May 06, 2002

New Terror Alert issued in

New Terror Alert issued in Europe:

Le Journal du Dimanche reports Sunday that Osama bin Laden's al Qaida terrorist network is preparing to kidnap hundreds of people throughout Europe over the next few days.

The aim of the operation would be to acquire a number of European hostages and then exchange them for Islamic activists currently being held in various European cities, the Paris-based paper reported....

According to the report, about 30 members of al Qaida from Iraq, Iran, Yemen and Sudan are preparing to strike targets in France, Great Britain and Germany and take a large numbers of hostages in each country.

The plan, according to Le Journal du Dimanche, is to kidnap about 300 to 400 people in each country by taking control of crowds in places such as cinemas, churches, or even by hijacking cruise ships sailing in the Mediterranean.

The report said the terrorists are prepared to kill themselves along with their hostages.


I don't know about this particular warning, but the threat seems plausible: I always wondered why the al Qaeda game plan didn't include more old fashioned terrorist hostage-taking. Islamofascist thugs got a lot of mileage out of Daniel Pearl. Imagine 200 hostages at a London cinema, held by suicide bombers demanding the release of Zacharias Moussaoui. I'm sure the Brixton Mosque could recruit as many volunteers as they need. (And the Bush administration, at least, has clearly signaled its willingness to negotiate with terrorists...) And what about the US? The WOT has certainly disrupted al Qaeda's operation, but surely the 9/11 boys weren't their only cells in America? The UPI report says that "Germany has already dismantled at least three terrorist cells operating on its territory since Sept. 11." Have we dismantled any? Has the FBI even made any arrests? What's going on, Mr. Ridge?

Posted by Dr. Frank at May 6, 2002 08:34 AM | TrackBack