http://www.herald.ns.ca/stories/2001/10/29/f126.raw.html Monday, October 29, 2001 Back The Halifax Herald Limited ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------- Signs point to a bin Laden-Balkan link By Scott Taylor ON TARGET SKOPJE, Macedonia - With the U.S. air campaign against Afghanistan now more than three weeks old, President George Bush and his security advisers are already intimating that their war on terror will soon be expanded. It would seem that the anthrax threat described by some hysterical media outlets as a "siege" is being pinned on Saddam Hussein, and most analysts believe it is only a matter of time before Iraq too will be targeted. However, as the U.S. coalition deploys its military might to counter threats in the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent, it appears as though the key to uncovering Osama bin Laden's network may turn out to be located in the Balkans. Senior ranking officials within Macedonia's security department claim they have circumstantial evidence linking Osama bin Laden's mujahedeen with the Albanian (UCK) guerrillas operating in Macedonia. "We have already provided a substantial dossier to the CIA, and obtaining further proof of this terrorist connection is our ministry's No. 1 priority," confirmed a deputy director of the security department, Macedonia's intelligence service. Since March of this year, the Albanian UCK guerrillas have mounted a successful military offensive against a poorly equipped Macedonian security force. Following a number of violent clashes in July and August, the UCK has gained complete control of over 30 per cent of Macedonian territory. >From the outset of hostilities, the Macedonian military has said that mujahedeen troops, veterans of Bosnia, Kosovo and Chechnya, were in the ranks of the UCK. During a major guerrilla offensive in May, the Macedonian forces were briefly able to contain the Albanian insurrection through the use of modern helicopter gunships, acquired from the Ukraine. "Shortly after that, our helicopter pilots reported being targeted by sophisticated (U.S.-made) Stinger (anti-aircraft) missiles," said the Macedonian security department official. "It is our information that the UCK received these Stingers from their mujahedeen connections in Afghanistan." The information forwarded to the CIA includes eyewitness statements from Macedonian civilians who had been detained by the Albanian guerrillas, along with photographs, and even some video footage captured from the UCK. >From its initial assessment, the security department estimates that as >many as 120 mujahedeen fighters entered northern Macedonia from Kosovo between March and September. It is also believed that these extremist units were responsible for one of the worst atrocities committed by the UCK during the seven-month conflict. Last April, eight Macedonian soldiers were killed in the village of Vejce and their corpses were brutally mutilated, allegedly to provide "trophies" for the mujahedeen. The Macedonian intelligence dossier supports earlier U.S. media reports that one of the Sept. 11 hijackers had been active in both Kosovo and Macedonia. Yugoslavian officials have made further links to Balkan mujahedeen activity. As part of the U.S.-led global initiative to combat terrorism, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia has just been reinstated as a member of Interpol. As a result, intelligence officers from the Yugoslav army have been able to forward evidence of recent mujahedeen activities in Bosnia, Kosovo and Albania. "At present we suspect that at least 50 of the 150 mujahedeen that fought in Kosovo in 1998-99 are still active members of the UCK," said a Yugoslav lieutenant. "The American CIA has also been made aware that last year the mujahedeen had a training camp in the village of Tropoja in northern Albania." Partly as a result of Yugoslavian co-operation, Interpol released a preliminary report on Oct. 23 that now personally links Osama bin Laden to members of the Albanian Mafia. Also included in this Interpol report is the allegation that one of bin Laden's senior lieutenants was the commander of an elite UCK unit operating in Kosovo in 1999. While they are convinced of a large-scale mujahedeen involvement with the UCK, the Macedonian intelligence service is anxious to obtain further evidence. "We are presently concentrating on assembling verifiable proof which will assist the CIA in disassembling Osama bin Laden's terrorist network," claimed the security department's deputy director. According to Macedonian intelligence operatives, the biggest obstacle to their investigative efforts is political pressure from NATO - including direct interference from the United States. Although the tentative peace deal is still unratified and ethnic tensions remain high, Ljubo Boskovski, Macedonia's interior minister, has already announced a major operation to push his police forces back into areas previously controlled by the UCK. "The additional evidence we require can only be gathered from these zones where the mujahedeen were operating," said Boskovski's spokesman. However, since the police operations began on Oct. 4, NATO officials have been pressuring the Macedonian government to suspend their offensive. This apparent double standard by the U.S. and NATO has been heavily criticized in the Macedonian media. "President George Bush claims he wants the world to unite in the war against terror," said Slavko Manovske, the editor of Sun, a Macedonian weekly newsmagazine. "However, it appears that the U.S. is being selective in defining which Muslim terrorists they intend to target." Despite repeated requests for an interview, James Pardew, the U.S. special envoy to Macedonia, could not be reached for comment. E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Serbian News Network - SNN [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.antic.org/
