POST EXCLUSIVE
--
The Algerian terror group whose members were caught allegedly
smuggling explosives into the United States joined forces with Osama
bin Laden's network and planned to strike here on his behalf, The
Post has learned.
Law-enforcement agencies in Seattle and New York have established
a number of connections between bin Laden and the Algerian Armed
Islamic Group, four of whose members were arrested on immigration,
explosives and conspiracy charges last month.
Sources told The Post that a key piece of the puzzle was a
chilling communiqué issued in September by a senior commander
of the Algerian Armed Islamic Group, which goes by the initials GIA
in French.
The communiqué celebrated the second anniversary of the
bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, an operation
credited to bin Laden's al Qeda organization -- and warned of more
attacks.
"We say to all the enemies of God in France and the U.S. and
elsewhere that the explosions that took place in Nairobi and Dar Es
Salaam prove that we carry through on our threats. Do not think it
is bin Laden alone who is behind this," the communiqué
said to be written by GIA senior commander Antar Zouabri said.
"This involves children from the Armed Islamic Group who
will poison you. So expect more acts."
U.S. counter-terrorism officials interpreted the
communiqué, recently obtained through intelligence channels,
as a possible explanation for why GIA members appeared to be
targeting the United States.
"It is now becoming increasingly clear that there was a plan
to launch a major attack in the United States and that an Algerian
cell was activated for the job," said Yossef Bodansky, staff
director of the House Subcommittee on Terrorism.
"It is also clear that the Algerians are now part of the big
family of world Islamicists that is headed by Osama bin Laden."
Attorney General Janet Reno is expected to decide soon that
separate arrests of GIA members last month in Washington state and
Brooklyn are part of one conspiracy and that the case will be tried
in federal court in New York.
<http://www.nypostonline.com/news/21693.htm>
