New UK Look at Bosnia Terror

New UK Look at Bosnia Terror
Defense & Foreign Affairs Strategic Policy. Alexandria: 2006.Vol.34, Iss. 1; pg. 3, 1 pgs

The UK Government made a major policy breakthrough by sending a team of investigators, to Sarajevo during the week of January 15-22, 2006, to investigate a "Bosnian link" to the London terrorist bombings of July 7, 2005, which killed 52 people. The visit by the British team was confirmed by the Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH) State Prosecutor's Office. But what makes it significant is the fact that, until now, both the British official in charge of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Paddy Ashdown (the "High Representative") (who retired in January 2006) and the office of UK Prime Minister Tony Blair have literally persecuted any officials who have suggested that terrorism or terrorist support operations existed in BiH.

The Office of the High Representative and the UK Blair Government have consistently denied or ignored reports by Defense & Foreign Affairs that major terrorist operations were underway from Bosnian bases, and that Bosnia and Kosovo were specifically linked to the London July 7,2005, bombings. The Blair Government's consistent support for the BiH Islamist leadership follows its strong support for it during the BiH civil war, under strong pressure from the then US Clinton Administration. The Blair policy was a complete turnaround on Balkan policy from the former Government of Prime Minister John Major.

UK interest during the January 2006 team visit to Bosnia was concentrated around four British citizens of "Afro-Asian origin" who were seen in Bosnia at the time of Bektasevic-related arrests [see below]. One of the men spotted in Bosnia was understood to be a brother of one of the London suicide bombers. British citizens were "positively identified" in Bihac area in late October 2005, and had links to one of the known mujahedin villages in BiH. The OHR and the UK Government have essentially said in the past that such "mujahedin villages" did not exist.

In late October 2005, Bosnian police arrested five teenagers on suspicion of plotting terrorist attacks on Western embassies in Sarajevo. Days later, police in Denmark arrested six teenagers believed to be linked to those arrested in Bosnia. The first two men arrested in Sarajevo were identified as Cesur Abdulkadir and Mirsad Bektasevic, whose confiscated mobile phones and laptop computers led to the arrest in December 2005 of three more suspects in the Sarajevo suburb of Hadzici. One of the suspects was believed to be the leader of a Bosnian militant cell. The BiH State Prosecutor's Office indicated that Bektasevic had arrived in Sarajevo from Sweden and Abdulkadir from Denmark. A young man of Afro-Asian origin with Danish citizenship arrived from Denmark.

BiH police alerted the Danish authorities after finding the Danish citizen's contacts in the confiscated mobile phone and laptops. Danish police had revealed that a raid on the suspect's parents' home in Denmark had uncovered US$500,000 in cash, of as-yet undetermined origin.

German sources said that the four British subjects went missing after they spent one month in Sarajevo, mainly around King Fahd Mosque, a major gathering point for foreign jihadists in the city. Their movement included Vogosca, Kakanj, and Hadzici near Sarajevo. The investigation of Bektasevic's group came to the conclusion that Hadzici "served as the base for Bosnian terror cell". Bajro Ikanovic was believed to be the leader of the group.