AL QAEDA'S BALKAN LINKS
By Marcia Christoff Kurop, Wall Street Journal Europe
“The overnight rise of heroin trafficking through Kosovo helped to fund terrorist activity directly associated with al Qaeda. Afghan-trained mujahideen settled in the Balkans around 1992. Recruits were brought into Bosnia by the ruling Islamic party of Bosnia, the Party of Democratic Action, from Chechnya, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Pakistan... They were all given journalists’ credentials to avoid explicit detection by the West. Others were married immediately to Bosnian Muslim women and incorporated into regular army ranks.”
[…]
“The Bosnian Embassy in Vienna issued a passport to bin Laden in 1993, according to various reports in the Yugoslav press at the time. The reports add that bin Laden then visited a terrorist camp in Zenica, Bosnia in 1994. The Bosnian government denies all of this, but admits that some passport records have been lost.”
Source: WALL STREET JOURNAL EUROPE, November 1, 2001;
Search the archive http://www.wsj.com
See also http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/561291/posts

IRANIANS MOVE IN
By Uzi Mahnaimi, The Sunday Times
“Iranian Revolutionary Guards have joined forces with a Saudi millionaire [Osama bin Laden] to support the Albanian underground movement in Kosovo. They hope to turn the region into their main base for Islamic armed activity in Europe.
...Bin Laden, 44, described by the US State Department as ‘one of the most significant sponsors of Islamic extremist activities’, has begun extending his operations to eastern Europe. He has supported Muslims in Bosnia and Kosovo, the source said. Iran is keen to strengthen its presence in the region.”
Source: THE SUNDAY TIMES (LONDON), March 22, 1998; 
Search the archive http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/

BIN LADEN’S BALKAN CONNECTIONS
The Center for Peace in the Balkans
“Yet, it would be willful blindness to suggest that the roots of terror begin and end in Afghanistan or the Middle East. When examining events that have transpired in the Balkans over the past ten years, Osama Bin Laden’s name appears prominently. Bin Laden directly aided the Bosnian Muslims, both financially (weapons procurement) and with training. In addition, that same ‘aid’ was extended to the separatist Albanians of Kosovo and Macedonia. Ironically, the US found Bin Laden and his supporters ‘convenient’ allies when dealing with Bosnian Muslims and Kosovo Albanians, again in another so-called struggle for ‘freedom’.”
Source: THE CENTRE FOR PEACE IN THE BALKANS, September 2001;
http://www.balkanpeace.org/our/our09.shtml

HELP FROM THE HOLY WARRIORS
By Tom Post and Joel Brand, Newsweek
“They [the Mujahedeen] have come from a host of Islamic countries -- Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, among them -- to fight a holy war [in Bosnia].  As they explained to a NEWSWEEK reporter who went inside a secret training camp [outside Travnik in Bosnia] and spoke with their elusive leader Abu Abdul Aziz, they are supporting a struggle for survival because no one else will… ‘We are not here to bring supplies like food and medicine,’ he [Abu Abdul Aziz] says, a silver revolver gleaming from his waistband.  ‘There are a lot of organizations that can do that.  We bring men.’ How many?  ‘Enough.’
… Zagreb has tolerated the Islamic warriors -- except when its expedient not to, as in the recent seizure of an Iranian 747 loaded with guns or the slaying of six Saudi Arabians by Croats who stole the weapons being brought to local Muslims.”
Source: NEWSWEEK, October 5, 1992;
Search the archive http://www.newsweek.com

MUJAHEDEENS IN BOSNIA-HERCEGOVINA
The Associated Press
“Islamic volunteers known as mujahedeen, or holy warriors, have harassed international aid workers and hijacked their vehicles. They are accused of killing U.N. aid worker Paul Goodall in January and have terrorized secular Muslims with their vision of Islamic purity. The death of a Danish driver in October, which U.N. sources also blamed on mujahedeen, halted all aid convoys for four weeks and sabotaged U.N. efforts to stockpile for the winter. A threat a week after Goodall’s death to kill a U.N. refugee agency worker, thought to have been transmitted on a radio stolen from Goodall’s car, was never carried out.
…The fighters apparently have support from about a dozen Islamic countries in the Middle East and Africa, as well as Muslims living in Europe. Most are said to be either career soldiers who train government forces or individuals intent on creating an Islamic state.”
Source: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, February 21, 1994; 
Search the archive http://www.ap.org/
See also http://www.bosnet.org/archive/bosnet.w3archive/9402/msg00130.html

BIN LADEN’S BALKAN CONNECTION COMES UNDER SCRUTINY
Agence France Press (AFP)
“Osama bin Laden’s followers are active throughout the Balkans, with bases in Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia and Albania, Serbia’s interior minister said Wednesday as Belgrade offered to share information with the United States on their activities.”
Source: AGENCE FRANCE PRESS, September 19, 2001;
Search the archive http://www.afp.com/
See also http://www.balkanpeace.org/hed/archive/sept01/hed4113.shtml

TERRORISTS USE BOSNIA AS BASE AND SANCTUARY
By Craig Pyes, Josh Meyer & William C. Rempe, The Los Angeles Times
“Hundreds of foreign Islamic extremists who became Bosnian citizens after battling Serbian and Croatian forces present a potential terrorist threat to Europe and the United States, according to a classified U.S. State Department report and interviews with international military and intelligence sources. The extremists include hard-core terrorists, some with ties to Osama bin Laden, protected by militant elements of the former Sarajevo government. Bosnia-Herzegovina is ‘a staging area and safe haven’ for terrorists, said one former senior State Department official.”
[…]
“* An Algerian with Bosnian citizenship, described by one U.S. official as ‘a junior Osama bin Laden,’ tried to help smuggle explosives in 1998 to an Egyptian terrorist group plotting to destroy U.S. military installations in Germany. The shipment included military C-4 plastic explosives and blasting caps, the former U.S. official said. The CIA intercepted the shipment, foiling the attack.
* Another North African with Bosnian citizenship belonged to a terrorist cell in Montreal that conspired in the failed millennium plot to bomb Los Angeles International Airport.
* One of Bin Laden top lieutenants--a Palestinian linked to major terrorist plots in Jordan, France and the United States--had operatives in Bosnia and was issued a Bosnian passport, according to U.S. officials.”
Source: THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, October 7, 2001
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-100701terror.story

BOSNIA MINISTER QUITS AFTER BIN LADEN COMMENTS
Reuters
“The [Bosnian Muslim] minister was criticised over a statement he made last month citing ‘reliable sources’ saying that 70 people from bin Laden’s organisation were preparing to come from Afghanistan to Bosnia, which he said they saw as a ‘safe haven’.”
Source: REUTERS, October 12, 2001;
Search the archive http://www.reuters.com

BOSNIA’S MUSLIMS FRINGE UNDER SCRUTINY
By George Jahn, The Associated Press
“Posters exhorting Bosnia's Muslims to rise in holy war against America were printed and ready for posting about the time the first U.S. cruise missile slammed into Afghanistan. ‘We want a third and a fourth world war for Islam - long live bin Laden,’ reads one of several posters recently confiscated by police. ‘Afghanistan, Bosnia - why wouldn’t you fight for oppressed men, women and children?’ asks another.”
Source: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, October 13, 2001;
Search the archive http://www.ap.org/

NATO MAY HAVE FELLED NETWORK IN BOSNIA
By Seattle Times news services
“NATO-led peacekeepers in Bosnia-Herzegovina think they have disrupted a Bosnian-based terrorist network and are investigating possible links to Osama bin Laden, a spokesman for the force said yesterday. 
Eleven Islamic militants were arrested, disrupting a terror cell’s plans to strike Eagle Base, a sprawling installation in Tuzla, and a new post called Camp Connor near Bratunac, according to an official with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Brussels, Belgium.”
Source: THE SEATTLE TIMES, October 25, 2001
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/134358375_bosnia25.html

NATO SAYS BLOW DEALT TO AL QAEDA IN BOSNIA
By Nedim Derivsbegovic, Reuters
“NATO-led peacekeepers said on Thursday they had disrupted links in Bosnia of the al Qaeda network of Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden, the West's prime suspects for last month's attacks on the United States. The Balkan country's Stabilisation Force (SFOR) said its investigation into the network was continuing and cautioned that it may still be able to pose a threat.”
Source: REUTERS, October 25, 2001;
Search the archive http://www.reuters.com

BOSNIA HOLDS ARABS SUSPECTED OF LINKS TO AL QAEDA
By Daria Sito-Sucic, Reuters
“Bosnia said on Monday it was holding six Arabs suspected of links with the al Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden, prime suspect in the September 11 attacks on the United States.
Acting on a U.S. tip, police arrested five Algerians earlier this month after threats against the U.S. and British embassies in Sarajevo, deputy interior minister Tomislav Limov of Bosnia's Muslim-Croat Federation told a news conference.”
Source: REUTERS, October 29, 2001;
Search the archive http://www.reuters.com

SWISS EXTRADITE SUSPECTED EXTREMIST
The Associated Press
“Swiss authorities said Wednesday they had extradited to Italy a man suspected of belonging to an Islamic extremist group that recruited volunteers to fight in Bosnia.”
Source: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, October 31, 2001;
Search the archive http://www.ap.org

BALKAN BRANCHES OF THE TERROR NETWORK?
By Nikolaos Stavrou, The Washington Times
“In the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on America, numerous incidents of alleged ‘ethnic profiling’ and intense scrutiny of ‘Middle East-looking persons’ have been reported published. This should not be a surprise to anyone, given the fact that the 19 terrorists who caused havoc in the lives of thousands fit a particular ethnic mold. However, Osama bin Laden’s terror network has Balkan branches that could render ethnic profiling irrelevant. Evidence in the public domain suggests his organization appeared in the Balkans as early as 1993 in search of blond Muslims.”
Source: THE WASHINGTON TIMES, October 21, 2001
http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/20011021-12623960.htm

HOW BOSNIA'S MUSLIMS DODGED ARMS EMBARGO
By John Pomfret, Washington Post
“In the documents and in the bank accounts of the Third World Relief Agency, Austrian investigators have tracked $350 million they say flowed from Muslim governments and radical Islamic movements to Bosnia. At least half was used to purchase weapons illegally and smuggle them to the Bosnian government army, according to Western intelligence estimates… But militants in the terrorist underworld are also believed to have used the relief agency to get money to the Bosnian government, including the wealthy Saudi Arabian emigre Osama Binladen, a suspected sponsor of militant Islamic groups around the Middle East. Binladen, a resident of Sudan until last year, is reportedly now in Afghanistan, where he has issued statements calling for attacks on U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf.”
Source: WASHINGTON POST, September 22, 1996
Search the archive http://www.washingtonpost.com/
See also http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/bosvote/front.htm

IRANIANS STAY IN BOSNIA, U.S. SAYS
By Jeffrey Smith, Washington Post
“Virtually all of the foreign Islamic fighters remaining in Bosnia have burrowed into local society to avoid ouster from that country and are evidently awaiting the pullout of U.S. and allied NATO forces to resume their activities, U.S. intelligence officials told reporters at a briefing yesterday. Included in this group are around two dozen of the Iranian-trained terrorists who came to the country to fight the Bosnian Serbs, who the U.S. officials said are also unlikely to leave soon.”
Source: WASHINGTON POST, May 31, 1996;
Search the archive http://www.washingtonpost.com/

IRAN WILL WITHDRAW MORE THAN 700 MILITARY ADVISERS
Reuters
“The decision, supported by moderates and hard-liners in Iran, affects Revolutionary Guards and other units currently based in Sudan, Lebanon, Bosnia and other regions.”
Source: REUTERS, November 8, 2001;
Search the archive http://www.reuters.com
 
 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
 

Terrorism in the Balkans

The Center for Peace in the Balkans; http://www.balkanpeace.org

Kosovo.com; http://www.kosovo.com
 
 

Copyright ©2000 SANE, Inc. For free and fair use only.