Foiled London Plot: 11 Charged
August 21, 2006 -- THE LONDON PLOT
Eleven Charged Over 'Bomb Plot'
Eleven people have been charged in connection with an alleged plot to blow up several transatlantic airliners. (BBC)
A Terrorist's Network
Rashid Rauf, the 25-year-old Pakistani-born, British-raised baker's son fingered as the central figure in the foiled plot to bomb U.S.-bound flights from London, has been described as friendly and ordinary. But Pakistani security officials familiar with Rauf's interrogation tell TIME that the plan's real mastermind may be anything but--the man who gave Rauf his marching orders is believed to be a senior al-Qaeda operative who may be a top aide to the terrorist group's No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri. (Times Magazine)
Rauf Confessed Qaeda Link, Claims Sherpao
Rashid Rauf, a key accused in the alleged plot to blow up US-bound passenger airliners from Britain, has confessed to association with Al Qaeda, Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao told journalists at a local hotel on Sunday. (Daily Times)
'Son-in-Law of Zawahiri Was Mastermind'
A son-in-law of Al Qaeda No 2 Dr Ayman Al-Zawahiri is believed to be the mastermind of the plot to blow up transatlantic flights and he met one or some of the plotters at a place close to the Pakistan-Afghan border, credible sources told Dawn. (Dawn)
GERMAN TERROR PLOT
Terror Suspect Held Over Train Bombs
A judge yesterday ordered a Lebanese student suspected of planting one of two bombs that failed to explode on German trains to be remanded in custody pending possible terrorism charges. (AP)
AL HADITHA INVESTIGATION
Officer Called Haditha Routine
The Marine officer who commanded the battalion involved in the Haditha killings last November did not consider the deaths of 24 Iraqis, many of them women and children, unusual and did not initiate an inquiry, according to a sworn statement he gave to military investigators in March. (Washington Post)
MIDEAST/U.K.
'British' Military Equipment Found in Lebanon
The Foreign Office today confirmed it was investigating claims that British military equipment sent to Iran in the fight against international drug smuggling had ended up in the hands of Hizbullah fighters in Lebanon. (Guardian Unlimited)
U.S.
Cold War Missiles Target of Blackout
The Bush administration has begun designating as secret some information that the government long provided even to its enemy the former Soviet Union: the numbers of strategic weapons in the U.S. nuclear arsenal during the Cold War. (Washington Post)
Special Counsel Orders an Investigation of the Federal Air Marshal Service
The U.S. Office of Special Counsel has ordered the Secretary of Homeland Security to investigate the Federal Air Marshal Service based on a whistleblower's allegations. (ABC News)
IRAQ NEWS
20 Dead, 300 Hurt as Iraqi Militias do Battle During Shiite Holiday
At least 20 people died and 300 were wounded in Baghdad on Sunday after insurgents, including roof-top snipers, ambushed pilgrims gathering in their hundreds of thousands for a sacred Shiite festival. "Most of the attacks are taking place when pilgrims are crossing the neighboring areas into Kadhemiyya," a Health Ministry spokesman said, referring to the northern suburb where the shrine of Imam Moussa al-Kadhem is located. (Daily Star)
Three U.S. Troops Killed in Iraq
Three members of a U.S. Marine unit were killed in action in western Iraq on Sunday, the U.S. military said in a statement. (Reuters)
Defiant Saddam Refuses to Enter a Plea
Saddam Hussein opened his second trial with a show of defiance Monday, refusing to enter a plea on charges of genocide and war crimes connected to his scorched-earth offensive against Kurds nearly two decades ago. (AP)
IRAN NUCLEAR STANDOFF
Iran Says it Won't Stop Nuclear Program
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Monday that Tehran will continue to pursue nuclear technology, despite a U.N. Security Council deadline to suspend uranium enrichment by the end of the month or face the threat of economic and diplomatic sanctions. (AP)
Iran Army Tests Missiles in Wargames
Iran's army has fired tactical missiles and will test surface-to-sea missiles during Iranian army wargames on Sunday, state television reported. (Reuters)
AFGHANISTAN
Clashes Kill 71 Taliban, 5 Afghan Troops
Afghan and NATO troops battled Taliban insurgents with rockets, planes and artillery this weekend in Afghanistan's volatile south, leaving 71 militants and five Afghan security forces dead in one of the bloodiest clashes in five years. A British soldier was killed in a separate attack. (AP)
British Soldier Killed and Three Wounded in Clash with Taliban
A British soldier was killed and three others wounded yesterday in a battle with Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan. The soldier, who has not been named, was from the 3rd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment. (The Guardian)
SAUDI ARABIA
Saudi Police and Militants Clash
Saudi Arabian security forces surrounded a building holding suspected militants in the west coast city of Jeddah, the Saudi commercial capital. (BBC)
JONBENET RAMSEY MURDER CASE
JonBenet Suspect Back in U.S.
John Mark Karr, the suspect in the killing of 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey, arrived late Sunday after a 15-hour flight from Thailand on which he sipped champagne, dined on fried king prawns and roast duck, and exchanged what he described as "small talk" with law enforcement escorts. (AP)
PAKISTAN
In Pakistan, Quiet Town of Violent Undercurrents
Bahawalpur, Pakistan Life is slow in this small, scruffy town in southern Punjab, surrounded by cotton and corn fields, lush from the monsoon rains. People lounge on rope beds under the trees and camels and water buffalo wander along the roadside. (The NY Times)
INDIA
India Awakens to Al Qaeda Threat
The United States Embassy in New Delhi issued a warning on August 11 of likely terrorist attacks, possibly by al-Qaeda, four days ahead of India's Independence Day. Although the warning was a routine travel advisory, it was the first time the US had warned of an al Qaeda threat in India. (Asia Times)
INDONESIA
Execution of Bali Bombers Delayed: Indonesia
The execution of three Islamic militants convicted for the Bali bombings that killed 202 people will not go ahead on Tuesday as planned because they expressed interest in appealing their sentences, Indonesia's attorney general said. (Times of India)
ANALYSIS & OPINION
Fighting Terror: America Must Keep Pakistan on its Side
By Richard L. Armitage and Kara L. Bue
In the wake of the foiled terror plot in London involving British Muslims with Pakistani connections, all eyes are again on Pakistan as the breeding ground for terrorists. While the arrests may serve as proof to some that America cannot rely on Pakistan as an ally in its fight against Islamic extremism, we would argue that the recent events should harden America's resolve to support it. (The New York Times)
Trivializing the War on Terror
The results of the alleged plot to bomb transatlantic airlines have varied from the serious to the ludicrous: while Britain and America have thanked Pakistan for unearthing the plot, flights have been delayed because a woman was carrying a screwdriver and Vaseline and a pregnant woman had the wrong ethnicity. (Dawn)
A Call to Support Democracy
By Samir Sumaida'ie
Abandoning Iraq would be catastrophic not just for Iraq but also for the United States and for world peace and stability for decades to come. (Washington Post)
Enforcing the Ceasefire
Ceasefires can have more than one purpose but the primary one must always be to stop people fighting, which is why the UN secretary general was right to condemn Israel's unjustifiable incursion into Lebanon over the weekend. (The Guardian)
The Insider Daily Investigative Report (DIR) is a summary of major news articles and broadcasts relating to investigative news, including international terrorism and developments in Iraq. The DIR is edited daily from foreign and U.S. sources by Chris Isham, Hoda Osman and Elizabeth Sprague of the ABC News Investigative Unit. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ABCNEWS.