Bosnian security services allege Salafis planning terrorist attacks
BBC Monitoring Europe (Political) - December 1, 2008 Monday

Text of report by Bosnian edition of Croatian daily Vecernji list, on 23 November

[Report by Dejan Jazvic: "Salafi Movement Plotting Terrorist Attack in B-H]

The police and security services in Bosnia-Hercegovina have identified a group that has the objective of carrying out a terrorist act with a political background. Zlatko Miletic, director of the Bosnia-Hercegovina Federation Police Administration, has confirmed this information, revealing only that members of the Salafi movement are involved. In a discussion for Dnevni Avaz, he said that the police are cooperating closely with the state prosecutor's office on the complete exposure of this plan, one that could result in "a serious terrorist act in Bosnia-Hercegovina."

Suicide Belt

The only thing certain for the time being is that several individuals who are being thoroughly investigated by police and security institutions are involved. Miletic also mentioned in that context a person who was detained not long ago and who was found to have a suicide belt. It is known to the public that, in the investigation of the terrorist attack on the FIS shopping centre in Vitez, the police arrested Admir Ahmetspahic (32), called Usama of Zenica, with whom a suicide belt, among other things, was found. Although little information is known at the moment, it is obvious that the radical group that the police are investigating has the objective of destabilizing the situation in Bosnia-Hercegovina at a moment when internal political agreement on many crucial issues is coming into view.

That the police and security services in Bosnia-Hercegovina have had information for quite a long time already on the activities of dangerous groups that are preparing terrorist attacks in the country can also be concluded from the latest information on the security situation in Bosnia-Hercegovina delivered to the state Parliament.

In the period to which the information relates, and that is the first half of this year, the SIPA [Investigations and Protection Agency] conducted checks of a considerable number of individuals and organizations that might be connected to terrorist activities and groups.

Being followed at the same time are the movements of a certain number of naturalized individuals in Bosnia-Hercegovina whose citizenship has been revoked by the state commission for reviewing decisions on the naturalization of foreign citizens in Bosnia- Hercegovina. The deportation of these individuals in the coming period is possible, and some of them have sent certain threats against senior officials in Bosnia-Hercegovina, the aforementioned information states.

Threats Sent

According to official Security Ministry data, the OSA [Intelligence and Security Agency] did not arrive at a perception in this period that criminal acts that could be categorized as international terrorism had been carried out, and the SIPA submitted a total of six reports against seven individuals. The reports relate to the abuse of positions or authority and unconscientious work in service, and they were submitted against three individuals who worked on the issuance of citizenship to individuals of Afro-Asian origin. Two reports relate to the sending of threats to the Russian and Serbian Embassies, and three reports against that same number of individuals relate to the manufacturing of and trafficking in weapons and military equipment.

[Box] The First Salafi Missionaries Came to Bosnia-Hercegovina during the War

Salafis, or Islamic traditionalists, belong to the movement that emerged around the teachings and activities of Sheik Muhammed bin Abdul-Wahhabi, a reformer from the Arabian Peninsula. Even though they are known as Wahhabis in Bosnia-Hercegovina - but in the world, as well - the followers of this movement do not accept that appellation. That is a movement which opposes all innovations in Muslim practice and teaching. The first Salafi missionaries came to Bosnia-Hercegovina during the war. At the beginning, some of them were humanitarian workers. During the war, however, they became something completely different - in the militant and radical sense. It is thought that their main strongholds are in minority, returnee communities of Bosniaks in the Serb Republic. The often organize "excursions" or sojourns in the outdoors, where they carry out training in reconnaissance, shooting, etc far from the eyes of the public. They appeared after the war. Not long ago, a retired colonel said in a statement for the media: "It can be concluded on the basis of the data that about 40,000 people were paid. That is a small army, if one takes into consideration the training in camps. If we assume that a mere one per cent of them are ready to sacrifice themselves for higher goals by committing suicide or some other terrorist act, it is easy to come up with the number of about 4,000 people, and it is necessary to reflect on that number."

Source: Vecernji list (Bosnia-Hercegovina edition), Zagreb, in Croatian 23 Nov 08
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