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"Londonistan" - Center of the Jihadist World

(National Review) Rita Katz and Michael Kern - In the past decade, al-Qaeda and its affiliated jihadist groups have created a robust infrastructure in the greater London area capable of recruiting, training, funding, and executing attacks. Al-Qaeda attacks and thwarted attempts linked to the jihadist network in Britain include the embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania in August 1998; the failed plot by Ahmed Rassam to bomb Los Angeles international airport; the recruitment of Zacharias Moussaoui and Richard Reid; plots to attack U.S. economic targets; the 2003 bombings in Casablanca; the 2004 bombings in Madrid; a suicide attack in Tel Aviv in April 2004; and an attack on Saudi oil refineries in May 2004. Al-Qaeda's roots in the UK can be traced back to 1994 when bin Laden named Arab student Khalid al-Fawwaz as director of the Advice and Reformation Committee (ARC), established purportedly as the media wing of al-Qaeda. The militant Algerian Armed Islamic Group (GIA) and its offshoot, the Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC), have also used the UK as a base from which to coordinate attacks against American and European targets.
2005-07-12 00:00:00
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