Reuters has additional information on the three “al Qaeda” operatives arrested in Germany late last week:
The suspected ringleader, a 29-year-old college drop-out identified as Abdeladim El-K., was charged with planning a terror attack in Germany and being a member of a foreign terror organization. The other two suspects are still being questioned.
Griesbaum said the 29-year-old Moroccan had attended an al Qaeda terror camp in the Waziristan region of Pakistan near the Afghan border in 2010. He returned to Germany in May 2010 and was attempting to build a terror network here with an estimated seven to eight members.
“But it could also be more than that,” said Joerg Ziercke, president of the Federal Crime Office (BKA), at the news conference at the federal prosecutor’s office in Karlsruhe. “We’ll learn more with our investigation.”
The suspects had cheered Thursday’s bombing in Marrakesh where 15 were killed, Griesbaum said.
NOT A SUICIDE BOMBING
The other suspects are a 31-year-old electrician identified as Jamil S., who holds dual German and Moroccan citizenship, and a 19-year-old with German and Iranian citizenship, Amid C., who was about to graduate from high school.
Jamil S. was tasked to arrange the financing of the attack and obtain identity papers for Abdeladim El-K. Amid C. was responsible for ensuring encrypted communication.
I put al Qaeda in quotes above because it would be interesting to know exactly which group (or groups) Abdeladim El-K, Jamil S., and Amid C. are members of. Given that they are Moroccans, could they be affiliated with the Moroccan Islamic Fighting Group or the Salafia Islamiyah? Or perhaps al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb? Or, since they are from Germany, is it possible they were members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan or its offshoot, the Islamic Jihad Union (both of these groups are very active in Germany)? Or are they just plain al Qaeda? How would al Qaeda classify these three?
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1 Comment
The news just in; BIN LADEN DEAD! Killed in a mansion in Islamabad, no less. This is great news! I hope that LWJ will provide the story behind this momentous event – like why did the Pakistanis turn him in at this time (or did they)? How could they have no clue of his whereabouts all this time? The ISI has its tentacles in all walks of Pakistani society so it is near impossible that they didn’t know.
Were they kept in the dark during this operation? They had to be in order for it to be a success.
Did Davis have anything to do with the intel that unearthed OBL? Does this explain the Pakistani fury over Davis? So many questions remain, not the least being where are al-Zawahiri and Mullah Omar being kept? Rawalpindi?
And how will this impact on the Taliban’s “spring offensive”?