Disclosures of al-Qaeda targets in South Africa involving two alleged South African terrorists have turned attention on their mystery recruiter, named as Ahmed, somewhere in South Africa. Security sources in Islamabad said the South Africans arrested after a Pakistan shootout, Zoubair Ismail and Feroze Abubakar Ganchi, both from Gauteng, were apparently initiated into the Osama bin Laden jihad by this "teacher".
Emerging from the latest arrests, key landmarks in Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town have been identified as targets of a huge al-Qaeda terror blitz on South Africa. However, South African police sources said they had known for a year-and-a-half about their alleged al-Qaeda activities and targets, and had had the pair under constant surveillance.
Information obtained on Tuesday night was that both Ismail and Ganchi allegedly had several meetings with three alleged al-Qaeda operatives in South Africa - Syrian and Jordanian citizens - arrested by South African police earlier this year. Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi announced the arrest and deportation of the three men in April. They are believed to have been in South Africa for nearly a year when they were arrested.
| Wonder who they talked to? |
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