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| Fifth Column | |
| Terror cell 'smuggled missiles into Europe' | |
| 2005-10-29 | |
| An Islamic terror cell has smuggled two surface-to-air missiles into Europe in a plot to shoot down planes at one of France's main airports, it was claimed yesterday. French and Algerian extremists with links to al-Qa'eda bought the Russian SA-18 Grouse missiles from Chechens in 2002 and smuggled them via Georgia and Turkey, according to French anti-terror sources quoted in Le Figaro. Both missiles and several of the extremists are reportedly still at large. French anti-terrorism investigators learned of the missile terror plan while interrogating a Jordanian al-Qa'eda operative close to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the head of the Islamic terror group in Iraq. Adnan Muhammad Sadik, alias Abu Atiya, is now being held by the Jordanian authorities. He is believed to have been al-Qa'eda's chief in the Caucasus and responsible for training foreign "holy warriors" - many of whom returned to their countries of origin to set up sleeper cells. According to Abu Atiya, one such group, the so-called "Chechen network", returned to France with the missiles and chemical and biological agents such as botulin, ricin and cyanide. Some of its members had allegedly been involved in a plan to explode a bomb during a Christmas market in Strasbourg in 2000. Others were linked to a conspiracy to blow up Los Angeles airport in 1999. In 2002 the group wavered between attacking a symbolic target such as Russia's embassy in Paris, to punish its Chechen policies, or a higher profile location, such as the Eiffel Tower. Before homing in on a preferred target, most of the group was arrested in a swoop by the French terrorist brigade, the DST, in two Paris suburbs late in 2002. But some escaped. Tell me again about how it's only the war in Iraq that has radicalized Muslim youth ....
Terrorists planned to attack airliners: report PARIS, Oct 28 (AFP) - French Islamic extremists planned to attack passenger airliners in France with shoulder-launched missiles, and were possibly the reason British authorities issued a red alert for Heathrow airport in 2003, the newspaper Le Figaro reported Friday. "Terrorists planned to attack aircraft in France" with two Russian-made surface-to-air SAM-18 missiles that have gone missing in Europe, the daily said. Without giving sources for the report, the newspaper said French authorities learned of the plot from a "high-ranking jihadi (fighter following a holy cause) imprisoned in Amman, Jordan." The man, a Jordanian identified as Adnan Muhammad Sadik, alias Abu Atiya, was recently interviewed as part of a French inquiry led by anti-terror judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere looking into international recruiting networks for the rebellion in Chechnya, it said. Sadik, the newspaper said, was "close to his compatriot (Abu Musab) Zarqawi, chief of Al-Qaeda in Iraq." He reportedly inducted a group of Algerians and Frenchmen in 2001 who wanted to return to Europe to carry out attacks using "all means at their disposal: toxic products, and also missiles." The newspaper said two SAM-18 missiles were acquired on the black market "via the Chechen mafia" and were believed to have been sent to Europe via Georgia and Turkey. An amount of cyanide was also thought to have been brought in by the same route. According to Le Figaro, once the consignments arrived, "the terrorists then prepared their plans, vacillating between symbolic targets (the Russian embassy, police stations) and bloody attacks (department stores, the Eiffel Tower...)." But according to a source close to the investigation speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, "these missiles were meant for targets outside Europe and never came into Europe." The source added that the existence of the weapons was known since 2001. "In this matter, we can really say that the risk for France is zero," one of the experts working on the case told AFP. Le Figaro said that raids in 2002 by French police in the Paris area caught many members in France behind the plots, but it was not clear that the threat disappeared. In February 2003, it noted, Britain suddenly scrambled police, troops and tanks to protect London's Heathrow airport from attack. "According to information gathered on the other side of the Channel, Islamic extremists had been preparing to fire on a plane as it was landing or taking off," Le Figaro said. "And the 'lead' obtained by the famous British counter-espionage service MI5 spoke of portable ground-to-air missiles 'from the Continent'." The newspaper said that SAM-18 missiles have a range of up to five kilometres (three miles) and can attain an altitude of 3,500 metres. Civilian aircraft have already been targeted by shoulder-launched missiles in recent years, elsewhere in the world. In November 2002, two SAM-7 missiles -- predecessors to the SAM-18s -- were fired at a Boeing belonging to an Israeli airline as it took off from Mombasa, Kenya. The missiles barely missed the aircraft, and none of the 271 people on board was hurt. Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility. A year later, in Iraq, a freight aircraft owned by the German courier service DHL was hit by a SAM-7 missile shortly after take-off from Baghdad airport. One engine was damaged, but the plane managed to circle back and land safely. | |
| Posted by:too true |
| #4 So what's the deal, Jacques? Still think your opposition to the war in Iraq spared you from terrorism and/or its side effects? |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2005-10-29 16:54 |
| #3 In a World War the action "theaters" can take place in any part of the globe. Although the English and French may consider these events as "lover's spats." Especially the Frog; shoot les missiles outre, merci-bien. |
| Posted by: Bardo 2005-10-29 13:16 |
| #2 What was that advice about taking a viper to your chest again?... |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2005-10-29 11:22 |
| #1 must be for their support in the Iraq war. Glad no one was hurt, though. Good work. |
| Posted by: 2b 2005-10-29 10:45 |