Rehash of article of 7/25/2003, adds a bit of detail...
A German intelligence agent said Friday during the trial of a Jordanian national up on terrorism charges that there were close links between a radical Palestinian group and Al Qaeda. The leader of the Palestinian extremist organisation Tawhid, Abu Mussab Zarqawi, also had a top role in Osama Bin Laden's network, said a terrorism expert from the BKA federal crime office whose name was not revealed before the court. Tawhid's goals include overthrowing the state of Jordan and killing all Jews.
| That's a pretty succinct mission statement... |
The US government has described Zarqawi as a link between Al Qaeda and former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. The defendant in the case, Shadi Mohammad Mustafa Abdullah, a 26-year-old Jordanian of Palestinian origin, stands accused of belonging to Tawhid and plotting attacks here against Jewish and Israeli targets, all of which were foiled. He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of membership of a terrorist organisation and passport forgery. The BKA agent cited the fact that Zarqawi, who is at large, had operated a training camp in the Afghan city of Herat that was financed by Bin Laden as evidence of the ties between the two groups. German authorities first began observing Tawhid in 1997 and opened a formal probe in October 2001, after the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States as part of a sweeping crackdown on Islamic extremist groups. The agent said that since then, Tawhid had increased efforts to forge passports for Islamist fighters in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan to help them flee US forces. He said that the German Tawhid cell intended to not only attack Jewish interests in Germany but that âthe United States and the Bundeswehr [or German armed forces] were in the group's crosshairs,â according to new findings. Abdullah has said during his trial that Al Qaeda and Tawhid have cooperated on fund-raising but described their relationship as more of a rivalry than an alliance.
| Something along the lines of cooperating egos... |
He testified Thursday that Tawhid operatives in Germany received an order from their superiors the day after the Sept. 11 attacks to bomb Jewish sites in Germany. |