From the Jerusalem Post:

Ahmad Jibril's Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine- General Command (PFLP-GC) Monday rejected any ceasefire with Israel, following ceasefire declarations by Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Fatah and other Palestinian factions.

"We are not bound by the unilateral truce and it does not influence us at all," the Damascus-based group said in a statement.

"The fighters and the heroes in Palestine will continue the armed struggle until the last inch of our land is liberated," read the statement. The PFLP-GC opposes the any peace with Israel and aims for the destruction of the Jewish state.

One of the main suspects in last October's Bali bombings in Indonesia has been arrested, a senior official has said.

The man, called Idris, was captured during a three-day police operation which started on 12 June in the north Sumatran capital of Medan.

The announcement came as prosecutors demanded the death penalty for another of the bombing suspects - Amrozi bin Nurhasyim - usually referred to as Amrozi.

THE secessionist group Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) will file a formal protest before the United Nations Human Rights Commission regarding the alleged religious persecution being done by the military and its “baseless” accusations against the group.

In a telephone interview, MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu accused the Armed Forces of waging a “despicable pattern of attacking alleged MILF camps while a religious performance is going on.”

The MILF has no legal personality before the world body and may use member nations of the Organization of Islamic Conference to represent its interests.

Dan Darling briefs us all on al-Qaeda commander Abu Musab Zarqawi, the man Colin Powell mentioned by name in his pre-war speech to the U.N:

"Over the last six months, claims of a tie between al-Qaeda and the Iraqi regime have centered around an infamous Jordanian national named Ahmed al-Khalayeh, who operates under the nom de guerre of Abu Musab Zarqawi. Yet some European and even American intelligence sources question the designation of him as an al-Qaeda operative, instead citing Zarqawi as the leader of an independent terrorist organization called al-Tawhid....

This analysis will endeavor to show readers who Zarqawi is, what he's been up to, and his critical importance to the post-Afghanistan al-Qaeda network...."

Read the rest! »

AP:

PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Pakistani authorities arrested a suspected al-Qaida operative and seized a video cassette purportedly of Osama bin Laden warning of attacks against U.S. interests in Saudi Arabia, intelligence officials said Friday.

The Egyptian national was arrested Wednesday in a raid on a house in the northwestern city of Peshawar, near the border with Afghanistan, said two intelligence officials.

Found at the home were three video cassettes, including one allegedly of bin Laden warning of attacks against U.S. interests in Saudi Arabia, according to one of the two intelligence officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Officials say the man, identified as Haris bin Asim, apparently wanted to deliver the video cassettes to the Arab satellite station Al-Jazeera. The al-Jazeera correspondent in Islamabad, Ahmed Zaidan, said he had no knowledge of any cassettes or deliveries.

Full article...

[Fox News]

Mohammed al-Hindi. the head of the group Islamic Jihad agreed to a three-month cease-fire on Israelis -- the first official confirmation by a leader on the truce.

"We have accepted a conditional cease-fire for three months," the leader told The Associated Press.

Al-Hindi said intensive meetings on Saturday between Islamic Jihad, the larger militant group Hamas and Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction were working out the final wording of an official cease-fire declaration.

"I expect that it's going to be finished within 24 hours and after that it will be declared, if not tomorrow, the day after," al-Hindi said.

Full story...

WaPo:

JAKARTA, Indonesia, June 26 -- A senior figure in Jemaah Islamiah, a Southeast Asian terrorist organization, testified today that Osama bin Laden set in motion a series of plots that the group pursued in Indonesia and Singapore.

Faiz bin Abu Bakar Bafana, a Malaysian and a treasurer in the underground network, testified that a string of church bombings in Indonesia conducted by Jemaah Islamiah on Christmas Eve 2000 and a foiled plan to attack U.S. targets in Singapore about a year later were bin Laden initiatives. His testimony was the first public acknowledgement by a senior member of the group that it had ties to bin Laden's al Qaeda organization.

Full article...

WaPo:

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, June 26 -- As Pakistan consolidates military control for the first time over a rugged area along the border with Afghanistan, leaders of one of the country's main Islamic parties have expressed support for armed resistance by local tribal groups, posing a fresh challenge to the president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf.

In statements over the past few days, leaders of a faction of Jamiat-e-Ulema-i-Islami -- one of the main partners in the coalition of six radical Islamic parties that lead the political opposition in Pakistan's parliament -- have challenged the army's right to operate in Mohmand Agency, one of six autonomous tribal areas on the Afghan border.

"This will ignite a civil war in Pakistan," Hafiz Hussein Ahmad, the party's second-ranking leader and the deputy parliamentary leader of the religious coalition, said in an interview. The coalition is known as the Majlis-i-Amal (MMA).

Full article...

CNN:

WASHINGTON -- In Friday morning raids, the FBI arrested at least seven men suspected of having ties to a foreign terrorist organization, government sources told CNN.

The men are believed to be linked to Lashkar-E-Taiba, a Kashmir separatist group that the United States designated a terrorist organization in 2001.

They were charged as part of an ongoing probe into alleged jihad training and weapons violations, sources said.

Sources did not give the exact charges facing the men. Court papers from the case are under seal. The men are expected to be arraigned Friday.

Three of the men arrested were in Virginia, three in Maryland and one in Pennsylvania. At least 10 homes were searched in the raids, officials said.

Full article...

The United States is actively participating in the peace talks between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front through a US government-funded agency, US Ambassador to the Philippines Francis Ricciardone disclosed on Friday.

In an exclusive interview with The Manila Times, Ricciardone said the US government decided to participate in the peace process after it was approached by a faction of the MILF for help in carrying out livelihood programs.

Ricciardone identified the “quasi nongovernment organization” as the United States Institute for Peace (USIP). The Washington-based agency is headed by Richard Solomon–who served as US ambassador to the Philippines in 1992–and is staffed by former ranking US government officials.

Houston Chronicle:

WASHINGTON -- U.S. intelligence agencies early this month eavesdropped on two suspected al-Qaida operatives discussing potential terrorism in Texas timed for the July Fourth weekend, raising the specter of an attack on energy facilities in the Houston area, officials here said Monday.

That information, which did not specify a target, an exact time or a type of terrorist attack, was passed along to state officials.

Federal homeland security officials have informed Texas law enforcement agencies of intelligence reportedly gathered from suspected al-Qaida operatives discussing potential terrorism in the state next month.

Full article...

CNN:

(CNN) -- Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden sent a private message to followers in February, ordering them to attack the United States and its allies, intelligence sources tell CNN.

The sources said the message was taken by couriers from an area along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border -- where bin Laden is believed to be hiding -- to locations in Africa, the Middle East, the Caucasus region and Asia.

"He sent personal letters to key al Qaeda leaders, regional leaders as well as leaders of al Qaeda-associated groups, urging them to launch terrorist attacks against the targets of the United States, its allies and its friends," said Rohan Gunaratna, author of "Inside al Qaeda," who has strong connections to anti-terrorism investigators.

Full article...

[Fox News]

The suspected mastermind of the May bombings in Riyadh has been taken into custody in Saudi Arabia, a U.S. official and a source close to the Saudi Embassy in Washington said on Thursday.

The Saudi-related source said the suspect, Ali Abdul Rachman Al-Gamdi, also known as Abu Bakr al-Azdi, a senior Saudi-based al Qaeda operative, surrendered to Saudi authorities. But the U.S. official said the man was "captured."

Full story...

AP:

TACLOBAN, Philippines - Communist rebels attacked a remote army camp in the central Philippines on Thursday, killing at least 17 people, police said.

Regional deputy police chief Senior Supt. Edwin Pfleider said the camp in Cagpili village, outside Oras town in Eastern Samar province, came under attack from the communist New People's Army at around 6:30 a.m.

He said at least 11 soldiers, five government militiamen and the wife of a soldier were killed. The rebels also suffered casualties, he said, but gave no details. Army reinforcements were sent to the area, he said.

Full article...

[Fox News]

Shells exploded in a U.S. diplomatic complex in Liberia's besieged capital Wednesday, causing injuries among thousands of people seeking refuge as civil war engulfed Monrovia, a U.S. official said.

A U.S. Embassy official said authorities had no details on the numbers of casualties, but there were no reports that Americans were injured. The embassy is across the street from the high-walled residential complex where at least three explosives landed.

Full story...

Armchair Analyst Mike Van Winkle has a briefing of news items focused on U.S. Homeland Security & Liberty. Welcome to "Armchair Liberty Watch: 2003-06-24."

Topics Include: Librarian protection; U.S. citizens detained to date; $300m for Port security initiatives; Fed snooping on file-sharing; DCIO's BS PhD....

Fox News:

NAIROBI, Kenya — The U.S. Embassy in Kenya reopened Wednesday after closing temporarily because of a Pentagon alert about a possible terrorist attack.

The embassy was first closed Friday as part of an ongoing process to close the mission at least one day a week.

The one-day closures have been taking place since May 15, when the U.S. State Department issued a beefed-up terrorism advisory for American citizens warning against travel to the East African nation.

Full article...

Fox News:

JERUSALEM — Police said they arrested two Palestinians believed to be on their way to carry out a major attack Wednesday in central Israel. A bag containing a large amount of explosives was also found, they said.

The bag was blown up in a controlled explosion that shattered nearby windows and was heard for miles.

Police Commander Yehuda Bachar said: "A large attack which would of had a lot of victims" was averted.

Military and police were placed on high alert early in the morning after receiving intelligence warnings that a potential suicide bomber and an accomplice had crossed into Israel to carry out an attack.

Full article...

USA Today:

HATAT, Yemen (AP) — Yemeni troops attacked Islamic militants holed up in the southern mountains Wednesday, ending days of negotiations with the al-Qaeda-linked group.

The soldiers fired artillery and Katyusha rockets at the hideouts of the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army near the village of Hatat, some 280 miles south of the capital San'a.

The Aden-Abyan militants fled to the mountains after they attacked a military medical convoy on Saturday, wounding seven soldiers. The group is known for kidnapping 16 Western tourists in 1998. Four of the tourists died in a botched rescue attempt by soldiers.

Full article...

AP and Reuters are reporting that Hamas and Islamic Jihad have agreed to the three-month "hudna."

• A hudna is an Islamic term for a cease-fire with the intent of reloading, rearming, and reorganizing in preparation for future hostilities. Watch for lots of tunnel building under Rafah.
• The announcement says that attacks on Israel will cease. They will still attack "settlements" or the few native Jewish communities left in "occupied" territory (ie. Hebron's Jewish community is not an actual settlement, but a fortified remant of Hebron's native Jews). Of course, Hamas and Islamic Jihad don't recognize Israel, which means attacks on Jews anywhere will still be considered fair game.
• This doesn't include PFLP, Hezbollah, or Yasser Arafa's own Fateh-based Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade.
• Listen for reports of Shin Bet and IDF stopping suicide bombers. IsraelNationalNews/Arutz Sheva runs a weekly report of Roadmap Violations.

Charles Johnson links to a chart of terrorist incidents in Israel over the last few months. It works out to about 100 per week. Isn't movement toward a Palestinian state supposed to be dependent on real performance?

From Reuters:

Israeli troops killed two Hamas militants in a gunbattle in the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday, the radical Islamic group said.

The Israeli army said two gunmen barricaded themselves inside a house in Beit Hanoun and exchanged fire with soldiers, but it could not confirm the deaths.

Prima-News:

IRAN. Iranian authorities are enlarging their forces with militants from the Lebanese Hezbollah group. This measure is reportedly prompted by forthcoming anti-government rallies in July....According to the Student Movement Coordinating Committee for Democracy in Iran (SMCCDI), Iranian authorities have been recruiting thousands of mercenaries from among Iraqi and Afghan refugees, as well as members of radical organizations from Palestine, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Indonesia. Several hundred mercenaries have been billeted in barracks of the Revolutionary Guards in northern and western Tehran. Members of the Revolutionary Guards, a military force established after the revolution, are being told that new combatants that do not speak Persian are from the Arab units of Iranian troops.

From the Israeli Consulate in NYC:

Iad Taisir Taher Samodi was killed on June 23, 2002 in the village Yamon, while trying to resist arrest. Three cell phones, a gun and ammunitions were discovered on his body. Thirty pipe explosives ready to be used for attacks were subsequently found at his house.

Samodi was a policeman for the Palestinian Authority. He was also a member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades terror group. His responsibilities within the terrorist organization consisted of supplying weapons to Fatah terrorists in order for them to attack Israelis.

Samodi was the producer of the film “Jenin Jenin” - a movie released last year in which Samodi uses his position as a Palestinian policeman, to describe the suffering of his people and claim that the IDF disregarded the rights of the Palestinian population. Ironically, the movie remains silent about Samodi's activities as a weapons supplier for terror attacks in which innocent Israeli citizens were killed. For obvious reasons, the movie also fails to mention the tremendous damage that Palestinian terrorists do to their own people by hijacking their political aspirations to serve an agenda of terror.

Didn't the terrorists try to get this included in the Oscars: Best Foreign Film competition, or was it some other form of propaganda?

Reuters:

BLANTYRE - Malawian authorities working with U.S. security officials have detained five suspected al Qaeda members in the southern African country, Malawi's public prosecutor said on Monday.

"U.S. operatives assisted by the Malawi National Intelligence Bureau and immigration officials are holding al Qaeda suspects in Malawi's capital Lilongwe. The U.S. government is pressing for their immediate deportation," Director of Public Prosecutions Fahad Assani told Reuters by telephone from Lilongwe. He said the five men were detained in Malawi's commercial capital Blantire early on Saturday.

Full article...

From Deutsche Welle:

The Israeli army arrested 130 Palestinians in the West Bank city of Hebron Tuesday, in a major overnight sweep targeting the Islamist movement Hamas. Israel accuses Hamas of killing 52 Israelis in recent months.

CNN:

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- The elusive leader of Afghanistan's former Taliban regime, Mullah Omar, has named a 10-member council to organize resistance to U.S. and allied forces in the country, a news report said Tuesday.

The Pakistani-based newspaper The News said the announcement was made in an audiotape sent from Mullah Omar's hiding place inside Afghanistan.

In the recording he calls on Taliban fighters to make sacrifices to drive out U.S. and other foreign troops and the "puppet" government of U.S.-backed President Hamid Karzai, the paper said.

Full article...

BBC:

Israeli prosecutors have charged a leader of Israel's Islamic Movement and three other senior members with belonging to a terrorist organisation.

Sheikh Raed Salah and the three other men were also charged with channelling funds to charities inside the Palestinian territories linked to the militant Islamic group Hamas.

Along with a fifth man - the mayor of the northern Arab town of Umm al-Fahm - they were indicted over alleged contacts with foreign intelligence agents.

Full article...

From Jerusalem Post:

Palestinian Authority head Yasser Arafat raised $2.5 million from Libyan leaer Moammar Khadafi to finance terror attacks against Israel, The San Francisco Chronicle reports.

The report, quoting sources close to Arafat, said the money has been transferred to bank accounts under his control in Beirut and Cairo to pay for Al Aksa Brigade terror attacks, at the same that Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmud Abbas is trying to reach a cease-fire on terror attacks as part of the road map plan.

Brigade members confirmed to the Chronicle that they were receiving funds from Arafat's office. Last week Al Aksa claimed responsibilty for a shooting on the Trans-Israel Highway near Kalkilya that killed a seven-year-old Israeli girl. The group is also suspected of involvement in the shooting death of US immigrant Zvi Goldstein in the Ramallah area on Friday.

Well, this makes sense. After all, Libya chairs the UN Human Rights Commission, and Colin Powell's saying that the Palestinians are making efforts towards peace, right?

AP:

SKOPJE, Macedonia -- Two bombs exploded in the center of the Macedonian capital Sunday, injuring one person and blowing out windows in nearby buildings, police said.

Both bombs were planted in garbage containers and went off simultaneously in the late afternoon, police spokeswoman Mirjana Konteska said.

"Anti-terrorist police units were immediately sent to the scene and are investigating," Konteska said. She did not give information on motives or suspects in the case.

Full article...

AP:

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran said Monday it has identified some al-Qaida members it has in custody and promised to hand them over to their home nations, including Saudi Arabia.

The United States has been increasing pressure on Iran, accusing it of harboring operatives for Osama bin Laden's terror network -- including some Washington says may have been involved in last month's suicide bombings in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. Saudi Arabia has been pressing for the handover of any al-Qaida agents.

Iran has denied giving sanctuary to any al-Qaida figures and has been saying for weeks that it had some members of the group in custody -- but it was trying to determine who they were.

Monday's statement was Iran's firmest yet on al-Qaida, though it did not reveal the names of the identified members or how many are in its prisons.

Full article...

From CNN.com:

President Bush designated a Qatari man suspected of being a sleeper operative for al Qaeda an "enemy combatant" Monday.

It was the second time since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that the president has transferred a criminal defendant from the criminal justice system to more restrictive military custody, where he is afforded fewer rights.

Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, 37, has been in U.S. custody since December 2001 and was under an indictment charging him with making false statements to the FBI and credit card fraud.

Dutch Defense Ministry

Immediatly following the attacks, the Minister of Defence established a task force within the Ministry of Defence in the Netherlands to review the role of our armed forces in the fight against terrorism and to make recommendations for augmenting or modifying our policies.

From Jerusalem Post:

IDF sources said that the three Palestinians killed late Sunday night in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip were not killed by IDF forces, but more than likely died in a "work accident" while preparing explosives.

The IDF spokesperson released a statement saying that there was no fire of any kind whatsoever by Israeli forces in Beit Hanoun on Sunday night. The IDF also said the three men were in uniform.

Palestinian witnesses and security officials told the Associated Press that Israeli tanks fired shells at a group of Palestinian militants in northern Gaza late Sunday, killing three.

Palestinians said Israeli tanks fired at least two shells at a group of militants from the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, affiliated with the mainstream, Fatah movement, in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun.

But... but... but... there were Palestinian "witnesses" right? They wouldn't lie for propaganda purposes, would they?

From the Jerusalem Post:

The Israel Defense Force's has just confirmed that a senior Palestinian terrorist was killed tonight in the West Bank city of Hebron.

Abdullah Kawasme, the head of Hamas' military wing in Hebron, was killed in a gun battle as security forces moved in to arrest him, a military source told the Jerusalem Post.

Kawasme is suspected of several recent terror attacks including a bus bombing in Haifa on March 5th

Up your hudna, Hamas!

From Jerusalem Post/AP:

Secretary of State Colin Powell pored over detailed territorial maps with the leaders of Israel and the Palestinian Authority in separate meetings Friday, praising the Israelis for efforts toward an eventual peace settlement and urging the Palestinians to act quickly.

In return, he was assured the Palestinians would move quickly to take over from Israeli forces responsibility for security on the Gaza Strip.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told a news conference after his meeting with Powell that Israel would "exhaust every avenue" in the search for peace. He cautioned, however, that fulfillment of the U.S.-backed "road map" was contingent on the Palestinians' curbing terrorism.

"The Palestinian Authority must fight terror organizations, it must disarm them, it must make sure that their infrastructure no longer exists," Sharon said.

AP:

TUWELLA, Iraq -- Beyond the ridge where the Zagros Mountains divide Iran and Iraq, several hundred Islamic militants vanished into the early spring snow.

On the eve of the Iraq war in March, a barrage of U.S. cruise missiles and a sweep by thousands of Kurdish soldiers cleared the fighters of Ansar al-Islam from mountain strongholds of northeast Iraq from where they had plagued the Kurds for years.

Now, there are signs that the group, suspected to have links with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network, is coming back.

"We are intercepting reports that elements of Ansar al-Islam are becoming active again," said Barham Salih, prime minister of the eastern sector of the Kurds' autonomous region in northern Iraq.

Full article...

[Fox News]

The Pentagon issued a terror alert Friday to all U.S. interests in Kenya, warning of the possibility of an immediate attack. The Defense Intelligence Agency raised the threat level in the African nation to "high," a defense official said.

Reuters reported that the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi has been closed.

"The information that is available to us and to Kenya indicates that there is a serious terrorist threat in Kenya," U.S. embassy spokesman Tom Hart said, according to Reuters.

Full story....

[Fox News]

A large explosion ripped through a branch of Russia's Justice Ministry in the Chechen capital, Grozny, on Friday, causing casualties, the Interfax news agency reported. The blast occurred about 300 yards away from the Chechen government headquarters, Interfax said.

The blast came the day before the Chechen State Council, the republic's temporary legislature, was to have met for its first session in the building that was hastily built to replace the government headquarters destroyed in a December car bombing. That attack killed at least 70 people.

Full story....

Reuters:

MADRID - Spanish police have arrested a Moroccan man suspected of involved in bombings in the city of Casablanca last month that killed 43 people, including 12 suicide bombers, police said on Thursday.

The arrest of the 32 year old in the northern city of Vitoria, follows last week's detention in the southern town of Algeciras of another man linked to the May 16 bombings, Spain's Civil Guard said in a statement.

Morocco has so far charged around 100 people on suspicion of participating in the attacks, which killed eight foreigners including four Spaniards at a Spanish restaurant in the north African city. A five-star hotel and a Jewish community were also targeted.

BBC:

A US lorry driver has admitted taking part in a plot to sabotage the Brooklyn Bridge in New York, US officials have said.

Iyman Faris has pleaded guilty to providing material support to terrorists and conspiracy to provide support.

Government documents claim Mr Faris received instructions from senior figures in Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.

Full article...

From Jerusalem Post:

Abbas met separately in Gaza City Thursday with representatives of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), who told him that they reject his cease-fire proposal.

Describing the meeting as "frank and positive," the DFLP said in a statement that its leaders "reaffirmed the Palestinian peoples' legitimate right to resist the occupation and to pursue the intifada." The statement rejected Abbas's use of the term terrorism in referring to their terrorist attacks.

The IDF needs to halt all targeted assassinations...

(and start using MOABs)

From Ha'aretz:

A suicide bomber blew up early Tuesday morning in a grocery on Moshav Sdeh Trumot, near Beit Shean in the north, killing the owner of the grocery.

The man, who was critically injured in the attack, died of his wounds after being evacuated to Haemek Hospital in Afula. The suicide bomber was killed in the blast.

Cleanup on aisles four, five, and six?

Fox News:

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Two suspected Al Qaeda members -- including one believed to be a longtime aide to Usama bin Laden -- were arrested Wednesday in northwestern Pakistan, the information minister said.

Pakistani authorities arrested Adil Al-Jazeeri of Algeria at a public swimming pool in the affluent Hayatabad neighborhood of Peshawar, the capital of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province.

Intelligence sources said Al-Jazeeri was a longtime aide to bin Laden and was involved in the terror network's training.

Full article...

From AP/Jerusalem Post:

The Middle East peace process could be derailed if Syria and Iran do not end their support for terrorist groups, Prime Minister Tony Blair said Wednesday.

He also said both countries should stop developing what he called their weapons of mass destruction.

Blair told lawmakers in the House of Commons that Britain believed dialogue was the best way to engage with Syria.

From Arutz Sheva:

A seven-year-old Jewish girl was murdered, her five-year-old sister seriously injured, and their grandfather wounded as well, as they were attacked while driving on the Trans-Israel highway, located within Israel's pre-1967 borders.

...Hamas and Islamic Jihad are engaged in talks for a cease-fire, but have made it clear that it would not include Yesha residents or soldiers. This attack's victims are neither.

An update with an important detail that has not been widely reported:

According to an initial investigation of the attack, security officials said two terrorists used a pneumatic device to cut through bars in a sewer tunnel under the eight-meter-high security wall built around the outskirts of Kalkilya. The wall was built 18 months ago as part of security arrangements for Highway 6.

From Israel Insider, thanks to Lynn for the heads-up.

USA Today:

LONDON (AP) — al-Qaeda is still capable of a deadly attack, and it is only a matter of time before terrorists target a Western city with unconventional weapons, the head of Britain's domestic intelligence agency said Tuesday.

"We are faced with the realistic possibility of some form of unconventional attack" that could include chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear weapons, said Eliza Manningham-Buller.

In her first public speech since taking over the MI5 in October, Manningham-Buller said intelligence suggested that "renegade scientists" gave terrorist groups the information they need to create such weapons, which will only become more sophisticated.

But she added that conventional bombs and suicide bomb attacks remained terrorists' preferred weapons.

Full article...

AP via NJ.com:

PARIS (AP) -- Masked and heavily armed police raided the compound of an Iranian opposition group Tuesday, detaining activists on suspicion of plotting terrorist attacks in France and building a support base for operations abroad.

The dramatic raids came a month after U.S forces disarmed the military wing of the group, the Mujahedeen Khalq, in Iraq. The organization, which the United States and European Union classify as a terrorist group, seeks to topple Iran's clerical regime.

French authorities detained 159 people in the raids on the compound north of Paris and 12 other sites outside the city. The authorities seized $1.3 million in U.S. currency, mostly 100-dollar bills, along with computers and satellite telecommunications equipment.

Full article...

From Jerusalem Post:

Hamas's Abdel Aziz Rantisi says he may have helped Israel target him last week by phoning a friend to arrange a meeting at a Gaza City hospital.

In an interview published Monday by the Beirut-based daily al-Mustaqbal, Rantisi said of the thwarted assassination of June 10, which he survived with several injuries:

"The story started with a mistake, that I fully acknowledge, when I called a fellow brother over the phone and told him that we will meet at 11 in the al-Shafa'a hospital and visit a sickly colleague."

Can you hear me now... good.
Can you hear me now... good.
Can you hear me now... KABOOM!

JAKARTA - A suspect in a deadly McDonald's restaurant bombing told a court Tuesday that he and other Indonesian Islamic militants had trained at a rebel camp in the southern Philippines.

Suriyadi Masud made the remarks at the trial of Abu Bakar Bashir, the alleged spiritual head of the regional al-Qaeda linked terror group Jemaah Islamiyah.

His testimony further confirms the regional nature of terrorism in Southeast Asia, something highlighted during the investigation into last year's Bali bombings.

AP via NJ.com:

JERUSALEM (AP) -- Yasser Arafat called the family of a Palestinian uprising leader early Tuesday and said that he will be released within two days, Marwan Barghouti's wife said.

Israeli officials were not available for comment but Fadwa Barghouti told The Associated Press that she was skeptical her husband would be freed. She said Arafat delivered the news in a 2 a.m. phone call.

Barghouti is on trial for murder, charged by Israel with complicity in terror attacks that took the lives of 26 Israelis. The prosecution completed its case on June 2, but Barghouti, who does not recognize the right of the Israeli court to try him, had not decided whether to present a defense.

Barghouti is the West Bank leader of Arafat's Fatah movement. He made fiery speeches in favor of Palestinian resistance and became a symbol of the current uprising. But he has insisted that as a member of the Palestinian parliament he is a political figure and has no connection with violence.

Full article...

From Jerusalem Post:

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin were at odds Monday over discussions within the EU to outlaw Hamas' political wing

Calling for an international crackdown on the radical Palestinian group, Straw said Monday that Hamas was trying to blow up the Middle East peace process.

Dominique de Villepin, making a distinction between "mass movements" and "terrorists" argued that Hamas remained a necessary player in the peace process.

De Villepin also urged Hamas to make more efforts in ending terrorist acts from Palestinian militants. "We call on Hamas to demonstrate that they are against all terrorist activities," he said.

Speaking to reporters at a EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg, Straw called Hamas a "terrorist group" and added that it was "literally trying to blow this process to pieces."

L.A. Times

...After a week of strikes and counterstrikes — including raids that wounded senior Hamas leader Abdulaziz Rantisi, killed six other militants and caused scores of Palestinian civilian casualties, plus a bus bombing in Jerusalem that killed 17 Israelis — Palestinian popular support for the Islamic militant group appears only to be growing. At the same time, the political standing of Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas has plummeted, and the fragile American-backed peace plan has been endangered.

Hamas and senior Israeli officials agree on one thing: Their fight has become a no-holds-barred confrontation. Israel's defense minister, Shaul Mofaz, declared that Hamas should be crushed, and Israel said it would mark for death any member of the movement it considers a threat. Hamas vowed vengeance "like an earthquake" and said every Israeli man, woman and child was a target.

Full Article...

From Ha'aretz:

A delegation of Egyptian intelligence officials failed Monday to achieve a breakthrough in talks with Palestinian militants aimed at arranging a cease-fire with Israel and salvaging the U.S.-backed road map to Middle East peace, which has been threatened by the violence of the past week.

The session, which followed talks Sunday between the Egyptian delegation and Hamas leaders, was also attended by Palestinian Minister for Security Affairs Mohammed Dahlan.

The Egyptian mediators, headed by Mustafa al Beheri, the assistant to intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, will return to the Strip in 48 hours, once the militant groups have responded to the cease-fire proposals.

The quicker the ceasefire, the more terrorists that Hamas and Islamic Jihad can delegate to helping the Egyptians smuggle guns, ammo, and explosives into Gaza via tunnels into Rafah.

From Ha'aretz:

Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath said on Monday he believed the militant Hamas would accept a cease-fire on attacks against Israelis possibly as early as Tuesday.

But his Israeli counterpart Silvan Shalom warned that Israel would reject a temporary truce accord even if Hamas agreed, saying that militants hit hard by would exploit a cease-fire in order to gear up for fresh terror attacks.