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“Direct” jihadist threat cancels Dakar Rally race

Jan 6, 2008 7:10 am By Marisol Seibold

“The race was deemed too inviting — and too easy — a target for [Al-Qaeda’s] new north African affiliate.”

Sports Jihad Update. “Terrorism threat cancels Dakar Rally,” from the Associated Press:

The Dakar Rally, the epic motorcycle, car and truck race across the Sahara desert, was canceled Friday by organizers citing “direct” threats of terrorism from al-Qaida-linked militants.

The race was deemed too inviting — and too easy — a target for the terror group’s new north African affiliate. The roughly 550 competitors were to have embarked Saturday on the 16-day, 5,760-mile trek through remote and hostile dunes and scrub from Europe to Senegal in west Africa.

Organizers of the rally, once known as the Paris-Dakar, cited warnings from the French government about safety after the al-Qaida-linked Dec. 24 slaying of a family of French tourists in Mauritania — where most of the competition was to be held — and “threats launched directly against the race by terrorist organizations.”

[…]

Victor Anderes, vice president of special projects at Global Security Associates, a New York-based firm that provides security for high-profile events including the 2006 Olympic Games in Turin, Italy, called the cancellation unprecedented.

“Smaller cultural events have been canceled before because of terror threats, but this hasn’t happened with such a major international event,” he said.

“The threat is significant,” Anderes said. “It would be almost impossible to secure the entire course.” He said the race is particularly vulnerable because it crosses different countries and large, unpopulated areas.

“When you are told of direct threats against the event and when the sinister name of al-Qaida is mentioned, you don’t ask for details,” Patrice Clerc, who heads the company that organizes the rally, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. “It was enough for me to hear my government say ‘beware, the danger is at a maximum.”‘

Experts cautioned — as Western governments have often warned — that bowing to terror threats could encourage more violence. They said al-Qaida’s North African wing had scored propaganda points as it seeks to increase its reach in the region.

“They scored a media victory without firing a shot,” said Louis Caprioli, a former assistant director at France’s counterintelligence agency DST. “Everybody gets the impression that they are very powerful, when they in fact represent a small number of people in this region.”

But it obviously doesn’t take that many to wreak havoc.

Adam Raisman, senior analyst at the SITE Institute in Washington, said “the jihadist Internet community is quite happy with the closing, seeing it as a victory.”

Of course, it’s also an economic blow to those countries and their governments, as well as a propaganda victory.

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