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Al-Qaida wing for North Africa says it's behind Algiers blasts
December 11, 2007
CAIRO, Egypt: The North African branch of al-Qaida said in an Internet posting it was behind the bombings in the Algerian capital on Tuesday, claiming also that 110 people were killed in the attacks carried out by two suicide truck bombers.
A statement posted on a militant Web site said two "martyrs" of al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa drove trucks loaded with 800 kilograms (1,700 pounds) of explosives each "to attack the headquarters of the international infidels' den" and the headquarters of the Algerian constitutional council.
SNIP:The group identified the suicide bombers as Ibrahim Abu Othman, who attacked the U.N. building, and Abdel-Rahman Abu Abdel-Nasser al-Assimi, who attacked the constitutional council building.
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http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/12/11/africa/ME-GEN-Al-Qaida-Algeria-Bombing-Claim.php
You’re welcome Oorang.
SAN ANTONIO – The story sounded plausible: sixty Afghan and Iraqi terrorists smuggled in by a Mexican drug cartel to attack an Army post in Arizona. As quickly as the story spread from a report last month in the Washington Times and reverberated around talk radio and conservative blogs, it died. The FBI dismissed the reported plot as not credible.
But the discredited scheme to blow up Fort Huachuca underscores a reality that haunts law enforcement and homeland security specialists: the fact that one day a terrorist could be among the thousands who cross the border illegally each year. State and federal officials charged with homeland protection, including securing the border, quickly stress that an illegal immigrant from a nation linked to terrorist groups is not necessarily a terrorist. "[But] every report, every rumor has to be investigated. We have to err on the side of caution," said Steve McCraw, director of the Texas Homeland Security office.
"We operate on the knowledge that groups like al-Qaeda, Hamas and Hezbollah have communities of support in Texas and the U.S.," he said. "We know terrorists have expressed interest in working through Mexican smuggling organizations to exploit our very porous border to enter the U.S. for terror operations."
Border Patrol officials defer to the FBI and other agencies any questions about whether suspects believed to have direct links to terrorist organizations like al-Qaeda have been apprehended at the border. But they emphasize that only a minuscule number of people picked up at the border are from one of the 35 countries designated by U.S. intelligence agencies as "special interest" for the potential to export terrorism.
In fiscal 2007, which ended in September, less than 1 percent of the 24,000 non-Mexican citizens apprehended by the Border Patrol came from special-interest countries. For example, seven came from Iran, eight from Iraq and 10 from Pakistan. Of the total, an even smaller group was turned over to the FBI for further investigation after their fingerprints triggered a "watch list" alarm. Mr. McCraw acknowledged that the overwhelming majority of people from suspect countries picked up at the border have no involvement with terrorism.
"There were 436 people from countries with known al-Qaeda presence arrested along the Texas/Mexico border in the past few years," he said. "Obviously, not all these people are al-Qaeda. Maybe none. "But one terrorist getting through is too many. We have to think about the ones that didn't get caught."
Mr. McCraw made headlines in September when he said in a speech in Dallas that terrorists with ties to Hezbollah, Hamas and al-Qaeda have been arrested along the Texas border. His comments echoed comments by National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell to the El Paso Times last summer that a small number of people with known links to terrorist organizations have been caught crossing the border. The FBI and the National Intelligence Office have not provided any details about these arrests.
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ADDING 1 link to your post no. 514, Oorang.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1938200/posts?page=9#9