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Terrorism: German police arrest Ansar
al-Islam suspect
15.6.2006
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Berlin, 14 June (AKI) - The German authorities
have detained a 36-year-old Iraqi accused of
tranferring funds to the al-Qaeda linked Ansar
al-Islam group, Berlin's federal prosecutor general,
Monika Harms, announced on Wednesday, quoted by the
German weekly Der Spiegel online. The suspect
militant, known as Burhan B. was arrested by police
at Frankfurt airport on Tuesday, Der Spiegel said.
Burhan B. faces charges of having aided a terrorist
organisation. Prosecutors allege he was in touch
with another suspected Islamist militant, Ata A.R.
an alleged Ansar al-Islam ringleader in Europe who
is standing trial in Germany on charges relating to
his role in a failed plot to assassinate Iraq's
former prime minister, Iyad Allawi - a secular
Shiite - during a visit to Germany in 2004.
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Mullah Krekar, the founder of radical and Terrorist
Islamist group Ansar al-Islam
Photo: AP |
Between November, 2003 and May, 2004, Burhan is
alleged to have made at least three bank transfers
of funds worth approximately 22 thousand euros on
Ansar al-Islam's behalf, prosecutors allege. He is
the 19th suspected member of Ansar al-Islam to have
been arrested by the German authorities since
December, 2004.
Ansar al-Islam's stronghold is the mountainous area
of Iraqi Kurdistan. It was formed in the middle of
the 1990s, but only emerged in its current form in
2001, thanks to funding from al-Qaeda. It has
700,000 Kurdish, Iraqi, Lebanese, Jordanian,
Moroccan, Syrian, Palestinian and Afghan members.
Many have trained in al-Qaeda's camps in
Afghanistan, and, it is alleged, continue to have
close ties with al-Qaeda in Iraq.
Ansar al-Islam has now largely merged with the Ansar
al-Sunna terror formation, which has gained
notoriety for its brutal attacks, abductions and
beheadings of hostages, especially Kurdish
politicians.
The groups' objective is the creation of a Sunni
Islamic state in Kurdistan (northern Iraq). It often
carries out attacks against members of the secular,
nationalist Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party.
Ansar al-Islam has embraced the armed struggle
against the US-led coalition troops in Iraq, and has
carried out some of the bloodiest attacks against
them.
The group was founded by Mullah Krekar who has lived
in Norway since 1991. Krekar, whose real name is
Fateh Najmeddin Faraj, was arrested in 2003 but
released, due to a lack of evidence against him. He
was re-arrested on 2 January, 2004, accused of
attempted murder and involvement in suicide attacks
in northern Iraq, but was re-released. Krekar claims
he has not been head of Ansar al-Islam since May,
2002.
Ansar al-Islam cells have been uncovered Germany,
France, The Netherlands and Italy, and investigators
have found evidence that the group has helped gather
funds and recruit would-be fighters and suicide
bombers for the Iraqi insurgency.
adnki com
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