-----Original Message-----
From: Dan S <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Tuesday, December 22, 1998 4:55 AM
Subject: [exploration] Saddam secret army 'to launch London attacks'
From: Dan S <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Tuesday, December 22, 1998 4:55 AM
Subject: [exploration] Saddam secret army 'to launch London attacks'
From: http://www.the-times.co.uk/news/pages/tim/98/12/22/timfgnmid02005.html?1124027 - Saddam secret army 'to launch London attacks' REVENGE for the raids on Iraq could begin with terrorist attacks on President Saddam Hussein's opponents in Britain. Diplomats and security officials in the Gulf feared yesterday the Iraqi leader would "contract Islamic terrorist groups" to exact retaliation for Operation Desert Fox. Kuwaiti officials said they had stepped up security for Britons there, and revealed that terrorist threats were made yesterday against its embassy and offices in London. A leading Arab newspaper, Al-Hayat, published in London, reported receiving a telephone warning from an unnamed Islamic group threatening to bomb Kuwaiti targets in Britain. Many Iraqi dissidents live in London, including key figures in the Iraqi National Congress. A leading Scotland Yard anti-terrorist detective yesterday called the threats "very credible. You can take it we are very aware of the heightened risk". Security checks and roadblocks have been stepped up in Kuwait City and officials said armed National Guards had been deployed around residential complexes where British diplomats and civilians live. More Western civilians are leaving Kuwait than the usual Christmas exodus, and an increasing number of Kuwaitis were yesterday trying to book flights out. The radical Islamic group, al-Gamma al-Islamiya, which has killed 1,250 people in a six-year campaign, gave a warning to Al-Hayat yesterday that it will start attacking Kuwaiti targets abroad. The group, whose spiritual leader, Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, is in jail in the United States for conspiring to blow up the World Trade Centre in New York, also threatened US targets yesterday. People in Bahrain's US Embassy were evacuated after a bomb threat, and in recent days the Americans have closed 40 embassies and missions overseas. US intelligence agents are reported to have monitored a telephone conversation between the Saudi dissident, Osama bin Laden, in Afghanistan and a supporter in which he discusses an imminent bomb attack on a Western target. The Saudi millionaire is believed to have been respon-sible for the August bomb attacks on US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in which more than 290 were killed. One senior Western diplomat said last night: "Saddam will want his revenge and he is cunning. If he were to launch a missile on one of his neighbours, that would just invite immediate airstrikes. "He does not have an effective terrorist organisation working abroad, but there are plenty of Islamic extremist groups who would happily do the job for him. "It was noticeable that in his last television address Saddam did not make the expected extravagant boasts of revenge. He does not want his fingerprint left on any attack which could be blamed on known Islamic groups. He has the money to fund such an operation." The mood in Kuwait yesterday was increasingly nervous, with leading politicians admitting they feel even more vulnerable since Operation Desert Fox was halted. Kuwait suffered a bomb attack on the US Embassy in December 1983 in which seven people were killed. In May 1985 a suicide bomber rammed the Emir's motorcade, injuring the Kuwaiti ruler. Then, in 1993, intelligence services uncovered a plot to assassinate former President Bush during a visit to US troops at their Camp Doha base in Kuwait. One Kuwaiti official said: "We know the terrorist threat from Saddam and others. We have already planned additional security." US troops were strengthening their desert positions on the border with Iraq. British pilots in Kuwait have yet to restart enforcing the no-fly zone over southern Iraq. Military commanders in the Gulf said that Iraqi missile batteries might mistake a surveillance flight for a raid. -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] |
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