Al-Qaeda involvement in Europe

Al Qaeda involvement in Europe has included providing support for mujahadeen during the wars in Bosnia, as well as attacks carried out in Istanbul.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Following the end of the Bosnian War and, especially, after the September 11 Attacks on America, the links between the Bosnian mujahideen, Al Qaeda and the radicalization of some European Muslims has become more widely discussed. In an interview with US journalist Jim Leherer former US peace envoy to Bosnia Richard Holbrooke states:

There were over 1,000 people in the country who belonged to what we then called Mujahideen freedom fighters. We now know that that was al-Qaida. I'd never heard the word before, but we knew who they were. And if you look at the 9/11 hijackers, several of those hijackers were trained or fought in Bosnia. We cleaned them out, and they had to move much further east into Afghanistan. So if it hadn't been for Dayton, we would have been fighting the terrorists deep in the ravines and caves of Central Bosnia in the heart of Europe. [ [http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/bosnia/july-dec05/holbrooke_11-22.html PBS Newshour with Jim Jim Leherer] , A New Constitution for Bosnia, 22 November 2005]

In 1996, in a book titled "Offensive In the Balkans", Mr. Yossef Bodansky, Director of the Republican Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare of the US House of Representatives, wrote as follows on the "Bosnian Jehad":

"...The build-up of new Islamist units was completed in Bosnia- Herzegovina in the Spring of 1995. These forces are closely associated with the Armed Islamist Movement (AIM) and Islamist international terrorismsuicide terrorists), both veteran Arabs and newly trained Bosnians. [http://www.saag.org/papers4/paper306.html South Asia Analysis Group] , Bosnia & Hyderabad, by B.Raman, 3 September 2001]

London's The Spectator has noted, "If Western intervention in Afghanistan created the mujahedin, Western intervention in Bosnia appears to have globalised it." Several current and former top al-Qaeda militants and financers reportedly participated in the Bosnian civil war with the full support of the United States. It was for the Bosnian jihad that the 9/11 'paymaster', Omar Sheikh, was reportedly recruited to fight by the CIA and MI6. Al-Qada, in addition to his reported financing of the Bosnian jihad, has been identified as one of Osama bin Laden's "chief money launderers". [ [http://www.theamericanmonitor.com/scratching.html The American Monitor] , Scratching the Surface, by Devlin Buckley, 16 November 2006] In his paper on the connection between Bosnian mujahideen and 'home grown' terrorists in Europe, terrorism expert Evan F. Kohlmann writes that:

Indeed, some of the most important factors behind the contemporary radicalization of European Muslim youth can be found in Bosnia-Herzegovina, where the cream of the Arab mujahideen from Afghanistan tested their battle skills in the post-Soviet era and mobilized a new generation of pan-Islamic revolutionaries. [ [http://www.fhs.se/upload/Webbadmin/Organisation/CATS/Kohlmann.doc The Afghan-Bosnian Mujahideen Network in Europe] , by Evan F. Kohlmann]

On 19 October 2005 Bosnian police raided the apartment of a Swedish national of Bosnian heritage in Sarajevo, finding explosives, rifles, other arms and a videotape pledging vengeance for the "brothers" killed fighting Americans in Afghanistan and Iraq. According to western intelligence officials the cache belonged to an underground group that was aiming to blow up the British Embassy in Sarajevo. The raid confirmed a suspicion among intelligence agents that Bosnia was becoming a launching pad for terrorist attacks in Europe. In particular, Islamic radicals were believe to be looking to create cells of so-called "White al Qaeda", non-Arab members who can evade racial profiling used by police to watch for potential terrorists. According to one Western intelligence agent "They want to look European to carry out operations in Europe,... It's yet another evolution in the tools used by terrorists." [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/30/AR2005113002098.html Terrorist Cells Find Foothold in Balkans, Arrests Point to Attacks Within Europe] , by Rade Maroevic and Daniel Williams, Washington Post Foreign Service, Thursday, December 1, 2005]

U.S. and NATO country intelligence officers have long worked together in Sarajevo to keep an eye on Islamic radicals in Bosnia. After the September 11, 2001, attacks, the CIA and other foreign agencies set up a joint, fortified headquarters to keep tabs on terrorism suspects in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

ee also

* 2003 Istanbul bombings

References