Report: Zarqawi Said To Have Targeted Germany
Oct. 7, 2004 — -- Top terrorist Abu Musab al Zarqawi has called for attacks to be carried out in Germany against Jewish institutions and a disco, a report said Wednesday citing telephone calls intercepted by intelligence services, news wires reported Thursday.
And Iraqi insurgents from Fallujah are in intense negotiations with the country's interim government to hand over control of the city to Iraqi troops, according to representatives of both sides.
THE WAR ON TERROR
INVESTIGATIONS
Germany
Zarqawi Said To Have Targeted Germany
Top terrorist Abu Musab al Zarqawi has called for attacks to be carried out in Germany against Jewish institutions and a disco, a report said Wednesday citing telephone calls intercepted by intelligence services. (Expatica)
Central America
Central America Terror Reports Downplayed
No evidence exists to back reports that al Qaeda terrorists are in Central America, the chief of the regional office for the international police agency Interpol said Wednesday. (AP)
Pakistan
Pakistani Sectarian Attacks May Be Backlash To Al Qaeda Crackdown
A fresh explosion of sectarian violence in Pakistan is a fight-back by hardcore Islamic militants —many trained by Al-Qaeda —as security forces capture and kill more of their leaders, investigators and analysts said. (Channel News Asia)
LEGAL DEVELOPMENTS
U.S.
Al Qaeda Bomb Plot Trial Begins
Ten alleged members of an al Qaeda cell, including a man believed to be a senior lieutenant of Osama bin Laden and a suspect being held in a British jail, went on trial in France yesterday accused of plotting a bomb attack on Strasbourg's Christmas market. (The Guardian)
U.S. Grand Jury Indicts a Briton, Charging He Supported Terrorists
Babar Ahmad, a British citizen arrested in London last summer at the request of the United States government, which charged that he ran an Internet site that supported terrorist causes, also arranged for the purchase of gas masks, camouflage suits, night-vision goggles and other possible terrorist tools, according to a grand jury indictment released on Wednesday. (NY Times)
After Convictions, the Undoing of a U.S. Terror Prosecution
Publicly, federal prosecutors declared in the summer of 2002 that they had thwarted a "sleeper operational combat cell" based in a dilapidated apartment here. (NY Times)
U.K.
Prison Without Trial 'Justified'
Jailing suspected terrorists without trial is an "appropriate response" to the post-11 September terrorist threat, the House of Lords has heard. (BBC)
IRAQ NEWS
Fallujah Group Comes to Table
Iraqi insurgents from Fallujah are in intense negotiations with the country's interim government to hand over control of the city to Iraqi troops, according to representatives of both sides, in hopes of averting a bloody military battle for the city of 300,000 that has become a haven for foreign guerrillas and a symbol of the limits of Baghdad's authority. (Washington Post)
U.S. Raises Security Alert in Green Zone
U.S. raises security alert in green zone, 20 said detained in foiled bombing. (AP)
Report Says Iraq Misused U.N. Oil Plan
In a detailed examination of the United Nations oil-for-food program for Iraq, the top American arms inspector described in a report released Wednesday how Saddam Hussein created a web of front companies and used shadowy deals with foreign governments, corporations and officials to amass $11 billion in illicit revenue in the decade before the American-led invasion last year. (NY Times)
U.S. Forces Capture Insurgents' Weapons
About 2,500 marines and soldiers set up camps and conducted night raids on Tuesday and Wednesday over a wide swath of territory roughly 30 miles south of Baghdad, rolling over desert terrain in armored vehicles, taking gunfire from insurgents and uncovering at least two large caches of weaponry. (NY Times)
ANALYSIS & OPINION
Weapons That Weren't There
The new report from the Iraq Survey Group has confirmed beyond any reasonable doubt what most people have assumed for the past year: At the time of the 2003 U.S. invasion, Iraq did not possess weapons of mass destruction, and most of its programs to produce them were dormant. (Washington Post)
In Quotes: Iraq Report Reaction
The report of the Iraq Survey Group says Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction when US-led forces invaded, intensifying the debate about justification for the war. (BBC)
The Verdict Is In
Sanctions worked. Weapons inspectors worked. That is the bottom line of the long-awaited report on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. (NY Times)
Difficulties of the Iraqi Elections
The factor threatening these elections is that of considering that the subjugation of this or that area could make the process easier. (Al Hayat)
Waziristan Operations
There can be little doubt that Osama Bin Laden, some ousted Taleban leaders and other top terrorist figures are still hiding out in the mountains along the Afghan-Pakistani border. (Arab News)
A Web Wise Terror Network
The capture of alleged al-Qaeda computer expert Mohamed Naem Noor Khan by the Pakistani authorities in July brought with it an unprecedented haul of high-tech intelligence. (BBC)
Documentary: Wide Angle: The Saudi Question
Will Saudi Arabia find a path to democratic reform or succumb to a rising tide of Islamic extremism? Watch tonight's Wide Angle to get a look at the Saudi Arabian question. (PBS —check local listings)
The Insider Daily Terrorism Report (DTR) is a summary of major news articles and broadcasts relating to international terrorism and developments in Iraq. The DTR is edited daily from foreign and U.S. sources by Chris Isham, Hoda Osman, and Brinda Adhikari of the ABCNEWS Investigative Unit. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ABCNEWS.