Leaflets published in UK urging suicide bombings found in territories

Ha'aretz ^ | 04/05/2003 11 | Amos Harel, Roni Singer, and Sharon Sadeh

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Last Update: 04/05/2003 11:52

Report: Leaflets published in UK urging suicide bombings found in territories

By Amos Harel, Roni Singer, and Sharon Sadeh, Haaretz Correspondents, Haaretz Service and Agencies

Brochures printed in Great Britain urging Muslims to become suicide bombers have been found in the territories, according to a report in The Guardian.

In response, Israel is demanding that Britain launch an immediate investigation into the publisher of the leaflets - al-Sunnah, the organization based at the Center for Islamic Studies in Birmingham.

Two British citizens were involved in a suicide bombing at a Tel Aviv pub last week, in which three Israelis were killed. While one of the terrorists managed to blow himself up, police in Israel are still searching for the second who fled the scene when his explosives belt apparently malfunctioned.

According to the report, one leaflet published just before the outbreak of the U.S.-led war against Saddam Hussein urges Muslims to become martyrs in Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine. Supporters are asked to send donations to a bank account in Birmingham.

Citing the Sunday Times, Army Radio reported that a British Islamic radical was claiming that the country was harboring nearly 50 would-be suicide bombers for attacks in Israel. The report in the British daily also said that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had ordered that spy operations against radical Muslim organizations in the UK be stepped up in response to the suicide bombing.

Another report in the UK's Sunday Telegraph said that the two British bombers involved in the attack may have been trained by Al-Qaida or Hezbollah.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman said there were "serious leads" indicating that British citizens Asif Hanif and Omar Sharif had been trained in camps in Syria by supporters of either Al-Qaida or Hezbollah, the paper reported, adding that Israel and the MI5, Britain's security service, are cooperating over the information.

The Sunday Telegraph also reported that the MI5 knew that the two Britons had links to Islamic extremists but decided they were not potential terrorists.

Early Saturday, British anti-terror police announced that they had arrested six people in connection with the suicide bombing at the entrance to the beachfront pub Mike's Place.

[MEG33]

The granting of asylum has been a disaster. Blair has been accused of being in cahoots with Zionists by a member of parliament.Too many arabists and not enough realists.