Arrests reveal Zarqawi Euro terror network

Arrests reveal Zarqawi Euro terror network
The Daily Telegraph (LONDON) - December 22, 2005 Thursday

By: Anton La Guardia Diplomatic Editor

A WAVE of arrests across Europe has thrown new light on a European terrorist network being developed by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the most prominent insurgent in Iraq.

A growing number of terrorism investigations in Britain, Germany, Bosnia, Denmark and most recently Spain and France are linked to the man who has masterminded countless suicide bombings in Iraq, personally beheaded hostages and bombed three hotels in his native Jordan.

Some of the suspected networks appear to be involved only in supporting his operations in Iraq. But counter-terrorism officials are worried that Zarqawi could be planning to use his base in Iraq to start attacking Europe.

Security officials are particularly worried by indications that he wants to recruit white extremists who will be more difficult to detect than Arabs or Asians.

"Zarqawi thinks he is bigger than Iraq,'' a British source said. "He is spreading his tentacles in Europe. There is a sense that attacks are inevitable.

"Even before the invasion of Iraq, Zarqawi had a network in Europe that provided funds and recruits. The same pipeline will sooner or later pump the other way, from Iraq to Europe.''

Although Zarqawi is formally al-Qa'eda's representative in Iraq, he has eclipsed its founder, Osama bin Laden, who has not been seen or heard from for a year.

Donald Rumsfeld, the American defence secretary, suggested yesterday that bin Laden no longer fully controlled his network.

"I suspect, if he is alive and functioning, that he is spending a major fraction of his time trying to avoid being caught,'' Mr Rumsfeld said.

"I have trouble believing he is able to operate sufficiently to be in a position of major command over a worldwide al-Qa'eda operation. But I could be wrong.''

American counter-terrorism officials believe that Zarqawi can now count on allies in 40 countries.

Last month Germany's leading intelligence official, August Henning, said that extremists in Europe increasingly admired Zarqawi and were trying to make contact with his network.

"We are seeing increasing noises in Europe and that causes us great concern,'' he said.

It emerged this month that a white Belgian woman, Muriel Degauque, had been recruited by groups linked to Zarqawi and blew herself up in an attack on an American convoy in Iraq. Last month Bosnian authorities arrested a Swedish national of Bosnian origin, Mirsad Bektasevic, and a Turkish man, Cesur Abdulkadir, in a Sarajevo flat where they allegedly found bomb-making materials, a suicide vest, weapons and extremist propaganda.

Bektasevic was allegedly an internet recruiter for Zarqawi, and the two men were rumoured to be planning to attack the British embassy in Sarajevo.

The men have not yet been charged but their detention has led to arrests in Britain and Denmark.

In Dusseldorf in October three Jordanians and an Algerian were jailed for up to eight years for a Zarqawi-inspired plot in 2002 to attack Jewish targets in Germany. Judge Ottmar Breidling said: "Abu Musab al-Zarqawi should also have been in the dock.''

In France last week Nicolas Sarkozy, the interior minister, said that a sweep of 25 alleged Islamic militants and common criminals had broken up a terrorist network with links to Algerian and Chechen organisations and "indirect relations with al-Zarqawi''.

This week Spanish police arrested 15 people in raids across the country. Those detained are suspected of recruiting fighters for Iraq.