Australian terrorism arrests tied to Lashkar-e-Toiba
November 08, 2005
ALARM bells will be ringing in Australia's spy community over suggestions the latest terror alert to sweep Sydney is linked to an organisation called Lashkar-e-Toiba.
One of two men plotting an attack on Sydney – under 24-hour police surveillance – is said to have connections with the Pakistan-based terror group.Which begs the question: Why would a paramilitary outfit formed to wage guerilla war on the Indian border to wrest control of Kashmir in the late 1980s be interested in a genocide of Australians nearly 11,000km away?
The answer is that it probably is not, at least in terms of its most urgent priorities.
But unfortunately that should not necessarily reassure Sydneysiders going about their day.
That is because LET has developed into the most potent incubator of what Western governments – including Australia – most fear: The home-grown bomber.
With the rush of young volunteers to join the global "jihad" or holy war after the September 11 attacks on the US, LET emerged as a major target of anti-terror operations.
But as with much of the war on terror, history's hand got in the way. When LET first formed, it did so with the full financial, logistic and strategic backing of the Pakistani army.
Then, its name – literally translated as "Army of the Pure" – reflected its singular objective: To terrorise Kashmir into Pakistani hands.
Paramilitary training camps sprouted up throughout the Himalayas teaching recruits the dark arts of terror including guerilla fighting, bomb-making and urban terror tactics.
Working hand-in-glove with Pakistani intelligence and its military, LET's commanders forged close ties with another terror group waging battle nearby, Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.
The two groups began sharing intelligence, weapons and training.
By 1998, LET had joined bin Laden's global jihad on the West.
But after 9/11, it became even more important to the terror king's plans because, untramelled by government interference, it could safely accommodate the thousands of volunteers pouring into Pakistan for terror training.
Among them was one Willie Virgile Brigitte – a name that would become ingrained in Australians' minds two years later.
The French national awaits trial in a Paris prison on charges he was plotting a bomb attack "of great size" on Sydney when he was arrested in a western Sydney apartment in October 2003.
The French prosecution dossier, obtained by The Daily Telegraph, revealed Brigitte told interrogators LET had established a terror sleeper cell in western Sydney.
He named preacher of hate Abdul Salam Mohammed Zoud, the imam who presided over Brigitte's wedding to Australian-born Muslim convert Melanie Brown in 2003, as the cell's chief recruiter.
Zoud has denied the claims but the French dossier insisted he was at the heart of Sydney's Islamic terror network, with links to terror chiefs stretching from Virginia in the US to London and Madrid.
And Brigitte said he met other Australians during his six-week spell at the high-altitude terror campus.
At dawn each day there he would join about 3000 fellow mujahadeen on a vast plateau 4000m above sea level and begin singing. It was a salute to their God: "Allah Akbah."
The daily ritual would end with a giant Muslim service as 3000 "brothers" prayed for Allah's will before beginning their work: Training to kill Westerners and non-believers on a mass scale.
Intelligence chiefs believe dozens of Australians may have trained in such camps since 9/11.
Indian security chiefs blamed LET for last month's atrocities that killed 59 people and wounded 210 – a claim that gained weight when a militant group linked to it – Islamic Inquilab Mahaz – claimed responsibility.
Now authorities believe LET has firm connections with would-be terrorists in Sydney.
But, as chilling as that sounds, it would be wrong to focus entirely on this one organisation. As the July 7 London bombings showed, today's urban assassins can join together from any or no terror organisation.
While al-Qaeda has fragmented, copycat splinter groups have mushroomed with their own plans to spread terror.
As terror analyst Aldo Borgu explains, police could overlook a looming threat by concentrating on one group.
"By doing that you risk missing out on groups and like-minded individuals who might get together for one operation," he says.
So while it is almost certain there are locals who have trained with LET and have links to al-Qaeda's upper echelons, it would be wrong to assume LET has a mortgage on any plots against Australia.
The Daily Telegraph
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