Posted on 12/14/2002 9:48:21 AM PST by Destro
Al-Qaeda hitmen here
By GERARD McMANUS in Canberra
15dec02
TWO highly trained and dangerous al-Qaeda operatives are at large in Australia. Information about the men, who are Caucasian, has emerged from interrogations of alleged Australian Taliban fighters David Hicks and Mamdouh Habib, who are being held by the US military at Camp X-Ray in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Senior security sources told the Sunday Herald Sun this week the information has been passed on to Australia's spy agency, ASIO.
Detailed information about the training and terrorist philosophy of the two wanted men was obtained during exhaustive interrogations at Camp X-Ray, the sources said.
So far, Australian security agencies have been unable to establish their true identities or whereabouts, though it is believed one of them has an adopted Muslim name.
"You can gauge the magnitude of the problem and what we are up against, and we still have no idea of exactly who they are or what they might be up to," one senior security official told the Sunday Herald Sun.
"You cannot underestimate the seriousness. These men are hardcore terrorists, highly motivated and trained."
The two men have had extensive overseas terrorist training and are understood to be dedicated to their cause, according to information gained from the interrogations.
Revelations about the men coincide with heightened fears about a possible terrorist attack over the Christmas-New Year period.
Security sources said they had no doubt al-Qaeda operatives have planned further attacks, including some on the Australian mainland.
Al-Qaeda pair here
Information obtained from the interrogations and al-Qaeda training videos suggests attacks are being planned on unusual targets such as highways, sporting events and buildings with many occupants.
Some scenarios on the tapes involve the taking of hostages and ritual executions in front of television cameras.
All such scenarios end with the terrorists killing all hostages and preparing to die themselves. Other operations are more straightforward, such as motorcycle drive-by shootings.
Dignitaries are also targets, with elaborate planning of assassinations in locations where they would be vulnerable, such as golf courses.
Hicks and Habib have been imprisoned without trial at Guantanamo Bay, with 600 other prisoners captured in the US-led war on terror.
They have had two "official" visits from Australian authorities, but no consular visits or access to lawyers.
Adelaide-born Hicks, 26, has been in detention for a year after being captured in Afghanistan by the Northern Alliance.
A former Kosovo Army volunteer, Hicks is alleged to have been part of a Taliban assault group.
Habib, aged 47, is from Sydney, but left Australia in July last year for Pakistan and was arrested in October that year.
He allegedly has links with Muslim extremists that go back to the first bombing of the World Trade Centre in 1993, and security officials claim he is linked to a push to start a "holy war" in Sydney.
The Sunday Herald Sun sent a letter to ASIO chief Dennis Richardson this week posing several questions, including why the Australian public had not been told or used to help identify the two wanted men.
The organisation responded that it could not comment on the detail of such matters, a position it said was consistent with its long-standing practice.
However, the organisation again offered its toll-free number for members of the public who may have any information about terror suspects: 1800 020 648.
© Herald and Weekly Times
The Balkan Branches of the Terror Network "in search of blond Moslems"
The world is a very dangerous place and about to become far more dangerous. Fast.
I meant "THEY"
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