• Al Qaeda to Iranian president: enough with the 9/11 conspiracy theories

    Al Qaeda, in the latest edition of their online propaganda magazine Inspire, called on Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to stop spreading conspiracy theories about the 9/11 attacks; the terrorist group called Ahmadinejad’s remarks about 9/11 “ridiculous”; last week in his address to the UN general assembly, Ahmadinejad said the “mysterious September 11 incident” had been used as a pretext to attack Afghanistan and Iraq; he added, “By using their imperialistic media network which is under the influence of colonialism, they threaten anyone who questions the Holocaust and the September 11 event with sanctions and military actions”; in response, al Qaeda wrote, “The Iranian government has professed on the tongue of its president Ahmadinejad that it does not believe that al-Qaida was behind 9/11 but rather, the US government”; “So we may ask the question: why would Iran ascribe to such a ridiculous belief that stands in the face of all logic and evidence?” the group asked

  • Lashkar-e-Taiba co-founders placed on U.S. terror list

    On Wednesday the United States announced that it had placed two founding members of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist organization on its terror watch list; the United States refrained from sanctioning the Pakistani state or the ISI, its military intelligence agency, despite increasingly heated statements from top U.S. officials; David Cohen, the Treasury Department’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence described Zafar Iqbal and Hafiz Abdul Salam Bhuttavi as two of LeT’s “most significant leaders”; over the past twenty years, the duo has been responsible for fundraising, recruitment, and indoctrination of operatives; “By targeting the core of LeT’s leadership, today’s action aims to degrade its ability to facilitate its terrorist activities,” Cohen said

  • U.K. could allow three convicted terrorists to dodge deportation

    Three terrorists convicted of plotting an attack in the United Kingdom could avoid deportation; citing humans rights laws, the three convicts say that if they are returned to their home countries in Africa they could face ill-treatment as a result of their crimes in the United Kingdom; the three are among dozens of terrorists set to be released from prison and back into U.K. society; British judges have already ruled out deportations of terrorists to some African states like Somalia and Eritrea

  • Six men arrested in U.K. on terrorism charges

    On Monday, British authorities arrested six men on charges of terrorism; the men, all between the ages of twenty-one and thirty, are believed to be part of a terror network; four of the men are accused of one count of “engaging in conduct in preparation for terrorist acts,” while the other two are being charged for failing to disclose information about acts of terrorism; the four suspected terrorists allegedly planned a bombing campaign, stated their intention to become suicide bombers, and collected money for terrorism; two of the four are believed to have travelled to Pakistan to receive weapons and explosives training

  • Three arrested in Ireland after car bomb discovered

    On Monday, U.K. officials arrested three men after police found a bomb in a car in Northern Ireland; the three men were apprehended in Derry, near the border with the Irish Republic; Chief Inspector Jon Burrow, Northern Ireland’s district commander, said, “I am in no doubt had the device exploded it could have injured or maimed innocent members of the public and it is due to the efficient evacuations set in place in the surrounding areas that no one came to any harm”; military explosives experts were called in to help defuse the bomb

  • India tells Pakistan to get "serious" on dismantling terror training camps

    India’s external affairs minister S. M. Krishna said Pakistan can no longer take a “selective approach” to fighting terrorism and hoped that it will get “serious” in dismantling the terrorist training camps on its soil; “I am sure they (Pakistan) will realize and they have, by now they should have (realized) that terrorism cannot be fought selectively,” Krishna said; he added, “I hope Pakistan gets serious about dismantling all the terror training camps which are existing in the country….We expect that Pakistan will live up to their pronouncements”

  • Pakistan promises to help China combat terrorism

    On Monday Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari pledged his country’s full support in helping China combat terrorism by rooting out Uighur insurgents hiding in its territory; Zardari’s remarks come after a meeting with Chinese state councilor Meng Jianzhu; Zardari promised to bring the two country’s bilateral relations to a new level citing strong support for each other on major international and regional issues; Meng echoed Zardari’s comments and said that the country has always viewed its relationship with Pakistan as one of its diplomatic priorities

  • China teams up with Ukraine to fight terrorism

    Last week, top Chinese and Ukrainian security officials agreed to strengthen law enforcement cooperation between the two countries to combat terrorism, drug trafficking, illegal immigration, and trans-national crime; Ukrainian officials said it would work with China to combat cybercrime and other forms of trans-national organized crimes as well as the “three forces of evil” — terrorism, extremism, and separatism; Ukraine also pledged to provide more convenience for Chinese citizens entering and exiting its border; during China’s minister of public security Meng Jianzhu’s visit, the two countries signed cooperation documents

  • Pakistan seeks to improve relations with Saudi Arabia, China, as U.S. relations sour

    As U.S.- Pakistan relations continue to deteriorate following the clandestine raid that killed Osama bin Laden, Pakistan has sought to improve relations with Saudi Arabia and China to offset the United States rising anger; Pakistan promised China it would root out any Uighur militants hiding out in its territory and promised to hold war games with Saudi Arabia; analysts believe Pakistan is hedging against a potential downgrade in its relationship with the United States; China has long been a close Pakistani ally and the two share a wariness of India and a desire to curb growing U.S. influence in the region

  • New Libyan regime to cooperate in Lockerbie investigation

    Libya’s new government said that it will cooperate with Scottish prosecutors in their ongoing investigation of the Lockerbie bombing; so far only one man has been convicted in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland which resulted in the deaths of 270 people; Scottish prosecutors are seeking assistance from Libya’s National Transitional Council to gain evidence that could lead to the conviction of others involved in the atrocity; Libya’s interim justice minister Mohammed al-Alagi recently said, “The case is closed,” but later retracted his statement; Scottish authorities said, “The police investigation into the Lockerbie bombing remains open, and the Police should follow the evidence wherever it leads them”