|
|
| By: Associated Press |
| Published: January 17, 2006 |
| |
Lebanon's top military magistrate officially charged and issued arrest warrants Monday against 13 Muslim extremists for planning to carry out terror attacks.
The 13 had been described by the state-run National News Agency as al-Qaida suspects, but magistrate Rashi Mezher said so far he has no proof of whether they are members of Osama bin Laden's terror network.
After several hours of questioning, the 13 were charged with "establishing a gang to carry out terrorist acts, forging official and private documents and possessing unlicensed arms," Mezher told The Associated Press.
The 13 _ seven Syrians, three Lebanese, a Saudi, a Jordanian and a Palestinian, were detained earlier this month in different areas in Lebanon after being put under surveillance by Lebanese security forces.
Although al-Qaida has rarely carried out attacks in Lebanon, it is believed that the group has supporters and sympathizers among extremist factions hiding in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon.
The al-Qaida in Iraq terrorist group last week repeated its claim that it fired a barrage of rockets from Lebanon into northern Israel on Dec. 27, provoking Israeli airstrikes on a Palestinian base in central Lebanon.
In 2004, a Lebanese military prosecutor charged 35 alleged members of an al-Qaida-linked group with plotting to bomb foreign targets in Lebanon, including the Italian and Ukrainian diplomatic missions, assassinate Western diplomats and attack Lebanese security facilities.
Only nine of the 35 defendants are in custody. One of those is Ahmed Salim Mikati, who Lebanese officials have described as a mastermind of the plots and one of Lebanon's most dangerous criminals. They accused him of trying to establish al-Qaida cells in the country.
Mikati has been linked to the "Dinniyah group" - a group of Muslim fundamentalists who fought Lebanese troops in the northern region of Dinniyah in 1999. More than 40 people, including 11 soldiers, were killed.
One of the al-Qaida hijackers in the September 11 attacks in the United States was a Lebanese citizen. |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Click on the blue headline to read a Talkback comment and respond to it. Click on the  icon to send a private email to the talkback writer. The icon appears only if the writer has decided to be contacted. If no popup window appears, please make sure your popup blocker allows israelinsider.com.
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
