Denver Terror Cell Plotting Attack At Center of New York Probe
September 15, 2009 by Homeland Security NTARC News
Filed under Incident Reports
The New York Daily News is reporting the Queens New York terror raids yesterday, are a part of FBI probe into Denver-based cell plotting attack on 9/11 scale.
According to the report here, the FBI probe that triggered raids in Queens is now focused on a Denver-based terror cell plotting another attack said to be on the scale of 9/11.
From the NY Daily news Article
Hundreds of FBI agents are on the ground in Colorado, conducting round-the-clock surveillance on five suspects including a man who recently visited Queens, sources told The News.
New York authorities searched three Flushing apartments and detained several men – later released – after getting a warrant to look for bomb-making components, explosive powders and fuses.
“The FBI is seriously spooked about these guys planning another 9/11,” a former senior counter-terrorism official told the News. “This is not some … FBI informant-driven case. This is the real thing.”
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told reporters it’s an ongoing investigation with plenty of “substance.”
The 24-7 counter-terror operation included Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrants used to intercept calls and e-mails, as well as overseas-linked wiretaps to eavesdrop on Arabic and Pashto-speaking targets.
From The Denver Post
The focus of an anti-terrorism investigation turned to Denver today, one day after federal authorities raided several New York City homes in an investigation sparked by a suspected al-Qaeda associate from Colorado.
Multiple news organizations are reporting that the suspect, a man known to friends as Najibullah, traveled to New York from Colorado, prompting the raids. The reports say agents in New York were looking for bomb-making components.
There has been no official announcement about the investigation’s details. Kathleen Wright, spokeswoman for the Denver FBI, said she could not confirm or deny that the agency is surveilling or investigating a terror suspect in Colorado.
Denver police referred calls to the FBI.
Denver Man Detained And Released
A Denver man, detained and then released Monday in connection with the New York City terrorism raids, had recently traveled to Pakistan before he showed up in New York last Thursday with bomb-making documents, other law enforcement officials told ABC News.
Hundreds of FBI agents are “on the ground in Colorado, conducting round-the-clock surveillance on five suspects,” the Daily News reported.
U.S. Begins Major Offensive Operation Against Afghan Taliban
July 2, 2009 by national
Filed under World Report
Thousands of U.S. Marines began a “major operation” in southern Afghanistan early today, moving into towns and villages to protect civilians from the Taliban under the Pentagon’s new counterinsurgency strategy.
Almost 4,000 American personnel and 650 Afghan soldiers are taking part in Operation Khanjar, or Strike of the Sword, pushing into the Helmand River valley in helicopters and armored vehicles to set up bases, the military said in an e-mailed statement.
“Where we go, we will stay and where we stay, we will hold,” Brigadier General Larry Nicholson said in the statement.
The operation comes two days after U.S. combat troops withdrew from Iraqi cities under a drawdown that will allow the Pentagon to focus on the conflict in Afghanistan. The Marines involved in today’s offensive were deployed as reinforcements in May, as part of President Barack Obama’s commitment to defeat a resurgent Taliban.
U.S. General Stanley McChrystal assumed command of international forces in Afghanistan last month and is spearheading new counterinsurgency tactics aimed at better protecting civilians.
U.S. and NATO-led forces have failed to establish a permanent presence in the Helmand River valley, an insurgent stronghold and center of illicit opium production where militants have thrown out local police and government officials.
