kafeel passed his B.E. (Mechanical) from the UBDT Engineering College in Davangere in Karnataka in 2000. He scored 87 per cent and bagged the fourth rank in Kuvempu University. He was known as a studious and pleasant person. ‘I cannot believe that a studious and decent student like Kafeel can in any way be involved in terrorist activities. He was always helpful and participated in all extracurricular activities,’ said a friend, who was his junior and did not wish to be identified. Principal (in-charge) Dr. B. Siddewswarpa, who was a faculty member during that period and had taught Kafeel, shared his opinion. After his M.Phil., Kafeel pursued a Ph.D. in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) at Anglia Polytechnic University in Cambridge. He held the position of CFD engineer in the Department of Design and Technology. The police questioned about a dozen persons known to Kafeel and Sabeel and gathered information about the activities of the two brothers who were in Bangalore in May, apparently on a personal visit. Kafeel left for the U.K. on May 5 and Sabeel on May 13. The sources said they were also investigating details of the phone calls they made.

5. Al-QAEDA'S NEW AFRICAN ALLIANCE

http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/016845.php

Though poverty is mentioned several times in the article, an official notes that ‘the terrorism problem shows up differently in North and Western Africa in comparison with other parts of the world. In the Sahel, for instance, extremists are not always the poorest of the poor, but rather — as is the case in northern Nigeria — educated young people...’ ‘Al-Qaeda’s new African alliance watched,’ by Katherine Shrader for the Associated Press: Washington - U.S. counterterrorism officials are paying renewed attention to an increasingly dangerous incubator for extremism: a swath of northern and sub-Saharan West Africa, from the Atlantic coast of Morocco and Mauritania to the harsh deserts of Chad. One senior U.S. intelligence official said the new al-Qaeda-focused GSPC is more dangerous than its predecessor because its links to bin Laden boosted morale and its new focus on government buildings and suicide attacks is a shift in targeting. ‘We should be worried about it. It hasn't really blossomed yet,’ the official said. While the group probably could not attack the U.S. homeland yet, the official said, it could attack U.S. targets in North Africa such as embassies, tourists and people on business. The U.S. focus on the group comes as the Bush administration finalizes plans to create a new military command in Africa, called AFRICOM.

The continent now falls under the direction of three different military commands. Officials from the Defense and State departments toured six Africa countries in April, trying to ease concerns about feared increases in U.S. troops and resources. Pentagon officials say the new command does not mean a dramatic boost in either. A recent Congressional Research Service report found that the command raises questions for Congress, including how to ensure that military activities do not overshadow U.S. diplomatic efforts. U.S. officials say GPSC support cells have been dismantled in Spain, Italy, Morocco, and Mali, and the group maintains training camps across the Sahel grasslands. After linking up with al-Qaeda, the group carried out a suicide bombing in Algiers last month targeting a high-profile Government Palace and a police station. Thirty-three people died in the first suicide attacks in Algeria in a decade. The group has promised to target non-Muslim foreigners who it deems to have exploited Muslim lands — specifically diplomats, business people and tourists in North Africa. Analysts do not yet consider North and Western Africa a safe haven for terrorists in the way Afghanistan was under Taliban rule. In a recent examination of current and future safe havens, not discussed publicly before, counterterrorism officials concluded that al-Qaeda’s main organization does not have many options outside of the Afghan-Pakistani border region.

It is unlikely to lose that base soon, the senior U.S. intelligence official said. While the region lacks population, accessibility and hospitable living conditions, officials said the area still makes sense as an al-Qaeda location in the Islamic Maghreb because of its porous borders, lax government oversight, poverty and political unrest. Officials say such concerns are complicated by other factors, including: - Money from Persian Gulf and Middle East. U.S. officials say private Saudi donors have funnelled money to Sunni Muslim schools and mosques in the region. But one intelligence official noted much of the money is intended to counter the influence of Iran, which also funds Shiite interests in the region. - A sizable population of potentially impressionable young people. West Africa is roughly half Muslim, with higher concentrations in the Sahel. With its extensive links to the Middle East, the region is fertile ground for radical ideas. - Areas of instability. Morocco and Algerian-backed Polisario Front rebels have disputed desert lands of the largely Muslim Western Sahara for decades, forcing 100,000 people into refugee camps in Algeria. In Nigeria, which has a large Muslim population in the north, elections last month have been largely discredited. The issue has been overlooked greatly, even though the country is Africa's largest oil producer and is on the brink of becoming a failed state, especially in its southern Delta region, the official added.

This official noted that the terrorism problem shows up differently in North and Western Africa in comparison with other parts of the world. In the Sahel, for instance, extremists are not always the poorest of the poor, but rather — as is the case in northern Nigeria — educated young people, the official said. And, of course, they're not all al-Qaeda, either. Rep. Jane Harman, who as a member of the House Homeland Security Committee has travelled often to Africa, said she once thought North Africa was a fragile place from which extremists could threaten Europe. Harman, D-Calif., said she now thinks it could be a staging ground for attacks worldwide. For years, she said, Africa got too little attention. ‘I think we have underestimated the capabilities of al-Qaeda to get a beachhead there,’ Harman said.

6. 11 YEARS OLD GIRL RESCUED FROM FORCED MARRIAGE

Further evidence of the incompatibility of Muslim ways with our own values.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6635191.stm

An 11-year-old girl has been rescued from a forced marriage, the Home Office has said. Minister Baroness Scotland said the girl, who was born in Britain, was taken to Bangladesh at the age of six to care for her disabled mother. At 11, she was forced into marriage but her aunt in the UK reported the case to authorities who brought her back to Britain and put her in foster care. It is one of 5,000 cases handled by the government's forced marriage unit. Baroness Scotland told the BBC's Asian Network: ‘We've just rescued an 11-year-old who'd been forced into marriage, who'd been raped. ‘Since she was six she'd been looking after her disabled mother and two siblings. And with the help of her aunt we were able to rescue her and bring her back.’ The forced marriage unit was set up just over two years ago to help victims and survivors of forced marriage. It deals with 250 cases a year and has rescued 300 people, many of them very young girls. News of the rescue coincides with the launch of a new handbook, offering survivors help and information. A survivors' network has also been launched in partnership with Karma Nirvana, a forced marriage NGO, to provide long-term emotional support. Plans to make forced marriage a criminal offence were rejected last year because of fears it would drive the practice underground. Instead, a two-year government strategy intended to raise awareness and highlight the help available has been launched. And the Forced Marriages Bill, which would enable the courts to order a range of measures to prevent forced marriages, is due to enter the grand committee stage on Thursday. Baroness Scotland said: ‘Forced marriage is terrible for those women, children and men who find themselves in an often violent and abusive situation against their will. ‘It's something that should not be happening in the modern world - it's not a respected cultural or religious tradition. ‘Neither does it have anything to do with honour - there can be no honour in a marriage based on force and hostility.’