# International Terrorist Plots



## George Wallace (8 Jul 2010)

Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act.

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Officials: 3 arrested in Norway al Qaeda bomb plot
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08/07/2010 9:15:42 AM
CTV.ca News Staff 


LINK 


*Three men were arrested Thursday morning in Norway in what officials say was an al Qaeda terrorist plot linked to similar plans in New York and England. *

The men were under surveillance for more than a year. Their names have not been released. 

Police officials said the men were planning attacks with small but powerful bombs made of peroxide, similar to a thwarted attack in on the New York City subway last year. 

"We believe this group has had links to people abroad who can be linked to al-Qaeda, and to people who are involved in investigations in other countries, among others the United States and Britain," said Janne Kristiansen, the head of Norwegian security police. 

The arrests are linked to a similar alleged conspiracy in Manchester, England, where a man was arrested Wednesday on an extradition warrant to the U.S. 

Officials believe the Norway plot was organized by Salah al-Somali, Al Qaeda's former chief of external operations. 

Al-Somali was killed in a CIA drone attack last year. 

A news conference is planned for later Thursday. 

Officials say it is not clear if there was a target chosen in the alleged plot. 

Kristiansen said the timing of the arrests was necessary because news of the investigation was about to appear in the media. 

"Such an exposure of the case, without a foregoing arrest, could have proved destructive to the investigation, and with great danger of destruction of evidence," Kristiansen said at a news conference in Oslo, Norway. 

"We have not chosen this timing completely by ourselves, but we think that we have a solid case, which in the end, naturally, will be up to the courts to decide." 

Al Qaeda No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri has called for attacks against Norway, among many other countries. 

Norway has 500 soldiers in Afghanistan.


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## George Wallace (9 Aug 2010)

Action taken in Hamburg, Germany:

Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act.
9/11 Terror Mosque Shut
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Hamburg Officials Raid Alleged Islamist Recruiting Site
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08/09/2010
SPIEGEL ONLINE 


LINK 

*German police on Monday closed a mosque that had been a meeting place for the 9/11 terror cell. They believe the mosque continued to promote jihad and may have been a staging site for Islamist extremists living in Germany who have traveled to Afghanistan and Pakistan to participate in militant camps.*

Hamburg authorities on Monday closed the Taiba mosque, which had been the place of worship for the terrorist cell responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington. The city said the mosque had been closed in response to a ban that had been applied to the Arab cultural association which ran it, called the Arab-German Cultural Association. 


The city said it would provide further details at a press conference to take place later in the day, but news agency Agence France Presse is reporting that the organization had been accused of recruiting jihadists in Germany.

Twenty police and several undercover investigators marched up to the building early on Monday morning and removed the locks using a drill. "The investigators are searching the mosque for further evidence and are seizing computers and other equipment," a spokesperson said.

Formerly known as the Al-Quds mosque, Taiba was the meeting place of several of the perpetrators on the 9/11 terror attacks. Officials at Hamburg's Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the state intelligence agency, say that the Taiba mosque continues to be the main pole of attraction for the local jihadist scene, with around 45 members.

Investigators believe that the mosque was the base used in the past year by a group of 10 Hamburg-base jihadists who traveled to Pakistan or Afghanistan, purportedly to participate in military training camps. They claim that at least one of those men later became a part of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IBU) terrorist group in Pakistan. 

dsl -- with wires


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## George Wallace (9 Aug 2010)

Follow up reporting on action taken in Hamburg, Germany:

Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act.
Closure of Taiba Mosque
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Hamburg Hate Preachers Lose Their Home
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By Björn Hengst and Christoph Scheuermann in Hamburg
08/09/2010
SPIEGEL ONLINE 


LINK 

*Islamic extremists in Germany have lost an important meeting place following Monday's move by Hamburg authorities to close the Taiba mosque and the society attached to it. Sept. 11 suicide pilot Mohammed Atta used to frequent the mosque, which investigators say has been supporting terrorism for years.*

The name of the mosque is a striking exaggeration. Masjid Taiba, which means "beautiful mosque," is located in a plain building on a street in the seedy St. Georg district of Hamburg, right next door to a fitness studio. To get to the prayer rooms one has to walk into a poorly-lit foyer and up some stone steps. The carpet in the prayer room is worn and, in winter, condensation drips down the panes of the poorly insulated windows. 

Nevertheless, 250 Muslims crowded into the mosque for Friday prayers -- Moroccans, Bosnians, Russians and many Germans. They included some elderly people, but most of them were young men. Many of them had converted to Islam or had returned to the religion after years away from it, and in a lot of cases, these men were radical in their beliefs.

At around 6 a.m. on Monday, the Hamburg police raided the mosque as well as the Arab-German Cultural Society attached to it, and the homes of society members. The mosque was closed with immediate effect, the society was banned and its assets and documents were confiscated.

*Extremists Met in Mosque, Authorities Say* 

Hamburg Interior Minister Christoph Ahlhaus described the mosque as "a focal point for the jihadist scene." The Taiba society had "spread an ideology that was hostile to democracy" in sermons, courses, seminars and via the Internet, Ahlhaus said. 

The mosque claimed to represent the original and only true form of Islam, unadulterated by the temptations of the modern world. That is why many worshippers who prayed there didn't mind being called Islamists and fundamentalists. After all, they argued, this was where the foundations of Islam were being taught. 

Many of them are convinced that most Islamic countries are ruled by tyrants. A caliphate, like the one the Taliban had established in Afghanistan before 2001, is the only truly Islamic form of government, they said. Many visitors approved of the "Islamic resistance" now being waged against foreign forces, including German troops, in Afghanistan. 

*Under Close Scrutiny* 

Every Muslim visitor must have known that he was under close scrutiny from police authorities as soon as he set foot in the building. In fact, it proved quite helpful for the Hamburg intelligence service because all the city's Islamists would congregate here. That might explain why the deputy head of the service, Manfred Murck, didn't express delight at its closure at a news conference on Monday.

The mosque had been watched closely since immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks because some of the suicide pilots, including Mohammed Atta, had frequented it. It attracted heightened attention last year after a group of 10 Hamburg jihadists traveled to the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan, apparently in order to gain terrorist training there. One of them, an Iranian called Shahab D., joined the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IBU) there and appeared in a video under the name Abu Askar in which he called on German Muslims to join the armed struggle. 

Legal proceedings to ban the Taiba society lasted months until July 30, when the Hamburg senior administrative court ruled that the ban could go ahead. After Sept. 11, the mosque had become a "symbolic place for jihadists," Murck said on Monday.

*Well Connected * 

Hamburg's intelligence service estimates that some 45 jihadists live in Hamburg. The scene has good contacts with like-minded Islamists in other German cities including Frankfurt, Berlin, Bonn and Bielefeld. Murck said there was a strong sense that the Hamburg members wanted to contribute to jihad. "They want to become heroes," he said. But he added that there were no concrete indications at present of any planned attacks.

Authorities say the Taiba society has 20 to 30 members and that between 200 and 250 people attended Friday prayers there. Occasionally, sermons were held by Mamoun Darkazanli, a German-Syrian businessman who has long been on the radar of German authorities because of his alleged association with the suicide pilots of Sept. 11. 

But investigators never found evidence that he had provided support for al-Qaida. Darkazanli is on the European Union's terror list. He is not permitted to open a bank account or run a business. 

Lothar Bergmann, departmental head for public safety in the Hamburg Interior Ministry, described him as a "hate preacher" on Monday. Spain has filed a request for his extradition on terrorism charges but Germany won't extradite him. Authorities say he lives off state benefits.


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## George Wallace (23 Nov 2010)

Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act.

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Ten Suspects Arrested in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands
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11/23/2010
SPIEGEL ONLINE 

LINK 


*Ten people suspected of planning terrorist attacks in Belgium were arrested in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands on Tuesday. The raids were the culmination of months of investigation into international jihadist activities.*

Ten people suspected of planning a terrorist attack were arrested in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany on Tuesday, the Brussels prosecutor's office said. 


The suspects are accused of preparing an attack on behalf of an international Islamist group, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office said. The target of the attack was not known, she added. 

The people arrested were Belgian, Dutch, Moroccan and Russian nationals. The spokeswoman said the arrests were made during simultaneous raids on 10 apartments, and that most of the suspects were arrested in the Belgian city of Antwerp.

*International Jihad *

The raids were the culmination of an investigation that had started at the end of 2009 in Antwerp. The suspects are due to be presented to a judge and remanded in custody later on Tuesday. The investigation had focused on "international jihad terrorism," the office said.

Some of the suspects were accused of recruiting members for a Chechen terrorist group. 

There was no immediate information from German authorities regarding the arrests. German Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière had issued a terror alert last Wednesday, warning that Islamists were planning an attack in Germany by the end of November.

cro -- with wire reports


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## George Wallace (23 Nov 2010)

Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act.

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German Police Want Army to Help Protect Public
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11/23/2010
SPIEGEL ONLINE

LINK 

*Germany is on high alert following last week's terror warning. Now a police trade union has called for the army to be deployed to help cope with the terrorist threat. The government is also reported to be planning a big revamp of intelligence agencies and security forces.*

A German police trade union called on Tuesday for the army to help protect the population from terrorist attacks. Klaus Jansen, the chairman of the Federation of German Criminal Police Officers (BDK), said the police didn't have enough personnel to maintain their current heightened levels of deployment following last week's terror warning by Thomas de Maizière, the German interior minister.

"We must assume that the police state of emergency caused by the acute terrorist threat will last until well into next year," BDK chairman Klaus Jansen told the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung newspaper. He recommended using the army's military police because of their police training.

The German constitution, mindful of the abuses of state power during the Nazi era, attaches strict conditions to the deployment of troops inside Germany. It stipulates that the police is in charge of providing domestic security and that the army may only be used on German soil to respond to a "grave accident or a natural disaster." 

Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union party has repeatedly argued that the constitution should be amended to allow the pre-emptive use of the armed forces in Germany to avert terrorist attacks, but it has failed to win the necessary backing of other parties.

Jansen suggested that the tens of thousands of soldiers that will be made redundant as a result of 
planned army cutbacks should be retrained as police officers.

*Government Rift Over Data Storage*

Germany has beefed up police patrols of airports, major train stations and public places since de Maizière warned last week that Islamic terrorists were believed to be planning a terrorist attack in Germany at the end of November. 

On Monday, the dome of the Reichstag parliament building in Berlin, a popular tourist attraction, was closed until further notice. A report in the latest edition of SPIEGEL, published on Sunday, said terrorists may be planning an attack on the Reichstag.  There are also increased checks and patrols at the Christmas markets, many of which have opened this week, following speculation that they could become targets for terrorist attacks. 


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Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act.

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Terrorists Believed to Be Planning Attack in Berlin
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11/20/2010
SPIEGEL ONLINE

LINK 

*It would be an attack on the very heart of democracy. SPIEGEL has learned that terrorists may have been planning an attack on the Reichstag, the home of the German parliament and one of the most popular tourist destinations in Berlin. Two suspected culprits are already believed to be in Berlin.*

According to information obtained by German security authorities, al-Qaida and associated groups are believed to be planning an attack on the Reichstag building in Berlin, the headquarters of Germany's parliament and also an attraction visited by thousands of tourists every day. As part of the attack, terrorists would seek to take hostages and perpetrate a bloodbath using firearms.


The information about the alleged plans came from a jihadist who is currently abroad and has reportedly contacted the German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) several times in recent days. The jihadist apparently wants to abandon the group. The information provided by the jihadist informant was apparently the reason behind German Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière's decision to hold a press conference on Wednesday warning of an imminent attack in the country. 

According to the caller, the terror cell is comprised of six people -- two of whom are believed already to have traveled to Berlin six to eight weeks ago, and are now staying in the city. Four other perpetrators -- a German, a Turk, a North African and a further man the jihadist could not identify -- are currently waiting to travel to Germany. The attacks are purportedly being planned for February or March.

*Apparent Plans for Second Attack *

The second warning backing de Maizière's concerns came from the United States. The US federal police, the FBI, sent a cable to the BKA two weeks ago noting another possible further attack. A Shiite-Indian group known as the "Saif," or sword, is believed to have engaged in a pact with al-Qaida and to have sent two men to Germany to carry out an attack there.

Both were believed to be traveling to the United Arab Emirates on Nov. 22, where they would be supplied with new travel papers so that they could continue on to Germany. The suspects allegedly already posess visas for Europe's Schengen zone of visa-free travel. The FBI has named Mushtaq Altaf bin-Khadri as the man behind the attack plans.

The man believed to be trying to smuggle the would-be terrorists into Europe is 54-year-old weapons dealer Dawood Ibrahim, who the United Nations believes is a major backer of terrorism. He is considered to be one of the men behind the terror attacks perpetrated in Mumbai in November 2008. The FBI and Germany's BKA both consider the message to be extremely important. However, the US foreign intelligence service, the CIA, and both the German foreign intelligence service, the BND, and its domestic counterpart, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, are skeptical. 

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Events that led up to the above articles:


Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act.

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German Government Issues 'Concrete' Terror Warning
*
11/17/2010
SPIEGEL ONLINE

LINK 

*German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere on Wednesday issued the most explicit warning yet that Germany may be the target of a terror attack in the near future. New evidence, he says, means that there is "cause for concern."*

"The situation has changed." That was the message delivered by German Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière in Berlin on Wednesday in reference to the risk that Germany might be the target of a terror attack in the near future. "There is cause for concern," he intoned, "but not for hysteria."


For weeks, Germany's government has been warning of an increased risk of an attack in the country. But Berlin has continually insisted that the risk was an abstract one and that there was little in the way of concrete information. That, said de Maizière, has now changed.

He said that security officials both in Germany and abroad now have information that an attack might be in the works for the end of November. For the first time, he said, there are "concrete investigation leads."

"We will show strength and will not allow ourselves to be intimidated," de Maizière told reporters at a hastily called press conference. "We will not allow international terrorism to limit our lifestyles nor our culture of freedom."

Germany's interior minister said he has ordered security officials across Germany to increase patrols, particularly in airports, train stations and other possible targets. On Wednesday morning, increased patrols were already apparent at Berlin's main train station and on the square in front of the Brandenburg Gate.

"We have to expect an attack at any time," said a senior security official in Berlin. According to the official, Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) is investigating indications that a terror cell, made up of four Islamists from India and others from Pakistan is preparing to travel to Germany or has already arrived. Officials are in possession of the names of the suspects.

*More Concerned *

For most of his first year in office, de Maizière has proven to be much less vocal about the dangers of terrorism than his predecessor Wolfgang Schäuble, who is now Germany's finance minister. Recently, however, his message has changed. Just the week before last, he urged the German population to be vigilant. In an interview with the mass-circulation tabloid Bild am Sonntag, he said that there were no concrete indications that an attack was imminent but that he had become more concerned.

Warnings of an impending terrorist attack in Europe have been circulating for months, with much of the concern having come from the interrogations of two German radicals who were recently taken into custody. In July, an Islamist from Hamburg named Ahmad Siddiqui was arrested by the US military in Kabul. He reported having been told of impending attacks in Europe by an al-Qaida member named Younis al-Mauretani. 

Rami M., another German radical from Hamburg, was arrested in Pakistan and he confirmed the information provided by Ahmad S. Rami M. has since been extradited to Germany while Ahmad S. remains in US custody at the Bagram air force base in Afghanistan. In addition to Germany, France and Great Britain have also been mentioned as possible targets.

But there are additional sources as well. According to US officials, there are indications that a dozen potential attackers have already left the Afghan-Pakistan border region for Europe. For weeks, officials have been saying that a potential attack could follow the pattern of the raid on Mumbai two years ago. In that attack, 10 terrorists attacked across the city, focusing on hotels, restaurants and the train station. In total, some 166 people were killed and hundreds injured.

German security officials say that Wednesday's warning comes as a result of their own investigations having confirmed aspects of a threat that has, until now, been largely abstract. "We have lots of evidence and for the first time the abstract warnings are becoming a concrete image," said a senior government official on Wednesday.

*Daily Updates*

De Maizière spoke on Wednesday of the Islamist scene in Germany and said that officials have long been observing an increasing number of violence-prone radicals. Some of them, he said, have already attended al-Qaida or Taliban training camps, while others have been radicalized by imams in Germany. His repeated references to "concrete indications" likely indicates that investigators have found proof that attacks are being planned.

Officials also said on Wednesday that they have observed an increase in the amount of travel among Islamists in Germany in recent years. Investigators know of 200 cases of radicals traveling to terror camps. At least 100 of them have returned to Germany. As a result of the warnings from abroad, security personnel have intensified their perusal of flight lists and of those arriving from suspect countries. They are concerned that some potential attackers may be in possession of German passports.


In addition, Germany's federal police is being outfitted for a worst-case scenario. Should there indeed be a Mumbai-like attack, police would be prepared to storm a building occupied by terrorists holding hostages, police officials say. Officers patrolling airports and train stations have also been well armed.

France, too, has increased surveillance of the Islamist scene there and security officials have made several arrests in recent weeks. Al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden recently issued an explicit threat of attacks against France. Germany was threatened last autumn in the run up to the September 2009 general elections, and some terror experts believe that the threat is still valid.

De Maizière's warning to the German public is one of the most explicit warnings ever given in Germany. For weeks, the interior minister has been receiving several updates each day. Government security experts say that the situation is reminiscent of that immediately prior to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the US.

Reported by Matthias Gebauer and Yassin Musharbash


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## George Wallace (23 Nov 2010)

Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act.

Fears of a Mumbai Redux
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The Story Behind Germany's Terror Threat
*
11/22/2010
SPIEGEL ONLINE

By Matthias Bartsch, Yassin Musharbash and Holger Stark

LINK 

*Germany is currently in a state of high alert. Security officials are warning that they have concrete information pointing to a possible terror attack on the federal parliament building in Berlin, a massively popular tourist attraction. The days of Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière's reserved stances in dealing with such warnings appear to be over.*

The call came from abroad, and the man speaking hurriedly on the other end of the line sounded as if he feared for his life. He wanted out, he told the officers of the German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) -- out of the terrorist scene. He wanted to come back to Germany, back to his family. Then he asked if German officials could help him.


Right now, they're trying to do just that. The BKA is pursuing the case under the codename "Nova." The apparently remorseful man could be an important possible whistleblower from a dangerous region of the globe. In fact, he is also the most recent reason why German Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière put the entire country in a state of fright on Wednesday. 

During a hastily called press conference that day, de Maizière stated that Germany faced the threat of terrorist attacks that might be launched against the country at some point in November. As he put it, Germany is "presently dealing with a new situation."

Just two days earlier, the source had called for the third time in just a short period and provided more information. He told officials that a small group of terrorists wanted to conduct a raid on the Reichstag building in Berlin, which houses the federal parliament, and that that was only one of the targets included in their attack plans. 

*Germany on High Alert*

Since then, Germany has been in a state of high alert. The Reichstag is surrounded with barricades and its popular cupola tourist attraction temporarily closed to visitors. Police armed with submachine guns are patrolling major railway stations and airports. And vacations have been called off for officials at the country's security agencies. Wherever they have cause for doing so, the authorities are secretly monitoring communications, conducting surveillance operations and launching undercover investigations. At the moment, investigators seem to be at a loss; their modus operandi: "We'll prod the shrubs and see if we can flush out any birds."

"There is cause for worry, but no cause for hysteria," de Maizière assured his listeners. But while he has never been much of an agitator, his colleagues at the state level have described the situation in much more drastic terms. Uwe Schünemann, for example, who has been the interior minister of the northwestern state of Lower Saxony since 2003, stated that he had "never experienced a heightened security situation like this one." And Berlin Senator for the Interior Ehrhart Körting, whose position is tantamount to that of a government minister in the city-state, has already even gone so far as to call on the inhabitants of the German capital city to report suspicious-looking individuals of Arab origin to the police. "If you suddenly see three somewhat strange-looking men who are new to your neighborhood, who hide their faces and who only speak Arabic," Körting said, "you should report them to the authorities."

Under heightened pressure, officials in Germany's 16 federal states are now checking to see when and where major events are scheduled to take place this coming week within their boundaries. And nothing suggested as a possible target is being discounted, no matter how unlikely. For example, officials in Rhineland-Palatinate warned the state's interior minister, Karl Peter Burch, that there was always a lot going on at IKEA stores on Saturdays. 

*Serenity, Scaremongering and Strategy*

Since last week, German politicians at both the state and federal levels have once again had to figure out how they will handle themselves when making warnings about terrorist attacks. They have had to come up with a language that can simultaneously convey both an alert and a sense of calm.

This is no easy task. For one thing, this isn't the first time this has happened. In September 2009, for example, right before federal elections were held, there were concrete threats that resulted in a heightened security situation. But, in the end, nothing happened. This time around, people are wondering whether they are on the precipice of an emergency or whether these are once again empty threats.

Still, one thing is certain: For the time being, Germany has become a different country -- more nervous, more anxious, more agitated. And Germany's domestic security policies are being put to the test. 

When Interior Minister de Maizière assumed his office in October 2009 in conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel's government, he aimed to cool down the heated sense of alarm regularly fanned out by his predecessors. What's more, the man who had served as Merkel's chief of staff in Chancellery until being moved to the role of interior minister in her new government, was given the task of nurturing a more relaxed relationship between her party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), and its new coalition partner, the business-friendly Free Democratic Party (FDP). In particular, it was his job to not draw out the long-standing conflict over domestic security policies with the Justice Ministry, which has been led since the 2009 election by Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, a member of the FDP. Indeed, Merkel feared that the quarrelsome FDP might try to capitalize on the issue to win over more voters, so she assigned de Maizière to prevent that from happening.

In fact, the plan was to repeat the same strategy that the CDU and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), had used when they were in the so-called "grand coalition" with the center-left Social Democratic Party, between 2005 and 2009. At the time, they made a point of undermining the SPD by championing what had traditionally been the latter party's issues.

*A Game-Changer *

For a while now, de Maizière's softer stance has prompted opposition by politicians on the right involved with domestic security issues. But they are now calling louder than ever for a tougher course to be followed. Merkel is also adjusting to the new situation and is reportedly happy with the way de Maizière handled himself last week. Likewise, no one seems to have voiced any criticism last Thursday evening during a meeting of the Coalition Committee, a regular gathering of the parties that are part of the government.

The almost complete lack of protest has a lot to do with where the alarming information is coming from. In fact, information regarding the supposedly imminent attacks has come from two independent sources. Shortly before receiving the telephone call about the planned attacks, BKA officials had received a cable from their American counterparts at the FBI, America's federal police force, warning of possible attacks.

Still, what truth is there in these "security-related" pieces of information coming from both domestic and foreign sources? And, given all the discrepancies in the warning messages, just how much do they deserve to be trusted? Indeed, even among security officials themselves, there is some doubt about how legitimate these statements are -- and about just how acute the danger threatening Germany really is.

More at:

Part 2: An Attack Modelled after Mumbai 

Part 3: Absolute Security Remains a Pipe Dream


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## George Wallace (25 Nov 2010)

Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act.

Pakistan's Labyrinth of Terror

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International Jihadists Use Karachi as Hub
*
11/25/2010
SPIEGEL ONLINE

By Susanne Koelbl in Karachi, Pakistan

LINK 

*Karachi is the pulsating heart of Pakistan, but the city of 18 million is descending into a maelstrom of violence. While NATO uses the port to support its war in Afghanistan, international jihadism has established strongholds in the metropolis's slums and suburbs.*

The circle had to be closed with blood, in order to wipe out the disgrace of the previous day. That's the way of life here -- the way of life in Karachi. 

The six men were heavily armed, and yet they still managed to get through all the checkpoints and reach Club Road in the red zone, a highly secured district in the heart of the city. The head of the provincial government has his official residence here, not far from the American consulate, two luxury hotels and the police headquarters, where the office of the young inspector Omar Shahid is located. As the head of the anti-extremism unit, Shahid was at the top of the attackers' hit list.

The terrorists started shooting at the entrance to the police station. For 10 minutes, they fired at the guards, who returned their fire, until a vehicle packed with 1,000 kilograms (2,200 lbs.) of explosives rammed the gate of the police station. The massive explosion destroyed the three-story building occupied by the counterterrorism division and set off a firestorm.

At least 20 people, including the suicide attackers, died on the evening of Nov. 11. Some 120 police officers, residents and passersby lay bleeding under the wreckage, as well as an unknown number of members of the extremist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi who had already been in custody at the police station.

It was a retaliatory attack committed by al-Qaida's foot soldiers. On the previous day, a counterterrorism unit had arrested half a dozen of their fellow terrorists.

*'They Are Showing Us that They Are There' *

Omar Shahid was supposed to be one of the victims, but he happened to be on duty elsewhere on that evening. He is usually in command of counterterrorism units when they conduct raids against militant Islamists in the backstreets of Karachi neighborhoods like Sohrab Goth or Shershah Market.

"They are showing us that they are there, and that they can strike back," Shahid says, speaking very calmly. He does not show any visible emotion. Otherwise he would be unable to deal with the situation. His office was destroyed by fire, and many of the people with whom he had been waging this battle for years are now dead.

The 32-year-old police officer has a short haircut and is wearing a white shirt over jeans. He looks athletic and a little too young for the job. Shahid refuses to be photographed for security reasons.

His living room is furnished with upholstered English armchairs and oriental rugs. Abstract paintings hang on the walls. The décor is a reflection of the owner's personality: a loyal Pakistani citizen with a British accent and a taste for a modern lifestyle.

Shahid studied in London. He believes in justice, and he believes that the eternal cycle of revenge has to be broken. Many people all over the world feel the same way, but not in Karachi.

*Parties Have Powerful Militias *

In Karachi, politics is conducted with Kalashnikovs. The major parties maintain gangs of thugs and killers to protect their spheres of influence. Armed men dressed in suits stand in front of the heavily guarded headquarters of the Muttahida Quami Movement (MGM). The party represents the Urdu-speaking immigrants who came to Pakistan from the Indian part of British India after partition in 1947. Today they have their own courts and their own security service, representing a parallel system to that of the state's, according to the police.


The Awami National Party (ANP), which represents the Pashtuns, has also become a powerful force. The two parties accuse one another of constantly inciting violence. Since October, about 100 people have been killed here for political reasons, most of them provincial members of parliament and party officials. The death squads travel on motorcycles and shoot their victims while driving or stab them to death with knives.

The militias are fighting each other for the dominance of individual apartment blocks and streets, for shares of the drug and weapons trade, for votes, for shakedowns or sometimes simply for honor. Even the liberal Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) of Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari is supported by its own trigger-happy militia in its stronghold of Lyari, a drab neighborhood of narrow streets near the harbor.

All are perpetrators and victims alike in this megacity of grotesque contradictions. Vastly wealthy families live in their villas, protected by high walls, while the barefoot children of the poorest of the poor play football in the garbage heaps of the rich. Young urbanites like the shrill TV host Ali Saleem, 31, who says he wants to "party, party, party until the end," crave a freer, Western lifestyle. Meanwhile, in large Koran schools a few blocks away, thousands of students are being indoctrinated into an extreme interpretation of the Koran -- and taught to hate the American way of life.

More at:

Part 2: Where the Threads of Power Come Together

Part 3: A Suicide Bomber for $300


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## George Wallace (25 Nov 2010)

Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act.

Finger Pointing or Tough Talk?
*Politician Urges German Muslims To 'Keep an Eye out for Fanatics'*
11/25/2010
SPIEGEL ONLINE

LINK 

*Germany is on high alert after last week's terror warnings. On Thursday a conservative politician sent a strong message to the Muslim community, urging scrutiny for "possible fanatics" attending mosques. Germany's Muslim organization, however, argues that politicians' rhetoric is divisive.*

German Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière has urged level-headedness in the midst of escalating terror warnings. Despite his call, politicians across the board are airing their views on how to prevent attacks. In the latest development, a politician from the Christian Social Union, the Bavarian sister party to Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democrtic Union, has told Muslims to stay alert, arguing that members of the country's 2,500 mosque congregations should increase their vigilance.

"Mosque communities are called on to be especially watchful and keep an eye out for possible fanatics in their ranks, in the light of the current situation," Stefan Müller, a spokesman on integration issues for the two parties in the federal parliament, told the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung in an interview published on Thursday.

The majority of Muslims do not have anything to do with terrorism, said the CSU politician, adding, "it is also in their personal interest to avert the misuse of Islam by radicals." He urged the community to "intensify cooperation with security authorities and give early warning in any suspicious cases."

But the Central Council of Muslims, one of a number of organizations in Germany seeking to represent the broad Muslim population, has warned that Muslims in Germany have been discriminated against on the basis of their religion amid the terror scare. They report that mosques have been the target of attacks and hate mail as a result. 

"We appeal to politicians and the media to deal with the discussions rationally and not to mention Islamic community, Islam and Muslims and terror in the same breath," the organization said in a press release on Wednesday.

*'General Suspicion' *

Against a backdrop of concrete terrorist threats in Germany, Interior Minister de Maizière has warned against Muslims living in the country being treated with "general suspicion."

Volker Bouffier, governor of the state of Hesse, distanced himself from Müller's call. "A certain vigilance doesn't harm," the conservative politician told the Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper.

But he said it was an over-reaction to ask Germans to report everything which they found suspicious. "It mustn't become a game of finger pointing along the lines of 'I saw someone who looked a bit funny.'" 

Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière issued a terror alert last Wednesday, warning that Islamists might be planning an attack in Germany to take place before the end of November. 

Since then, extra police have been sent to patrol airports, major train stations and public places with submachine guns. The iconic glass dome of the government's Reichstag, the house of parliament and one of the capital's top tourist attractions, has also been closed this week. Security has also been tightened at Germany's world-famous Christmas markets. 

jas/spiegel


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## GAP (27 Nov 2010)

U.S. Christmas car bomb plot foiled
Article Link
By TERESA CARSON, Reuters  November 27, 2010

PORTLAND, Oregon - A Somali-born teenager was arrested on Friday for attempting to detonate what he thought was a car bomb at a Christmas Tree lighting ceremony in Oregon, officials said.

Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, was charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction in connection with an alleged plot to bomb the annual event in downtown Portland, the Justice Department said late on Friday.

The bomb was a fake and had been provided to Mohamud as part of a long-term sting by the FBI and other law enforcement agencies, federal officials said in a statement.

Officials said Mohamud had been in contact with an unnamed individual believed to be in northwest Pakistan and involved in terrorist activities.

"The threat was very real," said Arthur Balizan, a senior FBI agent in Oregon. "Our investigation shows that Mohamud was absolutely committed to carrying out an attack on a very grand scale."

Thousands of people attended the tree lighting in a popular Portland square lined with shops and offices. Officials said the public had never been in danger at any time during the sting operation, which lasted months.

Mohamud, a naturalized U.S. citizen and student at Oregon State University, was taken into custody near the square after he attempted to use a cellphone to trigger what he believed was a car bomb, according to a U.S. government complaint.

He lashed out at agents, yelling and kicking them, and had to be restrained, it said. 
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