Current Overseas Security News

October 2007 to March 2008

American embassy to move into a secret place

With this morning attack on the Green Zone claimed by the "Muslimeen Army" = part of Jihad and Reform Front [Sunni resistance group, contrary to the American claims saying "Mahdi Army", the group also claims all the attacks at the last three days], al-Arab reported that the American ambassador gave his instruction to the embassy staff since Saturday to move the embassy into a "secret place" at the west of Baghdad…..(URUK Net, 31 Mar 08)

United States reopens ransacked Belgrade embassy

The consular section of the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade will re-open to the public on Tuesday, the embassy said in a statement on Monday. It said repairs had been completed to sections damaged by Serb nationalist protesters on February 21, when a mob angered by Washington's recognition of Kosovo independence broke in and set fire to a part of the building…..(Reuters, 31 Mar 08)

Biznes as Usual

…Yesterday a "bureaucratic" visa problem forced the British company to send home 148 expatriate workers. Meanwhile, the Interior Ministry launched a "tax evasion" probe into a TNK-BP unit. And last week, the (renamed) KGB raided the oil company's Moscow offices and arrested a Russian employee for "industrial espionage." How subtle. Whatever is behind the shakedown of the only large oil company partly owned by foreigners, recent history suggests that visa snafus, back taxes and "espionage" have nothing to do with it……(Wall Street Journal, 26 Mar 08)

Embassy officers have no access to US lawyer held in KGB detention center, diplomat says

Jonathan Moore, the US charge d’affaires, said that US embassy officers had not met with Emanuel Zeltser as of Monday afternoon. The US lawyer was arrested on March 12 as he arrived in Minsk for meetings with clients. He has been held in the detention center of the Committee for State Security since. “I have had two meetings with the consular department of the ministry of foreign ministry who have assured me that permission has been granted for access. However, in fact, we’ve had no access to him,”…Russian-born Zeltser, 54, who heads non-governmental organization Russian-American Law Institute, was traveling from Britain with his secretary, Russian national Vladlena Funk, who also was detained…..(Naviny, 26 Mar 08)

USA should lift sanctions if it wants different relationship with Belarus, foreign ministry’s spokesman says

Washington should lift its sanctions against Belarus if it really wants “a different relationship” with the country, Andrey Papow, spokesman for the Belarusian foreign ministry, said on March 25. He was commenting on Monday’s statement issued by Sean McCormack, spokesman for the US Department of State, who said that the Belarusian authorities had taken “a path of confrontation and isolation rather than a path of engagement and democratic reform.”....(Naviny, 26 Mar 08)

Yemen al Qaeda group claims U.S. embassy attack: Web

An al Qaeda-linked group has claimed responsibility for a failed mortar attack on the U.S. embassy in Yemen last week that wounded girls at a nearby school and a group of soldiers.….."We have previously warned Muslims not to come near government and foreign facilities," added the group, which says it is part of al Qaeda in Yemen, in the statement posted on a Web site often used by al Qaeda……(Reuters, 24 Mar 08)

Lawyer Zeltser Detained In Minsk

…Zeltser, outspoken and controversial, is a specialist on money laundering and organized crime. In 1999 he testified before the House Committee on Banking and Financial Services regarding the estimated $10 billion money-laundering scheme at the Bank of New York, which is now known as Bank of New York Mellon. He also sued the bank for $2 billion on behalf of depositors who had lost money in an affiliate. There is speculation that the detention was on the orders of either the Belarus or Russian intelligence services, possibly in connection with the Bank of New York suit. "The KGB is in more than one country," remarked Zeltser's brother Mark. In the late 1990s, Emanuel Zeltser, who is a lawyer, also represented a former Kremlin official, Pavel Borodin, when Borodin was charged by a Swiss court with money laundering…..(Forbes, 18 Mar 08)

Mortars Near US Embassy in Yemen Kill 1

Two mortar shells exploded Tuesday by a high school next to the U.S. embassy, killing a Yemeni guard and wounding three students and three other guards, an Interior Ministry official said…….The U.S. Embassy issued a statement saying none of its employees were injured in the incident. The embassy was closed for the rest of the day, the statement said. U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey said "mortar rounds were fired in the general vicinity" of the embassy and that Washington "will be looking to work with Yemeni authorities as they investigate this incident." "It is fair to say that the embassy was a potential target," Casey said…….(AP, 18 Mar 08)

Status of US lawyer arrested in Belarus still unknown

The arrest of a U.S. lawyer in Belarus last week remained shrouded in mystery Tuesday as local authorities declined to provide any information on his detention. Russian-born Emanuel Zeltser, 54, who heads non-governmental organization Russian-American Law Institute, was detained on March 12 as he arrived in Belarus for meetings with clients. Officials at Belarus' spy service, which still goes under its Soviet name KGB, confirmed Zeltser's arrest, but declined to provide any details…….(AP, 18 Mar 08)

US lawyer arrested in Minsk

Emanuel Zeltser, a New York lawyer, was arrested upon his arrival in Minsk on March 12, Oxana Adler, a board member of the American Russian Law Institute who is a colleague of the lawyer…..(Belarus news, 17 Mar 08)

Chinese on the march to put security first

CHINA intends to mount not only the most spectacular Olympics ever, but also the most heavily protected. However Beijing's challenge, with the ghosts of the crushed Tiananmen Square democracy protests and Falun Gong spiritual movement hovering, is how to do so without looking like a police state. "We do not want to turn Beijing into a fortress, but a place with an auspicious and peaceful atmosphere that will make athletes, coaches and visitors feel relaxed and safe," the city's former top Olympic security chief Qiang Wei has said. The recent hijacking of 10 Australians on a tourist bus in Xian, followed by claims that two, possibly Olympic-related, terrorist threats have been averted — an alleged plane hijacking last week and the smashing of an alleged al-Qaeda-linked cell of 17 terrorists in January — has shone an early spotlight on how Beijing is preparing to ensure an incident-free Games…..(The Age, 14 Mar 08)

China's Curious Olympic Terror Threat

…The news however has been met with considerable skepticism outside China, particularly since details of the incident remain confusingly murky. According to the English-language China Daily, Bekri declined to give more details, only saying that the authorities are investigating "who the attackers are, where they are from and what their background is... But we can be sure that this was a case intending to create an air crash."…..(Time Magazine, 10 Mar 08)

Manila: 3 al-Qaeda suspects undergo grilling

Three suspected foreign militants arrested last month in connection with an alleged plot to bomb embassies in Metro Manila are in the custody of military intelligence officers and undergoing questioning, according to sources in the Philippine National Police. Intelligence operatives who asked not to be named identified the militants, suspected to be members of the al-Qaeda terrorist organization, as Khalil Hasan Al-Alih and two others known only by their aliases, Salman and Wahid. Salman, who agents said hailed from a Middle Eastern country, and Wahid, an Indonesian, were arrested in Davao City between February 15 and February 29. Al-Alih, a Jordanian who was also using a Kuwaiti passport, was arrested last February 15 at the Manila International Airport. They are currently under the custody of the military’s Intelligence and Security Group (ISG), according to PNP sources, held on suspicion that they belong to an al-Qaeda sleeper cell planning to launch bombing attacks on US, British, Australian and Israeli embassies in Manila…..(Philippine Daily Inquirer, 7 Mar 08)

Australia boosts Manila embassy security

Security has been boosted at the Australian embassy in Manila following reports it was targeted as part of a suspected terrorist bomb plot. Australian authorities are still investigating reports from the Philippines that the embassy was among a number of foreign missions that had been targeted for attack…..(The Age, 7 Mar 08)

Philippines Arrests 3 in Bomb Plot

Philippine authorities have arrested three Middle Eastern men suspected of involvement in a plot to bomb the American embassy and three other foreign missions in Manila……One of the militants was arrested in Manila and the two others were captured separately in the southern Philippines recently......Two senior Filipino security officials told The Associated Press that investigators were verifying intelligence information that the three may have been involved in an active plot to bomb the U.S., British, Australian and Israeli embassies in Manila.....Authorities believe the three may have links with the Indonesia-based militant group Jemaah Islamiyah and the Abu Sayyaf, a small but violent southern Philippine-based group blacklisted by Washington as a terror organization. Both groups have been blamed for deadly bomb attacks, including the February 2004 bombing of a ferry in Manila Bay that killed 116 people in the country's worst terrorist attack……(AP, 6 Mar 08)

Manila says arrests 2 Arab militants plotting attacks

The Philippines has arrested two Arab militants believed to be planning to bomb embassies of the United States, Britain, and Israel in the capital Manila. The two men were picked up in raids last month on the southern island of Mindanao after weeks of surveillance…."I don't have the names and the complete details of their arrests, but they were involved in teaching local terrorists on how to make bombs," Ermita said…….Police and army intelligence authorities told Reuters one of the arrested militants was holding a Jordanian traveling document but they were checking their real identities…..(Reuters, 6 Mar 08)

U.S. embassy fears attacks on citizens in Lebanon

The U.S. embassy in Lebanon has urged its citizens residing there to keep a low profile, citing concern that "extremist groups" may be planning attacks against Americans. "There is a general concern that extremist groups may be planning to attack U.S. citizens and interests in Lebanon," the embassy said in a statement dated March 4, posted on its Web site and circulated to U.S. citizens…..(Reuters, 6 Mar 08)

Arrest ordered in US embassy fire

Prosecutors on Tuesday ordered the arrest of a man accused of setting fire to the U.S. Embassy during riots against Kosovo's independence. The unidentified man is accused of "serious act against public security" and theft, spokesman Tomo Zoric said. He could face up to 12 years in prison if convicted…..(AP, 4 Mar 08)

February 2008

Panel Is Set to Examine Security at U.N. Sites

The director of a new panel that will look into attacks on United Nations offices said Thursday that the organization had to accept the fact that in many parts of the world it was no longer viewed as impartial and was therefore increasingly vulnerable…..(New York Times, 29 Feb 08)

Serbia Withdrew Police, Intelligence Chief Says

The Serbian government decided to pull back its police in Belgrade last Thursday so that demonstrators could attack the U.S. and British embassies, Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell told a Senate committee yesterday. "We have good information that when the U.S. embassy and the British embassy and others were attacked, a decision was taken by the government of Serbia actually to pull the police back and allow them to be attacked, burn the embassy and conduct the violence they conducted," McConnell told the Senate Armed Services Committee…..(Washington Post, 28 Feb 08)

Several U.S. Embassies Fail To Meet Security Standards

On the same day that rioters broke into the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade, a report was released warning that several U.S. embassies remain susceptible to attack and have failed to meet key security standards. The report was released by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), which examined security at 11 U.S. embassies in Latin America, Europe and the Middle East. The GAO would not comment if the embassy in Belgrade was one of the ones they visited……(ABC, 22 Feb 08)

GAO Report: Upgrades for US Embassies

All Clear After Bomb Alert Shuts Down UK Gas Rig

The operator of one of Britain's biggest gas fields shut down production and evacuated more than 160 workers from a North Sea platform on Sunday, after a suspicious object sparked a full-scale security alert. About 14 military and civilian helicopters and a Nimrod surveillance aircraft took part in an operation to evacuate workers from the Safe Scandinavia platform…..(Reuters, 10 Feb 08)

Norway Shuts Afghan Embassy Over Threats

Norway closed its embassy in the Afghan capital because of terror threats Sunday, nearly a month after a Norwegian journalist was among eight people killed in a suicide attack on a luxury hotel in Kabul. The Nordic nation, which recently said it would send more troops to the NATO force in Afghanistan, has been singled out at least twice as a potential target by al-Qaida……(AP, 10 Feb 08)

January 2008

Eye-witness to U.S. shooting comes forward in Sudan

A man who witnessed the murder of a U.S. aid official and his driver in Khartoum has contacted police investigators, Sudan's justice minister said on Monday… John Granville, a 33-year-old officer with the U.S. Agency for International Development, was shot and killed while returning home from New Year's celebrations in Khartoum in the early hours of January 1…..(Reuters, 14 Jan 08)

U.S. agents make progress in Sudan killing probe

U.S. and Sudanese security agents are close to identifying a suspect in the shooting of an American aid official and his driver in Khartoum…John Granville, a 33-year-old officer with the U.S. Agency for International Development, was shot and killed while returning home from New Year's celebrations in a diplomatic vehicle…..(Reuters, 7 Jan 08)

Senate chairman criticizes sale of fighter planes to Pakistan

The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee issued a stinging rebuke Wednesday of a decision by the Bush administration to sell 18 F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan in the midst of the political turmoil that has gripped the country since the assassination last month of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto…..(Gov Exec, 3 Jan 08)

FBI Arrives in Sudan for Diplomat Death

The body of an American diplomat gunned down in Khartoum was placed aboard a jet Thursday for a flight out of the country, and FBI agents arrived to investigate his slaying…Washington had earlier said it would be sending officials from the FBI and the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security to determine who was responsible for the killing of John Granville, of Buffalo, N.Y…..(AP, 3 Jan 08)

Sudan rules out terrorism in slaying of American diplomat

Sudanese officials insisted Wednesday that the killing of a U.S. official was not a terrorist attack, but the U.S. Embassy said it was too soon to determine the motive. John Granville, 33, an official for the U.S. Agency for International Development, was being driven home at about 4 a.m. Tuesday when another vehicle cut off his car and opened fire before fleeing the scene…..(AP, 2 Jan 08)

Security Scares at US, UK, Israeli Posts

The U.S., British and Israeli embassies each received packages containing a suspicious powder Wednesday, creating a security scare in which some staff was evacuated and police cordoned off nearby streets…The powder proved to be harmless in each case......(Newsday, 2 Jan 08)

Gunmen Kill U.S. Diplomat, Driver in Sudan's Capital

Gunmen fired on a car carrying a U.S. diplomat home from a New Year's Eve party in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, early Tuesday, fatally wounding the American and his Sudanese driver. U.S. officials said it was too early to determine whether the attack was a political killing, coming the day after the formal activation in Sudan's troubled Darfur region of a U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force that is opposed by Islamic extremists. Sudanese authorities called the killings an isolated criminal attack……(Washington Post, 2 Jan 08)

November 2007

Terror Attacks Against U.S. and British Embassies Thwarted in Azerbaijan

…For over five years, analysts and political scientists in Azerbaijan have warned of the danger of a growing Salafist (“Wahhabi”) influence in the country. Since the beginning of the Second Chechen war in 1999, Azerbaijan has become a safe harbor for many Salafis….(Jamestown, 6 Nov 07)

October 2007

Azerbaijan: The Struggle To Shape Islam

…The Salafi mosque, perched high on a hill overlooking half-finished hulks of buildings and a labyrinth of streets in old Baku, has been called a "den of extremism" by some local officials concerned about an apparent rise in Islamic fundamentalism in a traditionally moderate Muslim nation of the South Caucasus. Those concerns were highlighted on October 29, when Azerbaijani officials said they had thwarted an Islamic terror plot to attack key facilities in Baku, including the embassies of the United States and Britain……(RFE/RE, 31 Oct 07)

US Embassy targeted by Azerbaijan terror

A group of militant Islamists planned to attack the U.S. Embassy and other government buildings in Azerbaijan with stolen military grenades and assault rifles but were thwarted by security forces.....(AP, 29 Oct 07)

U.S. official protected by Muslim terrorists
Senior terrorists, including the chiefs of the most active West Bank terror organization, were part of an official Palestinian security team that protected a prominent U.S. envoy last week.....(World Net Daily, 29 Oct 07)

Bag in Vienna U.S. embassy scare was not primed

An explosive-filled backpack carried by a Bosnian who tried to enter the U.S. embassy in Vienna could not have detonated as the fuse had not been assembled, the Austrian interior ministry said on Friday. A man identified only as Asim C. tried to enter the embassy on October 1 with a backpack holding two hand grenades, other explosives, nails and screws…….(Reuters, 19 Oct 07)

Iraqi Contracts With Iran and China Concern U.S.

Iraq has agreed to award $1.1 billion in contracts to Iranian and Chinese companies to build a pair of enormous power plants, the Iraqi electricity minister said Tuesday. Word of the project prompted serious concerns among American military officials, who fear that Iranian commercial investments can mask military activities at a time of heightened tension with Iran. The Iraqi electricity minister, Karim Wahid, said that the Iranian project would be built in Sadr City, a Shiite enclave in Baghdad that is controlled by followers of the anti-American cleric Moktada al-Sadr……(New York Times, 18 Oct 07)