The Herald : Seven accused of Danish terror plot

Seven accused of Danish terror plot

by JASMINA NIELSEN, Odense | September 6, 2006

Seven men faced preliminary terror charges in a Danish court yesterday after a pre-dawn sweep that may have thwarted a serious attack.

The raids, days before the five-year anniversary of the September 11 attacks, followed a massive operation against an alleged plot to down transatlantic airliners in Britain and botched train bombings in Germany.

Denmark has heightened its terror preparedness because of its troop deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan and the Muslim outrage triggered by caricatures of the Prophet Muhammed earlier this year.

Anti-terror squads arrested nine men at 2am in Vollsmose, a suburb of Odense, Denmark's third largest city. Two were later released.

The suspects were not identified, but were described as Danish citizens aged 18-33. Eight had immigrant backgrounds.

"Police went in and stopped the group as it was preparing an attack," said Justice Minister Lene Espersen. She said investigators believed the group was planning to attack a target in Denmark.

Lars Findsen, head of the Danish Security Intelligence Service, said the suspects "had acquired material... to build explosives in connection with the preparation of a terror act".

He said investigators had launched a pre-emptive strike to avoid any unnecessary risk.

It was the second terror case in Denmark since anti-terror laws were introduced following the 2001 attacks in the US. Two weeks ago, four suspects were charged with supplying explosives to two men arrested in Bosnia for allegedly preparing a terror attack. Investigators said that group planned to blow up a target in a European country to force the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan and Iraq.

In Washington yesterday, George W Bush used terrorists' words to tackle complacency among Americans about the threat of future attack.

The president said that, despite the absence of a new attack on US soil similar to the September 11 outrages, the danger of terror remained strong.

"Bin Laden and his terrorist allies have made their intentions as clear as Lenin and Hitler before them," Bush told the Military Officers' Association of America.

"The question is, will we listen? Will we pay attention to what these evil men say?"
Bush said Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda, home-grown terrorists and other groups had adapted to changing US defences. He referred to an al Qaeda manual found in 2000 by British police during a raid in London, which had a chapter on "guidelines for beating and killing hostages".

He also cited what he said was an al Qaeda document captured in Iraq that described plans to take over its western Anbar province and set up a government with departments of education, social services, justice and an execution unit.
"The terrorists who attacked us on September the 11, 2001, are men without conscience, but they're not madmen," he said. "They kill in the name of a clear and focused ideology, a set of beliefs that are evil but not insane."

In Indonesia, an Islamic militant was sentenced to eight years for harbouring the alleged mastermind of suicide bombings that killed 20 people on Bali island in October. Abdul Aziz, 30, is one of four accused of helping to hide Noordin Top, south-east Asia's most wanted terrorist, or transporting explosives. Verdicts on the others are due next week.

Indonesia has had a string of terrorist attacks blamed on members of the al Qaeda-linked militant group Jemaah Islamiah, including the 2002 Bali bombings which killed 202 people.

–AP