Picture of Suspect Ringleader Of Failed UK Bomb Plot

Dr Mohammed Asha

The Saudi doctor is one of seven people arrested in relation to the lastest RoP failed bomb attacks in the UK.

Neurologist Dr Mohammed Asha, 26, and his burka-wearing wife, 27, were held in a dramatic operation as they drove on the M6 in Cheshire with their two-year-old son on Saturday. [Daily Mail]

Another medic, Iraqi junior doctor Bilal Abdulla, who is said to have completed his medical training in Baghdad, was the man who tried to drive a blazing jeep into Glasgow airport, it was claimed this afternoon. [2]

London Car Bomb Plot Fails

Two car bombs found. The BBC blames "international elements".

A car bomb planted in central London would have caused “carnage” if it had exploded, police sources have said.

A controlled explosion was carried out on the car, packed with 60 litres of petrol, gas cylinders and nails, in Haymarket, near Piccadilly Circus. An ambulance crew saw smoke coming from the green metallic Mercedes, near the Tiger Tiger nightclub at 0130 BST. Later part of London’s Park Lane was closed to traffic after reports of a suspicious vehicle. [...]

“International elements” are believed to be involved with the Haymarket bomb, Whitehall sources told the BBC.

According to the Daily Mail, an Islamic website predicted the London bomb plot hours before the attack on the nightclub was thwarted.

It emerged last night that hours before the first bomb was found, a message on a jihadist website proclaimed: "Today I say: Rejoice by Allah, London shall be bombed."

Posted in the "Al Hesbah" chatroom, the message suggested the attack was linked to the war in Iraq and to the controversial author Salman Rushdie, whose award of a knighthood earlier this month sparked outrage in the Islamic world.

UK Report: Terror Threat Worst Since 9/11

A British intelligence report finds that the terror threat has been underestimated and suggests the security services' job will only get harder.

The Telegraph: Secret report: Terror threat worst since 9/11

The terrorist threat facing Britain from home-grown al-Qaeda agents is higher than at any time since the September 11 attacks in 2001, secret intelligence documents reveal.

The number of British-based Islamic terrorists plotting suicide attacks against "soft" targets in this country is far greater than the Security Services had previously believed, the government paperwork discloses. It is thought the plotters could number more than 2,000.

Under the heading "International Terrorism in the UK", the document - seen by The Sunday Telegraph - states: "The scale of al-Qaeda's ambitions towards attacking the UK and the number of UK extremists prepared to participate in attacks are even greater than we had previously judged."

It warns that terrorist "attack planning" against Britain will increase in 2007, and adds: "We still believe that AQ [al-Qaeda] will continue to seek opportunities for mass casualty attacks against soft targets and key infrastructure. These attacks are likely to involve the use of suicide operatives."

[...] Eliza Manningham-Buller, the director general of MI5, warned recently that there were more than 1,600 "identified individuals" actively engaged in plotting terrorist attacks. There were 200 known networks involved in at least 30 terrorist plots. It is thought that the number of British citizens involved in plots could be well in excess of 2,000.

MI5 believes that soft targets, such as the transport system and economic targets such as the City of London and Canary Wharf, are most at risk.

A senior political source said the picture painted by the document was "particularly bleak and unlikely to improve for several years". [...]

Foiled UK Plot: Muslim Communities Angered Over Arrests

You might think they are angry with the failed terrorists. Not so: the "community" is angry because the arrests have taken place.

BBC: Terror arrests anger community

One day after the nine terror arrests in the Birmingham area, the local communities have been assessing the impact of the police operation.

Some claim the arrests and the vast amount of media coverage are likely to cause lasting damage to community relations.

Along the same lines, a Muslim leader claims the recent arrests highlight that Britain is a police state in the making.


AFP: Muslim chief slams 'police state' Britain, like Nazi Germany

A Muslim leader has warned that Britain is moving towards a “police state,” comparing the situation to Nazi Germany after the anti-terror raids in the city of Birmingham this week.

But Mohammad Naseem, chairman of Birmingham’s Central Mosque, urged Muslims to show restraint following the raids, in which nine suspects were arrested over allegations of plotting an “Iraq-style” kidnapping and filmed beheading.

“The country is moving toward a police state. That’s not right. We have to change this,” he said inside the mosque, where some 2,000 Muslims gathered for weekly Friday prayers.

“We can change this for the better by coming together, not by coming apart. .. Remain calm, don’t get angry. Anger is a natural emotion, but Muslims should control it. We must never give way to anger,” he said.

Speaking outside the mosque shortly before the prayer session began, he compared the current situation, and anti-terrorism legislation introduced in Britain in recent years, to Nazi Germany.

“The German people were told the Jews were a threat. The same thing is happening here. The Muslims are now the bogey people,” he said. “It’s a small community. It’s easy to pick on them. That’s what’s being done.”

UK: Another RoP Plot Foiled: 9 Arrested

Change in strategy.

Nine arrested over alleged kidnap and beheading plot

A ninth person has been arrested in connection with an alleged plot to kidnap and behead a member of the public live on the internet, West Midlands Police said this afternoon.

The arrest, on a motorway in the Birmingham areas, follows the arrests of eight men this morning.

Police suspect the alleged plot would have involved a victim being identified and, in a chilling echo of the British engineer Ken Bigley, forced to plead for his life before being beheaded.

The kidnapping could have resembled operations carried out by insurgents in Iraq, according to the sources, who allege that a young soldier with experience serving in Afghanistan had been identified as the target.

If the reports are true, this would be a major departure from previous Islamist attacks in the West, which have been characterised by co-ordinated explosions aimed at causing high numbers of casualties.

Members of the West Midlands Counter Terrorist Unit hit 12 addresses in a series of raids at 4am.

They included a bookshop, an internet cafe and a grocery store.

John Reid, the Home Secretary, said the arrests were a “major national operation”.

A man in his 20s, possibly the intended victim, was understood to be under police protection today.

Trial Begins For RoP's Failed London Terrorists

AFP: 'Failed London bombers' accused of extremist Muslim plot

British prosecutors have accused six suspects of mounting "an extremist Muslim plot" using suicide bombers to try to kill masses of London commuters in July 2005, days after a successful terror attack.

At the start of a long-awaited trial Monday, the six Muslims were alleged to have tried to carry out another series of "murderous suicide bombings" on July 21, two weeks to the day after July 7 attacks which left 56 people dead.

The plot to blow up three subway trains and a bus only failed because detonators did not work properly, leaving four attempted suicide bombers with their unexploded devices, Britain's highest-security court heard in Woolwich, southeast London.

In what is likely to become one of the most high-profile cases involving alleged terrorism seen in Britain, the accused deny charges of conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause explosions likely to endanger life.

The trial of Muktar Said Ibrahim, 28, Manfo Kwaku Asiedu, 32, Hussain Osman, 28, Yassin Omar, 26, Ramzi Mohammed, 25, and Adel Yahya, 24 -- many of whom are of east African origin -- is expected to take up to four months.

Also on topic:

Daily Mail: Six in court over failed London suicide bomb plot

Muslim extremists planned to murder London commuters with bombs packed with nails and screws two weeks after the 7 July atrocities, a court was told today.

UK: 30 Terror Plots & 1600 Under Surveillance

MI5 tracking '30 UK terror plots'

BBC: MI5 knows of 30 terror plots threatening the UK and is keeping 1,600 individuals under surveillance, the security service's head has said.

Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller warned the threat was "serious" and "growing".

She said future attacks could be chemical or nuclear and that many of the plots were linked to al-Qaeda.

Prime Minister Tony Blair said the terrorist threat was "very real" and spoke of "poisonous propaganda" warping the minds of young people.

Catching terrorists with spidering

In small rooms, down dark halls, computer scientists are doing their part to fight against terrorism. The battle to win against the terrorists can't be won just on the battlefield. The internet has proved to be a vital tool both for the terrorists and in the fight against the terrorists.

Working from a windowless room accessed after passing through a labyrinth of security systems at the University of Arizona, Hsinchun Chen typifies the new breed.

Four years ago, Chen, a computer scientist, created a project known as the Dark Web. As the name suggests, the idea was to access the dark corners of websites where radicals hide and attempt to recruit. Security and intelligence services were inadequate at tracking these sites, Chen says, and they were looking to private industry or academics for help.

Chen now boasts of having the world's largest collection of terrorism websites and is one of a handful of experts on contract to the U.S. government.

With a technique known as "spidering," the Dark Web continually crawls through the Internet finding the back doors into chat rooms and protected websites where some of today's terrorist plots are hatched.

As one aspect of his program, Chen developed a mathematical formula to follow radical discussion threads.

With the overwhelming volume of Web material, this algorithm helps pinpoint what Chen calls the "infectiousness" of violent ideas.

"In my perception, there's a small percentage in this Internet world that are very non-violent, mainstream and so on, peaceful and willing to state their opinion," says Chen.

"Then, there are the violent ones who also make up a minority. Ninety per cent are in the middle. These are people who can be flipped, especially the young people." source

Cross posted by Debbie at Right Truth

Terror Plot Thwarted

****Scroll below for more updates****

UPDATE: CNN: Plane plot involved energy drink, MP3 player, official says

UPDATE (II): Terror plot was in "final stages"

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Terrorists planned to use MP3 players and energy drinks to blow up as many as 10 jetliners bound for the United States, authorities said Thursday.

A senior congressional source said it's believed the plotters planned to mix a "British version of Gatorade" with a gel-like substance to make an explosive that they would possibly trigger with an MP3 player or cell phone.

...Five suspects in the plot are still at large, ABC News, citing U.S. sources, reported on its Web site.

UPDATE (III): Five London Suspects Still at Large

UPDATE (IV): UK Agent Infiltrated Suspected Terror Cell That Plotted to Blow Up 10 Jetliners

Breaking from SkyNews: 'Mass Murder Terror Plot'

Security raised to 'critical'

Updated: 11:42, Thursday August 10, 2006

There is chaos at British airports after police disrupted a plot to cause "mass murder on an unimaginable scale" by blowing up planes over UK and US cities.

The explosives would have been smuggled aboard at least six airliners as hand luggage - and could have been missed during x-ray screening.

Speaking at Scotland Yard, Deputy Commissioner Paul Stephenson said he was confident the police had disrupted a plot "to cause mass murder on an unimaginable scale".

He said 21 people arrested in London, Birmingham and the Thames Valley were still being held - the culmination of a covert counter-terrorist operation lasting several months.

Queues at Heathrow

Big queues were building up at UK airports as passengers trying to board international flights were not being allowed to carry on normal hand luggage.

Security sources believe that liquid explosives would have been used which could have been mixed during the flight into a lethal concoction.

Sources in the United States have reported that three airlines targeted were United, American and Continental.

Sky News' Crime Correspondent Martin Brunt said those arrested were mainly young, British-born Asian men. [ed: Asian men = Muslims]

The Home Secretary John Reid said the official level of security - indicating public risk - had been raised from 'severe' to 'critical'.

Many flights were cancelled

The US government has also raised its threat assessment to the highest level for commercial flights from Britain to America.

Whitehall sources said the Prime Minister and President Bush had been in contact over the plot for some time.

There have been lengthy queues at most British airports with many flights hit, particularly Heathrow and Gatwick

All flights in and out of Heathrow were cancelled until 3pm - apart from those already in the air.

The British Airports Authority urged passengers not to travel unless absolutely necessary.

British Airways cancelled more than 200 flights from Heathrow.

Flights to Britain with Lufthansa, Iberia, Olympic, KLM and Air France were cancelled until later in the day.

:: Security experts said such an attack would have a precedent - during the 1990s, a plot was foiled to blow up 12 Western airliners simultaneously in Asia.

UPDATE:

ABCNews: More than 20 suspected terrorists were arrested in England by early Thursday morning, in an operation that involved British intelligence, Scotland Yard and assistance by a number of other law enforcement and intelligence agencies, including those in Pakistan.
Many of the alleged terror plotters appeared to be of Pakistani descent. It appears that they were probably "homegrown" terrorists with strong links to al Qaeda and Pakistani operatives.

Furthemore, I have found one journalist so far who is un-PC enough to mention the word "Muslim"!

Belfast Telegraph: Police have arrested 21 people, thought to be young British Muslims, in London, the Thames Valley area and Birmingham.

On the other hand, here's an example of an official choosing to bury his head in the sand instead:

CNS News: Scotland Yard official said the people involved in the plot are criminals and murderers. Although Deputy Commissioner Paul Stephenson would not identify the background of those arrested, he hinted that they were Muslims: "This is about people who might masquerade within a community, behind certain faiths."

When are these people going to face the reality that while not all Muslims are terrorists, all terrorists are Muslims? When will this ridiculous political correctness permeating the media be relegated to the dustbin of history where it belongs?

UPDATE (2): According to The Telegraph, British dhimmis - whoops authorities - contacted the Muslim Council of Britain and other Muslim groups this early morning to be informed of the arrests that have taken place. (See Muslim leaders informed, but wary, of anti-terror raid)

UPDATE (3): CNN speaks the "M" word! "Among those arrested were a Muslim charity worker..."

Media links:

• CNSNews: US-Bound Flights Targeted in Foiled Bomb Plot
• AP: British Police Thwart Aircraft Bomb Plot
• AP: Analysis: Was This Meant As Next 9/11?
• ABC News: US-Bound Flights Targeted in Foiled Bomb Plot
• Belfast Telegraph: 'Plot to blow up planes' foiled
• BBC: 'Airlines terror plot' disrupted
• MSNBC: Thwarted plot may have been ‘the Big One’
• Reuters: Britain says it foils "mass murder" plane bomb plot
• The Times Online: Transatlantic mid-air liquid bomb plot foiled in UK
• NYSun: Plot To Blow Up Planes To America, 'Mass Murder on an Unimaginable Scale'
• CNN: Bush: U.S. at war with 'Islamic fascists'
• The Telegraph: Aircraft bomb plot thwarted
• The Independent: The Conspiracy: How a group of suicide bombers planned to blow up 10 planes
• Telegraph: Middle-class and British: the Muslims in plots to bomb jets
• Telegraph: Did they foil a new 9/11?
  

Blogs:

• Michelle Malkin: "Imminent," "massive" jihad UK plot foiled;
  goal: "mass murder on an unimaginable scale" Malkin: "The word missing is Muslim"
  
• Britain Still in Denial to It's Terrorist Problem
• Sky News: Air Chaos After Terror Plot Disrupted
• Terrorists "1 for 2" in Airline Murder Plots, Tie Breaker set for 2011
• Mid-Air Terrorist Plot Foiled. (For Now)
• Thwarted Terror Plot - "British-born Muslims ... er... men"
• Pajamas Media: Sky Terror in UK: US Security Alert to RED
• UK Panel Asks: Why Do They Hate Airplanes?
• Mystery terrorists caught in Britain