PARIS - Islamic extremists are returning to France from Iraq's battlegrounds with the skills and desire to carry out attacks in Europe, a top anti-terror judge said Thursday — warning that Europe needs a better-coordinated effort to face the threat.
The Iraq war is changing the face of militancy in France, investigating judge Jean-Francois Ricard said in an interview with The Associated Press. As with some of the suspects in the London bombings, some French Islamic radicals with violent intentions are unknown to authorities, he said.
Islamic militants from France have long participated in armed struggles and received battle training around the globe, in places such as Chechnya, Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq, Ricard said. But only rarely have such militants sought to bring violence back with them, he said.
"I have confirmation ... of this return (from Iraq) with action targeting our countries. We've been starting to see it this year" and in 2004, Ricard said. "It's very worrying."
"The return of some individuals is starting: They're taking round trips. You can't think that once in Iraq, there's no return," he said. "It is not true."
** Hurrah for the tolerant attitude of the Islamonazis and some stuff from the head of Jordan below."We face a common threat: extremist distortions of religion and the wanton acts of violence that derive therefrom," the king said. "Such abominations have already divided us from without for far too long."
Criticizing al Qaeda terrorists Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab Zarqawi for "abuses of our faith," the king, speaking at a heavily guarded lunch meeting at the Ritz-Carlton in Northwest, made clear he wishes to establish himself as the voice of moderate Islam.
He pointed to a July conference he held in Amman, Jordan, for 180 Muslim scholars as a key part of his effort to undermine the far Islamic right. The conference was supported by fatwas -- or legal rulings -- from 17 major Islamic scholars.
"Muslims from every branch of Islam can now assert without doubt or hesitation," he said, "that a fatwa calling for the killing of innocent civilians -- no matter what nationality or religion, Muslim or Jew, Arab or Israeli -- is a basic violation of the most fundamental principles of Islam."
** Heres a point you wont see often, I will argue that Guantanamo is a pussy camp, to soft on the Islamonazi fascists it holds there. What they need are bullets/gas chambers. Think I am extreme, try this the untermenchen they hold when they get out pick up arms against the free world: www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/09/22/wguan22.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/09/22/ixworld.html/
More than a dozen prisoners released from Guantanamo Bay have returned to the -"battlefield" to fight Americans, it was disclosed yesterday.
The terrorists, freed in the belief that "they posed a very low threat", have either been killed, captured or wounded in attacks on coalition forces in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Others are thought to be still organising attacks with the Taliban or al Qa'eda.
More than 170 prisoners have been returned from the top security jail in Cuba to their home countries without any condition imposed and another 80 placed under some form of restrictions.
** I swear, it's almost as if they felt they were religiously obligated to fight against us Kafir infidels until they win or die.
BOMB ATTACK
LAHORE, Pakistan (AFP) - Two bicycle bombs exploded minutes apart in Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore, killing at least six people and injuring more than 30, police and security officials said.
The first bomb went off near the historic Minar-e-Pakistan monument in a crowded area of the city, killing one person and wounding 13, local police officer Amir Zulfiqar told AFP on Thursday.
The device killed the owner of a nearby handcart, Zulfiqar said, adding that the condition of the injured people was not serious.
Minutes later a second blast in Icchra, Lahore's busiest shopping district, killed another five people, Lahore police chief Tariq Saleem Dogar told AFP.
"A bomb exploded near a cigarette kiosk and it triggered an explosion in a nearby fireworks shop," added Icchra police chief Waqar Ahmed.
"Four people were burned to death instantly and up to 20 people were injured," he said. Another injured person died on his way to hospital, police said.
A senior security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said both bombs were attached to bicycles.
SOME BAD STUFF FROM THAILAND
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra last night vowed he would not let the savage killings of the two marines in a Muslim village in the border province of Narathiwat go unpunished. ``We will absolutely not let those two die for nothing. The law is the law,'' the obviously agitated prime minister told reporters after learning about the brutal killings of Sub-Lt Winai Nakhabut and Petty Officer Khamthon Thong-iat of Chulabhorn camp in Ban Tanyong Limo in Rangae district of Narathiwat province. ...
``They were brutally beaten to death with machetes and sticks, while their hands and legs were tied up, and they were gagged and blindfolded,'' said Lt-Gen Kwanchart Klaharn, commander of the Fourth Army and director of the Southern Border Provinces Peace-building Command. Lt-Gen Kwanchart said the bodies were locked inside a building next to the mosque and security forces had to use a crowbar to break down the door to retrieve them.
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraqi Army and Task Force Baghdad Soldiers discovered five large weapons caches hidden in and around Baghdad over during combined and independent operations Sept. 19-21. Their efforts continued to disrupt terrorists’ ability to attack Coalition forces and innocent civilians.
Together, the five caches consisted of 27 rockets and mortars, 20 mortar fuses, 14 rocket-propelled grenades with three launchers, and three hand grenades.
The Soldiers also found five AK-47 assault rifles, a machine gun, sniper rifles, 280 magazines, two pistols and more than a dozen boxes of ammunition. Anti-Coalition propaganda, fake license plates and blasting caps were also discovered in the caches.
In other combat operations, Iraqi Army and Coalition Forces captured 16 terror suspects during a series of raids carried out against suspected terrorist safe houses throughout the capitol city. In addition to detaining the suspects, the Soldiers seized two missiles, bomb-making materials, six AK-47 assault rifles, one machine gun and ammunition.
Coalition Forces working in northwest Baghdad foiled a car bomb attack at 4 p.m. Sept. 21. As the unit was traveling on a major highway, a car tried to enter the convoy and ram one of the U.S. vehicles. The vehicle swerved to avoid being struck and the Soldiers fired at the car, setting off the bombs inside.
The driver of the car managed to jump out and tried to run away, but the Soldiers captured him and brought him into custody for questioning.
In another incident on Sept. 19, an Iraqi citizen told a combined patrol of Iraqi Police and Task Force Baghdad Soldiers about a car bomb he had seen being prepared in the Rusafa district of east Baghdad. When the patrol investigated, they found a car rigged with eight mortar rounds wired to a radio-controlled detonator. An Iraqi explosives team safely disarmed the explosives.
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