JERUSALEM POST: PA asks for international intervention

The Palestinian Authority Thursday called on the UN Security Council, the US and the Quartet to intervene with Israel to stop the IDF operation in the Gaza Strip.

“We urge the Security Council and the Quartet, especially the US, to intervene immediately and urgently to halt the Israeli atrocities that are being perpetrated in the Gaza Strip,” said Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for PA Chairman Yasser Arafat.

In other news, the IDF just took out a Qassam launching team with a missile strike.

The Copenhagen Post reports that a Danish former Guantanamo prisoner is heading to Chechnya to fight.

Former Guantanamo prisoner Slimane Hadj Abderrahmane told DR News Magazine on Wednesday that he intends to leave Denmark following recent controversy over his claim that the Danish Prime Minister and Foreign Minister were legitimate targets for Islamic warriors.

“The Danish people can rest assured - I’m not doing anything to you,” the Danish-Algerian Abderrahmane told DR news. “When I came back from Cuba, I was sitting across from the Foreign Minister in his office. There was only a desk between us. If I wanted to do something to him, I would have done it then.”

“All this commotion - Why should I stay here? I’m going to Chechnya to fight for Muslims. The Muslims are struggling in Chechnya, and the Russians are committing so much terror against them,” said Abderrahmane, whose remarks about the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister cost him public sympathy, despite his two-year ordeal at the Guantanamo prison camp.

Seemingly immune to the uproar over his remarks, Abderrahmane remained indignant in Wednesday’s interview.

“Denmark is the only country that hasn’t figured out that a country’s leaders are legitimate targets in times of war. If you’re not willing to face the consequences, then don’t go to war,” he said.

HAARETZ: Mofaz: Large-scale, prolonged Gaza operation

Mofaz announced his new directives after a special assessment meeting with the heads of Israel’s security branches.

The security cabinet is set to convene Thursday evening after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon meets with security chiefs for a further assessment.

Mofaz declared that Wednesday’s “murder of children” was an “unforgivable and intolerable” act, to which Israel must respond.

The operation is also aimed at handling the terror infrastructure in Gaza a heavy blow. The third objective set forward was the improvement the defenses of the area’s settlements.

JERUSALEM POST: Would-be female suicide bomber arrested

A would-be female suicide bomber has been arrested near the West Bank city of Jenin on Thursday.

The 24-year-old from the village of Fakua was arrested by security officials following pinpoint intelligence information that she had intensions to perpetrate a suicide attack in Israel, Israel Radio reported.

Juan Herveda of Netwar notes that Issue no. 10 of al-Qaeda’s training manual Al-Battar has special coverage of kidnapping. Juan offers a series of excerpts for your perusal.

Since so many countries seem happy to pay ransoms and change their foreign policies in response to kidnappings, we can expect this to become an income-generating staple for Islamists in the Middle East. Kidnapping already fills this role in places like Colombia and other parts of Latin America, where the “Terror, Inc.” model is more established, and Alaa’s Sept. 16 post indicates that Iraq is moving in this direction as well.

[Joe’s personal bet:] I expect the Islamists to take further steps toward the Colombian model, as a likely extrapolation of current trends. The key difference from Latin America will be the monetary stakes involved if it begins to slow the inflow of expertise. Given the Middle East’s much higher dependence on foreign experts in order to produce its main sources of income and run its societies, it will be interesting to see how Middle Eastern governments react if kidnappings start becoming more widespread in the region as a whole.

Welcome! Our goal at Winds of Change.NET is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. Thursday’s Winds of War briefings are given by me, Colt, of Eurabian Times.

TOP TOPICS

• Hassan al-Turabi, former president of Sudan and ideologue of IIF, has allegedly tried to overthrow the current president Omar el-Bashir. More details here. Dan has a long briefing on the terror threat from Sudan, which al-Turabi helped build.

• The terrorists holding British hostage Ken Bigley have released another video. He is shown in a a cage denouncing Tony Blair. Aaron of Internet Haganah says on the jihadi forums there’s a statement from Tahid wal Jihad saying that they will now release him in order to “emphasize the humiliation of the British government and its army”. As ever, that cannot be considered reliable.

• Several significant al-Qaeda men have been captured in Pakistan. It is thought they were involved in the brutal murder of Daniel Pearl and a plot to kill President Musharraf.

• There are several reports of clashes between the Iranian populace and Islamist militias. Alas, it is premature to say these are the sparks of rebellion. But if they are, a coherent Iran policy might suddenly become even more urgent than it already is.

Other Topics Today Include: Iran Reports; Domestic brief; Iraqi WMD in Syria?; shootings in KSA and Oman; Saudi-sponsored terror; car-bomb in Damascus; Chechens in Cyprus?; JI learns from Chechens; Indonesia hunts suicide bombers; released Taliban commander killed.

REad the rest…

The net appeared to be closing around one of Russia’s two most wanted men last night after Chechnya’s Moscow-backed authorities said they had cornered the breakaway region’s long-sought rebel president, Aslan Maskhadov.

Ramzan Kadyrov, deputy prime minister in the region’s Moscow-friendly government, said that he “had every reason to believe” Maskhadov and his associates were trapped by his forces in a forest in south-east Chechnya.

Officials said they had picked up the call signs of Maskhadov’s closest aides in radio traffic from the cornered rebels, as well as numerous tip-offs that he was in the area. Mr Kadyrov said he hoped to capture Maskhadov alive after “liquidating” the armed gang surrounding him, which, he said, was led by the rebel president’s most senior bodyguard, Akhmed Avdorkhanov. Rebel sources said some of Maskhadov’s most senior aides were trapped but denied that he was present.

Read more...

More about Maskhadov here.

AP: U.S.-backed forces fail to get Abu Sayyaf leaders in assaults in southern Philippines

Two Abu Sayyaf leaders wanted by Washington escaped from a series of assaults by U.S.-trained forces in clashes that killed a marine and wounded an undetermined number of rebels in the southern Philippines, officials said Wednesday.

One marine was killed and seven others injured … Rebel two-way radio chatter and bloodstains at one clash scene indicated casualties among the guerrillas …

… U.S. help in the assaults indicates Washington's continuing desire to help the Philippines crush remnants of the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf in the southern Mindanao region despite a high-profile spat in July over President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's decision to withdraw peacekeepers from Iraq to save a kidnapped Filipino.

American officials are also concerned over the reported presence of secret terror training camps in Mindanao maintained by Jemaah Islamiyah, al-Qaida's Southeast Asian ally.

HAARETZ: 2 killed, including baby, in Qassam strike on Sderot home

Two Israelis were killed Wednesday evening, including an infant, and at least 11 others were wounded when a Qassam rocket fired from the Gaza Strip struck a house in the Negev town of Sderot.

The wounded were taken to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon. One person was in serious condition, two people sustained moderate wounds and eight were treated for light injuries.

Hamas claimed responsibility for the rocket strike, which came after at least four Palestinians were reported killed Wednesday during an Israel Defense Forces raid in the northern Gaza Strip aimed at preventing the firing of Qassam rockets.

Yemeni judge sentenced two men to death and four others to prison terms ranging from five to 10 years Wednesday for orchestrating the 2000 homicide bombing of the USS Cole (search), an attack blamed on Usama bin Laden’s (search) terror network.

Saudi-born Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, who is in U.S. custody at an undisclosed location, and Jamal al-Badawi, a 35-year-old Yemeni, were both sentenced to death for plotting, preparing and involvement in the bombing, which killed 17 U.S. sailors as their destroyer refueled in the southern Yemeni port of Aden.

Al-Nashiri, believed to be the mastermind of the Oct. 12, 2000 bombing, was the only one of the six defendants not in the heavily guarded court to hear the sentences. The other five defendants are all Yemenis.

Read more…

[Read more on the Cole bombing here]

From Reuters via the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) :

Hackers have attacked a website of an Al Qaeda-linked group, that beheaded two US hostages in Iraq, re-routing visitors to a page showing a penguin toting a machine gun and warning against hosting such sites.

The site of the Tawhid and Jihad Group of Al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, set up on a site providing free web hosting, last week carried a tape of British hostage Kenneth Bigley appealing for his life as well as videos of the decapitation of the two US hostages.

“Host them and your next!” was the message left on the site by the hackers, calling themselves TeAmZ USA, who have already attacked several Islamist and pro-Al Qaeda websites.

Hopefully their skills are better than their grammar.

Yesterday, Tom Ridge said that he’s seen no sign of terrorist efforts to cross the U-S-Mexico border and that nothing from intelligence reports has suggested that terrorists have tried to cross the border.

See also Al-Qaida meets with Central American gang, lawmaker says and the other links in Illegal aliens from terrorist states released into U.S.

UPDATE: The Washington Times report is Al Qaeda seeks tie to local gangs. It has more information on the gang and El Shukrijumah, including his picture and this: [he was] born in Saudi Arabia but [is] thought to be a Yemen national… [he is known] to carry passports from Saudi Arabia, Trinidad, Guyana and Canada… authorities said [he] was in Canada last year looking for nuclear material for a so-called “dirty bomb” and [he] reportedly has family members in Guyana… [he is a] former southern Florida resident and pilot thought to have helped plan the September 11 attacks [and he] was among seven suspected al Qaeda operatives identified in May by Attorney General John Ashcroft as being involved in plans to strike new targets in the United States…

[I can’t leave a comment apparently because of a TypePad error, so here’s the commentary portion of this post]

Ridge also stated that the U.S. had never put the military on the border, which, as I point out here, is false.

The subject of immigration and our porous border came up in Bill O’Reilly’s interview with president Bush, and I comment on that here.

The post Their money or your safety comments on the Bush plan that allows banks to accept Mexican ID cards that the FBI and the DOJ call unsafe.

UPDATE: It also needs to be pointed out that the chatter about terrorists coming from Mexico could be a dodge designed to deflect our attention from the Canadian border, our sea borders, our airports, or our ports.

HAARETZ: IDF masses forces in Gaza Strip following Qassam attacks

The Israel Defense Forces on Tuesday evening massed forces in the northern Gaza Strip in response to rocket attacks launched on Israeli towns earlier on Tuesday, Israel Radio reported.

Palestinian security sources said dozens of tanks and armored personnel carriers had been spotted taking up positions outside the town of Beit Hanoun and close to a nearby Jewish settlement.

Israeli helicopters opened fire on Jebalya refugee camp and Beit Lahiya, two residential areas and militant strongholds in northern Gaza, according to Palestinian witnesses.

Witnesses also saw tanks advancing on a hilltop in Beit Lahiya.

The troop movements came after Palestinian militants had fired at least four Qassam rockets at the Sderot area in the Negev ealier. Eight people were treated for shock.

AP: Explosion Rips Car in Gaza Strip

An explosion ripped through a car in Gaza City on Tuesday, witnesses said. It was not immediately known what caused the blast or whether there were casualties.

Israel has been sending helicopters to fire missiles at Gaza vehicles carrying Palestinian militants on almost a daily basis in recent weeks.

But not in this case. Later reports state that this was a car bomb that went off early.

(Score this one an “own goal” on Hamas.)

AP: Arabs, Israel Split on Terror Definition

On this much world leaders can agree, peace is good, terrorism is bad.

But in speeches delivered by world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly ministerial meetings, differing interpretations on what qualifies as terror have emerged — ones that appear to mirror the Arab-Israeli divide.

For the Arabs, the challenge is to encourage a global audience already largely sympathetic to the plight of the Palestinians to translate that sympathy into addressing the core of the problem. For Israel, it’s to paint a more sympathetic picture of the challenges that country faces in a largely hostile region.

While condemning terrorism, Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa on Monday called on the world to “condemn the systematic state terror perpetrated by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories.”

Al-Sharaa, whose country is on a U.S.-list of state sponsors of terror, said Syria has signed all major international counterterrorism conventions and ones issued by the Arab world and the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

“The latter two conventions define the terrorist crime, and distinguish between terrorism and the legitimate right of people lingering under foreign occupation to resist occupation in accordance with international law and the United Nations’ Charter,” al-Sharaa said.

Western nations and Israel say there is no room for excuses, and the idea that one man’s freedom fighter is another’s terrorist, not only carries little stock, it undermines peace efforts.

“Palestinian terrorism is the key reason that the dream of peace in the Middle East has not yet become a reality,” Israel’s foreign minister, Silvan Shalom, told the world body on Thursday, referring to the Palestinian Authority’s inability and refusal to reign in militant groups like Hamas, who are responsible for suicide attacks in Israel.

“In the post 9-11 world, this is not acceptable. the Palestinians are not exempt from the imperatives on the global war on terror,” said Shalom. “On the contrary, it is in their clear interest to join it.”

Which standard do you think the General Assembly will adopt?

After countless delegations denouncing Israeli “state terrorism” have already taken place, the highlight of the the United Nations General Assembly General Debate is about to happen: the palestinian observer delegation will be at the podium.

There is a link to RealPlayer streaming video there, and later in the day the UN will post the transcript as well as an archived video clip.

HAARETZ: Armed men in Gaza kidnap Israeli citizen working for CNN

An Israeli citizen employed by the American news network CNN was kidnapped in Gaza City on Monday evening, by four armed Palestinians.

Riad Abu Ali, who works as an assistant producer for CNN was snatched from his car after leaving the company’s offices in Gaza City.

The Palestinian Authority is in contact with the armed men in an attempt to negotiate his release.

According to initial reports, the armed men tracked Abu Ali’s car as he departed CNN’s production offices. When he reached the city’s Rimal neighborhood, they stopped the car and grabbed Abu Ali.

CNN reporter Ben Wedeman, who said he was also in the van, did not know why his colleague was kidnapped.

“We had no indication that this was going to happen,” Wedeman told CNN on Monday evening. “This is something I’ve never experienced… These men were not very communicative. They asked which one of us was Riad and that was it.”

UPDATE:
According to breaking news wire reports and Haaretz, the Druze CNN producer has been released.

Captain Ed has a report from Kyrgyzistan stating that 2 men have been arrested while trying to sell plutonium. Plutonium is an alternative to U-235 as a component of atomic bombs, and is required for more sophisticated and powerful devices.

It’s wise to be cautious of such reports. Almost exactly 2 years ago to the day, we ran a report from Turkey re: a seizure of weapons grade uranium. It also came from official sources, and was disseminated by Reuters. As our follow-up quickly noted, the whole thing had been a clever but dangerous con designed to fleece the rich, evil & gullible. Most of these things are. On the bright side, our follow-up did assemble some useful information for you re: basic nuclear weapon design, and how much U-235 or plutonium it takes.

JERUSALEM POST: Hamas calls on followers to vote in elections

Hamas published newspaper ads Tuesday calling on its followers to vote in upcoming Palestinian elections, the first sign that the Islamic terrorist group is making the historic vote a high priority.

A Hamas leader, meanwhile, was quoted as saying the group plans to contest legislative and presidential elections. The comment by Mahmoud Zahar marked the first time Hamas has made such a commitment, without reservations.

A strong Hamas campaign could pose a formidable challenge to Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, who announced plans earlier this month to hold municipal elections starting in December. Arafat’s promise came in response to widespread discontent over his corruption-plagued government and chaos in the territories.

Hamas has previously said that it would participate in the elections but shown little interest in the campaign.

CSM reports that Arab fighters have been ordered out of Pakistan and Afghanistan and that Uzbeks are taking over as Al Qaeda’s protectors.

Hundreds of Uzbek militants now form the bulwark of Al Qaeda’s defenses in South Waziristan. The Central Asians are filling the ranks left by Arab fighters who left the region for the Middle East on the orders of Mr. bin Laden months ago, say tribal sources.

“The Arab militants hardly participate in the [South Waziristan] fight as they have handed over control of the battlefield to these Uzbeks. This saves their ranks from losses,” says tribesman Mohammad Noor. “They are using the Uzbeks cleverly here. Many locals are now unhappy with the Uzbeks” for drawing attacks from Pakistani forces.

With Al Qaeda’s leadership focused on broad planning, command of the day-to-day fighting in the tribal region has been delegated to Qari Tahir Yaldashev…

n the past, “Al Qaeda never let militants from other regions enter the inner circle, which is purely of Arab origin. But Al Qaeda leadership is aware of the qualities of Uzbek militants and their women…. Both are known as staunch jihadis,” says Peshawar-based analyst, Mohammad Riaz.

The report mentions that Yo’ldosh, who dropped the Slavic ending to his name quite a while ago, draws fresh troops from the Meshud tribe.

Cross-posted at The Argus.

From the Guardian Unlimited:

Two of the militants who took part in the Beslan school hostage siege phoned the Middle East during the drama, a senior source from the Russian security services has said.

The official said two calls were made from Beslan in Arabic, and that “one call was to Saudi Arabia by one of the Arabs who was there”.

The report supports the Kremlin’s strongly held view that a link exists between terrorist groups sympathetic to al-Qaida and Chechen separatists.

This story has, of course, been reported in the Russian online media. At lenta.ru, for example, the story appeared with the headline rewritten to read: “Terrorists called Saudi Arabia from the Beslan school” (Russian original: Террористы звонили из бесланской школы в Саудовскую Аравию).

Cheers…

CNN: Bin Laden ‘alive and in Pakistan’

Intelligence indicates Osama bin Laden is alive, Pakistan’s president says, and the top U.S. military official in Afghanistan believes the al Qaeda leader is probably in Pakistan.

On a visit to The Hague in the Netherlands Monday, Pervez Musharraf told reporters that interrogations of captured al Qaeda operatives and technological evidence indicate bin Laden is alive.

But when asked about bin Laden’s current whereabouts, Musharraf replied: “Oh no, I don’t know where he is. I wish I did,” according to The Associated Press.

While the Saudis announce an exclusionary conference to discuss antiterrorism efforts…

HAARETZ: Russia, Israel discuss tighter anti-terror cooperation

Russian and Israeli officials are planning joint training courses for anti-terror forces, Russian news agencies reported Monday after a meeting between Russia’s top police official and Israel’s National Security Council chairman.

Russia’s Interior Ministry and the Israeli police service also plan regular workshops and meetings on the fight against international terrorism, the Interfax news agency reported following a meeting between Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s security adviser Giora Eiland.

The Interior Ministry, which is responsible for police, is stepping up cooperation with Israeli police “in sharing theoretical and practical ideas that may help detect crimes of a terrorist nature,” Interfax quoted a ministry statement as saying. Ministry officials were not available for comment.

The statement also said Russia and Israel will seek to improve sharing of information on the activities of terrorist and extremist organizations and on their sources of financing, including by creating databases with information on international terrorist organizations and their leaders, Interfax reported.

The Russian ministry called for the creation of a joint working group to coordinate cooperation in air transport security, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported. It was not clear how the Israeli delegation responded to the suggestion.

ARAB TIMES: Saudi Arabia intends to host anti-terror meeting

Saudi Arabia told the U.N. General Assembly on Monday it would host an international conference on terrorism in its capital Riyadh Feb. 5-8, the first by the oil-rich nation.

“The purpose is to exchange information and experience in the field of combating terrorism and to see how we can cooperate with other countries in the fight toward this universal threat,” said Nizar Obaid Madani, the Saudi foreign ministry undersecretary.

He said such a conference, which would include international organizations, could also review techniques for money laundering, drug smuggling and gun-running. But he gave no details on who was invited or who would attend.

But…

But Madani made clear Israel would not be asked, accusing the Jewish state of drawing its own boundaries, conducting aerial bombardments and assassinations of Palestinians.

“The setback in the peace process and the mounting wave of violence and extremism in the region are largely attributable to the pursuit by the Israeli government of policies that are totally incompatible with the fundamental principles of the peace process,” he said.

Lebanon’s Top al-Qaida Operative Dies

The alleged top al-Qaida operative in Lebanon, who was captured last week in a security operation that broke up a terrorist network, died of a heart attack Monday, hospital and security officials said.

Ismail Mohammed al-Khatib was rushed from his prison cell to the Bahanes Hospital, 30 kilometers northeast of Beirut, after suffering a heart attack, but doctors were unable to save his life, hospital officials said.

Lebanese security officials confirmed Khatib’s death of a heart attack.

JERUSALEM POST: PA terror links uncovered

Further evidence emerged Monday of the direct link between the armed wing of Fatah, Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, and the Palestinian Authority.

Obituary notices distributed in the West Bank town of Salfit by Fatah and the PA’s General Intelligence Force revealed that the local commander of the Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, who was killed on Sunday when his M-16 rifle exploded, had doubled as a security officer.

Jihad Hassan, who is also known as Abu Naaim, was the commander of the Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Salfit and has been wanted by Israel for the past two years.

Residents said Hassan purchased two days ago from an arms dealer an M-16 rifle that had been apparently booby-trapped by Israel’s Shin Bet. They said the rifle exploded on Sunday while Hassan was carrying it, amputating his right arm.

Hassan was rushed unconscious to a hospital in Ramallah, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. Doctors said he had lost a lot of blood before arriving at the hospital.

bq. Top Bin Laden deputy Ayman al-Zawahri has been caught in Pakistan, according to a report from the region quoted on Israel Radio Monday.

Pakistani forces operating against al Qaida strongholds in the country report capturing the Egyptian national, who was formerly the head of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, which operated in the past against the Egyptian regime.

Pakistan officials are denying the report.

HAARETZ: Palestinians: One person killed in IAF missile strike in Gaza

One person was killed and three others were injured after an Israel Defense Forces helicopter fired a missile at a vehicle in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip on Monday afternoon, Palestinian witnesses said.

Witnesses said that the attack appeared to be an attempt to kill a Palestinian militant.

Witnesses identified the apparent target as Mohammed Abu Nsair, a leading activist of the Popular Resistance Committees, an umbrella militant group. Medics said he was wounded in the strike.

Several other Palestinians were wounded in the missile attack.

JERUSALEM POST: Gaza: Two Palestinians carrying explosives killed

During the night Sunday, security forces killed two Palestinian men, thus thwarting their attempt to plant of a bomb along the Gaza Strip security fence.

IDF soldiers spotted two Palestinians approaching the fence between Kibbutz Nir Am and Kibbutz Miflasim in an attempt to place a bomb.

They opened fire on the two men, killing both of them. The men were carrying a large amount of explosives.

Paramilitary police killed a suspected top al-Qaida operative, wanted for alleged involvement in the kidnapping of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, during a four-hour shootout Sunday at a southern Pakistan house, the information minister said. At least two other men were arrested.

Amjad Hussain Farooqi was wanted for his alleged role in the kidnapping and beheading of Pearl in 2002 and two assassination attempts against President Gen. Pervez Musharraf in December 2003.

“I as chief spokesman for the government of Pakistan confirm that our forces have killed Amjad Hussain Farooqi,” Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told The Associated Press by phone from Amsterdam, where he has gone on an official trip with Musharraf.

Ahmed said “two or three other people were also arrested during a big gunfight.” He declined to identify them but said they were still being questioned by authorities and were “very important.”

“This is the work of our security agencies, and they have done a great job,” Ahmed said.

Farooqi was on Pakistan’s most wanted list.

Breaking story…
—-

Sky News has the story:

Tornado jets have escorted a New York-bound Olympic Airways passenger jet into Stansted Airport after a bomb alert.

Sky’s James Matthews said the pilot called through a ‘mayday’ because he believed there was a bomb on board.

“The plane was flying from Athens to New York when it was diverted to the Essex airport.

The passengers have been escorted from the plane.

It is not clear yet whether a device has been found.

A Stansted airport spokesman said the plane was diverted under “full emergency conditions”.

An RAF rescue helicopter is in the vicinity, Matthews said.

“It does not get very much more serious than that,” said Matthews.

“The pilot thought it was serious enough to call in an escort. This may be the first time this has happened in British airpspace. The alert is very much full scale.

“My understanding is that he would have said there was nothing less than there is a bomb on the plane.”

Update: BBC is reporting that the incident is “over” but there are no details on that so far.

Update:

A spokesman for Stansted Airportsaid the plane landed under “full emergency conditions.”

The BBC’s Athens correspondent Richard Galpin told BBC News 24 the incident happened after an elderly man called a Greek newspaper anonymously and told them there was an bomb on board.

The paper called the police, who called the airline. No code word is believed to have been used.

The plane, which was carrying 290 passengers, landed safely.

The RAF is not releasing any more details of how many of its planes were involved for security reason.

The News of the World has the story:

THESE is the chilling moment anti-terrorist police swooped on a gang suspected of trying to buy radioactive material for a “dirty bomb” that could have slaughtered thousands of Britons. Three men were arrested at a London hotel after a joint operation between the News of the World and Scotland Yard’s elite Anti-Terrorist Branch. A fourth was arrested later. We infiltrated a sinister underworld network believed to be acting for Mr Big in Saudi Arabia—a known al-Qaeda hotbed.

By sheer coincidence the BCC will show its drama Dirty War today, about a dirty bomb attack by terrorists on the City of London.

HAARETZ: Four people suffer from shock when Qassams hit Sderot

Four people suffered from shock when Palestinians in the Gaza Strip fired three Qassam rockets at the western Negev town of Sderot on Sunday morning.

One rocket scored a direct hit on a home, the second fell between houses in a residential area and the third rocket landed in an open area.

AP: Car Bomb Kills Top Hamas Leader in Syria

Israeli security sources confirmed on Sunday that Israel was involved in a car bombing in the Syrian capital of Damascus that killed a senior Hamas official.

“Some people lead dangerous lives,” an Israeli official said in response to the assassination of Izz El-Deen Al-Sheikh Khalil.

Minutes after the assassination, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza immediately laid the blame at Israel’s door, saying the assassination was “a cowardly crime by the Zionist Mossad.”

The militant Palestinian group vowed to strike back with terror attacks inside Israel. “There will be a response that would be decided by the movement’s leaders inside the occupied territories,” a Hamas spokesman in Damascus said.

In a statement, the group said that it “stresses that these crimes which unify the Palestinian blood inside and outside Palestine would not terrorize us or stop us from pursuing the path of jihad and resistance.”

The blast happened around 11 A.M. in the al-Zahraa area of Damascus. A member of the Hamas political bureau, Mohammed Nazzal, told the Associated Press in Cairo that a bomb had been planted in Khalil’s car and it exploded as he tried to start it.

Israel Radio reported that the Khalil, 42, helped train Hamas’ chief bomb-maker Yehiya Ayash, who Israel assassinated in January 1996. Khalil is believed to be in charge of Hamas’s military wing outside the Palestinian territories.

Israel expelled Khalil from Gaza to Syria in 1992 along with a large group of Palestinians.

From The Australian :

Police arrested four men in London under Britain’s anti-terrorist law, as a newspaper claimed it had infiltrated a gang trying to buy radioactive material for a “dirty bomb”.

The Metropolitan Police said the four men - arrested under the Terrorism Act 2001 - had been taken into custody at a central London police station for further questioning.

“Several addresses have been searched,” a police spokesman said. “Some searches continue.”

All four men - whose names were not released - were detained under section 41 of the Terrorism Act, which refers to “the (suspected) commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism”.

The News of the World said it had co-operated with police after it infiltrated a gang that claimed to be looking for radioactive material on behalf of a Saudi described as sympathetic to “the Muslim cause”.

The Saudi, whose name was not disclosed, was reportedly willing to pay £300,000 (756,000) in cash for a kilogram of “highly powerful radioactive material” from Russia known as Red Mercury.

The News of the World said the material was developed by Soviet scientists during the Cold War “for making briefcase nuclear bombs” that could kill everyone within a few city blocks.

“It is very, very radioactive,” a member of the gang was quoted as telling Mazher Mahmood, the News of the World’s star investigative reporter, who posed as a Muslim extremist.

“The guy (from Saudi Arabia) said it is used for making bombs. It’ll either be for use here in the United Kingdom or in the United States,” the gang member reportedly said.

The gang allegedly consisted of a banker originally from Goa, India, his “sidekick” from Mozambique, and a Somalian formerly resident in Saudi Arabia, while the Saudi was said to have successfully applied for a visa to enter Britain.

Police said three suspects were arrested at a hotel in the Brent Cross district of north London, while a fourth man was taken into custody at his north London home.

A note on ‘Red Mercury’ : there is a lot of information, and even more disinformation, about this on the web. “Them’s who knows don’t say, and them who says don’t know”.

ran added a “strategic missile” to its military arsenal after a successful test, and the defense minister said Saturday his country was ready to confront any external threat.

The report by state-run radio did not say whether the test involved the previously announced new version of the Shahab-3 rocket, capable of reaching Israel and U.S. forces stationed in the Middle East, or a different missile.

“This strategic missile was successfully test-fired during military exercises by the Revolutionary Guards and delivered to the armed forces,” Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani was quoted as saying.

The exercises were held Sept. 12-18.

Read more…

JERUSALEM POST: Palestinian group threatens Gen. Moussa Arafat

A militant Palestinian group on Saturday accused Gen. Musa Arafat, the overall commander of the Palestinian Authority’s National Security Forces in the Gaza Strip, of trying to assassinate its leader and threatened to retaliate.

The Popular Resistance Committees, an alliance of various Palestinian groups operating in the Gaza Strip, said its leader, Mohammed Nashabat, who is also known as Abu Asef, escaped an attempt on his life carried out by Arafat’s security forces.

The group did not say when the alleged assassination attempt took place, but noted that other leaders had also been targeted.

It said two of the assassins, members of the PA Military Intelligence (which is also headed by Musa Arafat) were caught minutes before the attack.

HAARETZ: IDF razes houses in Khan Yunis after woman dies in Gaza attack

Israel Defense Forces bulldozers razed a number of houses in the Khan Yunis refugee camp early Saturday, a day after an Israeli woman was killed by mortar fire in the nearby settlement of Neveh Dekalim.

A UN official said 35 homes were destroyed, but an army spokesman later denied the report, saying that only around ten were torn down.

Local witnesses said some of the houses were inhabited only during daylight hours as residents move to safer accommodation after nightfall. They said as many as 100 were made homeless.

A significant military operation, and with evidence of cross-border co-operation. From The Australian :

A Gunbattle between security forces and Islamic militants fighting to create a Taliban-style state in Nigeria left 29 people dead, most of them Islamic militants, police said today.

Ade Ajakaiye, police commissioner for Borno state, said 27 militants and two police were killed in the fighting on Thursday in the Gworza hills, near the border with Cameroon.

Police and army troops had been pursuing the militants since Monday, when they attacked two police stations in Bama and Gworza - towns 40 kilometres apart in Borno state - killing four police officers and two civilians.

The attack was the first reported since their initial uprising was put down in January.

Security forces said they recovered 22 assault rifles and large quantities of ammunition in the operation.

Five militants who fled across the border into Cameroon were arrested by authorities there and will be returned to Nigeria, Ajakaiye said.
[…]
Nigerian army spokesman Colonel Mohammed Yusuf confirmed that troops of the army’s 21 Armoured Brigade had been involved in the operation with the police to flush out the militants.
[…]
The radical sect known as Al-Sunna wal Jamma, or “Followers of Mohammed’s Teachings in Arabic,” comprises mainly university students who want to create a Taliban-style state in Africa’s most populous nation.

Welcome! This briefing will be looking hard at the dark places most mainstream media seem determined to look away from, to better understand our declared enemies on their own terms and without illusions. Our goal is to bring you some of the top jihadi rants, idiotarian seething, and old-school Jew-hatred from around the world, leaving you more informed, more aware, and pretty disgusted every month. This Winds of Change.NET HateWatch briefing is brought to you by Lewy14. (Email me at my handle “hatewatch” here at windsofchange.net). Entil’zha veni!

HIGHLIGHTED TOPICS

• Religious Hate: Lessons on Beslan from Abu Bakar Bashir; 9/11 Anniversary celebrations; Palestinian TV: death to Jews; Kidnapping children OK’d by cleric; Authenticity of aggressive Jihad; apostasy in America.

• Idiotarian Seethings: Idiotarians of State; Egyptian Holocaust denier soap opera continues; queer eye for the Swaggart guy; Homeschoolers: the terrorist archetype; the Bushitler: a retrospective.

• Race and Culture: Chechen politician spins Beslan massacre; 9/11 is a joke; Zeyad on the root causes of conspiracy mongering; Child murderer a Palestinian hero; Neo Nazi’s on the rise in Saxony; Old school Nazi salute from Hizballah; Soft core anti-Semitism in Sweden.

• A Hopeful Note: Reaction to Beslan; Relatives of Chechen rebel call for end to terror; Former Kuwaiti Minister acknowledges equivocation on terror; An apology for 9/11; Iraqi’s choice words for Chirac; Arab progressive looks in the mirror; Beyond the “image” of Islam; Syrian professor wields sharp pen.

HAARETZ: Woman killed in mortar strike on home in Gaza settlement

An Israeli woman was killed and another was lightly wounded Friday morning when four mortar shells were fired at the Neveh Dekalim settlement, part of the Gush Katif bloc in the southern Gaza Strip.

One of the shells struck a home in the settlement, seriously wounding 24-year-old Tiferet Tratner, a Jerusalem resident, and leaving a second woman with light injuries.

Tratner was airlifted to Soroka Medical Center, where she died of her injuries. Her funeral was scheduled for 2:15 P.M. Friday in Jerusalem.

The house hit by the mortars also sustained heavy damage.

JERUSALEM POST: Report: Arab state helping Mossad track Hamas

An Arab state provided Israel with valuable intelligence on the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas and its leadership overseas, the London-based Arabic daily al-Hayat reported Friday.

According to the newspaper, an intelligence agency belonging to an Arab state supplied Israel with intelligence on Hamas leaders living in Beirut, Damascus, Tehran and Khartoum at the request of Mossad head Meir Dagan.

Dagan approached the unnamed Arab state with a request for information on Hamas leaders, namely Khaled Mashal, head of the organization’s political bureau, following the double suicide bombing in Beersheba last month in which 16 Israelis were killed.

AP: Israel Says Iran No. 1 Terrorism Exporter

UNITED NATIONS -- Intensifying its warnings about Iran, Israel on Thursday said Tehran has replaced Saddam Hussein as the "world's No. 1 exporter of terror," threatening the Jewish state and the entire world.

Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom also labeled Syria an "active" supporter of terror and called on the U.N. General Assembly "to address head-on" the activities of both Middle East states.

... The foreign minister, who on Wednesday said Iran must be taken before the Security Council over its nuclear program, said Tehran's missiles can reach London, Paris and southern Russia.

JERUSALEM POST: Russia proposes a terror suspect blacklist

Russia, which argues that its war in Chechnya is part of the global fight against terrorism, proposed Thursday that the UN Security Council establish a new blacklist of terror suspects that calls for the extradition of anyone whose name appears on it.

The Russians circulated a draft Security Council resolution asking the committee monitoring what governments are doing to fight terrorism to consider how to create a new list of “individuals, groups and entities involved in or associated with terrorist activities,” according to a copy obtained by The Associated Press.

The resolution also asked the committee to consider punishments against people on the list, including an arms embargo, freezing financial assets, and imposing travel bans and “expedited extradition of anyone named in the list.”

JERUSALEM POST: Zahar: Hamas won’t stop bombings

Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar has said that his movement will not halt suicide attacks against Israel, and denied reports that Hamas was willing to join the Palestinian Authority.

Zahar, who has been in hiding in the Gaza Strip since the assassination of his predecessors Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz Rantisi earlier this year, made his comments in an interview with the Saudi Web site Al-Arabiya.

He said those who are opposed to suicide bombings should ask themselves why Israel finally decided to quit the Gaza Strip.

Read the rest, just in case you’ve forgotten what Hamas’ overall goal is.

JERUSALEM POST: 15-year old suicide bomber apprehended

A 15-year old Palestinian was apprehended Tuesday on his way to executing a suicide bombing, Army sources – quoted on Israel Radio – disclosed Thursday evening.

Three other Palestinians from the village Yamun in the Jenin region were also apprehended for having planned the attack and assisted in transporting the 7 KG suicide belt.

One of the three, Za’el Aba Hara, was apprehended in Dir Hanna in the Galilee on Tuesday, and he admitted to having transported the device hidden in a sack of flour. He told interrogators that the belt had already been given to the youth, who received NIS 1,000 in order to commit suicide.

He said that the hidden suicide belt had been transported along with other household items of his by a Palestinian who is an Israeli resident in possession of an Israeli ID card.

Welcome! Our goal at Winds of Change.NET is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. Thursday’s Winds of War briefings are given by me, Colt, of Eurabian Times.

TOP TOPICS

• Two Americans have been beheaded by al-Qaeda in Iraq (JK: multimedia links here). A video of the third hostage has been released. Ken Bigley is shown begging for his life. Zarqawi has demanded the release of all female prisoners. It has been suggested that the women that concern him the most are the delightfully named Doctors ‘Germ’ and ‘Anthrax’. Dr Germ was to be released today, but that has apparently changed. Two Italian aid-workers have also been murdered.

• U.S. intelligence still believes that al-Qaeda is planning a ‘spectacular’ for this election season.

• An al-Qaeda attempt to bomb European embassies in Lebanon has been thwarted.

Other Topics Today Include: Iran Reports; Domestic Brief; new al-Qaeda leader; dead Tawhid ideologue; Karzai attacked; Jerusalem bomb blast; JI attacks ‘every six months’; Kashmir fighting; FSG fights terror; Syrian troops out of Beirut; US in Niger; Nigerian Islamists on rampage; Islamists in Algiera; al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia.