Western Resistance

« Saudi Arabia: Islamists Break Out Of Prison | | Guantanamo Bay: Probe Into Coordinated Suicide Finds Evidence of Plot »

July 9, 2006

UK: British Afghan Could Be Link Between 7/7 Islamists And Al Qaeda

The Sunday Telegraph reveals that a British passport holder of Afghan origin may be the link between the 7/7 bombers and Al Qaeda. The man goes under the name of "Abdul Rehman", according to Pakistani intelligence sources.

The Pakistani sources claim that Rehman is said to have met Mohammed Sidique Khan in a UK mosque, and later introduced Khan and Shehzad Tanweer to Al Qaeda.

Rehman, apparently in his 50s, is thought to be a veteran of the Afghan/Soviet conflict in the 1980s. A Pakistani official claims: "When he was fighting against the Russians, he used to bring Mujahideen from the Western countries with him. He is very rich and quite often arranged funds for the militant organisations, before and after 9/11."

When the Russians left Afghanistan, Abdul Rehman is said to have then brought youth from the West to fight in Chechnya. He acts as a go-between for recruits and the frontmen from Al Qaeda. The official stated: "He passes on these individuals or small groups only when he is convinced that these boys are real jihadists."

Though suspicions have been around that Al Qaeda masterminded the plot of 7/7, following the appearance of the Al Qaeda-produced video of Mohammed Sidique Khan in September last year, the recent video of Shehzad Tanweer (pictured) contains an explicit statement from Ayman al Zawahiri, the second in command of the group, that Khan and Tanweer had trained "in the manufacture of explosives" at camps run by AL Qaeda.

Peter Clarke of Scotland Yard, the head of anti-terrorism at the Metropolitan Police force, said last week that there was uncertainty about how, and even if, the UK cell was actually linked to Al Qaeda.

Clarke said: "It is not easy to find out what happened. Such information as we do have does suggest there is probably a link to al-Qaeda. We need to know who else, apart from the bombers, knew what they were planning. Did anyone encourage them? Did anyone help them with money, accommodation or expertise in bomb making?"

The knowledge of the shadowy figure of Abdul Rehman in building bridges between recruits and the terror organisation came after three militants were arrested when returning from terrorist training camps in Afghanistan. One of those captured had said: "Rehman had met with Khan in a mosque somewhere in the UK and Khan expressed his wish to obtain training to carry out terror attacks inside the UK."

Khan and Tanweer had gone to Pakistan between November 2004 and February 2005. They arrived together at Karachi, and both left Pakistan on the same flight in February, according to Pakistani records.

It is then assumed that Khan at least, attended a training camp in the tribal regions of Pakistan or Afghanistan.

The Pakistani official stated that: "Sidique Khan passed most of his time in these camps being taught in explosives, while Tanweer joined him just for a few days only to record his TV message."

*************
Random Thoughts?

Beyond the information in the Telegraph, there seems with Islamic extremists, a bizarre series of connections, joining what appear to random events and specific individuals.

The following is not directly related to the Telegraph article, but there seem to be some connnections here that are more than coincidental. I dislike conspiracy theories, and do not wish to become involved in such lines of thought. However....

The first tales that Mohamed Sidique Khan attended a training camp for jihadists in Pakistan came from Junaid Babar, who recently gave evidence at an ongoing trial of seven suspected bomb plotters in Britain.

Babar, a US national of Pakistani origin, was arrested in April 2004, before Khan and Tanweer went to Pakistan, and is currently in prison in the US. He agreed to cooperate fully with the US authorities, to receive a reduction on the seventy years' jail he would otherwise have faced. He has, however, confessed to setting up a jihadist training camp in Pakistan.

Mohammed Sidique Khan is assumed to have gone to a remote tribal part of either Pakistan or Afghanistan, where he underwent a "crash course" in the manufacture of explosives. In the Shehzad Tanweer video, bombs are shown being detonated, and chemicals mixed, in an apparent training location.

Whether or not Tanweer was with Khan in a jihadist camp is unknown. The amount of money left in Shehzad Tanweer's will, of $190,000 is an enigma. Was it money that was meant for setting up another operation, which never went through to its intended recipients?

Babar pleaded guilty in August 2004 to smuggling money and military supplies to a senior member of al Qaeda in Pakistan, who was based in South Waziristan, and also to assisting a UK bombing plot. South Waziristan borders Afghanistan and has recently become "Talibanized".

In neighbouring North Waziristan, various Al Qaeda operatives have been hiding. On December 1 last year, Al Qaeda's third in command, Abu Hamza Rabia was killed in an airstrike.

We reported on September 7 that Canadian, British and Pakistani intelligence services were investigating Canadian and British nationals, who were connected with the activities of both Junaid Babar and Haroon Rashid Aswat in Pakistan.

On March 22, the jury at the ongoing trial in the UK of seven suspected bomb plotters was told that the detonators for the bombs had been provided by a Canadian jihadist in Pakistan.

It seems that the recent arrests of individuals in Canada and Britain may have been the end results of this cooperation of intelligence.

In Pakistan, states the Pakistan Daily Times, Junaid Babar had stayed at the offices of Al Muhajiroun in Lahore, after fleeing the US after 9/11. Sajeel Shahid, a Dutch national of Pakistani origin, was based in Lahore, and had been one of the founding members of Al Muhajiroun. Junaid Babar claimed in the Old Bailey on March 24 that Sajeel Shahid had paid for him to come to Pakistan in late 2001.

The Daily Times states that Junaid Babar, a Pakistani-Canadian called Momin Khawaja and Haroon Rasheed Aswat had met in London in February 2004. Mojammad Momin Khawaja was arrested in Canada on March 29, 2004, in Ottowa. He had been arrested in a joint Canadian-British terror exercise, after nine individuals were arrested in London. Seven of those are now on trial in the Old Bailey.

Babar's recent testimony makes plain that he at first thought the individuals he was dealing with, some of whom are currently on trial in the UK, belonged to Al Muhajiroun, but later, it transpired to him that two of the group were "brothers", that they were working for Al Qaeda. According to Babar's court testimony, Omar Khyam and Salahuddin Amin had claimed to work for Abdul Hadi, a man known as an Al Qaeda operative.

Is Abdul Hadi another name for Abdul Rehman?

Haroon Rashid Aswat is believed to have been intimately involved with the setting up of the Al-Muhajiroun radical organisation, which was outlawed in 2004, and its deputy leader, Anjem Choudary, subesquently went on to found the Saviour Sect and its co-partner Al-Ghuraaba.

Aswat was linked with Abu Hamza, and with him is thought to have planned to set up a terrorist training camp in Bly, Oregon. Aswat, a native of Dewsbury, was arrested in Zambia less than a month after 7/7, and apparently had made 20 phone calls to some of the 7/7 bombers on his South African mobile phone.

We know Tanweer and Khan attended some of the sermons of Abu Hamza at Finsbury Park Mosque. We also know that two other people had attended those sermons, who then went on with an intention of carrying out terrorist activity - Zacarias Moussaoui and Richard Reid, the shoe-bomber.

But it is hard to say that even these latter two individuals were really connected to Al Qaeda.

The trial of the seven individuals at the Old Bailey has not yet reached its conclusion. Certainly there appear to be similarities to the activities of the 7/7 bombers, and there may even have been connections with Al Qaeda through the same go-between.

But Al Muhajiroun seem to have been involved in recruitment for terrorism, if not actually stage-managing it. The group is thought to have helped two British nationals to go to Israel, where with the help of Palestinian terrorists they entered Mike's Bar in Tel Aviv on April 30, 2003.

The two individuals (pictured above right) were Omar Sharif (left in the picture) and Asif Hanif. Both wore explosive belts. Omar Sharif tried to detonate his explosives and failed. Asif Hanif was more successful, and killed himself and three customers at the bar, and wounded 65.

Sharif had fled, and was found twelve days later in the sea off Tel Aviv, apparently having drowned himself. Omar Sharif was an active supporter of Al Muhajiroun, setting up a stall advertising the group in Derby.

We have made much recently of the role of Anjem Choudary, the current leader of Al Ghurabaa, and former deputy leader of Al Muhajiroun. I have spread out a rather haphazard pattern of dots, but joining them up is unnerving.

There are just too many coincidences. Maybe Al Muhajiroun just had similar viewpoints to Al Qaeda. Maybe as I suggested yesterday, the answers are found in Islamic ideology, and these individuals are connected through a shared belief system, rather than a shared interest in actively promoting terror.

It is wrong to connect too many parts, as individuals have not yet completed their trials. The suspected jihadists in Canada, from Ottowa, are possibly linked to the suspected jihadists arrested in Dewsbury and Hackney who were indicted in Britain recently.

The Canadian suspects are possibly linked to the individuals on trial in the Old Bailey, and those are linked to Junaid Babar, to Al Muhajiroun. And Al Muhajiroun may even be linked to Al Qaeda, and Al Qaeda may be behind the bombings of 7/7.

The possibilities are endless. A true conspiracy theory would give hard and fast answers, and I do not wish to do so. I am just pointing out known associations.

But there does exist the possibility that Al Qaeda really is intimately linked to these operations, and is exploiting the idealism and Islamist fanaticism of groups of zealous young Muslims in more ways than we would like to think possible.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at July 9, 2006 7:19 AM

Comments

Post a comment