The first ruling within the new Dutch anti-terror law: “Anyone who preaches hate and violence lays the basis for committing crimes directed at instilling fear among the people and destroying Dutch democracy.” Source: BBC

The BBC reports Australian police arrested 16 people in Sydney and Melbourne preventing a “potentially catastrophic attack.”

Chemicals, weapons, and computers were seized in raids on 23 houses in Sydney and Melbourne Tuesday, following a 16-month investigation.

“I'm satisfied that we have disrupted what I would regard as the final stages of a large-scale terrorist attack, or the launch of a terrorist attack:”

Prosecutor Richard Maidment told the court the men had formed a terrorist group to kill “innocent men and women in Australia”.

He claims they received military-style training in rural Australia and had discussions about bomb-making.

[. . .]

“The members of the Sydney group have been gathering chemicals of a kind that were used in the London Underground bombings,” Mr Maidment said, adding that Abu Bakr was the ringleader of both the Melbourne and Sydney groups.

From California Yankee.

The Associated Press reminds us yesterday's tragic earthquake struck where the world's most wanted terrorist avoids justice, but maybe not mother nature's wrath:

No evidence suggests that the deadly earthquake that rocked Pakistan on Saturday injured or killed the world's top terror leader, Osama bin Laden.

The quake shook the border region of Afghanistan and Pakistan, where bin Laden is believed to be hiding. However, authorities at this point have no information indicating he's been injured or killed, said a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the information's sensitivity.

From California Yankee.

At this hour, CNN, MSNBC, and FNC are reporting that there will be an alert briefing by the New York City Police and Mayor addressing “unspecified threats for NYC subways”. The briefing scheduled to air at 5:30pm EDT.

Newsday (via Drudge)

(Reuters)

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. Monday's Winds of War briefings are given by Security Watchtower.

Top Topics

• Syrian leader Bashar Assad met with representatives from 10 Palestinian militant organizations, and urged them to continue their struggle towards statehood. The meeting came as international pressure on Syria continues to build.

• The Palestinian leadership is blaming Hamas for the assassination of Moussa Arafat, with one official saying “we have confirmed information that Hamas participated in the assassination operation.”

• Bangladesh police seized explosives, jihad material, and over 200 homemade bombs from a house they raided in Dhaka. Since the August 17th bombings, authorities have been cracking down on the banned Islamic group, Jumatul Mujahedin.

• After a 38 year presence, Israeli forces have withdrawn from the Gaza Strip. Thousands of Palestinian security forces began moving in as Palestinians celebrated into the night.

Other topics today include: Hezbollah still refuses to disarm; Iran's involvement in Iraq; al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia; Kudistan trail; Congressional hearings on Iran; Jordanian militants sentenced; 9/11 heroes honored; BRAC report; Islamic law in Ontario; Padilla detention; Liberia elections; Egypt elections; Georgian revolution; militants killed in Pakistan; U.S.-Britain labelled terrorists; Fast food bombings in Karachi; Conflict in Taiwan straights; Anti-terror measures in Australia; ties between London bombers & al Qaeda; Italy allows phone taps; suicide operations and more.

Read the Rest…

Reuters reports a Yemeni man was sentenced to 45 years in prison and fined $750,000 on Thursday for conspiring to support and fund al Qaeda and Hamas:

Mohammed Mohsen Yahya Zayed, 32, was convicted by a federal jury on March 10 of conspiring to provide material support and resources to al Qaeda and to Hamas.

[. . .]

His colleague Sheikh Mohammed Ali Hassan al-Moayad, 56, was sentenced in July to 75 years and fined $1.25 million in the same case. For each of five counts, al-Moayad received 15-year sentences, each to be served consecutively.

Prosecutor Kelly Moore said during the five-week trial that al-Moayad had ties to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and had bragged about having “taught him about Islamic law.”

The sheikh was arrested in Germany in 2003 after telling a federal agent posing as an American businessman he would help him funnel money to militants, prosecutors said. The sheikh and Zayed, who prosecutors said worked in tandem, were later extradited to the United States.

Zayed's plea for leniency fell on deaf ears. As he handed down the sentence, Judge Sterling Johnson said:

Everyone all over the world should condemn terrorists and terrorist organizations.

Reuters reports that the imprisoned founder of a radical Islamic group and three followers were indicted on Wednesday for plotting attacks on Los Angeles-area military facilities and synagogues, the Israeli consulate and El Al airlines.

The four men had purchased firearms with silencers, investigated making bombs and were ready to carry out attacks when two of them were caught robbing a gas station to fund the operation, U.S. Attorney Debra Yang told a news conference in Los Angeles.

“The evidence in this case indicates that the conspirators were on the verge of launching their attack,” she said, adding that the arrest had exposed “a chilling plot based on one man's interpretation of Islam.”

From California Yankee.

Agence France-Presse reports that a prominent London-based militant Islamic scholar has issued a fatwa banning suicide operations:

“To my mind, these operations are closer to suicide than to martyrdom-seeking, and they are taboo and not permissible” for a number of reasons, wrote Syrian-born Abdul Menem Mustafa Halimeh, alias Abu Baseer al-Tartussi, on his website.

The Saudi-owned pan-Arab daily Asharq Al-Awsat, which reported Tartussi's fatwa on Saturday, described him as a top ideologue for Islamist militants and said his edict had provoked angry reactions on Islamist websites, with some accusing him of letting down Al-Qaeda followers.

Tartussi cited several reasons for banning suicide operations including:

Suicide violates dozens of (Islamic) religious texts; and

Suicide bombings often “wrongfully killing innocent and sacred souls, be they Muslim or otherwise.”

From California Yankee.

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.

Today's Winds of War briefing is brought to you by evariste of Discarded Lies.

Top Topics

• The Department of Energy is going to release a whoooole lot of energy, blowing up truck bombs in the desert to figure out whether nuclear site security barriers are vulnerable to them.

• Dress-up time for Putin! Is it a pilot…a seaman…it's a tin-pot autocrat playing games with another tin-pot autocracy! The unprecedented 8-day-long joint military exercise, Peace Mission 2005, involving 10,000 Russian and Chinese troops, started on the 18th. The exercises are meant to send the US a message and sell more weapons. Meanwhile, Russia's defense budget will increase by 22% in FY 2006. Russia and China also want the US to quit its bases in their backyard to free them to pursue influence, resources and regional hegemony. The US is watching. According to the Russians, the scenario for the war games is ostensibly Russia and China are “assisting” a third country that has a terrorist insurgency. I'm sure they'll be very helpful.

• The Taliban are reopening the Afghan front with new tactics, flush with cash and weapons. They're taking a few pages out of the Iraq playbook. The CIS's anti-terror chiefs are concerned. The amnesty for Taliban fighters/government jobs program doesn't appear to be too effective either.

• The Pentagon's latest (and third, so far) 25-year roadmap for the development of unmanned aerial systems (née UAVs). If you're looking for pictures, vital stats and future plans for every unmanned craft in the US arsenal, this is the PDF for you. There are currently well over 1000 unmanned aerial systems in Iraq and Afghanistan. More at DefenseTech, too…

• In the wake of the New Folsom prison terror cell's unraveling plot, questions are being asked more urgently about Islamist recruitment in prison. Over 200 agents are involved in the investigation into the homegrown terrorist cell, a manifestation of Saudi Arabia's insidious war on the United States. According to geostrategy-direct (no link, sorry), the Saudi military is sending 100 officers a month to fight in Iraq. The cell itself may be homegrown, but at least one of the terrorists is not-he's a Pakistani national. Oh, Pakistan.

• JK: Meanwhile, here's some good news from Afghnistan. No, not Chrenkoff - but worthy. Just one of the good folks we're working with to keep these briefings going after Arthur Chrenkoff retires.

Other Topics Today Include:
Turkey holding Zarqawi confederate?; AQ chief in Saudi killed (yes, again); Putin flirts with Jordan; US permanent troop presence in Iraq details; US teams up with 4 countries against MS-13; NYPD & its Middle Eastern employees; ACLU whining; Arab Bank fined; two states of emergency along the border with Mexico; US shopping mall security learns from the Israelis; US mediates release of hundreds of POWs in Morocco; Mugabe tottering; how Binnie got da Bomb; 27 terrorist training camps in Pak sez India; JI US embassy truck-bomb plot thwarted; UK wrings hands as terrorists broadcast demoralizing messages inciting the death of its soldiers in Iraq-from their UK facilities!; IRA doings; UK appoints fox to guard hens; secret spilled; Bakri and Little Bakri still in the news and mucho mucho more…

Read the Rest….

The BBC reports a missile was fired at the USS Ashland docked in the Jordanian port of Aqaba:

“I can confirm that a rocket flew over the bow of USS Ashland and the rocket impacted in the roof of a warehouse. No sailors or marines were injured,” said Commander Breslau, of the US Fifth Fleet.

[. . .]

The USS Ashland and its sister amphibious ship, the USS Kearsarge, have been docked in Aqaba, Jordan's only sea port, for the past 10 days, witnesses said.

Both ships are reported to have left the port in response to the attack.

According to Bloomberg, second rocket landed at the airport in the neighboring Israeli city of Eilat at about 8:45 a.m. local time, partly exploding and causing unspecified damage.

From California Yankee.

A German Court today found Mounir el-Motassadeq guilty of membership of the Hamburg terror cell that took part in the 9/11 attacks and sentenced him to seven years. El-Motassadeq was accused of providing logistical help to the Hamburg al Qaeda cell that included 9/11 hijackers Mohamed Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi and Ziad Jarrah, but was acquitted of being accessory to the September 11 attacks.

Bloombergreports that the U.S. denied the Hamburg court's request to hear testimony from Ramzi Binalshibh, an alleged mastermind of the attacks, who is held by the U.S. at an undisclosed location after his capture in Pakistan in 2002. The U.S. only sent a summary of minutes from his interrogations that indicate El-Motassadeq may not have known about the attacks.

According to CNN, the U.S. Justice Department faxed the German court summaries of the interrogation of two key detainees: Ramzi Binalshibh and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed:

Binalshibh, believed to be the Hamburg cell's contact with al Qaeda, said “the only members of the Hamburg cell were himself, Atta, al-Shehhi and Jarrah,” according to the summary. He also said, “the activities of the Hamburg group were not known to el-Motassadeq.”

The group was “well known by a number of Arab students,” but “Binalshibh said that the people in question had no knowledge and were not participants in any facet of the operative plans of September 11.”

Mohammed is believed to have masterminded the 9/11 plot, and Ould Slahi, a Mauritanian man, is suspected to have been an al Qaeda contact in Germany.

According to the summary, the Justice Department had “doubts” about some of the testimony, but the summary did not elaborate.

Binalshibh also said that while el-Motassadeq had transferred money on behalf of one of the plotters, he did not know for what purpose. Mohammed told interrogators that Binalshibh had not told el-Motassadeq of the details for security reasons.

Binalshibh gave interrogators a list of more than a dozen names of people who he said had no knowledge of and did not take part in any aspect of the 9/11 plan. The list included Zacarias Moussaoui, a suspect being held in the United States.

From California Yankee.

First article by New York Times.

The New York Times reports the anonymous source for the Able Danger story is Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer.

Northeast Intelligence Network looks at whether or not DOD attorneys had legal authority to stop the dissemination of the information uncovered by Able Danger.
[Caveat: some good research and more than a handful of personal opinion given as analysis]

This is going to get a lot more interesting before it goes away.

Note: Also available from “The Opinion Journal” and Chrenkoff. To James Taranto, Joe Katzman, and all of you who support the series, as always, many thanks.

Recently, a group of talented young Afghans found themselves abroad as great ambassadors for their country – for both good and bad reasons:

Four young Afghan students did more than merely stun their competitors when they came away with some of the top prizes at an international mathematics competition held recently in Almaty, Kazakhstan. They also changed how students from 22 other countries perceive Afghanistan.

Ahmad Mustafa Naseri and Mustafa Naseri, both 17 (and unrelated), students at the Turkish-run Afghan-Turk School in Kabul, won gold medals while Omid Sadiqyar and Mohammad Rafi Firoz, also 17 and students at a similar school in the northern Shiberghan province, were awarded silver medals following a day-long algebra competition in May.

Ahmad Mustafa said that while he was proud of his gold medal, he was saddened to discover that students from other countries thought of Afghanistan only as the home of terrorism, drugs production and internecine conflict.

“One competitor from Australia told me, ‘I was very surprised that Afghans were taking part in this competition – we always hear that Afghanistan is a major drug producer and a country for terrorists who are always fighting one another,’ ” said Ahmad Mustafa.

But now, Ahmad Mustafa said, the Australian promised to return home and talk of the talented and brave Afghans he had met.

The Australian student is not alone – the negative image of Afghanistan is quite widespread, as the latest Harris Poll shows:

While the U.S. public has been paying a fair amount of attention to the situation in Iraq, they have not been paying as much attention to Afghanistan. However, when asked specifically about the situation in Afghanistan, U.S. adults, on the whole, feel quite negative about the prospects for success.

Sadly, there simply aren't enough gifted math students in Afghanistan to send abroad to unmake the negative image of their country being perpetrated by the Western media. Focusing almost exclusively on drugs and violence might make for exciting news, but it does great disservice both to the people of Afghanistan, who already have to work under great disadvantages to turn around one of the most impoverished nations on earth, but also to the international public, on whose strong support the Afghans are relying to rebuild their country.

Below, the past four weeks’ worth of stories from the other Afghanistan.

• Society
  
• Reconstruction
  
• Humanitarian Aid
  
• The Coalition Troops
  
• Security

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.

Today's Winds of War briefing is brought to you by evariste of Discarded Lies.

Top Topics

• The main planks of Tony Blair's antiterrorist platform. Which he'll need, as his intelligence chiefs are warning him that Britain faces an Islamic insurgency at home, too. Meanwhile, The Sunday Times goes undercover in an academy of hatred.

• California is overhauling its domestic intelligence apparatus, and California's Office of Homeland Security is training private security guards in counterterrorism. Meanwhile, a top California state National Guard commander is accused of trying to set up a renegade intelligence collection system, drawing much controversy.

• Intelligence, Homeland Security-now the State Department is next in line for a major overhaul as the Bush administration seeks to reshape government for the present and future challenges facing the nation. State will move away from its Cold War obsessions, toward a focus on weapons proliferators and terrorists. Its democracy promotion muscle is also to be beefed up.

• India and China are burying the hatchet: an old border dispute has been resolved and the two countries are looking forward to increased trade and investment, as well as a space exploration partnership. And yet, China is engaging in an unprecedented buildup of its capability to wage war on India at the same time.

Other Topics Today Include:
Ahmadinejad gets snubbed, snubs back; Egyptian torture; AIPAC lobbyists charged; Revolution ain't coming to Iran; FBI's translation backlog swells; unwelcome customs laxity; Mauritania coup; Jaish e Mo to hijack jet; India to fence off Banglia; Aus. to join UK, France in terror-preacher eviction measures; Chechnya jihad on Wahhabis; Aus. and Canada want to sell uranium to China; 7 in 10 Guantanamites to be repatriated; Binnie large and in charge sez old pal; the Saudis Knew! and much more…

Read the Rest…

Sky is reporting a major raid: including stun grenades and at least one controlled explosion in uber-trendy Notting Hill off Tavistock road. It is believed they have arrested someone who may be one of the bombers.

“It is half a mile or so from where a bomb was left on Thursday last week and discovered later by a member of the public.”

The Army are said to be involved as well.

The Associated Press reports that North American Muslims issued a fatwa against terrorism:

In the fatwa, the 18-member Fiqh Council of North America wrote that people who commit terrorism in the name of Islam were “criminals, not 'martyrs':”

“There is no justification in Islam for extremism or terrorism,” the scholars wrote. “Targeting civilians' life and property through suicide bombings or any other method of attack is haram - or forbidden.”

According to the Associated Press, the fatwa did not specifically address suicide bombings in a war, but the scholars barred Muslims from helping anyone “involved in any act of terrorism or violence.” The council also declared that Muslims were obligated to help law enforcement officials protect civilians:

“It is the civic and religious duty of Muslims to cooperate with law enforcement authorities,” according to the Fiqh Council. The term “fiqh” refers to Islamic legal issues and understanding the faith's religious law.

[. . .]

“We pray for the defeat of extremism and terrorism,” the scholars wrote. “We pray for the safety and security of our country, the United States, and its people. We pray for the safety and security of all inhabitants of our planet.”

UPDATE: The text of the fatwa is posted here:

From California Yankee.

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. In addition, we also have our in-depth Iraq Report today.

Today's Winds of War briefing is brought to you by Colt of Eurabian Times and USMC_Vet of The Word Unheard.

Top Topics

• Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld put forth one of his famous 'snowflakes' in October 2003 asking direct and open-ended questions regarding the prosecution of the War on Terror. Resulting from that was a study on precisely how to win the War on Terror. Expected shortly is an unclassified version of the signed and adopted report, “National Military Strategic Plan for the War on Terrorism”. (Speaking of plans, have you seen the new Army Force Structure revisions?)

• General Jack Keane says that over 50,000 Iraqi insurgents have been either killed or captured by American and Iraqi forces in Iraq since the beginning of 2005.

• Egyptian authorities were tipped off to an impending attack at Sharm al-Sheikh, but tightened security around casinos rather than hotels. A passionate exchange involving an Egyptian parliament minister, Hamadein Sabahi, on an Egyptian television network is stunning. The minister praises al Qaida 'when it kills Americans…Any kidnapping and slaughtering of an Amerinca in Iraq is good.' His counterpart condemns al-Qaeda and bin Laden…because they do not lend material support to Islamic Jihad and Hamas in Palestine and Tel Aviv is still standing.
  These are among the leaders of Egypt, the country to whom Israel is going to turn over security along the Philadelphi Route along the Gaza-Egyptian border in October.

• The British bombers who failed in their attack attempts on 7/21 were seen by neighbors returning to their apartment to rearm themselves for another attack. While British intelligence and police search their land for terrorists, Kofi Annon hopes old Irish nuns receive equal scrutiny.

Other Topics Today Include:
Iran resuming enrichment, no matter what, now; The Rise of the IRGC; Algerian diplomats killed in Iraq; Army Force Structure revised; Mullah Omar calls for Jihadist unity as Arab Afghans name an Egyptian as head; Syria in the crosshairs; Has al Qaeda infiltrated the CIA and FBI?; School for suicide bombers discovered in northern Italy and much, much more.

Read the Rest…

[by counter-terror analyst Dan Darling]

Dan Nexon, who is among other things an assistant professor at Georgetown, asked some very interesting questions as to whether or not there is an organized terror network. As an advocate of this position, I feel inclined to answer them and hope that others will agree.

Dan writes in the comments of this thread:

Dan may be right, or he may be wrong. But conclusive evidence either way? We lack that - at least in the public domain - in spades.

Ah, but do we? I don't think so and neither does Michael Scheuer, the man who once headed up the CIA's bin Laden unit. Regardless of one's opinion of his views on other issues, I think that we can definitely agree that Scheuer is in a position to know on these topics and one of the reasons he wrote Through Our Enemies' Eyes was to demonstrate to other CIA analysts the value of open-source information in intelligence analysis. Like its successor Imperial Hubris, Through Our Enemies' Eyes definitely supports the idea that there is an organized terror network, as does Richard Clarke's Against All Enemies if one desires another insider account. Other statements and court documents issued by European anti-terrorism judges as Baltasar Garzon and Jean-Louis Bruguiere likewise support this opinion. Newsweek even took the administration to task for assuming otherwise in an August 2004 article entitled “Like Clockwork” that includes the following statement:

Read the Rest…

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.

Today's Winds of War briefing is brought to you by evariste of Discarded Lies.

Top Topics

• Musharraf gave Gen. Abizaid something of a tongue-lashing over border incursions.

• Will Al Qaeda attack us with nukes on Aug. 6 and Aug. 9? Probably alarmism, but I guess we'll see. Tom Tancredo says that if they do, we should nuke Mecca. WorldNetDaily has the nine cities most likely to get hit. Predictably, various people are pissed at Tancredo.

• The DHS is deploying a new top-secret network to transmit classified information to hundreds of state and local officials, its officers told Congress.

• The US has decided to make India a strategic nuclear power partner, offering the world's largest democracy expedited access to fuel supplies for heavily-guarded facilities in Mumbai and technology sharing. India may even get a role in ITER, the planned nuclear fusion reactor.

• The DoD's annual report on China's military is finally out. Required reading. It looks not only at numbers and statistics but tries to divine China's strategic intentions. Also, Asia Times Online has a report that takes a God's-eye point of view at the US-China relationship. The verdict? The honeymoon is over. China is making much hay out of the little-known story of a Chinese man who led an armada around the world hundreds of years before Columbus. In other news, China paraded new naval assets that are using AEGIS technology stolen from the United States.

Other Topics Today Include:
Italy to stay in Iraq a spell; Palestinian civil war; PDB to merge with daily terror threat report; nuclear terrorism response simulation; Kenya arrests five; Clinton prods on Mugabe; Pak nuke worries; Euro arrest warrant made toothless; UK to act on imams; Zawahiri a KGB agent and more…

Read the Rest…

An explosion shook the northwest Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela on Saturday, leaving glass shards scattered across a central plaza and prompting police to cordon off the area, a witness told CNN.

Officials in Santiago de Compostela, the political capital of Spain's northwest region of Galicia, and at the Interior Ministry in Madrid, had no immediate comment.

Some Spanish news reports said there were no injuries and that one person had been detained, but officials could not immediately confirm those details to CNN.

An employee at the two-star Husa Universal Hotel, located on the Plaza de Galicia, said, “I heard the bomb. The police have blocked off the area.”

Read more..

Just a breaking headline for now:

London police say man shot dead at subway station Friday “not connected” to Thursday's attempted bombings.

Details soon.

Update:

The man shot dead by police in south London yesterday is not connected to attempted terror attacks on the capital, Scotland Yard said today.

“For somebody to lose their life in such circumstances is a tragedy and one that the Metropolitan Police Service regrets,” said a spokesman.

The fatal shooting happened in Stockwell at 10am yesterday when armed plain clothes police officers shot a man as he tried to board a train at the underground station.

He had emerged from a nearby house that was under surveillance because of a suspected link to Thursday’s attempted bomb attacks on three Tube trains and a bus.

The man, whose name has not yet been released, was then followed by surveillance officers.

He is thought to have caught a bus to Stockwell Tube station where he was challenged by officers, who told him to stop.

The man, who is believed to be of South American appearance, then bolted down an escalator, according to witnesses.

He apparently tried to get on a train before he was, according to witnesses, shot five times in the head by an officer with an automatic pistol.

More at Sky

From the Washington Times :

Soldiers from Massachusetts and Hawaii who work at the U.S. military detention facility at U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, gave visiting home-state senators a piece of their mind last week.
Sens. Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat, and Daniel K. Akaka, Hawaii Democrat, met with several soldiers during a visit led by Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. John W. Warner, Virginia Republican.
Pentagon officials said soldiers criticized the harsh comments made recently by Senate Democrats.
Sen. Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the Senate's No. 2 Democrat, last month invoked widespread military outrage when he compared Guantanamo to the prison labor systems used by communist tyrant Josef Stalin, Cambodia's Pol Pot and Adolf Hitler.
“They got stiff reactions from those home-state soldiers,” one official told us. “The troops down there expressed their disdain for that kind of commentary, especially comparisons to the gulag.”
A spokesman for Mr. Kennedy had no comment. A spokeswoman for Mr. Akaka confirmed that the senator met with soldiers from Hawaii but did not recall receiving any complaints during the meeting.
Both senators made no mention of the incident in press statements after the visit.

AP:

A group citing ties to al-Qaida claimed responsibility for the bombings that killed at least 62 people Saturday at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

The group, calling itself the Abdullah Azzam Brigades in Syria and Egypt, made the claim in a statement posted on an Islamic Web site.

It said its “holy warriors targeted the Ghazala Gardens hotel and the Old Market in Sharm el-Sheikh.''

The authenticity of the statement could not be immediately verified.

Breaking: 7:10 pm - 7/22

Reuters:

An explosion shook the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Saturday, starting a fire and sending a cloud of smoke up over the town, a resident said.

The explosion, audible more than one km (half a mile) away, appeared to take place in a market area which includes shops popular with tourists, said the resident, who asked not to be named.

Will update.

update:

The first explosion, shortly after one a.m., was audible more than one km (half a mile) away, he said. It started a fire and smoke billowed over the town.

About 15 minutes later, two explosions were audible from the direction of Naama Bay, about six km (four miles) away, he said. Naama Bay has dozens of luxury hotels popular with divers and holidaymakers from Europe.

This source says three killed in five blasts.

Update: MSNBC is saying car bombs

AP

At least two large explosions rocked the Red Sea tourist resort of Sharm el-Sheik on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula late Friday, and a hotel was heavily damaged, witnesses said.

The explosions could be felt miles from the site and smoke was seen rising from the area, witnesses said. There was no immediate word on casualties.

One blast hit the Ghazala Gardens hotel, a four-star resort on the main tourist strip in the Naama Bay area of Sharm el-Sheik, witnesses said. A second blast was heard in the Old Market, another Sharm neighborhood.

“The hotel was completely burned down, destroyed,'' said Amal Mustafa, 28, an Egyptian who was visiting with her family and who drove by the Ghazala Gardens.

Reuters reports that there were four car bombs.

A third person, Ahmed Fawzi, an Egyptian lawyer visiting Naama Bay on business, told Reuters that one of the explosions ripped the door of his office off its hinges.

When he went outside to find out what happened, bystanders said four cars had exploded in the car park of the Moevenpick Hotel. President Hosni Mubarak has a holiday villa in the adjacent Golf Hotel

At least 20 dead

100 wounded, at least

Fox says 25 dead

Map of area

Ghazala Gardens

Sources say rescue forces are having trouble reaching the bomb scenes.

Update: Death toll at 30.

Fox is reporting SEVEN blasts.

Reports that death toll is near 40.

Al Jazeera says 27 Egyptian soldiers are missing in the wake of the blast.

More updates (5am):

More details about the bombings:

At least four car bombs were used in the attack, said a security official in the operations control room in Cairo monitoring the crisis. One went off in the driveway of the Ghazala Gardens hotel, a 176-room four-star resort on the main strip of hotels in Naama Bay, said the governor of South Sinai province, Mustafa Afif………..Another car bomb exploded in the Old Market, an area a few miles away, killing 17 people — believed to be Egyptians — sitting at a outdoor coffee shop, the control room official said. Three minibuses were set ablaze. It was not clear if they were carrying passengers, the official said.

Another blast went off near the Movenpick Hotel, said a receptionist there who declined to identify himself.

More details:

In the most devastating attack, a bomber rammed his car into Ghazala Gardens Hotel, according to an eyewitness.

“A suicide car bomber forced the barrier at the entrance of the hotel. A member of the security staff tried to stop him but he sped towards the reception and there was a huge explosion,” an unnamed hotel employee told AFP news agency.

Parts of the front walls of the hotel collapsed, trapping people under the rubble.

A few hundred metres away, a bomb went off in a car park near the Moevenpick Hotel and popular nightlife spots, causing widespread damage and casualties.

In the Old Market area blast, about four kilometres (2.5 miles) away, 17 people - believed to be Egyptian workers - were killed as they gathered at a street cafe, rescue officials said.

7:22 am:

Death toll has been raised to 83.

: Eight foreigners were among at least 83 people killed in multiple bombings in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Saturday, Egyptian police said.

Two Britons, two Italians, one Ukrainian, one Russian, one Dutch citizen and one Israeli of Arab descent died, the sources told AFP.

Egyptians were believed to have taken the brunt of the blasts with medics putting the overall death toll at 83.

Police said 30 bodies still had to be identified.

FOX

British police have made a second arrest in connection to an attempted bomb attack on London's transit systems.

The suspect was apprehended in Stockwell, the south London neighborhood where another suspect was detained Friday and another man was fatally shot by police in a subway station, Scotland Yard said.

A man has been arrested in connection with Thursday's attempted bomb attacks on London's transport system, police say.

Scotland Yard said Friday's arrest took place at an address in Stockwell, south London, as “part of the investigation into the incidents of July 21.”

Police would not comment on whether the man was one of four shown in CCTV pictures of suspects released Friday

.

Read more…

SKY

Detectives investigating the attempted bombings in London are searching a house in north west London near Paddington.

Armed police are carrying out an operation at a house in the Harrow Road area of West Kilburn, Scotland Yard has confirmed.

Sky's Correspondent Graham Leach, who is at the scene, said there is a “formidable” police presence.

He added that two women and a teenage boy have reportedly been searched by police.

The operation is reportedly centred on a Thai restaurant.

Also:

CNN:

Fatal shooting in subway station linked to ongoing anti-terror probe, London police say. Images released of four men wanted in connection with failed bombings.

[..]

Four suspects in Thursday's attempted bombings of three London train stations and a double-decker bus have been identified through closed circuit television footage, a police source with knowledge of the investigation said.

CCTV images of the four suspects were later shown.

One commuter Teri Godly described how she had stood next to the man the British media described as a suspected suicide bomber before police charged in and shot him several times.

“A tall Asian guy, shaved head, slight beard, with a rucksack got in front of me,” she told Sky News television.

More as we get it…

More on the search:

A witness earlier said heavily armed police had descended on part of Harrow Road in west London, shouting at people to stay off the streets.

“There's what looks like a bomb disposal-type vehicle, armoured, and there's several armed officers around it,” Houst Monfaradi told BBC television, adding there was a huge police presence in the area.

“About half hour an ago, police ran up my road telling everyone to get inside their houses. Anyone who even pops their head out, they scream at them: 'get inside your house'.”

Looks like there is an incident in Canary Wharf. Picture and story here.

Here's one suspect:

CNN has the four photos on the front page.

A statement posted Friday on an Islamic website in the name of an al-Qaeda-linked group claimed responsibility for latest blasts targeting London's transport system.

The group, Abu Hafs al Masri Brigade, also claimed responsibility for the July 7 bombings which killed 52 people and four suicide bombers.

The statement's authenticity could not be immediately verified.

“Our strikes in the depths of the capital of the British infidels our only a message to other European governments that we will not relent and sit idle before the infidel soldiers will leave the land of the two rivers,” said the statement.

Read more…

Just a breaking headline, link in a minute.

From BBC:

A man has been shot at Stockwell Tube station by armed police officers, police confirm.

Passengers were evacuated from a Tube train on the Northern Line station in south London after the incident.

Passenger Mark Whitby told BBC News he had seen an Asian man shot five times by “plain-clothes police officers”.

Services on the Victoria and Northern lines have been suspended following a request by the police, London Underground said.

Fox is reporting the suspect is dead, but they have no link yet, just a headline.

Also in regards, to the Asian description: 'Asian' in the UK sense means exclusively somebody from the Indian subcontinent, i.e. Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Sri Lankan.

SKY:

Alarmed onlookers said they saw police, some in plain clothes, chasing a man before opening fire.

Reports said the suspect was pushed to the ground and shot five times at close range.

Passenger Briony Coetsee said: “We were on the tube and then we suddenly heard someone say 'get out, get out' and then we heard gunshots.”

Air and road ambulance crews have been sent to the scene and unconfirmed reports suggest the man was involved in Thursday's assault on the capital.

I guess five shots at close range would confirm that he's dead.

CNN:

Witness Mark Whitby told the BBC Friday that an Asian man was shot five times at close range after he had jumped on a train at Stockwell station — close to the Oval, one of four sites targeted by suspected bombers on Thursday — was a suspected suicide bomber.

Whitby said the train was standing in the station with its doors open when the Asian man ran on, pursued by three plainclothes officers.

I'd venture to say that by “suspected suicide bomber,” they mean one of the suspects from yesterday. It's not likely they're going to shoot a guy loaded with explosives in the tube station.

Update:

Sky:

Chris Wells, a 28-year-old company manager, said he was travelling on the Victoria Line towards Vauxhall when he left the train at Stockwell.

He saw about 20 police officers, some of them armed, rushing into the station before a man jumped over the barriers with police giving chase.

He said: “There were at least 20 officers and they were carrying big black guns.

“The next thing I saw was this guy jump over the barriers and the police officers were chasing after him and everyone was just shouting 'get out, get out'.”

Also breaking:

A group linked to al Qaeda has claimed responsibility for the latest London bombings, as forensic teams examine the rucksack bombs found on a bus and in Tube trains.

The group, Abu Hafs al Masri Brigade, also claimed responsibility for the explosions on July 7.

The statement's authenticity could not be immediately verified and some doubt has been cast on the group's previous claims.

There had been rumors of a mosque being surrounded - looks like a false alarm and the incident is over.

And now my sources say that the suspect was a wearing a large, heavy coat - perhaps to conceal explosives - and that he was shot in the head.

The police are giving a briefing soon. We'll find out. Maybe.

Two clarifications:

Sky News Crime Correspondent Martin Brunt said: “The officer or officers involved in this clearly felt this suspect was about to detonate a bomb.”

And: An earlier bomb threat targeting a mosque in east London has been given the all-clear by police.

Update 7:20:

This is such an odd story - eyewitness accounts differ from official accounts right now, plus there are tons of swirling rumors - black bags, smoke, bomb threats, etc. that it will be a while before it all clears up.

11:30

Dead man has been confirmed as suspected Oval St. (would-be) bomber.

8:26 am: Just breaking, trying to get some info.

Sky News:

There have been unconfirmed reports of an apparently minor explosion on the London Underground.

A series of incidents have been reported near Warren Street, Oval and Shepherd's Bush stations on the London Underground.

Fox is reporting that a building have been evactuated and smoke is coming from undeground.

BBC:

The whole of the Northern Line has been suspended, along with the Victoria Line and the Hammersmith and City. One hospital has begun its emergency plan.

A spokesman for London Underground said the nature of the incidents was unknown.

There are no reports of any casualties.

One hospital, near Warren St station, has started its emergency procedure.

Sky again:

Train passenger Ivan McCracken told Sky News he spoke to an Italian man who witnessed an explosion.

“He told me he had seen a man carrying a rucksack which suddenly exploded. It was a minor explosion but enough to blow open his rucksack. Everyone rushed from the carriage. People evacuated very quickly. There was no panic.

“I didn't see anyone injured but there was shock and fright.

“There was a smell of smoke.”

“The man who was holding the rucksack looked extremely dismayed.

Police have cordoned off the streets around Warren Street station. They said a suspect package had been reported on a Victoria Line train.

FOX tv is reporting that Scotland Yard said there was an “incident” on a bus - Hackney Road bus.

BBC has confirmed the bus incident.

BBC now reporting detonators only, no explosions.

People have been talking about shooting, but sources believe they mistook the sounds of the detonators for gunshots.

Also, any reports of nailbombs - and there have been several - have been denied.

From a reader in the comments:

Email from a friend in Shepherd's Bush,

“I had just got on the train at Sheperds Bush (H&C Line) when it all kicked off there.

Didn't here a bang, people were calm, aussie bloke said “fuck this, more explosives!” and pegged it.

Out of the station and a woman told me a guy in the last carriage was laid on his back, that his backpack had exploded and everyone had come into her carriage crying…”

Ok, now Reuters is reporting that the nail bomb story is true.

Update: No casualties on bus, which seems to have been evacauated before the “incident,” and one injury at Warren Street.

This is looking very much like a planned bombing that didn't quite go off.

Guardian

A British Transport Police spokesman said: “One person has received an injury at Warren Street. “We cannot confirm what the injury is, how it was received or who serious it is. We are still waiting for more information.”

FOX:

Simon Marks, president and chief correspondent for Feature Story News, was reporting from the Warren Street Underground station for FOX News. He said the area was cordoned off as dozens of fire trucks and emergency vehicles were arriving.

“I think this looks like much more than a false alarm at this point,” Marks told FOX News.

From Rich, in the comments:

Queens college hospital is being sealed of by armed police, the injured person may be one of the would be bombers.

Update 9:20

SKY:

Sky News Foreign Affairs editor Tim Marshall said: “There is a bus parked there which is empty and there is nobody anywhere near it. This does indicate that police think the bus is still dangerous.”

Sky News Online's Rob Cole is at Shepherd's Bush. He said: “The whole of Shepherd's Bush Green is sealed off. About 400 metres on both sides of the Tube station is affected.”

Network Rail say all mainline train services are running from London stations.

Reports of HazMat teams on the site now.

Just got a report that CNN is reporting one person dead - will check on that.

Here's that nail bomb confirm by Reuters.

Update: the death seems to be a rumor but there is one definite injured person. Also, FOX tv reporting that a chase of a suspect and arrest has ensued….will look for link on that.

9:45:

London police have confirmed four explosions.(via Fox headline)

From TCP contributor Andrew:

The police are saying its not a “major incident” yet…it seems its become “major” now. UCL Hospital has been cordoned off by police. Mobile network has been cut off and tube network is shut down. Bombs seem to be smaller than last time but they are not sure what is going on. People are being told to stay where we are.

Update 10:00

Reports that this has been upgraded to a MAJOR incident.

BBC confirms reports of armed men entering University College Hospital.

All signs point to the injured person being one of the terrorists.

A Flckr photoset from Warren St. today

Blair speaking in a few moments…

Reports of an arrest being made…

Incident map

Pictures here

From Fox:

Police in chemical protection suits were seen preparing to enter the Warren Street station. Sky News reported that police said no chemical agents were involved in the explosions.

There was also an incident at 10 Downing Street, where British Prime Minister Tony Blair's offices are located. Two police officers trained their guns on a man before leading him off the premises; his shirt was unbuttoned in the front.

11:00

SKY: An internal memo to staff at the hospital has warned them to be on the lookout for a black male, possibly of Asian origin, about 6ft 2ins tall, wearing a blue top with wires protruding from the rear of the top.

Blair Speaks:

“We can't minimizes incidents such as this … we know why these things are done — they're done to scare people, to frighten, to make them anxious and worried,” British Prime Minister Tony Blair said during a press conference with Australian Prime Minister John Howard, who was in London for a meeting with his British counterpart.

Blair added that he has spoken with Metropolitan police ommissioner and that, “his hope is that things can now get back to normal again as quickly as possible.”

“I think we've just got to react calmly and continue with our business as much as possible as normal,” the prime minister added.

Blair also thanked Howard for Australia's support in the War on Terrorism (search), particularly after the July 7 bombings in the United Kingdom, which took the life of one Australian.

“This scourge of terrorism is one that we all face together,” Blair said.

“Terrorism is the enemy of all free people,” added Howard.

Lots of speculation on this being the work of copy cat bombers. Guardian:

One thing is clear about this afternoon's events: the bombers and bomb makers were very different from the suicide bombers whose attacks exactly two weeks ago killed more than 50 people.

First indications suggested those responsible for today’s attacks were “amateurs” and their bombs were crude. There is a report for example, that one of the devices was a nail bomb.

[…]

But so many questions remain. Were they copy-cat bombers? Were the targets chosen in the form of the four points of the compass - north, south, east, west, like the July 7 bombs were supposed to be?

11:37

FOX reporting that the explosives are the same type used in the July 7th attacks.

No trace of chemical agents

BBC reporter's log

What happened on the Number 26 Bus

In regards the the “Asian” description of the suspect, please read this comment.

Listening to this live via BBC. These are as near to quotes as I can manage:

• Can't minimize incidents like this

• We know whey they're done … to scare people.

• Fortunately, in this instance, there appear to have been no casualties.

• We've go to react calmly.

• I will go back to the schedule of meetings I had.

[Ed: Now he goes into thanking the Aussie Prime minister for his visit, etc. No idea if he knows police just arrested a man near Downing Street]

I'm listening to the BBC on my sat radio here in the office. I'll post their updates here as they come; apologies for typos.

• Three stations evacuated and three lines shut down: Oval, Warren Street, Shepherds Bush

• So far, no reports of casualties

• Smoking coming from at least one of the stations

• Also an incident on a bus in East London: There was a “bang” and windows on the top level of the bus were blown out

• Reports that the explosions came from “detonators, not bombs”

• 9:06 am est — BBC now reports one person injured at Warren Street

• 9:07 am est — Correspondent at Warren Street says passers-by were making claims of smoke and a “bang.” Area being sealed off by police now. No ambulances.

• 9:07 am est — Correspondent at Shepherds Bush says area is being cordoned off

• 9:11 am est — Bus official: Incident was on the #26 bus in Hackney. Again, top windows blown out.

• 9:12 am est – Fire brigade spokesman says smoke was seen coming from Warren Street station

• 9:12 am est – DID HE GET AWAY? Eyewitness at Oval: Like a loud balloon pop; something on the floor looked like it had exploded; a man ran - ran right by me - with others screaming to “stop him”; he left a bag on the train.

• 9:16 am est - London hospital near the incidents has NOT been asked to prepare for unusual casualties.

• 9:17 am est – Eyewitness at Warren Street live on the phone with BBC: People said a bag had exploded that people in that carriage had seen, but they were not hurt. The train then pulled into the station and everyone got off the train.

• 9:27 am est – Correspondent at Warren Street: Police cordon is up. Situation still confused. No sense of immediate panic. Ambulances on stand-by. Police are asking the cordon to move further back.

• 9:33 am est – BBC reports London Police Chief has confirmed there had been four explosions, but that they were very small ones. Cordon at Shepherds Bush also being moved back.

• 9:41 am est - Reports at Oval (I think … typing fast here0 of eyewitness seeing a “small, black rucksack that had been split open” with a white material coming out.

[Ed: Wonder if these folks forgot to synchronize watches …]

• 9:42 am est - News conference by London Police Chief: Londoners can help by staying where they are and giving the transport system a break.

• 9:55 am est - Correspondent at Warren Street: Two officials going into Warren Street station in “full protective equipment” [Ed - Unclear if these were Hazmat or not, but they were described as “Michelin Men”]; since then, the journalists have been moved back from about 100 meters to 300-400 meters away.

• 9:56 am est - Correspondent at Oval: Press being moved back to 300+ meters there as well. [Ed: Seems all the cordons are being moved substantially back] Another report of a suspicous man running from the scene.

• 10:36 am est - A man has been arrested by armed police in Whitehall outside the Ministry of Defense.

• 10:51