al-Qaeda’s North African wing has threatened to kill a British tourist taken hostage in the Sahara unless the radical cleric and terrorism suspect Abu Qatada is released within 20 days. The kidnapped man was among four European tourists seized in January after their convoy was ambushed near the border of Niger and Mali, where they…
Eight Algerians were arrested on charges related to terrorism, and are believed to have ties to a cell spreading propaganda, recruiting volunteers, and engages in the lending of economic and logistical support for groups forming part of the _Islamic Maghreb’ – a North African branch of al-Qaeda. Police seized 7,000 Euro in cash, receipts of…
More than a month after their disappearance, the fate of two Austrian hostages who were captured while touring the Tunisian desert remains shrouded in uncertainty. But the case has been seen to expose the difficulty of controlling the vast expanses of the Sahara as al-Qaeda’s North Africa affiliate seeks to make its presence felt across…
At least 921 would-be immigrants died in 2007 in attempts to reach Spain from Africa, according to a Spanish human rights group. The figure only reflected confirmed deaths, said the Asociacion Pro Derechos Humanos Andalusia, putting the real death toll at an alarming minimum of 3,500. Most deaths of the victims resulted from drowning, or…
Last November, Gilles de Kerchove, the European Union’s anti-terror chief, said that al-Qaeda was the biggest threat to Europe. To confirm this, Western intelligence services have recently established operational links between al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and al-Qaeda in The Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) whose goals include striking at the heart of Europe. Al-Qaeda has not made any…
