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Independent, September 25, 2001
The West battles to root out network of terror cells
By Raymond Whitaker in Islamabad
25 September 2001
The military wing of Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'ida organisation has trained fighters for armed conflicts in almost every continent, according to intelligence officials engaged in the campaign to destroy his network of terrorism.
American and European intelligence agencies are scrambling to identify and shut down these terror cells on their territory, but from Africa to the Philippines Muslim fighters have emerged from his training camps in Afghanistan to inject a higher level of sophistication and violence into new wars, as well as conflicts that were on the verge of sputtering out.
Up to 11,000 terrorists, many recruited from the poorer Arab countries, have passed through the camps, along with contingents from a host of other Muslim nations and regions, including Pakistan, Chechnya, and central and south-east Asia.
Pakistan, which presided over the birth of the Taliban, sought a supply of Afghan-trained recruits for the struggle in Indian-ruled Kashmir, which has a Muslim majority. On its own soil, however, it has reaped a whirlwind of armed violence, drug-smuggling and Muslim sectarianism.
India reported yesterday that the Kashmir conflict had eased as Islamic zealots moved towards Afghanistan, where a local official said the country had not yet decided to let them in.
In at least two insurgencies – in Algeria and the Muslim southern Philippines – the arrival of the "Afghani", as the fighters call themselves, has brought new levels of bloodshed and shattered chances of negotiated settlements.
In the Bosnia and Chechnya conflicts, a new degree of extremism was introduced by the arrival of foreign Muslims inspired by the al-Qa'ida network to fight anywhere they see Islam as being under threat.
Central Asia
The Fergana valley, straddling three former Soviet republics in central Asia, is the base for the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), which is reported to be funded and trained by the bin Laden network. The IMU, whose estimated 3,000 militants are bent on overthrowing the Uzbek government and establishing an Islamic state, has been active since the early 1990s in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Their leader, Juma Namangani, has been sentenced to death in absentia by the Uzbek government.
US intelligence believes the fighters were trained at a former Soviet military base operated by the bin Laden organisation near Mazar-I-Sharif in northern Afghanistan.
Indonesia and the Philippines
Mr bin Laden is believed to have joined forces with an extremist Indonesian Islamic group, Lashkar Jihad. An Indonesian army chief, Lt-Gen Kiki Syahnakri, warned recently of Mr bin Laden's presence in the country. The leader of Lashkar Jihad, Ja'far Umar Thalib, fought in Afghanistan alongside Mr bin Laden and has said he supported the attack on the World Trade Centre, although he says his group has no ties to Mr bin Laden. At least four of the 19 men named by the FBI as responsible for the 11 September attacks had visited the Philippines.
Africa
Mohamed Rashed Daoud al-'Owhali, a young Saudi militant who survived the US embassy bombings in 1998 in Kenya and Tanzania, has allegedly led FBI investigators to a Sudanese national, Jamal Ahmed al-Fadl, resident in New York, who gave the Americans their first clear picture of al-Qa'ida. Sudan, which has the only Sunni Muslim government, is one of seven states still accused by the US of sponsoring international terrorism. Mr bin Laden lived in its capital, Khartoum, until 1995, and allegedly trained terrorists there. The government now says it is doing all it can to assist US investigators.
Latin America
Mr bin Laden used Lima, the Peruvian capital, as his Latin American rest area, according to a Peruvian former spy chief, Vladimiro Montesinos, righthand man of the ousted president Alberto Fujimori.
On 10 September, the US Congressional Research Service said extremist cells linked to Mr bin Laden were believed to be operating in Uruguay and Ecuador. American and Colombian officials believe that Arab extremist groups have established a foothold in Colombia.
Germany
German domestic intelligence estimates that 100 "sleepers" of the bin Laden organisation are on German soil. Three years ago police arrested Mamduh Mahmud Salim, believed to be Mr bin Laden's deputy in charge of finance. He was extradited to the US, where he is awaiting trial on a charge of conspiracy.
It is from Frankfurt that the attempted bombing of the European Parliament in Strasbourg at the end of last year was planned. Also in Frankfurt, a gun battle two years ago between a group of Algerians and police yielded a link to Mr bin Laden. One of the Algerians had been trained at a bin Laden camp. Police found on a gunman the mobile telephone number of Abu Zubada, a leader of the bin Laden organisation.
Kosovo and Bosnia
Serbian intelligence sources claim Mr bin Laden and organisations close to him were involved in training the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). Sources in Kosovo say that people connected to Mr bin Laden did offer the KLA assistance in 1998, but that it was refused.
Palestine
Shin Bet, Israel's security service, believes Nabil Oukal, a 27-year-old Palestinian who was arrested last year as he crossed into the Gaza Strip from Egypt, was returning with orders to set up a bin Laden-sponsored guerrilla force. The Israelis say that Mr Oukal confessed to having undergone military training in a bin Laden camp in Afghanistan.
Additional reporting by Imre Karacs in Berlin, Anne Penketh in London, Fred Weir in Moscow, Alex Duval Smith, Phil Reeves in Jerusalem, Vesna Peric Zimonjic in Belgrade and Justin Huggler in Prague.
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