Spain/France/Terrorism: Leader of SEGI, a movement closely aligned with ETA, arrested in France

The Spanish Authorities said that one of the presumed leaders of SEGI, a radical youth Basque nationalist movement suspected to be closely connected to ETA, was arrested Thursday. The arrest occurred in the town of Saint-Jean-de-Luz in France and the perpetrator was later handed over to Spanish police.

A similar arrest was made in June when the alleged leader of SEGI, Jon Telleria, was arrested in the town Saint-Pée gala sur Nivelle, France. Telleria was arrested on a warrant made by Spanish police and the French Supreme Court later ruled that he would be deported to Spain where he will be prosecuted for urban violence.

The SEGI movement is banned in Spain but allowed in France.

France/Italy/Organised crime: Mobster to be extradited after appeals fail

Media reported that the Aix-en-Provence appeals court in southern France announced on Tuesday that Giuseppe Falsone, an Italian mobster who was one of the country's top 30 most wanted fugitives, will be extradited to Italy.

Reportedly the decision to send him back to Italy was taken after two Supreme Court rulings on August 4 rejected his appeals to remain in France.

It is worth mentioning that 40-year-old Falsone, who was arrested in June on a Marseille street, claimed before the Aix-en-Provence court on July 1 that he was "an honest person" in France and said his name was Giuseppe Filippo Fridola. However, a DNA test gave away his identity.

According to officials, Falsone is close to Bernardo Provenzano, a top mobster arrested in 2006 after decades on the run. Two European Arrest Warrants had been issued for him.

France/Security: French detectives put on leave after death threats

Media reported on Wednesday that almost an entire Detective Squad in the French city of Grenoble has been put on leave after officers had received death threats from underworld figures.

Reportedly, three officers involved in the fatal shooting of 27-year-old Karim Boudouda earlier this month have been moved out of the unit and another 20 were put on leave following the recent developments.

Moreover, French President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed to wage war on the criminals after the death threats, while troops are carrying operations to identify and capture them.

In the past week there have been running battles between police and rioters in the city, following the fatal shooting of Boudouda, one of two men suspected of holding up a casino at Uriage-les-Bains, near Grenoble and whom police were pursuing early on 16 July.

France/Mauritania/Terrorism: Al-Qaeda in North Africa kills French hostage

Al Jazeera News Channel reported on Sunday that Al-Qaeda's wing in North Africa, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), said it had killed Michel Germaneau, a French hostage in response to a raid last week by French troops against a base in the Sahara desert.

AQIM Leader Abdelmalek Droukdel said Michel Germaneau was killed on Saturday in revenge for a failed rescue raid by French and Mauritanian troops that left six AQIM members dead.

French Special Forces took part in a Mauritanian military operation against AQIM in Mali on Thursday. The French Defence Ministry said French Army gave technical and logistical support to a Mauritanian operation to prevent an attack by AQIM against Mauritania.

President Nicolas Sarkozy's office in Paris said it had no confirmation of the hostage's death. Sarkozy will hold a meeting on Monday with top officials including his prime minister and interior, foreign and defence ministers.

Retired engineer Germaneau, 78, was kidnapped in April 22 and believed to be in the hands of Abdelhamid Abou Zeid, Leader of one of the two AQIM factions operating in the Sahara.

Last month, the terrorist group had said it would execute him by 26 July unless some of its members were released from prisons in several North African countries.

Paris confirms death of French hostage

French president Nicolas Sarkozy confirmed on Monday morning the death of French hostage Michel Germaneau, which had been announced on Sunday by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM)'s leader Abdelmalek Droukdel.

Mauritania/France/Terrorism: Six terrorists killed in raid on Al-Qaeda base

Mauritanian Officials stated on Friday that six suspected terrorists were killed and several others wounded when Mauritanian troops attacked an Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) group in a desert region in northern Mali. The French Defence Ministry also confirmed that it had taken part in the military operation.

According to French Officials, the group targeted by the Mauritanian army had executed a British hostage, Edwin Dwyer one year ago and is currently holding 78-year-old Michel Germaneau, a French aid worker kidnapped on April 19.

According to a Mauritanian source, the raid was aimed at freeing Germaneau, but following the failure of the operation, he might be now facing execution.

France/Mauritania/Insurgency: French commandos target Al-Qaeda

The French Defence Ministry announced on Friday that it took part in a Mauritanian military operation against the Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) group, holding a 78-year-old French hostage in the desert Sahel region.

In a statement the Defence Ministry confirmed that French Army gave technical and logistical support to a Mauritanian operation to prevent an attack by AQIM against Mauritania. However, the defence ministry did not give any statement about the fate of Michel Germaneau, a retired engineer kidnapped on April 22 by AQIM.

According to the Ministry, the terrorist group targeted by the Mauritanian army is the one that executed a British hostage a year ago and has refused to give proof of life or engage in negotiations to release Michel Germaneau.

AQIM set a deadline next week to kill Germaneau, who was seized on April 22 in northern Niger, unless its demands for a prisoner swap were met.

It gave France 15 days starting from from July 12 to arrange an exchange and said French President Nicolas Sarkozy would be responsible for Germaneau's life.

 

France/Civil Unrest: Four arrested after rioters shot at police

(Ortiz/Pixplanete/Photo News)

Media reported that French police on Sunday arrested four people on suspicion of firing on police oduring clashes between youths and officers in Grenoble.

According to Police, four men were seized in a dawn raid on Sunday for attempted murder after they allegedly shot at officers during the worst of the rioting in the early hours of Saturday in the working class district of La Villeneuve. Seven others were also detained for carrying illegal weapons.

Reportedly, clashes broke out on Friday night in the south-eastern French city after a local resident suspected in the armed robbery of a casino was killed while fleeing police. Rampaging youths torched cars and shot at police.

Rioting continued on Saturday night. No injuries were reported.

France/Security: Police holds 3 Chechens in terrorism probe

A French anti-terrorism prosecutor announced on Friday that police have arrested on July 5, in Le Mans southwest of Paris, three Chechens suspected of having prepared acts of terrorism in Russia.

According to the officials, after police had received a tip-off from the Russian Authorities, the men were arrested and four days later placed under investigation on charges of conspiracy to prepare acts of terrorism. Two of them were remanded in custody and a third was released on bail.

The arrests followed the detention by Russia's security service of a Chechen man allegedly involved in the bomb attacks that killed 40 people in the Moscow metro on March 29.

Algeria/France/Terrorism: Al-Qaeda threatens to kill French hostage in 15 days

The US-based SITE Intelligence Group reported that Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) warned on Sunday through a statement posted on a jihadist website that it would kill a French hostage in 15 days (starting from July 12) if the French Government failed to meet its demands to release its prisoners.

The 78-year-old hostage Michel Germaneau is a retired engineer who had worked in the Algerian oil sector and was kidnapped by terrorists on April 22 in northern Niger.

As a reminder, the terrorist group killed British captive Edwin Dyer last year after Gordon Brown’s Government declined to give in to its demands.

Italy/France/Security: Top mafia boss arrested in Marseille

Media reported that Giuseppe Falsone, a top mafia boss and one of Italy's most wanted men has been arrested in the upscale Marseille city-centre apartment in the Southern France on Friday after being on the run for over 10 years from the Italian Police.

According to Police Officials, Falsone is believed to have had plastic surgery and to have been using false identification.

He was allegedly mafia boss of the province of Agrigento in Sicily and had ties to the Italian Mafia God Father (Boss of Bosses) Bernardo Provenzano who was arrested in 2006.

Falsone has already been sentenced to life imprisonment for murder and international drug trafficking.

 

France/Spain/Terrorism: Alleged ETA member arrested in Brive

Media reported on Friday that French Security Forces arrested a suspected member of the Basque separatist organisation ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna) near Brive, in central France.

The arrest comes a few weeks after Spanish national Mikel Karrera Sarobe, known as ETA's supreme terrorist leader and his close associate Arkaitz Aguirregabiria del Barrio have been arrested by French Police in the southern French town Bayonne.

ETA, designated as a terrorist organization by both the European Union and the United States, is blamed for 850 deaths in a 41-year campaign for independence of the Basque region.

Spain/France/Security: another ETA suspect arrested in France

Spanish police sources stated that Juan Carlos Iriarte, a suspected member of  a Basque terrorist group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) was arrested in a joint operation carried out by French security forces and the Spanish Civil Guard, in the south-western French border town of Hendaye on Tuesday.

According to the sources, after the arrest Iriarte was being held in the nearby city of Bayonne after his home was searched by anti-terror police. He is suspected of providing logistical support to ETA.

On May 20, police arrested Mikel Karrera Sarobe, described by the Spanish government as ETA's supreme leader and military chief, and his close associate Arkaitz Aguirregabiria del Barrio in the southern French town Bayonne.

France/Spain/Terrorism: ETA military chief arrested in France

On Tuesday joint forces of French police and Spanish Civil Guard arrested Mikel Karrera Sarobe, suspected military chief of the Basque terrorist group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA).

Mikel Sarobe aka  “Ata” along with three other members of the gang was arrested in Bayonne in France at about 6:15 a.m. Another one ETA member was arrested in Urrugne.

Sarobe is allegedly responsible for orchestration of a violent attack which resulted in death of one French policeman in Seine-et-Marne in France this year. Sarobe became a leader of ETA after its former leader Ibon Gogeascoechea was arrested on February 2010 in France.

France/Security:  14 suspected terrorists arrested

French anti-terrorist police on Tuesday arrested 14 suspected terrorists for allegedly plotting to free a convicted terrorist out of a high-security prison, officials and media reported.

According to police source, the group was working on a plot to free Algerian Smain Ait Ali, who is serving a life sentence for a 1995 bomb attack on a Paris suburb metro line that left 30 people injured.

Reportedly, police arrested the suspects after raiding several addresses in Paris and its suburbs and in the central region of Cantal. Numerous weapons and large amounts of cash have been seized by the police during searches of the suspects' residences.

Niger/France/Insurgency: Al-Qaeda says responsible for kidnapping of Frenchman

The US monitoring group SITE reported on Friday that Al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of Frenchman Michel Germaneau who was abducted in northern Niger on April 22.

According to the source, AQIM had posted an audio message from 78-year-old Germaneau, his picture and a copy of his identification card. Germaneau, a retired engineer who had worked in the Algerian oil sector and his Algerian driver were kidnapped from Tiguidan Tessoun, an area in northern Niger bordering Mali and Algeria. The driver was released last month.

Niger/France: Al-Qaeda claims the kidnapping of a French man in Niger

On Thursday, Al-Jazeera television reported that Al-Qaeda in the Islamist Maghreb (AQIM), the North Africa wing of Al Qaeda, claimed responsibility for kidnapping Michel Germano, a French retired engineer and his Algerian driver last month in Tiguidan Tessoun, an area in northern Niger.

However, there were no immediate comments about the claim by government officials.

AQIM asked France and those whom it called its allies in the region, to release its jailed members.

Late last year, gunmen abducted six Europeans who subsequently ended up in the hands of AQIM. Four of the six hostages have been released so far, while two Spanish nationals are still in their custody. 

France/Security: French police detain terror suspect

French police have detained Ahmed Sahnouni, a French-Moroccan man suspected of heading an Al-Qaeda support cell that planned to send terrorists to fight in Afghanistan and Iraq and was plotting terror attacks in Morocco.

According to the French counterespionage agency, 40-years-old Sahnouni was arrested last week in Aubervilliers, a suburb in northeast of Paris and has been brought before a prosecutor.Police seized computer material, radical Islamist propaganda and photos of Sahnouni training with weapons. Sahnouni has been charged for criminal association with the goal of preparing terrorist actions.

Moroccan police stated that Sahnouni headed a cell of 24 suspected terrorists arrested last month in the North African kingdom, where they were plotting large terror attacks.

France/Somalia/Piracy: French frigate destroys pirate mother ship

The French warship FS Nivose, a light surveillance frigate, destroyed a pirate mother ship on Thursday, about 438 nautical miles off the Somali coast. Confirming the report, the public affairs office of the European Union Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) released a statement saying 11 suspected pirates were also detained.

According to the statement, the Nivose stopped a suspicious vessel with two supporting skiffs, searched and found "pirate paraphernalia". It was then destroyed and sunk later in the evening. The proactive action is part of EU NAVFOR's anti-piracy operation Atalanta that aims to prevent pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden and the waters off Somalia. Records maintained by the force accounts for more than 40 such pirate gangs thwarted in the last two months. EU NAVFOR includes naval warships and aircraft from the UK, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Spain and Sweden.

France/Niger/Algeria/Kidnapping: French tourist and Algerian driver kidnapped

Unidentified gunmen have kidnapped a French national and his Algerian driver on Thursday from Tiguidan Tessoun, an area in northern Niger bordering Mali and Algeria. A Nigerien military source, who requested anonymity, asserted that the Frenchman must be a tourist and that he did not informed the security services about his itinerary. Security personnel are now searching for the abducted men and it has not been established yet who the kidnappers are.

Meanwhile, a statement from the French foreign ministry said they are crosschecking the reports, but declined to give further details. The latest incident is part of a series of kidnappings and attacks on western nationals in the region where criminals, former rebels, smugglers and other Al-Qaeda-linked groups operate.

Late last year, gunmen abducted six Europeans who subsequently ended up in the hands of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). Four of the six hostages have been released so far, while two Spanish nationals are still in their custody.