A judge jailed two extremist preachers on Friday for running a network of military-style terrorism training camps in picturesque locations across the English countryside.
Mohammed Hamid -- who called himself "Osama bin London" -- was jailed for at least seven-and-a-half years, but could remain in jail for longer if authorities believe he continues to pose a risk to national security.
His accomplice, Atilla Ahmet, who claimed to be the top al-Qaeda organizer in Europe, was jailed for six years and 11 months.
TRAINING
The pair trained hundreds of recruits, including a gang of east African men who made a failed attempt to bomb London's transit network on July 21, 2005 -- two weeks after the July 7 subway and bus strikes killed 52 commuters.
Prosecutors in a trial that concluded last month said Hamid hoped his recruits could carry out six or seven major attacks in Britain before London hosted the 2012 Olympics.
Judge Christopher Pitchers said, however, that he believed Hamid's men were most likely being trained to fight overseas -- particularly in Afghanistan.
"The purpose was to go abroad to commit offenses but was no less serious for that," Pitchers said at Woolwich Crown Court, in London. "Somebody killed by a terrorist act is as serious if it is committed abroad as here."
FIVE OTHERS JAILED
Five other men were jailed last month on charges related to the network of camps.
During the trial, prosecutors described how men clad in mud-smeared combat fatigues rushed across British farmland, wielding sticks as mock rifles and chopping watermelons in simulated beheadings.
Secretly filmed video showed recruits marching with backpacks and carrying out weapons drills used by insurgents in Iraq and the Taliban.
An undercover police officer, codenamed "Dawood," infiltrated one group and captured cellphone video of the training. One clip shows trainees rehearsing the beheading with a watermelon.
BBC VIDEO
A session that Hamid led at a paintballing center in southern England was even funded by the BBC, which, unaware of the group's criminal activities, filmed the men for a program called Don't Panic, I'm Islamic.
National parks in the Lake District, in northern England, and the New Forest, in southern England, and quiet corners of the southern counties of Berkshire, Kent and East Sussex were all used for training.
Ahmet, who once said in a CNN interview he was "the No. 1 al-Qaeda in Europe," is a longtime aide of radical preacher Abu Hamza al-Masri -- an Egyptian the US is attempting to extradite over plans to set up terrorist camps in Oregon.
Hamid hoped his recruits could carry out an attack more deadly than the 2005 London bombings, prosecutors said.
"Fifty-two. That's not even breakfast for me," Hamid was recorded as saying on a bug installed in his home, referring to the number killed in the 2005 blasts.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS