The Insider: Daily Terrorism Report

ByABC News
November 4, 2003, 12:25 PM

Nov. 4 -- Today's Daily Terrorism Report includes an article on a thwarted al Qaeda plan to attack Mecca pilgrims. And why are Australians using their tax dollars to pay for a film promoting the release of a terror suspect? Plus, an article on ongoing threats facing U.S. military aircraft in Iraq following last week's tragic helicopter crash. Also, more on foreign fighters infiltrating Iraq and what are Iraq's neighbors doing to curb the problem?

MIDDLE EAST

Saudi Arabia

Saudis Say Terror Attack on Mecca Pilgrims Foiled Saudi Interior Minister said Tuesday his country had thwarted a terror attack on pilgrims in the holy city of Mecca by militants believed linked to al Qaeda. Two militants were killed in the shootout with police. Al Hayat reports that one of them was Mohammed Salman Al Johany. Saudi forces also arrested six militants, including a Saudi whom Al Hayat identified as Mohamed Al Harkan. A member of a Saudi opposition group in London meanwhile claimed on Al Jazeera TV that four security men were also killed in the shootout. The Saudi paper Okaz reported that an explosives lab was also discovered in Mecca. (Reuters)

EgyptAl Jihad Members' Trials to Start Soon"Informed Egyptian sources" told Al Hayat that a group of 43 fundamentalists belonging to the outlawed Al Jihad group will appear in military courts within days and could face the death penalty. The suspects were arrested beginning of 2003 for planning attacks against Israeli and American targets. (Al Hayat)

MoroccoMorocco Charges Over 100 with Terrorism OffencesMoroccan authorities have charged over 100 people with links to terrorism over the past 10 days as part of a crackdown on hard-line Islamists that began after suicide bombings in May, judicial sources said yesterday. (Reuters)

PakistanPakistan's Musharraf Urges West to Tackle Root Cause of Terrorism Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf vowed to pursue extremists but warned that operations against al Qaeda and the Taliban were of short-term tactical value and that root causes of terrorism must be addressed. (AFP)

AFRICA

SomaliaU.N. Report: Al Qaeda Trained In SomaliaAl Qaeda terrorists who attacked a Kenyan resort hotel and an Israeli-owned airliner last year, plotted the attacks and obtained their weapons in neighboring Somalia and were able to hide out in the Horn of African nation afterward, a draft U.N. report concluded.(AP)