How To Survive A Pandemic or Chemical Attack – Surviving Disaster

According to the US government, a biological or chemical terrorist attack is highly likely to occur within the next four years. Will you be prepared?
This week on Surviving Disaster, a double feature, the world is under attack from terrorists with deadly nerve gas and a global pandemic threatens to kills millions.
Host Cade Courtley shows you how to survive.

The full length video is available this week online.

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Is American The Missing Link In Mumbai Terror Attack?

With the passport of David Headley now apparently confirming his nine visits to India, investigators are now focusing on whether he is the missing answer to last year’s Mumbai terror attacks. Headley was placed under arrest in Chicago last week by the FBI for allegedly conspiring with Lashkar-e-Toiba to launch terrorist attacks in India. Lashkar-e-Toiba is the group blamed for the terrorist attacks in Mumbai last year.

News sources reported on Sunday that Headley was a guest at several of the hotels targeted in the the Mumbai attack and also reportedly pretended to be Jewish, staying at the Chabad center prior to the deadly attack. These reports have not yet been confirmed by U.S. authorities.

The American and Indian authorities are questioning an American citizen of Pakistani descent on suspicion of involvement in last year’s Mumbai terror attacks. Indian media reported on Sunday that the suspect pretended to be Jewish, stayed at the Chabad center and prepared the ground for the lethal attack.

David Coleman Headly (49) was arrested last month at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport while on his way to Philadelphia, and from there to Pakistan. The American Federal Bureau of Investigations suspected he was involved in a plot to carry out an attack in Denmark following the publication of the controversial Prophet Muhammad caricatures.

A deeper look, however, revealed that he was also involved in the Mumbai attacks in November 2008, in which at least 173 people were killed.

Since Headley’s arrest, the US has been investigating his actions along with the Indian authorities. Over the weekend Headley’s role became clear: Indian security sources reported that he was the one who scanned the Chabad center for the Pakistani terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is believed to be responsible for the attacks.

Source

From IBN

CNN-IBN has learnt this after accessing Headley’s passport, which he acquired in March 2006 after allegedly joining the Lashkar-e-Toiba, the group blamed for the terrorist attacks in Mumbai last year.

The passport shows that Headley visited New Delhi, Mumbai, Kochi, Pune, Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Agra between 2006-2009–trips investigators suspect were recces for terrorist attack conspiracies.

Headley, while visiting Mumbai in March 2006, listed Hotel Trident as a place of residence. He stayed at guesthouse near the CST Railway Terminus and he booked a room at the Taj Hotel. The Trident, the Taj, and the CST terminus were three main targets of terrorists during the November 2008 attacks.

Headley visited New Delhi in March 2009 and stayed in two hotels in Paharganj, close to the railway station in the national capital’s historic area. Records show he stayed at Anand Hotel and De Holiday International for three days.

via Source.

India Warns of Possible Terror Attacks In 5 Cities

News sources in India report of an alarming terror threat possibly being planned to take place simultaneously in 5 cities.

Intelligence sources have warned that there could be multiple and simultaneous attacks in five cities that American terror suspect, David Headley, visited. Headley is believed to have had links with the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT).

Part of the latest assessment is based on FBI leads. The rest is based on human intelligence and electronic surveillance by Indian agencies. Security authorities suggest that there could be perhaps 50 to 60 attackers involved.

The government had last week issued a nationwide alert that another Mumbai-type attack was imminent. The Home Ministry had said there were fresh inputs warning of a similar terror attack. So what is the government doing about it?

For starters, it is retracing Headley’s movements. It is clear now that he visited Delhi during April-May last year. Police in Mumbai have already begun tracking down all the places he went to and the people he met.

In addition, authorities are trying to track down sleeper cells in several cities.

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Additional

Are Pakistans Nuclear Weapons Safe?

The prospect of nuclear weapons falling into the hands of al Qaeda or the Taliban in Pakistan is perhaps the most immediate threat facing the US. It’s thought that Pakistan has an arsenal of nearly 100 missiles, however; no one is certain of the total, or for that matter where many of the nuclear weapons are located. While government officials have publicly stated that our military is poised and ready to enter the country should it appear the safety of Pakistan’s nukes is at risk, the challenge to locate and protect each missile and missile site would be daunting if not impossible should this nuclear nightmare ever begin to unfold.

Seymour M. Hersh has written an article in the New Yorker detailing the situation

In the tumultuous days leading up to the Pakistan Army’s ground offensive in the tribal area of South Waziristan, which began on October 17th, the Pakistani Taliban attacked what should have been some of the country’s best-guarded targets. In the most brazen strike, ten gunmen penetrated the Army’s main headquarters, in Rawalpindi, instigating a twenty-two-hour standoff that left twenty-three dead and the military thoroughly embarrassed. The terrorists had been dressed in Army uniforms. There were also attacks on police installations in Peshawar and Lahore, and, once the offensive began, an Army general was shot dead by gunmen on motorcycles on the streets of Islamabad, the capital. The assassins clearly had advance knowledge of the general’s route, indicating that they had contacts and allies inside the security forces.

Pakistan has been a nuclear power for two decades, and has an estimated eighty to a hundred warheads, scattered in facilities around the country. The success of the latest attacks raised an obvious question: Are the bombs safe? Asked this question the day after the Rawalpindi raid, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, “We have confidence in the Pakistani government and the military’s control over nuclear weapons.” Clinton—whose own visit to Pakistan, two weeks later, would be disrupted by more terrorist bombs—added that, despite the attacks by the Taliban, “we see no evidence that they are going to take over the state.”

via Read The Full Article.

Small Scale Terrorism Plots Pose New Threat

For some time now intelligence experts have warned of a disturbing trend towards homegrown terrorism. Coupled with an additional trend towards smaller scale plots and terror cells comprised of only 1 or more people, authorities are concerned.

After disrupting two recent terrorism plots, American intelligence officials are increasingly concerned that extremist groups in Pakistan linked to Al Qaeda are planning smaller operations in the United States that are harder to detect but more likely to succeed than the spectacular attacks they once emphasized, senior counterterrorism officials say.

The two cases — one involving two Chicago men accused this week of planning an attack on a Danish newspaper that published cartoons of the prophet Mohammad, the other a 24-year-old Denver shuttle bus driver indicted in a plot to use improvised explosives — are among the most serious in years, the officials said.

In both, the officials said, the main defendants are long-term residents of the United States with substantial community ties who traveled to Pakistan’s tribal areas, where they apparently trained with extremist groups affiliated with Al Qaeda. The officials, from American military, law enforcement and intelligence agencies, spoke on the condition that they not be identified because they were not authorized to discuss the cases.

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2 Chicago Men Charged in Terror Plot Over Muhammad Cartoons

Two Chicago men have been charged in a terrorist conspiracy targeting the facilities and employees of a Danish newspaper that printed cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.

Read Federal Criminal Complaint

Details From The Chicago Breaking News Center

Terrorism-related charges were filed against two Chicago men today, accusing them of plotting against targets in Western Europe, including “facilities and employees” of a Danish newspaper that printed cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that sparked riots in the Muslim world.

Charged are David Coleman Headley, 49, and Tahawwur Hussain Rana, 48.

Headley was described as an American citizen who changed his name from Daood Gilani. He was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit terrorist acts involving murder and maiming outside the U.S. and one count of conspiracy to provide material support to the conspiracy, according to a release from the U.S. attorney’s office.

Rana, a native of Canada, was charged with one count of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign conspiracy involving Headley and three other individuals.

Both men remain in federal custody, officials said.

Since at least late 2008 until he was arrested on Oct. 3, 2009, Headley identified and conducted surveillance of potential targets for a terrorist attack during two trips to Denmark in January and July 2009, according to federal complaints against the two men.

Rana allegedly helped arrange Headley’s travels overseas and conceal their purpose, and discussed potential targets for attack with Headley.

Headley allegedly reported and attempted to report n his overseas surveillance to other conspirators, according to the affidavits, including:

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2nd Chicago Man Tied To Terror Plot

The Chicago Tribune reports that the FBI has arrested a second Chicago man allegedly involved in an international terrorist plot with Western European targets.

The man was taken into custody Oct. 3 before he boarded a flight at O’Hare International Airport to Philadelphia, the first stop on a trip to Pakistan, where he planned to meet people with known ties to terrorist organizations that have carried out fatal attacks that resulted in the deaths of U.S. citizens, a source said. He has not been charged.

After that arrest, dozens of FBI agents from the Joint Terrorism Task Force and the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Oct. 18 raided a Grundy County meat-processing plant that specializes in Islamic foods.

The owner of the plant, Tahawar Hussain Rana, also of Chicago, was arrested at his North Side home the same day as the raid on First World Management Services in Kinsman, northwest of Dwight. Agents seized records from the plant, as well as a related North Side business also raided the same day, said the source, who is familiar with the investigation.

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Terror Attack Warnings Issued in Pakistan

Pakistan continues to face terrorist threats and intelligence agencies have issued increased security warnings in face of possible terror strikes across the country.

According to local media reports, the county’s major government building, offices and officials from law enforcement agencies have been placed on militant hit lists.

Awami National Party (ANP) leaders including North Western Frontier Province information minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain and other leaders are among the target list of pro-Taliban militants, a Press TV correspondent reported on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the military said at least five militants were killed and eight others injured during an offensive in the South Waziristan Agency in northwest Pakistan.

Security forces have also claimed to have seized several landmines and rocket launchers in Quetta city in southwest Pakistan late on Saturday.

via Source.

Suicide Bomber Strikes Near Nuclear Facility in Pakistan

A Taliban suicide bomber has killed seven people near a nuclear weapons complex in Pakistan’s Punjab province. Bill Roggio at The Long War Journal has the details .

The suicide bomber detonated outside a security checkpoint near the Kamra Air Weapon Complex in the district of Attock, Geo News reported. Three security personnel and four civilians were killed in the blast, and 12 more were wounded.

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The Kamra Air Weapon Complex is one of three military industrial production facilities in the Wah Cantt, according to Global Security. The Pakistani Ordnance Factories, a collection of 14 factories that produce arms and ammunition for the Pakistani armed forces, and Heavy Industries Taxila are also contained within the Wah Cantt. More than 40,000 Pakistanis are employed at the factories.

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UPDATE: A Taliban suicide bomber killed seven people outside a key Pakistani air force facility yesterday, with officials quick to deny suggestions the target was linked to the country’s nuclear program. Source

The Case Against Alleged Terror Suspect Tarek Mehanna

Alleged terror suspect Tarek Mehanna, arrested earlier this week, plotted to attack Americans at a shopping mall according to the FBI. Failing at that,it is alleged he turned to cyber attacks.

Frustrated at failing in his travels overseas to locate a terrorist training camp, a Massachusetts man returned home in 2003 to begin plotting a domestic terror attack. Thrilled by the 9/11 attacks and impressed by the success of the Washington, D.C., snipers in terrorizing the public in late 2002, Tarek Mehanna and several friends began planning an attack on a shopping mall, a Federal Bureau of Investigation complaint alleges.

In “multiple conversations, discussions, and preparation,” Tarek Mehanna, a student living at home with his parents in Sudbury, Mass., discussed with three other men how to “obtain automatic weapons, go to a shopping mall, and randomly shoot people,” according to the federal criminal complaint filed in a US district court Wednesday.

The trio – Mehanna, Ahmad Abousamra, and an unnamed informant – debated logistics, types of weapons needed, the number of attackers needed, how to coordinate the attack, and how to attack emergency responders, the FBI says.

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Shopping Mall Terror Plot Alleged In Boston Area Arrest

An alleged shopping mall terror plot on U.S. shopping malls has resulted in the arrest of A 27-year-old Massachusetts man according to early reports this morning. The man has been charged with conspiring with others to support and plan terror attacks in and outside the United States according to the reports.

From the Boston Herald

A 27-year-old man from Sudbury has been arrested on charges he planned terrorism attacks inside and outside the United States, including a plot to use automatic weapons to open fire at shoppers and emergency responders in shopping mall attacks, federal prosecutors said today.

Tarek Mehanna, is accused of conspiring with Ahmad Abousamra and others to obtain the automatic weapons needed to carry out a mall ambush in which they planned to open fire at random, said Acting U.S. Attorney Michael K. Loucks.

The plot included plans to fire at emergency responders, but was abandoned because the men could not obtain the weapons, authorities said.

Source – Read Full Article

If this story and the names involved sound familiar …. This may be why.

From The Boston Globe 2008

Statements that Tarek Mehanna allegedly made to the FBI two years ago in the midst of a terrorism investigation came back to haunt him last weekend, when the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy graduate was arrested as he was about to board a Boston flight to start a new job overseas.

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Additional details are available at My Pet Jawa, who also covered the story here.

Turkey Detains 32 al Qaeda Terror Suspects Plotting Attacks

Reuters reports Turkish security forces have detained 32 suspected al Qaeda terrorists believed to have been plotting attacks on NATO, U.S. and Israeli targets.

The suspects were detained in simultaneous raids across eight provinces, it said, quoting security officials as saying some were believed to have been trained in al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan.

Security officials found documents linking the suspects to the outlawed group during the raids.

“Teams from the Istanbul Anti-Terror Squad have launched an operation against al Qaeda members found to be planning operations against U.S. and Israeli representative offices and NATO installations,” Anatolian reported.

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Terrorists Launch Simultaneous Attacks In Lahore Pakistan

Militants launched a series of simultaneous attacks against police facilities in Lahore Pakistan today, killing at least 18 people and plunging the Pakistani city into chaos.

Attackers armed with weapons and suicide jackets attacked the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) headquarters in the city centre and two police training centres on the outskirts just after 9am this morning.

Police said two of the attacks were over but one, at the Elite Police Training School, was continuing, with reports of explosions and intermittent gunfire. Helicopters hovered overhead as authorities deployed paramilitary forces across Punjab province.

At least three people were reported to have died at the training facility, located among fields on edge of the city. Police and paramilitary rangers surrounded the facility and appeared to be preparing to storm the building.

According to reports, the attackers included women, which would be a new departure in Pakistan’s rapidly escalating battle against extremist militancy.

Meanwhile, in North West Frontier province a Taliban suicide bomber exploded his vehicle next to a police station killing 10 people, including school children.

via Several killed as militants attack Pakistan police buildings | World news | guardian.co.uk.

Report – Terrorist Plot To Attack World Cup Thwarted

The UK’s Daily Star is reporting that a plot by al-Qaada to attack next year’s World Cup has been thwarted by police. Officers in South Africa smashed a cell planning to hit Western targets according to the report.

The plan was being hatched in Khayelitsha, a shanty town near Cape Town, by militants linked to extremists in Somalia and Mozambique, off the east coast of Africa.

The network had links with Osama bin Laden’s henchmen in Afghanistan and Pakistan, a source said. Police seized mobile phones and SIM cards after intercepting a call to the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabaab group in Somalia discussing setting off bombs.

The source said: “The interception revealed that these people planned to move en masse from Mozambique to here in 2010.”

The operation was jointly run by American agents, SA’s National Intelligence Agency and senior police forces.

But yesterday analyst Hussein Solomon, head of the International Institute of Islamic Studies in Pretoria, blasted security preparations as “woefully inadequate”.

He said: “We must not think we are protected because we are not.”

Both England and the US have qualified for the World Cup, which will be the first to be held in Africa.

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