Immigrants, Converts Terror Threat to Europe

Europe alert to triple terror threat

By Olivier Guitta

Last November, Gilles de Kerchove, the European Union’s anti-terror chief, said that al-Qaeda was the biggest threat to Europe. To confirm this, Western intelligence services have recently established operational links between al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and al-Qaeda in The Islamic http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=2763 (AQIM) whose goals include striking at the heart of Europe.

Al-Qaeda has not made any secret of its eagerness to target Europe. Indeed, Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda’s number two, has repeatedly threatened Europe. In 2007, numerous al-Qaeda-linked plots were foiled in Europe and several cells were dismantled in France, http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=3080, in terror attacks.

Incidentally, German intelligence confirmed that, in the past few months, Islamist recruiters targeted new http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=3323 to Islam. The reason being that the latter are less easily identifiable and have better understandings of German culture and habits. Also what particularly worries German authorities is the rise in the number of young German Muslims traveling to study in Pakistan.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JC06Ak01.html

2008-03-08