Editorial Note: The following news reports are summaries from original sources. They may also include corrections of Arabic names and political terminology. Comments are in parentheses.

 
British Security Attempted to Recruit Soldier Attacker, French Police Knew Soldier Attacker !!!

May 29, 2013

Editor's News Comment:

Security agencies in Britain, France, and other NATO countries are relentless in their attempts to show that their services are badly needed. They may utilize or orchestrate anything to show to their populations that their countries are not safe.

The two attacks on two soldiers in London and Paris are creepy, to say the least. In both cases, the attackers were known to the security agencies. In the London case, the British MI5 attempted to recruit the attacker. In the Paris case, the attacker was known to the police as posing no danger.

Both of the attackers were claimed as new converts to Islam, and known to the security agencies !

Do we need to create  new vocabularies to describe crimes committed by criminals or mentally-ill persons, who are influenced by security agents?

Or, maybe, we already have them: Entrapment, set up, blackmailing, and hypnotized-action!

So, what's the ultimate goal of the real perpetrators or orchestrators of such incidents?

They want to convey the following message to their populations:

"The world is not safe, it's dangerous, particularly because of these new Muslim converts!

That's why we need to continue borrowing trillions of dollars worth of military and security spending, to fight "terrorism" at home and abroad."

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French stabbing ‘religiously motivated’, says prosecutor

AFP, France 24, May 29, 2013

The chief suspect in Saturday’s stabbing of a French soldier in a business district near Paris was a convert to Islam who has confessed to conducting the attack, French officials revealed Wednesday, hours after the suspect's arrest in a Paris suburb.

By FRANCE 24 (video) FRANCE 24 (text)

The chief suspect in Saturday’s stabbing of a French soldier was a recent convert to Islam who was acting in accordance with his religious beliefs, French prosecution officials revealed Wednesday.

The 21-year-old suspect, who was arrested early Wednesday in a Parisian suburb, had confessed to stabbing the French soldier, said Paris prosecutor Francois Molins.

Speaking at a press conference in Paris Wednesday, Molins said the suspect was known by the police for having committed petty crimes as a minor. French police records also had his DNA samples, which enabled investigators to trace the man.

However, the suspect – who was identified only by by his first name, Alexandre – had not been deemed a dangerous individual by anti-terror police.

According to Molins, video surveillance footage showed the suspect “saying a Muslim prayer” shortly before attacking a French soldier patrolling a business neighbourhood west of Paris on Saturday.

The pre-attack prayer combined with the fact that the stabbing occurred three days after the May 22 murder of a British soldier in London has led prosecutors to believe the suspect “was acting on the basis of religious beliefs," said Molins. “It seems clear the intent was to kill."

French soldier Cedric Cordiez was patrolling a shopping mall in the La Defense business district as part of France’s Vigipirate anti-terrorist surveillance plan when he was approached from behind around 6:00pm and stabbed in the neck with a knife or a box-cutter.

Cordiez was discharged from hospital on Monday after being treated for injuries in his neck.

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French soldier stabbed on patrol outside Paris

By News Wires (text)

AFP, May 28, 2013

A French soldier patrolling a business neighbourhood west of Paris was stabbed in the neck on Saturday by a man who quickly fled the scene and is being sought by police, President Francois Hollande said.

The soldier was patrolling in uniform with two other men as part of France’s Vigipirate anti-terrorist surveillance plan when he was approached from behind around 1800 p.m. and stabbed in the neck with a knife or a box-cutter.

Hollande, in the Ethiopian city of Addis Ababa, commented on the stabbing to say that the man was still on the run and police were exploring all leads.

“We still don’t know the exact circumstances of the attack or the identity of the attacker, but we are exploring all options,” Hollande told journalists.

Pierre-Andre Peyvel, police prefect for the Hauts-de-Seine area, said the soldier had lost a considerable amount of blood but would survive, and was being treated in a nearby military hospital.

“The wound appears to be quite serious, but it’s not life-threatening,” he told iTele news television.

Peyvel said the man was able to flee into a crowded shopping area in the La Defense business neighbourhood before the two other soldiers, who were walking in front of him, were able to react.

French daily Le Parisien cited a police source as saying the suspected attacker was a bearded man of North African origin about 30 years old, and was wearing an Arab-style garment under his jacket. (This was the initial reporting, which was replaced after that with the new covert, Alexander).

However, Peyvel declined to confirm or deny that description and said further details about the attacker’s identity would be forthcoming.

France is on high alert for attacks by Islamist militants following its military intervention in Mali in January, which prompted threats against French interests from AQIM, the North African wing of al Qaeda.

The attack came days after a British soldier was killed on a London street by two men who said they were acting out of revenge for violence against Muslims.

(REUTERS)

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MI5 ‘tried to recruit’ London murder suspect

British intelligence services came under growing pressure on Saturday to explain what they knew about the two men suspected of murdering a soldier in the streets of London earlier this week, amid claims that MI5 had attempted to recruit one of them.

By News Wires (text)

Britain's intelligence services were under pressure Saturday to explain their knowledge of two Islamists suspected of hacking a soldier to death in London, amid claims they had tried to recruit one of them.

Michael Adebolajo, 28, and Michael Adebowale, 22 – who remained under armed guard in hospital after being shot by police at the scene – were known to the intelligence services but were reportedly assessed as not posing a deadly threat.

An alleged friend of Adebolajo was arrested at the BBC after telling the broadcaster that British security services had tried to recruit the murder suspect.

Abu Nusaybah told BBC television on Friday that Adebolajo was asked by the MI5 domestic intelligence agency if he knew certain individuals and later if he wanted to work for them.

He said Adebolajo had snubbed their approach.

The BBC said Abu Nusaybah was promptly arrested on their premises after giving the interview.

Scotland Yard police headquarters said counter-terror officers had arrested a 31-year-old man in London on suspicion of the "commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism".

It is understood the arrest was not directly linked to the brutal murder of soldier Lee Rigby, who was hacked to death in broad daylight Wednesday outside the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich, southeast London.

Rigby's distraught wife said the family found it hard to accept that the 25-year-old had been killed not in a war zone but on the streets of his own country.

A huge pile of floral tributes was building up outside the barracks.

More details emerged about Adebolajo, who was born to devout Nigerian Christians but converted to Islam a decade ago and had attended meetings of the extremist group Al-Muhajiroun, which is now banned in Britain.

He had reportedly sold inflammatory literature at a stall in Woolwich, where his increasingly extremist behaviour in recent weeks had alarmed other Muslims.

Reports said Adebolajo had attempted to travel to Somalia to fight alongside Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab insurgents but had been turned back and had his passport confiscated by police.

Abu Nusaybah told BBC television that Adebolajo had been picked up by Kenyan forces and physically assaulted in detention there.

Shortly after he returned, MI5 agents repeatedly called at his home, the friend alleged.

"His wording was: 'They are bugging me – they won't leave me alone'," he said.

"After him saying that he didn't know these individuals and so forth, what he said is they asked him whether he would be interested in working for them.

"He was explicit in that he refused to work for them."

Adebolajo was captured on film shortly after the attack brandishing a bloodied knife and meat cleaver and claiming he had killed the soldier because British forces killed Muslims every day.

Less is known about the other suspect but he is also believed to be of Nigerian origin.

Dramatic footage of the incident obtained by the Daily Mirror newspaper also showed Adebolajo charging at armed police before he was shot and injured.

As detectives tried to establish how Adebolajo apparently went from an outspoken convert to a killer, the government was forced to defend the security services against criticism they missed signs which might have helped prevent the grisly murder.

A parliamentary committee will look into the role of the security services, but communities minister Eric Pickles said even if the men had been known to intelligence agencies, it was impossible to keep tabs on everyone all the time.

The dead soldier's wife Rachel, speaking alongside other family members, said she had been aware of the dangers her husband faced serving in Afghanistan, but added: "You don't expect it to happen when he's in the UK. You think they're safe."

Police released two women they had arrested as part of the investigation on Thursday although a 29-year-old man remained in custody on suspicion of conspiracy of murder.

Omar Bakri Mohammed, the founder of the Al-Muhajiroun movement which was banned in Britain under anti-terror laws, told AFP from Lebanon that he recalled Adebolajo as a "very shy" young man who regularly attended his public talks when the preacher lived in London.

Bakri refused to condemn the soldier's murder.

"I don't condemn his actions because he attacked a young British soldier. But I can say to the Muslims in the UK you are not allowed to live among people and then go and kill them because Islam does not permit you," he said.

Faith leaders in Britain joined together to condemn the murder and hailed the cohesion of different religions in response to the attack.

(AFP)