Terror's South African Front

"South Africa's government embraces Iran's mullahs while turning a blind eye to terrorist groups within its own borders." From Josh Lefkowitz at FrontPage:

On July 25, following a twelve-hour shootout, two South African Al Qaeda operatives were nabbed in Pakistan, along with Africa Embassy bombing suspect Ahmed Ghailani. According to reports, the pair was plotting attacks against a number of targets in South Africa, including the Johannnesburg Stock Exchange and the National Parliament in Cape Town.

These arrests highlight the growing threat posed by radical Islamists in South Africa. In addition to Al Qaeda’s increased presence within the country, South Africa’s government has closely allied itself with Iran and has largely ignored the spread of Islamic extremism within its borders.

Two months before the Pakistan arrests, the South African government revealed that security forces had thwarted an Al Qaeda plot to disrupt the country’s presidential election. South African terror suspects have even attempted to make their way into the U.S.

Just last week, a South African with suspicious travel documents was arrested in Mexico near the U.S. border. His links to Al Qaeda are currently being investigated. And on July 19, customs agents in Texas arrested Farida Goolam Mohamed Ahmed, a South African woman with a doctored passport. Like the man arrested last week, she is also being probed for possible Al Qaeda ties. In addition, immigration officials have been on the lookout for suspicious persons with South African travel documents ever since British authorities discovered hundreds of genuine blank South African passports during an anti-terrorism raid in London earlier this year.

While these developments underscore South Africa’s importance as a key node in the War on Terror, in fact, radical Islam has held a foothold in South Africa since at least the 1980’s.