http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.7940/pub_detail.asp
November 18, 2010 Al Qaeda Training in Sahara for New Attacks <http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/authors/id.147/author_detail.asp> Erick Stakelbeck >From Pakistan to Iraq to Yemen, the U.S. has turned up the heat on al Qaeda. The pressure has led the terror group to seek out new safe havens. They've found one in a remote area of the Sahara Desert known as the Islamic Maghreb. "The Sahara could be the next Afghanistan," terrorism expert Richard Miniter told CBN News. "A wide open desert; a series of failed states with very weak militaries. It's the perfect breeding ground for al Qaeda." Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb -- or AQIM -- has set up shop in the desert areas of Algeria, Mali, Niger and Mauritania. This group of hardened al Qaeda fighters has vowed to target American interests. "There have been plots by al Qaeda in the Maghreb to attack U.S. warships in Gibraltar," said Miniter. "There have been plots to blow up the U.S. embassy in Bamako. That's the capital of Mali." Miniter recently returned from North Africa. He supplied CBN News with exclusive, hidden camera footage of AQIM, shot by an undercover informant who penetrated the group. In the video, AQIM fighters are seen in the Mali desert, where they have several terror training camps. "They are training in the desert to carry our military assaults," Miniter explained. "And those same groups have carried out assaults on the armies of Mali, Niger and Morocco and, in fact, practice for taking on the U.S." One clip that Miniter shared exclusively with CBN News showed the aftermath of a deadly AQIM raid against an army patrol from Niger. AQIM is seen in the video dividing up the loot they captured. "Behind the circle of turbaned men, you can clearly see the hardware, both guns, ammunition, tents and other desert gear," Miniter told CBN News. One of the al Qaeda jihadists featured in the videos was behind the 2009 murder of British hostage Edwin Dyer. AQIM uses money from kidnappings of Westerners like Dyer and other illicit activities like drug smuggling to fund its operations. North African intelligence officials tell CBN News that AQIM has an extensive network in Western Europe. They are concerned that the Obama administration's attention is being diverted by Pakistan and Yemen as a gathering al Qaeda storm brews in the Sahara. FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor Erick Stakelbeck is a terrorism analyst for <http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.6194/pub_detail.asp> CBN News. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [email protected]. -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [email protected] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [email protected] Unsubscribe: [email protected] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtmlYahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
