London - November 1,2003 - Across Europe and West Asia, young Muslim men are answering a call issued by Osama bin Laden and other extremists, and leaving home to join the fight against the US-led occupation in Iraq, according to senior counter-terrorism officials in six countries. A senior British official said the majority of foreign men captured there are from West Asia - Syria, Lebanon and Yemen - and from North African countries. Signs of a movement to Iraq has also been detected in Europe. An initial hint that Iraq would become a magnet for foreign recruits had come earlier just before the war began in March with the arrest in Syria of four Algerian men who hade been living in Hamburg, and attending a mosque frequented by three of the 9/11 hijackers.

The Sunday Express - November 2, 2003

Iraq's bloodiest reprisal - 15 US soldiers die as guerrillas shoot down chopper

Baisa: Iraqi guerillas shot down an American helicopter in Iraq on Sunday, killing at least 15 US personnel and wounding 21 in the bloodiest single strike on US-led forces since they invaded Iraq to oust Saddam Hussein. Some Iraqis were jubilant. "The Americans are pigs. We will hold a celebration because this helicopter went down. The Americans are enemies of mankind," said wheat farmer Saadoun Jaralla. "Clearly it is a tragic day for Americans," US defence secretary Rumsfeld told ABC television.

Times of India - November 2, 2003

Quetta new Taliban HQ: Post

Washington - November 1, 2003 - The Pakistani province of Quetta has become the new headquarters of the Taliban, with militia leaders living openly in the province, raising money and preparing for attacks on security forces in Afghanistan, according to the Washington Post. The report by Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid quoted the provincial government's information minister as saying, "Only the Taliban can constitute the real government of Afghanistan."

The Statesman - November 3, 2003.

Three people killed by letter bomb explosion in Hanoi

Hanoi: Three people were killed and another seriously injured when a parcel bomb exploded in a house near Hanoi, state-controlled media reported on Monday. The police are investigating the case.

The Asian Age - November 4, 2003.

Anthrax scare shuts 11 Washington postal buildings

Washington - November 7, 2003 - The US Postal Service shut down 11 postal facilities in the Washington area late yesterday after preliminary tests indicated possible anthrax at a U.S. Navy mail handling centre, officials said. The substance was identified by equipment that routinely samples the air in the facility and preliminary tests indicated that it could possibly be anthrax. As a precaution, the US Postal Service closed 11 facilities that were serviced by the same contractor that transported mail to the Navy centre, a spokesman said.

The Statesman - November 8, 2003.

US sets up secret commando force to hunt down Osama, Saddam

Washington - The top American military commander for the Middle East has created a covert commando force to hunt Saddam Hussain, Osama bin Laden and key terrorists throughout the region. Military officers say that focusing on intelligence, special operations firepower; within one organisation called Task Force 121, streamlines the effort to use information on these targets and mount an attack.

The Asian Age - November 8, 2003.

US fears cargo plane attacks

Washington - November 9, 2003 - The US Department of Homeland Security has alerted law enforcement officials that Al-Qaeda may use cargo planes from overseas into high-profile targets that could include nuclear installations, bridges or dams. The Department is, however, maintaining that in spite of the alert, it has not changed the "alert status" which remains at Yellow - the middle level of a five colour scale.

The Hindu - November 10, 2003.

Blasts in Riyadh kill 11; Al-Qaeda role suspected - six Indians among 120 injured

Manama - November 9, 2003 - According to the Saudi Press Agency, 11 people (including four children) were killed and over 120 injured (including six Indians) in a string of explosions including a car bomb, carried out by suspected Al-Qaeda extremists in Saudi Arabia's capital at midnight on Saturday. On May 12 also, suspected Al-Qaeda extremists had killed 25 people in residential areas of Riyadh. On the website of the Saudi daily newspaper, Okaz, the Interior Minister, Prince Nayef, said that a connection to suspected Al-Qaeda terrorist cells targeted in recent encounters could not be ruled out. There is a speculation that the attackers might have chosen to attack the compound to dissuade the Arabs and the Saudis from mixing with foreigners, known for their liberal lifestyle. An Internet site with Al-Qaeda leanings had posted a notice in February warning Saudis that they should not reside close to where possible targets, especially Americans, lived. The US had shut down its embassy in the Saudi capital and its consulates in Dhahran and Jeddah in anticipation of an extremist strike.

The Hindu - November 10, 2003.

Nine injured in Pak blasts

Islamabad - Two journalists and seven policemen were injured as three bomb blasts rocked the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta, capital of Baluchistan province which neighbours Afghanistan, on Monday, the police said.

The Asian Age - November 12, 2003.

US plans to put anti-missile system on commercial planes


Washington - The Bush administration is reviewing proposals to defend commercial airliners against attacks from shoulder-held missiles, although officials say it could be years before any system is implemented. The department of Homeland Security said it had plans to award preliminary contract to companies in December for a six-month programme to adapt anti-missile military technologies for use on commercial airliners.

The Asian Age - November 13, 2003.

17 Italians killed in Iraq

Rome - November 12, 2003 - A truck bomb wounded more than 80 and killed at least 25 people - 17 Italians and eight Iraqis - in the Iraqi town of Nassiriya on Wednesday. A coalition spokesman said the explosion occurred after a truck rammed the gate of the Italian compound and exploded in front of the Carabinieri building which was the former chamber of commerce building.

Hindustan Times - November 13, 2003.

US freezes Al Qaeda assets

Washington - US has designated 15 members of an Al-Qaeda cell in Italy as "terrorists" and ordered American banks to freeze their assets. Most of them are already in custody with the Italian authorities. The treasury order blocks their financial assets in the US, and also prohibits them from conducting any financial transactions in the U.S.

The Asian Age - November 14, 2003.

'Explosives jammed Koran latest militant ploy'

Riadh - November 12, 2003 - Muslim militants are planning attacks in Saudi Arabia's holiest city, Mecca, by using booby-trapped copies of Islam's holy book, the Koran, so as to kill and maim pilgrims, a leading Saudi-owned newspaper reported today. The London-based daily Asharq al-Awsat quoted Saudi security the sources as saying that this novel weapon was discovered in the arms caches the police found after raiding militant hideouts in Mecca and the capital Riyadh in recent weeks. Asharq al-Aswat said the militants had also stuffed explosives into water bottles, which pilgrims normally carry into the shrines and that they were planning to dress up in wigs and women's clothes to become less conspicuous in public.

The Statesman - November 13, 2003.

24 killed in blasts outside synagogues in Istanbul

Istanbul: 24 people were killed and 146 wounded on Saturday when car bombs shattered two Istanbul synagogues. Turkish interior minister Abdulkadir Aksu said he could not rule out the possible involvement of Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda in it. "There were two simultaneous attacks at two central synagogues - Neva Shalom and Sisli," Amira Arnon, Israel's consul general to Turkey, told Israel Army radio. "This bomb is aimed at stability and peace in the Turkish Republic," prime minister Recep Tayyaip Erdogan told reporters. Israel and the European Union expressed horror.

Times of India - November 16, 2003.

Hunt on in Britain for suicide bombing schools


London - November 17, 2003 - Britain's security services are searching for a school for suicide bombers operating in Britain after a third UK-based militant, Wall al-Dhaleai, a martial arts expert from Sheffield, was killed in a suicide bombing in Iraq last month. The wife of the deceased did not know that her husband had gone to Iraq, who had reportedly told her that he was travelling to the UAE to work as a security guard in Dubai. Israeli defence forces claimed that one of the bombers, Omar Khan Sharif, who had staged a suicide attack in Tel Aviv in April, was first activated while he was living in Derby with his family. In March, a Frankfurt court was told how another asylum-seeker Algerian-born Lamine Maroni used his house in Sheffield to plot Al-Qaeda's first suicide attacks in Europe. Richard Feid, born in south London, tried to blow up an airliner using explosives hidden in his shoes while flying over the Atlantic three months after September 11. The recent incident involving Dhaleai has heightened fears that British-based Muslims are being smuggled abroad to take part in terrorism.

The Asian Age - November 18, 2003.

Al-Qaeda warn Japan of attack

Dubai / Tokyo - November 17, 2003 - A London-based Saudi newspaper, Al-Majallah, said it had received a statement from Al-Qaeda, warning of an attack in Tokyo in case Japanese troops were sent to join the US-led coalition in Iraq. It also claimed responsibility for last week's anti-Italian bombing in Iraq. Abu Mohammed al-Ablaj, an Al-Qaeda leader said, "Our strikes will reach the heart of Tokyo." Japanese Defence Agency Chief Shigereu Ishiba has, however, since said that Tokyo remains committed to aiding with the reconstruction of Iraq, but the timing of a deployment of Japanese troops would depend on the situation.

The Statesman - November 18, 2003.

Terrorists may poison Canadian food or water, top-level report warns

Canadian Press - November 11, 2003 - Ottawa (CP) - Canadian police and security officials have been quietly warned by the Privy Council Office (PCO) that Qaeda terrorists might try to contaminate food or water with deadly toxins, such as ricin and botulinum. Following the Sept.11, 2001, attacks on the United States by Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, terrorist use of toxins was compiled by the PCO's intelligence assessment secretariat. Toxins are not contagious, meaning potential victims must be directly exposed. "Ricin is water-soluble, and water supplies can therefore remain contaminated for a considerable length of time," the report noted.

Email dated 13.11.2003 from Mr. Mayer Nudell, USA.

Six killed in Iraq blasts

Kiruk: A suicide car bomber killed at least four people in an attack near the offices of a leading Kurdish party in Kirkuk on Thursday. On Wednesday night, a car bomb had struck the offices of the local council in Ramadi, west of Baghdad. Local officials said two people were killed land 13 wounded.

The Times of India - November 21, 2003.

Al Qaeda may plan biological attack, warns UN report

United Nations: The Al Qaeda terror network may attempt a biological or chemical terrorist attack in a "just a matter of time," according to an yet unpublished United Nations report. Some members of the Al Qaeda terror network are also likely to possess portable surface-to-air missiles and may use them to target military transport planes. The UN's Al Qaeda and Taliban Sanctions Committee also cited a shifting of the terror network's strategy, a move towards "softer" targets and a warning the group was working towards a biological or chemical attacks, CNN reported quoting the United Nations' report.

The Asian Age - November 22, 2003.

Car bombs hit Iraqi police posts, 18 die

Baghdad: At least 18 Iraqis were killed and scores wounded in separate suicide bombings north of Baghdad and a civilian plane was targeted on its way out of the capital on Saturday. A day after two main Baghdad hotels and the oil ministry were attacked, a four year-old girl, six police officers and three civilians were killed in the first attack in Khan Bani when a bomber rammed a vehicle packed with explosives into a police station. Minutes later another suicide assailant blew himself up outside the police station in the provincial capital of Baquba, killing seven Iraqi police and two civilians.

Times of India - November 23, 2003.

Intercontinental Hotel, Kabul, bombed

Kabul - November 22, 2003 - A powerful bomb explosion, fired by a Chinese rocket launcher, rocked the Hotel Intercontinental in Kabul on Saturday without causing injury to anybody. This is the first explosion at a hotel or a public place in Kabul in many months. The hotel guests were talking about the emergence of the Taliban in the country and how unsafe it was now in Afghanistan.

The Asian Age - November 23, 2003.

'Sleeper cells' could strike Italy', Minister

Rome - November 22, 2003 - Terrorist "sleeper cells" could activate themselves for an attack in Italy as terrorism "presses on the doors of Europe," an Italian minister said on Saturday, although government officials said there were no indications of an impending attack on the nation. Mr. Giuseppe Pisanu, interior minister, stressed what Italian intelligence services and anti-terrorism prosecutors had repeatedly said after 9/11 that terrorists use Italy as a logistics base for raising funds, for recruiting Islamic militants for training camps or for fighting in conflicts and for falsifying documents.

The Asian Age - November 23, 2003.

Al Qaeda is new terror consultant: Experts

Berlin - November 24, 2003 - Most see Al Qaeda's hand behind the last week's Istanbul suicide bombings which blew up two synagogues, the British consulate and the offices of British-based banking group HSBC. "Al Qaeda has moved to a 'second generation' of structures and operational capability," said David Claridge, managing director of Janusian Security Risk Management in London. Some analysis see it as an international terror "university" or consultancy; others liken it to a franchising operation, endorsing operations around the world with the cachet of its global "brand",

The Indian Express - November 25, 2003.

Pak jehadis in Iraq, LeT put incharge by Osama
New Delhi - November 29, 2003 - Reports reaching New Delhi say jehadis recruited form Deobandi madrasas in Pakistan are being organized by Maulana Masood Azhar's faction of the former Jaish-e-Mohammed, the Khuddam-ul-Islam (KUI) and by the Harkat-ul-Jihad-alIslami(HuJI). They are being infiltrated into Iraq through Saudi Arabia and Iran. The KUI is believed to be sending jehadis from Karachi. Former intelligence official, B. Raman, says the banned Lashkar-e-Tayyeba is now coordinating activities for Osama bin Lalden's International Islamic Front and that it is collecting funds for jehad in Iraq. Raman adds the need to defeat the US in Afghanistan and Iraq was the major theme of speeches by Islamist organizations. The sources did not know if the Americans were aware of the fact that Pakistani jehadis were going to Iraq to fight them. However, the Pakistani government's recent crackdown against Azhar's cadres may be an indication.

Hindustan Times - November 30, 2003.
 

An Analysis:

i) New Bearings for Terror

After the latest suicide bombing in Istanbul, some kind of a pattern can be discerned. The terrorists are now choosing western targets in non-western countries, presumably because the security measures have become much more stringent in the West. In contrast, they may have found Asian and African countries far easier to enter for the purpose of conducting their deadly operations. Bali was followed by Casablanca and Riyadh. Istanbul has now seen two successive attacks - on Jewish synagogues and on British diplomatic and commercial offices. Except for Saudi Arabia, against whose royal family Al-Qaeda bears a special grudge, in all the other attacks the country wasn't really the target. Only the western offices and personnel were.

The reasons why the terrorists find it much more convenient to operate in these countries is that, first, they can blend easily into the local population unlike in Europe or the US, where their oriental looks would make them objects of suspicion right from the point of entry. Secondly, they may find it helpful to operate in the anti-American atmosphere prevailing in most of these countries. It has been estimated, for instance, that nearly 90 per cent of the people of Turkey harbour anti-US sentiments in the context of the war in Iraq. Even the government of Turkey, hitherto a staunch ally of the US, refused permission for the American forces to invade Iraq from Turkish territory. And, after the war, Turkey withdrew its offer of sending troops to Iraq following objections from the Iraqi governing council.

To the terrorists, therefore, Turkey provides an ideal location for planning their acts of murder and mayhem. They are also indifferent to the fact that Muslims may die as a result of their attacks. All that they care is that American, British and Jewish targets will be hit. The latest outrage may have prompted George W. Bush and Tony Blair to reiterate their determination to fight terrorism, but they cannot deny that, at the moment, the western powers are groping in the dark. Iraq remains a festering sore and the Palestinian issue a breeding ground of anti-Jewish and anti-US sentiments. Clearly, the war against terrorism is far from being won.

Hindustan Times, November 22, 2003.

ii) Terror in Osama land : When violence strikes Riyadh, it affects us deeply right here

The spate of the recent bombings in Saudi Arabia undoubtedly goes beyond the mere targeting of the royal regime. India, and Indians, are naturally concerned with the spate of terrorism in Saudi Arabia. First, the Saudi economy relies heavily on expatriate manpower to keep it running. Increasing terrorist risks and dangers to the expatriate community could trigger a movement of such people out of the country with deleterious effects all around, and not just for the economy of Saudi Arabia. With close to four million Indians in Arab countries south of Iraq, a deterioration of economic opportunities there, and/or threat to their lives and well-being, would obviously hurt India grievously. The situation could particularly deteriorate if the upper crust of professionals starts to leave the country since, in per capita terms, their role in the economic life of the kingdom is much higher.

Secondly, the spread of terrorism in our neighbourhood only indicates that the global war against terrorism is not only not succeeding, but that terrorism itself may well be intensifying all the way from Kashmir to Iraq. What is needed is transnational cooperation in staging counter-measures to contain it. This is something that all the countries of the region must pay greater attention to while dealing to the specific challenges nationally. As for India, it is time it looked at terrorism beyond the Kashmir factor.

The Indian Express - November 12, 2003

Food for Thought

Challenge

Instead of avoiding challenges, jump into them. Beat the heck out of them. Enjoy the game.

If your challenges are too large or too numerous, do not give up. Failing makes you tired. Instead, reorganize. Find more determination, more knowledge, more help.

If you have met your goals, set some bigger goals. Once you meet your personal or family needs, move onto goals for your group, the society, even mankind.

Don't create success and lie in it. You have resources, skills and abilities to make a difference.

Courtesy - Kiran Chugh