Belgium: "Mother of al-Qaeda in Europe" saved by Belgian secret service

The Belgian State Security Service rescued Malika El-Aroud from Afghanistan in 2001. El-Aroud, the 'mother of al-Qaeda in Europe' was arrested yesterday. Her partner at the time murdered the head of the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan and the most serious opponent to the Taliban regime two days before 9/11 by request of Osama bin Laden.

"The Belgian intelligence services knew already then that she was involved with a dangerous extremist. But they hoped that by saving her they could convince their compatriot to go over to their side," American sources toln HLN.BE.

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Malika, who stayed in Afghanistan in a special camp for women of al-Qaeda members, fell into the clutches of the supporters of the murderer Massoud. Before they could take revenge, she was rescued could return to Belgium, her homeland. The State Security Service wanted to cash in on the gesture. Out of gratefulness Malika would even "go to the other side".

"That plan fell through. Once back in Belgium, El-Aroud began to conduct an even more extreme campaign for al-Qaeda. She got in your country more than a thousand dollars state assistance per month for that." With which our sources mean the unemployment benefits that Ms. El-Aroud got.

Belgium was warned about Malika very early and for a long time. And not only by the Americans. In 2002 the French head of the terrorism fighting unit at the time, Jean-Louis Bruguière, said that it was the Belgian woman who had smuggled materials for the bombs with which Massoud was murderer by her husband. "Se is very radical, very sly and very dangerous," Bruguière warned his Belgian colleagues.

El-Aroud was arrested several times in Belgium, but every now and then freed again due to lack of evidence. She has been getting benefits in Belgium for yours. She's also been playing a key role for years in the fight of al-Qaeda against the Americans and their allies. She has contacts with the highest circles of al-Qaeda but to her great frustration, is particularly used by the top in Afghanistan and Pakistan and not tolerated. She was reputedly furious in April of this year, our sources report, when Ayman al-Zawahiri, number two of al-Qaeda, said that "the real battle must be fought by men."

The American broadcaster already had a controversial interview with the veiled widow in 2006, in which she declared the love of many Muslims for al-Qaeda leader Osama bin-Laden. "It was he who helped the oppressed," Malika El-Aroud said in the interview. "It was he who stood up against the biggest enemy in the world, the United States. We love him for that." "It's the pinnacle in Islam to be the widow of a martyr. For a woman it's extraordinary."

The harrowing thing in this case is that Malika El-Aroud already sat in prison several times in Belgium and even got welfare. The 49 year old widow of Dahmane remarried in 2003 quickly after she was acquitted due to lack of evidence ('your notions are very extreme, but I cannot convict your for them," said judge Claire Degryse at the time in her verdict) for her part in the murder of Massoud.

Her new husband is the ten year younger Tunisian Moez Garsalloui, also an extremist who would play a crucial role in the battle against the US in Afghanistan. They lived together awhile in the Swiss town of Fribourg, where they were also arrested for starting up hate websites. Malika got six months conditional and fled back to Belgium.

She is by no means embarrassed for the benefits she's been getting here for years. "I have a right to this welfare, because I have for years worked in a Belgian old people's home, I have a right to it." Last year she again ended up in Belgian prison when she was involved in an attempt to help terrorist-football player Trabelsi escape prison. Because there were also attacks planned on the Brussels metro, the well-known general terror alarm was declared.

It's hard to understand that Malika El-Aroud was again set free. Yesterday she was again arrested. Again a suicide attack was foiled. The target it yet net clear, but it's not ruled out that it was the EU summit in Brussels. The arrested suicide bomber is Hicham Beyayo, a serious criminal. The twenty year old from Anderlecht comes from a family of top gangsters. Two of his borthers were yet arrested last week due to extremism and another brother is in prison due to a tiger-kidnapping. The courts have been shadowing them for a long time.

El Aroud was born in 1959 in the Moroccan Rif mountains. Her ancestors were "noble resistance fighters" against the Spanish occupier. They wanted to set up an Islamic republic, but her grandfathers were killed. Her father came to Belgium in 1963. He became a street builder.

In 1964, Maria was then 5, the whole family came to Belgium. Malika was brought up very strictly. Parties and music were forbidden. As a teenager she began to revolt. She wore only jeans, caused rackets at schools and lost her way in the nightlife, full of drugs and bold boys. She had a child from a far relative who left her. A second and third husband came and went. One night she suddenly heard a voice, she says. It said: "Only prayer and Allah can save you." At which Malika put on a veil, began to pray and finally met extremist Abdessatar Dahmane.

El-Aroud will appear in court this afternoon together with five others on suspicion of membership of a terrorist organization.

Source: HLN (Dutch)

See also: Belgium: A female holy warrior for Al Qaeda, Brussels: Terror attack planned, Switzerland: Terror incitement trial