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15-07-2005 The Scotsman Straw admits Pakistan schools terror link By Gethin Chamberlain Chief News Correspondent SOME religious schools in Pakistan are acting as breeding grounds for Islamic militants, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw warned yesterday. After The Scotsman revealed that authorities in Pakistan suspect that at least one of the London bombers, Shehzad Tanweer, may have been recruited during studies at a school run by the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Mr Straw said the British and Pakistani governments were working together to tackle the problem. He acknowledged concerns that some of Pakistan's thousands of religious schools - known as madrassas - could be breeding grounds for Islamic militants. "Yes, we are concerned about what goes on in some, though not all, of the madrassas in Pakistan but so, too, is President [Pervez] Musharraf," he said. General Musharraf, the Pakistani president, has called on provincial authorities to monitor clerics closely to ensure that they do not use mosques to stoke sectarian violence. Some intelligence analysts now believe that LeT is emerging as a network which can rival al-Qaeda in size and effectiveness. Its leader, Hafiz Saeed, has publicly stated that he believes suicide bombing to be the best form of holy war. It was reported in Pakistan yesterday that intelligence agencies believed at least two of the British bombers had recently returned from Pakistan and that they may have attended training camps with links to al-Qaeda. The reports said that MI6, MI5 and British diplomats had been in contact with Pakistani authorities in an attempt to establish the nature of the terrorist connections. Meanwhile, it emerged that Australian security services believe that terrorists trained by LeT had been plotting to target their cities with similar attacks to the ones seen in London. Australian anti-terrorist officers carried out raids at four homes in Melbourne last month after a ten-month long investigation by the Australian Secret Intelligence Organisation uncovered a plot to attack major landmarks including the Sydney Opera House. Two men who allegedly trained with LeT in Pakistan are currently awaiting trial in Australia. Prosecutors say architect Faheem Khalid Lodhi, 34, returned from an LeT camp planning to mount a terrorist attack in Sydney, a charge he denies. Bilal Khazal, 35, a former airline baggage handler, is accused of compiling a terrorist manual. Australian officials have expressed confidence that their policy of keeping homegrown Islamic radicals under constant surveillance will protect them from an attack. It has also emerged that three people from Coventry are awaiting trial in the UK on charges of conspiracy to provide funds and weapons to LeT. Mohammed Ajmal Khan, 30, Palvinder Singh, 29, and Frzana Khan, a 41-year-old woman, were arrested in March. And Indian police have been placed on alert amid intelligence reports that the group may attempt to strike at New Delhi's underground system. Police Commissioner Ranjit Narayan said extra officers had been brought in to frisk all passengers. It has also been reported in India that LeT was involved in a plot to mount terrorist operations in Western countries. The information has emerged from the interrogation of Jagtar Singh Hawara, leader of the Babbar Khalsa International group, who is said to have told police about plans to use a suicide bomber in the United States.
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................................................................................................................. Copyright ©2004 Gethin Chamberlain. All rights reserved. |
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