"Al Qaeda seeks high impact from Western recruits," from Reuters:
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain is stepping up counter-terrorism cooperation with countries in South Asia and Africa to thwart al Qaeda attempts to train Britons overseas and send them back home to commit attacks, a senior official said.
The aim is to counter a perceived al Qaeda preference for deploying Western volunteers on their home soil, even when they have trained abroad or volunteered for foreign theatres such as Pakistan, Somalia or Iraq.
The source said British authorities are now working with a number of countries including Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Bangladesh to keep tabs on suspected militants planning to pick up training abroad and then apply it back home.
One hopes this undertaking might implement some lessons learned from recent American data-sharing with Pakistan.
While officials refuse to name the African countries involved, analysts and media reports have cited South Africa as a popular transit point between Britain and South Asia.
Security analyst Kurt Shillinger said the country's liberal laws, sizeable Muslim minority, English-language Islamic seminaries and strong communications and transport links made it an attractive location where militants could lie low while raising funds or obtaining false passports for onward travel.
"It's easy to get in here, it's easy to find receptive communities," said Shillinger, who heads the security and terrorism research project at the South African Institute of International Affairs.
[...]
"Pakistan is probably always going to feature most strongly as a destination, certainly for as long as core al Qaeda appear to be situated in the tribal areas of Pakistan and, for historical reasons, we have a large British Pakistani population and every year there's perfectly legitimate travel to Pakistan by thousands and thousands of people," said one security source.
But other countries are also of concern, the source added, citing Somalia as one where militants have issued an "open invitation" to Muslims to come and gain jihadist experience.
[...]
And British sources say they are also worried about the possible training of recruits in camps run by al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the network's new North African arm.
British and other European officials increasingly believe that Westerners who train abroad and volunteer to fight in foreign conflict zones are being encouraged instead to return home to plan attacks, instead of blowing themselves up in "just another suicide bombing" in Iraq or Afghanistan.
"For al Qaeda it makes little sense to waste European passport-holders in the Iraqi terror arena" when they could use Arab volunteers instead, a European intelligence source said.
"It certainly makes more sense in al Qaeda's eyes, when it has second- or third-generation immigrants with the right to live in Europe, to deploy them there rather than burn them up in attacks in Iraq."
How can they believe in counter-terrorism when they want 5 non-British terrorists from Gitmo to come and live here?
Just that action alone shows that the government supports terrorism, and anything else is just hot air.
Ya mean they can't say Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, etc?
Wow...too sensitive, I suppose...lol
Britain is chasing its own tail.
Ever hear of Sir Iqbal Socranie or Cat Stevens ?
A lot of mosques in Britain will have to go "poofh" and collapse before the Brits can save their society.
""For al Qaeda it makes little sense to waste European passport-holders in the Iraqi terror arena" when they could use Arab volunteers instead, a European intelligence source said."
........all the bombers in the recent attack in London help European passports....
help...should be held...
like the dhimmicrats.., "lets not fight them in Iraq lets fight in Africa..
Are they kidding? The Brit authorities have outlawed food at employee’s desks during ramadamadingdong they are sharia compliant over there. Be careful who you count on or you may end up on your knees celebrating one of their never-ending holy weeks while barking to a moon dog. The Brit elite are trying to beat the islamists with good manners. They think they can polite them into loyalty. Maybe if they display real good manners the islamist Drs wont try to murder them when they come in for their yearly check up. You know, if they would have treated us Americans this way we would never have had to launch a revolution.
"The Brit elite are trying to beat the islamists with good manners."
...like trying to hand feed a rabid racoon...
I’ll take my chances with the raccoon. :^}
I’ll take my chances with the raccoon. :^}
"It makes me mad when people say I turned and ran like a scared rabbit. Maybe it was like an angry rabbit, who was running to go fight in another
fight, away from the first fight."
-Jack Handey
Regarding British Jihadists who get involved in terrorist acivities.
Some think they can go abroad, get paramilitary training, and kill British Soldiers in Iraq or Afganistan. They even think they can come back to Britain and live without fear of any consequences.
Well, I have news for them. They are wrong.
The English courts have jurisdiction under section 9 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861 to try British nationals who commit murder or manslaughter abroad. The maximum penalty for these offences is life imprisonment, which is the mandatory penalty in the case of murder.
And if any of them are reading this, here’s the good news; the British Government have created a vast new array of offences for terrorist related activity in the UK.
Terrorism Act 2000
- membership of a proscribed organisation (s.11 Maximum penalty: ten years imprisonment and a fine)
- Weapons training (s54 Maximum penalty: ten years imprisonment and a fine)
- Directing a terrorist organisation ( s.56 Maximum penalty: life imprisonment)
- Collecting information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism ( s.58 Maximum penalty: ten years imprisonment and a fine)
- Inciting terrorism overseas (s.59 Maximum penalty: the maximum penalty for the substantive offences under English Law that would be committed by such acts of terrorism, such as life imprisonment in the case of murder)
- Terrorist bombing ( s.62 Maximum penalty: the maximum available for the UK offence concerned)
Terrorism Act 2006
- Encouragement of terrorism and dissemination of terrorist publications (ss1-2 Maximum penalty: seven years imprisonment and a fine)
- Preparation of terrorist acts ( s.5 maximum penalty: life imprisonment)
- Terrorist training and attendance at a place used for terrorist training (ss.6,8. Maximum penalty: ten year’s imprisonment and a fine)
Happy reading!