'Terror plotter had Blair address'

A British man accused of plotting a terror attack may have targeted former prime minister Tony Blair and his wife Cherie, jurors in the partly-secret terror trial were told.

Erol Incedal, 26, from London, may also have been looking at a "Mumbai-style" atrocity with the use of Kalashnikov rifles, according to coded messages found on his computer, the Old Bailey heard.

But the alleged plot was scuppered after police stopped Incedal's car for a motoring offence and planted a bugging device which picked up snippets of chatter about "bin Laden, fatwa, Syria and jihad".

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Erol Incedal at the Old Bailey accused of preparing acts of terrorism

Incedal, formerly known in the case as AB, denies charges of preparing acts of terrorism and possessing a document entitled Bomb Making on a memory card.

Jurors were told his co-defendant, Mounir Rarmoul-Bouhadjar, also 26, from London, who was known as CD, has pleaded guilty to possessing a terrorist document.

Opening the case against Incedal, prosecutor Richard Whittam QC said: "You will hear that he was actively engaged with another or others who were abroad.

"The prosecution case is that such engagement was for an act, or acts of terrorism either against a limited number of individuals of significance or a more wide-ranging and indiscriminate attack such as the one in Mumbai in 2008."

When police first stopped Incedal's black Mercedes on September 30 2013, they found an Acer laptop computer, a notebook and a Versace glasses case which contained a scrap of paper with the Blairs's address written on it.

And in the notebook was written: "Oh you who believe. Fight those of the infidel who are near to you. Why do you not fight in Allah's cause for those oppressed men, women and children who cry out Lord, rescue us from this town."

Mr Whittam said: "Count 1 does not suggest that Erol Incedal had settled on a specific target or a particular methodology but in the context of the case as a whole and the evidence that I am going to come to, you may think that this address does have some significance."

During the search, police planted a bugging device in the car which picked up conversations that give a "flavour" of what was going on in the following weeks, Mr Whittam said.

In one, Incedal complains about the police and talks about going to a "Plan B" after being stopped.

He says: "I hate white people so much. I might have to destroy everything and do something else. These pigs, I just feel like running them over. They are pigs. Kaffar call them pigs."

In another chat, he says: "I made a big mistake. Some very important stuff was in the car. If they find it, we're f*****".

Jihadist music was played in the car to the words "slaughter, looking at the enemy, looking at the bodies. In this operation they kill approximately 100 kaffar...", the court heard.

There was also talk of renting an "illegal house" because "you cannot carry rucksacks - it's too dangerous," the court heard.

Armed police swooped on the car on October 13 last year as Incedal was driving and co-defendant Rarmoul-Bouhadjar in the passenger seat, Mr Whittam said.

Incedal was arrested on suspicion of being a terrorist and told to hand over the pin numbers for his two mobiles.

He gave his address as Unity Court in south east London but failed to mention that he also lived at another London address in Sussex Gardens.

Mr Whittam told the court that Incedal's phone contained various images of a synagogue and YouTube page in support of the Islamic State in Iraq.

The iPhone had internet searches in English and Arabic for the Islamic State in Iraq and had the black flag of Islam as a screensaver.

And inside the protective case of the iPhone was a micro SD card containing a bomb making document, the court heard.

During the search of the Sussex Gardens address near Paddington, police recovered the laptop which had been in the car during the first police stop.

On it, they found Skype messages and emails. In one, there was a reference to "K 1122aaa shhh" and "mo88m ssbayy style" taken to refer to "the use of Kalashnikov for an attack like they used in Mumbai in 2008", the court heard.

In the search of the Unity Place home, police found hand-written notes on A4 pads with reference to "security", "use law as cover", "finances" and "secure communications".

Some pages appeared to refer to a "Plan A" check list - one-month surveillance, rent flat nearby, uniform, and training, the court heard.

After lunch, the trial continued in secret with a small group of journalists allowed to attend but not to report on the proceedings. The trial is expected to go on for four to six weeks.

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US declares JuD, 3 other organizations ‘terrorist’

WASHINGTON: The U.S. State Department has named a self-proclaimed Pakistani charity as a "foreign terrorist organization", a status that freezes any assets it has under U.S. jurisdiction.

Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) calls itself a humanitarian charity but is widely seen as a front organization for the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LET), a Pakistan-based group accused of orchestrating attacks in India, including the 2008 Mumbai attack that killed 166 people.

British media quoted U.S. State Department and reported that all the four organizations, JuD, Infaal Trust, Tehreek-e-Hurmat-e-Rasool and Tehreek-e-Tahafuzz-e-Qibla-e-Awwal were different names of outlawed Lashkar-e-Taiba and changing names to avoid sanctions.

The designation comes as NATO troops in Afghanistan are drawing down, and regional rivals Pakistan and India compete with each other for influence with Kabul.

Some fear the competition may spill into open conflict between the two nuclear-armed nations, who have fought three wars since independence.

Historically, Pakistan has used militant groups like LET to mount covert attacks on Indian soil, something the current government has vowed will not happen again.

Jamaat-ud-Dawa's listing will prohibit U.S. entities or citizens from dealing with the organisation, but will probably have little practical effect on its operations or fund raising.

The United Nations said in 2008 that Jamaat-ud-Dawa was a front for LeT and Pakistani authorities vowed to crack down.

Saudi king orders steps against "terrorist threats"

RIYADH: King Abdullah ordered all necessary measures to protect Saudi Arabia against potential "terrorist threats" after chairing a security meeting to discuss the fall-out from Iraq, the state news agency SPA said on Thursday.

The world´s top oil exporter shares an 800-km (500-mile) border with Iraq, where the militant Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and other Sunni Muslim groups have seized towns and cities in a lightning advance this month.

Riyadh has long expressed fears of being targeted by jihadists, including some of its own citizens, who have taken part in conflicts in Iraq and Syria, and earlier this year decreed long jail terms for those who travel overseas to fight.

"Concerned for the national security of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia against any measures that terrorist organisations or any other groups might resort to ..., (the king) has ordered all necessary measures to protect the gains of the homeland and its stability, and the security of the Saudi people," SPA said.

King Abdullah acted a day before he was due to meet U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Jeddah to discuss the crisis in Iraq and Syria, and a day after two Saudi men were involved in a suicide bombing in Lebanon.

The Saudi ambassador in Lebanon said on Thursday he was not able to rule out that Wednesday´s attack in a Beirut hotel, which killed one of the Saudis and injured three security guards, was intended to target the embassy, located nearby.

Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia has been one of the biggest supporters of mainly Sunni rebels in Lebanon´s neighbour Syria fighting against President Bashar al-Assad, who is backed by Riyadh´s main regional adversary, Shi´ite Muslim Iran.

However, it has shied away from arming rebel groups like ISIL that it fears are connected to al Qaeda, which waged a campaign of attacks inside the kingdom a decade ago led by veterans of jihad in civil wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Saudi Arabia´s envoy in Lebanon, Ali Awad Asiri, said it was important to find out who was behind Wednesday´s bombing in Beirut, in which local security forces said the Saudi bomber was killed and another Saudi wounded and then arrested at the scene."We want to know why a Saudi citizen was involved in such a criminal act," Asiri told television channel al-Hadath.

His comment that the attack may have been directed at the Saudi embassy came in a later interview broadcast on the al-Arabiya channel.

"We need to know how they were lured into this, who finances them, why they were in that place to carry out this criminal act. We have special ties with the security forces in Lebanon and the Lebanese government," he said.

Operation to continue till end of last terrorist: PM

 

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has directed officials to continue the operation till the end of the last terrorist and the establishment of complete peace in the tribal region of the country.
According to information, the prime minister approved the launching of the operation during the national security meeting held last week. A private TV channel quoted the prime minister as saying that the operation should continue till the end of the last terrorist and establishment of complete peace in the territory.

Nawaz Sharif said that the security of life and property of the citizens was the top priority and all resources should be utilised to flush out terrorism from the country.Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that the government had made full-fledged efforts for dialogue with full responsibility and now the operation will continue till the elimination of the last terrorist.

Meanwhile, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said a decisive battle would be fought against the terrorists.In a statement, the minister said the launch of a full-scale military operation, Zarb-e-Azb, against terrorists in North Waziristan was a well-thought-out decision of the government.

Khawaja Asif said the decision was taken after the failure of peace negotiations with the Taliban militants. He said it was a decision of the entire nation as the people of Pakistan had unanimously decided that terrorists should be neutralised once and for all.

“The whole nation is standing by the armed forces, which are fully capable of annihilating these elements,” the minister said.He said the Pakistan Army has been directed to crush the terrorists completely and the armed forces will not refrain from any sacrifice for the defence and security of the country.

Khawaja Asif said, “This time the operation will continue until its logical conclusion.”Meanwhile, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Pervaiz Rashid on Sunday appealed to all politicians and the nation to stand united behind the government and the armed forces in the war against terror.

In his statement after the launch of the military operation in North Waziristan to flush out the terrorists, the minister said that as a democratic government they have exercised the option of dialogue with the terrorists but contrary to the peace overtures the terrorists continued killing our people. But now either they will have to surrender or face defeat, he added.

The federal minister stressed upon the nation to stand united behind the men and women in uniforms. The Pakistani nation has decided that those who want to disrupt their lives will be taken to task, he added. The federal minister said this terror network will now meet its fate with the ultimate might of the state, adding they know that people of Pakistan are peace loving and will defend their way of life.

23 pilgrims killed in Taftan terrorist attack

 

QUETTA: As many as 23 Shia pilgrims were killed and many injured in bomb explosions and firing incidents in Taftan tehsil, some 932 kilometers from Quetta, on Sunday night.
“The attackers barged into the Al-Murtaza hotel and Hashmi hotel located in Taftan minutes after the pilgrims arrived at the hotels. Independent sources from Taftan said that the attackers hurled hand grenades and opened indiscriminate fire with modern weapons killing 23 people on the spot.

Confirming the incident, officials of the levies, a sort of tribal police, told The News that as the pilgrims, who were on their way from Iran to Quetta reached Taftan — a Pakistani town located at the Pak-Iran border — they were housed in the hotels. As they entered the hotels, some armed men who were chasing them attacked them with hand grenades and opened fire.

The reports said that the firing was so sudden and intense that the victims could not resist and over 30 people sustained bullets injuries. Of them, 23 people breathed their last on the spot and many others sustained injuries, some of them serious.

Officials of the levies force said that soon after the incident, a heavy contingents of the levies force and other law enforcement agencies rushed to the spot and cordoned off the area. The officials of the levies added that an exchange of firing took place between the levies and the unknown gunmen. Later, the armed men fled from the scene leaving behind the deceased in a pool of blood.

Some reports said there was a suicide attack at the Hashmi hotel during the firing incident. However, there was no official confirmation till our going to the press.Meanwhile, Shia leader Allama Sajid Ali Naqvi in a statement strongly condemned the attack while the Majlise Wahdate Muslimeen (MWM) censured the government for failing to provide security to the Zaireen.

Pakistan condemns terrorist attack in Kabul

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan condemns the terrorist attack on the convoy of Presidential candidate Dr. Abdullah Abdullah in Kabul, in which several innocent lives were lost and many were injured, said a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the bereaved families, we are confident that the people of Afghanistan will defeat any attempt aimed at thwarting their democratic journey and their quest for peace and progress,” said the statement.

“Pakistan, for its part, will continue to support all efforts for peaceful elections and democratic transition in Afghanistan, it noted.