Pakistan: The Footprints of Terror-Europe

2017

September 19: The Interior Ministry of Spain said that the Police have arrested a Pakistani man suspected of "promoting terrorism and militant propaganda" on social media networks. A Ministry statement said that the 25-year-old resident of the northern Catalan city of Lleida was part of a cell partially dismantled with the arrest of three Pakistani brothers in Lleida in 2016. The Ministry said that the man detained on September 19 had become "more engrossed in radical activities" in recent weeks..

2016

August 4: An Oslo court sentenced a Pakistani-origin man Hasan Ahmed (46) to six years in prison for joining the ISIS. Hasan Ahmed, a Norwegian citizen of Pakistani origin, was found guilty of vowing allegiance to ISIS and taking part in ISIS training programmes. Ahmed's son Ishaq was also sentenced to eight years in prison by a Norway court 2015 for joining the jihadist group.

August 4: A Pakistani-Italian, Aftab Farooq has been deported from Italy for allegedly plotting to join ISIS in Syria, the Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said. According to reports, Farooq (26), was captain of the Italian youth cricket team and had captained the Italian Under-19 cricket team back in 2009. Farooq had reportedly been living in a town near Milan with his family for 13 years.

2015

December 29: Turkish authorities have arrested three suspected members of the Islamic State (IS/ also known as Daesh) group in Istanbul, including two Pakistanis and a Briton. According to media sources, the Pakistani suspects had been detained last week in a raid on their homes in Mecidiyekoy District.

July 22: Italian police said that they have arrested two people, including a Pakistani and a Tunisian, suspected of being behind a Twitter account that carried threats in the name of Daesh or the self-styled IS group against some of the country's most famed monuments. The Police said they had arrested the two men on suspicion of terror association and subversion and the two are IS-backers and used social networks to threaten violence. The threats in the name of Islamic State carried on the Twitter account "Islamic State in Rom" featured images of the Roman Colosseum and Milan's Duomo Cathedral, with a warning that they were identifying targets and preparing to strike. The suspects were arrested in the northern city of Brescia and searches were being carried out throughout the Lombardy region.

2014

May 27: British Police investigating the September 16, 2010, murder of the founding member of MQM, Imran Farooq in Edgware, London, named two Pakistani men, identified as Moshin Ali Syed (29) and Muhammad Kashif Khan Kamran (34), who they want to trace in connection with the killing and are living in Pakistan. The two men left Britain hours after the murder, said Scotland Yard Police Headquarters in a statement.

April 19: Jurors in the New York trial of British hate preacher Abu Hamza aka Mustafa Kamel Mustafa found him guilty of kidnapping and terrorism offenses. The former Imam of the north London Finsbury Park mosque, showed no reaction to the verdict, which carries a possible life sentence. He is to be sentenced on September 9, 2014. The charges against him pre-dated the 9/11 attacks on New York and were over the 1998 abduction of 16 Western tourists in Yemen, four of whom were killed in a military rescue operation. He was also accused of trying to set up a terrorist training camp in the United States in 1999, and of promoting "violent jihad" on a global scale. The jury deliberated for 12 hours over two days before reaching a verdict, after a four-week trial in which Abu Hamza took the stand for three days of testimony in his own defence.

2013

October 8: A Frenchman held in Pakistan for months on suspicion of training militants was detained for questioning by French Police on his return home, an official at the Paris prosecutor's office said. Naamen Meziche was arrested on a bus along with three other French nationals in south-western Pakistan in May, 2012, on suspicion of training militant networks and preparing terrorist attacks, the official said. Pakistan deported them all to France in April, except Meziche, who was deported on October 7-evening. The men have been held on suspicion of conspiring to commit terrorist acts. Meziche, who is of Algerian origin, is suspected by French security officials of being a member of al Qaeda. "We hope that confronting Meziche with the three others will enable us to find out more about this cell and its exact role within al Qaeda," the prosecutor's office aide said, declining to give further details. No lawyer for Meziche could immediately be reached for comment.

2012

July 20: A British Pakistani woman hairdresser, charged for helping her husband in a bomb plot against the Jewish community in Manchester, was jailed for eight years. Shaista Khan (38), born in Pakistan, became a fanatic within weeks of marrying car cleaner, a converted Muslim, Muhammad Khan (33). The couple planned to build a DIY bomb using chapatti flour, hairdressing chemicals and a set of Christmas tree lights to launch a terror attack on the Jewish communities in Manchester. According to the crown prosecution service, they also carried out reconnaissance missions on possible targets, including a synagogue. Moreover, Shaista used her home-based hairdressing business called 'Sassy Hair Studio' as a front to seek targets as part of a "personal jihad". Shaista, who pleaded not guilty, was convicted of three terrorism offences at Manchester Crown Court. Her husband had earlier admitted a terror charge.

July 19: Four British Pakistanis and a well-known Muslim convert were charged with planning terrorist attacks in London. Richard Dart (29) is one of the five people - four men and a woman - arrested in London on July 5, 7 and 18, who were charged with terrorist offences by the Metropolitan Police. Imran Mahmood (21), from Northolt, West London, and Jahangir Alom (26), understood to be a former Metropolitan Police community support officer, from Stratford, East London, have also been charged with preparing for acts of terrorism. Dart, Mahmood, and Alom are alleged to have travelled to Pakistan for terrorism training, travelled abroad to commit acts of terrorism and advised and counseled the commission of terrorist acts between July 25, 2010 and July 6, 2012.

A fourth man, Khalid Javed Baqa (47), from Barking, East London, was charged with three counts of possession of terrorism-related material. The material included a CD containing 39 ways to support and participate in jihad and three issues of an al Qaeda inspired magazine.

A fifth, Ruksana Begum (22), from North London, has been charged with possession of a micro memory card likely to be of use to a terrorist.

July 18: Three British Muslims - including a convert who was featured in a documentary about radical Islam and a former London Police support officer - have been charged with travelling to Pakistan for terror training, Police said. Scotland Yard said in a statement that Richard Dart (29), Imran Mahmood (21), and Jahangir Alom (26), had travelled to Pakistan between 2010 and 2012 "with the intention of committing acts of terrorism or assisting another to commit such acts." The statement also alleges that the three provided others with advice and counseling about how to travel to Pakistan, find training, and how to stay safe while there. Two others, 22-year-old Ruksana Begum and 47-year-old Khalid Javed Baqa, were charged with having material likely to be useful for terrorism. All five had been arrested earlier this month, and at least two of the accused had previously come to public attention. Dart was featured in a recent BBC documentary, "My Brother the Islamist," which chronicled the efforts of his filmmaker stepbrother Robb Leech to understand why the former had rejected his family and embraced an uncompromising form of Islam.

July 6: The British Police and secret service MI5, in a joint operation, have arrested seven people believed to be of the Pakistani origin on suspicion of terror offences after firearms and other weapons were found in a car. One man is from West Yorkshire and six from Birmingham, West Midlands. They are being questioned on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism following a series of arrests this week, Police said. News of the arrests came a day after six people, including a white Muslim convert, were detained over an alleged plan to carry out a major terrorist attack, possibly during the Olympics. Items found in the vehicle were undergoing forensic analysis, and searches were carried out at the addresses of those in custody. A West Midlands police spokesman said that officers found material including firearms following a routine stop on the M1 in South Yorkshire last weekend.

May 1: Four Pakistani-Britons were charged with taking inspiration from al Qaida magazine 'Inspire', and plotting to use a toy car to attack a base of the Territorial Army in Luton town of Britain. The plot was, however, foiled. Zahid Iqbal (30) is accused of leading the terror network. He was joined by Mohammed Sarfaraz Ahmed (24), Umar Arshad (23), and Syed Farhan Hussain (21). The gang is accused of working to recruit others for jihad and raising funds. The accused were arrested at their homes in Luton on April 24. The Westminster magistrates' court heard the accused bought survival equipment, downloaded al Qaida terror manuals and discussed methods and targets. Two of the arrestees were caught discussing how to build explosive devices from instructions in Inspire magazine. It was also claimed the gang planned to attack NATO forces in Afghanistan.

Ahmed is accused of acting as a recruiter and making an "explorative visit" to Pakistan where he may have undertaken terrorist activities. Hussain allegedly specialised in the distribution of funds and provisions, while Arshad allegedly provided practical guidance on activities abroad, what to wear to fit in and lead the outdoor training. All four were accused of possessing editions of Inspire, and a terrorist book called "44 Ways to Support Jihad".

February 10: Nine British-Asians of Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin have been jailed in the UK over an al Qaeda-inspired plot to bomb the London Stock Exchange and to organise a terrorist training camp in Pakistan. The men, who were convicted last week, were described by the judge at the Woolwich Crown Court as 'Islamic fundamentalists'. They hail from towns in England and Wales such as Stoke-on-Trent, Cardiff and London. Usman Khan (20), one of the nine jailed, was involved in organising a training camp on his family land in PoK, and to encourage a 'significant' number of British Muslims at attending it. Justice Wilkie said this was a 'serious, long-term venture in terrorism' that could also have resulted in atrocities in the UK. All nine men were arrested in December 2010. He said, "It was envisaged by them and the other recruits may return to the UK as trained and experienced terrorists available to perform terrorist attacks in this country, on one possibility contemplated in the context of the return of British troops from Afghanistan." The nine included one Bangladesh-origin man who had changed his name to 'Gurukanth Desai' before the arrest.

Shahjahan (27) was jailed for a minimum term of eight years and 10 months. Usman Khan and Nazam Hussain (26) were ordered to serve at least eight years. Justice Wilkie said that the three were 'the more serious jihadis' and said they should not be released until they were no longer a threat to the public. Four others, who all pleaded guilty to engaging in conduct in preparation for acts of terrorism by planning to plant a bomb in the toilets of the London Stock Exchange, included: 'Gurukanth Desai' (30), 12 years Abdul Miah (25), 16 years and 10 months Mohammed Chowdhury (22), 13 years and 8 months Shah Rahman (28), 12 years. Omar Latif (28), who admitted attending meetings with the intention of assisting others to prepare or commit acts of terrorism, was given 10 years and 4 months. Mohibur Rahman (28), was given a five-year sentence after he admitted to possessing two editions of an al Qaeda magazine for terrorist purposes.

January 30: An Oslo court sentenced two suspects to prison for planning to bomb the Danish Newspaper that published drawings of the Prophet Mohammed in Norway's first-ever guilty verdict for "plotting to commit a terrorist act". According to Norway's Intelligence Service, Police Security Service (PST), Davud, a short, bearded man received training in making and using explosives from al Qaeda members and sympathizers in Pakistan's region of Waziristan between November 2008 and July 2010. Norwegian national Mikael Davud (40), a member of China's Uighur minority considered the mastermind behind the plot against the Jyllands-Posten Daily, was sentenced to seven years behind bars. Meanwhile, Shawan Sadek Saeed Bujak, an Iraqi Kurd residing in Norway received a three-and-a-half-year prison term.

According to the prosecution, the two men had in liaison with al Qaeda planned to use explosives against the offices of the Danish Newspaper and to murder Kurt Westergaard, the cartoonist behind the most controversial of the 12 drawings of the Prophet published in September 2005. "There is no doubt that it was Davud who took the initiative in the preparations for a terrorist act and that he was the central character," the three judges said in their ruling. "The court also believes that it was he himself who would have carried out the terrorist attack since he has explained that he planned to lay out the explosives himself," they added.

2011

December 20: British Police arrested a Pakistani student at Birmingham Airport on suspicion of a terrorism offence. West Midlands Police said the 22-year-old man was arrested after arriving at the central England airport on a flight from Dubai. He was being questioned on suspicion of possessing "a document likely to be of use to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism." Police said the document was found on the suspect.

November 15: British Police working on a major counter-terrorism operation linked to Pakistan said that they arrested four suspects in Birmingham for fundraising in Britain and travelling to Pakistan for terrorist training. Three men aged 19 and one aged 24 were detained by officers from the West Midlands Counter-Terrorism Unit at their homes in the Sparkhill area of England's second city. Three men are charged with "planning a bombing campaign" and "stating an intention to be a suicide bomber". Other charges the suspects face include collecting money for terrorism, travelling to Pakistan for training in bomb making and making a "martyrdom" film.

May 08: Czech Police arrested a Pakistani national wanted on an international warrant for murder and terrorism.

2010

December 20: Police arrested 12 suspected persons aimed at thwarting a major new terrorism plot against Britain. The arrested suspects are British nationals but have with links to Bangladesh and Pakistan, according to a counter-terrorism official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

December 9: British Police arrested a 34-year-old man on suspicion of murdering MQM leader, Imran Farooq, who was attacked in London on September 17. "He has been taken to a North London Police Station where he will be interviewed by detectives," the Police headquarters said in a statement. The personnel from Scotland Yard's counter-terrorism command had taken charge of the murder inquiry due to fears that the killing may be politically motivated.

December 3: Two Pakistanis were arrested from Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus on suspicion of having links to radical Islamic outfits after a tip-off from a foreign intelligence agency. "The information we have, suggests that they are linked to terrorist organisations," said Police spokesman. The suspects had been under surveillance for several weeks. Police said the suspects had arrived on the Mediterranean island legally but their residence permits expired three months ago.

December 1: Spanish Police arrested six Pakistanis and a Nigerian suspected of providing forged passports to outfits linked to al Qaeda, including the outfit accused of plotting the November 26, 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks (also known as 26/11), the Interior Ministry said.

July 7: British Police arrested a Pakistani national suspected of being an al-Qaeda operative in north-eastern England after US authorities issued a warrant for his arrest. Abid Naseer (24) is sought by the United States on charges of providing material support to a foreign terrorist organisation, conspiring to provide material support, and conspiracy to use a destructive device. He was arrested by British counter-terrorism Police in 2009 on suspicion of plotting mass casualty attacks in England and of being an operative of al-Qaeda, although he was never charged. The British government subsequently tried to deport him but while an immigration court acknowledged he was "an al-Qaeda operative who posed and still poses a serious threat," it ruled his safety could not be guaranteed in Pakistan. Naseer was due to appear in court on July 7 in connection with the US arrest warrant, Police said. "Naseer has been arrested in the UK pursuant to a provisional arrest warrant issued on July 7, 2010, at the request of the US Government."

June 25: Two Pakistani nationals heading to South Africa were arrested by the Police in Zimbabwe. One of the arrestees is under an international arrest warrant for terrorism. The state-owned Herald newspaper reported the two flew from Saudi Arabia to Tanzania where they fraudulently acquired Kenyan passports before travelling to Zimbabwe by road last weekend. The Herald also quoted unnamed security officials as saying the wanted terrorism suspect was based in the Chilean capital Santiago.

2009

November 24: Five Pakistani Army officers have been detained for questioning over possible links to the two US terror suspects of the LeT, who are accused of plotting an armed attack on a Danish newspaper, intelligence officials said. LeT militants, David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana, were arrested in Chicago during October 2009. US prosecutors said the two men were believed to be working with an unidentified senior member of the outfit and a senior Al Qaeda operative. Two Pakistani intelligence officials said phone records showed the five Pakistani officers had contacted Headley and Rana. They say the five include a retired brigadier general and two active lieutenant colonels, but did not provide more details.

October 27: US investigating agencies have neutralised a plot by the Pakistan-based LeT to use an American national for terrorist attacks in Denmark and India. The man, identified as David Coleman Headley, was one of two suspects arrested early in October 2009 by FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport before he boarded a flight to Philadelphia, from where he was intending to travel to Pakistan to meet Pakistani terrorist handlers, including the fugitive Ilyas Kashmiri. Headley's partner in the terror plot, which included plans to attack the Danish newspaper that published cartoons of Prophet Mohammed, was a Pakistani-Canadian named Tahawwur Hussain Rana, also a resident of Chicago who was arrested by the FBI on October 18.

July 14: A German court jailed for eight years a German man of Pakistani origin on July 13 for helping to fund and supply Al Qaeda in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP), Dawn reported. The 47-year-old, identified only as Aleem N., was arrested in February 2008 and charged with giving 27,000 euros (38,000 dollars) as well as materials, including night-vision equipment, to the group. The court in Koblenz found him guilty of belonging to a foreign terrorist organisation receiving explosives training at an extremist camp and of helping recruit volunteers to go to Pakistan.

April 21: The Netherlands' national intelligence agency is reported to have stated that a growing number of West Europeans are attending terror training camps in the border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The General Intelligence and Security Service chief Gerard Bouman said Al Qaeda is boosting its capacity to carry out attacks by increasing co-operation with other extremist groups. He also said there is still a real threat of attacks in the region.

April 08: 12 persons, including 10 Pakistanis, were arrested on suspicion of having links with al Qaeda in a series of raids in northwest England, the Police said. Reports said those arrested included two students who were surrounded by armed Police at John Moores University in Liverpool. Ten of the men were reportedly from Pakistan and in Britain on student visas.

March 27: Germany is home to several hundred "potentially dangerous Islamists", including a hard core of around 100 people classed as dangerous, a senior Interior Ministry official said. Between 60 and 80 "jihadists" out of some 140 have returned to Germany, who had undergone training in camps in the Tribal Areas on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, State Secretary August Hanning said. "The danger should not be underestimated. The 60 to 80 who have returned make up the overwhelming majority of up to around 100 people whom we class as dangerous," Hanning told the Tagesspiegel. "On top of that there are about another 300 potentially dangerous Islamists. All in all we are talking about a circle of around 1,000 people," said Hanning, who used to head German foreign intelligence agency, the BND. He added he was worried about the possibility of attacks in the run up to this September’s general election in Germany. "The threats do not mention the elections directly. But in the view of jihadists in Pakistan the election is important because it will determine Germany’s foreign policy in the future," he said.

March 24: Pakistan has informed the British Government about more than 20 Britons believed to have spent time with radical militant groups and then returned to the UK. A Sky TV report said the tracked men may have trained with extremist outfits. A dossier is likely to be handed over to British anti-terrorist teams ‘soon’. The suspects – aged between 17 and 23 – have created "sufficient suspicion" for the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to believe they pose a ‘potential danger’ to Britain. At least four are thought to have been fighting in Afghanistan, and intelligence officials say they have heard ‘English accents’ while listening to satellite and mobile phone chatter between the UK and the Tribal Areas.

February 3: The Spanish Police arrested 13 people on suspicion of links to organised crime and terrorism groups. A Police statement said the detainees - 11 Pakistanis, a Nigerian and an Indian - were suspected of belonging to an international crime gang involved in passport forgery, drug trafficking and people-smuggling. Police said they were investigating whether the group might also have supplied forged documents to international terror groups.

January 20: Six Pakistanis have been arrested on suspicion of a tax fraud and are being investigated for diverting funds to terrorist groups, said the Spanish Police. Police said the six men were arrested in Barcelona on orders from Judge Baltasar Garzon, who often investigates terrorism. The Civil Guard said in a statement that the alleged fraud was carried out through telecommunications companies and officials were investigating whether any money went to ‘armed groups’. The six along with five others arrested by the Spanish Police, were suspected of financing terrorist activities by carrying out thefts and sending the money they raised from their criminal activities to Pakistan.

2008

December 19: A British Pakistani, accused of being a high-profile al Qaeda activist, was on December 18 found guilty of "directing terrorism." The police claimed this was the first time that someone in the U.K. had been convicted of such an offence, The Hindu reported. Rangzieb Ahmed (33) was described by prosecutors as a key link between British recruits and al Qaeda leaders. He and co-defendant Habib Ahmed (29) were found guilty of possessing diaries which had names and phone numbers of suspected leading al Qaeda operatives, including Hamza Rabia, believed to be a former top al Qaeda leader. It was stated that they were part of an active al Qaeda cell working on an unknown foreign mission.

September 5: A German man of Pakistani origin suspected of raising money and recruiting fighters for al Qaeda has been charged with membership in the terrorist group, federal prosecutors said in Berlin on September 4, Dawn reported. The suspect, identified as 46-year-old Aleem Nasir, was arrested in February 2008 at his home in the southwestern state of Rheinland-Palatinate and was charged on August 19. According to a statement from German prosecutors, Nasir traveled "regularly" to Pakistan and "by summer 2004 at the latest" he had agreed with al Qaeda leaders in the Pakistani-Afghan border region "to take part in al Qaeda activities." His attorney, Manfred Gnjidic, said at the time of Nasir's arrest that his client had not confessed to anything. But prosecutors said that between April 2005 and June 2007 he made at least four trips to Pakistan's border region with Afghanistan, in one case handing over $21,732 to al Qaeda and on another at least 5,795.20 in cash. He is also alleged to have provided al Qaeda with additional equipment such as binoculars, night-vision goggles, laser range-finders, digital compasses and radios. "His duty is suspected to have been to acquire money and equipment in Germany for military use and recruit further members as well as fighters for the organisation," prosecutors said in their statement.

August 19: Aabid Khan, Sultan Muhammad and Hammad Munshi, all three Britons of Pakistani origin, were sentenced by a British court to serve varying prison terms for possessing or preparing documents promoting terrorism, Dawn reported. Khan, 23, a former fast food restaurant worker from Bradford described as a 'key players' in radicalisation of the youth, was arrested at Manchester Airport in June 2006 on his return from a trip to Pakistan. He has been sentenced to serve a 12-year prison term. Sultan Muhammad, 23, Khan's cousin and also from Bradford, was sentenced to 10 years in jail. Hammaad Munshi, 18, from Dewsbury, Britain's youngest convicted terrorist will be sentenced next month. Prosecutor Simon Denison said evidence showed Khan had a "deep commitment to and involvement in violent jihad". This included "inciting others to take part in it and arranging for himself and others to attend military training in Pakistan in preparation for going to fight and, inevitably, to kill". He said all the men had amassed computers, CDs and books that "were the necessary tools of their trade, possessed to be used in furtherance of that violent cause".

August 10: Islamic extremists who trained at terrorist camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan may be plotting attacks in Germany, the head of the German federal crime office said, according to a newspaper interview released on August 10, The News reported. Joerg Ziercke, head of the Bundeskriminalamt - Germany's FBI equivalent - told the daily Tagesspiegel that some 50 aspiring militants from Germany had been trained in camps run by al Qaeda, the Taliban or the Islamic Jihad Union. "In light of statements from al Qaeda and (the Islamic Jihad Union), we are certain that a decision has been made to conduct attacks in Germany," Ziercke was quoted as saying in the interview.

June 6: Dutch police arrested a 26-year-old Pakistani man wanted in Spain on terrorism charges, according to the Netherlands' prosecution service. "Aqueelur Rehman Abbasi was arrested on Friday in his prison cell in Vught where he was being held by the immigration and naturalisation services, at the request of Spanish authorities," said prosecution spokesman Frank Wattimena.

June 5: A judge in Spain filed terrorism charges against nine Pakistanis and two Indians suspected of planning suicide attacks in Barcelona and elsewhere in Europe. Ten persons were arrested in Barcelona in January 2008 during raids in which police also recovered bomb-making equipment. It was not immediately disclosed where the 11th person was arrested. All were charged with belonging to a terrorist group, and eight were additionally accused of possessing explosives. The charges were based on the declarations of a witness who is a former member of the cell, which is suspected of planning suicide attacks on the Barcelona metro and other European cities. Three of those arrested, Pakistanis Mohamed Shoaib, M. Khalib and Imran Cheema, had been tasked with carrying out the suicide bombings, and had recently arrived in Barcelona, the judge said. Three others, Hafeez Ahmed, Qadeer Malik and Sahib Iqbal, were allegedly explosives experts.

March 15: Dutch police have arrested a Pakistani man who they say is linked to a jihadi network which was largely dismantled after raids in Barcelona during January 2008. The 26-year-old suspect was detained on March 13 in the south-western Dutch town of Breda, the public prosecutor's office said in a statement on March 14. The detainee was "suspected of belonging to a global jihadist network which prepares attacks in western Europe", the statement said. The police had been investigating the suspect, who was not identified by name, since late January 2008 acting on information of the security services in The Hague. The suspect, who had been in the Netherlands since September 2007, was enrolled as a student but mostly worked as a house painter, AFP reported.

February 15: A German man of Pakistani origin has been arrested in southwestern Germany on suspicion of working for al Qaeda, the office of the federal prosecutor said on February 15, according to Dawn. The suspect, identified as Aleem N., made four trips to the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan where he handed over at least 4,000 euros to al Qaeda operatives each time, it said in a statement. The trips took place between April 2005 and June 2007, and also served to smuggle radio equipment and binoculars to the organisation, AFP reported. During the last trip, Aleem N. asked to become an al Qaeda fighter and was subsequently sent to a camp in Pakistan where he was trained to use explosives.

January 22: The group of alleged Islamist extremists arrested in Barcelona at the weekend were planning suicide attacks on Spanish soil allegedly under orders from al Qaeda in Pakistan, AFP quoted press reports as saying. Citing sources close to the investigation, the daily El Periodico de Catalunya said "the terrorist action averted on Saturday ... was decided several months ago by the central al Qaeda network in Pakistan… Those who gave the order are to be found in Pakistan. They were preparing suicide attacks. Those that came here were ready to commit suicide." The 12 Pakistanis arrested had made recent trips to Pakistan, according to the report. The group received an order to carry out an attack in Barcelona from figures high up within al Qaeda hierarchy during a meeting at a training camp in Waziristan. Announcing the arrests on January 19, Spain's Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba declared that an imminent attack by "highly organised radical Islamists" had been foiled.

2007

November 23: According to The News, a Pakistani man, who pleaded guilty to distributing terrorist propaganda and helping a terrorism suspect breach a control order, was jailed for six years on November 22 in Britain. 25-year old Abdul Rahman was sentenced at Manchester Crown Court to six years for dissemination of a terrorist publication and three years for aiding contravention of a control order, making him the first person to be convicted in Britain of such offences. He was also sentenced to six years for possession of an article for a purpose connected with the commission or instigation of an act of terrorism. Rahman was arrested in January 2007, two-and-a-half years after arriving in the country from Pakistan on a student visa to do a biotechnology course at university which he quit within days.

September 20: Two Pakistani nationals accused of channelling 1 million euros ($1.40 million) to Islamist militants were arrested in Spain, Reuters reported. A. Muhammad Shan and P. Mehmood Sandhu used money from drug trafficking to fund radical groups in Spain and abroad, a police statement said. They were detained in Madrid and Barcelona after a three-year operation by the Spanish National Police and the US Federal Bureau of Intelligence.

September 4: Three suspected Islamic militants were arrested in the afternoon for allegedly plotting attacks on Ramstein Air Base, a key U.S. and NATO military hub, and Frankfurt International Airport, one of Europe's busiest, German authorities said on September 5, according to an AP report. The Sudwestrundfunk public broadcaster, citing unnamed security officials, reported that two suspects had German citizenship while the third was Pakistani. Authorities closed in on the men after they were seen moving possibly dangerous chemicals, the Der Spiegel reported, citing unidentified investigators.

Danish police arrested eight young Muslims during pre-dawn raids in central Copenhagen and its suburbs on suspicion of plotting a bomb attack and having links with al Qaeda, according to The News. The arrested ranged from 19 to 29 years old. They were of Afghan, Pakistani, Somali and Turkish backgrounds and six were Danish citizens, Jakob Scharf, director of the Danish police's Security Intelligence Service said. He said it was the first such direct al Qaeda connection discovered in Denmark and that Danish intelligence had cooperated with unnamed foreign security services during an investigation that lasted several months. "These are Islamist militants with connections to high-ranking members of al Qaeda," Scharf told a press conference.

July 27: Five British Pakistani youths, accused of being "intoxicated" by extremist propaganda, were on July 26 jailed for planning to go to Pakistan to train as "jihadis" in order to fight British forces in Afghanistan, according to The Hindu. Four were university students, identified as Aitzaz Zafar (20), Awaab Iqbal (20), Usman Ahmed Malik (21) and Akbar Butt (20) - and the fifth a schoolboy, Mohammed Irfan Raja (19). All were found guilty of possessing terrorist material. They are to serve jail sentences ranging from two to three years each. During their trial at the Old Bailey, the prosecution claimed that the material seized during the investigation included an al Qaeda manual and diagrams of explosive devices. Their conversations on the net contained passages justifying suicide bombings, it was alleged. But the defendants denied these charges.

The alleged plot reportedly came to light when Raja ran away from his east London home in February 2006 leaving behind a note telling his parents that he would now meet them in "jannat" (paradise). In the note, he assured them that he was not going to do "something in this country". "Just in case you think I am going to do something in this country you can rest easy that I am not. The conventional method of warfare is safer," he reportedly wrote. Prosecution said Raja was recruited by the other four - all students of Bradford University - on the Internet.

July 21: According to a Reuters report, German authorities believe al Qaeda is targeting Germany for possible attacks and that German Islamists have been travelling to Pakistan for "terrorist training." Deputy Interior Minister August Hanning told Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, "The danger that there could be terrorist attacks here is very real… We have many indications that al Qaeda is targeting Germany and German installations abroad, such as embassies." Hanning, a former head of Germany's BND foreign intelligence agency, also said German Islamists were being trained in Pakistan. Three German Islamists who trained there returned to Germany at the beginning of June 2007, he disclosed. "We have to assume that the people who returned from Pakistan are planning attacks," he informed.

He said the Interior Ministry was aware of 14 Islamists who went to Pakistan, some of whom were still there. He added that Berlin believed that there were more Germans who had gone to "terrorist training camps" in Pakistan. In recent months, Pakistani authorities have detained at least seven German Islamists "who could have been involved in planning attacks", he disclosed. "We need to do everything possible to find out who went to Pakistan and was trained there," Hanning said.

July 12: Britain is investigating how the ringleader of a failed 2005 London bombing plot, identified as a possible terrorist, went to Pakistan for terror training, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on July 11, according to Dawn. Brown confirmed reports of the investigation after it emerged that Muktar Said Ibrahim, who was convicted along with three other defendants, had made the trip barely six months before the attacks, although he was on bail. The Woolwich Crown Court in London heard during the trial that Ibrahim travelled to a militant training camp in Pakistan in December 2004. He was there at the same time as Mohammed Siddique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer, two of the four British nationals who later blew themselves up on the London transit system on July 7, 2005, killing themselves and 52 commuters.

May 29: : Spain's High Court convicted three Pakistanis for sending money to al Qaeda operatives in Pakistan, but cleared them and eight others of preparing terrorist attacks in Barcelona, according to AFP. The suspects had faced up to 32 years in jail for alleged involvement with al Qaeda, drug trafficking and planning attacks on a shopping centre and other targets in the city, where they lived and were arrested in 2004. Following a three-month trial, the Madrid-based tribunal on May 29 acquitted them of terrorism charges for lack of evidence. The three men who sent money to al Qaeda operators received jail terms of five-and-a-half years for terrorist collaboration. Two others received six months each for falsifying documents. All of them were Pakistani nationals. One of the three found guilty of collaboration, Mohammad Afzaal, received an additional four years for drug dealing. The other two, Shahzad Ali Gujar and Chaudhry Mohammad, were found guilty for transferring more than 800,000 euros to radical Islamists in Pakistan.

May 28: A Pakistan-born US national accused of supplying military equipment to al Qaeda was extradited to the US on May 25, AFP reported. Syed Hashmi, aged 27, now faces a trial in the US over allegations that he was a "quartermaster" and supplied al Qaeda operatives in Afghanistan and Pakistan. "Syed Hashmi, an American national, has been extradited this evening from Gatwick airport to America," said a spokesperson for London's Metropolitan Police. Hashmi, who was arrested at London's Heathrow Airport in June 2006 as he boarded a flight to Pakistan, came to Britain on a student visa in 2003 and joined the Islamist group al Muhajiroun, which has now been disbanded. His extradition warrant alleged that he had received "military gear" for use in committing terrorist acts between January and March 2004. The United States District Court for the southern district of New York indicted him.

April 6: Three Pakistanis are facing life imprisonment after they were on April 5, 2007, charged in connection with the suicide attacks on London’s transport system on July 7, 2005, in which 52 persons were killed, according to The News. Mohammed Shakil, 30, of Beeston, a suburb of Leeds; Sadeer Saleem, 26, also of Beeston; and Waheed Ali, 23, who recently lived in London but was originally from Beeston, were arrested on March 22, 2007. Saleem was reportedly arrested in Leeds and the other two men were detained at the Manchester airport as they were preparing to board a flight to Pakistan. The three were charged under the Explosive Substances Act (1883) for "unlawfully and maliciously" plotting with the suicide bombers "to cause explosions on the Transport for London System and/or tourist attractions in London." "The allegation is that they were involved in reconnaissance and planning for a plot with those ultimately responsible for the bombings on July 7 before the plan was finalised," said Sue Hemming, head of the Counter Terrorism Commission of the Crown Prosecution Service.

April 4: A Pakistani tribal militant group responsible for a series of deadly guerrilla raids inside Iran has been secretly encouraged and advised by American officials since 2005, US and Pakistani intelligence sources told ABC News reporters Brian Ross and Christopher Isham. The group, called Jundullah, is made up of members of the Baluchi tribe and operates out of the Balochistan province in Pakistan, just across the border from Iran. The group has taken responsibility for the deaths and kidnappings of more than a dozen Iranian soldiers and officials. US officials said US relationship with Jundullah is arranged so that US provides no funding to the group, which would require an official presidential order or "finding" as well as Congressional oversight. Tribal sources told ABC News that money for Jundullah is funneled to its youthful leader, Abd el Malik Regi, through Iranian exiles who have connections with European and Gulf states. Jundullah has produced its own videos showing Iranian soldiers and border guards it says it has captured and brought back to Pakistan.

2006

August 11: Pakistan said on August 11, 2006 it had arrested 24 people, including an Al Qaeda operative with links in Afghanistan, in connection with the alleged UK terror plot to blow up trans-Atlantic airliners. Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said the foiling of the terror plot was the result of close cooperation between Pakistan, the United States and the United Kingdom. She told the media that 24 people have been arrested in connection with the terror conspiracy and those arrested would be handed over to the UK for investigations. "There are indications of Afghanistan based Al Qaeda connection," she informed, adding "The case has wider international dimensions ... the intelligence cooperation and coordination at the international level to get to the bottom in this case are continuing."

Further, Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao said Pakistan had arrested an Al Qaeda operative who had played a key role in the terror plot. "He is a British citizen of Pakistani origin. He is an Al Qaeda operative with linkages in Afghanistan," Sherpao told Reuters. He said the arrest of the man, identified as Rashid Rauf, had led to a wave of arrests in Britain that headed off the alleged plot to blow up as many as 10 aircraft flying from Britain to the US. "We arrested him from the border area and on his disclosure we shared the information with British authorities, which led to further arrests in Britain," he told Associated Press.

June 7: A federal jury in the United States of America convicted a Maryland man of plotting to assist the Pakistan-based outlawed group Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), according to The News. Ali Asad Chandia, aged 29, was found guilty on three counts of terrorism-related charges, including providing material support to the LeT, which is designated a foreign terrorist organization by the US Government. Prosecutors linked Chandia, who lives in College Park, Maryland, to a British national, Mohammed Ajmal Khan, who pleaded guilty to terrorism offenses in a British court. The US Department of Justice said in a statement the case, which included evidence from British authorities and testimony from British investigators, showed the importance of cooperation with foreign law enforcement agencies.

March 18: A British man, who bought equipment, which might have been used in attacks on coalition troops in Afghanistan, was jailed for eight years on March 17 after he admitted being a "terrorist quartermaster", UK police said. He was also given a further year in jail for being in contempt of court, according to Reuters. Mohammed Ajmal Khan bought material that was sent to and used by the proscribed Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) group. London’s Snaresbrook Crown Court heard that Khan had access to more than $35,000 to buy equipment, including 1,000 square-metre of Kevlar — a material used to make armour plating for vehicles and for bullet-proof armour. British police said Khan had provided material for the group when it was planning and conducting operations in Afghanistan in 2002-3.

March 3: According to Daily Times, immigration officials arrested a Belgian national on terrorism charges at Lahore Airport while he was trying to board a plane for Islamabad. Micha Ballen is wanted by Belgium for involvement in several crimes and is believed to be a terrorist. He came to Lahore from London on February 7 by a Gulf Air flight and was staying at a seminary near the city. Ballen is originally from Rwanda but is also a Belgian national, a security official told Daily Times. The Belgian embraced Islam a few years back after establishing links with a religious outfit in Pakistan, he said. "Intelligence agencies intercepted his e-mails which showed that he is connected to militant outfits and wanted to join in their activities."

2005

September 13: According to British newspaper The Telegraph, one of the four London suicide bombers made several calls to a stolen mobile phone in Pakistan up to three days before the July 7, 2005 attacks. Pakistani officials claimed that they have traced the stolen phone after receiving requests from Britain’s MI5 to investigate and they suspect that it was used by terrorists linked to the bombers, and then discarded after the London attacks. The phone number was rung several times - as late as July 4 - by Shehzad Tanweer, one of the bombers who visited Pakistan more than six months ago along with Mohammad Sidique Khan, the cell’s suspected ringleader.

August 4: An unnamed official in Islamabad was quoted as saying in The News that authorities were trying to determine whether Ethiopian-born Muktar Said Ibrahim, alleged ringleader in the failed attacks in London on July 21, 2005, had visited Pakistan. Investigators reportedly believe that any confirmation of a visit by Ibrahim to Pakistan would strengthen the theory of a link between the two groups of bombers.

August 1: According to The Sunday Times, "One of them [London bombers], Shehzad Tanweer, from the Leeds suburb of Beeston, is said by relatives in Pakistan to have spent time there with militants from the banned extremist Jaish Mohammad organisation… Efforts were under way to arrest Jaish Mohammed leader Masood Azhar, whom Tanweer is believed to have contacted."

July 17: Daily Times, quoting security officials in Islamabad, reports that three of the four London suicide bombers had recently visited Pakistan and investigators are probing whether they met with Al Qaeda-linked militant groups. Mohammad Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer arrived together at Karachi Airport in November 2004 and returned to Britain in early February. Hasib Hussain came separately at an undisclosed time last year, also to Karachi, and went back to Britain shortly afterwards.

July 15: The British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw expresses concern over what goes on in some Madrassas in Pakistan, after it emerged that one of the London bombers had attended a seminary. According to The News, Shahzad Tanweer, who bombed an underground subway train at Aldgate in London, had gone to a Madrassa in December 2004 to become a Hafiz (someone who has memorized the Holy Koran). "We are concerned about what goes on in some of the Madrassas in Pakistan," Straw told reporters in London.

July 14: News reports identify three Britons of Pakistani descent, the alleged suicide bombers, as Shahzad Tanweer, a 22-year-old cricket-loving sports science graduate; Hasib Hussain, aged 19; and Mohammed Sidique Khan, the 30-year-old father of an 8-month-old baby.

July 12: The Police said that at least three of the bombers who carried out the July 7 terrorist attacks in London are believed to be British males of Pakistani origin who lived in West Yorkshire in Leeds. Police said they believe four men, including the three Pakistani origin persons, who arrived at King's Cross on July 7-morning on a train from Leeds were behind the terrorist attacks that killed at least 52 people and injured 700 on three tube trains and one bus. CCTV footage at King's Cross station showed the four suspected bombers together at 8.30am, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, head of the Metropolitan police's anti-terrorism branch, told a press conference.

June 24: The Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is reported to have said in Moscow that terrorists from Afghanistan and Pakistan were training for attacks against Russia and the former Soviet Central Asia and that they periodically cross into Central Asian territory. "On the territory of Afghanistan and on the territory adjacent to the Afghan border with Pakistan, training is going on of terrorists, with the participation of Taliban and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan... for conducting terrorist attacks, including on the territory of the Russian Federation," disclosed Lavrov.

June 16: A Pakistani and two Frenchmen were given three-to-five-year prison sentences by a Paris court which found them guilty of aiding convicted "shoe-bomber" Richard Reid, who attempted to blow up a Paris-Miami flight on December 22, 2001 in the United States, according to AFP. The three were convicted of associating with criminals in relation to a terrorist enterprise, three years after being arrested for their ties to Reid. Ghulam, a 64-year-old Pakistani and president of a charity association called Chemin Droit (Right Path), received a five-year sentence for helping orient Reid on French soil and recruiting Jehadis. The two Frenchmen, Hassan el Cheguer and Hakim Mokhfi, were groomed by Ghulam to fight abroad, the court found.

May 11: A Pakistani and two Frenchmen of North African origin reportedly went on trial at a criminal court in Paris on May 11 on terror charges for their suspected roles in a recruiting network providing Jehad fighters. The trial will last until May 27. They were arrested in 2002 for allegedly giving logistical support to the would-be shoe-bomber Richard Reid, a British national and self-proclaimed disciple of Osama bin Laden. French suspects Hassan el-Cheguer and Hakim Mokhfi, both aged 31, told investigators they had been recruited for Jehad by a 67-year-old Pakistani Ghulam Rama, who heads the ‘Chemin Droit’ (Straight Path) humanitarian group in France, according to The News.

April 14: Spanish authorities have reportedly charged 11 Pakistani nationals over suspected links with Al Qaeda operatives who carried out the Madrid train bombings in March 2004 which killed nearly 200 people. One of the eleven, Shahzad Ali Gujar, is suspected of having transferred funds to Al Qaeda cadres, including Amjad Farooki, whom Pakistani security forces killed during September 2004 and who was implicated in the murder of US journalist Daniel Pearl. According to Dawn, investigators believe Al Qaeda operatives in Pakistan received some 800,000 euros ($1 million) in funds from Spain. Mohamed Afzaal, believed to have headed the Pakistani cell in question, is suspected of sending money in September 2004 to Rabei Ousman Sayed Ahmed alias "Mohammed the Egyptian", who is currently in custody on suspicion of involvement in the train bombings.

February 13: Dawn reports that a Pakistani citizen, Salahuddin Amin, arrested in London after his arrival from Pakistan, was charged under the British anti-terrorism law on February 12 for planning an explosives’ attack. Amin, who was detained on February 8 at London's Heathrow airport under the Terrorism Act of 2000, was alleged to have conspired with others, between Oct 1, 2003 and March 31, 2004, to explode a bomb, which was likely to endanger life and cause serious property damage.

November 10: Spanish police indicate that they had arrested two Pakistanis overnight in Barcelona for alleged membership of an Islamist terrorist group, which they said they had broken up in a September raid in the northeastern city. Spanish judge Ismael Moreno had ordered the operation, which nabbed 10 other Pakistani suspects on September 15. Police did not name either of the latest two suspects, nor their alleged role in the group.

November 1: Daily Times, quoting the Spanish newspaper El Pais, reports that the ten Pakistanis arrested in Barcelona in mid-September this year were believed to have funded Al Qaeda operatives by transferring money to Pakistan from Spain. The paper, citing sources close to the investigation, reported that the men had wired money earlier this year to three collaborators of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who was suspected of planning the September 11 attacks. The report did not name the collaborators but said that they had been arrested in a raid earlier this year in Pakistan, which had left one of them dead.

September 15: The Spanish police arrest 10 Pakistanis suspected of involvement in Islamic extremism during an operation in the northeastern region of Catalonia, reported AFP. Judicial sources in Madrid said the suspects were arrested ‘for Islamic terrorism’ and said all were of Pakistani origin. A police spokesperson said the Pakistani suspects "could have financed radical organisations outside Spain’s borders." Five of the Pakistanis were detained in the northern Barcelona district of Trinitat Vella and five more in the central ‘Barrio chino’ or Chinese district, where there is a concentration of Pakistanis. Foreign Office spokesperson Masood Khan said in Islamabad that those arrested by the Spanish police also included some Pakistani citizens.

July 9: Cyprus is reported to have deported ten Pakistanis for suspected terrorist links. According to Daily Times, ten Pakistani students were deported after being detained by Cyprus police on suspicion of belonging to the Al Qaeda network. One of the suspects, reportedly trained in avionic engineering, had arrived in Cyprus to pursue a course in Hotel Management. "I can’t tell you whether they are members of al-Qaeda, we are not sure of that, but it is certain that they fit the profile of terror suspects," an unnamed Cypriot security source told Reuters. The men, who were enrolled at a private Cypriot college in the holiday resort of Larnaca, were arrested on July 7.

July 1: An Anti Terrorism Court (ATC) in Karachi on July 1 indicted nine activists of the proscribed Harkat-ul-Mujahideen Al-alami (HuMA) for their involvement in the Macedonian consulate bomb blast case. According to prosecution, the accused killed three persons on December 5, 2002, in premises of the Macedonian consulate in Karachi and later blasted the office with explosives. The Macedonian police on May 1, 2004, had acknowledged that the killing of Pakistanis was staged to win United States’ support and that the victims were innocent illegal immigrants.

June 6: Security forces are reported to have arrested a Russian national from a tribal region, bordering Afghanistan, for his alleged links to the Al Qaeda. The 23-year-old Caucasian, who claimed to hail from a village near Moscow, was arrested at a military checkpoint outside Miranshah. According to The News, he was carrying a fake Pakistani identification card and during interrogation said that he had lived in the tribal region for the past four years.

May 4: According to Dawn, a group of alleged terrorists arrested in Turkey on suspicion of planning an attack on a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) meeting were trained in Pakistan and were planning to carry out a suicide mission against US President George W. Bush. Turkish press reports said that the suspects were allegedly in possession of Turkish-subtitled video cassettes attributed to Osama bin Laden calling for a Jehad against America. They were allegedly planning to bomb the NATO Summit scheduled for June 28 and 29 in Istanbul where Bush and other world leaders will attend, according to police sources quoted by the papers. The suspects were arrested in the northwestern city of Bursa, though no dates were disclosed. The Hurriyet and Vatan newspapers said that several suspects underwent physical and psychological training in Pakistan to prepare them to carry out a suicide attack.

March 30: Police in London arrested eight Muslims believed to be of Pakistani origin along with a cache of explosives during raids on March 30. The eight men, all British citizens, were detained under the Terrorism Act 2000 for suspected involvement in planning a terrorist attack, said Peter Clarke, head of the Metropolitan Police anti-terrorist branch.

2003

December 10: After the recent suicide attacks in Turkey, the United States has asked the Government of Pakistan to add names of 15 more people to the consolidated list of people and entities belonging to Taliban and al-Qaeda, Dawn has learnt. The source said the government had been provided with the list endorsed by the United Nations and asked to freeze the assets of the people included in it, seal their offices and prevent their entry or transit. The 15 people to be added in the list are Al-Ayashi Radiabdul Al-Sami (Egypt), Cabullah (Somalia), Hamid M Tahir (Iraq), Mustafa Muhammad Amin (Iraq), M Daki (Morocco), Al-Sadi Furgh Hassan (Libya), Sadi Nasir (Tunisia), Ben Abdul Hakim (Tunisia), Reham Lutfi (Tunisia), Bouyahia Hamadi (Morocco), Rown lazher Bin Khalifa Bin Ahmed (Tunisia), Zarkavi Imed Bin Maki (Tunisia), Murad Trablsi (Tunisia), Kamal Bin Mauldi (Tunisia) and Nauriddi Drissi (Tunisia).

November 20: According to The Turkish Daily News, Turkish police have indicated that three of the four suicide bombers who carried out the November 15, 2003, blasts at two synagogues had received training in Pakistan during the nineteen nineties. The report said that the police found pieces of a Pakistani passport suspected to belong to one of the attackers. At least 23 persons were killed in the attacks.

November 7: Australian Parliament passes a bill to outlaw the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba. The move to designate LeT as a terrorist outfit came after allegations that a French terror suspect deported to Paris in October 2003 had trained with the group.

2002

November 26: French Police claim arrest of several Pakistani nationals during a raid in Paris. They are suspected associates of shoe-bomber Richard Reid. They were reportedly arrested at a Pakistani cultural center as well as at a restaurant and a mosque. Meanwhile, during a parallel raid at the Reunion Island, a French department located in the Indian Ocean, a former Imam (priest) of the Ali Mosque, also a Pakistani national, was also arrested and is scheduled to undergo questioning by French police.

November 10: The French police indicated that order was given in Karachi for the April 11, 2002-suicide attack on a synagogue in Djerba, in Tunisia. The attack resulted in the death of 21 persons, including two French and 14 German tourists.

French anti-terrorist police who have been investigating the attack said they have ascertained that the satellite telephone used by the suicide terrorist, Nizar Naouar, who drove an explosives-laden truck into the synagogue, was acquired in Paris by Walid Naouar, Nizar's brother, who is being interrogated by police in Lyons.

Police have claimed that the last telephonic call by Nizar before undertaking the attack was to a number in Karachi that has been identified as that of Khaled Sheikh Mohammad, a Kuwaiti and one of the new ‘operational heads’ of the Al Qaeda.

October 8: Two Afghans are arrested from the Shamshato refugee camp on the charge of providing shelter to some Al Qaeda suspects.

September 11: Ramzi Binalshibh, Al Qaeda terrorist and a 9/11 prime suspect was detained in Karachi. Two suspected Al Qaeda terrorists were killed and five others, including Binalshibh, were arrested after a three-hour encounter at Defence Housing Authority in Karachi. The encounter ensued when security forces raided an apartment C-63 of a complex on 15th Street, Phase II Extension. Binalshibh, a Yemeni, was arrested with assistance from the FBI.

Binalshibh, wanted in Germany for his alleged role in planning and carrying out the 9/11 attacks, is one of the front-ranking Al Qaeda terrorists to be taken into custody over the past year.

In an interview to the Al Jazeera, he had reportedly claimed that he was an active planner of the 9/11 attacks. US officials have indicated that Binalshibh, also known as Ramzi bin al-Shaibah, was refused visa to enter the US at least four times before 9/11. He reportedly wanted to join the 19 hijackers involved in the multiple terrorist attacks. He was also reportedly one of the roommates of Mohamed Atta––the suspected leader of the 9/11 hijackers––in Hamburg, Germany.

He had played a key role in the transmission of funds to the terrorists undergoing flying training in the USA.

June 26: Ten Pakistan security force personnel and two Chechen Al Qaeda cadres were killed in an encounter in South Waziristan Agency.

June 12: The French police claimed that they have arrested five persons, including two Pakistani nationals, in a raid in two suburbs of Paris for suspected links to the Al Qaeda.

They are also reportedly linked to Markaz-Dawa-al-Irshad, parent organisation of the Lashkar-e-Toiba, and other terrorist groups operating in the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir.

All the five are being accused of having provided logistical support to Richard Reid, the British "shoe-bomber".

Reid, on December 22, 2001, unsuccessfully attempted to blow up a bomb contained in his shoe inside an American Airlines flight to Miami that he had boarded at Roissy- Charles de Gaulle Airport outside Paris.

The two Pakistanis were arrested from a discrete residence they maintained in a back alley in the suburb of Evry, located south of Paris. The other three persons were arrested from Mantes-la- Jolie, an urban neighbourhood west of Paris, which in the past has reportedly been an important centre of Islamist fundamentalists.

June 17: Judicial authorities in France decided to place under detention a Pakistani national, Ghulam-Mustafa Rama, for allegedly having provided logistical support to Richard Reid, the British national who is known as the ‘shoe-bomber’, for having attempted to set off an explosive concealed in his shoe during a flight on December 22, 2001 to Miami.

Rama, who is also the founder of the French branch of Markaz Dawa al-Irshad, was arrested by French police on June 12 at his home in Evry.

On the same day, another unidentified Pakistani national and three Franco-Algerians were arrested.

Police sources indicated that they are investigating the possibility of Rama playing an important role in providing recruits for terrorist operations in the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir.

March 4: At least two of the seven persons killed by Macedonian police in a weekend clash were Pakistani nationals who fought in Afghanistan, said Interior Minister Ljube Boskovski.

On March 2, Macedonian police shot dead in an ambush seven persons who were thought to be part of an international terror network targeting US, British and German interests in the Balkan country.

"We have hints that say the two came from Pakistan and fought in Afghanistan… After their participation in Afghanistan, they were transferred to the Balkans, to countries neighbouring (Macedonia)", said Boskovski.

November 13, 2001: Spanish authorities arrest ten persons suspected of having links to the international network of bin Laden. Interior Minister Mariano Rajoy was quoted as saying that the arrested were considered to be "the leading members of the Spanish infrastructure of the mujahideen movement...which forms part of the network of Osama bin Laden." Europa Press cited police officials as saying the detainees were responsible for the group's international relations and had held meetings in Pakistan, Yemen, the Philippines, Qatar and Afghanistan as well as in Europe.

December 23, 1998: Seven men, including three Britons of Pakistani origin, are arrested in Yemen. The Yemeni government claimed they were carrying plans to blow up a church, a hotel and the British consulate.