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Politics : Impeach George W. Bush -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (42219)	8/29/2005 12:04:43 PM
From: paret	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 93284

BOSNIA: INTERVIEW: AL-QAEDA NOW SEEKING YOUNG HEARTS AND MINDS Darko Trifunovic adnki.com Belgrade, 26 August (AKI) - The al-Qaeda terror network is active in Bosnia and the wider Balkans region, but is changing tactics and primarily fighting for the hearts and minds of the local Muslim population, according to a leading Serbian terrorism expert, Darko Trifunovic, a professor at Belgrade University's civil defence faculty. Training is now being conducted in small groups in elementary schools and sports halls, in the guise of social and sports activities, according to Trifunovic. “The greatest success of al-Qaeda in Bosnia is that it has managed to radicalise the local Muslim population and has even recruited several Bosnian youths to fight in Iraq, Chechnya and Afghanistan,” Trifunovic told Adnkronos International (AKI) in an interview. Commenting on recent media reports that al-Qaeda operated secret training camps in Bosnia, Trifunovic, who is also a Serbia and Montenegro researcher for the Washington based Institute for International Strategic Studies (ISS), said that the impact of al-Qaeda's activities in Bosnia has still to be felt. A report in the Italian Corriere della Sera daily on Thursday seems to lend support to Trifunovic's claim that Islamic extremists are operating in the Balkans. The paper disclosed a recent intelligence operation conducted in the Balkans by Italian secret services in collaboration with Bosnian and Croatian police that uncovered a Wahabi Islamist terror cell based in the eastern Bosnian village of Gornja Maoca, which was apparently plotting terror attacks in Italy. The Wahabi school of thought, the strictest of Sunni Islam, is espoused by al-Qaeda's leader Osama bin Laden. On 3 July, police arrested a convicted criminal with joint Bosnian and Croatian citzenship, known simply as 'RP' in an apartment in the Croatian capital, Zagreb, where 11 missile launchers were found, as well as quantities of the explosive C4 and several detonators which it is alleged were to be used by the Gornja Maoca terror cell. As well as 'RP', four other individuals were arrested in the police swoop. Police believe the weapons were destined for a Balkans people trafficker,' Mladen R', discovered to have links to the terror cell - which planned to transfer the weapons and explosives to Europe via a human smuggling route through Slovenia and the northeastern Italian port city of Trieste. 'Mladen R' was stopped several times at the Slovenian-Italian border, as he attempted to enter Italy. Authorities have also established links between the cell and a foiled plot to launch a terror attack on Italy in April, at the time of Pope John Paul II's funeral, when investigations of the Gornja Maoca cell began. An Islamic extremist living in the village was found to have links with Redzematovic Seid, an alleged terrorist belonging to the 'Active Islamic Youth' group, who was arrested on 8 April - the day of Pope John Paul II's funeral. Seid was accused of trying to carry out a suicide attack. (Continues)