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Europe
Terror mastermind 'boasted of role in massacre'
2004-06-09
The ex-army explosives expert said to be a key figure in the 11 March bomb attacks in Madrid told a friend in a wiretapped telephone conversation that he masterminded the attacks, Italian newspapers reported Wednesday. "The attack in Madrid was my project and those who died martyrs are my dearest friends," said Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed on the tape, according to reports. Sayed Ahmed, 33, known as "Mohammed the Egyptian", was arrested in Milan together with a Palestinian in a Europe-wide police operation Tuesday. Fifteen other Islamic radicals were also arrested in Belgium, while allegedly preparing an attack on Nato. Sayed Ahmed was taped on 26 May by Italian police talking to his friend Yahia Mouad Mohammed Rajah.
It will make for enjoyable listening at his trial.
Authorities said he was planning more attacks in Europe when he was arrested. Bombs exploded almost simultaneously on four commuter trains in and around Madrid on 11 March, killing 192 people and injuring some 1,500 others. The attacks are believed to have been carried out by Islamic extremists linked to al-Qaeda. Several of those involved in the bombings blew themselves up in a suburban Madrid apartment on 3 April when surrounded by police. Sayed Ahmed told his friend that he was the mastermind of the Madrid attacks and added: "While I was not there at the time of the incident, the truth is that before the operation, on the fourth, I was in contact with them." "Don't even think about saying anything, I operate alone, they work as a team."
al-Qaeda SOP - outside expert builds the bombs, then skips town before they are delivered.
He added, "I wanted a big explosion, but I couldn't find the means. I had to study a lot for this project and I needed a lot of patience, I needed two and a half years. Don't even think about saying anything to anyone and don't talk about it with Jail, not by any means (of communication), not even by phone."
Ok, we won't tell anyone
"Just so you know, what I've told you no one in the world knows. All of my friends are dying, one after another, there are those who have sacrificed themselves in Afghanistan and I know many more people who are prepared." Sayed Ahmed was said to have revealed two more teams of "martyrs" were preparing for more attacks in Europe. "I'm telling you, there are two groups prepared for martyrdom. The first leaves on the 20th and the 25th of next month (June) for Iraq, by way of Syria. There are four who are ready for martyrdom. Don't say anything to anyone," he said. At another point in the taped recordings, Sayed Ahmed commented to his friend on "what they're doing to our brothers in Iraq," in reference to US troops. He said: "You see the prisons, the humiliation ....under these conditions isn't it better to die before being jailed?"
We'll give you a hand with that.
Posted by:Steve

#7  More details emerging: ROME - An Italian prosecutor said Wednesday he had provided U.S. authorities with transcripts of phone calls between terror suspects, including one that reportedly refers to a woman ready to carry out a chemical attack in the United States. The two terror suspects were arrested Tuesday in Milan and include Rabie Osman Ahmed, an Egyptian believed to be behind the March 11 train bombings in Madrid, said Milan prosecutor Maurizio Romanelli.
In one of the intercepted phone conversations, Osman Ahmed refers to a woman ready to carry out a chemical attack in America, the ANSA news agency reported. When asked about the content of the transcripts, Romanelli pointed to news reports that mention the alleged chemical plot. He did not dispute the reports, but he said he would not comment further on the content of the wiretaps. The wiretaps refer to "small groups ready to carry out suicide attacks," he said. In most cases, the likely location of the attacks was Iraq, he said. The prosecutor gave no further details.

This women, perhaps?
Aafia Siddiqui, 32, a former Houston resident and a neurological sciences expert, is the subject of a worldwide dragnet, wanted by the FBI as a terrorist recruited by al-Qaida to help attack the United States this summer. U.S. authorities have not charged her, but believe Aafia Siddiqui is a "fixer," someone who moves money to provide logistical support for terror activities, authorities said. The FBI fears she may have been helping Adnan El Shukrijumah, 27, a Saudi man who Attorney General John Ashcroft said could be a "future facilitator of terrorist acts" for al-Qaida. The FBI became interested in Aafia Siddiqui after reputed 9/11 mastermind Kahlid Shaikh Mohammed, known to anti-terrorists as KSM, dropped her name during an interrogation in March 2003 by the CIA. Newsweek magazine reported in June 2003 that U.S. officials also believed Aafia Siddiqui rented a post office box to help Majid Khan establish U.S. identity. Khan, Newsweek reported, was named in KSM interrogation documents as a willing saboteur who had planned to blow up gasoline storage tanks at service stations in the United States.
Posted by: Steve   2004-06-09 3:28:11 PM  

#6  Sounds like the coppers got wise.
Looked under B.
B for Big.
Mr. Big
In the Yellow Page.
Posted by: Shipman   2004-06-09 2:52:41 PM  

#5  The first leaves on the 20th and the 25th of next month (June) for Iraq, by way of Syria.

hope there was more info on the ratlines than has been made public.
Posted by: Liberalhawk   2004-06-09 1:42:12 PM  

#4  All of my friends are dying, one after another

More than happy to oblige.

In light of how consistently these "masterminds" sh!theads are tracked down via cell phone chips and other incredible blunders, we should all be grateful for the de-emphasis on technical education so prevalent in much of the Islamic world.
Posted by: Zenster   2004-06-09 1:39:07 PM  

#3  Man, what ever you do, don't answer the phone man, got that?
Posted by: Frank   2004-06-09 1:38:27 PM  

#2  Nothing's more beautiful than incriminating yourself over a non-secure line. "Mastermind"? Yeah, right...
Posted by: Dar   2004-06-09 1:10:45 PM  

#1  I had to study a lot for this project and I needed a lot of patience, I needed two and a half years.

So help me understand how this is a reaction to Spain's participation in Iraq? Two years ago, there was no Iraq war.

"All of my friends are dying, one after another, there are those who have sacrificed themselves in Afghanistan and I know many more people who are prepared."

But me, um, er, I have a hair appointment. Wish I could be there, but, well, uh.

"You see the prisons, the humiliation ....under these conditions isn't it better to die before being jailed?"

Well he won't get to die (not that he was volunteering, mind you) but he will see the prisons and hopefully, the humiliation.

Funny what they get humiliated about. Don'tcha think, though, they oughta be humiliated by the fact that they have no cultural, scientific, medical, philosophical, literature, etc. advancement to speak of for the past 1000 years?
Posted by: PlanetDan   2004-06-09 12:18:09 PM  

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