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July 6, 2011
Most terrorist plots have ties to Pakistan: study
Stewart Bell - Jul 6, 2011 – 7:15 AM ET - THE NATIONAL POST
TORONTO — Most of the major terrorist plots against the West since 2004 had links to Pakistan, including two that targeted Canada, says a study to be released today by a U.S. think tank.
In just over half of the 32 “serious” plots identified in the New America Foundation study, the participants had received either training or direction from jihadists in Pakistan.
The findings underscore Pakistan’s role as al-Qaeda’s primary safe haven, despite recent concerns about countries like Yemen, writes investigative journalist Paul Cruickshank, the study’s author.
“This paper has shown that by some measures al-Qaeda’s safe haven in Pakistan has actually become more dangerous in recent years. More serious plots emerged in the West in 2010 linked to established jihadist groups in Pakistan than in any year since al-Qaeda built up its operations in FATA in the early 2000s.”
FATA is the acronym for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, the rugged frontier region of Pakistan, where al-Qaeda and its affiliates have set up since the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan.
In 53% of terror plots, members of the groups involved had trained in Pakistan, compared with 6% in Yemen, 3% in Iraq and 38% where no overseas training occurred, the study says.
Forty-four percent of the plots were directed by jihadist groups in Pakistan, while 6% were directed from Yemen, 3% from Iraq and 47% had no clear overseas direction.
Most of the Western recruits who went to Pakistan had initially wanted to fight NATO forces in Afghanistan but were instead persuaded to return to their home countries to conduct terrorist attacks, it says.
“The FATA safe haven continues to be the greater threat to the United States, as well as other Western countries, given the decades-long presence of al-Qaeda’s leaders, numerous bomb making instructors, training facilities, and facilitators in the region, and the presence of several Pakistani militant groups like the Pakistani Taliban increasingly determined to attack the United States,” the report says.
Pakistan has faced heavy criticism since the United States tracked Osama bin Laden to a home near a major military base not far from the capital, Islamabad. The Pakistani military intelligence service, ISI, is widely believed to provide support to jihadist groups.
Ties to Pakistan have surfaced in several Canadian counter-terrorism probes. Momin Khawaja, a Canadian convicted for his role in a terrorist group that plotted attacks in the United Kingdom, travelled to Pakistan for training — as did one of the Toronto 18.
The RCMP disrupted an alleged terrorist plot last August with suspected links to the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region. On March 15, police charged two Winnipeg men, Ferid Imam, 30, and Maiwand Yar, 27, who are accused of travelling to Pakistan for terrorist training in 2007.
U.S. authorities have identified Mr. Imam as a training camp instructor in Pakistan who goes by the name Yousef. He allegedly trained three American jihadists who later attempted to conduct bombings in New York.
Citing U.S. interrogation documents, the study says Mr. Imam had “provided instructions about the rewards of fighting and dying for jihad, and also instructed the New York trio in how to use various weapons such as AK-47s, machine guns, and rocket propelled grenade launchers.”
The three Americans slept in Mr. Imam’s house, it says, where they were “shown videos of the 9/11 attacks, the Madrid bombings, and the London attacks, in what may have been a psychological ploy by al-Qaeda to persuade them to sign up for an operation against the United States.”
In addition to Pakistan, Somalia has emerged as a destination for young Muslim extremists. Officials say up to 20 Canadians have travelled to Somalia over the past few years to join the al-Qaeda-linked Al Shabab.
source: http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/07/06/most-terrorist-plots-have-ties-to-pakistan-study/
Most terrorist plots have ties to Pakistan: study
Stewart Bell - Jul 6, 2011 – 7:15 AM ET - THE NATIONAL POST
TORONTO — Most of the major terrorist plots against the West since 2004 had links to Pakistan, including two that targeted Canada, says a study to be released today by a U.S. think tank.
In just over half of the 32 “serious” plots identified in the New America Foundation study, the participants had received either training or direction from jihadists in Pakistan.
The findings underscore Pakistan’s role as al-Qaeda’s primary safe haven, despite recent concerns about countries like Yemen, writes investigative journalist Paul Cruickshank, the study’s author.
“This paper has shown that by some measures al-Qaeda’s safe haven in Pakistan has actually become more dangerous in recent years. More serious plots emerged in the West in 2010 linked to established jihadist groups in Pakistan than in any year since al-Qaeda built up its operations in FATA in the early 2000s.”
FATA is the acronym for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, the rugged frontier region of Pakistan, where al-Qaeda and its affiliates have set up since the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan.
In 53% of terror plots, members of the groups involved had trained in Pakistan, compared with 6% in Yemen, 3% in Iraq and 38% where no overseas training occurred, the study says.
Forty-four percent of the plots were directed by jihadist groups in Pakistan, while 6% were directed from Yemen, 3% from Iraq and 47% had no clear overseas direction.
Most of the Western recruits who went to Pakistan had initially wanted to fight NATO forces in Afghanistan but were instead persuaded to return to their home countries to conduct terrorist attacks, it says.
“The FATA safe haven continues to be the greater threat to the United States, as well as other Western countries, given the decades-long presence of al-Qaeda’s leaders, numerous bomb making instructors, training facilities, and facilitators in the region, and the presence of several Pakistani militant groups like the Pakistani Taliban increasingly determined to attack the United States,” the report says.
Pakistan has faced heavy criticism since the United States tracked Osama bin Laden to a home near a major military base not far from the capital, Islamabad. The Pakistani military intelligence service, ISI, is widely believed to provide support to jihadist groups.
Ties to Pakistan have surfaced in several Canadian counter-terrorism probes. Momin Khawaja, a Canadian convicted for his role in a terrorist group that plotted attacks in the United Kingdom, travelled to Pakistan for training — as did one of the Toronto 18.
The RCMP disrupted an alleged terrorist plot last August with suspected links to the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region. On March 15, police charged two Winnipeg men, Ferid Imam, 30, and Maiwand Yar, 27, who are accused of travelling to Pakistan for terrorist training in 2007.
U.S. authorities have identified Mr. Imam as a training camp instructor in Pakistan who goes by the name Yousef. He allegedly trained three American jihadists who later attempted to conduct bombings in New York.
Citing U.S. interrogation documents, the study says Mr. Imam had “provided instructions about the rewards of fighting and dying for jihad, and also instructed the New York trio in how to use various weapons such as AK-47s, machine guns, and rocket propelled grenade launchers.”
The three Americans slept in Mr. Imam’s house, it says, where they were “shown videos of the 9/11 attacks, the Madrid bombings, and the London attacks, in what may have been a psychological ploy by al-Qaeda to persuade them to sign up for an operation against the United States.”
In addition to Pakistan, Somalia has emerged as a destination for young Muslim extremists. Officials say up to 20 Canadians have travelled to Somalia over the past few years to join the al-Qaeda-linked Al Shabab.
source: http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/07/06/most-terrorist-plots-have-ties-to-pakistan-study/
