Terrorists Ready for Holy War in 40 American States

February 11 2004
Ian Bruce, Defence Correspondent

ISLAMIC terror commandos are being infiltrated into the US in preparation for "an American jihad" from within, according to intelligence sources.

Dozens of radicals trained in camps in western Pakistan and Kashmir are already believed to have slipped into the country and been absorbed in sleeper cells in unsuspecting Muslim communities as the vanguard of a holy army estimated to be several hundred strong.

An FBI spokesman said al Qaeda and allied organisations were thought to be operating in 40 American states, awaiting orders for terror attacks.

An official said up to 400 known radicals had passed through the camps.
Many of the camps are run by Harakat-ul-Ansar and Lashkar-e-Taiba, militant groups with links to al Qaeda and a history of grooming guerrillas to attack security forces.
India and Pakistan last month announced a peace initiative on disputed Kashmir. General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's president, said his country would not allow terrorist training on its soil.

However, Indian and US intelligence agencies claim to have surveillance photographs and intercepted signals which show that between 60 and 70 camps are still in use. Some which were closed after the September 11 attacks on the US have also been reactivated.

Pakistani authorities have arrested hundreds of al Qaeda suspects, including Abu Zubaydah, its top recruiting officer, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, chief of operations, and Ramzi Binalshibh, paymaster of the September 11 hijackers.

US officials suspect that Pakistan's inter-services intelligence agency, which created and fostered the Taliban movement in Afghanistan, has not broken all its Islamic links with terrorist organisations.

FBI agents last year arrested 11 men, including nine US citizens, for involvement in what became known as "the Virginia jihad". All were accused of engaging in terrorist training at camps run by Lashkar-e-Taiba. Six have since pleaded guilty.

Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, Pakistan's ambassador to the US, yesterday denied the existence of any terrorist camps in his country or in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.

In Ukraine yesterday, the foreign ministry denied reports that scientists had sold nuclear weapons to al Qaeda. Markian Lubkiyvskyi, a spokesman, said Ukraine had transferred all its nuclear weapons to Russia by June 1, 1996

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