German "sources" suggest Bosnia-linked cell preparing new UK attack

German "sources" suggest Bosnia-linked cell preparing new UK attack
BBC Monitoring Europe (Political) - September 12, 2005, Monday

Text of report by Udo Ulfkotte entitled "Security circles: Indications of a third London terror cell", published by German news agency ddp on 12 September

Frankfurt am Main: There are indications that the Al-Qa'idah terror organization has an intact network operating in the Balkans. Sources within the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) intimate that both the Madrid terrorists, and some of those who perpetrated the London bombings, had "contacts with Bosnia". These sources told ddp news agency that European intelligence services had "vague indications that another terror cell controlled from Bosnia is preparing a new attack on London".

Not only are the Al-Qa'idah terror group's structures in the Middle East being kept under observation by the intelligence services; but the situation in the Balkans as a whole also "gives cause for concern".

The King Fahd Mosque in Dobrinja, a suburb of Sarajevo, is also described as "a hotbed" of violent extremists. The "Balkans, particularly Bosnia and Kosovo" are said to be "a dangerous breeding-ground, presently under scarcely any observation, for Islamist terrorists". Muslims from Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, and Great Britain are reportedly travelling there to be "fanaticized".

Western security circles report that two young Muslims accidentally blew themselves up in Kosovo recently, when they were trying to test a mobile phone converted into a remote-controlled bomb. The men were said to have been attending a seminar organized by the Revival of Islamic Heritage, which had cooperated in the past with the Afghan Support Committee founded by Usamah Bin-Ladin.

In addition, though the Al Haramain Foundation, accused by the US government of funding terror groups, has been closed down, an organization calling itself Vazir and purportedly dedicated to sport, culture and education is reportedly still operating there. Many such foundations are said to be once again serving as "camouflage for the indoctrination and training of terrorists". Though the mujahidin groups' former training camps in Bosnia have been closed down, military training still continues there, under the guise of "youth camps or sports courses", according to BND circles.

One of the most well-known mujahidin leaders in the Balkans, Abdelkader Mokhtari, also known by the name of Abu El-Maali [names as published], who was said to be implicated in a failed bomb attack on US soldiers in Germany at the end of the 1990s, has now reportedly returned to Bosnia, and to have found a safe bolthole there. The degree to which the Balkans, and particularly Bosnia and Kosovo, have now reverted into travel destinations for Islamist extremists from western Europe is regarded as striking. The case of an incorrupt Serbian policeman, who in June arrested 22-year-old Moroccan Abdelmajid Bouchar [name as published], who was wanted in connection with the March 2004 bomb attacks on Madrid, is cited as an exception.

SOURCE: ddp news agency, Berlin, in German 08:59 GMT, 12 Sep 05