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| Afghanistan/South Asia |
| Pakistan questioning suicide bombing recruiter |
| 2004-04-07 |
| Pakistani police are investigating suspected links between Al Qaeda and a captured Islamic militant accused of recruiting suicide bombers to attack Western targets, police said on Wednesday. âThere is a strong possibility of his direct or indirect links with Al Qaeda,â a senior police investigator told AFP, requesting anonymity. Sohail Akhtar, alias Mustafa, 35, was seized with eight other suspected militants during a raid on their hideout in the violent southern port city Karachi on Monday. âWe believe Mustafa recruited the suicide bombers who carried out deadly attacks on the US consulate in June 2002 and the Sheraton hotel blast a month earlier,â the investigator said. In May 2002 a suicide bomber rammed his explosive-packed vehicle into a bus carrying French naval technicians outside the cityâs Sheraton Hotel, killing 11 French nationals and three Pakistanis. Mustafa told interrogators he had several suicide bombers whom he provided to different militant groups, and that he favoured American targets. âI always go for foreign targets particularly the Americans as they are responsible for killing Muslim brothers and sisters all over the world,â the investigator quoted Mustafa as saying. Mustafa told investigators he recruited a young boy, Abdul Hameed, from Pakistanâs conservative North West Frontier Province, to blow himself up in the Sheraton hotel attack. âWhen we contacted Hameedâs parents after Mustafaâs disclosure they were shocked to here that their son was dead,â Manzoor Mughal, of the police Crimes Investigation Department, told AFP. âWe are determining whether his links go to Al Qaeda ranks or not,â he told AFP. Mustafa was trained in Al Qaeda-run camps in the eastern Afghan cities of Jalalabad and Khost during the hardline Talebanâs 1996-2001 rule. He returned to Pakistan after the regime was destroyed by US-led forces in late 2001 for refusing to hand over Osama bin Laden in the wake of the September 11 terror attacks. Mustafa had expressed regret at the deaths of the French workers in the Sheraton attack, saying he had hoped to kill Americans, investigators said. Police chief of southern Sindh province Kamal Shah said he was also probing whether Mustafa provided the suicide bombers used in two massive suicide attacks against minority Shiite Muslims in the southwestern city of Quetta. âOne of the absconding suspects in Quettaâs suicide attacks had been meeting Mustafa quite often in Karachi and it could be possible that Mustafa provided them with the suicide bombers,â Shah said. Mustafa is part of a nine-member gang accused of engineering an arson attack on Macedoniaâs honorary consulate in Karachi in December 2002. Police believe they belong to the Harkatul Mujahedin al-Alaami militant organisation, an offshoot of the Kashmiri militant group Harkatul Mujahedin. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #5 Boomer Groomer! Yes! An excellent name for the upcoming round up of aspiring Shahids! Abu SluFoot: Jr. 5'4 127 lbs. 5.5 200 lbs. 92, good eye roll. Abu Icee: Sr. 5'7 180 lbs. 6.4 230 lbs 88, beard. Abu Boris Sr+ 6'1 299 lbs. 8.8 140 lbs. 111, white. Collect 'em all |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-04-07 7:04:35 PM |
| #4 I like both Boomer Groomer and Suicruiter. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-04-07 6:22:48 PM |
| #3 Boomer Groomer. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2004-04-07 6:10:31 PM |
| #2 Suicruiter? Infidelcide Inciter? Boomer Pusher? |
| Posted by: Mike Sylwester 2004-04-07 5:56:45 PM |
| #1 They need to come up with a better name than "suicide bomber recruiter." There's no flow flow to it. I suggest Slodey-pimp. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-04-07 1:47:59 PM |