Attack on Abu Ghraib

IRAQ NEWS

Militants Attack Abu Ghraib Jail

Heavily armed militants have launched an audacious attack on Iraq's notorious Abu Ghraib prison, wounding 44 U.S. troops and 12 prisoners inside. (BBC)

Al Qaeda Says 7 Suicide Bombers Hit Iraqi Prison

Al Qaeda's wing in Iraq says in an Internet statement that seven suicide bombers spearheaded its brazen raid on Abu Ghraib prison that wounded 44 United States soldiers. (Reuters)

Green Light For Iraqi Prison Abuse Came Right From the Top

Classified documents show the former U.S. military chief in Iraq personally sanctioned measures banned by the Geneva Conventions. (The Independent)

Iraqi Parliament Elects Speaker

Iraq's divided interim parliament has finally elected a speaker, clearing a major political hurdle on the way to forming a government. (BBC)

Beating of Iraqi General Alleged in Army Hearing

Previously secret court testimony indicates that an Iraqi general imprisoned by U.S. forces was badly bruised and may have been severely beaten two days before he died of suffocation during interrogation. (AP)

Panel: U.S. Ignored Work of U.N. Arms Inspectors

Of all the claims U.S. intelligence made about Iraq's arsenal in the fall and winter of 2002, it was a handful of new charges that seemed the most significant: secret purchases of uranium from Africa, biological weapons being made in mobile laboratories, and pilotless planes that could disperse anthrax or sarin gas into the air above U.S. cities. (Washington Post)

Former CIA Chief Disputes Warning Over Iraq Data

Former CIA Director George Tenet on Friday disputed that he was warned about problems with an Iraqi source just hours before Secretary of State Colin Powell argued the U.S. case against Iraq at the United Nations, using the source's information. (Reuters)

INVESTIGATIONS

Tale of Two Terrorists

Hardly anyone was more surprised by Iraq's insurgency than Osama bin Laden. He had never foreseen its sudden, ferocious spread, and he was likewise unprepared for the abrupt rise of its most homicidal commander, Abu Mussab al Zarqawi. (Newsweek)

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Security Kills 8 Gunmen, Dozens Hurt

Saudi troops have killed eight gunmen and wounded another in a protracted siege in the northern town of Al-Ras, where fierce gunbattles raged for a second day with suspected militants, security sources said Monday. (Reuters)

Note: In a statement posted online, the militants claimed that they have taken one member of the security forces hostage. Al Hayat also reported that security sources believed the alleged head of al Qaeda group in Saudi Arabia Saleh Al Oufi and its spiritual leader, Abdullah Al Rashud may have been amongst the group involved in the clashes. Both men are on the Saudi list of most wanted terrorists.

Three Saudi Extremists Executed in Sakaka for Criminal Acts

Three Saudi criminals, who were said to be part of a terrorist group trained in Afghanistan, were executed yesterday in this northern Saudi Arabian town. (Arab News)

New Study on Al Qaeda

Typical Al Qaeda Recruits Western Educated

The typical recruit to al Qaeda is Western-educated and has a wealthy, professional background, according to a new study. (Herald Sun)

Pakistan

Pak N-experts Had Close Links With Bin Laden

Pakistani nuclear scientists A Q Khan and Sultan Bashiruddin Mehmood had held meetings with Osama bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders, exchanged letters with militant groups like Lashkar-e-Toiba and attended their gatherings and rallies, a media report said. (Times of India)

Russia

Prosecutor: Aide Killed Maskhadov

Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov was shot by an aide at his request to avoid being captured alive, Deputy Prosecutor General Nikolai Shepel said Friday, in a remarkable departure from the previous official version of Maskhadov's death. (Moscow Times)

Norway

Alleged Terrorist Leader To Be Deported From Norway

Media reports emanating from Norway in recent weeks indicate that the Norwegian government intends to deport purported Ansar Al-Islam leader Najm al-Din Faraj Ahmad, aka Mullah Krekar, to Iraq. (Radio Free Europe)

Al Hairi Investigation

U.N. Set To Vote On International Probe

Lebanon is seeking amendments to draft resolution. (The Daily Star)

Germany

German Intelligence Dismisses Al Zarqawi Chemical Attack Report

The German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) dismissed a report published in a German magazine about an alleged plan by most wanted terrorist Abu Musaab al Zarqawi to launch a chemical weapons attack in Europe. BND officials told ABC News that the magazine, Cicero, used outdated information that was also misinterpreted. (ABCNEWS Investigative Unit)

Afghanistan

9 Cops Die as Taliban Storm Govt Building

Taliban militants stormed a government building in southern Afghanistan and killed up to nine Afghan policemen in a two-hour gunbattle before fleeing, officials said yesterday. (Arab News)

Afghan Government Accuses Aid Agencies of Wasting Cash

A simmering row between the Afghan government and western aid agencies explodes into the open. (The Guardian)

Ex-Taliban Commander Surrenders, 3 Arrested

A former Taliban commander has surrendered to the Afghan government, one of the most high-profile figures to do so since the regime was toppled more than three years ago, officials said yesterday. Three mid-level Taliban commanders have also been arrested without a fight in an operation by U.S. and Afghan troops in central Afghanistan, officials said. (AFP)

Soldier Facing Trial in Death of Prisoner Wins Round

A military hearing officer has recommended that a soldier charged in the 2002 beating death of an Afghan prisoner should not face a court-martial for manslaughter. (LA Times)

Spain

Paper Quotes U.S. Intelligence Report About Al Zarqawi

Most wanted terrorist Abu Musaab al Zarqawi has become the al Qaeda military official in charge of the area from Morocco to the Arabian Gulf, a Spanish newspaper quoted a secret U.S. intelligence report as saying. According to the paper, the report says Osama bin Laden and al Zarqawi disagreed on strategies after the war, as the former wanted to form a strategic alliance with the Shiites. Al Zarqawi however rejected and eventually bin Laden agreed to follow his strategy. The report supposedly also mentions the recent attack on a theater in Qatar which left one person dead as proof that al Zarqawi is expanding his operations. According to paper, the report also indicated there were 1500 foreign fighters, mostly Syrians and Moroccans, under al Zarqawi's command during the clashes in Fallujah last November (Asharq Al Awsat)

Morocco

Authorities Looking for 250 Al Qaeda and Taliban Members

Moroccan authorities are looking for 250 members of al Qaeda and the Taliban movement who may have settled in the country after the U.S. war on Afghanistan and the fall of Kabul in 2001, a Moroccan paper quoted judicial sources as saying. Authorities obtained information about the suspects through interrogation of other members of the group. (Al Hayat)

LEGAL DEVELOPMENTS

U.S.

Terrorism Case Puts Words of Muslim Leader On Trial in Va.

Islamic spiritual leader Ali Al-Timimi's pen is mightier than his sword, prosecutors contend. It's not so much his actions but his words that make him so dangerous, they say. (Washington Post)

ANALYSIS & OPINION

Terror Broker

Bin Laden needed a role in the Iraqi insurgency, and Zarqawi needed outside support. How a deadly deal was made. (Newsweek)

Songs in 9/11 Time

No one thought Merle Haggard, after "Okie From Muskogee" and "Fighting Side of Me," would ever develop a war-doubting side. That's why Haggard made news two years ago with a pointed song that took Washington and big media to task for glossing over human costs in the war on terrorism. "That's the News" argued that "politicians do all the talkin'; soldiers pay the dues. Suddenly the war is over, that's the news." (LA Times)

Guns for Terrorists

The nation's gun laws are in an absurd state, and a recent government report revealed that terrorist suspects are taking advantage of it. (NY Times)

Factors Behind 'the Arab Spring'

Western newspapers and television programs are now full of articles and commentaries on what they have termed "The Arab Spring" — the growing democratization of Arab governments. (Arab News)

The Good Deeds of Bush Junior's Policy

The dire policies of this administration and its belligerence towards the Arab rights and interests, are not the subject of discrepancy. However, within the framework of the benefits and impacts of this hostile policy, the changes are not negative, for it opened the files of the democratic reform in the Arab world. (Al Hayat)

The Fading of Kofi Annan

It's hard to imagine Kofi Annan ever regaining his footing as secretary-general of the United Nations. Even if he ultimately doesn't resign over the oil-for-food scandal, he will be a diminished presence on the global stage. And that's a shame because Annan is hardly the wild-eyed, leftist anti-American that some in Washington make him out to be, and he has some good ideas on how to reform the U.N. (LA Times)

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 Brinda Adhikari of the ABC News Investigative Unit. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ABCNEWS.