.London 'sleeper cell' told to carry out wave of terror attacks by Bin Laden before his death
A group of terrorists who trained in Somalia returned to Britain to carry out a wave of attacks which were demanded by Osama Bin Laden before his death.
The gang, dubbed the 'London Boys', were taught by a top Al-Qaeda explosives expert in the war-torn country and include Reza Afsharzadegan, a former IT student from Ladbroke Grove, West London.
He is married with a child and moved to Britain as a young boy from Iran.
Leaked documents reveal how the 'sleeper operatives' were trained by an Al-Qaeda official who is wanted by the FBI with a £3m ($5m) reward for his capture.
The IT student and three other men, Mohammed Ezzouek, Hamza Chentouf and Shahajan Janjua, were rescued from Somalia in 2007 after they were imprisoned while trying to flee after the US ordered air strikes on Islamists who took over Mogadishu.
The Foreign Office spent tens of thousands of pounds on a jet to bring them home but the latest revelations will put them under the spotlight once again and raise questions about why they weren't put under further scrutiny.
The news will also send a wave of terror across Britain as security is heightened after the recent death of Bin Laden and ahead of a state visit by U.S president Barack Obama.
Information obtained from Guantanamo Bay detainees also reveals that Al-Qaeda's African leader, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, also known as Harun Fazal, trained a number of Britons at a terror factory in Mogadishu.
He is wanted in the U.S for carrying out the attacks on the American embassies in
Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 in which 258 people were killed.
Mohammed is a close associate of Kenyan Abdul Malik, who attempted to gun down an Israeli plane and helping to bomb a hotel in Mombasa.
Malik was arrested in February 2007 on the same day the four British men were flown to safety.
The report said: 'In the fall of 2006, a group known as the "London Boys" attended Harun Fazul's traning in Mogadishu.
'Reza Afsharzadegan, aka Adam, one of the "boys" was reported to be a close associate of detainee who kept in phone contact.'
A family member of Afsharzadegan's confirmed to the Sunday Times that he had tried to visit Yemen twice, a place closely associated with radicalism.
Chentouf, 24, and Ezzouek both originally hail from Morocco.
Ezzouek said he did not want to comment on the revelations but his sister said Scotland Yard had been asking neighbours about her brother.
Files leaked by WikiLeaks also show how Bin Laden sent messages from his hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan, to other Al-Qaeda members in Somalia and told them to carry out more attacks on the West.
Daily Mail
The gang, dubbed the 'London Boys', were taught by a top Al-Qaeda explosives expert in the war-torn country and include Reza Afsharzadegan, a former IT student from Ladbroke Grove, West London.
He is married with a child and moved to Britain as a young boy from Iran.
Leaked documents reveal how the 'sleeper operatives' were trained by an Al-Qaeda official who is wanted by the FBI with a £3m ($5m) reward for his capture.
The IT student and three other men, Mohammed Ezzouek, Hamza Chentouf and Shahajan Janjua, were rescued from Somalia in 2007 after they were imprisoned while trying to flee after the US ordered air strikes on Islamists who took over Mogadishu.
The Foreign Office spent tens of thousands of pounds on a jet to bring them home but the latest revelations will put them under the spotlight once again and raise questions about why they weren't put under further scrutiny.
The news will also send a wave of terror across Britain as security is heightened after the recent death of Bin Laden and ahead of a state visit by U.S president Barack Obama.
Information obtained from Guantanamo Bay detainees also reveals that Al-Qaeda's African leader, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, also known as Harun Fazal, trained a number of Britons at a terror factory in Mogadishu.
He is wanted in the U.S for carrying out the attacks on the American embassies in
Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 in which 258 people were killed.
Mohammed is a close associate of Kenyan Abdul Malik, who attempted to gun down an Israeli plane and helping to bomb a hotel in Mombasa.
Malik was arrested in February 2007 on the same day the four British men were flown to safety.
The report said: 'In the fall of 2006, a group known as the "London Boys" attended Harun Fazul's traning in Mogadishu.
'Reza Afsharzadegan, aka Adam, one of the "boys" was reported to be a close associate of detainee who kept in phone contact.'
A family member of Afsharzadegan's confirmed to the Sunday Times that he had tried to visit Yemen twice, a place closely associated with radicalism.
Chentouf, 24, and Ezzouek both originally hail from Morocco.
Ezzouek said he did not want to comment on the revelations but his sister said Scotland Yard had been asking neighbours about her brother.
Files leaked by WikiLeaks also show how Bin Laden sent messages from his hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan, to other Al-Qaeda members in Somalia and told them to carry out more attacks on the West.
Daily Mail
posted by madtom at 9:55 PM
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