Posted on 05/04/2003 8:48:49 AM PDT by miltonim
50 'training for suicide blasts'
NEARLY 50 would-be suicide bombers are living in Britain, according to a leading British Islamic radical.
Hassan Butt, a self-styled recruiter of British volunteers for the Islamic holy war, said he had been approached by the men for guidance on how to carry out so-called "martyrdom operations" in Israel.
The warning came after last week's suicide bombing on a bar in Tel Aviv, which killed three people. The attack by Asif Mohammed Hanif, from Hounslow, west London, and Omar Khan Sharif, from Derby, northern England, was the first suicide strike by British citizens. Hanif blew himself up but Sharif fled when his bomb failed to detonate and is still on the run.
Scotland Yard anti-terrorist branch detectives have arrested six people they suspect may have been linked to last week's Tel Aviv blast.
Mr Butt said at the weekend that he knew both British bombers but declined to elaborate. He claimed they were just the first of a significant number of Britons preparing to conduct similar attacks.
In the past, security officials have been sceptical about Mr Butt's claims. However, he was arrested last November and questioned by Special Branch detectives, who believed he had information relating to terror attacks. About the same time, he warned that he knew British-based fundamentalists were preparing to carry out suicide attacks abroad.
One of the six being questioned by police yesterday was Tahira Sharif, the Derby bomber's 26-year-old wife. Detectives want to know if she had any knowledge of the attack. Other members of Mr Sharif's family are also being quizzed.
Mr Sharif and, it is believed, Hanif both attended Arabic language courses at Damascus University.
Security sources believe they may have been indoctrinated by radical clerics there who introduced them to terrorists from Hamas.
The group has claimed responsibility for most of the 106 suicide attacks carried out in Israel since the Palestinian uprising began in 2000.
However, investigators say the British bombers may have received financial backing, spiritual support and an introduction to contacts from supporters of Al-Muhajiroun, a fanatical group that wants to turn Britain into an Islamic state.
The group yesterday denied the men were members but Omar Bakri Mohammed, its leader, said he had acted as spiritual adviser to them. Sheikh Bakri said Sharif had attended six two-hour sessions in Derby, with the last on April 14, just over a fortnight before the bombing.
A team of officers from Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service, arrived in London late last week to investigate links between both men and Al-Muhajiroun. The Bank of England has frozen accounts belonging to the two.
Hopefully, the Muslims will look at what we do for Iraq/Palestinians, and quit trying to blow us up.
What benefit is Mr. Butt to the British? Unless he is native-born, which would be more troublesome to handle, they should kick Butt out.
There can't be more than one or two steps to memorize.
Suicide training is handing them a grenade and telling them to count to twelve...
Practice begins tomorrow morning at 09:00. Do it until you get it right. No one will be given an assignment until they can demonstrate they have successfully blown themselves up at least once.
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