Daily Terrorist Round-Up 6/11/05 (US in talks with Iraq terrorists (WTF?), Sister Suicide bombers)

U.S., insurgents hold indirect talks (Excerpt)
Borzou Daragahi

BAGHDAD -- The U.S. Embassy has held indirect talks with members of violent Iraqi insurgent groups, a U.S. official said Wednesday, edging back from a long-standing position not to negotiate with "terrorists" or those who have American or Iraqi blood on their hands.

"People stop shooting at us, and we -- and I think the Iraqi government -- are ready to engage," said the U.S. official, who spoke to a group of Western reporters on condition of anonymity. "People willing to condemn the use of violence, particularly against the Iraqi people, we're willing to engage."

The United States is hoping to persuade the insurgents to lay down their weapons and join the political process. But the insurgency is thought to consist of diffuse groups of fighters, and it was unclear how broad a section has been involved in the contacts with the United States.

No details on the substance of the talks were made public, and it was unclear whether they had yielded any results. Reports of meetings between figures associated with the insurgency and U.S. officials began emerging this year, but U.S. authorities previously have declined to provide details.

More developments promised in terror probe, but details unclear
By: DON THOMPSON - Associated Press

SACRAMENTO -- Federal authorities who arrested two men and detained three others this week in a terrorism probe say they have been investigating members of a Central Valley Pakistani community for years and expect more developments in the weeks ahead.

But they aren't saying just how the men came to their attention, how far the connections extend and exactly what kind of attacks -- if any -- they were plotting.

FBI spokesman John Cauthen on Thursday said the investigation was not triggered by an internal rift within Lodi's Pakistani community, as some members had suggested.

"This specific investigation has been going on for several years," he said.

There are about 2,500 Pakistanis, some with family roots in Lodi stretching back decades, in the agricultural region about 30 miles south of Sacramento.

Members of separate factions -- one fundamentalist, the other more mainstream -- accused each other of prompting the investigation. The dispute that has led to a leadership struggle at the Lodi Muslim Mosque and a legal fight with a budding Islamic learning center.

So far, the only firm terrorist connection alleged is that of 22-year-old Hamid Hayat, who is scheduled to appear in federal court Friday for a bail hearing.

Umer Hayat, 47, said his son was drawn to jihadist training camps in his early teenage years while attending a madrassah, or religious school, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, that was operated by Umer Hayat's father-in-law, according to an FBI affidavit.

The elder Hayat is alleged to have paid for his son to attend an al-Qaida training camp in Pakistan in 2003 and 2004. The affidavit says it was run by a friend of his father-in-law's. Father and son are charged only with lying to federal investigators.

Meanwhile, differences in copies of the affidavit released in Washington, D.C., and Sacramento raised questions among lawyers for both men.

The early version of the affidavit released in Washington said Hamid Hayat chose to carry out his "jihadi mission" in the United States and that potential targets included "hospitals and large food stores." The reference to the targets was dropped in a later version of the affidavit filed in federal court in Sacramento.

Hamid Hayat's attorney, Wazhma Mojaddidi, said that revision "strikes us as an odd turnabout."

Umer Hayat's attorney, Johnny Griffin III, said he was irritated that the government made public the references to hospitals and supermarkets, and then filed something different with the court. Griffin also said that whether the men had appropriate legal representation during their interrogations "may very well be an issue down the road."

Cauthen described the changes in the affidavits as routine revisions. Authorities said they had no indication of specific plans or timetables for an attack.

"There is no specific information about hospitals and food stores," he said. "They didn't stand out above other sectors of the infrastructure."

The investigation also led to the detention on immigration complaints of two Islamic religious leaders, or imams, and one leader's son. Neither Cauthen nor a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement would reveal specifics of the alleged visa violations.

One of the imams, Mohammad Adil Khan, is scheduled for a July 1 hearing in San Francisco on three administrative charges: being inadmissible at the time of entry; violating the status or condition of his entry; and fraud or misrepresentation.

No hearing has yet been set for his 19-year-old son, Mohammad Hassan Adil, who was detained late Wednesday, or for the second imam, Shabbir Ahmed.

The attorney who represents all three, Saad Ahmad, did not immediately return a telephone call Thursday seeking comment.

The Hayats and the imams are on opposite sides of a struggle between Pakistani factions in and around Lodi: The Hayats are aligned with a faction supporting more traditional Islamic values; the imams with another group seeking greater cooperation and understanding from the larger community.

Adil Khan was trying to start an Islamic center but has been sued by the Lodi Muslim Mosque, which claims he improperly transferred mosque property.

"It may well be that some of this is gamesmanship," said attorney Gary Nelson, who represents Khan in the civil lawsuit. "But we are talking about the FBI and INS, and they don't do this lightly. At least I hope they don't."

Cauthen wouldn't say what triggered the terrorism probe. FBI officials have said they are investigating numerous people in the Lodi area who may have connections to al-Qaida and who received training abroad.

The link to Lodi isn't surprising, said Nick Boone, who retired from the FBI in Los Angeles in 2000 after spending most of his 31 years fighting terrorism.

"I found numerous, numerous connections to that area," as did other agents, Boone said Thursday. "That entire region, all of the area around there, became a very big area of Arab settlement," with accompanying connections to Islamic regions overseas.

The sequence that led to the arrests and detentions began May 29, when Hamid Hayat was trying to return to the U.S. but was identified in mid-flight as being on the federal "no-fly" list. His plane was diverted to Japan, where Hayat was interviewed by the FBI and denied any connection to terrorism.

He was allowed to fly to California, but was interviewed again last weekend. He and his father were charged after he flunked a lie detector test and then admitted attending the training camp, the affidavit said.

Terrorism Headlines of the Week

Domestic

Report spells out FBI's missed opportunities before Sept. 11

WASHINGTON — In the weeks and months before Sept. 11, 2001, the FBI had some clues, but didn't see them. It had a lead from one of its own agents, but didn't follow it.

A sobering inside look at pre-Sept. 11 intelligence operations by the Justice Department's inspector general chronicles — in some instances in hour-to-hour detail — how the FBI missed at least five opportunities to uncover vital information that might have led agents to the hijackers.

"The way the FBI handled these matters was a significant failure that hindered the FBI's chances of being able to detect and prevent the Sept. 11 attacks," Inspector General Glenn Fine said in a newly released report Thursday.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales acknowledged today that there were laws on the books before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks that "discouraged the sharing of information" among law enforcement and intelligence agencies.

Appearing on NBC's "Today" show, Gonzales noted that many of those laws "have now been dismantled" and said he thinks the government is in a better position than before to avert such attacks. "You have the ability to connect the dots" of terrorist plots, Gonzales said.

An FBI agent suggested to the chain of command two months before the attacks that there was a coordinated effort by Osama bin Laden to send students to the United States to study ways to take down U.S. aircraft.

Source: The Associated Press

US administration to step up pressure

The US administration intends to intensify pressure on Syria to meet various conditions, including refraining from interfering in Lebanon, sources in Washington said. The same sources also confirmed that the administration met with a number of Arab personalities and diplomats with the intention to convey to them specific messages to isolate Syria.

Al Sharq Al Awsat newspaper that the US administration will approach Arab countries to exert pressure on Syria to meet four requirements: reduce support to Hezbollah, refrain from interfering in Lebanon, secure its borders with Iraq, and to end the existence of Palestinian resistance in its territories. The paper also learned from official sources that the US State Department recently organised a meeting for Arab ambassadors, however the invitation was not extended to Emad Mustafa, the Syrian Ambassador.

According to sources, the US administration is talking about changing the "ageing Syrian regime", through Arab and international pressure. This is interpreted by analysts as a turning point in the strategy of the US towards Syria.

Source: Gulf News

Ties to Terror Camps Probe

LODI, Calif. — Immigration officials in Sacramento detained a fifth person Wednesday as part of what authorities described as a widening investigation of a group of Pakistani Americans and recent immigrants, some of whom allegedly attended terrorist training camps.

The initial arrests of a Northern California father and son with alleged terrorist connections were the result of a several-year investigation focused on the Muslim community of this Central Valley agricultural center, an FBI official said Wednesday.

(snip)
Source: Los Angeles Times

Pakistan says al-Qaida suspect al-Libbi handed over to U.S.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistan has handed over to the United States senior al-Qaida suspect Abu Farraj al-Libbi, who was wanted for two assassination attempts against President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, an official said Monday.

Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Jalil Abbas Jilani confirmed a reported comment by Musharraf published in a newspaper in the United Arab Emirates on Monday that al-Libbi had been handed over, but gave no further details.
"The president made a statement to this effect. The president's statement was self-explanatory. I don't have further details," Jilani told a news conference in Islamabad.

Some officials have described al-Libbi as al-Qaida's No. 3 leader, after Osama bin Laden and Egyptian surgeon Ayman al-Zawahri. However, he does not appear on the FBI list of the world's most-wanted terrorists, and his exact role in al-Qaida is murky.
He was arrested May 2 after a shootout in northwestern Pakistan.
On May 31, Musharraf told CNN that Pakistan would hand al-Libbi, who is a Libyan, to the United States. In an interview with United Arab Emirates daily al-Ittihad he confirmed that had already happened.

Source: The Associated Press

Identity theft a huge problem; Former counterterrorism chief says governments not doing enough to protect us

Identity theft has become an enormous problem, and governments aren't doing nearly enough to protect us from it, former White House counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke said yesterday. Clarke was the featured speaker at a conference on cyber security for state legislators and business leaders at Carnegie Mellon University.

Identity theft -- which is being conducted more and more by international criminal gangs based in countries where law enforcement is lax -- is primarily a crime problem, but is also a national security problem, said Clarke, who headed an interagency task force on terrorism in the Clinton administration and in the first Bush administration.

"It's happening all over the world, and it's happening in record time," Clarke said. He recounted how a thief in Australia was able to clean out a victim's bank account and transfer the money to a foreign country in under 15 minutes. "Antigua and Aruba are nice places to visit, but you wouldn't want your money to go there without you," he said.

Clarke won fleeting fame last year when he told the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks that in the early months of his presidency, Bush hadn't paid much attention to the threat posed by al Qaida. Clarke now heads a private cyber security firm.

A national identification card would be an effective means of preventing identity theft, but it can't be called a national ID card if Congress is to adopt it, Clarke said.

Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Witness Met Al-Arian At Fundraiser, He Says

TAMPA - A national conference on Islamic issues came to St. Louis, and Muneer Arafat brought a message for the gathering. Muslims need to stay unified, and they should support the Palestinian uprising known as the intifada. Arafat was delivering the words of a man he considered his spiritual guide, who was invited to the first Islamic Committee for Palestine conference but was not able to attend.
Deliver this in my place, the sheik instructed Arafat.

Arafat approached the conference organizer, Sami Al-Arian, who suggested distributing copies of the sheik's message at the 1988 conference.

Al-Arian asked him some questions.

How close are you to the sheik? Would you like to join up with our group instead of his?

The group Al-Arian was talking about, Arafat said, was a breakaway faction of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

“I said I'd think about it,'” Arafat testified Thursday, the fourth day of Al-Arian's trial on charges that he conspired to kill people abroad and provide material support to terrorists.

Source: The Tampa Tribune

International

'Frustrated' insurgents resort to drive-by shootings: US military

BAGHDAD (AFP) - An ongoing sweep of the Iraqi capital has reduced car bombings but increased other kinds of attacks, according to a senior US military source.

"Car bombs are down, roadside bombs are down and we've captured around 1,000 suspects. But we can't declare victory," the source said of Baghdad's Operation Lightning.

Conversely, there are more drive-by shootings. "We think that's another way, though much less effective, to keep up violence," the source -- who spoke on condition of anonymity -- told a small group of journalists on Friday.

The idea for Operation Lightning was put forward by the interior and defence ministries, he said, and announced amid fanfare in late May, reportedly involving 40,000 Iraqi security forces backed by US troops. But the interior ministry later said there were no extra troops or police in the capital, simply that they were being deployed "in a more targeted way."

Source: Agence France Presse

Two men face terror trials

Two men, one a former Qantas baggage handler, have been committed to stand trial on terrorism charges. Former Qantas baggage handler Bilal Khazal has been committed to stand trial on a charge of knowingly collecting or making documents connected with terrorism.

Crown Prosecutor Geoffrey Bellew told the court during the committal hearing that Khazal had compiled a terrorist manual by collecting articles he found on the internet.

But Khazal's counsel Murugan Thangaraj said during the hearing that the book was only about terrorism and his client did not instruct people to commit terrorist acts. He also said Khazal had only written a couple of pages, and the rest was readily available on the internet.

But Central Local Court Magistrate Michael Price committed the 35-year-old Lakemba man to stand trial, saying there was a reasonable prospect of conviction. "I find there is a reasonable prospect that a reasonable jury properly instructed will convict you of this indictable offence and you are committed to stand your trial in the Supreme Court," he said.

Source: Australian Associated Press

Germany expels 9/11 suspect despite acquittal

KARLSRUHE, Germany (Reuters) - A German federal court on Thursday confirmed a 'not guilty' verdict on a Moroccan man accused of complicity in the Sept. 11 attacks, but authorities said they would expel him anyway.

In the latest of a series of setbacks for prosecutors in high-profile terrorism trials in Germany, the federal court ruled that the acquittal of Abdelghani Mzoudi by a Hamburg court last year was sound. It turned down an appeal by the prosecution, which had argued the verdict was flawed and sought a new trial.

Despite the decision, a Hamburg interior ministry spokesman said the city would press ahead with the expulsion of Mzoudi on the grounds of "support for a terrorist group." He was given two weeks to leave the country or be deported to Morocco. "He can go where he wants, we don't care. He must just leave Germany because he represents a danger for the German people and for German security," the spokesman said.

Asked how Mzoudi could be expelled despite being found innocent, the spokesman said: "These are two different things. A criminal offence has to be proven before a court, but under the law on foreigners, suspicion is enough" as grounds for deportation.

Germany, where three of the Sept. 11 suicide hijack pilots were based, introduced a new law on Jan. 1 making it easier to expel suspected foreign militants. Mzoudi's lawyer said he would not exercise his right to appeal and would go home to Morocco.

Source: Reuters

Britain orders extradition of Algerian to France over 1995 bombings

LONDON - Britain’s Home Secretary Charles Clarke ordered the extradition to France of an Algerian national, Rachid Ramda, suspected of having financed deadly bombings in Paris in 1995, an official said Wednesday.

Clarke ordered Ramda’s “surrender to the French authorities” on April 6, nine years after Paris had made the first request, the Home Office said, adding the case had languished until Britain adopted new extradition laws in 2003. Lawyers representing Ramda, whom the French consider the financier of Algeria’s Armed Islamic Group (GIA), have informed the Home Office of their intention to appeal the move, a spokeswoman at the Home Office said.

The 35-year-old was arrested in Britain in November 1995, four months after the bombing of the RER commuter rail service in Paris that left eight people died and 168 injured. Subsequent attacks in the French capital and other cities left dozens hurt.

“We are in very close contact with Rachid Ramda’s solicitors,” the Home Office spokeswoman said. “They have informed us that they want to apply to a judicial review, which is an appeal against the Home Office’s decision.”

Source: Agence France Presse

13 Algerian guards killed in rebel attack

ALGIERS, June 8 (Reuters) - Thirteen Algerian local government guards were killed in a bomb explosion in northern Algeria blamed on militants fighting for a purist Islamic state, a security source said on Wednesday. A homemade device planted on the road was detonated on Tuesday evening when a truck carrying the guards was on patrol in the M'Sila region, some 200 km (125 miles) southeast of the capital Algiers, a security source told Reuters. Six guards were also injured, said the source who declined to be named.

The Interior Ministry was not immediately available for comment. No one has claimed responsibility for the latest attack to hit the oil-producing North African country that is emerging from more than a decade of conflict, which has cost the lives of up to 200,000 people.

Source: Reuters

Algerian Islamist group claims Mauritania attack

NOUAKCHOTT - An Algerian Islamic group said to be linked to the Al-Qaeda network Monday claimed responsibility for an attack that killed 15 people on a military base in Mauritania, in a statement on its website.

"This operation was staged to avenge our brothers imprisoned by the infidel regime" in Nouakchott, said the statement, written in Arabic, from the Algerian rebel Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC).

"The valiant fighters of the GSPC staged this operation on Friday against the forces of the infidel enemy, leaving several dead and wounded and putting several vehicles out of action," said the statement.

The Mauritanian government said 15 people were killed and 17 injured in the raid on Saturday on the military base by about 150 insurgents in the isolated desert Lemgheitty region. It blamed the GSPC and said the attack proves the links between the group, said to have ties to the Al-Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden, and dozens of Mauritanian Islamists incarcerated over the last six weeks.

"It is a clear message that means that our actions will not stop at our enemy within Algeria, but will reach enemies of our faith wherever they are," said the GSPC statement.
"We have, thank God, shown that we are in a position to attack ... those who refuse to impose Sharia (Islamic law)."

Source: Agence France Presse

Hezbollah poll win 'gives mandate'

THE Shi'ite militia Hezbollah and its pro-Syrian ally Amal have won a big victory in southern Lebanon in the second stage of national elections, claiming the vote as a mandate to continue their armed resistance against Israel.

The two parties - Syria's most powerful allies in Lebanon - claimed all 23 seats in the southern areas bordering Israel. In the predominantly Shi'ite region, many see the vote as a referendum on Hezbollah and its weapons, and its result a mandate for anti-Israeli militias to keep their weapons. Hezbollah, which the US calls a terrorist organisation, says it maintains its weapons as a deterrent against Israel.

Hezbollah's commander in southern Lebanon, Sheik Nabil Kaouk, said: "All the south came out today to send a clear message to the Americans that they embrace the resistance weapons and that they are independent in their decision and they are not subservient to international resolutions."

The US wants the guerilla group to abandon its weapons.
Hezbollah has refused to disarm, a position backed by Lebanese authorities, and has vowed to continue to fight Israel for the disputed districts on its southern border.

Source: The Associated Press

Afghans arrest Taliban commander

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan forces have arrested a senior Taliban commander accused of leading attacks against Afghan and U.S.-led troops based in the west of the country, a defense ministry spokesman said on Sunday. Haji Sultan, a division commander for the Taliban, was arrested with Mullah Mohammad Rahim, another senior Taliban official, in the western province of Farah on Saturday, said the spokesman, Zahir Azimy. "Haji Sultan was on the U.S. military black list and we handed him over to them for investigation," Azimy said.

The U.S. military confirmed Sultan's arrest, describing him as a bomb maker, but said he was seized on Thursday.
A Taliban commander, Mullah Dadullah, said by telephone from an undisclosed location Sultan had not been arrested.
Asked if Sultan's arrest might help lead authorities to the fugitive Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, Azimy said investigations would try to determine that.

Source: Reuters

Al Qaeda in Iraq aide detained in Mosul

BAGHDAD - Iraqi police have arrested a key aide to the leader of the Mosul branch of the Al Qaeda in Iraq terrorist group, the government said on Sunday.

Mutlaq Mahmoud Mutlaq Abdullah, also known as Abu Raad, was arrested on Saturday. He is considered a key facilitator and financier for a militant identified by the alias Abu Talha, the purported head of Abu Musab Al Zarqawi’s terror cell in Mosul, 360 kilometers (225 miles) northwest of Baghdad.

A statement released by Iraq’s Cabinet said Abu Raad “coordinates terrorist activities” and “supervises the funds available to the terrorist cell led by Abu Talha.”
“(Abu Raad) arranges meetings between Abu Talha and some terrorists and is familiar with his plans and crimes committed in Mosul, such as murder, rape and kidnappings,” said the statement.

Maj. Gen. Khalil Ahmed al-Obeidi, commander of the Iraqi army in Mosul plus several other northern Iraqi areas, confirmed the arrest of Abu Raad, but provided no further details.

Source: The Associated Press

Sunnis Seek End to Iraqi Insurgent Sweep

BAGHDAD, Iraq Jun 3, 2005 — An influential Sunni association called for an end to a weeklong counterinsurgency offensive in Baghdad, saying it overwhemingly targets members of their religious minority and has led to the detention of hundreds of people.

Eight people died from insurgent attacks around the country, bringing to at least 830 the number killed since the Shiite-led government took office April 28 an average of 23 deaths a day, not counting rebels.

In the past 18 months, 12,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed, including more than 10,000 Shiites, Interior Minister Bayan Jabr said, citing data from a research center. But he said he figured the affiliations based on the areas where victims lived, not individual religious identifications.

Army Col. Mark Milley, who commands the 2nd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, said intelligence indicated insurgents were using Baghdad's southern districts to stage attacks in the capital. U.S. and Iraqi troops swept through several southern neighborhoods Friday. Milley said 84 suspects were detained, while a "half a dozen suspected al-Qaida cell members" and several other fighters from Sudan, Syria, Egypt and Jordan had been captured since the operation began Sunday.

Source: The Associated Press

Indonesian police say 17 arrested, two others sought over bombings in Christian town

POSO, Indonesia - Indonesian police said on Saturday they have arrested 17 suspects and were looking for two others in connection with last weekend’s bombings that killed 20 people in a Christian town.

None of the 17 - who include the head of a local prison, three prisoners and an Islamic junior high schoolmaster - have been formally charged over the twin blasts at a bustling market in Tentena, a town in Central Sulawesi province. Brig. Gen. Aryanto Sutadi, chief of Central Sulawesi police, said a local police officer was also being questioned over allegations that he had accompanied one of the prisoner suspects to Tentena just before the May 28 blasts.
“As of today (Saturday), we have arrested 17 suspects and now we are still hunting two others,” Sutadi said. “Based on their confession, the two (who are still being pursued) were the executors of the bombings. They are suspected to have planted the bombs at the Tentena market.”

Source: The Associated Press

Pakistan says arrest of alleged women suicide bombers will curb extremists

ISLAMABAD (AFP) - The arrest of two middle-class Pakistani sisters who allegedly trained to become suicide bombers has removed a major threat to the country amid a renewed wave of sectarian bloodshed, officials said.
Police had spent a year hunting for the pair of female Islamic militants, who were named as Arifa and Habiba and said by officials to be the well-educated daughters of a bank executive.

Security officials said on Friday that while on the run the pair had each married top members of the Sunni Muslim extremist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, which has links to Al-Qaeda and was implicated in the murder of US reporter Daniel Pearl.
"It removes a major threat because such an unusual attack using female suicide bombers would have caused a lot of damage. It would have set an example for others to follow," said a senior Pakistani official involved in the fight against sectarian terrorism.

Pakistan has suffered more than two decades of violence between extremists from the majority Sunni and minority Shiite communities, including suicide attacks in Islamabad and Karachi last month that left dozens dead.

The women were arrested as they walked along a road near the northern tourist town of Swat along with one of Lashkar's most wanted militants, identified as Saifullah Bilal, security officials said.

Source: Agence France Presse

Muslim guerrillas confirm top Jemaah Islamiyah bombers hiding near their bases

MANILA -- Muslim guerrillas said Thursday they were helping government troops capture two Indonesians blamed for the deadly 2002 Bali bombings and confirmed that the terror suspects were hiding near their southern strongholds with eight other militants.

The two suspected bombers--Pitono, also known as Dulmatin, and Umar Patek--have been sighted in a mountainous region bordering the southern provinces of Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, often with al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf extremists, Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) spokesman Eid Kabalu said.

Kabalu spoke a day after deputy national security adviser Virtus Gil announced that the pair from the Jemaah Islamiyah terror network, which originated from Indonesia, were plotting fresh attacks and undergoing terror training in Mindanao. Gil said the suspects have met with Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khaddafy Janjalani, and one of them, Dulmatin, was last seen near Maguindanao a few days ago.

The main Muslim separatist group, the MILF, has entered into peace talks with the government and pledged to arrest foreign militants whose presence in the rebel territory has threatened to derail negotiations to end a three-decades-old insurgency.

But Kabalu told The Associated Press that the two militants did not appear to be actively involved in plotting attacks against the Philippine government.

Source: The Associated Press

Suspected suicide-bomber sisters arrested in Swat

ISLAMABAD — Police have arrested two sisters from an militant group with links to Al Qaeda who were allegedly plotting suicide attacks against people, officials said yesterday. They would have been the first female suicide bombers to strike the key US ally and were the subject of an intensive year-long hunt by security forces in Pakistan, which has suffered a recent wave of suicide bombings.

The pair, identified by police as Arifa and Habiba and said to be aged between 18 and 20, were seized from a hideout in the scenic northern tourist town of Swat early this week, a senior security official told AFP.

Investigators said they were trained by their uncle, a top member of Lashkare Jhangvi group, who was sentenced to death last week for killing 45 people in two suicide attacks on mosques in Karachi in 2004.

Source: Agence France Presse

For comments and questions, please send an email to feedback@siteinstitute.org.
To subscribe to SITE’s mailing list, please send an email to list-subscribe@siteinstitute.org.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.