London og hvad deraf følger

Dagen efter IFFs pro-Bush-demo var, som alle vel ved, mærket af terrorangrebene i London. Personligt var jeg på vej hjem til mig selv, men kom i tanke om at jeg havde glemt noget i IFFs hovedkvarter, og gik tilbage. Der var alle folk samlet om tv´et, og jeg brugte selv en times penge på at følge udviklingen på CNN før jeg tog hjemad igen.

I medierne er vi efterfølgende blevet overdænget med historierne om terrorangrebene i Madrid og Istanbul, men stort set intet om alle de angreb der er blevet afværget. Hugh Hewitt har følgende (meget ufuldstændige) liste:

February 2002
Italy: Italian authorities arrested nine Moroccans were arrested with a map of the U.S. embassy and large quantities of a cyanide compound that could have been turned into a deadly gas. Later, the same group was suspected of plotting a chemical attack on the U.S. embassy in Rome ...

March 2002
Italy: Police arrested a group of six men who were plotting a bio-terroristattack involving cyanide.

April 2002
Germany: German authorities detained 11 members of a Palestinian group suspected of planning attacks in Germany. The German cell members were part of the Sunni group called “Al Tawhid,” that was later discovered to be associated with Abu Mus ‘ab al Zarqawi. According to contemporary Reuters’ reports the cell was involved in falsifying passports and travel documents, but had later begun to plan an attack inside Germany.

August 2002
Italy: Four Moroccans and an Italian were arrested after they were overheard discussing a plan to attack 14th century Basilica of San Petronio in the northern city of Bologna, which contains a fresco depicting the prophet Mohammad in hell.

September 2002
France/Morocco: French police discovered explosives found on board a Moroccan airplane. Trained dogs found about 3.5 ounces of plastic explosive without a detonator in the seat armrest of a Royal Air Maroc charter plane.
Germany: German police arrested a 25-year-old German-born Turk suspected of building five bombs near the tourist city of Heidelberg. They also detained his 23-year-old American fiancée who worked as a civilian at the commissary of the city's U.S. Army Europe headquarters.

October 2002
Italy: Italian police arrested three Egyptian fishermen suspected of plotting to attack a cemetery of American war dead south of Rome. Police found explosives and maps highlighting the Nettuno American Cemetery and Memorial in the town of Anzio. In a separate incident, police arrested members of a suspected al Qaeda of four Tunisians who were allegedly planning attacks in Europe.

December 2002
France: French police arrested nine suspected Islamist militants who were preparing an attack on Russian interests in France, including Moscow's embassy in Paris, as a reprisal for Russian actions in its rebel Chechnya province. Police raided the suburban flat used by the men, three Algerians and a Moroccan, and found electronic parts used in detonators and a chemical that can be used in explosives, as well as a personal protection suit from chemical agents, a large sum of cash and false identity papers.

January 2003
United Kingdom: Four North African men charged under Britain's chemical weapons laws with manufacturing ricin, one of the world's deadliest poisons. Another six arrested later in the month. A British policeman was killed and four others injured in an anti-terror raid which police say was linked to the discovery of a chemical weapons agent in London. Three were arrested.

February 2003
Germany: German police arrested three men suspected of planning attacks in Germany and of supporting the al Qaeda cell in Hamburg which launched the September 11 attacks.

March 2003
Germany: German prosecutors charged a 33-year-old Tunisian man with trying to form a cell to attack U.S. and Jewish targets in Germany. Before being arrested, he was in the process of acquiring "chemical substances" to make bombs, the prosecutor's office said in a statement.

August 2003
Germany: German police arrested an Algerian man they said was planning at least two bomb attacks in holiday resorts in Spain's Costa del Sol.

December 2003
United Kingdom: British security officials foiled planned terror attacks by al Qaeda followers in Britain and also probably across Europe. Britain warned an attack is almost inevitable and security services were on high alert for the past few weeks - arresting 23 suspects - after they said they had information an operation was planned.
Italy: Italian security forces arrested two Somalis after surveillance uncovered a planned attack on Italian president Silvio Berlusconi.

April 2004
Spain: Spanish authorities found a bomb planted on a high-speed rail line south of Madrid. Investigators believed that it was an attempt at a second attack by the cell that committed the 3/11 Madrid train attack.
United Kingdom: British and Canadian authorities arrested individuals in both countries. Dawn raids in London and other parts of the country were later associated with a large-scale VBIED plot that was intended to includesome form of dirty bomb. The raids were Britain’s biggest anti-terroroperation since the September 11.

June 2004
France: French anti-terror police detained a dozen people early in Paris raids, recovering a handgun and equipment for making false identity documents. The arrests came five days after reports that the Paris metro had been singled out for attack by militants.

October 2004
Spain: Police arrested eight men suspected of plotting to blow up Madrid landmarks. Ten others were suspected of cooperating from jail. Spanish authorities later asked Switzerland to extradite the suspected leader of the cell, Mohamed Achraf, who was the leader of a group named "Martyrs forMorocco." The cell planned to detonate a truck loaded with 1,100 lb of explosives near Spain's High Court and Supreme Court and an attack on Real Madrid's Bernabeu soccer stadium. In a separate incident four Algerians are charged with conspiring to make chemical weapons.

Til listen kan man lægge den bølge af arrestationer Italiensk politi har gennemført efter terrorangrebene i London:

Italian police have arrested 142 people in the course of a two-day anti-terror operation in and around Milan which was prompted by the London bombings.

Most were detained over drugs, theft or illegal immigration while 1.5 kilos (3.3 pounds) of explosives were found at the home of a convicted criminal.

Terroristerne der udførte terrorangrebene i Madrid i marts sidste år var også dømte forbrydere.

Henrik