The Insider: Daily Terrorism Report
Mar. 17, 2004 -- An explosion ripped through a hotel in central Baghdad on Wednesday night, killing at least 27, news wires report. Witnesses say the explosion occurred at the Hotel Jabal Lebanon, behind Firdaus Square, where a bronze statue of Saddam Hussein was felled April 9 with the help of U.S. Marines who had just entered the center of the Iraqi capital. There are conflicting press reports about how the attack was executed, with some reporting a car bomb and others reporting a rocket struck the building.
Plus, more on the ongoing investigation behind last week's train bombings in Madrid which killed over 200 people — counter-terror agents have learned that two of the suspects were known to investigators years ago. The prime suspect in the investigation, Jamal Zougam, has been linked to a vast network of Islamic radicals and caught the attention of Spanish investigators as early as 2001, when police searched his apartment and found jihadi training videos and contact numbers for other al Qaeda members.
THE WAR IN IRAQ
Blast Rips Through Baghdad Hotel; Several DeadA powerful blast ripped through a Baghdad hotel and several neighboring buildings on Wednesday evening, killing several people and sending a plume of flames and smoke into the night sky in the center of the city. (Reuters)
U.S., Iraqi Forces Launch Massive Hunt
U.S. and Iraqi forces launch massive operation in Baghdad to hunt for insurgents, weapons. (AP)
Sources: Zarqawi Detained in Iran for Months
"Informed Iraqi sources" told Asharq Al Awsat newspaper that Abu Musaab Al Zarqawi has been in an Iranian prison since April of last year. His detention was part of an unfinished deal with Washington, through which Tehran was hoping the U.S. would crackdown on the Iranian opposition group Mujaheddin Khalq in Iraq, explained the sources. Zarqawi is believed to have been arrested after the attacks on the bases of the Kurdish group Ansar Al Islam by Kurdish Peshmerga fighters supported by U.S. air strikes. The group's leaders fled into Iran, but returned to Iraq after the war ended. (Asharq Al Awsat)
U.S. military spokesman General Mark Kimmitt rejected this report on camera this evening. Kimmit said that the military believes that Zarqawi is "alive and responsible for the attacks" in Iraq.
Troops in, Troops Out
U.S. Troop Rotation in Iraq Is Largest Since WWII. (ABCNEWS)
U.S. Official: Saddam Not Giving Much Information
Former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein is not giving up much useful information under interrogation but he is talking to his captors, a senior U.S. official said on Tuesday. (Reuters)
THE WAR ON TERROR
INVESTIGATIONS
Spain
Madrid Suspects Were Known Years Ago
Two suspects in Madrid bombing were known to anti-terrorism investigators years ago. (AP)
Moroccan Group Suspected in Madrid Attacks
Spanish investigators suspect a militant Moroccan group linked to al Qaeda was behind the Madrid train bombings that killed 201 people, El Pais newspaper has reported. (Reuters)
Profile: The Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group
The group was founded in Afghanistan in 1996 by a Moroccan called Mohammed Al Karbouzi aka Abu Issa, who now lives in disguise in Britain. Abdelaziz Benyaich and his brother held senior positions in the group, which has many of its members in Europe. After the fall of the Taliban in 2001, all of al Qaeda followers were ordered to go back to their countries, whether Arab or European. Military wings of the network were then formed in Europe. Abu Dujana Al Afghani, who appeared on the video tape claiming responsibility for the Madrid attacks, is believed to belong to one of these wings, while Abu Musaab Al Zarqawi is believed to be the coordinator between all the different wings. (Asharq Al Awsat)
Suspect in Madrid Bombings Was Under Scrutiny in 3 CountriesA suspect in the Madrid terror attacks was under close scrutiny by intelligence officials in at least three countries last year. (NY Times)
Algerian Suspect Brought Before Madrid Court
An Algerian man who in January allegedly threatened mass bloodshed in Madrid was brought under tight security Wednesday to a Madrid court to determine if he had foreknowledge of Spain's worst-ever terrorist attack. (AP)
Madrid Bomb Suspect Linked to U.K. Extremists
Police investigate links between prime suspect in Madrid bombings and Islamist extremists in London. (The Guardian)
Brother — "Mullah Krekar's Had No Relation With Zougam"
A security source said in Madrid yesterday that Spanish authorities are investigating a possible relationship between the primary suspects in the Madrid train attacks Jamal Zougam and the former leader of the Kurdish group Ansar Al Islam. The source said Zougam visited Krekar several times in 2001 and 2002 in Norway. Abu Farouk, Krekar's brother, however denied his brother ever met Zougam. (Asharq Al Awsat)
Source — Spanish Al Qaeda Cell Leader Visited Abu Qatada 5 Times
The head of an al Qaeda cell in Spain Emad Eddin Barakat Yarkas visited the Islamist cleric Abu Qatada, sometimes described as "al Qaeda's spiritual leader in Europe", at least five times, according to a source who said he saw him in Qatada's house. Abu Qatada is currently detained by British authorities. (Asharq Al Awsat)
Spain Accused Of Easing Up On Terror Watch Signs emerge of serious intelligence and security failures before bombings. (The Guardian)
Saudi Arabia
Al Qaeda Cells Name New Leader
Members of al Qaeda cells in Saudi Arabia pledged allegiance to Abdel Aziz Al Muqrin as new leader of the group to succeed Khaled Al Haj who was killed by Saudi security forces, reports Asharq Al Awsat. The line of succession had already been predetermined before the death of Youssef Al Ayaeri, the al Qaeda leader who was killed last June, according to the paper's sources. The new leader, al Muqrin, had appeared masked in a video released by the group a few weeks ago, about the attacks on a residential compound in Riyadh in November. (Asharq Al Awsat)
Yemen
Nine Suspects in Cole Bombing Arrested
Nine suspects in the 2000 bombing of the destroyer USS Cole have been arrested, the government said Tuesday, including eight who escaped from jail last year. (AP)
Egyptian Islamists Were Kidnapped in Yemen
Hany Al Seba'i, the head of al Makreze Center for Historical Studies in London, said that Yemen has many wanted Islamists in custody. Al Seba'i gave names and details of the kidnapping of a number of Egyptian fundamentalists by Yemeni authorities and put in prisons. He also talked about the time of the former jihad leader Imam Sherif spent in Yemen before he was extradited to Egypt a few weeks ago. (Al Hayat)
France
France: Terror Threat Not Typical
Intelligence specialists who studied a letter threatening attacks against France say it does not resemble typical messages sent by radical Islamic groups, the interior minister said Wednesday. (AP)
The Hunt for Al Qaeda32 Believed Killed As Pakistan Launches New Al Qaeda Hunt
At least eight Pakistani paramilitary troops died and more than 24 foreign and local militants were believed killed during an operation to hunt al Qaeda and Taliban suspects in a tribal territory near the Afghan border, an official statement said. (AFP)
Residents Flee After Pakistan Raid
Residents flee Pakistani village after violent anti-terror raid that killed 39. (AP)
Osama Bin Laden: Missed Opportunities
The CIA had pictures. Why wasn't the al Qaeda leader captured or killed? (MSNBC)
LEGAL DEVELOPMENTS
United States
Bush Signs Law Extending 9/11 Commission
As expected, President Bush signed legislation on Tuesday extending for two months the deadline for the commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. (Reuters)
Top Officials On Terror Panel List
The federal panel reviewing the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks disclosed its witness list Tuesday for its two-day hearing on counterterrorism next week, with testimony scheduled from top Bush and Clinton administration officials. (AP)
Congress Examines Passenger Screening
Congress seeks answers on air passenger screening program that raises privacy concerns. (AP)
U.K
Government Appeals Terror Suspect Release
The government has mounted an urgent legal bid to block the planned release of a terror suspect after its first defeat in a case involving post-September 11 powers to detain foreigners without charge. (Reuters)
N. Ireland
Terror Suspect Denied Bail in Belfast
A Filipino accused of working with an al Qaeda-linked Southeast Asian terror group has been denied bail by a court in Northern Ireland, a Philippine official said Tuesday. (AP)
GUANTANAMO
Freed 23 Afghans Accuse U.S. of Abuse
Twenty-three Afghans held at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay for up to two-and-a-half years were released in Kabul yesterday and some complained of being unfairly detained and treated worse than animals. (AFP)
COUNTER-TERRORISM
African Union to Open Anti-Terror Centre in Algiers
The African Union (AU) is to establish a centre to coordinate information on terrorism in the Algerian capital in the next six months, the chairman of AU's commission Alpha Oumar Konare has said. (AFP)
NATO Extends Anti-Terror Patrols in Mediterranean
NATO ordered the extension of anti-terrorist surveillance patrols across the Mediterranean, in a long-planned move it said was made "more relevant" by last week's Madrid bombings. (AFP)
ON THE WEB
The Andalusia Raid By Abi Thabet Al Najdy
The writer hails the attacks and says the rise in operations carried out in different places has turned the world into "a field of jihad." He criticizes Spain's support of the war on Iraq and justifies the killing of civilians in Madrid by saying that Iraqi civilians have died as well. He says these operations weaken the enemy and would ensure dignity of Muslims and liberation of their lands. (published in the 6th issue of Al Battar Camp — the bi-weekly online magazine published by "the military wing of the mujaheddin in the Arabian Peninsula")
ANALYSIS & OPINION
Terror Attack Here Could Affect Outcome, But How?
The deadly bombings in Spain just days before a national election raise the troubling possibility that the U.S. presidential election in November might also be an inviting target for a terrorist group wanting to demonstrate its influence over the world's oldest democracy. (San Francisco Chronicle)
Political Fallout Likely to Embolden Al Qaeda
Armed guards are planned for Olympic athletes, but the US presidential election campaign is seen as prime target for attack. (The Guardian)
What Could Trains Learn From Planes?
Everyone is accustomed to tight security when they board aeroplanes, especially since fears of terror attack were heightened. But are there lessons from airport security that the train network could learn from? (BBC)
Madrid's Effects/The War On Terror is at Risk
President Bush has always sought to equate the war on terror with the war in Iraq, as if one equaled the other. Indeed, that's how he sold the invasion of Iraq: Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and sought more; Iraq had ties to al Qaeda and could supply it with those weapons. Take down Iraq, destroy the weapons and the terrorist connections, and you make the world safer from the threat of terrorist attacks. The simultaneous train attacks in Madrid last week blew Bush's argument out of the water. (Minneapolis Star)
Madrid and the Price No doubt, the next stage will witness tighter European security measures. (Al Hayat)
The Age of Terror
With the destruction of its base in Afghanistan in 2002, al Qaeda looked weakened and on the run. So how has it now been able to evade the west's sophisticated intelligence systems, and kill hundreds of civilians in a European capital, without giving any hint of its intentions? Terrorism expert Jane Corbin on why Bin Laden's network remains so elusive. (The Guardian)
Here's Scoop On Bin LadenHe's in Pakistan. No, he's with the tall people. Nope, he has been caught! Amid U.S. predictions of his capture, Liz Sly grinds the rumor mill. (Chicago Tribune)
May I See Your ID?
Two areas where we could significantly increase our security with a negligible cost in freedom. (NY Times)
The Insider Daily Terrorism Report (DTR) is a summary of major news articles and broadcasts relating to international terrorism and the war in Iraq. The DTR is edited from foreign and U.S. sources by Chris Isham, Hoda Osman, and Brinda Adhikari of the ABCNEWS Investigative Unit. The outside views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ABCNEWS.