This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/397
After training in Afghanistan terrorist was sent to Europe to recruit suicide bombers & attempt to buy uranium in Luxembourg
January 23, 2005
MIM: It seems that not a day goes by without some threat being thwarted of a major attack or suicide car bombs going off in Iraq. The virulent cult of martyrdom has become 'business as usual' in radical Islamist circles to the point where one martyr wannabe was persuaded to go to Europe and recruit other suicide bombers which he could no doubt infuse with his own homicidal zeal . The terrorist had taken out a life insurance policy with intention of faking his own death in a car accident before a suicide attack and 'donate' the money to Al Qaeda.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A31078-2005Jan23.html
Germany Arrests 2 Al Qaeda Suspects
Men Accused Of Planning Attacks in Iraq
By Craig Whitlock
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, January 24, 2005; Page A12
BERLIN, Jan. 23 -- German police arrested two suspected al Qaeda members early Sunday and accused them of planning suicide attacks in Iraq and trying to purchase uranium from a dealer in Luxembourg. The men had been under surveillance by German intelligence since last October, officials said, and were arrested in the western city of Mainz, the site of a planned stop by President Bush during his trip to Europe next month. German law enforcement officials said there was no sign that the men were plotting anything in connection with Bush's visit but rather were planning strikes against U.S. forces in Iraq. There was also no indication that the suspects had any targets in mind in Germany or the rest of Europe, a German federal prosecutor, Kay Nehm, said at a news conference in the city of Karlsruhe. One of the suspects, a 29-year-old Iraqi man identified only as Ibrahim Mohammed K., was a veteran of al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan, Nehm said, and spent a year there fighting the U.S. military after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States. During his time in Afghanistan, the Iraqi was in regular contact with al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden as well as Ramzi Binalshibh, alleged to be a key planner of the Sept. 11 hijackings who had been living in Germany and was later captured in Pakistan, prosecutors said. The Iraqi suspect at first expressed a desire to "martyr" himself against U.S. forces but was persuaded instead by al Qaeda leaders to go to Europe and recruit suicide bombers, according to a statement released by Nehm's office. Prosecutors said the suspect was able to move freely throughout Europe because he had German travel documents. Officials did not say whether the identification papers were forgeries or if they were obtained legally. After arriving in Germany in September 2002, the Iraqi tried unsuccessfully to buy 48 grams of uranium from a group in Luxembourg, Nehm said. The prosecutor declined to provide details about the attempted uranium purchase or the source of the nuclear material but said it was not enough to build a weapon. In September 2004, the Iraqi met the second suspect, a 31-year-old Palestinian identified only as Yasser Abu S., and recruited him to carry out a suicide attack in Iraq, according Nehm's statement. Under German law, the full names of criminal suspects are generally not released until they are indicted. The two men are scheduled to appear Monday before a magistrate in Karlsruhe. As part of the plot, the men obtained more than $1 million worth of life insurance coverage for the Palestinian and intended to collect the funds before the suicide attack by faking a fatal traffic accident in Egypt, Nehm said. German police said they also raided four apartments in Mainz and Bonn during the arrest operation, the third major counterterrorism sweep by German officials in two months. In December, authorities arrested three suspected members of Ansar al-Islam, a network that has organized strikes against U.S. troops and their allies in Iraq, and accused them of planning an attack on the Iraqi prime minister during a visit to Berlin. On Jan. 12, police arrested 22 other suspected Muslim extremists who were allegedly supplying militant groups with fake passports, money and other logistical help. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.guardian.co.uk/alqaida/story/0,12469,1396899,00.html Germans hold two suspected of dirty bomb plot The men, identified only as Iraqi Ibrahim Mohamed K, 29, who is believed to be a high ranking al-Qaida officer, and Yasser Abu S, 31, a stateless Palestinian, were seized in operations in Mainz and Bonn.
Federal prosecutor Kay Nehm said the two men had been under police surveillance for some time and were planning a suicide attack in Iraq.
They will appear before an investigating judge today. Ibrahim Mohamed K was also accused of attempting to obtain uranium from a group in Luxembourg, which had nuclear material, according to Mr Nehm. While uranium is not suitable for building a bomb, Mr Nehm said it could be combined with conventional explosives to make a so-called dirty bomb that can contaminate large areas and make them uninhabitable.
Yasser Abu S was recruited by Ibrahim Mohamed K in September 2004 and was supposed to carry out the suicide attack. He had recently taken out a €800,000 (£555,300) life insurance policy and was planning to fake his own death in a car accident in Egypt to raise funds for this and other attacks, according to German prosecutors.
Ibrahim Mohamed K trained many times in Afghan terrorist camps and fought American forces there. He is also believed to have been in contact with Ramzi Binalshibh, who masterminded the September 11 attacks on America and is now in a US jail.
"This convinced him not to seek the original aspiration of martyrdom as a suicide attacker, but rather to recruit suicide attackers in Europe," prosecutors said in a statement. Mr Nehm said there was no indication that they were planning attacks in Germany. The arrests sparked speculation they were preparing an attack connected to US president George Bush's visit to Germany on February 2.
More than 22 Islamic extremists suspected of helping militant groups were arrested on January 12. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1106450585870 Germany: 2 al-Qaida suspects arrested
Ben Aris in Berlin and agencies
Monday January 24, 2005
The Guardian
Two suspected al-Qaida terrorists allegedly planning suicide attacks in Iraq using a "dirty bomb" were arrested during raids in Germany yesterday.
Associated Press, THE JERUSALEM POST
Jan. 24, 2005
German police arrested two suspected al-Qaida members who allegedly planned a suicide attack in Iraq, federal prosecutors said. One of the men, said to be a veteran of training camps in Afghanistan, also allegedly tried to obtain uranium.
Police arrested Ibrahim Mohamed K., a 29-year-old Mainz resident from Iraq, on suspicion of recruiting suicide attackers in Germany and providing logistical help to the terrorist organization. He also is believed to have tried to obtain 48 grams of nuclear material in Luxembourg.
The other suspect arrested Sunday, a 31-year-old Palestinian who was born in Libya and has an Egyptian passport, Yasser Abu S., is believed to have planned to fake his death for insurance money and then carry out a suicide attack in Iraq, chief federal prosecutor Kay Nehm told reporters in the western German city of Karlsruhe.
The Iraqi "played a not unimportant role in al-Qaida, because he showed signs of contact with Osama bin Laden and met with Ramzi Binalshibh," one of the plotters in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Nehm said.
Nehm said that the man trained multiple times in camps in Afghanistan before the attacks. He then spent more than a year in Afghanistan after the attacks fighting American forces, he said.
During this time he had contact with high-ranking leaders of the terrorist organization, prosecutors said.
"This convinced him not to seek the original aspiration of martyrdom as a suicide attacker, but rather to recruit suicide attackers in Europe," prosecutors said in a statement.
He is believed to have recruited the Palestinian suspect, a Bonn medical student, in September for a suicide attack in Iraq, getting more than 800,000 (US$1 million) in life insurance for him, with the aim of faking the man's death in a car accident in Egypt, prosecutors said. The majority of the insurance payoff was to fund al-Qaida activities, they said.
Prosecutors said they could provide no more details on the Iraqi's effort to get nuclear material, and that so far they have not pinned down the allegations.
Authorities searched four homes in Mainz and Bonn as part of the raid, authorities said.
Nehm cautioned that "there was no independent cell in Germany and no suicide attacks planned in Germany."
This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/397