Eveniment

Belgium arrests 14 over links to suicide bomber

Wednesday November 30, 12:33 PM


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgian police arrested 14 people on Wednesday suspected of links to a Belgian woman who carried out a suicide attack near Baghdad earlier this month, a federal police spokesman said.

Two of those arrested during raids concentrated in Brussels and Antwerp were Tunisians, three were Moroccans and the rest were Belgian nationals, the spokesman said.



"So far we have arrested 14 people. We are making further searches this morning," he added.
The 38-year-old woman blew herself up a few weeks ago in what security sources believe could be the first suicide attack in Iraq involving a European woman.

She has not been identified, but officials say she was born in Belgium of European origin and converted to Islam after marrying a Muslim.

Asked if those arrested included members of the woman's family, the police spokesman replied: "It's not a family case."

"We know these groups are always planning attacks ... What we can say is there were no attacks planned in Europe," he added.

De Standaard newspaper earlier quoted a U.S. official in Iraq as saying the attack was carried out on November 9 and targeted a U.S. military convoy south of Baghdad. No one was killed apart from the woman herself, it reported.

It added a Belgian passport was found on her body, along with papers which showed she had entered Iraq via Turkey.

REAR BASE

Belgium, home to the European Union institutions and NATO, has suffered no attacks on its soil by Islamic militants.

The country has large Arab and Muslim communities in some of its cities and is thought to have been used as a rear base for Islamic militants involved in terror plots.

Earlier this month, 13 men accused of belonging to an Islamic militant group blamed for bombings in Madrid and Casablanca went on trial in Brussels.

They face charges of providing false papers, safe houses and logistical help to members of the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (GICM), which is held responsible for the 2004 Madrid attacks on four commuter trains that killed 191 people.

The GICM has also been linked to the 2003 bombings in Casablanca, which killed 45 people including 12 suicide attackers. Among those accused is Khalid Bouloudo, an alleged leader of the GICM's Belgian cell.

European security services have been aware for some time of a trickle of fighters heading from the continent to join the insurgency in Iraq.

German federal police chief Joerg Ziercke referred earlier this month to estimates that "perhaps 200 young people are fighting in Iraq from European countries".

A French intelligence chief said in May that five young men from a single Paris district had died in Iraq, one in a suicide attack.

Spain arrested 16 suspected Islamist militants in June including 11 alleged followers of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al Qaeda's leader in Iraq. It said many of the Zarqawi supporters had expressed the will to become "martyrs for Islam" there.

... am observat eu ca vuiesc mai mult ca de obicei masinile politiei, acuma vad ca cu motiv, ...
... in America cind vuiau politia si bomberos ziceam ca se grabesc sa nu se raceasca pizza ..., aici insa politistii se plimba mai mult pe jos, isi iau lunch-ul in bistro, sint foarte prietenosi ...

... dar imi tin ochii mari precum ii am (... si im ascund nasul, care ma tradeaza ...)


La 2005-11-30 15:46:08, Mos Grigore a scris:

> Belgium arrests 14 over links to suicide bomber
> 
> Wednesday November 30, 12:33 PM
> 
> 
> BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgian police arrested 14 people on Wednesday
> suspected of links to a Belgian woman who carried out a suicide
> attack near Baghdad earlier this month, a federal police spokesman
> said.
> 
> Two of those arrested during raids concentrated in Brussels and
> Antwerp were Tunisians, three were Moroccans and the rest were
> Belgian nationals, the spokesman said.
> 
> 
> 
> "So far we have arrested 14 people. We are making further
> searches this morning," he added.
> The 38-year-old woman blew herself up a few weeks ago in what security
> sources believe could be the first suicide attack in Iraq involving a
> European woman.
> 
> She has not been identified, but officials say she was born in Belgium
> of European origin and converted to Islam after marrying a Muslim.
> 
> Asked if those arrested included members of the woman's family, the
> police spokesman replied: "It's not a family case."
> 
> "We know these groups are always planning attacks ... What we can
> say is there were no attacks planned in Europe," he added.
> 
> De Standaard newspaper earlier quoted a U.S. official in Iraq as
> saying the attack was carried out on November 9 and targeted a U.S.
> military convoy south of Baghdad. No one was killed apart from the
> woman herself, it reported.
> 
> It added a Belgian passport was found on her body, along with papers
> which showed she had entered Iraq via Turkey.
> 
> REAR BASE
> 
> Belgium, home to the European Union institutions and NATO, has
> suffered no attacks on its soil by Islamic militants.
> 
> The country has large Arab and Muslim communities in some of its
> cities and is thought to have been used as a rear base for Islamic
> militants involved in terror plots.
> 
> Earlier this month, 13 men accused of belonging to an Islamic militant
> group blamed for bombings in Madrid and Casablanca went on trial in
> Brussels.
> 
> They face charges of providing false papers, safe houses and
> logistical help to members of the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group
> (GICM), which is held responsible for the 2004 Madrid attacks on four
> commuter trains that killed 191 people.
> 
> The GICM has also been linked to the 2003 bombings in Casablanca,
> which killed 45 people including 12 suicide attackers. Among those
> accused is Khalid Bouloudo, an alleged leader of the GICM's Belgian
> cell.
> 
> European security services have been aware for some time of a trickle
> of fighters heading from the continent to join the insurgency in
> Iraq.
> 
> German federal police chief Joerg Ziercke referred earlier this month
> to estimates that "perhaps 200 young people are fighting in Iraq
> from European countries".
> 
> A French intelligence chief said in May that five young men from a
> single Paris district had died in Iraq, one in a suicide attack.
> 
> Spain arrested 16 suspected Islamist militants in June including 11
> alleged followers of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al Qaeda's leader in Iraq.
> It said many of the Zarqawi supporters had expressed the will to
> become "martyrs for Islam" there.
> 
> 
>