December 10, 2004

TERRORIST ESSAM SIDDIQ QASSEM MUBARAKI KILLED. THE SAUDI MINISTER OF JUSTICE: TERRORISM IS A SOURCE OF CONCERN FOR ALL COUNTRIES. KUWAIT TRIES 22 SUSPECTS FOR THEIR INVOLVEMENT WITH A GROUP IN IRAQ. GROUPS OF AFGHANS AND TRIBES PARTICIPATE IN THE SEARCH FOR BIN LADEN. THE FRENCH TERRITORIAL SURVEILLANCE DIRECTORATE UNCOVERS A CASE OF FINANCING TERRORISM. An official source at the Ministry of Interior announced that a suspect was shot dead by security men in Jeddah. The source pointed out that the security men surrounded a suspect's car in University District. The suspect lobbed a hand grenade. Then the security men shot him dead. Searching his car, the security men found a pistol charged with ammunitions, two machine guns along with 11 magazines loaded with ammunitions, 400 rounds, 3 high explosive hand grenades, 4 pipe bombs, communications sets, various documents and a sum of SR 9,400, the source said. Then the following statement was issued: supplementing a statement issued on the killing of a suspect after being under siege in the province of Jeddah, an official source at the Ministry of Interior said investigation authorities have identified the dead man as the wanted for the security authorities Essam Siddiq Qassem Mubaraki, a Saudi national. He had been wanted since the mid 1424 H. because he belonged to the deviant group; was linked to people of mischief and sabotage; provided shelter for them; gave them family cover during their movement; was one of those who prepared for the criminal act carried out at Al Muhayya compound in the holy month of Ramadan of 1424 H. and helped in preparations for the primitive operation in which a leg of a wanted man was severed leading to his death. He also carried out forgery acts and explosive preparations. He died as a consequence of his bad deeds. Within the same context, security authorities arrested a suspect who is linked to the incident. Interest dictates that his identity be withheld. The Interior Ministry identified the slain terror suspect in last Saturday's gunbattle in Jeddah as a wanted terrorist who was one of the plotters of the Muhayya housing compound attack in Riyadh in November 2003, which killed 17 people and wounded more than 120, the Saudi Press Agency reported. A ministry official said the slain man was Essam Siddiq Qassem Mubaraki, who "belonged to the deviant group and was linked to the symbols of dissent and corruption." Security forces killed Mubaraki in Jeddah's Jamia district after he tried to throw a hand grenade at them. They also arrested another man suspected of involvement in the Muhayya attack. He was not identified. The official said Mubaraki was also responsible for supplying explosives, forging documents and providing shelter to other terrorists. Mubaraki is not on the list of 26 most wanted terrorists issued by authorities in December last year. Police found a cache of arms in Mubaraki's car, including a revolver, two automatic weapons with 11 magazines, more than 400 bullets and three hand grenades. Saudi Arabia has been fighting a wave of violence, which it blames on the Al-Qaeda network, routinely referred to as "the deviant group" by authorities, which has killed some 100 people and wounded hundreds since May 2003. Last month, Belgian authorities revealed that three months ago they had arrested Hussein Muhamamad Al-Haski, one of the 26 most wanted terrorists. Haski is one of the two Moroccans on the list of terrorists wanted for involvement in a series of terror attacks across the Kingdom. The other Moroccan on the list, Abdul Kareem Al-Majati, who was behind the Casablanca explosions, is still on the run and is believed to be outside Saudi Arabia. According to a statement issued by a terrorist group, Haski had taken part in the hostage-taking and shooting drama that took place in Alkhobar in May this year. Four armed men killed 22 people and wounded 25 others at a residential complex in the eastern Saudi city. With Haski's arrest, only nine of the 26 are still unaccounted for; the others have been killed, surrendered or arrested. Those still on the run include Saleh Al-Aufi, the present commander of Al-Qaeda in the Kingdom, Abdullah Al-Rashoud and Sultan Al-Otaibi, two ideologues of the cell. The Interior Ministry said. Brig. Mansour Al-Turki, spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, said that it was too early to speculate on the intentions of the suspects. "One of them is dead and we will only get a clear picture after questioning the one captured. We are not sure whether they were just transporting the arms or were going to use it in an attack." The car was under surveillance for some days. The police made their move following suspicious movements by the suspects. An official source said police surrounded the car in Jeddah's Jamia district at 6.30 p.m. "When the suspect saw the police, he went for a hand grenade and the police opened fire. In the ensuing gunbattle he was killed," the official said without naming the terrorist. The other suspect made a run for it with police giving chase. He was later captured after a two-hour combing operation of the area. Police also found a revolver, two automatic weapons with 11 magazines, more than 400 bullets and SR9,400 in cash. A policeman on the scene said the dead man was wanted on security issues. Brigadier Gen. Mansour Al-Turki, spokesman of the Ministry of Interior, said that there is no connection between the district and the recent raids. Taking place in the same district could be attributed to any reason including chance, he said. He said that unless the investigation is finished, nobody can claim that Al-Jamia District has become a hideout for terrorists. He also didn t confirm whether sleeper cells have become active in the Jeddah region. Sleeper cells could be found anywhere in the Kingdom and move from one place to another for reasons of safety, he said Turki said continuing security operations in Jeddah do not mean a shift in terrorist activities from Riyadh to the Red Sea port city. It could be the consequences of the successful enforcement operation by security men, he said. As you notice they are all precautionary strikes, not terrorist attacks, he said. In Cairo the Minister of Justice Dr. Abdullah Ibn Mohammad Al Al-Sheikh said that Saudi Arabia was elected as deputy head of the executive bureau of the Arab justice ministers council for the fourth time in a row. In a statement to Saudi Press Agency at the end of a meeting of bureau in Cairo, he said that the bureau discussed topics including an anti-terrorism draft agreement. Commenting on terrorism in the Saudi Arabia, he said terrorism taking an Islamic form in Saudi Arabia is a source of concern for all countries stressing that terrorism in Saudi Arabia is far less than in many countries in the world. The minister highlighted Saudi efforts to fight terrorism carried by a deviant group. The meetings of the Executive Bureau of the Arab Justice Council started in Cairo under the chairmanship of Egypt's Minister of Justice Mahmoud Abullail. Sheikh Abdullah Ibn Mohammed Al Al Sheikh, the Saudi Minister of Justice and Deputy Chairman of the council's Executive Bureau, led his country's delegation to the meeting. Over two days, the ministers discussed a number of issues pertaining to the field of justice and judiciary, including efforts to prevent terrorists from obtaining mass destruction weapons. The meeting of the Arab justice ministers executive þ bureau began at the Arab League headquarters, chaired by Egypt and þattended by Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Sudan, Lebanon and Arab League (AL) Secretary General Amre Mousa.þ þ The two-day meeting discussed a number of joint Arab action issues in the þ justice and judiciary field, namely efforts to prevent terrorists from possessing weapons of mass destruction, laws on combating terrorism and the þUN's questionnare on the relation between terrorism and other crimes.þ þ The Arab League Secretary General Amre Moussa's legal advisor and AL legal department chief Radwan Bin Khadra þannounced that the bureau prepared a draft agenda for the meeting and þtold reporters the items include a number of Arab legal drafts which cover such new fields as human organ transplants, condemning trade in human organs, international criminal cooperation and coordination on economic issues.þ þ He added the agenda also includes review of ways to implement the pan-Arab counter-terror agreement, Arab coordination on the UN anti-corruption agreement and the international agreement for preventing cloning of living creatures for reproduction purposes.þ þ Bin Khadra mentioned that the ministers would discuss some countries' þproposals to prepare drafts on joint Arab aviation laws, navigation laws, þauthentication laws and a joint Public Prosecution joint law. þThe Council of Arab Justice Ministers stressed at the conclusion of their 20th session the importance of attesting the Arab Agreement for Combating Terrorism.þ þ Upon finalizing its 20th session at the Arab League's headquarters, the þcouncil approved forming a joint committee that includes representatives of Arab Interior and Justice ministers to evaluate the procedures of executing the agreement for the next five years.þ þ Regarding the Arab draft law on organizing organs transplant and the þprevention of trading in them, the council agreed to circulate the draft law þto the Arab countries for further study, and to hold a meeting for the þcompetent committee to review the notes and suggestions of these countries.þ þ Regarding the Arab draft law to prevent the cloning of mankind for þreproduction purposes, the council agreed to circulate the new draft law to þthe countries for further study, and to hold a meeting for the competent þcommittee to review the notes and suggestions of these countries.þ þ Regarding the Arab draft agreement for combating corruption, the council þdecided to present the draft to the council during its next session, as the þcouncil discussed the draft along with the suggestions presented by some þcountries.þ þ The council stressed the importance of Arab coordination toward the UN þagreements for combating trans-national crime, combating international þterrorism, and nuclear terrorism, noting the importance of creating a þdefinition for terrorism that differentiates between terrorism and resisting þforeign occupation.þ þ It also asserted the importance of Arab coordination on the UN agreement þfor combating corruption and the international agreement on preventing human þcloning for reproduction purposes.þ þ The council approved a Saudi proposal to host the next session in Saudi þArabia in November 2005. In Riyadh the official spokesman of the Ministry of the Interior Brigadier Gen. Mansour Al-Turki, said the use of equipment considered to be part of army weapons is forbidden by law. Meanwhile the General Security Department has raised up the memorial plaque for those who lost their lives in the war against terrorism. The Director General of the General Security General Said Al Qahtani said this is the least that could be done in memory of the martyrs who died defending their country. On the other hand General Al Qahtani has launched the new system for emergency number that could be used by citizens with regards to questions concerning all security matters including driving licences and traffic information. The numbers are 989 or 01/2928888 and the services are provided in both the Arabic and English languages. In Sanaa The Sana'a Court of Appeal approved on Saturday to allow the 15 suspects of Limburg bombing to present their documents of appeal in session of December 4, 2004. On August 28, the Primary Court sentenced Hizam Majalli to death for murdering police officer Hamid Khasroof, and sentenced the five suspected bombers of the Limburg three to ten years in jail. Brothers Fawaz Al-Rabee and Abu Bakr Al-Rabee fined YR 18 million for damages they inflicted on the headquarters of the Civil Aviation & Meteorology Authority with a car bomb. Meanwhile an official source in the Yemeni Interior Ministry denied reports that Yemeni security forces had arrested the second man of al-Qaeda network in Yemen. The source said in remarks to the 26 September weekly newspaper that the detained person called Hadi Dolqom was arrested due to trading and smuggling weapons illegally. The source denied Dolqom is the second man of al-Qaeda. Those news are fabricated and baseless and publishing those news would effect Yemen image and its anti-terrorism efforts, the source said. Dolqom is a famous weapons trader and made weapons bargains for separatists during the civil war in 1994, source added. On another scale sources said the trial of the followers of Hussein Badreddine Al Hothy killed in the latest confrontations in Yemen will begin next week in Sanaa. The Yemeni General prosecutor said the files of an unlimited number of suspects have been studied and preparations are being made to send those files to the court for their trials for terrorists acts. The same sources added that security forces are following a number of followers of Al-Hothy who are buying weapons to be used in attacks in the country. In Kuwait the trial of 22 persons involved with a group of activists started. The suspects are tried because of involvement in the recruitment of fighters against the US forces in Iraq. 16 of those have been freed on bail, while 2 of them have been detained and 4 others are still on the loose. Twenty of the suspects are Kuwaitis, another one is Saudi and the other one does not hold any nationalities, (Bedoon). They are all accused of taking part in attacks against a friendly country and collecting money for Muslim activists fighting in Iraq. U.S. experts were examining 900 tonnes of explosives aboard a Canadian-owned but Libyan-flag cargo ship that arrived last week at Puerto Cortes, 220 kilometres north of the Honduran capital, officials said. The MV Abdul Rahman failed to report it was carrying the explosives, in violation of rules that require 72 hours advance notice, according to Honduran authorities. "The U.S. investigators arrived 24 hours ago and maybe tomorrow will authorize the departure of the ship," Puerto Cortes Superintendent Oscar Contreras said. The ship's Canadian owner, Egyptian captain and a first officer from the Sudan have been charged by Honduran prosecutors with illegally transporting explosives and threatening the environmental security of Puerto Cortes. They were fined $10,000 US. Authorities identified the owner as Hassan Bachacha of Canada, but gave no other details. The ship apparently took on the explosives at the Mexican Gulf Coast port of Tampico. It was due to stop in Suriname, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic after leaving Honduras. Honduras has declared it detained a Libyan-flag cargo ship because it failed to report it was carrying 900,000 kilograms (990 tons) of explosives. But the London-based al-Hayat newspaper said the vessel was flying Lebanon's colors. The M/V Abdul Rahman was carrying the explosives, Type B and Type E blasting material, to the Rosebel Gold Mining company in Suriname, according to Honduran port officials. "The ship did not notify us of the type of cargo it carried and it is temporarily detained," said Marcio Martinez, spokesman for the Honduran merchant marine in Puerto Cortes on the country's Atlantic coast. He said ships carrying dangerous cargos are supposed to notify port officials 72 hours before arrival. Denis Chinchilla, executive secretary of the National Port Protection Commission, said the ship and its 12-member crew would be anchored under guard 10 nautical miles north of Puerto Cortes until their documents are checked "and we verify that everything is in order." "Although the ship is a time bomb, it was carrying the explosives well packed and in adequate conditions for the transportation of that kind of cargo," he said. But, he added, "the cargo is dangerous and if it exploded it could cause a real tragedy and make Puerto Cortes disappear in a matter of minutes." The ship apparently took on the explosives at the Mexican port of Tampico. It was due to stop in Suriname, Venezuela, and the Dominican Republic after leaving Honduras. In Pakistan Lieutenant-General Safdar Hussain said Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden can not be hiding in Pakistan's tribal lands on the Afghan border as Pakistani forces have combed the area and found no hint of him, an army commander said today. Bin Laden and his bodyguards could not go undetected in the rugged tribal lands, although pockets of al Qaeda-backed fighters are battling Pakistani forces there. "He requires his own protection and the kind of security apparatus he is supposed to have around would give us a very big signature," Hussain told Reuters in an interview in Peshawar. "There is not an inch of South Waziristan agency or the tribal area which we have not swept time and again and if he was here, I assure you he could not have escaped my ears and eyes." The Corps Commander in Peshawar Lt Gen Safdar Hussain said that peace was almost restored in the South Waziristan Agency with special reference to the Wazir area and the government writ was eventually established in the region. He was briefing senior journalists at the Army Garrison Club where some teenaged alleged terrorists, netted a few days back from the Southern tribal belt, were produced before the local and the foreign media. The Corps Commander declared that his first priority was the restoration of complete peace in tribal belt saying it was the pillar of his strategy to take the tribal people along with him. "I have no doubts about their patriotism, valour and courage and history cannot ignore the services of the tribesmen for the country. In fact they are our frontline defence", he maintained. Regarding possibility of granting amnesty to the militant commander Abdullah Mehsud he said, Abdullah Mehsud has only one option left to him and that is to surrender before the security forces. He said almost all the dens of the Mehsuds including Nana, the den of Abdullah Mehsud, had been destroyed by the security forces and Abdullah Mehsud was desperately in search of some new refuge or the new base. "But I will never allow him to establish his new base; there is only one word for him that is, surrender", the General expressed the resolve. The Corps Commander, reiterated he held no meeting with Abdullah Mehsud as reported by a leading English Daily. However, he admitted that contacts were established with Abdullah Mehsud through a mediator Colonel Yaqoub. When asked as to why did not they get hold of Abdullah Mehsud, when they had contacts with him and Colonel Yaqoub may be knowing his (Mehsud) whereabouts, the Corps Commander said the colonel is thoroughly professional army officer and he could not give up his principles, meaning he wont arrest the person with whom the mediations were on. Narrating the tales of the arrested youths with most of them teenaged, General Safdar said the terrorists had changed their strategy and were using teenaged boys as instruments in carrying out the subversive acts as nobody could take those boys as terrorists. He said most of them were either kidnapped by the terrorists or sold to them. He said the young man Abdul Qahhar who was an Uzbak and arrested along with his other fellow Hussain by the Makeen area tribal peace committee on Tuesday narrated that he was inspired for Jihad by a team of religious scholars while undergoing training in his country. In 1999 the religious scholars team, as the General said, took Qahhar to a Madrassa where around 100 males and females were being imparted Jihad training and there he got one year training and during the Taliban regime he was brought to Qunduz province. Qahhar, after the fall of Taliban in Afghanistan, came to Pakistani tribal belt. Qahhar, the General went on to say, also got training in some of the training camps in South Waziristan including the Shakai camp which was later busted. General said there Qahhar met the Al-Qaeda operative Qari Tahir Yeldeshev. "Qahhar said Yeldeshev is the man who is funding the foreign terrorists in Pakistan and that majority of those terrorists have left South Waziristan Agency and very few are still operating in the region", maintained the General. About Hussain aged 12, who appeared to be a small kid and one could not even think that he could hold a weapon, the general said he was an Afghan Tajik born in Qunduz province and got the religious education there and was sent to Pakistan after the fall of Taliban. Likewise the third captive Khalid aged 18, the General said, was the man who had planted a land mine at Bangash Wala Bridge in the Sarokai area in South Waziristan killing four schoolgoing kids. He was later arrested by the tribals when he along with his other comrades was wandering at the time of funeral of the kids. Khalid, the Corps Commander said, claimed he was kidnapped and was brought to Pakistan along with other children, who were later got released by their parents after payment of ransom. When asked by this scribe as to what plans the government had in mind to rehabilitate teenaged captives who were forced to step into terrorism, the general said with open heart that the administration was ready to do everything for them including amnesty, their rehabilitation and further grooming in making them peaceful citizens. The Corps Commander Peshawar appreciated tribes of the South Waziristan Agency who were cooperating with the security forces in nabbing the foreign terrorists hoped that other tribals would also display the same spirit and help in development and prosperity of the region. In France the Territorial Surveillance Directorate (DST) has uncovered a case of financing of Islamist terrorism of unusual scope, linked to the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (GICM), at the origin of the attacks of Casablanca, Morocco that caused 45 deaths on 16 May 2003. On Friday, 19 November, the police questioned Hassan Baouchi, who on 1 March had passed himself off as the victim of a bank holdup. A holdup that was completely staged, the profits from which, more than 1 million euros, were to serve to finance the Islamist cause. The young man, aged 23, worked at the security firm Brink's, where he was an "ATM technician" responsible for checking the condition of automatic teller machines (ATM). On 1 March, he told officials of the Crime Suppression Squad (BRB) that he had been taken hostage that day by three masked criminals who forced him to open up the access to the ATMs of six banks of Seine-Saint-Denis. Despite their doubts about this holdup with no gunfire, the police released him for lack of proof but forwarded the evidence, notably a surveillance camera recording, to DST, which for months has been interested in the brother of the "victim," Mustapha Baouchi. Arrested in the company of several other Islamists in early April, this electronic technician, who had stayed in Afghanistan at least twice, is considered to be the head of the GICM cell dismantled in France. According to DST, this cell did not have a terrorist plan in the country but provided logistical support to those who carried out the 11 March attacks in Madrid. Despite this haul, DST had still not found any trace of the disappeared million. But about a month ago, a man suspected of having participated in the holdup was questioned in Algeria with several tens of thousands of euros. The second step for DST was the arrest early in the week of a man of Antilles origin, indicted on Friday, 19 November for "criminal conspiracy" and "financing of terrorism" by Judge Jean-Francois Ricard in the investigation opened in France into the Casablanca attacks. Questioned about the holdup, this man identified Hassan Baouchi as a participant in the operation. Arrested on Friday [19 November], the "ATM technician," presented as a "small fry," acknowledged being a party to the holdup, the gains of which were to support the Islamist cause abroad. On Thursday [18 November], the Paris public prosecutor's office opened a judicial inquiry into "financing of terrorism." DST has recordings that supposedly show links between the Baouchi brothers and the investigation into the "Chechen networks" for sending jihadists to the Caucasian republic: several Islamists in the two cases come from Aulnay-sous-Bois (Seine-Saint-Denis) and have known each other since childhood. In London The UK government has been urged to review its policy of detaining foreign terror suspects without trial, by the United Nations Committee on Torture. It expressed concern at conditions in Belmarsh prison, south London, where suspects have been held indefinitely under the 2001 Anti-Terrorism Act. The committee called for alternatives to internment to be urgently examined. The request followed a report to the committee from the UK on its activities - its first for six years. The committee also said the results of inquiries into the alleged misconduct of UK soldiers during the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan should be published.