Gadahn "cautioning" infidels with love about their future if they don't convert to Islam

"An American spokesman for al-Qaida is urging Muslims in the United States and Europe to carry out attacks there.

In a video posted on militant websites Saturday, Adam Gadahn directed his appeal to Muslim immigrants in what he called the 'miserable suburbs' of Paris, London and Detroit as well as those traveling to the West to study or work.

Gadahn grew up on a farm in California and converted to Islam before moving to Pakistan in 1998 and reportedly attending an al-Qaida training camp. He has been wanted by the FBI since 2004."

"A British al-Qaida sympathiser living in Derby volunteered last year to help with a terrorist attack on targets in Denmark including the offices of the newspaper that published cartoons of the prophet Muhammad, secret documents obtained by the Guardian reveal. A second British man is alleged to have handed over cash for the plot.

The two men were visited in August 2009 by David Headley, an extremist born in Pakistan but raised in the US, where he is now in custody. Headley, who was arrested two months later, was working for Ilyas Kashmiri, a senior Pakistani militant with links to al-Qaida.

Kashmiri, whom al-Qaida leadership figures have named as part of Osama bin Laden's group, told Headley to focus on a plan to attack the offices of the Danish Jyllands-Posten newspaper, which had published controversial cartoons of the prophet in 2005. He gave Headley $1500 (£954) to finance a surveillance trip. More general attacks in Denmark were also discussed. Headley said he understood that they might involve suicide bombings.

According to the documents, Kashmiri told Headley the two men in Derby – who were originally from Kotli, in north-east Pakistan – would help him. It transpired that one of the men had fallen out with Kashmiri, accusing the militant leader of allowing his son to steal funds for jihad, but he did agree to provide money for the mission; the other man "was available" for the attacks in Denmark, the documents reveal. These are based on 34 hours of interviews with Headley conducted by Indian investigators this summer.

They also describe in detail how Headley, having been deeply involved with the Lashkar-e-Taiba group in Pakistan and having conducted repeated surveillance trips for the Mumbai attacks, became involved with Kashmiri and, at one remove, al-Qaida. After spending six years with Lashkar, Headley said he became "mentally distanced" from the group and felt that the global agenda of Kashmiri and al-Qaida suited him better."

Yemen sentenced to death an al Qaeda bomb maker on Monday who told the judge the "demise" of the country was in the hands of militants whose southern hideouts are being targeted by air raids.  

Saleh al-Shawish was arrested in January and prosecutors said he specialized in explosives while training with jihadist militants in Afghanistan.

Yemen is trying to quell a resurgent branch of al Qaeda in the country, which has increased its attacks on both Western and government targets in the Arabian Peninsula state, neighbor to top oil exporter Saudi Arabia.

Shawish confessed to his involvement in al Qaeda during the court sessions, the judge said in his sentencing, including attacks on oil installations, military bases and checkpoints.

His indictment said he specialized in building bombs and preparing suicide bombers.

"He belonged to al Qaeda and caused the death of a number of innocent people and damaged Yemen's status and its economic interests," the judge said. "The punishment for this is the death penalty."

Shawish, from Yemen's eastern province of Hadramout, rejected an appeal and told the judge: "God willing your demise is in our hands, starting in Abyan."

OSLO'S appeals court decided Thursday to release one of three men arrested in July on suspicions of plotting a bombing on an as yet unclear target, a Norwegian newspaper reported.

The judges ruled that there was no risk that David Jakobsen, a 32-year-old Uzbek legally residing in Norway, would try to flee the country or destroy evidence, the Verdens Gang reported on its website.

Jakobsen and Mikael Davud, a 39-year-old ethnic Uighur from China who is a Norwegian citizen, were arrested in Oslo on July 8. A third man, Shawan Sadek Saeed Bujak, a 37-year-old Iraqi Kurd who holds a Norwegian residence permit, was arrested in Germany and extradited to Norway.

Norwegian police suspect the three were plotting a bombing and are believed to have links to Al-Qaeda.

Jakobsen is the only one of the three suspects to have not confessed. He tipped off police about the bombing plot but investigators suspect that he may have played a double role.

The other two suspects have rejected having any link to Al-Qaeda but have admitted to plotting an attack although their versions of what the target was differ. The two are to remain in detention until Nov 1.

Three suspected al-Qaeda associates who were apprehended in West Africa by U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents during an international anti-drug operation, were extradited to New York and appeared in federal court in Manhattan earlier this year, according to reports obtained by the National Association of Chiefs of Police's Terrorism and Narcotics & Dangerous Drugs committees.

The operation confirms the suspicions of terrorism experts that al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups are involved in narcotics trafficking to fund their terror operations.

The suspects -- Oumar Issa, Harouna Toure and Idress Abelrahman -- were charged with conspiracy to commit acts of narco-terrorism and conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization after they allegedly agreed to transport as much as 1,000 kilos of cocaine. Allegedly, the drugs were earmarked for western European countries and the United States.

The cocaine interdiction and arrests occurred along the traffickers' favorite route through West Africa to North Africa that serves as a launch point for export to Europe. The suspects were taken into custody after an intense undercover investigation in which informants and agents posed as Colombian narco-terrorists who claimed they shared hatred for the United States with the African suspects.

According to the NACOP report, Colombian drug kingpins use the same transshipment techniques in Africa that they've successfully used in Latin America. The Colombian traffickers' utilized al-Qaeda's protection services in order to make certain shipments arrived at their destinations.

DEA officials report that in this case they were able to infiltrate the drug operation during the negotiations phase. The undercover DEA agents and informants indicated they were associated with the Colombia terrorist group FARC and could protect the shipment from West Africa to North Africa and ultimately to Spain.

Issa, Toure and Abelrahman claim to be from Mali, but their nation of origin is yet unknown.

A self-confessed militant admitted on Saturday carrying out deadly attacks on military targets and oil facilities in Yemen, as four other suspected Al-Qaeda members went on trial for planning attacks.

Saleh al-Shaoush was arrested on January 30 as he prepared to carry out a suicide bombing in the southeastern port of Mukalla. He had been stopped on his motorbike and found to be wearing an explosives belt and carrying two bombs.

Shaoush admitted in court taking part in seven deadly attacks in Hadramawt and Marib provinces.

"The acts attributed to me are correct," he said. "I prepared and carried out these operations voluntarily and without duress."

The court in Sanaa set Monday as a date for final deliberations in the case of Shaoush, who faces the death penalty if convicted.

In a separate hearing, the same court opened proceedings against four Al-Qaeda suspects for allegedly planning attacks on national and foreign targets in Yemen.

"The process started months ago with the arrival of former Islamist prisoners of Guantanamo Bay. But we must add to that, the continued rise of Salafism as a doctrine which is gaining in significance throughout the Spanish geography. Moreover, the threat is seriously affected by the release of jihadist prisoners, not just those who have served time in Spain, but of those who are acquitted following their arrest for acts related to jihadist activity, "says a report by the responsible for fighting terrorism.

Those acquitted by the High Court the report refers to are Spanish national Gonzalo López Royo (aka "salaam1420", above) and Morocccan Fath Allah Sadaqa, arrested by the Guardia Civil after finding that these two men ennobled Islamic jihad over the Internet. The Third Division of the High Court, presided by Judge Alfonso Guevara and speaker Gregorio Ruiz Polanco, recognized as a fact that "the statements made by the two defendants were intended as a tribute to a Chechen guerrilla militant, devoting their website to all Muslims who die and suffer at the hands of the infidels, the desire to transform Spain again in Caliphate (and) their call for jihad and martyrdom (...) The accused Fath Allah Sadaqa uploaded to Youtube two videos, one with reference to three leaders of Al Qaeda, and another image of an attack against a U.S. vehicle in Iraq. "
The resolution of last June 21st, resolved to acquit both accused of "the crime of praising terrorism and contempt for the victims of terrorism with all the inherent favorable pronouncements such absolution has" . 

Intelligence and law enforcement officials have information that the teams could at any time launch a "Mumbai style" terror attack that targets civilians for death or hostage taking. The 2008 Mumbai attack used small arms and explosives to kill 175 people and paralyze the Indian city for days.

The current concerns are for scenarios that include opening fire at airports in Europe as well as executing similar attacks at "soft" targets like tourist attractions or hotels.

According to ABC News sources, the terror plotters have moved through the surveillance stage, checked back in with al Qaeda in Pakistan, and have received the go-ahead to strike.

A man kept a vast library of terrorist instruction manuals on how to make bombs and suicide vests, the Old Bailey has heard. Musse Yusuf (31) allegedly stored more than 200,000 files relating to topics ranging from waging guerilla war to fitness training for al-Qaeda recruits. The titles included The Mujahideen Terrorist Handbook, Instructions on How to Attack Jewish People, The al-Qaeda Manual and Promoting Jihad.

Yusuf, who is Somalian, was arrested by police at his home in Higgs Close, Crown Hills, Leicester, at 6am on May 28, 2008.

Prosecutor Max Hill said: "These two hard drives were found to contain very large quantities of material. They are terrorist videos and terrorist manuals or handbooks. The videos contain practical information on the making of suicide vests, improvised explosive devices or bombs and the manuals are entitled the Mujahideen Terrorist Handbook and the Mujahideen Explosives Handbook. Among this material was material that suggested support for the cause of al Qaeda in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Crown say this material contains wide-ranging instructions on how to carry out military activity through the use of bombs, guerilla warfare, firearms, improvised explosive devices among many others."

Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden called for the creation of a new relief body to help Muslims in an audiotape released Friday, seeking to exploit discontent following this summer's devastating floods in Pakistan by depicting the region's governments as uncaring.
It was the third message in recent weeks from al-Qaida figures concerning the massive floods that affected around 20 million people in Pakistan, signaling a concentrated campaign by the terror group to tap into anger over the flooding to rally support.
But while the earlier messages by subordinates were angry, urging followers to rise up, bin Laden took a softer, even humanitarian tone - apparently trying to broaden al-Qaida's appeal by presenting his group as a problem-solving protector of the poor.
"What governments spend on relief work is secondary to what they spend on armies," bin Laden says on the 11-minute tape titled "Reflections on the Method of Relief Work."
"If governments spent (on relief) only one percent of what is spent on armies, they would change the face of the world for poor people," he said.

A German citizen of Afghan descent was the source of much of the information on a potential "Mumbai-style" terror plot in Europe, a German counterterrorism official said Wednesday.

The man, Ahmed Sidiqi, was detained in Kabul in July and transferred to U.S. custody where he has "revealed details about the terror plot," said the official, who did not want to be named because he is not authorized to talk to the media.

Sunday’s attack was one of the deadliest clashes between militants and the Tajik government since the Central Asian country’s civil war ended in 1997. The last comparable attack was in 1998, when militants ambushed a battalion of Interior Ministry troops just outside Dushanbe, killing 20 and kidnapping 110. Sunday’s incident was preceded by a Sept. 3 attack on a police station that involved a suicide operative and a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) in the northwest Tajik city of Khujand that killed four police officers. Suicide attacks are rare in Tajikistan, and VBIEDs even more so. The Khujand attack also stands out as it occurred outside militant territory. Khujand, Tajikistan’s second-largest city after the capital, is located at the mouth of the Fergana Valley, the largest population center in Central Asia.

This represents a noticeable increase in the number and professionalism of militant operations in Tajikistan. Regardless of whether the September attacks can be directly linked to the Aug. 24 jailbreak in Dushanbe, the sudden re-emergence of attacks in Tajikistan after a decade of quiet in Central Asia deserves our attention. In short, something is percolating in the valleys of Central Asia that has reawakened militant groups more or less dormant for a decade. This unrest will likely continue and possibly grow if Tajik security forces can’t get control of the situation.

The daughter of an al-Qaeda in Iraq militant who forced her mother into marriage and motherhood, then disappeared, Zahraa is one of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of children whose births amid the anarchy and insurgent violence of Iraq were never legally recorded.

Without the paperwork to prove that she is the child of an Iraqi man and that her parents were joined in a legitimate marriage before her birth, Zahraa and others like her have no rights as Iraqi citizens, legal experts say. They do not have birth certificates, passports or national identification cards and will be unable to go to school or hold a government job.

These children, a little-noticed legacy of more than seven years of war, are paying for the sins of their fathers.

"It's dangerous because in the future they might hurt the society that hurt them," said Ahmed Jassim, director of the Nour Foundation, a nongovernmental organization working to improve the lives of the militants' offspring in the northeastern Iraqi province of Diyala.

The children are products of a time when al-Qaeda in Iraq controlled large swaths of the nation after the U.S.-led invasion. The legal system broke down, institutions stopped functioning and an insurgency raged. Some Sunni Muslim communities gave sanctuary to the men, Iraqi and foreign Arabs, believing they would help rid them of a foreign army. But al-Qaeda in Iraq quickly grew brutal, overpowered other Iraqi insurgent groups, declared an Islamic state and enforced a severe form of Islamic law.

...Officials in the Interior Ministry tasked with assisting victims of the Iraq war said the women are not considered victims of rape and, although the situation is unfortunate, there is nothing they can do.

"Helping them could encourage al-Qaeda in Iraq," said Fadhil al-Shweilli, a ministry official who deals with victims of war.

Legal experts said the easiest solution would be to give the children to orphanages or forge their birth certificates with the name of a fake father.

Al-Qaeda militants besieged in the southern Yemeni town of Hota are using residents as human shields in the second major clash between them and troops in recent weeks, an official said on Tuesday.

"Al-Qaeda elements are preventing residents from leaving Hota, to use them as human shields," a security official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

...While the situation for residents still in Hota is dangerous, those who fled also face a tough road.

"I am living with no shelter, like hundreds of other refugees, without any aid from authorities or charities," said Adnan Mohammed Ali, a refugee in Kharma, three kilometres (1.8 miles) from Hota.

"People need help, said Hussein bin Abdullah Bahanan, a tribal leader from Hota who was reached by telephone in Bureika, a village in the area where he is currently living.

In its preliminary report, the Red Crescent said the refugees are in need of food, blankets, and medical supplies.

The alert followed a tip-off from a friendly intelligence agency – thought to be Algeria’s — warning of an imminent al-Qaeda threat.

...A police source said security services had identified two separate Islamist sleeper cells with financial means that were recently “woken up” in France after the arrival of several Islamic radicals from Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Le Monde newspaper yesterday reported that intelligence notes received last week alerted French authorities to an “anti-French focus” by al-Qaida’s North African arm.

Al-Qaeda linked Islamic militants armed with automatic weapons ambushed a military convoy killing at least 40 Tajik government troops including five officers in the mountainous Rasht area, close to the Afghan border. The convoy was ambushed in the Kamarob Gorge in Rasht district, some 250 kilometers east of capital Dushanbe yesterday at 12:30 pm local time, Tajik Defence Ministry said in a statement.

It, however, put the toll at 23 and said several others were wounded. Quoting official sources independent 'Azia Plyus' (Asia Plus) agency reported that at least 40 servicemen of the Ministry of Defence, including five officers, were killed and more than ten others wounded in the attack.

The attackers were suspected to be led by Mullo Abdullo and militants from the banned Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) which is based in Pakistan's tribal areas. The Tajik authorities say Abdullo may have entered the country from Afghanistan recently.

President Emomali Rahmon, who is currently in New York to attend the 65th session of the UN General Assembly, has ordered the Ministry of Interior, the State Committee for National Security (GKNB) and the Ministry of Defence to track down and punish the masterminds and executors of the crime, Tajik Presidential Press Service said.

The soldiers of the ambushed convoy were going to replace troops deployed on road-blocks in the remote valley, who are manning a high vigil to nab al-Qaeda linked terrorists.

Western security sources have told The Daily Telegraph that attacks on football fans watching the World Cup final in Uganda had been carried out by "Al-Qaeda in East Africa," rather than the Somali group al-Shabaab which claimed responsibility.

US officials have talked recently of an increase of al-Qaeda activity in East Africa where militants have been helping train al-Shabaab fighters.

Al-Shabaab has claimed allegiance to al-Qaeda but its ability to launch attacks outside the country had been limited until the Kampala attacks in July. The group has recently been involved in heavy fighting in the Somali capital Mogadishu.

Last night Dutch security officials were continuing to question a British man of Somali origin who was arrested on a plane at Schiphol airport on his way from Liverpool to Entebbe.

Dutch prosecutors said they were investigating the man for links to a terrorist organisation but had not found any explosives.

A European diplomat in Kampala, Uganda's capital, said the man arrested in Amsterdam could have been acting as a copycat after the publicity following the Ugandan attack, which was blamed on the presence of Ugandan troops in Somalia under an African Union peace keeping mandate.