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Report: Al-Qaeda Cell In Bulgaria Plotted Attack In Sarajevo
SARAJEVO, March 23 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - An Al-Qaeda cell, based in Bulgaria, reportedly planned to stage a terrorist attack similar in scale to that of September 11 against Americans in Sarajevo, a newspaper reported Saturday.
The Dnevni Avaz newspaper reported that the government had received information that members of the Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network in Sofia were planning the attack.
Quoting an unnamed senior government official, the newspaper said the government had information that Al-Qaeda cell from Sofia threatened recently "an event similar to what happened in New York last September, but involving Americans in Sarajevo."
“The U.S. uses such alleged attacks as a means to justify its raids on a number of Muslim offices and homes, including those of respected leaders and some of their families, in Washington,” an analyst, who refused to be named, said.
According to the report, the cell warned that "everything would be different" after the attack.
Ministers from Bosnia's Muslim-Croat government met on Friday to discuss the security situation after the U.S. embassy closed its offices in Sarajevo and the southern city of Mostar, an official told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"The meeting was more like a brief by the Prime Minister, who wanted to inform cabinet about the current safety situation and discuss future activities," the official, who wished to not be named, said.
The official declined to comment on the reported threat by Al-Qaeda, saying it was impossible to comment on "operational information."
The US embassy sources in Sarajevo also declined to comment.
In Sofia, the Bulgarian foreign ministry issued a statement saying that it had not been informed of such a plot and had instructed its embassy in Sarajevo to ask Bosnian authorities about the report.
Dnevni Avaz quoted the official as saying the Americans were considering pulling out of Sarajevo, but have dismissed the idea after the Muslim-Croat authorities took additional security measures.
The US embassy in Bosnia closed Wednesday its offices in Sarajevo and the southern city of Mostar due to security threats.
The embassy office in Banja Luka, in the Serb-run half of Bosnia, remained open.
On Friday, a senior Bosnian official, who asked not to be named, told AFP that five people had been detained on suspicion of having terrorist links, including one believed to be linked to the US embassy threats.
However, the official said the man and two others were released due to lack of evidence.
The official also confirmed that four, out of the five arrested, were employees of the Bosnian Ideal Futura charity -- the recent subject of a financial investigation that revealed what police described as suspicious transactions.
The recently registered Bosnian Ideal Futura inherited all of the assets of a Bosnian branch of the U.S.-based Benevolence International Foundation (BIF), which has ceased operations in Bosnia.
The BIF's funds were frozen last December in the U.S. amid allegations that it had provided money to Osama bin Laden's terrorist network.
Police confirmed Friday the arrest of only one person from Sarajevo, identified by the initials M.Z, as a result of a investigation into Bosnian Ideal Futura.
Police said they were now conducting an investigation about the man over claims of espionage.
The British and US embassies in Bosnia were closed in October for five days due to what were said to be credible security threats.
Several suspects have been arrested in Bosnia since the September 11 attacks, including six Arabs who were handed over to U.S. authorities in January suspected of plotting against U.S. interests in Bosnia.
The six included five Algerians who were arrested during the closure of the embassies.
After their handover to US authorities in January, the six were transferred to US military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where they are being held alongside fighters captured by US forces in Afghanistan.
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