Terrorism News

The FBI has conducted more than 100 investigations into suspected Islamic extremists within the military, NPR has learned.  About a dozen of those cases are considered serious.  Officials define that as a case requiring a formal investigation to gather information against suspects who appear to have demonstrated a strong intent to attack military targets. This is the first time the figures have been publicly disclosed.

The FBI and Department of Defense call these cases "insider threats."  They include not just active and reserve military personnel but also individuals who have access to military facilities such as contractors and close family members with dependent ID cards.  Officials would not provide details about the cases and the FBI would not confirm the numbers, but they did say that cases seen as serious could include, among others things, suspects who seem to be planning an attack or were in touch with "dangerous individuals" who were goading them to attack.

Read more: NPR

Police are searching a west London address after the arrest of two members of the Basque separatist group Eta, one of whom has been convicted for 22 killings, the Spanish interior ministry said on Friday.  Antonio Troitino, 55, and 39-year-old Ignacio Lerin Sanchez were arrested over alleged terrorist offences in Spain at around 4am on Friday, the Metropolitan police said.  Five suspected Eta members have been arrested this week in France, Spain and Britain as part of a joint crackdown on the group, the Spanish ministry announced.

Weakened by the arrests of most of its leaders and by waning support in the Basque region, Eta said in October it would give up its armed struggle, which lasted more than 40 years and claimed more than 800 lives.  But Madrid has declined to negotiate a definitive end to the conflict, insisting that Eta disband and hand over its weapons.  Sixteen suspected Eta members have been arrested so far this year, mostly in France and Spain.

Read more: The Guardian

A Saudi man accused of buying chemicals online and attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction was found guilty Wednesday in federal court in Amarillo.  Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari, who was legally in the United States on a student visa, was arrested in February 2011 after federal agents secretly searched his apartment near Texas Tech University in Lubbock and found bomb-making chemicals, wiring, a hazmat suit, and clocks.  Authorities also discovered Aldawsari's journal, handwritten in Arabic, in which he wrote he'd been planning a terror attack in the United States for years and that it was "time for jihad," or holy war, court documents show.

Read more: Associated Press

A Saudi court has sentenced 11 men to up to 15 years in prison for membership of a cell linked to al Qaeda that planned to attack U.S. forces in Kuwait and state-owned Saudi oil giant Aramco, Saudi media reported on Wednesday.  The 11 were among thousands of people rounded up as the world's top oil exporter battled al Qaeda militants between 2003 and 2006.  Alriyadh newspaper said the sentences, handed down by the Specialised Criminal Court in the Saudi capital on Tuesday, ranged from two to 15 years in jail.

"The verdicts ... include 15 years in prison for the first defendant for joining a terror cell which targeted American forces in Kuwait and important Aramco sites," the newspaper said.  A spokesman from the Justice Ministry could not be reached for comment.

Read more: Reuters

A Muslim couple were assembling components of a home-made bomb to attack Jewish neighbourhoods after becoming radicalized by al Qaeda propaganda on the internet, a court heard.  Mohammed Sajid Khan, 33, and his wife Shasta, 38, bought substances and equipment from supermarkets to assemble an improvised explosive device to carry out a terrorist attack after scoping Jewish targets, Manchester Crown Court heard.

Britain has seen a credible terrorist attack plot about once a year since the Sept.11 attacks — a worrying pattern as security officials brace for an array of threats ahead of next month’s summer Olympics, the head of the country’s domestic spy agency says.  Although Britain’s threat level is a notch below what it has been for much of the past decade, it is still at substantial.  The level means an attack is a strong possibility, “Our assessment is that Britain has experienced a credible terrorist attack plot about once a year since 9/11,” MI5’s Director General Jonathan Evans said in a rare public speech Monday to the Lord Mayor’s annual defense and security lecture in London.  “The (Olympic) games present an attractive target for our enemies and they will be at the center of the world’s attention in a month or so,” he said. “But the games are not an easy target, and the fact that we have disrupted multiple terrorist plots here and abroad in recent years demonstrates that the UK as a whole is not an easy target for terrorism.”

Not so long ago, 75 percent of the terror threats prioritized by MI5 had links to Afghanistan or Pakistan.  But Britain’s efforts, along with those of its international partners, has brought that percentage down to below 50 percent, Evans said. MI5 has grown since the 2001 terror attacks in the United States, going from 1,800 to 3,800 staff — some of whom joined after Britain’s own homegrown suicide bombings that killed 52 people in 2005. Since then, several international terror plots have been hatched in the United Kingdom, including the 2006 trans-Atlantic airliner plot to down several planes using liquid explosives. A handful of terror trials are also underway.

Read more: Washington Post

A Norwegian man has received terrorist training from al-Qaida’s offshoot in Yemen and is awaiting orders to carry out an attack on the West, officials from three European security agencies told The Associated Press on Monday.  Western intelligence officials have long feared such a scenario — a convert to Islam who is trained in terrorist methods and can blend in easily in Europe and the United States, traveling without visa restrictions.

Officials from three European security agencies confirmed Monday the man is “operational,” meaning he has completed his training and is about to receive a target.  All spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case publicly.  They declined to name the man, who has not been accused of a crime.  “We believe he is operational and he is probably about to get his target,” one security official said.  “And that target is probably in the West.”  A security official in a second European country confirmed the information, adding: “From what I understand, a specific target has not been established.”

Read more: Washington Post

Police in the Indian capital, Delhi, say they have arrested a key figure allegedly involved in the planning of the deadly Mumbai attacks of 2008.  Abu Jindal, also known as Syed Zabiuddin, has been remanded to police custody, a senior police official told the BBC.   He is being described as the "handler" of the 10 gunmen who carried out the deadly assault on targets in Mumbai.  The attacks claimed 165 lives. Nine gunmen were also killed.

The sole surviving gunman from the attacks, Mohammad Ajmal Amir Qasab, was convicted of murder and waging war on India in May 2010 and given a death sentence.

The 60-hour siege of Mumbai began on 26 November 2008, targeting luxury hotels, the main railway station and a Jewish cultural centre.  Relations between India and Pakistan hit rock bottom after India blamed the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba for the attacks.  After initial denials, Pakistan acknowledged that the assault had been partially planned on its territory and that Qasab was a Pakistani citizen.

Source: BBC

Islamist Mohammed Morsi was declared the winner Sunday in Egypt's first free presidential election in history, closing the tumultuous first phase of a democratic transition and opening a new struggle with the still-dominant military rulers who recently stripped the presidency of most of its powers.  Many are looking now to see whether Morsi will try to take on the military and wrestle back the powers they took from his office just one week ago.  Thousands vowed to remain in Tahrir to demand that the ruling generals reverse their decision.

In his first televised speech, the 60-year old U.S.-trained engineer called on Egyptians to unite and tried to reassure minority Christians, who mostly backed Morsi's rival Ahmed Shafiq because they feared Islamic rule.  The White House congratulated Morsi and urged him to advance national unity as he forms a new government.  Pro-democracy leader Mohammed ElBaradei urged unity after the results were announced.

Read more: Fox News

Federal prosecutors are seeking more than 12 years in prison for a Muslim convert from Brooklyn who pleaded guilty to posting online threats against the creators of the “South Park” television show.  Sentencing is scheduled Friday in Alexandria, Va., for Jesse Curtis Morton, who founded the now-defunct Revolution Muslim website.  Earlier this year, he admitted using the site as an outlet for al-Qaida propaganda.  He also conspired with another man to deliver a thinly veiled threat to the creators of the “South Park” television show for perceived insults to the prophet Muhammad.  Defense attorneys are asking for a prison term of less than five years.  The other defendant in the case, Zachary Chesser, got a 25-year sentence, but he also tried to travel to Somalia to join the al-Shabab militant group.

Source: Washington Post