Free Republic

UNIDENTIFIED gunmen shot and killed a brother-in-law of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in a raid on his home in Madagascar, his brother said. Malek Khalifa told Dubai-based Al Arabiya television that the aim of the killers appeared to have been to rob his brother, Jamal Khalifa, who mined and traded precious stones in Madagascar.

 A federal grand jury in Kansas City has issued a new indictment against an Islamic charity based in Columbia---and has added a former Michigan congressman to the list of people indicted.The new indictment accuses the Islamic American Relief Agency and several former officers of of engaging in prohibited financial transactions for the benefit of a terrorist. The indictment charges former Michigan Congressman Mark Deli Siljander with money laundering, conspiracy, and obstruction of justice.Federal officials say the charity sent money to Pakistan to benefit a man designated by the United States as a global terrorist. The prosecutor says the man had...

Charity charged with funneling funds to Iraq Columbia Islamic group, now defunct, is accused of sending $1.4 million during Hussein’s reign. By MARK MORRIS The Kansas City Star A defunct Columbia charity and five officers and associates have been charged with illegally sending more than $1.4 million to Iraq while Saddam Hussein was in power. The 33-count federal indictment, unsealed Wednesday in Kansas City, is the latest assault on a charity that in 2004 was designated a supporter of global terrorists, including Osama bin Laden, al-Qaida and Hamas. At its core, the indictment alleges the Islamic American Relief Agency-USA solicited...

An Israeli aircraft fired a missile at a bridge in the central Gaza Strip on Tuesday as troops prepared for a threatened offensive into the territory, Palestinian witnesses said. Israel has been planning a major push into the territory following the capture of an Israeli soldier by militants from Gaza on Sunday.

Net tightens on Saddam after aide seized By Alistair Lyon BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The capture of Saddam Hussein's closest aide tightened the net on the missing Iraqi leader Thursday as a U.S. medic was killed and two were wounded when their ambulance was ambushed south of Baghdad. The U.S. military said a rocket-propelled grenade had hit an ambulance of the 804th Medical Brigade as it was transporting a patient injured in an unrelated incident. The U.S. drive to track down Saddam, who disappeared after Baghdad fell on April 9, may have moved into a new gear now that his secretary,...

RECORDS of Osama Bin Laden’s calls from his satellite phone reveal Britain was at the heart of the terrorist’s planning for his worldwide campaign of murder and destruction. Bin Laden and his most senior lieutenants made more than 260 calls from their base in Afghanistan to 27 numbers in Britain. They included suspected terrorist agents, sympathisers and companies. Some were prearranged calls to contacts using public pay phones. The records, obtained by The Sunday Times, show that the terrorist leader made more calls to Britain than any other country in the two years that he used the phone. He stopped...

Two men arrested outside Pentagon FBI says one claimed to know a Sept. 11 hijacker NBC, MSNBC AND NEWS SERVICES ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 13 — Two men were in federal custody Wednesday after they were arrested this week in a tow truck carrying fake identification near the Pentagon, law enforcement officials said. Law enforcement officials said one of the men had previously been interviewed as part of the investigation of the Sept. 11 attacks and claimed to have known one of the terrorists responsible for them.