Global Nature of Islamist Threat Revealed with Latest Arrests in Italy
The global nature of the modern Islamist invasion of Europe has been revealed with the news that Italian police have arrested four Tunisians and a Moroccan on suspicion of recruiting Islamic fighters for Iraq and Afghanistan and are looking for a sixth man, also from Tunisia.
The arrests, carried out in the Italian city of Bologna, have been linked by police to an international terrorist ring which was recruiting suicide bombers for Iraq and Afghanistan.
The North African Islamists are also charged with fraud. They are alleged to have collected money from phoney car accident insurance claims to finance their operations.
All six “are accused of criminal association with the aim of international terrorism, and two of them also of serious fraud to fund terrorism”, Vincenzo Ciarambino of the Bologna crime squad said.
Interior Minister Roberto Marino said in a statement that the arrests “confirm that Islamic terrorism is deeply rooted in our territory and that we must keep our guard up against it”.
Police said the leader of the group was a veteran of the independence struggle in Bosnia, where many Africans fought alongside Bosnian Muslims.
The group is suspected of recruiting North Africans in Italy and sending them for training in Bosnia to fight against U.S. and other coalition troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Authorities also suspect the cell sent tens of thousands of dollars to groups in Bosnia that offer training and logistical support to Iraqi and Afghan terror organizations, said Claudio Galzerano, head of the Italian police force's international terrorism division.
Police arrested the five suspects - four Tunisians and one Moroccan - in Galzerano said those arrested include alleged Tunisian ringleader Khalil Jarraya, a veteran of Bosnia's 1992-95 war, and four others he allegedly recruited for suicide attacks in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Galzerano said Jarraya, who also has received Bosnian citizenship, may have recruited others already sent abroad.
The arrests followed a three-year investigation based on wiretaps and on training material found in previous searches of the suspects' homes.
“In the telephone intercepts they always were extremely satisfied when someone blew himself up,” Galzerano told The Associated Press by telephone from Bologna. “These are people who were radicalized in the West and declared themselves ready to become ‘martyrs' for jihad.”
Investigators have long considered Italy a logistical base where terror groups seek recruits and financing. After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States, the country introduced the charge of international terrorism, which can carry a sentence of up to 15 years jail.
* In China, seven Islamist militants and a security guard have been killed after a series of bombings in China's north-western region of Xinjiang, apparently as part of an openly declared Islamist plot to try and disrupt the Olympic Games.
The pre-dawn violence in southern Kuqa county targeted a police station and other government buildings.
Earlier this week, China said 16 policemen were killed in an attack by Islamist separatists in Xinjiang. “The lawbreakers drove a taxi to the local public security office, industry and business administration and other sites and tossed homemade explosives, destroying two police vehicles,” Xinhua news agency reported.
Recommended Reading: Jihad: Islam's 1,300 Year War on Western Civilisation, By Arthur Kemp.
For centuries, violent Muslims have been trying to capture Europe for Islam. Sweeping out from its origin in Saudi Arabia, Islam has expanded through violent conquest into North Africa, the Middle and Near East, and very nearly into Europe itself, attacking through Spain, Italy, and the Balkans. Each time, the Islamic hordes were turned back by a united European military effort.
Today, the Islamic invasion is not being carried out with sieges, scimitars, or cannon, but rather by immigration, birth rates, and demographics.
Given current trends, Europe is set to be overrun before the end of this century. This book puts the current crisis into historical perspective, showing that instead of being a “religion of peace,” violent Islam has, in fact, been waging war on all its self-appointed opponents since its inception.
Finally, this book dares to say what must be done if Europe is to avoid succumbing to the new invasion. The choice is hard, but is one which will determine whether Western Civilisation lives or dies. Softcover, 72 pp. Price: £7.95 (Excluding: Delivery at 18.87%) Click to buy here from Excalibur.