Group fears ties between Gaza Islamists, Austrian terror cell - Haaretz

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Last update - 12:16 13/09/2007

Group fears ties between Gaza Islamists, Austrian terror cell

By The Associated Press

Three alleged al-Qaida sympathizers arrested in connection with an online video threat against Austria and Germany may have had links to the Army of Islam, a shadowy group that kidnapped a BBC journalist earlier this year, a U.S. terrorism research group said Thursday.

SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors al-Qaida messages, said its research suggests one of the three suspects arrested Wednesday in Vienna was a leader of the Global Islamic Media Front, an al-Qaida propaganda group increasingly tied to terrorism operations.

The same individual also worked closely with the group responsible for kidnapping BBC journalist Alan Johnston earlier this year in Gaza, SITE said.

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It described the Global Islamic Media Front as a virtual group that has become one of the world's most prominent jihadist organizations by translating al-Qaida videos and posting them online.

Austrian authorities could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday.

Johnston, 45, was seized in March by the Army of Islam and held for four months until he was freed in July.

Austria's Interior Ministry said the three suspects - two men and a woman, all in their 20s and of Arab origin - were arrested in connection with an Internet threat in March, when Islamic militants threatened to attack Germany and Austria unless the two nations withdrew their personnel from Afghanistan.

Germany has about 3,000 troops serving with the NATO-led security forcein Afghanistan, but Austria sent just four liaison officers to the country.

Washington-based SITE said the Voice of the Caliphate, which distributed the video threat on jihadist forums in March, is a mock news service created by the Global Islamic Media Front.

The Front has increasingly become involved in the operations of terrorist acts, SITE said.

Austrian Interior Minister Guenther Platter told reporters Wednesday there was no discernible plot in the works to carry out an attack in Austria, though he said the prime suspect had looked into acquiring explosives.

Authorities said they had the three suspects under surveillance for months and arrested them after it appeared they were preparing to leave the country.

Ruediger Lohlke, a Vienna-based Islamic expert, said the Global Islamic Media Front appears to be extending its reach across Europe.

When the group first emerged in 2005, its messages were distributed only in Arabic, but it since has issued communiques in German in an apparent effort to spread its ideology to Arab immigrants in Germany and Austria, Lohlke told Austrian public broadcaster ORF.

"I would not underestimate the danger," he said Thursday.

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1.	Army of Islam is no shadowy group, it is subsidiary of Hamas	12:28	\|	Shlomo from Tel Aviv	13/09/07

2.	Saintly Alan Johnston bears no grudge,release them!	13:26	\|	Absolute Sweden	13/09/07

3.	EU governments	14:24	\|	KUTW	13/09/07

4.	So what is going to be done about the Global Islamic Media Front	16:54	\|	Chick	13/09/07

5.	Rita Katz` Creative Department	19:22	\|	Rowan Berkeley	13/09/07

6.	who states what is Palestinian?	21:55	\|	exxonValdez	13/09/07

7.	One European country after another..	06:15	\|	Avrum	14/09/07

8.	Still a mandate?	06:25	\|	MaryRose	14/09/07

9.	exxon valdez....	07:17	\|	maria	14/09/07

10.	THE POINT OF NO RETURN OF TERRORISM	09:07	\|	indrajaya	14/09/07

11.	To Maria	10:26	\|	Uri	14/09/07

12.	To Indrajaya	11:07	\|	Uri	14/09/07

13.	# 12, URI	11:36	\|	indrajaya	14/09/07

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