Norway, Belgium, UK: Terror cells part of European al-Qaeda network

Norway, Belgium, UK: Terror cells part of European al-Qaeda network

Via Daily Telegraph:


Passport photographs of Ibrahim Adam, 23, who has been on the run for three years, have been discovered after British intelligence began unraveling one of the biggest terrorist networks discovered since September 11.

Security sources told the Daily Telegraph they believe Adam is currently in Pakistan but is trying to get a passport. They fear that he may be trying to travel to the West in order to plan attacks.




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The terrorist network was revealed following work by British and US intelligence services to uncover plots hatched by Rashid Rauf, a British al-Qaeda commander behind plans to blow up trans-Atlantic airliners in coordinated suicide bomb attacks using home made liquid bombs.

British and US intelligence services worked on a “painstaking” operation to identify Rauf’s contacts after he escaped from Pakistani custody at the end of 2007 and returned to the country’s lawless tribal areas.

The first cell, led by a woman called Malika el-Aroud, was arrested in Belgium in December 2008, accused of planning suicide attacks during a European summit in Brussels, although their targets were never positively identified.

The second involved the arrest of 12 Pakistani students in Manchester last April, thought to be targeting Easter shoppers.

The arrests were sparked by an intercepted email from Abid Naseer that referred to an impending “wedding,” thought to have been code for an attack.

In the US, Najibullah Zazi, an Afghan-born US citizen, and two former school friends were arrested after allegedly buying bomb making chemicals to blow up the New York subway.

A fourth cell, allegedly led by Mikael Davud, a 39-year-old Chinese Uighur with Norwegian citizenship, was arrested in Norway in July, accused of plotting to blow up unknown targets using July 7-style explosives.

Adam’s passport photographs were discovered in an apartment in Oslo after undercover Norwegian security service officers broke into the flat.

(more)

See also:

* Norway: Suspects bought bomb materials

* US: British al-Qaeda commander planned NY attack