Kosovo/Bosniak Link to London Bombings
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Defense & Foreign Affairs Special Analysis - July 18, 2005 Monday
Analysis. By Valentine Spyroglou, GIS. Christope Chaboud, the new
commandant of the anti-terrorist unit of France (UCLAT: l'unite de
coordination de la lutte anti-terroriste ], a unit of the French
criminal
police, Police Judiciaire (PJ) which specializes in the fight against
terrorism, said on July 13, 2005, that the explosives used in the
London
terrorist bombings on July 7, 2005, were of military derivation and had
come to the UK from Kosovo.
GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs had already known that the bombs used
were
based on former Yugoslav National Army (JNA) stocks of Semtex plastic
explosive, and that subsequent to the London bombings, UK security
officials flew to Belgrade to discuss the matter with Serbia-Montenegro
security officials. GIS sources had said that the Semtex had originated
from the Bosnian jihadist support network, although it is important to
stress that the Bosnia-Kosovo-Albania-Raska (Southern Serbia) jihadist
net
functions as a single operational zone.
See:
Defense & Foreign Affairs Special Analysis, July 8, 2005: London
Bombings:
Initial Observations .
Defense & Foreign Affairs Special Analysis, July 11, 2005: Additional
Evidence of Support for Terrorists, Violations of Arms Trafficking Laws
by
New Bosnian Ambassador to US .
Defense & Foreign Affairs Special Analysis, July 13, 2005: Despite Firm
Linkages to 9/11, Madrid, and London Attacks, Bosnian Jihadist Networks
Remain "Out of Bounds" .
Sources within the Greek security agencies -- which have extremely good
access in the Balkans and are very activated in the region -- after the
London bombings told GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs that "for years"
they
had given information to their allies for the activity and the danger
derived by the Islamists in Bosnia and Kosovo and Albania; although
there
is no reciprocation on their part (ie: the allies do not respond by
providing intelligence on the jihadists to the Greek security
agencies).
Furthermore, the Greek security sources stated that "a month ago and
after
information derived from the Greek agencies and the Greek military
force in
KFOR, CIA and MI-6 disarticulated three cells of al-Qaida in their
common
operation held in Kosovo. They had also found contemporary armament and
military plastic explosives. A comparison was held between the oddments
of
the explosives in London, and the explosives found in Kosovo one month
[earlier]." For the results, the agency simply told GIS that they only
needed to be asked.
By way of background: on July 27, 2000, beginning at 05:30 hrs, a
common
operation was held in Greece by the Greek agencies and the US Army
under
the code name Fuente . The Greek patrol of the Special Forces,
discovered,
based on information which directed them to the site, a clandestine
cache
with many armaments and explosives on Kourkoulitsa mountain, in the
Greek
Peleponnese, near the village Nepodible (as transliterated). Among
other
things, there were sniper weapons, and manportable rockets of
contemporary
technology. Also, there were found electronic devices which could
simultaneously detonate remote-controlled explosive devices in
different
locations from a distance of many kilometres.
The US Forces had kept the remote control devices and the explosives
for
further investigation.
The Greek officers continued independent research, and they concluded
that
these derived from a country in the Middle East, which had supplied
them to
Islamists via the Albanian network of UCK (KLA: Kosovo Liberation
Army).
The Greek Force has arrested three times fundamentalists in Kosovo, and
has
handed them over to the US.
The Greek agencies focus in the area of Sanzak (Raska) in southern
Serbia
and northern Montenegro, and they consider that there are located
important
cells of fundamentalists which had planned strikes against Europe.
Since
1996, jihadist terrorists from Bosnia-Herzegovina have been located in
Sanzak. The Greek agencies have information that many terrorist attacks
against the Caucasus and Europe derive from there, and it operates as a
directorate of al-Qaida .
At the same time, and while the memorial events were taking place for
the
victims of Srebrenica, former US Assistant Secretary of State Richard
Holbrook stated that the Orthodox Serbian Church was hiding the Bosnian
Serb fugitives Radovan Karadzic and Gen. Ratko Mladic. On July 8, 2005,
the
NATO forces in Bosnia arrested the son of former Pres. Karadzic,
Aleksandar
"Sasa" Karadzic, in order to put pressure on the former President for
his
arrest.
Another important issue emerging are the charges against Greek citizens
for
alleged involvement in the alleged massacres in Srebrenica. This issue
remains secret within the International Criminal Tribunal for the
former
Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the Greek Government at this point, although the
(ICTY) sent a confidential report in the Greek Government at the
beginning
of July 2005 on the possible role of Greek volunteers who fought in
Srebrenica.
See:
Defense & Foreign Affairs Special Analysis, June 17, 2005: Srebrenica
and
the Politics of War Crimes .
Defense & Foreign Affairs Special Analysis, July 13, 2005: Researchers
and
Former UN Officials Challenge Portrayal of Events at Srebrenica.