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| Down Under |
| Australian training in Afghanistan, met Binny |
| 2005-12-20 |
| An Australian charged with membership of a terrorist group trained with al Qaeda in Afghanistan and met Osama bin Laden in the months before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States, a court was told. Police told a bail hearing that Shane Kent, 28, attended the "Al Farooq terrorist training camp" in Afghanistan from June to August 2001, the Australian Associated Press reported. Detective Ben Condon said a witness, whose identity was suppressed by the court, had made a statement saying Kent attended the camp and met al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. When asked by defence lawyer Peta Murphy if Kent had ever pledged allegiance to Osama bin Laden, Condon replied: "I believe he did". Murphy denied any such pledge was made by Kent, one of 18 Muslims arrested in November in Melbourne and Sydney in Australia's biggest terror swoop and charged with being members of a terrorist organisation and/or plotting a terrorist attack. The prosecution opposed bail for Kent at a hearing due to continue on Wednesday. Last Friday, the same Melbourne court was told that two of the other men arrested, one an Islamic cleric, had discussed assassinating Australian Prime Minister John Howard, killing policemen and even attacking crowds at sports events. In Sydney last month, police told a court eight men arrested there might have been planning a bomb attack against the city's nuclear reactor. A police document submitted to the Sydney court outlined how the men bought the same chemicals used in the London July 7 bombs, had bomb-making instructions in Arabic and videos entitled "Sheikh Osama's Training Course" and "Are you ready to die?" |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #1 Did Mohammad al-Kent ask Binny for an autograph? |
| Posted by: BigEd 2005-12-20 13:00 |