On Monday night London police questioned seven suspected
terrorists detained when 150 police, security, and
intelligence officers raided North London's Finsbury Park
Mosque, regarded as a center for Islamic extremism.
Two helicopters hovering overhead illuminated the scene as
security forces raced out of dozens of cars and burst into
the building, using battering rams and ladders, at 2 a.m. on
Monday. Later, police announced they had found a stun gun, an
imitation firearm, and a canister of CS gas, along with a
cache of passports, identity cards, and credit cards.
The raid was the largest anti-terror operation in Britain
since the September 11 attacks on the US. It was linked to
the discovery of the highly toxic substance ricin in a nearby
apartment earlier this month. Ricin is highly toxic and has
no known antidote. It is easy to make, but very hard to
distribute in a mass attack.
The raid also came amid reports that security officials
suspect that a big terror attack on Britain is imminent.
Senior security sources have been quoted as saying that it is
"extremely difficult" to trace the terror groups, as they are
thought to be run by a new generation of young, radicalized
Islamic extremists who have no previous links to
terrorism.
One of those who attended the Finsbury Park Mosque is Richard
Reid, the would-be shoe-bomber who attempted to detonate
explosives hidden in the soles of his shoes as he traveled on
a plane from Paris to New York. Another is Algerian-born
Zacarias Moussaoui, who is suspected of being the "20th
hijacker" in the September 11 attacks. He was arrested in
August on immigration charges and did not participate in the
attacks. Four planes were hijacked on September 11, three by
teams of five terrorists and one by a team of four.
Investigators suspect that the fourth team was also planned
to have five suicide terrorists.
Reid, a petty criminal who converted to Islam in a British
jail, is thought to be a protege of Moussaoui, and both men
are believed to have undergone training at al-Qaida's Khalden
camp in Afghanistan.
The mosque is also infamous as the base of Egyptian-born
extremist cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri, who wears a hook in
place of a hand he lost while apparently defusing a mine in
Afghanistan. He has expressed support for Osama bin Laden and
praised the September 11 attacks, but was not among those
arrested. Britain's Charity Commission recently threatened to
evict Masri from the mosque, claiming he had abused his
position by preaching "inflammatory and highly political"
sermons.
Police seized documents and arrested six north Africans and
one Eastern European, 22 to 48, from inside the mosque and
two adjacent homes. No chemical or biological agents are
understood to have been discovered.
Finsbury Park is one of London's largest mosques, with room
for up to 2,000 men and 100 women. It is used primarily by
Algerians, Egyptians, Pakistanis, and Bengalis for prayer,
and for classes in Muslim culture, Arabic, and the Koran. A
police statement said the premises are believed to have
played "a role in the recruitment of suspected terrorists and
in supporting their activity both here and abroad."
Assistant Police Commissioner Andy Trotter described the raid
as "very successful."
A spokesman for Prime Minister Tony Blair said the British
leader had given his "full support" for the operation, adding
that "the Islamic religion has been hijacked by a small group
of fanatics who seek to distort it and twist it."
Radical Islamists were jubilant. "This raid will increase our
recruitment," said Syrian-born Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed,
leader of the radical al-Muhajiroun, which seeks to create a
global Islamic state. "If they arrest us, we will become
martyrs."
More than 200 terror suspects, mostly Algerian, have been
detained in Britain under legislation that allows the
security authorities to detain non-Britons without trial.
Mike Whine, a senior official of the Community Security
Trust, Britain's highly respected Jewish defense
organization, told The Jerusalem Post that there does
not appear to be a specific threat to the Jewish community or
its leaders "so far." One reason for this, he suggested, is
that the terrorists "have not selected their targets yet."
On the Israeli front, Israel has increasingly become in the
past year a hub of Sunni-inspired fundamentalist terror, the
head of military intelligence, Maj.-Gen. Aharon Ze'evi
(Farkash), said.
Ze'evi outlined three factors as critical in the development
of Israel as a center for such terrorism: the increasing
sanctification of suicide as a religious duty; active aid and
cooperation from Hizbullah (even though it's Shi'ite) and al-
Qaida; and the acceptance by Arab Israelis of terror as a
legitimate tool of warfare.
He also warned of the growing power and scope of the
Hizbullah network, saying that the organization has spread to
the US, Canada, Western Europe, and even Australia extremely
rapidly.
Ze'evi added that the pullback from Lebanon "was used as a
model for the Palestinians" in launching a onslaught on
Israeli civilians. With Lebanon in mind, the Palestinian
leadership believed it could grind down an Israeli society
unable to cope with a prolonged attack.
According to information captured in the storming of the PA
Preventive Security Service complex in Gaza, there is "an
overwhelming amount of information linking the PA PSS to
terror acts."
Perhaps the biggest winner in the past year was Hamas, which
has harnessed the intifadah for great political gains. Its
chief "success" was in shifting the general Palestinian
consciousness from one of peace to one of war.
"`After two years we managed to pass from a culture of peace
to a culture of self sacrifice,'" Ze'evi read from a Hamas
flier, "`we created a revolution for every resident of the
PA.'"
Thousands of Palestinians chanting "Death to America" marched
in West Bank cities on Sunday, while on the third day of Iraq
Solidarity Week sponsored by the Palestinian Authority.
At Sunday's demonstrations, spokesmen for various Palestinian
groups called on Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein to fire Scud
missiles at Israel. "O beloved Saddam, strike Tel Aviv,"
chanted several thousand demonstrators in Jenin. Protesters
carried Palestinian and Iraqi flags and chanted, "We
sacrifice our soul and blood for Saddam."
Col. (Ret) Yoni Fighel of the ICT noted that the Hamas
attempts to develop sophisticated poisons and non-
conventional weapons has increased remarkably in the past
year. Al-Qaida's and other fundamentalist organizations' Web
sites are bursting with such information, he stated.
A new letter on a Web site identified with al-Qaida leader
Osama bin Laden, appealed to all "Jihad fighters" to abduct
"Zionists" and carry out suicide bombings at embassies and
airports around the world, and to rid the world of "non-
believers."
The letter then gives several examples of different ways to
carry out attacks, including cars bombs detonated by remote
control, or several suicide bombers who detonate
simultaneously to create a "greater effect."
It calls on all those affiliated with al-Qaida to strengthen
and unite with the Jihad in the Philippines, and not to
neglect "brothers" in Indonesia and Turkistan.
Two weeks ago bin Laden's deputy Aiman Zwahiri published his
latest book, Trust and Determination in Islam, Belief
Transferred from Generation to Generation in a Lost
Reality. He called for Jihad against the US, coalition
partners, and Israel as part of a plan to get rid of the "non-
believers" from Islamic land and then spread the Islamic
message throughout the world. Zwahiri also said that a
"nuclear attack is the only way to kill Americans."
