New ETA’s military chief arrested

3 members of the Basque terrorist organization ETA have been arrested on Monday by the French police in Gerde, in the South-western Hautes-Pyrénées department. According to the police, one of the suspects could be the new ETA’s military wing leader.

France/Justice: EU human rights court support Hijab ban

Human rights courts in Europe has supported a ban imposed by France on wearing hijab in school on Thursday, noting the ban was not a violation of the European law of Human Rights. "The court observed that the purpose of the restriction on the applicants' right to manifest their religious convictions was to adhere to the requirements of secularism in state schools," said the European Court of Human Rights.

In 1999, two French Muslim girls, aged 11 and 12, were expelled from school after they refused to take off their hijab, an obligatory code of dress for Islam, during sports classes. French court ruled in favor of the school when the two students approached the court for legal help. The European court was later approached with their complaints that their school had violated their freedom of religion and their right to an education.

The French Hijab ban in 2004 sparked a heated discussion over freedom and equality within the European country.

France/Organised Crime: robbers take massive gem haul in Paris

(Hounsfield Pierre/Gamma/Photo News)

'Harry Winston' jewellery store in Paris, one of the most exclusive and prestigious shop in France has been robbed of at least 80 millions euros ($102m, £70m)) worth of jewels, police said. Reportedly four robbers, some dressed as women, stormed Harry Winston's store near the Champs-Elysee and stole nearly all of its valuables. Police said the robbers were well informed and knew the names of some of the shop's staff.

Around 10 people and 15 staff were in the store on late Thursday afternoon when the robbers entered. Police said some were disguised as women, and appeared to know their way around - addressing some of the staff by their names and identifying where stock not on display was being stored. The robbers overturned the display cases and emptied the shop of nearly all its stock. Some of the staff were said to have been hurt in the robbery.

The shop is situated on the fashionable Avenue Montaigne and attracts a wealthy clientele from around the world, from royalty to film stars. It was hit by another robbery almost exactly a year ago.

AQIM prepares attacks against French and American in he Centre (media) 

The Algerian daily Ennahar, published in Arabic in Algiers, announces that AQIM could plan to attack foreigners working for the oil industry in or near Hassi Massaoud, in the centre of the country. Given our own sources,French and Americans could be specially targeted.

 

The daily reveals also that three terrorists were recently arrested three terrorists between Illizi and Ouargla, two cities in the deep south of Algeria. Those three people were recruited by AQIM to scout the moves of foreigners between those two towns 1000 km apart.

 

The project was to abduct European or American technicians and engineers working in the area.

 

Ennahar enjoys good channel with the Algerian security services and is generally considered as a reliable source.  

France/Terrorism : an explosion occured in the villa of a former Corsican nationaist leader

An explosion occured yesterday evening in the garden of the villa where lives Charles Pieri's wife. An explosive device was thrown at 22h30 in the villa located in the residential area of Biguglia, in the outskirts of Bastia (Corsica). The police have not yet detemined The nature and power of the explosive device.

Charles Pieri, 58, the former nationalist leader was sentenced in February 2006 to eight years in prison for financial wrongdoing in connection with a terrorist enterprise. In late November, following a brain attack, he was taken from his prison of Toulon, and admitted to the hospital prison in Marseille where he still is.

France/Pakistan: new evidence of Pakistani military involvement in the 2002 Karachi attack

A report from The Direction of the Navy Construction (Direction des Constructions Navales - DCN) and dating back to 2002 happened to get into the hands of the French justice, officials said Thursday. According to a high antiterrorist officer who remains anonymous,  “This report is in support of other elements, while the case was not very clear.”

According to the conclusions of the report, made after an internal intelligence mission, the Pakistani army could be involved in the Karachi explosion on May 8, 2002 in which 14 persons died including 11 French. The classified report under the code name “nautilus” say : “After numerous contacts, both in Europe and Pakistan, we conclude that the attack in Karachi was achieved with the complicity within the Pakistani army”. “Military personalities manipulated the Islamist group which carried out the action. They followed a financial purpose about unfulfilled payment” underlined the report. The report says that after his election in 1995, the former French president Jacques Chirac had prohibited the payment of commissions originally agreed when the contract for the sale of three Agosta submarines was signed in 1994, under the Prime Minister Edouard Balladur. The report says clearly that Asif Ali Zardari, husband of Benazir Bhutto, then Prime Minister of Pakistan was completely frustrated about those commissions.

Islamist activists were initially accused by Pakistan, which condemned some of them to death. However, the investigation continue in France for “murder in connection with a terrorist enterprise, attempted murder and complicity” explained the French top official who insisted that they could be reopened  via “financial investigations”.

France/Terrorism: Jean-Marc Rouillan stays in jail

The Appeal Court in Paris has refused on Thursday to give back the partial release to Jean-Marc Rouillan. The former member of French ultra-left armed group Action Directe (AD), sentenced to life prison in 1989, gave indeed a debated interview to news magazine l’Express. The partial release was suspended after that interview. "Subject to agreement of our client, we will make an appeal in cassation”, said Jean-Louis Chalanset and Michel Tubiana, Jean-Marc Rouillan’s lawyers.

During the interview, Jean-Marc Rouillan said he expressed no regret for the assassination of René Audran, director of the General Delegation for Ordnance, in 1985, and of Georges Besse, former CEO of Renault, in 1986.

France/Terrorism : the far-left survival remains a threat

The former Central Directorate of General Intelligence (Direction Centrale des Renseignements Généraux – DCRG) wrote a report last June entitled “From the anti-CPE Conflict to the establishment of an international terrorist network: eyes on the French and European far left." According to the classified report, since 2005, the far left groups have become more violent and recruited new generation of activists. “the anarcho autonomous pre-terrorism was established after activists were arrested in Toulouse in 2007 when they tried to use an explosive device” said the police. On January 23, two militants were also arrested in Vierzon where they had literature about how to create explosive devices. Militants could also use the Julien Coupat’s house to meet themselves and to shelter foreigner activists. Julien Coupat was arrested in November 11 and is suspected to be linked to the destruction of the High speed railway in France.

No evidences involved any of the suspects but activists on all fronts of the European far left are “very movable and most of them were reported at international meetings of the movement, as in Barcelona, Seville, Thessaloniki, Athens, Genoa, Milan, Geneva, Rostock .... " said the report. On February 9, Police has also spotted several French activists who were linked to an anti-G8 meeting in Warsaw (Poland).

France/Afghanistan/Kidnapping: abducted French aid worker released
 
Dany Egreteau, a French aid worker who was abducted a month ago in the Afghan capital, Kabul has been released, confirmed President Nicolas Sarkozy on Wednesday. "I am happy to learn of the release of Dany Egreteau who was kidnapped a month ago in Afghanistan," Sarkozy said during a visit to Compiegne, north of Paris. Egreteau, 32, was kidnapped on November 3 by unknown gunmen from a street in Kabul. An Afghan who tried to stop the abduction was shot dead.
 
The Frenchman, who is in Kabul for a week works for an NGO specialising in education programmes. A video has been received by the French authorities last week showing Egreteau with guns pointed at him. It also shows Egreteau explaining that he was unable to move and forced to wear a blindfold most of the time.
 
There has been a spate of kidnappings in the capital, mostly by criminal gangs for ransom. Last month three expatriates were shot dead. Afghanistan has seen record levels of violence this year as the hardline Islamist Taliban step up their campaign to overthrow the Western-backed Afghan government.

Two improvised bombs against Agence France Presse’s Office in Athens 

 

Two improvised bombs exploded tonight at the entrance of the Athens office of Agence France Presse. Two journalists were present in the office but no one was injured.

 

No organization claimed this attack. Low intensity terrorist attacks are frequent in Greece and are generally attributed to anarchist and leftist organizations. French interests are an usual target for those organizations which usually pretend to act in solidarity with the French leftist’s groups.

 

This attack could be linked to the arrest of several “anarchists” in France, in last November in relations with sabotage against the SNCF, the French railways.

2 European journalists kidnapped in Puntland

According to a Somali official, gunmen kidnapped 2 journalists, a French and a Spanish, on Wednesday near Bosasso, the capital of the semi-autonomous Puntland region.

Somalia/Insurgency: doubts on abducted journalists' nationality

Gunmen kidnapped two Western journalists in semiautonomous region of Puntland on Wednesday, Somali police said. “I think both the journalists are British but we shall investigate ... we are sending police to free them,” said Puntland's police spokesman Abshir Said Jama, adding that one could be of Lebanese origins.

First reports said the one of the journalists was French and the other Spanish, but their nationalities have not yet been officially confirmed. “We are checking these reports, but have no confirmation as yet,” said a Foreign Office spokesman in London.

Abshir Said Jama said that they working on a story about piracy in the semiautonomous region of Puntland. Two freelancers, an Australian and a Canadian, are still being held after being seized in the capital Mogadishu in August.  Foreign journalists generally stay out of Somalia, leaving reporting on the ground to local journalists. But a few do still go in, usually hiring local militia to protect them.

Two Belgian TV networks receive video containing threats against Belgium 

 

Two Belgian networks – the private VTM and the state owned VRT - said tonight they received video containing threats against Belgium.

 

The tape shows three masked men singing in Arabic. One of the men has an AK-47 in his hands and another one wears an explosive belt.  

 

A text in Flemish – VTM and VRT are Flemish networks – threats Belgium of reprisals. The threats seem to be linked to the presence of Belgium troops and jets in Afghanistan.

 

It must be underlined that this video is not “typical” of those produced by the Moudjahideen in Afghanistan. It seems that it was filmed in a modern room, with high white walls and not in a classical Afghan safe house or in the mountains like most of the documents coming from the Jihad in Afghanistan are.

 

Nevertheless, this could not be interpreted as proving that the video is a fake. It’s possible that a local terrorist cell in Belgium decided to disseminate those threats.

 

Last week, on Monday November 17, another video filmed in Afghanistan threatened France of reprisals if the French troops remain in Afghanistan. T

 

he Belgium counter-terrorist services are assessing the video to determine if the threats are real.

Rwanda/France/Terrorism: Rose Kabuye charged for assassination

French judicial charged Rose Kabuye, a close associate of Rwandan President Paul Kagame, for the assassination of the then-president Juvenal Habyarimana in 1994, that preceded the Rwandan genocide, a judicial source said. French officials took custody of Kabuye, 47, a former Tutsi guerrilla leader who serves as chief of protocol to Kagame, after she was extradited from Germany. French judicial officials later confirmed that she was put under judicial investigation, tried before an anti-terrorism investigating magistrate, and convicted with "complicity in murder in relation to terrorism".

She was later released on the condition that she would not leave France without permission and appear before a magistrate upon request, said her lawyer. "I'm not so scared because I am very innocent," Kabuye said on a television news channel after being released. Kabuye was a senior military leader during Kagame's successful war to drive out the genocidal Hutu militias that killed more than 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutu men, women and children in 1994.

Spain/Terrorism:  Madrid warns of new ETA after leader’s arrest

Spain has been put on high alert against fresh attacks by ETA, the Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcar said on Wednesday. "It must be expected," the Interior Minister said, following the arrest of the leader of the Basque separatist organisation on Monday in the French town of Cauterets. Alfredo Rubalcar indeed said that the ETA leaders would make efforts to counter a growing feeling among the group's activists and supporters that it has weakened, after the arrest of its top leaders.

Spain's interior minister has now confirmed that Miguel de Garikoitz Aspiazu Rubina, the Basque separatist militant arrested this week in France was indeed the overall leader of the armed group ETA. “Earlier, he was thought to be in only charge of ETA's commando units, which carry out attacks.  He was in charge of overall strategy as well as ordering attacks”, said Rubalcaba.

Afghanistan/Terrorism: Taleban threaten Paris attacks in video

In a video aired by Al Arabiya television on Monday, the Taleban threatened to launch attacks in Paris unless France withdraws its troops from Afghanistan. In the video the Taleban has claimed responsibility for an ambush that killed 10 French troops in August. It was not clear when the recording was made. “We have killed 10 French soldiers today as a message to the French so that they rectify their mistakes and withdraw from Afghanistan, and if they don't they will hear our response in Paris” said Taleban “commander” Mullah Farouq on the video.

In a separate report, two blast claims 7 lives on Monday, a roadside bomb aimed at Afghan soldiers in southern Afghanistan killed 4 civilians while a suicide bomb attack in the same region killed 3 other people. “The roadside attack on the Afghan army patrol lightly damaged their vehicle, and instead hit a nearby group of civilians in Kandahar province's Panjwayi district. 4 civilians were killed and 8 others were injured in the explosion” said Zalmai Ayubi, the provincial governor's spokesman. 

Canada/France/Terrorism: Ottawa professor held for 1980 Paris blast

A Canadian citizen has been arrested on Thursday and could face extradition to France in connection with bombing of Synagogue of the street Copernic on Friday October 3 1980. Hassan Diab, 55, who teaches sociology at the University of Ottawa and Carleton University, was taken into custody on a provisional extradition warrant issued at the request of French authorities, said Justice spokesperson Chris Girouard.

He was being held pending a bail hearing, which normally is held within 24 hours of detention in such cases. “Under Canadian law, French officials will have 45 days to provide further legal details to back up their extradition request”, said Chris Girouard. Hassan Diab's name first surfaced in French news reports last year in connection with the 1980 attack that killed four people and injured 20 others. However, Diab has told the French daily Le Figaro that he had nothing to do with the bombing and is a victim of mistaken identity.

France/Terrorism: police investigates ultra-left circles after train sabotages  

(Grégoire Elodie/Gamma/Photo News)

French Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie announced on Tuesday that French anti-terrorist police have arrested 10 members of an ultra-left anarchist group involved in “the sabotage of SNCF overhead power cables in the past few days”. “The Anarcho-autonomous Movement” was under surveillance for several months by DCRI (France's domestic intelligence directorate), Michele Alliot-Marie said. “These individuals are characterised by a total rejection of any democratic expression of political opinion and an extremely violent tone,” she added. Hundreds of police and security officials were involved in the operation leading to the arrests in Rouen, Limoges, Paris, in the region of Nancy and in Tarnac, in the Coreze region, the ministry said

Severe delays were caused at Saturday on TGV high-speed trains to London, Brussels and across France when power was cut by iron bars jammed into overhead electric cables on TGV lines in the area around Paris. In a separate incident late on Sunday in the southwest of the country, a high-speed train was slightly damaged after he had rammed into a pair of blocks placed on the line.

Police is now looking at “possible links between the suspects and the German hard-left, which has claimed responsibility for actions against trains carrying nuclear waste.” Authorities are indeed fear a possible resurgence of an ultra-left violent movement on the French territory, where terrorist group Action Directe committed about 50 attacks and assassinations between 1979 and 1987.

Cameroon/France/Insurgency: abducted oil workers freed and back home

Seven French oil workers and their Tunisian colleague who were abducted and threatened with death by rebels in Cameroon on October 31 arrived on Wednesday at Paris’ Roissy international airport, as 2 Cameroonian sailors had already return their home overnight. French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, had announced their release on Tuesday, expressing his “gratitude to the Cameroonian authorities and in particular to President Paul Biya whose constant mobilisation enabled the liberation of the 10 hostages.” “This event reminds us of the urgent necessity for the international community to fight against maritime piracy,” he said. Bernard Kouchner gave no details of how the hostages were released or where, but French official in Paris said that no ransom had been paid.

The Sagitta, an oil services company Bourbon's vessel chartered by Total, was seized by gunmen who stormed aboard their ship off the coast of Cameroon's Bakassi Peninsula. The kidnap was carried out by a group calling itself the Bakassi Freedom Fighters (BSF), which claims to represent the people of the territory, which was recently taken over by Cameroon after a 15 years legal battle with Nigeria. The Bakassi peninsula is a 1,000-square-kilometre (400-square-mile) strip of coastal swamp jutting out from the Cameroon-Nigeria border into the oil-rich waters of the Gulf of Guinea.

France/Spain/Terrorism: 2 ETA members arrested near Spanish border
 
French Police have arrested on Wednesday 2 suspected members of the Basque terrorist organization ETA as they were riding bicycles in Tarascon-sur-Ariège, in the South-western Midi-Pyrénées region. Each suspect carried a handgun, and documentation showing their links with the ETA.  The identities of the two suspects were not immediately given.