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Pakistan Uncovers More About UK Plane Plot
UPI International Correspondent Washington (UPI) Sep 20, 2006 Pakistan has uncovered "very important" information from one of the conspirators detained in last month's thwarted U.S.-bound airliner bombing plot. Pakistan's Dawn newspaper reported Sept. 16 that Pakistani Interior Secretary Syed Kamal Shah told reporters in the capital Islamabad that the ongoing investigation of bombing suspect Rauf Rashid was centered on his possible terrorist links and affiliations. Shah told journalists that the investigations have yielded some very important information, which cannot be divulged at the present. While Pakistan is proclaimed a frontline ally in the war against terror by U.S. President George W. Bush many nations nonetheless also see Pakistan as an important center for international terrorism, where new recruits are trained and abetted. Last month, according to British authorities, Rauf and his associates were in the final stages of their plot to destroy at least 10 American airliners over the northern Atlantic with onboard explosives. At least two of the suspects detained by British authorities in Birmingham, England, had received explosives training in Karachi, Pakistan's largest port city. British authorities also determined that five of the accused, Britons of Pakistani origin, had recorded "martyrdom videos" in Pakistan's tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. British officials believe that the recorded videos were to be released by al-Qaida following the attacks, had they proved successful. Had the plotters succeeded, police believe that the carnage may have exceeded the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States. A Pakistani intelligence source speaking on condition of anonymity said that Islamabad's investigation began with a "lead" from the previous month earlier from "their source in London." The British government asked their Pakistani counterparts to investigate some individuals suspected of plotting a new terror act in Britain. Pakistani officials subsequently detained an unnamed British national of Pakistani Baloch heritage in Balochistan's Zhob district. The suspect provided certain details about the plot and his colleagues, which Pakistan then sent to London, where senior MI5 officers detained 21 suspects. Pakistani officials speaking on condition of anonymity said that a search of Rauf's cell phone uncovered a SMS text message containing a code ordering the attack on the airliners to proceed. A senior British intelligence official speaking on condition of anonymity said, "He sent this message from his mobile phone, which originated from a Lahore tower. He was tracked and was immediately arrested." In 1982 Rauf's family emigrated to Britain. In his early twenties, Rauf became a suspect in the murder of his uncle in Birmingham and went into hiding. Following his detention in Bahawalpur recently, Rauf was questioned by Pakistani intelligence, who were assisted by MI6 colleagues after Islamabad delayed his extradition to Britain, as they needed to tie up "loose ends."
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UK Underestimated Taliban
London (UPI) Sep 19, 2006The strength of the Taleban in Afghanistan was seriously underestimated by Britain and its Nato allies, British Defense Secretary Des Browne said Tuesday. Amid mounting domestic pressure over the dangers faced by British troops leading the mission in the troubled south of the country, he issued a renewed plea for Nato members to send reinforcements, insisting the battle must and could be won. |
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