German Terror Investigators Make Public Appeal

[Casey]

The public will be asked to help:
The Federal Attorney General and the Federal Criminal Office investigators since 25.09.2008 publicly after the two terrorist suspects and Eric Breining Al Houssain Malla. Both individuals are strongly suspected members of a terrorist group to be with his arrest warrant and searched.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y20/caseybritton/2998/breininger_al_malla.jpg

Personenfahndung
Die Öffentlichkeit wird um Mithilfe gebeten:
Die Bundesanwaltschaft und das Bundeskriminalamt fahnden seit 25.09.2008 öffentlich nach den beiden Terrorverdächtigen Eric Breininger und Houssain Al Malla. Beide Personen werden dringend verdächtigt, Mitglieder einer terroristischen Vereinigung zu sein und werden mit Haftbefehl gesucht.
mehr...

http://www.bka.de/

http://www.bka.de/fahndung/personen/meistgesuchte/breininger_al_malla/index.html


http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y20/caseybritton/2998/bka_de.jpg

[Vancouver]

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3671415,00.html
German federal police made a rare appeal to the public on Thursday to help them track down two suspected Islamic militants who they think could be in or heading to Germany.
Eric Breininger, a 21-year-old German convert, and Houssain al-Malla, a 23-year-old Lebanese, were last seen in the zone along the Pakistan-Afghan border.

German broadcaster ZDF had reported that Western intelligence services now have indications that Breininger had returned to Europe, and possibly Germany, and was trying to procure explosives.

But a spokesman said there was no concrete evidence Breininger was plotting an actual attack.

Police said, however, that Breininger, who is from the state of Saarland in western Germany, had recorded an internet video in August in which he spoke of carrying out a suicide attack and supported jihad or holy war.

The Federal Crime Office BKA showed photos of the two men on its web page listing the most wanted suspects in the country.

Both men are suspected of links to the Islamic Jihad Union (IJU), which is affiliated with al Qaeda and investigators say was behind a major bomb plot in Germany that they thwarted last September. Its targets included Frankfurt airport and the US base of Ramstein.

[docj227]

apparently, they got them at the cologne airport this morning.

[Casey]

Police in Cologne Remove Suspects from Plane

German security officials detained two terror suspects at one of the country's busiest airports on Friday. The men had been under police observation. But officials do not believe they planned to hijack KLM Flight 1804.


DPA
Police removed the men from the plane at the Cologne-Bonn Airport (pictured here) after it was cleared for takeoff.


A special police force in Cologne on Friday arrested two suspected terrorists shortly before the take-off of a scheduled KLM flight to Amsterdam.

The state Office for Criminal Investigation (LKA) in North Rhine-Westphalia, where the Cologne-Bonn International Airport is located, said police arrested two suspects -- including a 23-year-old Somalian and a 24-year old German citizen who was born in Somalia -- at 6:55 a.m.

An LKA spokesperson said officials believed the men wanted to participate in terrorist attacks and die "in jihad." They do not suspect, however, that the men had plans to hijack the plane. Police found suicide letters in an apartment rented by the men, who have both been the subject of surveillance for months.

Both LKA and officials at the Cologne-Bonn Airport disputed earlier reports that police had stormed the plane. Instead, they said the arrest of the men on the plane proceeded in a "totally unspectacular" way.

According to airport officials, German federal police also participated in the arrests. Airport workers removed the men's luggage from the plane and the flight eventually took off after more than an hour's delay.

Airport spokesman Alexander Weise said the police officials boarded the plane and escorted the men back to the terminal. Meanwhile, an LKA spokesperson would not provide additional information about the reasons for the arrest or the suspects' identity because of the ongoing nature of the investigation.

A spokesperson for the Dutch airline KLM in Amsterdam said Flight KL1804 had already been cleared for takeoff. Shortly thereafter, however, that clearance was suspended by the police.

Following the arrest, around 40 other passengers were forced to disembark the airplane and identify their luggage before reboarding the aircraft.

The development came one day after officials at the Federal Office of Criminal Investigation (BKA) made a public appeal for information leading to the arrest of two terror suspects they believe are traveling to Germany. Officials believe that Eric Breininger from the state of Saarland and Houssain al-Malla, from Lebanon, may be planning terrorist attacks in Germany. Security officials said, however, that they do not have information about concrete plans or targets.

In videos posted on the Internet, Breininger has made threats to conduct suicide attacks numerous times. Police believe Breininger and al-Malla's most recent whereabouts was Pakistan, and officials allege the two men visited terrorist training camps along the Pakistani-Afghan border.

-- dsl with wire reports



URL:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,580688,00.html

[Vancouver]

Just to be clear, there are two different pairs: a pair of Somalis who had been watched in Germany right up until they got on a plane, and the pair of Beiringer & Al-Malla still sought.

[Vancouver]

The guy on the left is Eric Breininger. Anybody got the whole video?

[Vancouver]

http://www.sehadetzamani.com/haber_detay.php?haber_id=1921
Islamic Jihad Union. The page is about Abdul-Gaffar, who is Eric Breininger. Several photos appear.

[Vancouver]

http://www.ccc.nps.navy.mil/si/2008/Jul/steinbergJul08.asp
Overview of Islamic Jihad Union. It mentions the webpage about Breininger, which at that time was on a different URL, which is now dead.

[Casey]

Politicians Warn of Increased Terror Threat in Germany
Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:

So far Germany has not been the target of Islamist terror

Politicians in Germany warned Saturday of the dangers posed by Islamists, following the arrest of two terrorist suspects and a police search for two others.

The arrests took place in Cologne on Friday when a Somali and a German of Somali descent were escorted off a plane bound for the Dutch city Amsterdam.

German prosecutors on Saturday were granted arrest warrants for the two men by a local court. Chief prosecutor Fred Apostel said evidence provided by police showed the pair "were planning to carry out an attack in the near future."

Security sources said the pair had been under observation for months and were planning to travel via the Netherlands to a training camp for militants on the Pakistan-Afghan border.

A search of their apartment had turned up letters in which the two men, who are in their 20s, had declared their readiness to die in a jihad or holy war, the sources said.

Police apparently stepped in to prevent them from joining their comrades in the Islamic Jihad Union, (IJU), often described as a successor to the terrorist network al Qaeda.

Planning terrorist attacks?

German police are currently searching for two other militants who underwent training in the use of firearms and explosives at an IJU camp and are now believed to be back in Germany.

Police fear Eric Breininger, a 21-year-old German convert to Islam, and Houssain al-Malla, a 23-year-old Lebanese, might be planning terrorist attacks in Germany.

Breininger, who is from Saarland state in the west of the country, is reported to have recorded an Internet video in which he spoke of carrying out a suicide attack and supported jihad.

The two men were also believed to have been in contact with one of the three IJU adherents who were arrested in the Sauerland region in September 2007 on suspicion of plotting attacks against US targets.

Closing loopholes

Christian Democrat politician Wolfgang Bosbach called Saturday for tougher laws to deal with people who are schooled in terrorist training aboard and then return to Germany. Under current law staying at such camps is not an offense.

"We have to close this loophole," Bosbach said, pointing to the enormous cost of surveillance of the returnees.

Some experts believe there are up to 100 home-grown militants who have attended training camps aboard and returned to Germany to recruit new adherents.

Dangerous marginalization

Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Hermann voiced the fear that the growing number of German converts to Islam could become radicalized.

"Young people who feel marginalized in society are susceptible to becoming Islamists," the conservative politician said. "The Breininger case is such an example."

Germany has so far managed to avoid al Qaeda-inspired attacks like the Madrid train bombings of March 2004 which left 191 dead or the suicide attacks on the London transport system 16 months later, which killed a total of 56 people.

In July 2006, an attempt to blow up two passenger trains in Germany with suitcase bombs failed because of a fault in the timing device. One of the perpetrators was jailed for 12 years by a court in Lebanon. Another accused is still on trial in Germany.

Pop phenomenon?

Earlier this week, three teenagers of Turkish descent were arrested in Cologne after luring two police officers into an ambush and firing blanks at them. The trio told prosecutors they planned to steal the officers' firearms and use them in attacks on Americans and other targets as part of a holy war for which they were prepared to die.

The group, aged 15-17, had apparently been watching Islamist hate videos before their assault on the police.

"The jihad has now become a pop phenomenon," the Tagesspiegel newspaper quoted one security source as saying. Dying as a martyr in the name of Allah could soon become the ultimate symbol of provocation for rebellious youth, he added.

US, EU ministers agree to cooperate

The ministers met in Bonn on Saturday
Interior ministers from the US and six European countries meanwhile called Saturday for greater cooperation to combat international terrorism. A common approach and an effective strategy to prevent terrorist attacks was necessary, German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said after a day-long meeting in Bonn.

To achieve this goal, close cooperation with the United States was indispensable, Schaeuble said.

US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff was present at the gathering, along with Schaeuble and representatives from Britain, France, Italy, Spain and Poland.

The conference agreed that strategies needed to be developed in order to prevent young people from becoming radicalized, Schaeuble said.

The ministers discussed ways to stop the spread of hatred and instructions on how to carry out attacks via modern forms of communications technology such as the Internet. They agreed to set up a panel of experts to look into the legal framework for cross-border measures to access computer hard drives and other data storage equipment used by terrorist suspects.

Schaeuble said Germany remained a target for terrorists, but the security services were doing everything they could within the law to limit the danger and protect the country's citizens.

DPA news agency (win)

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3675511,00.html

[Vancouver]

The May 2008 "interview" of Eric Breininger ( = Abdul-Gafaar al-Almani) by the Islamic Jihad Union (under their media name Badr at-Tawheed).
English translation by IJU.

http://islamist-terrorism.googlegroups.com/web/interview.pdf

http://islamist-terrorism.googlegroups.com/web/interview.doc

[Casey]

Eric Breininger Appears in video on Turkish Jihad website

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From Turkish website:

Abdulgaffar El Almani'den BASIN AÇIKLAMASI
21/10/2008

İslami Cihad İttehadi Mücahidlerinden Abdulgaffar El Almani'nin dünya basınında kendi hakkında çıkan beyanatlar ve karalamalara cevabıdır.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y20/caseybritton/2998/abd.gif

[Casey]

Video (http://http://worldanalysis.net/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1454)

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y20/caseybritton/2998/2002.gif

[SmokedYourDSM]

he'd qualify for a "Rakan Bin Willyams", wouldn't you say...?

[Vancouver]

There is a new Breininger video, six minutes, which I haven't seen. Casey, is it the same as the one you mentioned?
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/10/23/monitor/entry4541220.shtml

[Vancouver]

Eric Breininger "has carried out a martyrdom operation in Afghanistan" according to this at Hesbah:

أخ ألــمــاني نفّذ عمليه استشهاديه في افغانستان - بدر التوحيد -

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم


- نداء من جبال الهندكوش -


وصيه الألماني " إيريك بريرنجير " وقد نفّذ عمليه استشهاديه

======
The poster is
خبيب بن عدي
Habib bin 'Adi

[Vancouver]

Another Hesbah guy is contradicting the claim about Breininger.

[Casey]

There is a new Breininger video, six minutes, which I haven't seen. Casey, is it the same as the one you mentioned?
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/10/23/monitor/entry4541220.shtml

Sorry, just saw this. The video at that page is no longer active. I would imagine it was the same one.

[Casey]

Eric Breininger "has carried out a martyrdom operation in Afghanistan" according to this at Hesbah:

أخ ألــمــاني نفّذ عمليه استشهاديه في افغانستان - بدر التوحيد -

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم


- نداء من جبال الهندكوش -


وصيه الألماني " إيريك بريرنجير " وقد نفّذ عمليه استشهاديه

======
The poster is
خبيب بن عدي
Habib bin 'Adi

I am not seeing anything about this, will post if I do.

There are new comments on the Turkish website where the video from September is located. Nothing that indicates Breininger participated in a martyrdom operation.