weekly global terror watch 26 april - 2 may

8/2/2019 weekly global terror watch 26 april - 2 may

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Weekly Global Terror Watch

Covering 260800H APR 12 TO 030800H MAY 12

OVERVIEW

1. DFAT reviewed and reissued its travel advisory for Indonesia, including Bali on 1 May,citing a high threat of terrorist attack. Meanwhile, on 26 Apr, a French official revealed thatpreliminary charges were filed against a Frenchman suspected to seeking terrorist training inIndonesia. In Philippines, US had committed to assist the Philippines in fighting terrorism,particularly in dealing with bus bombings and investigating bomb explosions. This wasannounced in a joint statement issued following the 2+2 meeting between Philippines' ForeignAffairs Secretary Albert del Rosario and Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin with US Secretaryof State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in Washington on 1 May.

2. Taliban could be launching more attacks against Afghan and ISAF coalition forcesfollowing their announcement of their 'spring offensive' code-named Al-Farouq, that would belaunched across Afghanistan on 3 May. The announcement came after the Taliban attack inKabul on 28 Apr. In the attack, suicide bombers targeted the governor's office in Kandahar,southern Afghanistan, where they engaged security forces inside the compound. Two policemenwere wounded and another two were killed when the suicide bombers' explosives were detonatedas they were shot. Separately, Pakistan was in a state of high alert over fears terrorists couldmark the first anniversary of Osama bin Laden's death on 2 May with revenge attacks. Earlier on30 Apr, al-Qaeda had named Farman Ali Shinwari, hailing from Landikotal subdivision of

Khyber Agency, as its new chief in Pakistan.

3. In Israel, the IDF and Palestinians exchanged fire along the Gaza border on 1 May, whichresulted in one Palestinian militant fatality. The Israeli military stated that its forces came underfire while performing routine operational activities. Meanwhile, terrorists from the Gaza Stripfired one rocket at southern Israel on 25 Apr and on 30 Apr. Both rockets landed in open areas,causing no injuries or damage.

4. US' Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesman Peter Boogaard said on 1 Maythat the authorities had no indication of any threats or plots against the US as a result of the one-year anniversary of Osama bin Laden's death on 2 May. Boogaard was responding to an ABCreport on 30 Apr that said officials feared that the al-Qaeda may soon try to explode aircraftbound for the US with so-called body bombs. News had also emerged of a German policeseizure of a large cache of al-Qaedas internal documents disguised as pornography on 1 May.The police outlined the terrorist networks plans for possible attacks in Europe, includinghijacking a cruise liner. The documents were found by the German Federal Criminal Police inmid-Mar 2011 after they arrested a man called Maqsood Lodin.

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ASEAN

1. DFAT reviewed and reissued its travel advisory for Indonesia, including Bali on 1 May,citing a high threat of terrorist attack. The overall level of advice remained unchanged at"Reconsider your need to travel". Separately on 26 Apr, a French official revealed thatpreliminary charges were filed against a Frenchman suspected to seeking terrorist training inIndonesia. The suspect was arrested after his mother revealed to police his aim to seek terroristtraining in Jakarta.

2. In Philippines, US had committed to assist the Philippines in fighting terrorism,

particularly in dealing with bus bombings and investigating bomb explosions. This wasannounced in a joint statement issued following the 2+2 meeting between Philippines' ForeignAffairs Secretary Albert del Rosario and Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin with US Secretaryof State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in Washington on 1 May. The USState Departments Anti-Terrorism Assistance program had strengthened the counter-terrorismcapacity of the Philippine National Police (PNP) by establishing facilities for explosivesordnance disposal (EOD) training and a forensics laboratory for post-blast investigations.

ARTICLE SOURCES

Australian Travel Advisory for Indonesia

DFAT/01May2012

Summary We advise you to reconsider your need to travel to Indonesia, including Bali, at this time due to thevery high threat of terrorist attack. If you do decide to travel to Indonesia, you should exercise great care,

particularly around locations that have a low level of protective security and avoid places known to be possibleterrorist targets. See the 'safety and security' section of this advice for details. We continue to receiveinformation which indicates that terrorists may be planning attacks in Indonesia, which could take place at any

time. Since early 2010, police have disrupted a number of terrorist groups in North Sumatra, Lampung, Banten,Jakarta and Central Java. Police also disrupted an alleged terrorist cell in Bali on 18 March 2012. Policecontinue to conduct operations against these groups. Police have stated publicly that terrorist suspects remain atlarge and that they may seek to attack Western targets. Terrorists have previously attacked or planned to attack

places where Westerners gather including nightclubs, bars, restaurants, hotels, airports and places of worship inBali, Jakarta and elsewhere in Indonesia. These types of venues could be targeted again. Attacks againstWesterners in Bali and Jakarta indicate that these areas remain priority targets for terrorists. Judicial processes,including trials of extremists and the implementation of sentences, could prompt a strong reaction from theirsupporters such as demonstrations and acts of violence. Australians should avoid all protests, demonstrationsand rallies as they can turn violent. Since July 2009, there has been a series of violent attacks near the FreeportMine in Papua. One Australian has been killed in these attacks. There is a possibility of further attacks in the

Papua Provinces, including attacks on infrastructure and national institutions. We advise you to read carefullythe sections on travel to West Java, Aceh, Central Sulawesi Province, Maluku, Papua and West Timor where

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additional safety risks exist. There is a risk of rabies throughout Indonesia, in particular Bali and Nias. See theHealth Issues section below for advice to Australians travelling to or resident in Indonesia. You should

telephone ahead for an appointment before going to the Australian Embassy (See Where to Get Help). Becauseof the serious terrorist threat in Indonesia we strongly recommend that you register your travel and contactdetails with us so we can contact you in an emergency. Be a smart traveller. Before heading overseas: organisecomprehensive travel insurance and check what circumstances and activities are not covered by your policysubscribe to this travel advice to receive free email updates each time it's reissued. click on image to expand

Frenchman suspected of seeking terror training in Indonesia

AP/26Apr2012

A French official says preliminary charges have been filed against a man suspected of seeking terrorist trainingin Indonesia.

The judicial official said the suspect's mother alerted police when she found 1,500 ($1,980) in cash in her son'sbelongings, and he told her he was going to Indonesia's capital, Jakarta, for training.

The 30-year-old was arrested in the southern Herault region. The official said Thursday that the suspect wasgiven preliminary charges of suspected involvement in a terrorist enterprise late Wednesday and jailed pendingfurther investigation.

The official was not authorized to be publicly named because the investigation is ongoing.

US to assist Phl in dealing with bus bombings

PHILIPPINESTAR/02May2012

MANILA, Philippines - The United States has committed to assist the Philippines in fighting terrorism,particularly in dealing with bus bombings and investigating bomb explosions.

This was announced in a joint statement issued following the 2+2 meeting of Foreign Affairs Secretary Albertdel Rosario and Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and DefenseSecretary Leon Panetta in Washington last Monday.

The US State Departments Anti-Terrorism Assistance program has strengthened the counterterrorism capacityof the Philippine National Police (PNP) by establishing facilities for explosives ordnance disposal (EOD)training and a forensics laboratory for post-blast investigations.

In the joint statement, the US also committed to assist in the establishment in the Philippines of a NationalJustice Information System to promote the rule of law and the efficient recording, monitoring, tracking andreporting of crimes, cases, offenders and victims.

Both countries recognized that bilateral cooperation includes this years increased counter-narcotics cooperationbetween the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and the US Drug Enforcement Administration at the NinoyAquino International Airport (NAIA) that resulted in several drug seizures, including 20 kilograms of

methamphetamine, and the arrest of 11 drug couriers.

With the assistance of various US interagency partners, the PNP established a Special Boat Unit based in

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Palawan that also resulted in the arrest of 165 persons at sea, seizure of 12 vessels and substantial contraband in2010.

This summer, the US and the Philippines will jointly host an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)workshop on measures to combat bus terrorism.

Both countries continue to cooperate in the areas of humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, and maritimesecurity, and have conducted nearly 20 combined exercises every year, including the recently completed 28thBalikatan.

The Philippines is a committed peacekeeping provider, deploying nearly 1,000 troops, police and civilians toUnited Nations peacekeeping missions annually, which the US supports through continued funding andtraining.

Over 100 US ships visited the Philippines last year.

In June 2012, the US hospital ship USNS Mercy will provide medical, dental, and veterinary services toFilipinos on the islands of Samar, Basilan, and Sulu.

US personnel also intend to partner with counterparts from the Philippine armed forces to construct andrenovate school and health facilities.

Aside from this, more than 500 Philippine military personnel completed programs through the US military

system in the last fiscal year and Philippine Military Academy (PMA) cadets have been accepted into each ofthe major US service academies.

The joint statement said that the US intends to promote the establishment of an integrated criminal justicedatabase system for the Philippines and emphasized that the two countries are committed to principlesenshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations Convention against Corruption,and other applicable international instruments related to human rights and good governance.

As joint steering committee members of the Open Government Partnership, both countries support a set ofcommon principles guiding the relationship of the governments and their citizenry.

The Philippines and the US are steering committee members of the Open Government Partnership, which aimsto develop norms and standards for open governance, transparency and civil society participation.

The two sides support continued efforts to promote greater government transparency and the rule of law.

A founding member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Philippines is the currentASEAN country coordinator for the US, and will host the US-ASEAN Dialogue in Manila this May, along withthe first meeting of the US-ASEAN Eminent Persons Group.

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AFGHANISTAN & PAKISTAN

TERROR INCIDENT CHARTS (AFGHANISTAN AND PAKISTAN)

VIOLENCE IN AFGHANISTANTable 1: Violence in Afghanistan (26 Apr-2 May 2012)

Location/Province

Date Type of Attack

Casualties Comments

Laghaman 1 May MilitaryOperation

2 Killed An ISAF night raid in boloh village killed two civilians and sparked much unrestamong locals through various protests.

Kandahar 1 May MilitantAttack

3 Killed Taliban militants launched an attack on an ISAF convoy of six tankers, killing threepolicemen in the process.

Khost 1 May RoadsideIED

1 Wounded A roadside IED attack on a police van in Khost city wounded one policemen.

Nangarhar,Kunar,Kapisa,Kandahar,Helmand,Khost,Ghazni,Logar, Zabuland Farah

29 Apr MilitaryOperation

5 Killed Afghan and ISAF coalition forces killed 5 militants and detained 21 others in 10 joincleanup operations in various provinces over the past 24 hours.

SouthernAfghanistan

29 Apr IEDAttack

1 Killed An IED attack in southern Afghanistan killed an ISAF soldier.

Kandahar 28 Apr MilitantAttack

4 Killed, 2Wounded

A militant attack on a governor's office in Kandahar killed four people and woundedtwo others.

Wardak 26 Apr Air Strike 3 Killed, 4Wounded

A mortar attack on a house in Chak district killed three women and wounded 4others.

Kandahar 26 Apr Militant

Attack

8 Killed Afghan and ISAF coalition forces killed eight militants during a raid on a Taliban

hideout in Spin Boldak district.

Badakhshan 26 Apr Militant 3 Killed A militant attack on a checkpost in Wardoj district killed three policemen.

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Attack

Afghanistan

4. Taliban could be launching more attacks against Afghan and ISAF coalition forcesfollowing their announcement of their 'spring offensive' code-named Al-Farouq, that would belaunched across Afghanistan on 3 May. According to the militants' website, the primary targetsof the offensive would be "foreign invaders, their advisors and contractors, and all those whohelp them militarily and in intelligence." The announcement came after the Taliban attack inKabul on 28 Apr. In the attack, suicide bombers targeted the governor's office in Kandahar,

southern Afghanistan, where they engaged security forces inside the compound. Two policemenwere wounded and another two were killed when the suicide bombers' explosives were detonatedas they were shot. The Kandahar provincial governor Tooryali Wessa and other officials wereunharmed and the area had been cordoned off by the police and army commandos. Over the pastweek, there was another shooting incident involving Afghan soldiers. On 27 Apr, an eliteAfghan soldier opened fire and killed a US special forces mentor, his Afghan translator andwounding three other coalition service members, before he was gunned down. US official whorevealed the details did not provide any further information but the US military stated thatinvestigation was underway. Southern Afghanistan Army Commander GEN Abdul Hamid

revealed that the incident happened in a US military base in Shah Wali Kot district, Kandaharprovince.

5. The Taliban militants meanwhile, continued to attack NATO tankers. A Taliban militantattack in a convoy carrying fuel for ISAF forces in Farah Province had killed at least threepeople. The Taliban militants torched six NATO tankers which killed three Afghan securityguards serving with a private security firm and wounded four others in the process in the town ofBakwa. Earlier on 25 Apr, Taliban militants had attacked a convoy of tankers transferring fuelto ISAF forces in Afghanistan, setting fire two of them in Herat Province. Taliban militantsattacked the convoy in Gozare and torched two of the tankers using a rocket-propelled grenade.

6. In a speech to Washington think tank Woodrow Wilson International Center, US President

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Barack Obama's counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan gave a detailed explanation of US' useof drones to kill al-Qaeda members in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen. Described to be

"helping (the US) to win the war on the militant network", Brennan added that Obama wanted tobe more "open about the practice" and maintained that unmanned drone strikes were ethical,necessary, and in "full accordance with the law". Meanwhile Pakistan, Afghanistan and US weretrying to revive the stalled peace talks with Taliban. Representatives from the three countrieshad met in Islamabad on 27 Apr for two days as part of an initiative to revive stalled peace talkswith the Afghan Taliban, and to smoothen relations between US and Pakistan. While not yetmaking an iron-clad guarantee, officials told news conference that they would form a group ofexperts to consider the proposal to explore ways to arrange safe passage for Afghan Talibanmilitants who wished to engage in peace talks.

PAKISTAN

7. Pakistan was in a state of high alert over fears terrorists could mark the first anniversary ofOsama bin Laden's death on 2 May with revenge attacks. Pakistan's reputation had been draggeddeeper through the mud and its relationship with US was as bad as ever as questions onIslamabad's intelligence failures or complicity with al-Qaeda remained unanswered. A year afterthe al-Qaeda terror chief was found living with three wives on the doorstep of Pakistan, thecountry was still accused of sheltering a string of US' most-wanted terror suspects. Ayman al-

Zawahiri, the current al-Qaeda leader, was also suspected to be in Pakistan, along with AfghanTaliban leader, Mullah Omar.

8. On 30 Apr, al-Qaeda named Farman Ali Shinwari, hailing from Landikotal subdivision ofKhyber Agency, as its chief in Pakistan. The statement issued by al-Qaeda's Dawa Wing cameafter consultations and approval of top al-Qaeda leadership, with the reason of selection beingFarman's close affiliation with Badar Mansoor and his knowledge about Federally AdministeredTribal Areas (FATA). Officials from Pakistan had confirmed the development. In the latest USdrone strike since 29 Apr, it killed four suspected militants in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal

region. The remotely piloted aircraft targeted an abandoned girls' high school building used bymilitants in Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, where three militants were wounded.

ARTICLE SOURCES

Taliban announce 'spring offensive' across Afghanistan

AFP/02May2012

Kabul, May 2, 2012 (AFP) - The Taliban militia announced their "spring offensive" would begin acrossAfghanistan on Thursday.

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Code-named Al-Farouq, the primary targets of the offensive would be "foreign invaders, their advisors, theircontractors, all those who help them militarily and in intelligence", the militants said on their website.

"Al-Farouq spring offensive will be launched on May 3 all over Afghanistan," the militant group said.

The militia said the code name came from Islam's second caliph, Omar Al-Farouq known for his militaryadvances in Asia and the Arab world during the 7th century.

The announcement comes hours after Taliban insurgents armed with guns, suicide vests and a bomb-laden carattacked a heavily fortified compound used by Westerners in Kabul, killing seven people and wounding morethan a dozen.

The militants claimed the attack in defiance of US President Barack Obama's call that the war was endingduring a visit to Afghanistan on the first anniversary of Osama bin Laden's death on Wednesday.

Pakistan on alert for bin Laden anniversary

AFP/02May2012

ISLAMABAD, May 2, 2012 (AFP) - Pakistan was in a state of high alert Wednesday over fears terroristscould mark the first anniversary of Osama bin Laden's killing by American Navy SEALs with revenge attacks.

The anniversary of the single most humiliating event in recent Pakistani history caps a devastating year forPakistan.

Its dubious reputation has been dragged deeper through the mud and its relationship with the United States is asbad as ever as questions on Islamabad's intelligence failures or complicity with Al-Qaeda remain unanswered.

Apart from the breakdown of its alliance with the West, little has changed. A year after the Al-Qaeda terrorchief was found living with three wives on the doorstep of Pakistan's equivalent of West Point, the country isstill accused of sheltering a string of America's most-wanted terror suspects.

Ayman al-Zawahiri, bin Laden's successor, is suspected to be in Pakistan, as is Afghan Taliban leader, MullahOmar.

Sirajuddin Haqqani, the de facto leader of the Haqqani network blamed for last month's assault on Westerntargets in Kabul, the largest coordinated insurgent attack in 10 years of war, is based in the tribal belt on theAfghan border, as is Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud.

Last month Washington offered $10 million for Hafiz Saeed, the Pakistani accused of masterminding the 2008Mumbai attacks who lives openly in Pakistan, a bounty eclipsed only by the $25 million reward for Zawahiri.

But Pakistani officials told AFP they fear attacks could mar the anniversary, saying that security agencies hadbeen ordered to be "extra vigilant" on Wednesday.

Last year, the Taliban carried out a string of revenge attacks that included a suicide bombing on a police

training centre which killed nearly 100 people.

"These agencies are in a state of high alert and have been directed to be very careful since this is going to be an

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important day," one security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Western embassies in Islamabad have issued warnings, advising citizens to avoid public places for fear ofattack. The US embassy in particular has restricted staff from going to restaurants and markets until May 5.

The beheading of a British aid worker in Quetta at the weekend, for which there has been no claim or clearevidence pointing to the culprits, served as a reminder of the dangerous underbelly of Pakistan.

Taliban militants attack NATO convoy, kill 3 in west Afghanistan

PRESSTV/01May2012

Taliban militants attack NATO convoy, kill 3 in west Afghanistan

Afghan policemen stand near a burnt-out NATO fuel tanker in Panjwayi district in Kandahar Province, April 6,2012.Tue May 1, 2012 10:6AM GMT

At least three people have been killed in a militant attack on a convoy carrying fuel for US-led forces inAfghanistan's western Farah Province, Press TV reports.

The Taliban militants torched six NATO tankers, killing three Afghan security guards serving with a privatesecurity firm and injuring four others in the town of Bakwa late Monday, Afghan security officials said.

"Six tankers, transferring fuel to US-led foreign forces have been torched by armed Taliban militants," anAfghan security official told Press TV.

Private security firms in western Afghanistan are tasked with escorting the NATO fuel tankers in the country.

Several Taliban fighters were also killed and injured in the incident, but the exact figure of their casualties is notavailable yet, he said.

The highway linking Herat to the Delaram region has for long been an insecure route for convoys carrying fuelsupplies for foreign forces in Afghanistan.

Despite the presence of nearly 130,000 American troops in Afghanistan, security and calm have never beenrestored in the Asian country since the 2001 US-led invasion as terror and militancy have become morerampant.

White House in first detailed comments on drone strikes

BBCONLINE/01May2012

President Obama's counter-terrorism adviser has given the most detailed explanation so far of America's use ofdrones to kill members of al-Qaeda.

In a speech to a Washington think tank, John Brennan said the strikes were helping to win the war on themilitant network.

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President Barack Obama wanted to be more open about the practice, Mr Brennan added.

The comments come in the week marking a year since Osama Bin Laden's death.

BBC Washington correspondent Paul Adams says this is not the first time the Obama administration hasconfirmed the use of drone strikes.

'Disaster after disaster'

In January, the president did it himself, during a webchat. But our correspondent says Mr Brennan has gonefurther than anyone so far in laying out the rationale for a policy that remains controversial.

Mr Brennan said unmanned drone strikes were legal, ethical, necessary and proportional, overseen with what hecalled extraordinary care and thoughtfulness, especially when the target was an American citizen.

In his speech at the Woodrow Wilson International Center, he said al-Qaeda was losing badly.

For the first time since America's war on the organisation began, Mr Brennan said it was possible to envision aworld in which the core of al-Qaeda was no longer relevant.

He added that drone strikes usually took place with the co-operation of the host government, in "full accordancewith the law".

Such strikes are thought to have killed hundreds of militants in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen.

But Mr Brennan also conceded that there had been civilian deaths as a result of some strikes.

Pakistan has previously demanded an end to US drone strikes on Pakistani soil.

Hina Shamsi, director of the American Civil Liberties Union, told the BBC's World Today programme that MrBrennan's speech showed the US administration believed its authority went "far beyond what has beenrecognised under international law".

Ms Shamsi said: "We believe there are few things as dangerous as the proposition that the government shouldbe able to kill people anywhere in the word, including citizens, on the basis of legal standards and evidence thatare never submitted to the court either before or after the fact."

She added: "Anyone willing to trust President Obama with the power to secretly declare people as enemies ofthe state and order their extrajudicial killing should ask whether they would be willing to trust the next presidentwith that dangerous power, and the next president after that."

'Disaster after disaster'

Mr Brennan also said that documents found at the compound where Osama Bin Laden was killed in Pakistan

last year would go online later this week.

They were gathered by US Navy Seals during the raid on Bin Laden's hideout in Abbottabad on 2 May 2011.

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The papers are said to include communication between Bin Laden and his associates, and his hand-written

diary.

They are said to reveal that Bin Laden had considered changing al-Qaeda's name because so many of thegroup's senior operatives had been killed.

"In short, al-Qaeda is losing badly. And Bin Laden knew it. In documents we seized, he confessed to 'disasterafter disaster'," Mr Brennan said.

"With its most skilled and experienced commanders being lost so quickly, al-Qaeda has had trouble replacingthem."

Mr Brennan said the documents would be put online by the US Military Academy's Combating TerrorismCenter.

Farman Shinwari named new al-Qaeda chief in Pakistan

THENEWS/30Apr2012

LANDIKOTAL: Al-Qaeda has named Farman Ali Shinwari, hailing from Landikotal subdivision of KhyberAgency, as its head in Pakistan, sources told The News here Sunday.

Reliable sources based in Waziristan told The News that a statement had been issued by the al-Qaedaleadership, saying that Farman Ali Shinwari has been chosen as the head in Pakistan. Local officials alsoconfirmed the development.

The statement issued by al-Qaedas Dawa Wing said that after consultations and approval of top Al-Qaedaleadership, Farman Shinwari was selected as head of the network in Pakistan. The statement said that reason ofhis selection was his close affiliation with Badar Mansoor and his knowledge about Fata.

Farman Shinwari, 30, was close to Badar Mansoor, the former al-Qaeda figure killed in a US drone attack inNorth Waziristan on February 9, 2011. Farman married about three years ago and has two children.

The statement also mentioned the names of all al-Qaeda leaders, right from Badar Mansoor to top commandersincluding Osama bin Laden. It was stated that their men have sacrificed their lives for the sake of Islam.

The sources said the al-Qaeda commanders based in Pakistani was not involved in the decision, but they onlyratified it.Farman Shinwari belongs to Khugakhel sub-tribe of Shinwaris based in Landikotal, and has five

brothers. He got B.Sc degree in Chemistry and Biology from Landikotal Degree College a few years ago anddid his masters in International Relations from the University of Peshawar in the first division.

All of Farman Shinwaris brothers are affiliated with the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other militantgroups. His elder brother Hazrat Nabi Shinwari, alias Tamanchy Mulla, was a theology teacher in agovernment-run school in Landikotal. He was leading the TTP in Khyber Agency in 2005 and also used to send

militants to Kashmir and Afghanistan. He has remained the head of Harkatul Mujahideen and is nowadays saidto be leading his group of TTP men in Waziristan.

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Drone strike kills four suspected militants in Pakistan

REUTERS/29Apr2012

PESHAWAR, Pakistan, April 29 (Reuters) - A U.S. drone strike killed four suspected militants in Pakistan'sNorth Waziristan tribal region near the Afghan border on Sunday, intelligence officials and witnesses said, thefirst strike in almost a month.

The controversial drone programme, a key element in U.S. counter-terrorism efforts, is highly unpopular inPakistan, where it is considered a violation of sovereignty which causes many civilian casualties.

A Pakistani parliamentary committee recently demanded an end to drone strikes on Pakistani territory as part ofits recommendations for how its relationship with Washington should change. The United States has given noindication it intends to halt the campaign.

The remotely piloted aircraft targeted an abandoned girls' high school building used by militants in Miranshah,the main town in North Waziristan, the officials and witnesses said. Three militants were wounded.

"We intercepted internal conversation of the militants asking for arranging four coffins for the slain men in thedrone attack. We don't know about their identity and nationality but those living in the girls' school were mostlyArabs," a security official said.

A local resident, Haji Niamat Khan, said more than two dozen militants were living in the school when it was

attacked.

The last drone strike, on March 30, killed four suspected militants and wounded three in the same town ofMiranshah, a known hotbed for Pakistan Taliban and foreign militants.

The strikes are a major stumbling block in restoring ties with Washington, badly frayed after an inadvertentcross-border attack by NATO aircraft on Nov 26 last year killed 24 Pakistani troops.

The United States says the strikes in Pakistan's unruly northwestern tribal regions along the Afghan border arevery accurate and there is minimal collateral damage.

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MIDDLE EAST

TERROR INCIDENT CHARTS (ISRAEL, PALESTINE, LEBANON)

9. In Israel, the IDF and Palestinians exchanged fire along the Gaza border on 1 May, whichresulted in one Palestinian militant fatality. The Israeli military stated that its forces came underfire while "performing routine operational activities near the security fence in central Gaza."According to the Al-Nasser Salaheddin Brigade, the military wing of the Popular ResistanceCommittees, 'senior leader' Abdallah al-Taweel was killed while on a 'jihadi mission'.Meanwhile, terrorists from the Gaza Strip fired one rocket at southern Israel on 25 Apr and on 30

Apr. Both rockets landed in open areas, causing no injuries or damage.

10. In Yemen, AQAP militants freed 73 Yemeni soldiers who were captured in early Mar aftermediation by religious and tribal leaders. Separately, fierce clashes continued in the town ofLoder on 30 Apr, where fighting led to the death of 18 AQAP militants and an officer from theYemeni Army along with two tribal volunteers. The Yemeni air force bombed militantpositions, forcing them to retreat to Amiin, south of Loder. On 2 May, it was reported that USofficials were becoming increasingly concerned that doctors working with AQAP militantsmight implant bombs inside living terrorists in order to circumvent airport security measures.

This came after unnamed counter-terrorism agencies reported that doctors in Yemen werewilling to surgically implant bombs into the organs of militants.

ARTICLE SOURCES

Western officials fear terrorists will carry implanted bomb

JERUSALEMPOST/02May2012

Western officials fear terrorists will carry implanted bomb

US and allied officials said they are increasingly concerned that doctors working with al-Qaida's Yemen-based

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Data from Janes Terrorism and Insurgency Centre

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affiliate will implant bombs inside living terrorists in order to try to circumvent airport security measures andbring down aircraft.

Earlier this year, a missile fired by a CIA-operated drone killed a Yemeni doctor who had devised medicalprocedures which could be used to surgically plant explosive devices in humans, several US officials toldReuters.

However, another individual, the expert bomb-maker who came up with this tactic survived a similar missileattack last year. Counter-terrorism agencies believe he is still engaged in active plotting against US and otherWestern targets.

Moreover, three US officials said counter-terrorism agencies report that other doctors in Yemen are prepared tosurgically load bombs into the organs of militants.

Airstrike on al-Qaida vehicle kills 3 in Yemen

AP/02May2012

SANAA, Yemen (AP) A Yemeni military official says an airstrike on a vehicle carrying al-Qaida militantshas killed three in south Yemen.

The official said Tuesday the airstrike near Zinjibar, the capital of Abyan province, was one in a series of airraids on al-Qaida hideouts in the southern province where the militant groups have found a safe haven.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.

For several weeks, government troops have been waging an offensive against the militants, who have takenadvantage of political turmoil in Yemen to expand their presence in the south.

Also Tuesday, al-Qaida-linked militants attacked military vehicles carrying soldiers and a French oil expert.One soldier was killed, and the French expert was wounded.

Gaza militant killed in Israeli border firefight

AFP/02May2012

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories, May 1, 2012 (AFP) - The Israeli army and Palestinians exchanged firealong the Gaza border on Tuesday in a series of clashes that Palestinian militants said killed one of theirmembers.

Al-Nasser Salaheddin Brigades, the military wing of the hardline Popular Resistance Committees, said in astatement that "senior leader" Abdallah al-Taweel died on "a jihadi mission".

The Israeli military said its forces came under fire while "performing routine operational activities near thesecurity fence in central Gaza."

"Two armoured vehicles were damaged. IAF (Israeli Air Force) aircraft and Armoured Corps soldiersresponded with fire towards suspicious locations."

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Security sources and witnesses said Palestinians opened fire towards Israeli forces as they staged an incursion

into Gaza and began clearing land along the border area in the early afternoon.

The Israeli military maintains an exclusion zone inside the Gaza Strip along the border and regularly carries outmilitary activity in the area.

Palestinian medical sources said Israeli forces opened fire again later in the afternoon in the same area, leavingone Palestinian wounded.

On Tuesday evening, a rocket fired from Gaza landed in open ground in southern Israel's Ashkelon coastdistrict, a spokeswoman for the region's council told AFP.

There were no reports of casualties or property damage.

Kassam rocket fired from Gaza into Israel; no injuries

JERUSALEMPOST/30Apr2012

Kassam rocket fired from Gaza into Israel; no injuriesBy JPOST.COM STAFF04/30/2012 21:54

Palestinians fired a Kassam rocket from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel Monday night. The rocket exploded

in an open field in the Sha'ar Hanegev region. No injuries were reported.

The Color Red rocket warning system was heard in surrounding towns. Security forces were searching for theexploded rocket.

Barak: Nuclear Iran More Dangerous than Striking Iran

ARUTZSHEVA/01May2012

Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned on Monday that as long as Iran poses a threat to Israel with its nuclearprogram, all options are on the table.

Speaking with journalists from the Foreign Press Association and quoted by The Associated Press, Barak said,I believe it is well understood in Washington, D.C., as well as in Jerusalem that as long as there is anexistential threat to our people, all options to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons should remain on thetable.

I have enough experience to know that a military option is not a simple one, Barak added. It would becomplicated with certain associated risks. But a radical Islamic Republic of Iran with nuclear weapons would befar more dangerous both for the region and, indeed, the world.

Barak dismissed the remarks by critics of a strike on Irans nuclear facilities, saying, Parts of the world,including some politically motivated Israeli figures, prefer to bury their heads in the sand.

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By politically motivated Israeli figures he was likely referring to former Shin Bet head Yuval Diskin, who

attacked Barak and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu at an open forum.

Diskin said that Netanyahu and Barak are messianic and unfit to hold the reins of power. They give thepublic a false picture on the Iran question. They create the feeling that if Israel does not act, Iran will have anuclear bomb, even though experts think that an attack on Iran will cause it to speed up the process of armingwith nuclear weapons.

Diskin was later supported by former Mossad Chief Meir Dagan. Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert alsoimplied that, like Diskin, he did not trust the current leaders of Israel to make the right decisions.

You have to have full trust in the judgment of those who have to take decisions, Olmert told CNN onMonday. And you could understand from what I said that maybe something in my trust is lacking.

Barak told the foreign journalists that time is running out for a strike, as Iran's military nuclear program will besufficiently developed and suitably concealed, rendering the facilities immune to surgical attacks.

He also addressed the past year of upheavals in the Middle East that have overthrown several leaders andcaused Islamist political parties to gain prominence.

Israel has found itself sitting as an island of stability in a stormy sea, a sea in which the waves of radicalism aregrowing in strength, Barak said.

We urge Egypt to contain lawlessness in the Sinai Peninsula," he said, referring to the unstable securitysituation in the Sinai Peninsula since the ouster of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak last year. Terrorgroups have taken advantage of the situation to carry out terror attacks against Israelis and fire rockets at thecity of Eilat.

This is imperative in order to keep our two nations firmly on the path of peace, a peace that has contributed somuch to so many for so long now, he added.

Barak also addressed Syria, where a bloody 14-month uprising against President Bashar Assad is in progress.

Whatever follows Assad's bloodstained regime will be greeted with Israel's extended hand of peace, he said.

18 Qaeda militants killed in Yemen fighting

AFP/30Apr2012

SANAA, April 30, 2012 (AFP) - Fierce clashes killed at least 21 people, including 18 Al-Qaeda militants, onMonday near the southern Yemeni town of Loder, which Al-Qaeda is trying to capture, a local official said.

The other dead were an army officer and two tribal volunteers aiding the military.

The source said the A-Qaeda militants were forced to retreat in the direction of Amiin, 12 kilometres (7.5 miles)

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south of Loder.

Witnesses said the fighting lasted for several hours, and that air force planes had bombed militant positions inthe mountains southeast of Loder, from which columns of smoke could be seen rising.

A tank in the hands of the militants, as well as two vehicles mounted with machineguns and ammunition stockswere destroyed, other sources said.

Al-Qaeda seized Loder in August 2010, but the army eventually drove it out.

Loder lies 150 kilometres northeast of Zinjibar, capital of Abyan province, which was seized last May by thePartisans of Sharia (Islamic law), an affiliate of Al-Qaeda in the Arabic Peninsula..

Qaeda frees 73 Yemen soldiers, 3 suspects killed

AFP/29Apr2012

SANAA, April 29, 2012 (AFP) - Al-Qaeda on Sunday freed dozens of soldiers captured in battles in southernYemen, as three suspected militants were killed in an air strike in the north of the country, local and securitysources said.

"Al-Qaeda has released 73 soldiers they seized in the south in early March," said a provincial official in themilitant stronghold of Jaar.

The soldiers were "driven in two buses from Jaar to Aden," the main southern city, the official said, adding thatreligious and tribal mediators had secured their release.

On March 4, militants from the Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighting under the banner ofthe Partisans of Sharia (Islamic law), attacked an army camp near the provincial capital Zinjibar, killing 185soldiers and capturing scores.

In a statement claiming responsibility for the assault, Al-Qaeda said it was holding 73 soldiers.

The announcement of their release came as rumours circulated the soldiers might be executed.

In the northern province of Al-Jawf, three men where killed in an air raid that targeted their car on Sunday, asecurity official said.

A tribal source said "the car was completely destroyed and all those inside were killed."

Those in the car were "Al-Qaeda members who were in Al-Jawf to offer condolences to family members ofmilitants killed in the fighting in Abyan," the source said.

The Partisans of Sharia have expanded their control over Yemen's lawless southern and eastern provinces,taking advantage of a weakened central government in Sanaa and months of political upheaval.

The jihadist network intensified its attacks on the security forces after President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi tookoffice in February pledging to hunt down the militants.

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On Tuesday, Hadi held talks with FBI Director Robert Mueller on the growing threat from Al-Qaeda in Yemen,

which Washington considers the global network's most active branch.

Rocket explodes near Ashkelon; No injured, no damage

By JPOST.COM STAFF04/26/2012 02:06A rocket exploded in the Ashkelon region on Thursday. No one was injured and no damage was caused.

A siren was heard in the residential areas near where the rocket exploded.

Terrorists Fire Rocket at Southern Israel

ARUTZSHEVA/26Apr2012

As Israelis celebrated the Jewish States 64th Independence Day, terrorists from Gaza fired a rocket at theAshkelon Coast Regional Council late on Wednesday night.

The rocket exploded in an open area. No physical injuries or damages were reported.

The rocket attack comes after terrorists fired a pair of rockets into southern Israel on Monday afternoon. Onefell in the Ashkelon Regional Council, while the other fell in the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council.

Neither caused physical injuries or property damage.

In March, terror gangs in Gaza fired over 200 rockets into Israel over a period of four days following thetargeted killing of Popular Resistance Committee leader Zuhir Musa Ahmed Qaisi and his deputy, MahmoudAhmed Mahmoud Hanani.

The Israeli counter-strikes targeting rocket launching cells operating from densley populated civilian areas inGaza killed 25, of whom at least 21 were terrorists.

IDF commanders charged the terrorists were seeking to use civilians as "human shields."

The quiet in the south has mostly been maintained since Egypt brokered a ceasefire between the sides.However, the terrorist groups take advantage of the ceasefires to periodically send a reminder to Israelis thatthey have the ability to fire rockets.

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OTHER SIGNIFICANT NEWS

12. Reports focused on the threat on the one-year anniversary of Osama bin Laden's death.US' Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesman Peter Boogaard said on 1 May that theauthorities had no indication of any threats or plots against the US as a result of the one-yearanniversary of Osama bin Laden's death. Boogaard was responding to an ABC report on 30 Aprthat said officials feared that the al-Qaeda may soon try to explode aircraft bound for the US withso-called body bombs. Reports also profiled top five al-Qaeda leaders who continued to pose aclear and continuing threat of an attack within US. The leaders included:

Egyptian cleric Ayman al-Zawahiri took over the organisation, shortly after bin laden's

death, where he had since been presumed hiding in Pakistan releasing propaganda videos.

Al-Qaeda's second in command, Abu Yahia al-Libi, a Libyan militant was also a key al-Qaeda propagandist who featured in frequent video appearances.

The third most wanted leader would be Mullah Mohammed Omar, who was in charge ofrunning the Taliban, had continued to command the militant forces who collaborated withthe al-qaeda who were responsible for the deaths of more than 1,500 U.S troops inAfghanistan since 2001.

Nasser al-Wahishi commanded Yemeni affiliate al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, whereU.S counter-terrorist officials warned that the group was most capable of launching anattack on US soil, considering that the group had established a safe haven in southernYemen.

Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri. also known as the chief bombmaker for al-Qaeda in the ArabianPeninsula, was responsible for building the underwear bomb used to try to bring down aDetroit-bound jetliner during Christmas in 2009 and the printer-cartridge bombs

intercepted in US-bound cargo planes in 2010.

13. News had emerged of a German police seizure of a large cache of al-Qaedas internaldocuments disguised as pornography on 1 May. The police outlined the terrorist networks plansfor possible attacks in Europe, including hijacking a cruise liner. The documents were found bythe German Federal Criminal Police in mid-Mar 2011 after they arrested a man called MaqsoodLodin. Investigators suspected that the Austrian received training in a terrorist camp in Pakistanand was planning to establish a sleeper cell in Germany. The documents outlined a number ofpossible ways a major terrorist attacks could be carried out. One idea was to seize a cruise liner,take the crew and passengers hostage and start shooting prisoners in front of cameras unless theterrorists demands were met. The approach was referred to as taking jihad to the sea in theroadmap.

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14. The North Africa arm of al-Qaeda offered to release a UK man who had been abducted inMali in exchange for releasing accused terror fundraiser Abu Qatada on 30 Apr, whom

authorities described as the spiritual guide of a 9/11 hijacker. In the statement purportedly fromal-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the group offered to release Stephen Malcolm, who wasabducted in Nov 2011 along with two other men from the northern Mali town of Timbuktu. UKviewed Qatada, also known as Omar Othman, as a national security threat, but the EuropeanCourt of Human Rights barred the country from deporting him because evidence gained fromtorture could be used against him in Jordan, where he had been convicted in absentia ofinvolvement in terrorist conspiracies.

15. Danish police reported that three men were arrested in connection with an ongoing terror

probe on 28 Apr/ The men appeared in a Copenhagen court on suspicion of illegally dealingwith firearms by acquiring two Kalashnikov firearms and ammunition. They were arrested attwo different sites in Copenhagen. Denmark's intelligence service said the arrests were linked toa terror probe and that the men were "suspected of having been in the process of preparing aterrorist act," but declined to provide more details. The agency also said the investigation wouldestablish whether possible terror threats had been discovered and averted by the arrests.

ARTICLE SOURCES

Al Qaeda offers to free hostage in exchange for Britain's release of Abu Qatada

CNN/30Apr2012

Abu Qatada was arrested in Britain in April, two months after he was released on bail.The North Africa arm ofal Qaeda is offering to release a British man abducted in Mali in exchange for Britain releasing accused terrorfundraiser Abu Qatada, whom authorities describe as the spiritual guide of a 9/11 hijacker, according to astatement posted on a militant web site.

In the statement purportedly from al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the group offered to release Stephen

Malcolm, who was abducted in late November along with two other men from the northern Mali town ofTimbuktu.

"We will release the British national prisoner that we have, Stephen Malcolm, ... if the British government willallow the deportation of Sheikh Abu Qatada to one of the Arab Spring countries or any other country of hischoice that will ensure his freedom, rights and dignity," the statement said.

CNN can not confirm the authenticity of the claim. The SITE Intelligence Group, a U.S.-based organization thatmonitors militant web activity, said the statement was posted late Sunday.

Britain views Qatada, also known as Omar Othman, as a national security threat, but the European Court of

Human Rights barred the country from deporting him because evidence gained from torture could be usedagainst him in Jordan, where he has been convicted in absentia of involvement in terrorist conspiracies.

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Qatada was arrested in Britain earlier this month, two months after he was released on bail after six years

imprisonment while the British government worked to send him to Jordan, where he holds citizenship.

Qatada, who Britain's Home Office described as the spiritual guide of 9/11 hijacker Mohammad Atta, isaccused of raising money for terrorist groups, including organizations linked to Osama bin Laden, and has

publicly supported the violent activities of those groups. Would-be shoe-bomber Richard Reid is also said to bean admirer.

Qatada has denied the allegations against him.

The North African al Qaeda group warned if the British government did not accept its offer, it would "open thedoors of hell for their country and expats, who are scattered all over the region."

Malcolm, who holds British and South African citizenship, was abducted along with Nils Gustafson of Swedenand Jacobus Ruke of the Netherlands on November 25.

The men were taken at gunpoint from a restaurant in Timbuktu, witnesses said at the time. A German man, whowas abducted with them, was killed by the gunmen, authorities said.

Documents reveal al Qaeda's plans for seizing cruise ships, carnage in Europe

CNN/01May2012

Documents reveal al Qaeda's plans for seizing cruise ships, carnage in Europe

By Nic Robertson, Paul Cruickshank and Tim Lister, CNNMay 1, 2012 -- Updated 0930 GMT (1730 HKT)

Editor's note: This story is based on internal al Qaeda documents, details of which were obtained by CNN.Hundreds of documents were discovered by German cryptologists embedded inside a pornographic movie on amemory disk belonging to a suspected al Qaeda operative arrested in Berlin last year. The German newspaperDie Zeit was the first to report on the documents.

(CNN) -- On May 16 last year, a 22-year-old Austrian named Maqsood Lodin was being questioned by policein Berlin. He had recently returned from Pakistan via Budapest, Hungary, and then traveled overland toGermany. His interrogators were surprised to find that hidden in his underpants were a digital storage deviceand memory cards.

Buried inside them was a pornographic video called "Kick Ass" -- and a file marked "Sexy Tanja."

Several weeks later, after laborious efforts to crack a password and software to make the file almost invisible,German investigators discovered encoded inside the actual video a treasure trove of intelligence -- more than100 al Qaeda documents that included an inside track on some of the terror group's most audacious plots and a

road map for future operations.

Future plots include the idea of seizing cruise ships and carrying out attacks in Europe similar to the gun attacks

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by Pakistani militants that paralyzed the Indian city of Mumbai in November 2008. Ten gunmen killed 164people in that three-day rampage.

Obama not 'over celebrating' OBL's death Terrorist training manuals in PDF format in German, English andArabic were among the documents, too, according to intelligence sources.

More: Details revealed on London bombings | Liquid bomb plot origins

U.S. intelligence sources tell CNN that the documents uncovered are "pure gold;" one source says that they arethe most important haul of al Qaeda materials in the last year, besides those found when U.S. Navy SEALsraided Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, a year ago and killed the al Qaeda leader.

One document was called "Future Works." Its authorship is unclear, but intelligence officials believe it camefrom al Qaeda's inner core. It may have been the work of Younis al Mauretani, a senior al Qaeda operative untilhis capture by Pakistani police in 2011.

The document appears to have been the product of discussions to find new targets and methods of attack.German investigators believe it was written in 2009 -- and that it remains the template for al Qaeda's plans.

Investigative journalist Yassin Musharbash, a reporter with the German newspaper Die Zeit, was the first toreport on the documents. One plan: to seize passenger ships. According to Musharbash, the writer "says that wecould hijack a passenger ship and use it to pressurize the public."

Musharbash takes that to mean that the terrorists "would then start executing passengers on those ships anddemand the release of particular prisoners."

The plan would include dressing passengers in orange jump suits, as if they were al Qaeda prisoners atGuantanamo Bay, and then videotaping their execution.

Lodin and a man called Yusuf Ocak, who allegedly traveled back to Europe with him, are now on trial in Berlinwhere they are pleading not guilty. Ocak was detained in Vienna two weeks after Lodin's arrest.

According to a senior Western counterterrorism official, their names were on a watch list, and when they

handed over documents at a European border crossing, their names registered with counterterrorism agencies.

Both men have pleaded not guilty to terrorism charges. Ocak is also charged with helping to form a group calledthe German Taliban Mujahedeen, and is alleged to have made a video for the group threatening attacks inGermany.

Prosecutors believe the pair met at a terrorist training camp in Pakistan's tribal territories and were sent back toEurope to recruit a network of suicide bombers.

"We do not know what those men were up to but there are certain files of information that would make itplausible that they were probably thinking of a Mumbai-style attack," says Musharbash.

In the fall of 2010, a year after the document was written, European intelligence agencies were scrambling toinvestigate a Mumbai-style plot involving German and other European militants -- which sparked an

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unprecedented U.S. State Department travel warning for Americans in Europe.

"I think it is plausible to think that the 'Future Works' document is part of that particular project," saysMusharbash.

"Future Works" suggests al Qaeda was an organization under great pressure, without a major attack to its namein several years, harried by Western intelligence. If anything, its predicament is even more dire today.

"The document delivers very clearly the notion that al Qaeda knows it is being followed very closely,"Musharbash tells CNN. "It specifically says that Western intelligence agencies have become very good atspoiling attacks, that they have to come up with new ways and better plotting."

Part of the response, according to the document, should be to train European jihadists quickly and send themhome -- rather than use them as fighters in Afghanistan and Pakistan -- with instructions on how to keep insecret contact with their handlers.

What emerges from the document is a twin-track strategy -- with the author apparently convinced that al Qaedaneeds low-cost, low-tech attacks (perhaps such as the recent gun attacks in France carried out by MohammedMerah) to keep security services preoccupied while it plans large-scale attacks on a scale similar to 9/11.

Those already under suspicion in Europe and elsewhere would be used as decoys, while others would preparemajor attacks.

That is yet to materialize, but Musharbash believes a complex gun attack in Europe is still on al Qaeda's radar.

"I believe that the general idea is still alive and I believe that as soon as al Qaeda has the capacities to go afterthat scenario, they will immediately do it," he says.

While "Future Works" does not include dates or places, nor specific plans, it appears to be a brainstormingexercise to seize the initiative -- and reinstate al Qaeda on front pages around the world.

5 most wanted Al-Qaida leaders

AP/30Apr2012

On May 2, 2011, Navy SEALs shot and killed al-Qaida leader and Sept. 11 mastermind Osama bin Laden in hishome in Abbottabad, Pakistan. It was a raid made especially daring by the fact that there was only a 50-50chance the terrorist leader was there. After his death, these are five of the top al-Qaida leaders who pose a clearand continuing threat of an attack within the U.S., according to U.S. intelligence and counterterrorist officials.

Ayman al-Zawahri Egyptian cleric Ayman al-Zawahri took over the organization, after Osama bin Laden'skilling last year by Navy SEALs. Presumed hiding in Pakistan, Zawahri has released a near-record number of

propaganda videos since the bin Laden raid, exhorting followers to violence.

Abu Yahia al-Libi The Libyan militant, as his name implies, is now the group's de facto No. 2 moving up a

notch in al-Qaida's hierarchy after the bin Laden raid. A key al-Qaida propagandist whose video appearancesoutnumber those by leader Zawahri, he escaped a high-security U.S. prison in Bagram, Afghanistan, in 2005.

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Mullah Mohammed Omar Leader of the Taliban, Afghan Mullah Omar has sheltered al-Qaida during theTaliban rule and since. Thought to be hiding in Quetta, Pakistan, Omar continues to command the militant

forces who work together with al-Qaida, responsible for killing some 1,500 U.S. troops in Afghanistan since2001.

Nasser al-Wahishi Once Osama bin Laden's aide-de-camp, Wahishi commands Yemeni affiliate al-Qaida inthe Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, the group U.S. counterterrorist officials warn is most capable of launching anattack on U.S. soil. AQAP has established a de facto safe haven in southern Yemen, beating back Yemeniforces that have been consumed with fighting a tribal and political revolt in the wake of the Arab Spring.

Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri Chief bombmaker for al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, responsible for buildingthe underwear bomb used to try to bring down a Detroit-bound jetliner on Christmas 2009 and the printer-cartridge bombs intercepted in U.S.-bound cargo planes a year later. U.S. intelligence officials say he hasresurfaced recently in Yemen, after months in hiding following the death by drone strike of American-bornfirebrand AQAP cleric Anwar al-Awlaki last fall.

US citizen arrested for terrorism

TUOITRENEWS/29Apr2012

Nguyen Quoc Quan.Photo: The Investigation and Security Agency

Nguyen Quoc Quan or Richard Nguyen, a US citizen of Vietnamese origin, has been held for 4 months on

charges of terrorist acts committed against the peoples government under Article 84 of the Vietnamese penalcode.

The 58-year-old was arrested upon his arrival in Vietnam through Tan Son Nhat Airport on April 17 after policecaught him bringing documents on terrorist training to allegedly incite demonstrations in Ho Chi Minh City aswell as other provinces and cities during nationwide celebrations commermorating the 37th anniversary ofReunification Day on April 30 and May Day on May 1.

Quan, a member of Viet Tan Party based in the US, was previously sentenced to six months behind bars forterrorism at a court in 2008.

After being deported from Vietnam, Quan went to Thailand and Malaysia to train Viet Tan partys members onnonviolent tactics for civil resistance.

Terrorist Plots, Hatched by the F.B.I.

NYTIMES/28Apr2012

THE United States has been narrowly saved from lethal terrorist plots in recent years or so it has seemed. Awould-be suicide bomber was intercepted on his way to the Capitol; a scheme to bomb synagogues and shootStinger missiles at military aircraft was developed by men in Newburgh, N.Y.; and a fanciful idea to flyexplosive-laden model planes into the Pentagon and the Capitol was hatched in Massachusetts.

But dramas were facilitated by the F.B.I., whose undercover agents and informers posed as terrorists offering adummy missile, fake C-4 explosives, a disarmed suicide vest and rudimentary training. Suspects navely playedtheir parts until they were arrested.

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When an Oregon college student, Mohamed Osman Mohamud, thought of using a car bomb to attack a festive

Christmas-tree lighting ceremony in Portland, the F.B.I. provided a van loaded with six 55-gallon drums ofinert material, harmless blasting caps, a detonator cord and a gallon of diesel fuel to make the van smellflammable. An undercover F.B.I. agent even did the driving, with Mr. Mohamud in the passenger seat. Totrigger the bomb the student punched a number into a cellphone and got no boom, only a bust.

This is legal, but is it legitimate? Without the F.B.I., would the culprits commit violence on their own? Iscultivating potential terrorists the best use of the manpower designed to find the real ones? Judging by theirofficial answers, the F.B.I. and the Justice Department are sure of themselves too sure, perhaps.

Carefully orchestrated sting operations usually hold up in court. Defendants invariably claim entrapment andalmost always lose, because the law requires that they show no predisposition to commit the crime, even wheninduced by government agents. To underscore their predisposition, many suspects are warned about theseriousness of their plots and given opportunities to back out, said Dean Boyd, a Justice Departmentspokesman. But not always, recorded conversations show. Sometimes they are coaxed to continue.

Undercover operations, long practiced by the F.B.I., have become a mainstay of counterterrorism, and they havechanged in response to the post-9/11 focus on prevention. Prior to 9/11 it would be very unusual for the F.B.I.to present a crime opportunity that wasnt in the scope of the activities that a person was already involved in,said Mike German of the American Civil Liberties Union, a lawyer and former F.B.I. agent who infiltratedwhite supremacist groups. An alleged drug dealer would be set up to sell drugs to an undercover agent, an armstrafficker to sell weapons. That still happens routinely, but less so in counterterrorism, and for good reason.

There isnt a business of terrorism in the United States, thank God, a former federal prosecutor, DavidRaskin, explained.

Youre not going to be able to go to a street corner and find somebody whos already blown something up, hesaid. Therefore, the usual goal is not to find somebody whos already engaged in terrorism but find somebodywho would jump at the opportunity if a real terrorist showed up in town.

And thats the gray area. Who is susceptible? Anyone who plays along with the agents, apparently. Once thesnare is set, law enforcement sees no choice. Ignoring such threats is not an option, Mr. Boyd argued, giventhe possibility that the suspect could act alone at any time or find someone else willing to help him.

Typically, the stings initially target suspects for pure speech comments to an informer outside a mosque,angry postings on Web sites, e-mails with radicals overseas then woo them into relationships with informers,who are often convicted felons working in exchange for leniency, or with F.B.I. agents posing as members ofAl Qaeda or other groups.

Some targets have previous involvement in more than idle talk: for example, Waad Ramadan Alwan, an Iraqi inKentucky, whose fingerprints were found on an unexploded roadside bomb near Bayji, Iraq, and Raja Khan ofChicago, who had sent funds to an Al Qaeda leader in Pakistan.

But others seem ambivalent, incompetent and adrift, like hapless wannabes looking for a cause that the informer

or undercover agent skillfully helps them find. Take the Stinger missile defendant James Cromitie, a low-leveldrug dealer with a criminal record that included no violence or hate crime, despite his rants against Jews. Hewas searching for answers within his Islamic faith, said his lawyer, Clinton W. Calhoun III, who has appealed

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his conviction. And this informant, I think, twisted that search in a really pretty awful way, sort of misdirectedCromitie in his search and turned him towards violence.

THE informer, Shahed Hussain, had been charged with fraud, but avoided prison and deportation by workingundercover in another investigation. He was being paid by the F.B.I. to pose as a wealthy Pakistani with ties toJaish-e-Mohammed, a terrorist group that Mr. Cromitie apparently had never heard of before they met bychance in the parking lot of a mosque.

Brother, did you ever try to do anything for the cause of Islam? Mr. Hussain asked at one point.

O.K., brother, Mr. Cromitie replied warily, where you going with this, brother?

Two days later, the informer told him, Allah has more work for you to do, and added, Revelation is going tocome in your dreams that you have to do this thing, O.K.? About 15 minutes later, Mr. Hussain proposed theidea of using missiles, saying he could get them in a container from China. Mr. Cromitie laughed.

Reading hundreds of pages of transcripts of the recorded conversations is like looking at the inkblots of aRorschach test. Patterns of willingness and hesitation overlap and merge. I dont want anyone to get hurt, Mr.Cromitie said, and then explained that he meant women and children. I dont care if its a whole synagogue ofmen. It took 11 months of meandering discussion and a promise of $250,000 to lead him, with three co-conspirators he recruited, to plant fake bombs at two Riverdale synagogues.

Only the government could have made a terrorist out of Mr. Cromitie, whose buffoonery is positively

Shakespearean in its scope, said Judge Colleen McMahon, sentencing him to 25 years. She branded it afantasy terror operation but called his attempt beyond despicable and rejected his claim of entrapment.

The judges statement was unusual, but Mr. Cromities characteristics were not. His incompetence andambivalence could be found among other aspiring terrorists whose grandiose plans were nurtured by lawenforcement. They included men who wanted to attack fuel lines at Kennedy International Airport; destroy theSears Tower (now Willis Tower) in Chicago; carry out a suicide bombing near Tampa Bay, Fla., and bombsubways in New York and Washington. Of the 22 most frightening plans for attacks since 9/11 on Americansoil, 14 were developed in sting operations.

Another New York City subway plot, which recently went to trial, needed no help from government. Nor did a

bombing attempt in Times Square, the abortive underwear bombing in a jetliner over Detroit, a planned attackon Fort Dix, N.J., and several smaller efforts. Some threats are real, others less so. In terrorism, its not easy totell the difference.