Post by Michael on Jul 7, 2006 5:13:18 GMT -5
Recent news reports for your attention.
MI5 Conducts Secret Inquiry into 8,000 al-Qaeda "Sympathizers" - Jason Bennetto (Independent-UK)
Up to 8,000 suspected al-Qaeda sympathizers are being investigated by MI5 and the police in an operation to identify future terrorists.
The nationwide investigation follows intelligence suggesting there is a very small, but significant number of British-born and Britain-based Muslims, who are prepared to carry out bombings and other terrorist attacks in this country.
Al-Qaeda "Bid to Infiltrate MI5" - Frank Gardner (BBC News)
Al-Qaeda sympathizers have been trying to infiltrate the British security service MI5, Whitehall officials confirmed.
But those with al-Qaeda sympathies were weeded out during a six to eight-month vetting process, officials added.
MI5 believes, from polls, that around 400,000 people in the UK are "sympathetic to violent jihad around the world.
MI5 is expanding from its current level of 2,600 officers to an eventual 3,500, to cope with the terrorist threat.
Terror Plots Accelerating in Britain - John Steele (Telegraph-UK)
Scotland Yard's anti-terrorism branch is involved in an "unprecedented" 70 investigations, Peter Clarke, head of the Metropolitan Police Anti-Terrorist Branch, warned Monday.
More than 60 people are facing trial on terrorist allegations; two-thirds of whom have been charged since last July.
"The majority relate to the activities of British citizens against their fellow countrymen," he said.
Undercover on Planet Beeston - Ali Hussain (Sunday Times-UK)
Reporter Ali Hussain spent six weeks in Beeston, the suburb of Leeds where two of the 7/7 bombers came from.
Imran Bham, who runs a computer equipment shop, asked me if I would ever blow myself up for Islam. I replied that the Koran says you should not harm innocent people.
"What Koran was that?" he countered. "Don't fool yourself by saying jihad is a struggle within, to get on with life, to motivate myself to get up for prayers and that sort of thing," he said. "That's not jihad. Who told you that?"
Islam in Britain - Editorial (Times-UK)
Some 13% of British Muslims consider the 7/7 bombers to be martyrs. That translates into 234,000 people.
MI5 Conducts Secret Inquiry into 8,000 al-Qaeda "Sympathizers" - Jason Bennetto (Independent-UK)
Up to 8,000 suspected al-Qaeda sympathizers are being investigated by MI5 and the police in an operation to identify future terrorists.
The nationwide investigation follows intelligence suggesting there is a very small, but significant number of British-born and Britain-based Muslims, who are prepared to carry out bombings and other terrorist attacks in this country.
Al-Qaeda "Bid to Infiltrate MI5" - Frank Gardner (BBC News)
Al-Qaeda sympathizers have been trying to infiltrate the British security service MI5, Whitehall officials confirmed.
But those with al-Qaeda sympathies were weeded out during a six to eight-month vetting process, officials added.
MI5 believes, from polls, that around 400,000 people in the UK are "sympathetic to violent jihad around the world.
MI5 is expanding from its current level of 2,600 officers to an eventual 3,500, to cope with the terrorist threat.
Terror Plots Accelerating in Britain - John Steele (Telegraph-UK)
Scotland Yard's anti-terrorism branch is involved in an "unprecedented" 70 investigations, Peter Clarke, head of the Metropolitan Police Anti-Terrorist Branch, warned Monday.
More than 60 people are facing trial on terrorist allegations; two-thirds of whom have been charged since last July.
"The majority relate to the activities of British citizens against their fellow countrymen," he said.
Undercover on Planet Beeston - Ali Hussain (Sunday Times-UK)
Reporter Ali Hussain spent six weeks in Beeston, the suburb of Leeds where two of the 7/7 bombers came from.
Imran Bham, who runs a computer equipment shop, asked me if I would ever blow myself up for Islam. I replied that the Koran says you should not harm innocent people.
"What Koran was that?" he countered. "Don't fool yourself by saying jihad is a struggle within, to get on with life, to motivate myself to get up for prayers and that sort of thing," he said. "That's not jihad. Who told you that?"
Islam in Britain - Editorial (Times-UK)
Some 13% of British Muslims consider the 7/7 bombers to be martyrs. That translates into 234,000 people.