Terrorism cannot be fought with terrorism. It will backfire.
Even the states that sponsored terrorism is facing the heat of
terrorism.
Kandahar hijacking, 9/11 linked
[URL=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20060327/main2.htm]LINK[/URL]
New Delhi, March 26
Fresh evidence has surfaced suggesting that the December 24, 1999,
hijacking of Indian Airlines flight IC 814 was a progenitor of
unprecedented terrorist attack on the American mainland (9/11). Two
terrorist incidents one in India and the other in the USA are
closely interconnected as without the hijacking of IC 814 in 1999,
9/11 possibly could not have taken place.
Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, one of the three terrorists who were taken
to Kandahar for release by the then External Affairs Minister
Jaswant Singh, was one of the key planners and perpetrators of the
most daring terrorist attempt on the US soil, said a former
military intelligence analyst John Newman during his testimony
before the 9/11 inquiry commission.
Newman went on to say that Saeed Sheikh was probably a triple
agent who operated for Pakistani, American and British
intelligence while being an Al-Qaidas top functionary. After his
release in 1999, Ahmad Omar Saeed Sheikh, a British national of
Pakistani origin, was appointed member of the Majlis Al-Shura by
Osama Bin Laden, said the testimony, which did not find mention in
the final report on 9/11.
Despite startling revelations about Islamabads involvement in the
9/11 by Newman, the military government of General Pervez Musharraf
succeeded in getting vital information removed from the final
report.
Bin Laden referred to Sheikh as his son. No attempt was made to
arrest when he returned to Pakistan from Kandahar where he was set
free in exchange of Indian hostages in IC 814 episode.
The ISI gave him a house and protection from the police. He lived
openly and frequented swanky parties attended by senior government
officials, observed Newman adding that the US government sources
told Newsweek that he was a protected asset of the ISI.
Sheikh, who carried many names, including Mustafa Ahmed, Mustafa
Shmed al-Hasawi, Mustafa Mahmoud Saeed Ahmed, Mustafa Mohammed
Ahmed, is a hijacking, kidnapping and financial expert. He was
tasked with killing Daniel Pearl and is understood to have funded
9/11 by wiring $100,000 to Mohammed Atta.
Sheikh, the man about whom the Commission of Inquiry report utters
no word, overhauled Al-Qaidas logistics, communications and
financial networks and was given responsibilities in international
liaisons such as relations with the Hezbollah or the Sudanese
National Islamic Front.
To facilitate financial and communications needs, he designed a new
secure, encrypted, web-based communications system for Al-Qaida.
There was talk that he would someday succeed Bin Laden. Over and
above all these responsibilities, Sheikh had another extremely
sensitive job for Al-Qaida.
He was the groups principal liaison with the ISI. He worked
closely with various current and former officers of Pakistani
intelligence, including Lieut-General Mohammed Aziz Khan, who along
with President Pervez Musharraf himself, was the most powerful
commander in Pakistan.
A product of the London School of Economics, he went on to play a
vital role in 9/11 by financing the hijackers. For his trouble, he
received the same impersonal budget as the two other key
coordinators, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Ramzi bin Al-Shibh.
As the 9/11 attacks neared, ISI chief General Ahmed became more
deeply mired in the plot, apparently to secure new sources of funds
for the airline tickets needed for the reconnaissance flights on
the date of the attack.
In early August, Sheikhs former prison mates kidnapped a wealthy
shoe tycoon in India and held him for 15 days. Chief gangster
Ansari ran the operation from Dubai in the Arab Emirates. Sheikh
was carrying out his 9/11 paymaster duties. The kidnappers freed
their hostage for $ 830,000 and gave $ 100,000 to Sheikh.
In an email discovered afterwards, Ansari said: Ive paid $
100,000 to Sheikh, said Newman in his testimony.
On the orders of the ISI chief, Sheikh wired the money to hijack
leader Mohammad Atta. Flush with money, Atta Hamzi and Hanzour flew
first class on the type of aircraft they would use on September 11,
2001.
All this does not find mention in the commission report because
both the USA and the British governments were keen to enlist
Pakistan as a key ally in their attack on Afghanistan.
Recent revelations in the Pakistani media have confirmed that
Islamabad had paid tens of thousand dollars to lobbyists in the USA
to get anti-Pakistan references dropped from the 9/11 report.
In 1993, he got hooked up with Pakistani terrorist in Bosnia to
take up jehad and got training in terror camps in Afghanistan. In
1994, he tried to get a terrorist leader freed from an Indian jail
by luring an American and three Britons to locations where they
were kidnapped but the plot failed and he ended up in jail instead.
The hostages were rescued.
The ISI paid for his lawyer, but he was never tried during his 5
years of incarceration. Despite his kidnapping of British citizens,
he was allowed to immediately travel to London. There were no
indictments either in India, the UK or the USA.
On January 2, 2000, the British Foreign Office spokesman would only
say that this was so because he was a British citizen and had not
been convicted of any offences overseas.
Islamist cell 'tried to con young men into attacks on the UK'
[URL=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,171-2106395,00.html]LINK[/URL]
ISLAMIST terrorists wanted to trick young Muslims into attacking
Britain, by training them to fight in Afghanistan for al-Qaeda and
then telling them that the country was inaccessible, the Old Bailey
was told yesterday.
The British extremists allegedly intended to set up a private
terrorist training camp in Pakistan, teaching hijacking and use of
explosives and firearms. One also discussed poisoning water
supplies with ricin. Another said that Britain needed to be
targeted in the same way as America had been in the September 11
attacks.
The claims were made by Mohammed Babar, an American terrorist
turned supergrass who is giving evidence against the men that he
claims were his former accomplices. The seven defendants, all from
southeast England, are charged with conspiring to bomb a British
target, such as a shopping centre, nightclub or train. Six
allegedly attended training camps in Pakistan.
Babar said that he discussed setting up a camp with Waheed Mahmood,
34, of Crawley, who insisted that those who attended had to be
prepared to fight jihad (holy war) in Afghanistan. He attempted to
recruit through British contacts.
But the key prosecution witness added: From conversations I had
with them [the group] I dont think they had any intention of
sending people into Afghanistan. They would tell [those at camps]
later that it was difficult to go and would then give the only
other option: working for them on operations in the UK and
Pakistan.
While living in Pakistan, Babar offered to set up a camp for the
group. He was also involved in storing bomb ingredients; at one
stage he held detonators, ammonium nitrate, aluminium powder, other
explosives paraphernalia and ricin in his flat in Lahore. The
castor beans, from which ricin is made, were allegedly brought from
Islamabad by Omar Khyam, 24, also from Crawley.
Babar said: He said it was a poison [and talked] about poisoning
water supplies or people. He went into detail how to make
it.
He said that the detonators were sourced by Salahuddin Amin, 31, of
Luton, with the help of a man who worked for Abdul Hadi, No 3 in
command for al-Qaeda. Mr Amin argued with Mr Khyam because he
allegedly asked Mr Amin to transport the detonators to Europe or
Britain.
The court was told that the men had ordered survival equipment
for the training camp from outdoor shops in Britain, and had
special clothing made. These included shalwar kameez with zippered
pockets for ammunition. A British relative of one defendant posted
hiking boots, sleeping bags and solar panels to the men while they
were in Pakistan.
They posed as Western tourists to travel within Pakistan and
collect thousands of pounds from contacts, to fund the camp. Mr
Mahmoods brother-in-law allegedly gave about £4,000 and another
contact provided £3,500, which was sent to him from Britain.
When asked for the source of the rest of the money, Babar said that
each of the defendants who travelled to Pakistan months earlier had
brought between £5,000 and £7,000 and entrusted this to Mr
Khyam.
During discussions, some of the defendants allegedly said that they
disliked al-Muhajiroun, the radical group that the Government
wanted to ban, because it was all talk.
Some of the defendants also had leadership squabbles with other
British Muslims in Pakistan when offering to provide training in
exchange for Mr Khyam and Mr Mahmood becoming the emirs of
another group. This offer was rejected.
Mr Amin, Mr Mahmood, Mr Khyam, his brother Shujah Mahmood, 18, and
Jawad Akbar, 22, all from Crawley, West Sussex; Anthony Garcia, 24,
from Ilford, East London; and Nabeel Hussain, 20, from Horley,
Surrey; all deny conspiring to cause an explosion likely to
endanger life between October 2003 and March 2004.
Mr Khyam, Mr Garcia and Mr Hussain also deny possessing 600kg of
fertiliser for the purposes of terrorism. Mr Khyam and Shujah
Mahmood deny possessing aluminium powder, also for the purposes of
terrorism. The trial continues.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'Plotters aimed to bomb Tube'
[URL=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2108768,00.html]LINK[/URL]
Defendant tried to recruit a London Underground worker for a
martyrdom operation
A MUSLIM Tube worker was asked to become a suicide bomber by an
Islamic extremist on trial for plotting to attack a British target,
the Old Bailey was told yesterday.
The London Underground worker, known only as Imran, allegedly
attended a terrorist training camp in Pakistan with four of seven
men who are charged with conspiracy.
The court was also told that a key al-Qaeda operative called Q, who
gave the men their orders, was living in Luton. Q reported to Abdul
Hadi, No 3 in command of the terrorist organisation.
One defendant, Waheed Mahmood, allegedly sent supplies for al-Qaeda
from Britain to Pakistan, including a GPS navigation system, solar
panels, invisible ink and cash.
Another, Omar Khyam, was said to have masterminded a martyrdom
operation with a belt bomb and wanted to know if Imran would be
willing to carry it out. But Imran refused because he thought the
plot would come to nothing.
And the older brother of a third defendant, Anthony Garcia, was
allegedly planning a separate terrorist attack on a target in
Britain.
The claims were made by Mohammed Babar, an American terrorist
turned informant, who is giving evidence against his former
accomplices.
He said that the group discussed how to smuggle bomb parts into
Britain and carried out test explosions at a terrorist training
camp in Malakand, a mountainous region in northern Pakistan. The
first was unsuccessful but the second created a U-shaped
hole.
A video was made of their training camp activities with the
intention of adding verses from the Koran, and turning it into
recruitment propaganda.
The men planned to smuggle explosives to Europe inside shampoo
bottles, cans of shaving foam or packages of dried fruit shipped,
couriered or taken in person while detonators would be concealed
in a tape recorder.
Mr Khyam, 24, from Crawley, West Sussex, also allegedly tricked one
Muslim into carrying aluminium powder on to a flight from Pakistan
to Britain to see if Customs would detect the substance.
He attended the camp with his younger brother, Shujah Mahmood, 18,
Mr Garcia, 24, from Ilford, East London, and other British Muslims
who are not on trial. Salahuddin Amin, 31, from Luton, did not
attend because he had undergone previous training.
The men were said to have dressed and acted like tourists en route
so that they would not attract attention. They moved into a hotel,
travelled in a minibus emblazoned with its logo, wore Western
clothes and stopped praying in public, on the orders of Abdul
Hadi.
The defendants also took numerous photographs of each other while
hiking and visiting local landmarks, as proof of their tourist
activities if stopped by the authorities.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prosecutors rest case in Lodi terror trial, show images of
camp
[URL=http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/northern_california/14208830.htm]LINK[/URL]
SACRAMENTO - Defense attorneys for a Lodi man charged with
attending a terrorist training camp in Pakistan in 2003 and his
father were set to begin presenting their evidence Wednesday.
Prosecutors rested their case Tuesday against 23-year-old Hamid
Hayat, calling a government witness who showed jurors satellite
images of a suspected terror camp.
Eric Benn, an analyst with the Defense Intelligence Agency, on
Tuesday discussed images that show what he said appear to be a
militant training camp similar to one described to FBI agents by
Hayat.
Benn said the mountainous location and description of the camp near
Balakot in northeast Pakistan are consistent with statements made
by Hayat during an interrogation by FBI agents last June, shortly
after he returned to the U.S. following two years in Pakistan.
Images taken in 2001 show tents and a variety of buildings.
"The kind of information I got out of the (Hayat interview)
transcript ... is consistent with the physical things I observed,"
Benn testified in U.S. District Court. "This would be a militant
camp. It strengthens my confidence in that."
The government's case against the Hayat's is built partially on
separate confessions they gave to FBI agents.
Hayat is charged with three counts of lying to the FBI and separate
charges of providing material support to terrorists for attending
the al-Qaida camp. His father, 48-year-old Umer Hayat, is on trial
at the same time before a separate jury. He is charged with lying
to federal investigators about his son's attendance at the
camp.
The Hayats' defense attorneys have said their confessions to FBI
officials were made only after hours of interrogation and while
they were worn down by leading questions. They also have pointed
out that both men provided inconsistent testimony.
Benn's testimony and the satellite images are potentially important
because prosecutors have no hard evidence that Hamid Hayat actually
attended a terror training camp in Pakistan, an angle defense
attorneys have said they will explore when they begin their portion
of the case.
Jurors were shown the satellite images after previously hearing
from experts about Pakistan's cultural and political environment.
The combined testimony showed that terrorist-training camps and
anti-American fervor were prevalent in Pakistan at the time Hamid
Hayat was visiting.
Prosecutors allege that Hamid Hayat attended one such camp and
returned to the U.S. in May 2005 to await orders to commit attacks
against grocery stores, banks and hospitals. No such attacks were
carried out, and the Hayats have pleaded not guilty.
Hamid Hayat, for example, variously told FBI agents that the camp
he attended was in Afghanistan, the Kashmir region, near Tora Bora
or at least three other locations far from Balakot, his attorney,
Wazhma Mojaddidi, said Tuesday during cross-examination.
Hayat also discussed receiving pistol training, but Benn said the
satellite images did not show obvious locations for a firing
range.
Benn said Hamid Hayat's conflicting statements did not alter his
opinion that the satellite images could show the camp he
attended.
"There was a lot of language I had to reconcile," Benn said. "Late
in the interview, (Hayat's statements) stopped having any
consistency. It sounded like it was just bouncing around."
Mojaddidi says her client never actually attended a camp.
Also Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Garland Burrell Jr. denied
a defense motion to dismiss the charges against the Hayats. Defense
attorneys argued that prosecutors had failed to present sufficient
evidence to support the charges.
