Israel Cracks Down on Militants With Osama Links

Aug. 22 -- Israeli officials today said security forces would remain on alert after their success at cracking a network of militants linked to Saudi-born dissident Osama bin Laden.

Israel said Monday that over the past few weeks it had arrested 23 suspected guerrillas allegedly planning bombing attacks on Israelis. Prime Minister Ehud Barak’s security adviser Danny Yatom said he had no information about where the bin Laden cell was planning to strike.

“We know of no specific place that had been targeted but terrorist organizations will continue to try to attack us and we have to be prepared,” Yatom told Israel Radio.

The militant Palestinian groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad have in the past tried to sabotage Israeli-Palestinian peace deals by launching large-scale bombing attacks against Israeli targets which have killed scores of people.

Palestinian officials denied Israel’s assertions they were involved in the crackdown against the militants and that a Palestinian man called Nabil Aukal, who Israel arrested in June, was the cell’s ringleader.

“The whole story about bin Laden is a big lie,” said Palestinian security chief in Gaza, Mohammad Dahlan.

Aukal’s family in Gaza said he had no connection to Islamicmilitants. They said he had been in Pakistan recently but onlyfor religious reasons.

However, U.S. officials today confirmed the arrests. The United States believes many of the arrested individuals were planning terrorist attacks to undermine the peace process.

A U.S. congressional report issued in Washington Monday warned that bin Laden supporters were planning attacks in Israel to thwart Middle East peacemaking. It said some Hamas members may be gravitating to bin Laden, who lives in exile in Afghanistan.

Sign of Bin Laden’s Influence in Israel

U.S. officials believe this is the first major signal of bin Laden’s influence in Israel. The U.S. embassy in Israel issued a warning to all Americans of an increased possibility of a terrorist attack in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. That warning, issued Aug. 16, will remain in effect until Dec. 16. Americans are specifically warned to not use public buses.