A French terror cell suspected of plotting attacks on the subway and other targets in Paris had indirect contacts with Iraq's al-Qaida leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a leading French counterterrorism official said Monday. Christophe Chaboud, head of the counterterrorism unit of the national police, also told The Associated Press that a member of the cell returned to France from Lebanon with a substance that some experts say can be used in bomb-making. "There were in effect contacts between the group and al-Zarqawi," Chaboud said in an interview, referring to the French group known as "Ansar al-Fath" — or Partisans of Victory. He said the contacts were "indirect" — through intermediaries.
Chaboud said one of the members of the alleged cell built around Safe Bourada — a previously convicted Islamic militant arrested again in France last month — had returned home from Lebanon with black cumin, a substance that has been identified in the past as an explosives ingredient. He did not elaborate and did not name the person.
| Black cumin's a new one on me. I thought it was a seasoning. |
Another police official said a second suspected cell member, Kaci Ouarab, returned from Lebanon in early 2005 after a few months of training in weapons and explosives, and possibly, ways of detonating bombs by using mobile phones. Ouarab left for Lebanon either in late 2004 or early 2005, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because his agency does not allow him or the agency to be identified by name.
| I wonder if his practical exercises took place in and around Beirut? |
Bourada, 35, and five suspected accomplices have been placed under investigation — one step short of formal charges — in the past two weeks and jailed for suspected criminal association with a terror group in the case. The group was suspected of plotting attacks against the Paris subway, the headquarters of French counterintelligence service DST and an airport in the capital, Chaboud said.
Bourada was among 36 Islamic militants sentenced in February 1998 for providing support for bomb attacks that terrorized France in 1995. He received a maximum 10-year sentence, but won early release in 2003. Police say he had been under surveillance ever since. The issue of black cumin cropped up at a trial in absentia of al-Zarqawi, three other fugitives and nine men in custody in Jordan in June. An explosives expert testified that when mixed with other chemicals, black cumin can be used to cause explosions with more force than TNT. Other experts, however, said black cumin also can also be used for benign purposes.
Chaboud did not say whether French experts believe that black cumin has explosive properties. |