| Sunday, July 10, 2005 |
| Britain's most wanted? |
British authorities have named one "person of interest" so far in the London train bombings:
 Spanish security sources are said to have warned four months ago that Mustafa Setmariam Nasar, a 47-year-old Syrian, had identified Britain as a likely target.
Coded commands from the Syrian, thought to have included threats to other European countries including Britain, were found in a flat raided after the Madrid bombings in March 2004. Spanish investigators said Nasar, now believed to be in Iraq, had set up a “sleeper” cell of terrorists in Britain. But they believed he was planning an attack to coincide with the British general election in May, rather than the G8 summit last week.
Here are a couple of pics of the suspect, and a link to more info about him (scary how ordinary he looks when dressed up like your typical Westerner...). Two interesting notes: Nasar, who has dual Syrian and Spanish citizenship, is thought to be in Iraq, and already has a $5 million bounty on his head from the U.S., in connection with the 9/11 attacks:
From an AP story dated November 18, 2004:
 WASHINGTON (AP) -- Secretary of State Colin Powell posted a $5 million reward Thursday for information leading to the capture of Mustafa Setmariam Nasar, an al Qaeda operative who ran a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan. Also known as Abu Musab al-Suri, he trained terrorists in poisons and chemicals, the State Department said. Nasar is a Syrian with dual Spanish nationality. In September 2003, he was among 35 people named in an indictment handed down by Spanish magistrate Baltasar Garzon for terrorist activities connected to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda organization. Ten of the 35, including bin Laden, were charged with planning the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and using Spain as a base.
A May, 2004 article in National Review suggested Nasar may have hooked up with the Zarqawi terrorist opertaion in Iraq to plan attacks in and out of that country. Talk about your flypaper theory, except that in this case, the flypaper isn't just in Iraq, it's in Spain, London and God knows where else, too... |
posted by JReid @ 2:10 PM   |
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