Goodness, one might think that the French are upset about the radical Islamic assasination of Harriri in Beirut yesterday for this little tidbit to get leaked...
Posted on 02/15/2005 7:31:07 PM PST by Calpernia
Algerian radical spills beans on bin Laden "terror network"
An Algerian Islamic radical arrested in France has proved a goldmine for investigators probing Osama bin Laden's militant network in Europe in the wake of the September 11 attacks, magistrates told AFP.
French investigators now believe that after key testimonies from a handful of well placed members of bin Laden's al-Qaeda network the exiled Saudi extremist's secret organisation in Europe is unravelling fast.
Since his arrest in Paris last Monday 27-year-old Yacine Aknouche has revealed his links with several al-Qaeda suspects including "shoe-bomber" Richard Reid and Zacarias Moussaoui, the alleged "20th hijacker" arrested ahead of September 11, the lawyers said.
And his address book has been revealed as a virtual Who's Who of hardline Islamic radicals and terror attack suspects, the astonished investigators claimed, making Aknouche a vital link in a series of interlinked investigations.
"Such a testimony is extraordinary," an investigator told AFP.
Officers of the French domestic intelligence agency, the DST, arrested Aknouche and two other suspects based in a Paris-region flat as part of an inquiry into a thwarted attack on Strasbourg in December 2000.
An Islamic commando based in Frankfurt, western Germany, was said to have planned a spectacular bomb attack on the city centre while a Christmas market was being held in front of the cathedral in the eastern French city.
But when officers began questioning the suspect they found he had information on many more figures in the violent Islamist underground.
Sources told AFP that Aknouche recounted to officers how he had met both Reid and Moussaoui in 2000 at an al-Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan.
Reid, a 28-year-old Briton who converted to bin Laden's hardline brand of Islam while serving a jail term for petty crime, was arrested in December after apparently trying to destroy a Paris to Miami flight with explosives hidden in his shoe.
Moussaoui, a 33-year-old Frenchman, is the first suspect to have been charged with involvement in the attacks on September 11 last year in which four airliners were hijacked and crashed into New York, Washington and the state of Pennsylvania, killing more than 3,000 people.
He was arrested before the attack on an immigration charge when he was already in the United States taking flying lessons. US officials claim that if he had been free he would have been one of the hijackers.
Aknouche also claimed to have met Ahmed Ressam in Afghanistan, this time in 1998.
Ressam was arrested on the US-Canadian border in December 1999 with 50 kilos (120 pounds) of explosives in his car. He is awaiting trial for plotting to carry out an attack timed to coincide with the millennium celebrations.
According to the French weekly Le Journal du Dimanche, the type of explosives carried by Ressam matched the type found in Reid's shoe on the Miami flight and a batch held by a group who planned to attack the US embassy in Paris.
Well, open him up, and see if it's really in there!
Thanks for the email nw_az!
Guess France has earned a two thumbs up!
but can we believe the French?
Goodness, one might think that the French are upset about the radical Islamic assasination of Harriri in Beirut yesterday for this little tidbit to get leaked...
Hope they are sharing the intelligence gained with us.
how do we know he ain't full of beans?
The French have a prisoner? How humiliating to be captured by the French. I'd rather have panties on my head.
This is from 2002.
If the article is correct, he has material (address book) as well as info. Might be more that didn't make the article too.
"Guess France has earned a two thumbs up!"
Now, let's not put the horses @ss before the cart! This doesn't pass the smell test for me. There's no way France would allow this to go public were it a) untrue or b) they have something to gain.
As they say; awaiting further development...
It certainly is from 2002. It's just the French. Sheesh.
1066AD, I'm so sorry. It didn't show the year in the header.
Admin....I think this goes to Chat. I posted it as new and it is 2 years old.
Thank you 1066AD!
The article refers to the September 11th WTC attack LAST YEAR, and Richard Reid's arrest LAST DECEMBER.
The date of the article is MONDAY, February 11th, NO YEAR GIVEN. The last time February 11th fell on a MONDAY WAS IN 2002.
This article IS THREE YEARS OLD.
Wish it were true, though.
that's the date on it: 02.14.02
Yes, I'm sorry. I goofed. I pinged Admin.
I need more coffee. Actually, I need sleep :(
At the very end of the article it says: "nytcov-02.14.02-08:04:42-25937."
No big deal. I was reading the article, and it just didn't make any sense.
I've done worse, believe me.
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