1969/00/00 At the end of 1969, an international, independent political organization of Muslim countries, the Organization of Islamic Conferences (OIK), was constituted. Even though this organization was primarily religious, it was also an ideological, economic, and cultural organization of Islamic countries, which supported the idea that Islam was not merely a religion, but also represented a specific view of the world and organization of society. (Source: Ivo Lucic, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Terrorism, National Security and the Future 3-4 (2), 2001, pp. 111-142.)

1969/00/00 Islam is the joining of religion with the state, as Dr. Abdullah Omer Nasif, Secretary General of the World Islamic League Senior Council wrote in the official journal of the Islamic Community of Bosnia and Herzegovina. (Source: Ivo Lucic, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Terrorism, National Security and the Future 3-4 (2), 2001, pp. 111-142.)

1970/03/23 The first OIK conference on a ministry level was held March 23-25,1970, in Jeddah. (Source: Ivo Lucic, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Terrorism, National Security and the Future 3-4 (2), 2001, pp. 111-142.)

1972/02/29 At the third ministerial level conference of the OIK, February 29-March 4, 1972, also in Jeddah, the by-laws of the OIK were adopted in the presence of representatives from 30 countries, the operating principles affirmed and the general secretary and three assistants appointed. It was decided that their headquarters would be in Jeddah until such time that Jerusalem was liberated; thereafter, the headquarters would be relocated to Jerusalem. (Source: Central Committee of the Communist Alliance of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Commission for International Affairs and Cooperation with Labour and Progressive Movements in the World. "Political Islam in International Movements.” Pov. Br. 01./1-11/3-83, Sarajevo, September 16,1983.)

1981/1/25 At the third conference of the OIK in Taef, January 25-28, 1981, in Saudi Arabia, there was an increased focus by the OIK on Muslim minorities throughout the world; that is, on countries which did not officially belong to the Muslim community. Particular interest was shown in the Muslim (Turkish) part of Cyprus, and a decision was made to assist the Muslim community in Cyprus both morally and materially. (Source: Central Committee of the Communist Alliance of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Commission for International Affairs and Cooperation with Labour and Progressive Movements in the World. "Political Islam in

International Movements.” Pov. Br. 01./1- 11/3-83, Sarajevo, September 16,1983.)

1982/03/00 Already in March,1982, the leader of the "Muslim Brothers" in Egypt, Hasan Naser, son of Gamal Abdel Naser, the ex-president of Egypt and one of the founders of the non-aligned movement, arrived in former Yugoslavia (through Zagreb to Belgrade). He brought with him the "Ihvans", younger members of the "Muslim Brothers", who applied to study at Yugoslav universities but rarely completed their degrees. The Egyptian government learned of Naser's arrival and made an inquiry to the Yugoslav government, which denied the report; in other words, concealed Naser's presence. (Source: Ivo Lucic, “Bosnia and Herzegovina and Terrorism, National Security and the Future 3-4 (2), 2001, pp. 111-142.)

1982/08/00 At the OIK conference in Niger in August, 1982, a resolution was adopted to research and examine the positions of Muslims in countries which were not members of the OIK. In that context, the position of Muslims in Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sand*ak, Kosovo) was also addressed. At an OIL consultation in Cairo (August, 1982) on the tasks of "political Islam", Islam in Yugoslavia was one of the topics and a comment was made that the dissemination and activation of Islam in Yugoslavia would facilitate closer contacts with the Muslim minority in the Balkans and the dioceses in western European countries. (Source: Central Committee of the Communist Alliance of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Commission for International Affairs and Cooperation with Labour and Progressive Movements in the World. "Political Islam in International Movements.” Pov. Br. 01./1- 11/3-83, Sarajevo, September 16,1983.)

1983/03/23 On March 23rd, 1983, members of the national security service of the Secretariat of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina broke into Alija Izetbegovic's apartment with a search warrant. After a detailed search, Izetbegovic was brought to the service headquarters and was placed in detention. A large group of people was arrested along with him; Izetbegovic and four others were brought to trial in the late 1940s and early 1950s for their membership in an illegal group, "Young Muslims". The indictment was based on Izetbegovic's book The Islamic Declaration which presents the principles of the Islamic movement. Izetbegovic was sentenced to 14 years, and the others to a total of 90 years. In his final statement, Izetbegovic said: "I was a Muslim and that is what I will remain. I considered myself a fighter for Islam in the world and I will feel this way for the rest of my life. Islam was for me a symbol of everything

beautiful and noble and represented a promise or hope of a better future for the Muslim nations, for a dignified and free life; in other words, everything worth living for." (Source: Alija Izetbegoviæ, Memoirs, TKD Sahimpasiæ, Sarajevo 2001, pages 39-50.)

1988/11/25 Izetbegovic was released from prison on November 25th, 1988, after a ruling by the Presidency of Yugoslavia.

1989/00/00 November 1989: Izetbegovic began to organize a Muslim party, the basis for which had been formulated in the Foca prison.

1990/01/00 January, 1990. The National Security Service of Bosnia and Herzegovina noted an attempt to form branches of the "Muslim Brothers" organization in Tuzla, in north-eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina. Mustafa Kemal, a Palestinian from Gaza and a student of the Faculty of Civil Engineering in Zagreb, came to Tuzla as a special delegate of the leadership of the "Muslim Brothers" of Eastern Europe. In addition to propaganda activities, Kemal also introduced the possibility of military training in 1990 for members of the organization, and proposed that Mahmud Fud*ami, a Jordan national and student at the School of Electrical Engineering in Tuzla, attend. A suggestion was also made to add several names to the leadership of the Eastern Europe "Muslim Brothers": Abdul Hakim Ismail, a student of the School of Dental Medicine in Pristina, and Halid Marei and Ali Taib, students of the Medical Faculty of Zagreb. In the estimation of the service's best information sources, Ali Taib who was at that time in Sudan, was most likely to be elected president of the organization. (Source: The Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, R SUP, SDB, Sarajevo, Aktuelnosti SDB, No. 1 January 3rd to January 9th , 1990 - pages 10 & 11. 41. Slobodna Bosna ( Sarajevo) No.254 September 27, 2001 42. Alija Izetbegoviæ, Memoirs, p. 85.)

1990/03/27 A Izetbegovic introduced the new Islamist party at a press conference in Sarajevo on March 27th, 1990. The party, "The Democratic Action Party" (SDA) was defined as a party of Yugoslav citizens with Muslim cultural-historical ties. For the party's flag, the "Spanish Muslims" design was adopted: a white flag with two light green horizontal stripes on the edges and a half-moon of the same colour in the middle. The Muslims in Bosnia and Herzegovina organized politically around this flag. (Source: Alija Izetbegoviæ, Memoirs, TKD Sahimpasiæ, Sarajevo 2001, pages 39-50.)

1990/03/27 C At the same time, an Iraqi diplomat announced as a "precautionary" measure that more attention and interest would henceforth be devoted to the Muslim issue in Yugoslavia by Islamic international organizations and countries, for they were aware of the position of Muslims in Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The the National Security Service of Bosnia again warned of possible terrorist attacks by radical Islamic groups. (Source: The Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, R SUP, SDB, Sarajevo, Security Information SDB, No. 2, Sarajevo July 1990, pp. 3-5.)

1990/11/00 At the first democratic elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina in November, 1990, the SDA won 86 of 240 parliamentary man- dates. Three of seven members of the presidency were SDA can- didates, and this explains how Alija Izetbegovic became President of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina and politically the most influential person in Bosnia and Herzegovina. (Source: Ivo Lucic, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Terrorism,” National Security and the Future 3-4 (2), 2001, pp. 111-142.)

1991/00/00 With the disintegration of Yugoslavia, five new states emerged. One is Bosnia and Hercegovina. Since the end of the war, Bosnia and Hercegovina has been a undeclared protectorate. Bosnia and Herzegovina was, until its independence and international recognition in April 1992, one of the six republics of the Socialistic Federative Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRJ). In the months prior to the outbreak of war, explosive devices were planted, kidnappings occurred, and the first human victims fell. The situation was worst in Herzegovina; that is, in Mostar, as this was where the largest concentration of Croatians in Bosnia and Herzegovina was located. They, along with many Muslims, were unwilling to accept Serbian domination, as it was clear to them what was being planned for them in Yugoslavia and in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The situation worsened when the war escalated in the Republic of Croatia, Serbian reservists marched on Herzegovina, and the Serbian army attacked Dubrovnik. Between January 1st 1991 and February 25th 1992, when neither war nor peace reigned on the territory of Herzegovina, 72 explosions were recorded in areas which were under the authority of the Center of Security Services, Mostar, 28 of which took place in the city of Mostar itself; within the next month, six more explosions occurred in Mostar. The operative group "Opera", which was formed in conjunction with the War Air Force Command and Anti-aircraft Defense (RV and PVO) of the Yugoslav National Army (JNA), was to conduct propaganda-subversive action, and it was comprised of members of special services within the Central Committee of the

Federal Communists of Croatia (CK SKH). The group conducted a series of terrorist actions, including: the rocket attacks on the Banski dvori (the then Presidential palace) which were intended to result in the murder of the Croatian president, and the mining of the Jewish district and cemetery in order to compromise the Republic of Croatia and discredit the government. (Source: CSB Mostar, The Secession of Explosives, February 25, 1992. Internal document.)

1992/00/00 A Comm. ABU ABDEL AZIZ: As I told you before, when Jihad in Afghanistan was over, with the conquest of Kabul, I went with four of those who participated in Afghanistan to Bosnia to check out the landscape. We wanted to see things with a closer eye. I wanted to find out the truth to what is reported by the Western media. And surely, as was reported, there was persecution of Bosnian Muslims. Many were slaughtered, others were killed, while others were forced to exile. The chastity of their women was infringed upon for the simple reason that they were Muslims. The Christians took advantage of the fact that the Muslims were defenseless with no arms. They recalled their age-old hatred. (Source: “Jihad - the Holy War, " http://public.srce.hr/zatocenici/jihad.htm.)

1992/00/00 B Bosnia-Hercegovina, split along ethnic and entities' lines, with vulnerable borders, three intelligent services, virtually three armies and with no security coordination at the state level, was a lawless realm like the Khyber Pass or Peshawar. Alija Izetbegovic, the Bosnian President at the time, Izetbegovic knew about the loan of the Pakistani government to the amount of 20m dollars in 1992, but believed that the government in Islamabad would write it off. Izetbegovic: I think that there is no more left of that loan, I do not think so. I even thought that loan was written off since the Pakistani government kept silent about this loan for 10 years. At the time when Haris Silajdzic the then prime minister signed that agreement, there was talk that the loan would be transformed into some form of a donation. (Source: OHR BiH Media Round-up, May 2 and 3, 2002.)

1992/02/27 "We invited the mujahedeen to Bosnia", said Mustafa efendi- ja Ceric, the Resiu-l-ulema of the Islamic community in Bosnia and Herzegovina on OBN's contact show "Telering" in February 1999. "We invited them in from Algeria, Qatar, Afghanistan, and other Islamic countries because we were endangered and needed help. We should all be grateful to the mujahedeen”, added Ceric. (Source: “We Invited the Mujahedeen to Bosnia”, Veèernji List, Zagreb, February 27, 1999, p. 8.)

1992/04/07 The European Union recognized Bosnia and Herzegovina on April 7, 1992, and on the same day it was recognized by the Republic of Croatia as well. The limited attacks on Croatians and to some extent Muslims in Bosnia and Herzegovina became an all out aggression on Bosnia and Herzegovina. When it was fought in cities and villages, especially in the begin- ning before the front lines were established, the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina produced a horrendous number of civilian victims. Large territories were occupied by force, around 70% of the terri- tory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the territory was ethnically cleaned by means of terror and violence. Protected objects and individuals were systematically destroyed (civil population, cultur- al and religious objects) in order to eradicate the identity of the enemy. In Bosnia-Herzegovina's case, it is clear that the aggressor (the ex-JNA, assisted by Bosnian and Herzegovinan Serbs from the Serbian Democratic Party) executed these policies of terror by utilizing military strategy, and, even more tragic, alternated these policies with those of genocide in attacks on protected zones. (Source: Ivo Lucic, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Terrorism, National Security and the Future 3-4 (2), 2001, pp. 111-142.)

1992/05/00 c. As a response to the aggression, the Croatian and Muslim sides formed defense groups and then units, which initially lacked clear and firm organization. Still, it is important to note that there was an escalation of terrorist actions after the war in the Croat-Muslim (Bosnian) Federation,and that the perpetrators of those actions were predominantly members of radical Islamic organizations who had arrived during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina to assist the Muslims in Bosnia and Herzegovina. (Source: Ivo Lucic, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Terrorism, National Security and the Future 3-4 (2), 2001, pp. 111-142.)

1992/06/00 "We invited the mujahedeen to Bosnia", said Mustafa efendi-ja Ceric, the Resiu-l-ulema of the Islamic community in Bosnia and Herzegovina on OBN's contact show "Telering" in February 1999. "We invited them in from Algeria, Qatar, Afghanistan, and other Islamic countries because we were endangered and needed help. We should all be grateful to the mujahedeen", added Ceric. (Source: “We Invited the Mujahedeen to Bosnia”, Veèernji List, Zagreb, February 27, 1999, p. 8.)

1992/06/00 One such form of "assistance" for Bosnia and Herzegovina were the numerous "humanitarians", who soon revealed

themselves to be mujahedeen, fighters of Allah's path, fighters for Islam.

1992/06/00 The mujahedeneen, who came under the auspices of several of the 33 Islamic humanitarian organizations active in Croatia at that time (1992-1995) and who later moved to Bosnia and Herzegovina, where in 1996, 216 foreign humanitarian organizations were registered. (Source: The Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ministry of Social Policy, Displaced Persons and Refugees, Directory of Foreign Humanitarian Organizations, Sarajevo, June 1, 1996.)

1992/07/00 A July 1992 According to the information used by UNPROFOR in B&H there were about 3.000 Arab volunteers. As many as 4,000 volunteers from throughout North Africa, the Middle East and Europe came to Bosnia to fight Serbian and Croatian nationalists on behalf of fellow Muslims. They are known as the moujahedeen. The fighters were organized as an all-moujahedeen unit called El Moujahed. It was headquartered in Zenica in an abandoned hillside factory, a compound with a hospital and prayer hall.Bin Laden financed small convoys of recruits from the Arab world through his businesses in Sudan, according to Mideast intelligence reports. Other support and recruits for El Moujahed came, at least in part, through Islamic organizations in Milan, Italy, and Istanbul, Turkey, that European investigators later linked to trafficking in passports and weapons for terrorists. (Source: Craig Meyer and William C. Rempe, "Terrorists Use Bosnia as Base and Sanctuary," Los Angeles Times, October 7 2001.)

1992/07/00 B July 1992 Most of them were active members of different militant Islamic groups like Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya (The Islamic Group, IG), Hamas (Islamic Resistance Movement), (Harakat al-Muqawamah al-Islamiyya), Armed Islamic Group (GIA), and Egyptian Islamic Jihad that were supported by Osama bin Laden. In some of his addresses admitted that he was "involved" in the war in Bosnia. (Source: “Jihad - the Holy War, " http://public.srce.hr/zatocenici/jihad.htm.)

1992/07/00 C July 1992: In fact, a “person of trust” to Osama bin Laden, who was in "direct communication" with bin Laden: Enam Arnaut, a Syrian-born U.S. Citizen, executive director of Chicago-based Islamic chairty, the Benevolence International Foundation (BIF), arrived in BiH. He engaged, in his words, in  “purely humanitarian work." Evidence collected by police in BiH will later show : firearms, classified documents from several governments covering Islamic extremists, and photographs,

including some of bin Laden and others of Arnaout handling rifles, anti-aircraft guns and rockets. (Source: OHR BiH Media Round-up, May 2 and 3, 2002.) 

1992/07/00 E July 1992. its leader during the Bosnian war, Abdelkader Mokhtari, also known as Abu el Maali. an Algerian with Bosnian citizenship, described by one U.S. official as "a junior Osama bin Laden." He remains an enigmatic figure, charismatic and popular within the moujahedeen but barely known outside. He briefly appeared in a propaganda video on El Moujahed during the war, but his face was digitally removed before distribution. (Source: Craig Meyer and William C. Rempe, "Terrorists Use Bosnia as Base and Sanctuary," Los Angeles Times, October 7 2001.) Ma'ali said in a 1995 interview y that he had come from Algeria in 1993 to help his 'Muslim brothers' in Bosnia-Herzegovina. 'I believe that Islam will rule the world' and that 'it is our duty to help achieve that goal,' Ma'ali stated. 'I am ready to go anywhere where Islam and the life of Muslims are threatened,' he said and set out that his fighters 'like death because they are fighting for Allah.'Commenting the call recently addressed by Muslim Prime Minister in Sarajevo Haris Silajdzic for volunteers from across the world to come to Bosnia-Herzegovina to fight against Serbs, Ma'ali said the presence of mujahedin in Bosnia-Herzegovina was a confirmation that the call should have been issued earlier. The mujahedin commander said Bosnian Muslims had returned to Islam, 'the faith of their ancestors,' a trend of which he said he had been aware for the past three years. (Source: Croatian weekly Nedeljna Dalmacija via Tanjug News Agency, August 25, 1995). Court testimony, confidential police records and interviews with European intelligence officials show that El Maali marshaled recruits from the West and Muslim countries to assemble the infrastructure of what would become a terrorist organization. (Source: Craig Meyer and William C. Rempe, "Terrorists Use Bosnia as Base and Sanctuary," Los Angeles Times, October 7 2001.)

1992/07/00 Especially active in Bosnia was another ostensibly humanitarian organization tied to bin Laden, the "Third World Relief Agency" (TWRA). The TWRA provided many kinds of assistance for Muslims in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but especially in supplying artillery and military equipment and transferring mujahedeen to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Its founder and director was El Fatih Hassanein from Sudan, a former medical student in Sarajevo. The co-founder is Dervis <ETH>ur<eth>evic, one of those who stood trial with Izetbegovic and the others in Sarajevo, 1983. He later moved to Vienna after he had served his sentence. The TWRA was also connected to Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman,

a radical Egyptian imam soon sentenced to life in prison in the United States for planning the First Attack on the World Trade Center and other various terrorist attacks against American targets. (Sources: CIA operations in Bosnia , Slobodna Bosna (Sarajevo), NO.254 September 27, 2001 - pages 4-7; Give money to the SDA, Dani (Sarajevo), NO. 175.)

1992/08/00 It is a fact that the mujahedeen came through Croatia; that is, through Zagreb, with the cooperation or at least tolerance of the Croatian government. The SDA itself originated in Zagreb, in the Islamic Cultural Center where a large group of Muslims led by Salem Sabic and Semsudin Tankovic regularly gathered. (Source: Alija Izetbegoviæ, Memoirs, p. 68).

1992/10/20 The commander of the Travnik brigade of HVO, Ivica Stojak, was killed October 20, 1992 by foreign members of the 7th Muslim Brigade. The brigade Chief of Staff, Zvonko Gaso, was also injured at that time. The commander of the headquarters of HVO Bihaæ, general Vlado Santiæ, disappeared on the eve of March 9, 1995, from the Bihaæ hotel "Sedra", where he was in the company of the commander of the 5th corps, General Dudakoviæ. (Source: Ivo Lucic, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Terrorism, National Security and the Future 3-4 (2), 2001, pp. 111-142.)

1992/11/09 November 9, 1992. The HVO Military Police dis- covered ninenationals from Islamic countries during a Split- Kiseljak bus control who were carrying military equipment and propaganda materials praising Islam and inviting others to join the holy war for Allah. Twenty packages of propaganda flyers and instructions for waging special war were also found. (Sources: HVO Kiseljak, Military police, No. 18/92 November 9,1992; Bosnia and Herzegovina, The Croatian Union of Herzegovina and Bosnia, District Headquarters Fojnica, Security Service, No. 70.-03.-196./92. November 9, 1992.)

1992/11/28 November 28th, 1992, the Defence department HZ HB had warned MORH in Zagreb about the activities of the Kuwaiti humanitarian organization "Igass" in connection with procurement of illegal arms and military equipment in Croatia. (Source: The Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, The Croatian Union of Herzegovina and Bosnia, Defense Department, NO. 02.-2.-1.-22./92, Mostar, November 28, 1992).

1992/11/8 December 18th, 1992. A report by the HVO Military Police, which states that on, they stopped a Mitsubishi all-terrain vehicle at the control point, driven by Ali Muhammad, born 1944, a citizen of Great Britain (passport number 700192046)

and Pakistan (passport number H407904). In addition, Ali also had an identity card from the Bosnian-Herzegovinan Army and a gun with a permit. His fellow-traveller Galib Ali Elsofi, born 1966, a citizen of Sudan (passport number R 12078) also had an identity card from the Bosnian-Herzegovinan Army. His residence visa for study in Bosnia and Herzegovina had expired and his presence in the country was therefore illegal. They had both received identity cards from the BiH army in Konjic on December 17, 1992 from commando units "Crni Labudovi" ( Black Swans) with numbers: 190./159 and 189./158. Ali Muhammad had received a weapon permit (gun CZ M 57. calibre 7.62 mm) in Travnik on September 2, 1992 from the District Headquarters of the BiH army under the registration number 07./309.-001-/92.After having been stopped, both became violent and broke the official police vehicle's windshield. (Source: The Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, The Croatian Union of Herzegovina and Bosnia, HVO, Military police 1st company Vitez, No. 02.-4./3.-04./1.-591./92)

1993/00/00 A Western military analyst called the the moujahedeen "pretty good fighters and certainly ruthless." "I think the Muslims wouldn't have survived without this" moujahedeen help, Richard Holbrooke, the United States' former chief Balkans peace negotiator, said in a recent interview. At the time, U.N. peacekeepers were proving ineffective at protecting Bosnian civilians, and an arms embargo diminished Bosnia's fighting capabilities. But Holbrooke called the arrival of the moujahedeen "a pact with the devil." (Source: Craig Meyer and William C. Rempe, "Terrorists Use Bosnia as Base and Sanctuary," Los Angeles Times, October 7 2001.)

1993/00/00 During 1993, TWRA money in Vienna was handled by its founder and director, El Fatih Hassanein; one of the chairman of the SDA, Hasan cengic, who was later the Minister of Defense of the Bosnian and Herzegovinan Federation; About 350 million American dollars passed through this organization. (Source: Give money to the SDA, Dani (Sarajevo), NO. 175.) There were connections to other Islamic militants as well. Hassanein himself stated in an interview for an Islamic magazine in 1994: "Bosnia must be Muslim in the end because if that does not happen, the whole war makes no sense and will have been waged in vain." (Source: "What ties the SDA with the money-laundering agency?", Dani (Sarajevo) no.122. 01.10.1999.)

1993/01/00 The mujahedeen from the "El Mujahid" unit and other units in Bosnia and Hercegovina represented a significant military strength, and their presence was decisive in the raising morale of the Bosnian-Muslim army. Sefer Halilovic, chief of

staff of the Supreme Command of the Bosnian-Herzegovinan Army at that time, to vow in the Spanish newspaper "El Pais" (January 1993) that "no kind of negotiations, not even those in Geneva, can destroy the idea of Bosnia as a united and sovereign country. They can sign whatever they want in Geneva! If those negotiations lead to a unitary Bosnia, we will embrace them. If not, we will realize this kind of state on the battlefield. If Europe doesn't change its attitude, we will take action and bring terrorism to its territory. Many European cities will be in flames." (Source: Otvoreni tjednik (Mostar), 24.05.2001 issue no. 21, page 15).

1993/01/01 y “The ultimate aim is a united Islamic front to confront Western "arrogance." The immediate aim is to destroy pro-Western regimes, to seize the gulf and its weak oil-rich sheikdoms and to eradicate that singular affront to Islam: Israel.”1

1993/01/02 Algerians who returned home to create the Armed Islamic Group, which has terrorized the country by murdering and sometimes beheading writers, intellectuals, unveiled women, French Trappist monks and, most recently, a Catholic bishop.2

1993/01/02 Asyut, Egypt. The clandestine Islamic group Al-Jama'ah al-Islamiyah has warned all foreigners to leave Egypt. It said its members would fight to the “last drop of their blood” to establish an Islamic state.”3

1993/01/02 Saeed Alghamdi: Possible residence: Delray Beach, Fla. Obtained Florida driver's license in January 1993, suggesting he lived in the United States longer than any of the other suspected [WTC/Pentagon] terrorists.4

1993/01/28 January 28, 1993. Izetbegovic wrote open letter to the President of Croatia, Franjo Tu<eth>man, sent from Geneva. Izetbegovic first acquaints Tu<eth>man with various offenses committed by Croatians in Bosnia and Herzegovina; for example, the arrest of two directors of the Islamic humanitarian organization "Igasse" in Busovaca, Galib es Sufi and Abu Hasan

1Charles Krauthammer, “Iran: Orchestrator of Disorder,” Washington Post, January 1, 1993, p. A-19.

2Susan Sachs, “Roots of the Jihad,” Newsday, September 24, 1996, p. A-5.3“Islamic Group Warns Foreigners and Tourists to Leave,” AFP in English 2048 GMT 2 Jan 93, BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, January 4, 1993, ME/1577/A/1.

4Elizabeth Neuffer, “Facing Terror,” Boston Globe, September 16, 2001, p. A-26.

Alija, and the theft of their money and belongings valued at half a million German marks. (Source: The Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Presidency, President, Open letter, Geneva January 28, 1993.)

1993/04/15 The commander of the Zenica brigade, *ivko Totiæ, was kidnapped on April 15, 1993 by foreign members of the El Mujahedeen. Four soldiers from his company were killed as well. (Source: Ivo Lucic, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Terrorism, National Security and the Future 3-4 (2), 2001, pp. 111-142.)

1993/07/00 July 1993: Muslim attack brings fighting to Fojnica for first time [Reporter] Ankica (?Bosavljak?) reporting for Croatian Radio, Herceg-Bosna from Kiseljak: As we informed you yesterday, the previously peaceful town of Fojnica has become a new battleground for the warfare between the Muslim army and the Croatian Defence Council. Unfortunately, today we received even less encouraging reports from this town. The Croatian villages of Tjesilo, Gradina, Ostruznica, Otigosce, Gojevici, Bakovici [all south of Fojnica], Alaupovka [phonetic] and the quarters of the town around the Reumal Hotel, predominantly populated by the Croats, have come under incessant attacks from all weapons at the enemy's disposal. They have been pounded by mortars, anti-aircraft guns and howitzers. Real street fighting is under way in the town itself, while snipers have been extremely active. In addition, sabotage groups have been infiltrating all the hills surrounding Fojnica in and attempt to capture strategically important facilities. The Muslim army is attacking from Dusina, Pogorelica [phonetic], Trokot [phonetic] and Pridola [phonetic]. There have been casualties both among the soldiers and the civilians. The number of casulaties among the soldiers is unknown, but we have learnt that four civilians have been killed and a dozen others wounded. Unlike Fojnica, Kresevo and Kiseljak have been relatively peaceful today, with the usual provocations along all defence lines... (SOURCE: Croatian Radio Herceg-Bosna, Mostar 1600 gmt 3 Jul 93, via BBC Summary of World Broadcasts EE/1732/C1)

1993/08/13 August 13, 1993: As an independent unit of foreign volunteers, the ul-Mujahidin was registered, and mobilized under the command of BiH president Alija Izetbegovic, to whom the unit was directly responsible. Virtually all those who entered were distributed in either the 7th Muslim Brigade or the Order of the ul-Mujahidin which were under the Army BiH 3rd Corps, centered in Zenica. (Source: Zeljko Rogosic, “Vast Investigation in Bosnia Herzegovina,” Nacional, September 27, 2001). . They were for the most part concentrated in Central Bosnia - in the El Mujahedin

unit, 91, Anti-terrorist unit, and 7th MOS brigade - Bosnian variant of El Mujahedin unit. (Source: “Jihad - the Holy War, " http://public.srce.hr/zatocenici/jihad.htm.)

1993/12/06 The Western embassy circuit in Khartoum has suggested that some of the “Afghans” whom OBL flew to Sudan are now busy training for further jihad wars in Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt.5

1994/00/00 Fateh Kamel, a confidant of El Maali, came to the attention of European intelligence officials when Italian agents tracking suspected terrorists stumbled upon him recruiting fighters in Milan for El Maali's brigade. He spoke frequently to the Bosnia moujahedeen chief over his wife's cell phone. Kamel had gone to Bosnia early in the war, suffered a shrapnel wound in one leg., and was treated at the El Moujahed hospital by Caze, the young French convert. (Source: Craig Meyer and William C. Rempe, "Terrorists Use Bosnia as Base and Sanctuary," Los Angeles Times, October 7 2001.) Among his recruits are members of two terrorist organizations under the direct influence of Osama Bin Laden and which cooperated closely with him: the Egyptian Gamm at al Islamiya and the Algerian Groupe Islamique Armee (GIA). (Source: Zeljko Rogosic, “Vast Investigation in Bosnia Herzegovina,” Nacional, September 27, 2001).

1994/00/00 The commander of the 3rd Corps declared the ul-Mujahidin to be the best unit in 1994. The Order of the ul-Mujahidin was the best equipped unit in the entire 3rd Corps. The unit participated in the battles around Vitez, Novi Travnik and Guca Gore. The Mujahidin overtook the strong Serbian stronghold of Visoka Glava and Brod near Teslic in only minutes. They were particularly effective on the Teslic battlefronts where they overtook the Serbian stronghold of Pisana Jelika, which for years had given Army BiH troubles. A favorite target of their

5Robert Fisk, “Anti-Soviet Warrior Puts His Army on the Road to Peace,” The Independent (London), December 6, 1993, p. 10.

destructive rage and hatred were Catholic sacral structures and cemeteries. Thus all Catholic cemeteries in Bugojno are damaged and in the Church of St. John in Travnik Mujaheddins beheaded all the statues of the saints. The ul-Mujahidin were also beheading the Serbian soldiers they came across. (Sources: : “Jihad - the Holy War, " http://public.srce.hr/zatocenici/jihad.htm; Zeljko Rogosic, “Vast Investigation in Bosnia Herzegovina,” Nacional, September 27, 2001).

1994/04/00 Bin Laden’s assets were frozen by the Saudi regime and most of Al Qaeda’s companies in the Sudan wre running at a loss after the the imposition of international sancations. 6

1994/08/00 August 1994: Comm. ABU ABDEL AZIZ: “As to Arab Mujahideen (in Bosnia), they do not have a separate battalion. There is a battalion for non-Bosnian fighters. Arabs are a minority compared to those of the Mujahideen (gathered from around the World). This battalion is under a unified command and is called Kateebat al-Mujahideen (Mujahideen Battalion), Odred "El-Mudzahidin" as they call them in Bosnian. Militarily, it has a link to the Bosnian government under the general command of the Bosnian Armed Forces. It is in fact part of the seventh battalion (SEDMI KORPUS, ARMIJA REPUBLIKE BH) of the Bosnian Army. I am a field commander under the "General Unified Armed Command". We have - and all grace be to Allah - full jurisdiction in the region we are responsible for (Editor's note: Mostly central Bosnia). The general command of the Muslim forces wants to see results, it does not dictate strategy or action." (Source: Al-Sirat Al-Mustaqeem (The Straight Path), No. 33, Safar 1415, August 1994).

1995/00/00 In early 1995 Ayman al-Zawahiri made an audacious, extremely important clandestine visit to the United States to establish firsthand the strength and reliability of the local networks and Islamist communities and confirm the suitability of various objectives for spectacular strikes already identified and recommended by the U.S.-based networks. Ali A. Mohamed, whose real name is Ali Abu-al-Saud Mustafa, and Khalid al-Sayyid Ali Abu-al-Dahab, two Egyptian-American devotees of bin Laden who were the senior jihadist operatives in the United States, facilitated Zawahiri's tour. Mohamed/Mustafa supervised Zawahiri's secret trip and also provided cover for the visit into and out of the United States, a forged passport, and related travel documents Zawahiri used to get a visa to enter the United States. Dahab provided cover for Zawahiri while he was in the United States. When the possibility of a protracted terrorism

6Gunaratna, p. 92.

campaign was addressed, Dahab even organized residency for Zawahiri in California. Mohamed/Mustafa and Dahab took turns traveling with Zawahiri all over the United States to inspect possible targets and meet local Islamists who were supporting local terrorist networks and locally collecting and laundering funds for operational use in the United States. Zawahiri returned to Europe convinced that the United States could become a fertile ground for a series of spectacular terrorist operations-both acknowledged and deniable strikes-provided they were properly planned and professionally executed. Using one of his European forged passports, Zawahiri established a forward base of operations in Santa Clara near San Francisco, California. 7

1995/00/00 Karim Said Atmani, a Canadian citizen, arrived in BiH in and was immediately granted BiH citizenship. GIA members Atmani and Amich arrived in BiH from Canada. (Source: Zeljko Rogosic, “Vast Investigation in Bosnia Herzegovina,” Nacional, September 27, 2001).

1995/00/00 Two French converts to Islam -- Christophe Caze, a medical school dropout, and Lionel Dumont also arrived in Bosnia to provide humanitarian services. were among the early volunteers for El Maali's ranks in the Bosnian war. But once assigned to the moujahedeen unit in Zenica, they immediately "plunged into violence," an associate told French police. A French judicial official said their eventual passage to terrorism was strongly influenced by El Maali, with whom they became close. El Maali "exerted a lot of influence on the fighters . . . which led them to commit these violent actions under the cover of Islam," the magistrate said. The converts emerged as leaders, rendering impassioned exhortations to younger volunteers to defend Islam "by all means," according to court records. Caze and Dumont began setting up a clandestine network in France, creating multiple identities, encoding phone lists and recruiting followers they could call into action later. Court records say that Caze, working as a medic, recruited future terrorists among the wounded he treated. (Source: Craig Meyer and William C. Rempe, "Terrorists Use Bosnia as Base and Sanctuary," Los Angeles Times, October 7 2001.)

1995/01/22 On January 22, 1995 an accident occurred near Travnik involving a Nissan. Three automatic rifles, two bombs, two guns, and a large amount of ammunition and military gear was found on the driver, a citizen of Saudi Arabia, Ahmed Zuhair, son of Zeda. He was born on October 16, 1965, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and also carried a Saudi passport, number A216281, and an official

7Bodansky, p. 105.

identity card, number 0000914 issued by the Croatian Ministry of the Interior, which he had received as a mem ber of the humanitarian organization "Charitable Community for Orphans". He also had an official military declaration from the BH army allowing him freedom of movement, which was certified with a stamp from the chain of command of the reconnaissance and diversion batallion of the seventh corps of the BH army, and a travel order from the El Mujahedeen units. Husnija Kubur, a Muslim Bosniac from cajnic was also in the vehicle with Zuhair. 69 After the tape on Zuhair had been broadcast on television, a fifty- year-old woman (FB) from Vitez recognized him as being a member of the mujahedeen unit which had attacked her village on September 18, 1993. She specifically recognized Zuhair because he had tried to kill her son (M.B. 14 years old), who was a minor, with a knife. Zuhair sent a letter from prison to "his brothers in the high Saudi Commission for Abu Yaqubo" requesting that the letter then be forwarded to Basim Al Atas. Zuhair stated that he was working for Walid Saati in a humanitarian organization assisting orphans, and was thus seeking their assistance. The addressees were asked to obtain for Zuhair documents from the UNHCR to show that his presence in Bosnia and Herzegovina was for humanitarian purposes. (Source: Ivo Lucic, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Terrorism, National Security and the Future 3-4 (2), 2001, pp. 111-142.)

1995/02/07 Feb. 7, 1995: Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, suspected of building the bomb that detonated at the World Trade Center, is arrested in Islamabad, Pakistan. A colleague had alerted U.S. and Pakistani authorities to his whereabouts, apparently hoping to collect a $2 million reward offered by the U.S. government.8

1995/03/00 A In late March 1995 the Filipino police broke another Islamist terrorist cell, consisting primarily of Arab "Afghans," this time in the Caloocan suburb of Manila. Among these "Afghans" were followers of Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman, who were plotting ways to avenge his arrest and humiliation in the World Trade Center bombing case. 9

1995/03/00 B bin Laden was said to have met with several others of similar mind in Khartoum, Sudan, in March 1995 on the fifth floor of a building called Friendship Hall. The discussion is said to have included destabilizing the Saudi regime and mounting a terror campaign in America. There reportedly was specific talk of bombing airliners. By several accounts, the participants

8Robert O'Harrow, Jr., “Suspect in CIA Slayings Is Returned to U.S.,” Washington Post, June 18, 1997, p. A-1.9Bodansky, p. 114.

included Imad Mughniyah of Hezbollah. Mughniyah is suspected of having directed the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beruit in 1983. He is under sealed indictment for the hijacking of a TWA plane in 1985 in which an unarmed Navy SEAL was shot and dumped on the tarmac.10

1995/04/00 Although the Philippine networks collapsed before they could carry out any major operation, their fall was accidental and not caused by a breach of security, successful infiltration, or discovery by hostile intelli gence agencies . For his part Osama bin Laden proved his ability to establish a comprehensive and resilient support and finance system, which survived the subsequent Filipino and American investigations. 11

1995/05/00 c. Khartoum was increasingly uneasy about its guest.12 The Sudan under international pressure by the United States and Saudi Arabia to expel bin Laden.13 After completing 200 miles of road north from Khartoum to Adbara, and another 100 miles on towards Port Sudan, the government reneged on Bin Laden's pounds 20m fee, instead giving him a majority share in a tannery, worth pounds 5m. The road was never completed.14

1995/05/00 May, 1995. Theater of Operation: MUSLIM BOSNIA THE BATTLE OF "BADR AL-BOSNA" CONQUEST OF VOSICA Mujahideen were planning for the Conquest of Vosica. A victory at Vosica would open up the main highway between Zenica and Tuzla. This main operation was started at the end of Thul Hijjah (May) with operation Black Lion (Al-Fath Al-Mubeen or the Manifest Victory). (Source: Islam Report, September 12, 1995.") The GIA member Abu Al Ma-ali from Algiers was the emir (commander) of the Order of the ul-Mujahidin during the time of Operation Hurricane 95 in the attack on Vozuci. They began their greatest victory with the Operation "Black Lion" within the action "Hurricane 95". In the countryside near Ozren in late May 1995, the unit needed only seven minutes to take Grede Podsijelovo and thus cut off the Serbian communication towards Vozuci. Army BiH wanted to force the Serbs out of Vozuci, and use the town to house some 10 to 15 thousand Bosnian refugees from Srebrenica and Zepa. In taking

10Michael Daly, [TK], July 21, 1996, p. 4.

11Bodansky, p. 114.12Jason Burke, “Fight to the Death: The Making of the World's Most Wanted Man,” The Observer (London), October 28, 2001, p. 15.13Robert Fisk, “The Mined Land of the Mujahedin,” The Independent (London), July 10, 1996, p. 14 14James Astill, “Osama: the Sudan Years,” The Guardian (London) October 17, 2001, p. 6.

over Vozuci, the ul-Mujahidin succeeded in combining the 2nd and 3rd Corps of Army BiH, which were commanded by Sakib Mahmuljin. Army BiH experts had earlier believed that Grede Posijelovo could only be taken using air attacks. (Source: Zeljko Rogosic, “Vast Investigation in Bosnia Herzegovina,” Nacional, September 27, 2001).

1995/06/00 c. Issued by Turabi and the highest authorities of AIM in summer 1995, these texts were intended to be used as the precedent-setting legal-religious texts for legislating relations between Muslims and non-Muslims in areas where the infidels were not willing to be simply subdued by the Muslim forces and in areas contested by mujahideen forces.15

1995/07/00 July, 1995: The "Dignity Battle" in Safar 1416 (July 95), then the final phase came in this blessed operation. (Source: Islam Report, September 12, 1995.")

1995/08/00 At the strategic level, the theological de-crees-fatwas-generated from the uppermost Islamist leadership of Khartoum in the aftermath of the PAIC conference were of great importance. A background document issued by the highest Islamist legal and ideological authorities sought to clarify Khartoum's position on the escalation of the armed struggle in areas contested by the Islamists, from nonArab Muslim-dominated Asia to the Middle East and even Europe. This text defined the crucial importance of the armed struggle in the context of relations between Muslims and the modern Western state. The key document issued in late August 1995 by the Islamist authorities was a judgment decree issued by Sayyid Muhammad Qutb, a leading Egyptian Islamist thinker executed in 1965- Qutb was especially renowned for his milestone judgment decrees on the relationship between the believer and the modern secular state, both in the Muslim world and in the West. Critical was Qutb's identification of the modern state as "Jahiliyyah"barbarity-against which Muslims are obliged to fight. The use of the term Jahiliyyah in this judgment decree could apply to all key theaters where the Islamists were sponsoring terrorism and subversion. In late August 1995 the Islamist leadership in Khartoum renewed Qutb's call to arms against the Jahiliyyah, particularly in the modern states where large Muslim communities lived under non-Muslim regimes. Qutb's judgment decree, which the AIM leadership now declared to be both valid and timely, left little doubt what had to be done: "It is not the function of Islam to compromise with the concepts of Jahiliyyah which are current in the world or to co-exist in the same land together with a Jahali system. This

15Bodansky, p. 111.

was not the case when it first appeared in the world, nor will it be today or in the future. Jahiliyyah, to whatever period it belongs, is Jahiliyyah; that is, deviation from the worship of One Allah and the way of life prescribed by Allah." Qutb decreed and AIM concurred that there could be no coexistence between Muslims and jahili authorities or a jahili system: "Islam cannot accept any mixing with Jahiliyyah. Either Islam will remain, or Jahiliyyah; no half-half situation is possible." Qutb saw no alternative to an all-out armed strugglea jihad-to free the believers from servitude to the Jahiliyyah. As a theologically driven organization, AIM had the right and obligation to participate in the worldwide struggle against Jahiliyyah. "The foremost duty of Islam is to depose Jahiliyyah from the leadership of man," Qutb decreed, and Turabi concurred.16

1995/08/00 August, 1995: Bin Laden wrote an open letter to King Fahd of Saudi Arabia calling for a campaign of guerrilla attacks in order to drive U.S forces out of the kingdom.17

1995/08/00 In August 1995, an interview with the commander (Emir) of the El Mujahedeen unit, Abu el Ma ali, appeared in the Croatian media. The journalist estimated that the unit, which in the words of the commander had come to Bosnia and Herzegovina to offer assistance to the Muslims, had about 2000 members at that time. Abu el Ma ali said he was certain that Islam would rule the world and that he was dedicated to this cause. At that time, Bosnian politician Haris Silajd*ic expressed his intention to summon volunteers from all over the world to fight "Serbian fascism", and Abu el Ma ali stated that their stay in Bosnia and Herzegovina had confirmed such a need, and that many more would come were it not for the interference of the Herzegovinan Croats. (Source: Nedjeljna Dalmacija (Split), August 25, 1995, pages 22 and 23.)

1995/08/24 Aug. 24, 1995: The army of the Muslim government in Sarajevo has a unit of 2,000 mujahedin, volunteers from islamic countries, whose commander's message is that Islam will rule the world. Ma'ali said his volunteers in Bosnia had also fiercely fought against Croats but they had been fighting only against Serbs since the signing of the agreement on the Muslim-Croat federation in Bosnia-Herzegovina. (Source: Croatian weekly Nedeljna Dalmacija via Tanjug News Agency, August 25, 1995).

16Bodansky, p. 111.17“Osama bin Laden: A Chronology of His Political Life,” PBS Frontline, Sept. 11, 2001.

1995/08/31 c. B Some Croats imprisoned in the so-called Music School in Zenica testified that foreign Arab citizens conducted their hearings and also abused them in premises on the door of which there was a sign of Hezbolah. (Source: “Jihad - the Holy War, " http://public.srce.hr/zatocenici/jihad.htm.)

1995/09/05 The TWRA was active in Vienna until the Austrian services uncovered illegal activities and broke into their premises on September 5th, 1995. After searching the premises, the Austrian police determined that the TWRA was also connected to Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, a radical Egyptian imam sentenced to life in prison in the United States for planning various terrorist attacks against American targets. (Sources: CIA operations in Bosnia, Slobodna Bosna (Sarajevo), NO.254 September 27, 2001 - pages 4-7; Give money to the SDA, Dani (Sarajevo), NO. 175.)

1995/09/10 September 10, 1995. After long planning and surveilance, and after prayers (Istikhara) and taking all necessary Precautions, the hands of Mujahideen was raised to heaven asking Allah, the Grantor of victory, for victory, the starting moment was after Fajr prayers at 6:00am, and from different directions, Mujahideen took over and controlled the strategic peaks of Mount Paljenik (1943m). The young men who sold themselves to Allah advanced despite the rain and movement difficulty, for Allah has blinded the Serbs from expecting their advance. Mujahideen took over the hills within 4 minutes of the attack in which units from the Bosnian army 2nd and 3rd Corps took part. Those young Mujahideen commanded and planned the operation. And there was victory and joy when the city of Vosica was liberated, and the Ameer of Mujahideen entered it with his brothers. The spoils and military equipment gained as a result was too many to be counted, including one tank, a 30mm Artillery, 4 large trucks and many medium and small arms and ammunitions. And just like before when Mujahideen gave their Ameers (Commanders) as Martyrs of the two previous operations (Abdallah Al-Leeby and Abu Mu'ath Al-Kuwaiti) this time the operation Ameer was also Martyred, Inshaallah, Brother Abu Thabit Al-Masry. (Source: Islam Report, September 12, 1995.)

1995/10/12 September 12, 1995. Islam Report, published by The American Islamic Group (AIG), a non-profit organization that "aims to expose and analyze threats against Islam worldwide." Mujahideen Battalion is an officially recognized army Battalion of the Bosnian army, it is comprised of non-Bosnian volunteers, called Ansar, along with Bosnian Mujahideen. They are based in the central Bosnia.Bismi Allah Al Rahman Al RaheemARMIJA

REPUBLIKE BH 3, KORPUS ODRED "EL-MUDZAHIDIN" COMMUNIQUE NO.1 Allah the Almighty Says: " Fight them, and Allah will punish them by your hands, and disgrace them and give you victory over them and heal the breasts of Believers, and still the indignation of their hearts." S.9-A.14 The whole world watches the Mujahideen Battalion grow, and international analysts monitor this phenomenon of Islamic Da'wa which banner is carried by the Mujahideen of the Bosnian army, The operation which started at Fajr are continuing with major victory over the enemy. Mujahideen have taken many more mountains and new strategic positions. Several Serb-held villages were over-run, all grace be to Allah, many enemy soldiers were killed and 60 were taken prisoners. Mujahideen gained many weapons, food supplies and animals. With the liberation of Vosica and the surrounding villages the highway between Zenica and Tuzla was now safe to travel, and many Bosnian Muslims took the opportunity to travel it for the first time in years. Martyrs List (May Allah accept them as such and grant them Paradise) [Lists 21 fallen]. The soldiers of Allah are still continuing their deployment throughout Serb-held areas, and are now spreading in forests and mountain peaks. ALLAHU AKBAR AND VICTORY TO THE BELIEVERS AMEER OF MUJAHIDEEN BATTALION. Abu Al-Ma'ali. PROTECT ISLAM IN EUROPE - PROTECT YOUR BROTEHRS AND SISTERS FROM ENEMY AGGRESSION AND GENOCIDE. DONATE WHAT YOU CAN TO SUPPORT BOSNIAN RELIEF. ALL CONTRIBUTIONS WILL REACH RELIABLE AND TRUSTED SOURCES WHO WILL SEE TO IT THAT THEY REACH THE NEEDY. Send Your Zakat Contributions to: The American Islamic Group P. O. Box 711660 San Diego, California 92171-1660 USA Phone: (619) 268-1585 Fax: (619) 268-8189 Or Send Bank Transfer to Bank of America Account No. 09008-14863 Jazakum Allah Khair. (Source: Islam Report, September 12, 1995.")

1995/10/20 October 20, 1995. A car bomb planted in front of the Rijeka police station (Republic of Croatia). The the driver of the automobile (the assassin) died, two individuals were severely injured, and 27 others slightly injured. The Al-Qaeda linked Egyptian terrorist organization Jamaa Islamyia claimed responsibility for the terrorist act in Rijeka. In an interview for a Croatian weekly newspaper (published on November 17,1995) the commander of the El Mujahedeen forces, an Algerian who introduced himself as Abu El Ma' Ali claimed that this operation had been carried out in retaliation for the alleged arrest of Talaat Fuad Qassem, one of the heads of the Jamaa Islamyia, by Croatian authorities. Croatia had been under the pressure of the American CIA to arrest Qassem, something no other European country would have dared, and thus had to pay the price for their decision, according to Abu El Ma'Ali. According to American and European investigators, Hasan Masud El Sharif, one of Bin Laden's

key people in Europe, planned the attack. After 9/11, he was extradited to Egypt. (Source: Ivo Lucic, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Terrorism, National Security and the Future 3-4 (2), 2001, pp. 111-142.)

1995/11/09 A truck bomb in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, killed five U.S. servicemen. The four Saudi men captured and beheaded for the crime described themselves as bin Laden followers. Three had fought against the Soviets in Afghanistan; one had fought for the Muslim-led government in Bosnia.

1995/12/00 The signing of international agreements in November and December 1995, which will here be referred to simply as the "Dayton Agreements", put an end to the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

1995/12/31 c. In all, some 2000 members of the ul-Mujahidin were injured in the war operations, while 500 were killed. Most killed were Arabs (some 400), while 35 were Turks, 10 Pakistani, 8 Afghanistani, 3 Malaysians and some 50 were unidentified. (Source: Zeljko Rogosic, “Vast Investigation in Bosnia Herzegovina,” Nacional, September 27, 2001).

1996/00/00 Islam as representing the unity of religion and state appears in the decision of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Religious Community in Pristina, when the new constitution was adopted changing the title Islamic Religious Community to the Islamic Community (without the adjective religious). This was explained by the fact that the word "Islam" implies the concept of religion. As can be seen in the subsequent statement made by Nassif, the opposite most likely applies. The adjective "religious" had thus far limited Islam; with its omission there is the possibility of working towards the creation of an Islamic society; in other words, the realization of the unification of religion and state. This is occurring precisely at a time when political Islam is on the rise and the OIK has come into existence. More on this topic can be found in Omer Nakièeviæ's book, The Historical Development of the Rijaset Institution. Islamic Community Rijaset in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo, 1996. (Source: Ivo Lucic, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Terrorism, National Security and the Future 3-4 (2), 2001, pp. 111-142.)

1996/01/00 January, 1996, France. A puzzling crime wave swept the area around Roubaix, a gritty, Muslim-majority town near the Belgian border. Small groups of men began holding up stores and drivers. They brandished machine guns and wore hoods and carnival masks. Two people were killed.(Source: Craig Meyer and William C.

Rempe, "Terrorists Use Bosnia as Base and Sanctuary," Los Angeles Times, October 7 2001.)

1996/02/16 February 16, 1996. The then commander of peacekeeping forces in Bosnia, US General Michael Walker, handed the detainees from the camp to the internal affairs ministry the next day,with a written demand for legal proceedings to be taken against them. The premier at the time, Hasan Muratovic, accepted the demand but never acted on it. For a long time following the raid, key political and police players in the Pogorelica affair claimed the trainees were merely receiving instruction of a type familiar to all police and intelligence services around the world. (Source: BCR No 338, 22 May 02)

1996/02/22 Hughes on Bosnia, stuns the Senate (and enrages the White House) by predicting that US troops will have to stay well beyond Clinton's election-year "deadline." Bosnia: HUG (February '96): If US troops out, prospects "dim."18 Backstory: Hughes: DIA analysts Bosnia pessimistic brief Rep John Murtha D-PA (September '92).19 Murtha: military/mistake: deep/violent, would relapse.20 UN (February '93): need NATO enforce/peace. Clinton weigh.21 Senate stunned.22 HUG privately upbraided by others at the Pentagon.23 Deutsch vs. Hughes: Bosnia "dim" if US out.24 disagreed with Hughes' gloomy assessment.25 Clinton (May) want troops home late October polls. anticipated (July) continuing presence, require US MI.26 HUG vs Clinton year-end: Specter: "unusual" candor.27 4/10 chance bloodshed unless US stay.28 "pessimistic. viable Bosnia beyond IFOR dim."29 unless more attention civil infrastructure, more war.30 Administration (August): "first real chance for a

18Hughes (statement, 2/22/96).19John P. Murtha, "U.S. Troops Should Stay Out of Bosnia," Washington Post, September 15, 1992, p. A-22.20John P. Murtha, "U.S. Troops Should Stay Out of Bosnia," Washington Post, September 15, 1992, p. A-22.21Art Pine, "Pentagon Gathering Bosnia Intelligence for Targets, Tactics," Los Angeles Times, May 10, 1993, p. A-18.22Jane's Defence Weekly, March 27, 199623Washington Post, November 18, 1996 24Washington Post, February 23, 1996 25Washington Post, February 23, 1996 26Hughes (testim, 7/24/96).27Specter (testim, 7/24/96).28Hughes (testim, 7/24/96).29Daily News (New York) March 28, 1996.30Jane's Defence Weekly, March 27, 1996

lasting peace."31 firm deadline withdrawal end/1996 slip. indefinite stay (29 October '96).32

1996/03/00 c. Spring 1996. The ul-Mujahidin was officially disbanded. And this is where the terrorism story begins.A series of national security and criminal investigations across Europe have since identified the El Moujahed unit in court filings as the "common cradle" from which an international terrorist network grew and ultimately stretched from the Middle East to Canada. All of the members of the former Montreal cell which planned the millenium attacks have been convicted of being operatives in a terrorist network that originated in Bosnia. (Source: Craig Meyer and William C. Rempe, "Terrorists Use Bosnia as Base and Sanctuary," Los Angeles Times, October 7 2001). A great number of its members left BiH, while many others stayed behind as workers in humanitarian organization or instructors in military camps. They received BiH citizenship through marriage with BiH women. The ones who remained in BiH were primarily those who had entered as terrorists and were unable to return home to their own countries. It is estimated that in 1996 and 1997, there were some 3500 members of the ul-Mujahidin group on BiH territory. BiH state organs believe that close to that number of foreign citizens from Islamic countries were granted citizenship. (Source: Zeljko Rogosic, “Vast Investigation in Bosnia Herzegovina,” Nacional, September 27, 2001). Among the ul-Mujahidin in BiH after the war the FBI know of some 40 members belonging to two terrorist organizations which were under the direct influence of Osama Bin Laden and which cooperated closely with him. These are two radical groups, the Egyptian Gamm at al Islamiya and the Algerian Groupe Islamique Armee (GIA). After the dissolution of the ul-Mujahidin, Karim Said Atmani decided to stay in BiH. The French government suspects Atmani of a series of bombing attacks and bombs placed throughout Paris. (Source: Zeljko Rogosic, “Vast Investigation in Bosnia Herzegovina,” Nacional, September 27, 2001). GIA members Atmani and Amich received new BiH passports in Zenica. (Source: Zeljko Rogosic, “Vast Investigation in Bosnia Herzegovina,” Nacional, September 27, 2001).

1996/03/27 This scandal resulted in the replacement of the director of AID. Six weeks later, the chairman of the Presidency, Alija Izetbegovic, stated during an interview to a newspaper with close ties to his party: "What happened in Pogorelica near Fojnica was a very big mistake on our part." (Source: Ljiljan ( Sarajevo) 27.03.1996 p.4.)

31Defense Week, August 19, 1996.32The Richmond Times Dispatch, October 29, 1996

1996/03/28 March 28, 1996. Just before a Group of 7 summit of leading industrial nations that would bring top ministers to Lille, police discovered a stolen car abandoned in front of the police station. It was parked askew. And it contained a bomb packed into three gas cylinders rigged to devastate everything within 600 feet. It was disarmed. (Source: Craig Meyer and William C. Rempe, "Terrorists Use Bosnia as Base and Sanctuary," Los Angeles Times, October 7 2001.)

1996/03/29 March 29, 1996. The next night, a special tactical squad surrounded a house at 59 Rue Heni Carette in Roubaix that had been linked to the booby-trapped car. Police fired thousands of rounds into the building. The house erupted in flames due to munitions inside, police said later. Four charred bodies were recovered.Two men fled the barrage and inferno. At a police roadblock just inside Belgium, another furious gun battle erupted. One of the men was killed, and his accomplice was wounded.In the getaway car, police found rocket launchers, automatic weapons, large amounts of ammunition and grenades. They also recovered an electronic organizer containing coded telephone contacts, nearly a dozen of them in Bosnia. The dead ringleader was identified as Christophe Caze,the young medic who went to fight in Bosnia. French authorities, confused about the motives for the spasm of gang violence, considered it a new phenomenon, calling it "gangster terrorism." Their investigation uncovered what may have been the first terrorism cell exported from Bosnia. After an investigation of the surviving associate, Caze's electronic organizer and other evidence recovered by French police, the robbery gang was identified as nine militants who attended a local mosque. Most of them had undergone military training at the El Moujahed compound in Bosnia.The armed robberies were a radical form of fund-raising by Caze and his associates to benefit their "Muslim brothers in Algeria." Their high-powered weapons were smuggled home from the Bosnian war.Caze's organizer was described by one official as "the address book of the professional terrorist." It contained phone contacts in England, Italy, France and Canada, as well as direct lines to El Maali's Zenica headquarters. It led French authorities to trace travels and phone records and to set up electronic surveillance.French counter-terrorism officials soon realized they had stumbled upon more than a band of gangsters. One of the phone numbers in the dead terrorist's organizer led to a suspect in Canada: Fateh Kamel, 41, who ran a small trinkets shop in Montreal.French authorities say Canada rejected their initial request to investigate Kamel, calling the dapper Algerian "just a businessman." (Source: Craig Meyer and William C. Rempe,

"Terrorists Use Bosnia as Base and Sanctuary," Los Angeles Times, October 7 2001.) Paris officials sought Dumont's his extradition for terrorism, but without success. Five years before the sophisticated terrorist assault on the U.S., the French were starting to uncover loosely linked violent networks spreading into several countries, all tied together by a common thread: Bosnia. (Source: Zeljko Rogosic, “Vast Investigation in Bosnia Herzegovina,” Nacional, September 27, 2001).

1996/04/23 Bin Laden urged Muslim youths to kill Americans in a "Declaration of Jihad" issued April 23, 1996. "The walls of oppression and humiliation," bin Laden wrote, "cannot be demolished except in a rain of bullets."33

1996/05/18 On May 18, 1996, bin Laden returned to Afghanistan.34

1997/0/00 In 1997, terrorists acts were committed almost daily. In the first ten months, 35 explosives attacks occurred, and over 90% of the attack targets were Croats 8 Catholic churches. It was later discovered that the terrorists, who had been accused of attacks on Croatian emigrants and who were being sought by the Muslim (Bosniac) police were former members of El Mujahedeen forces then living in a police-owned apartment. (Source: Ivo Lucic, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Terrorism, National Security and the Future 3-4 (2), 2001, pp. 111-142.)

1997/00/00 One of Bin Laden top lieutenants--a Palestinian linked to major terrorist plots in Jordan, France and the United States--had operatives in Bosnia and was issued a Bosnian passport, according to U.S. officials. Among those who Western intelligence sources say was granted Bosnian citizenship and passports was Abu Zubeida, one of Bin Laden's top lieutenants. Zubeida, a Palestinian from the Gaza Strip, was in charge of contacts with other Islamic terrorist networks and controlled admissions to terrorist training camps in Afghanistan. Legend/cover: "Bosnia has traditionally served as "an R&R [rest and recreation] destination" for members of Bin Laden's organization and other extremists, according to U.S. officials and the peacekeeping force. "They come to Bosnia to chill out, because so many other places are too hot for them," said a former State Department official active in counter-terrorism. In fact, [Zubeida/Afghanistan], (Source: Craig Meyer and William C. Rempe,

33Jack Kelley, U.S. Finds bin Laden an Elusive Target,” USA Today, March 1, 2001, p. 1-A.34Robert Fisk, “Saudi dissident Warns West to Withdraw Troops,” The Indepdendent (London), July 10, 1996.

"Terrorists Use Bosnia as Base and Sanctuary," Los Angeles Times, October 7 2001.)

1997/00/00 Zubeida arranged training for the "Montreal cell" organized by Fateh Kamel, a confident of El Maali became deeply involved in terrorist logistics after the Dayton accord. Kamel was "the principal activist of an international network determined to plan assassinations and to procure arms and passports for terrorist acts all over the world," according to a French court document. An Italian surveillance team recorded Kamel discussing a terrorist attack and taped him declaring: "I do not fear death . . . because the jihad is the jihad, and to kill is easy for me." Kamel assisted other North African extremists relocating to Canada, exploiting the country's lax immigration laws and Quebec's eagerness for French-speaking immigrants such as Algerians. According to French investigators, Kamel was the leader of a terrorist cell in Montreal. Other members included Ressam, Atmani and a third roommate, Mustafa Labsi .Like Kamel, Atmani had served in Bosnia and was close to El Maali. A U.S. law enforcement official described Atmani as a "crazy warrior with a nose so broken and twisted that he could sniff around corners." Later, authorities believe, the three roommates ( Ressam, Atmani and a third roommate, Mustafa Labsi) went to Afghanistan together to train for a terrorist attack on the United States. (Source: Craig Meyer and William C. Rempe, "Terrorists Use Bosnia as Base and Sanctuary," Los Angeles Times, October 7 2001.)

1997/00/00 Dumont killed a police officer in Zenica. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison. (Source: Zeljko Rogosic, “Vast Investigation in Bosnia Herzegovina,” Nacional, September 27, 2001).

1997/00/00 Senior U.S. and SFOR officials believe that some hard-line members of Izetbegovic's political party gave direct support, through their control of the Foreign Ministry and local passport operations, to foreign Islamic extremists with ties to Bin Laden. Bin Laden's agents Bosnian passports to travel worldwide without drawing the kind of scrutiny that those who hold Middle Eastern or North African documents might attract, officials said. Bosnian passports are particularly valuable for ease of travel to other Muslim countries where no visa requirement is imposed on Bosnians. Under the Izetbegovic government, the immigration system was so unregulated, that Bin Laden allies "would get boxes of blank passports and just print them up themselves," the former State Department official said.A military official said that "for the right amount of money, you

can get a Bosnian passport even though it's the first time you've stepped foot into Bosnia.(Source: Craig Meyer and William C. Rempe, "Terrorists Use Bosnia as Base and Sanctuary," Los Angeles Times, October 7 2001.) Izetbegovic's government handed out thousands of passports and identification documents to individuals whose identities were not thoroughly checked. "If Bin Laden does not have a BiH passport, than he himself is the only one to blame! He should have asked for it on time, and he would have been granted one!" was the humorous comment made by Senad Avdic, editor-in-chief of Slobodna Bosna daily newspaper. (Source: Zeljko Rogosic, “Vast Investigation in Bosnia Herzegovina,” Nacional, September 27, 2001).

1997/04/12 April 12, 1997: Media speculation links some of the Pogorelica camp organizers (Alispahic, Ljevakovic and Mujezinovic) to the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II on his visit to Sarajevo on April 12, 1997, when an explosive device containing 23 anti-tank mines was discovered and defused under a bridge on the road the Pope's procession was expected to take. (Source: BCR No 338, 22 May 02)

1997/04/12 One of the most important events in Bosnia and Herzegovina, especially for its Catholics (Croats), was the announcement of the arrival of Pope John Paul II to Sarajevo. On the day of his visit, April 12, 1997, the Ministry of the Interior's Anti-Terrorist Protection Department (KDZ) of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina discovered during its third inspection of the area a large amount of explosives ready to be activated by remote control under a bridge on the Miljacka river, placed placed along the route Pope John Paul II would be traveling that day. The KDZ deactivated the explosive device and eliminated the threat. (Source: Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Sarajevo, Decision on the terrorist acts committed on the ter- ritory of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, between 01.01.1997 and 20.10.1997, Sarajevo, October 1997).

1997/04/13 At the same time, a Muslim citizen (Bosniac), Husein Barjaktarevic, noticed a large explosive device in a sewer on the Kiseljak-Sarajevo road. He stopped an SFOR vehicle, and the SFOR soldiers then removed the explosive. It was determined that it was set to be activated by remote control, but SFOR later announced it was an explosive left over from the war, although they themselves had checked the entire route the previous day to ensure against diversionary activities and found nothing. The following day, April 13th, the police picked up Barjakterevic in his cottage near Kiseljak after which was then taken to the

federal police station in Sarajevo where he was questioned about the circumstances surrounding his having found the explosive. After the interrogation, which was attended by KDZ department head, Mirza Jamakovic, Barjaktarevic (a Muslim) was given a rosary and pictures of Catholic saints by the Muslim police officers who had questioned him. They told him that they were gifts from the Pope. Barjaktarevic then reported this to the Kiseljak police station, while at the same time the family home in which he had previously lived was set afire in the village ofTulice. (Source: BH, FBH, *SB MUP Kiseljak Police Station, no. 03-13/1. 4. -230.-231/97, Date: 22.05.1997.)

1997/05/00 Zuhair was released in May 1997.

1997/09/11 Ahmed Zuhair and Ali Ahmed Hamad had initially come to Mostar on September 11, 1997, in order to research the situation and confirm where they would plant the car bomb several days later. The same day their co-conspirator, Saleh Nedal, was issued a passport, no. BA584607, by the Ministry of the Interior of BH in the district of Sarajevo, and he registered his address as 8 D*amijska, Sarajevo. (Source: Ivo Lucic, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Terrorism, National Security and the Future 3-4 (2), 2001, pp. 111-142.)

1997/09/18 September 18, 1997 at 11:40 p.m., a highly- destructive car bomb exploded near an apartment complex in the western part of Mostar. Three people were severely injured and forty others suffered minor injuries from the explosion. The perpetrators were ultimately identified as Ahmed Zuhair, a.k.a. Handal, and Ali Ahmed Ali Hamad, a.k.a. Ubeid. They had been assisted by Saleh Nedal, a.k.a. Jemen and Vlado Populovski, a.k.a. Macedonian. in the planning of the explosion. A 68- Investigation of weapons trafficking from BH to Kosovo, Dnevni avaz, 3.11.2001- p.37. 69- Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Croatian Republic of Herzegovina and Bosnian Ministry of the Interior, Travnik Police Department with headquarters in Vitez, no. 03.-12.-2/1.-54./96. 70- Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Croatian Republic of Herzegovina and Bosnia HVO ZP Vitez, no. 02.-08.-14.-4587./96 01.03.1996.

1997/09/19 September 19, 1997: Ahmed Zuhair Handal, a member of the ul-Mujahidin, who arrived in BiH from Sudan; together with Ali Hamed Ubeid (a BiH citizen from Bahrain) and Saleh Nebil Ali Ali el Hil (known also as Abu Jemen), placed 4.5 kilograms of explosives, 40 kilograms of anti-tank mines and 15 kilograms of so-called red explosives in a parked car underneath a residential building in Mostar. Handal was tried in absence and sentenced to

12 years imprisonment. Investigators in Mostar suspect that Abu Hamza, a member of the Gamm'at al Islamiya, participated a car bomb in Mostar. After he was arrested in Germany, and extradited to BiH, Abu Hamza was sentenced to nine years in prison, not for the car bombing, but for a series of other criminal acts which took place in the Zenica region. (Source: Zeljko Rogosic, “Vast Investigation in Bosnia Herzegovina,” Nacional, September 27, 2001).

1997/11/00 November 1997. The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina's Deputy Minister of the Interior, Jozo Leutar, reacted many times to the burlesque of trials and investigations, once in a letter to the International Police Force (IPTF) in November 1997, in which he pointed out the presence of Abu Hamze and Karai Kamil Bin Alia in central Bosnia, in spite of a warrant having been issued for their arrest. Many others who had warrants against them were also walking around freely in many areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina.(The Sarajevo Assassination File: Death to the Federation, Slobodna Bosna ( Sarajevo), No.122- 20.03.1999- pages 10 and 11.)

1998/00/00 Abu el Maali tried to help smuggle explosives to an Egyptian terrorist group plotting to destroy U.S. military installations in Germany. The shipment included military C-4 plastic explosives and blasting caps, a former U.S. official says. The CIA intercepted the shipment, foiling the attack. (Source: Craig Meyer and William C. Rempe, "Terrorists Use Bosnia as Base and Sanctuary," Los Angeles Times, October 7 2001.)

1998/10/00 October 1998: Dumont disappeared in in a spectacular escape during his transfer to the Sarajevo prison. (Source: Zeljko Rogosic, “Vast Investigation in Bosnia Herzegovina,” Nacional, September 27, 2001).

1998/9/08 September 8, 1998, deputy district attorneys Dr. Paolo Giogavnoli and Dr. Maria Vittoria De Simone of Bologna, Italy, issued an international warrant for a group of criminals responsible for a series of crimes in Italy, among them terrorist acts. The eighth individual on the list was Saleh Nedal. (Source: Ivo Lucic, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Terrorism, National Security and the Future 3-4 (2), 2001, pp. 111-142.)

1999/00/00 Mehez Amdouni, former member of the ul-Mujahidin, and one of the closest collaborators with Bin Laden and one of the most wanted men, was arrested at a Turkish airport. He was carrying a BiH passport. From jail, Amdouni stated that he was sorry the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II did not

succeed during the papal visit to Sarajevo in 1996. (Source: Zeljko Rogosic, “Vast Investigation in Bosnia Herzegovina,” Nacional, September 27, 2001).

1999/00/00 After the foiled plot against American bases in Germany, the U.S. suspended without public explanation a military aid program to Bosnia in an attempt to force the deportation of Abu el Maali. Finally, after the U.S. went a step further and threatened to stop all economic aid, Izetbegovic agreed to deport Maali. (Source: Craig Meyer and William C. Rempe, "Terrorists Use Bosnia as Base and Sanctuary," Los Angeles Times, October 7 2001.)

1999/03/15 Muhamed Abu Gazali had come to Bosnia and Herzegovina one day before the attack on Leutar, on March 15, 1999. (Source: Ivo Lucic, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Terrorism, National Security and the Future 3-4 (2), 2001, pp. 111-142.)

1999/03/16 On March 16, 1999. Shortly before 8:00 a.m., a bomb which had been planted beneath Deputy Minister of the Interior Jozo Leutar's official automobile, which had been parked in Alipasian Street in downtown Sarajevo near the American embassy, explod- ed. The bomb was activated while the car was in motion. Leutar suffered severe physical injuries, while his driver, *eljko Cosic, and the passenger, Ivo Rezo, sustained lesser physical injuries. (Source: Ivo Lucic, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Terrorism, National Security and the Future 3-4 (2), 2001, pp. 111-142.)

1999/04/16 April 16, 1999. Mounir Hanouf, Muhamed Abu Gazali, and Murat Bas, a.k.a. the " Igman Group" were arrested. Objects were found on them connecting them to the terrorist attacks. (Source: Ivo Lucic, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Terrorism, National Security and the Future 3-4 (2), 2001, pp. 111-142.)

1999/05/00 Late May, 1999: The Sarajevo magazine Dani claimed that the U.S. issued an ultimatum to Alija Izetbegovic requesting that Abu Ma'ali, the former leader of the mujahedeen in the village of Bocinja near Maglaj, leave Bosnia, which was the real reason for the suspension of the program "Equip and Train"..

1999/05/22 May 22, 2002. Sarajevo Trial May Lift Lid on Assassinations: The anticipated trial of former security officials could reveal sensational details of political assassinations and even a plan to kill the Pope. Five former leaders of the Bosniak police and intelligence services are being investigated in connection with a series of mysterious crimes

that rocked the country over the past decade. The forthcoming trial will probably shed light on this mysterious action. (Source: BCR No 338, 22 May 02)

1999/06/00 June 1999. Atmani was issued a new Bosnian passport . The three roommates ( Ressam, Atmani and a third roommate, Mustafa Labsi) They returned to the West after learning that their target would be Los Angeles International Airport. The conspiracy was interrupted when Atmani was deported from Canada to Bosnia. (Source: Craig Meyer and William C. Rempe, "Terrorists Use Bosnia as Base and Sanctuary," Los Angeles Times, October 7 2001.)

1999/07/12 During a police search of Abu Gazali's apartment on July 12, 1999, police found a another series of objects directly linked to the terrorist attacks. (Source: Ivo Lucic, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Terrorism, National Security and the Future 3-4 (2), 2001, pp. 111-142.)

1999/07/12 The county court in Travnik presided over by Judge Senad Begovic (a Muslim Bosniac) ruled on July 12, 1999, against the extradition of Nedal to Italy. (Canton/County Court in Travnik - No.Kv. 27./99. Travnik 12.07.1999).

1999/07/13 The same judge then signed a decree which terminated Nedal's imprisonment and released him. It is also interesting to note that, according to Article 168 of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina's Penal Code, 81 international terrorism is defined as: "Intentionally harming a foreign country, liberation movement, or international organization...." (Source: Official Journal of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzergovinia, No. 43./98. page 1710.)

1999/07/14 It would also be interesting to explore what the legislation meant by the term "liberation movement". Therefore, according to the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina's laws, the car bomb plot in Mostar was not a terrorist act, because Zuhair "only wanted to take revenge on the Croats", while those responsible for the murder of Anwar el Sha'abana (Abd Al Rahman, international terrorist who was a member of at least one international humanitarian organization, although he had originally come in order defend BH in the war) could conceivably be prosecuted for terrorism. (Source: Sarajevo Assassination File : Death to the Federation, Slobodna Bosna (Sarajevo), no.122- 20.03.1999 pages 10 and 11.)

1999/10/00 October, 1999. Abu Ma'ali left the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, after SFOR carried out a comprehensive action in Bocinja, otherwise an oasis for mujahedeen in Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to the anonymous source, Abu Ma'ali left Bosnia through the mediation of a foreign embassy, and in a brief biography it stated that he is a war specialist with top capabilities. (Source: Sarajevo newspaper Oslobodjenje, cited at Vjesnik, November 17, 1999).

1999/11/16 November 16, 1999: Izetbegovic's Associate Helped an Islamic Terrorist Escape from B&H? The Sarajevo newspaper Oslobodjenje states that Ab-al-Ma'ali left the country with the assistance of the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and one of Izetbegovic's closest and most confidential associates. The report published in the Sarajevo newspaper Oslobodjenje that Ab-al-Ma'ali,left the country with the assistance of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Zivalj's personal help. Abu Ma'ali allegedly decided to leave Bosnia pursuant to an initiative of the Bosniak leadership. .However, it was a mystery to this day who negotiated on behalf of Bosniak authorities with Abu Ma'ali and representatives of potential host countries that would grant him asylym. The new piece of information in the text in Oslobodjenje was the mentioning of the name of Husein Zivalj, a man who, otherwise, allegedly also maintains contacts on behalf of the Bosniak leadership with the organization of TWRA, which is also a part of the story regarding the activities of international radical Islamic groups in Bosnia. It was publicly revealed, following the arrest of the "nine-fingered terrorist" Mehrez Amdouni in Istanbul, that Osama bin Laden also received the passport of Bosnia and Herzegovina. (Source: Vjesnik, November 17, 1999).

1999/12/00 December 1999: Zubeida, a Bosnian citizen, not only arranged unsuccessful millennium bomb plots in Canada and Jordan but a foiled suicide attack on the U.S. Embassy in Paris, according to court records and investigative reports. Zubeida had asked LAX bomb plot figure Ahmed Ressam to get blank Canadian passports that would allow other terrorists to infiltrate the United States, according to testimony from Ressam, who was convicted in the bomb plot and is cooperating with investigators. Another terrorist with Bosnian citizenship in the group that attempted to bomb LAX was Karim Said Atmani, a Moroccan who was Ressam's roommate in Montreal. When Ressam, traveling alone, was captured at the border with explosives in his rental car, U.S. officials tried to track down his former roommate Atmani. Authorities had information that he was traveling between Sarajevo and Istanbul, but Bosnian officials denied even that

Atmani had been deported there. (Source: Craig Meyer and William C. Rempe, "Terrorists Use Bosnia as Base and Sanctuary," Los Angeles Times, October 7 2001.)

2000/00/00 Abu el Maali was back in Bosnia. (Source: Craig Meyer and William C. Rempe, "Terrorists Use Bosnia as Base and Sanctuary," Los Angeles Times, October 7 2001.)

2000/10/00 October 2000. Izetbegovic stepped down. But that same month Lionel Dumont, and six other individuals of Arab descent returned to the Zenica Canton. Dumont's presence has been connected to the planned action in the violent liberation of prisoner Karaj Kamil Bin Ali from Tunis, better known as Abu Hamza in the Zenica prison. (Source: Zeljko Rogosic, “Vast Investigation in Bosnia Herzegovina,” Nacional, September 27, 2001).

2000/12/00 c. Late 2000: " A secret report prepared for the Clinton administration warned of problem passport-holders in Bosnia in numbers that "shocked everyone," according to one former senior State Department official.said. The White House leaned on Bosnia and its then-president, Alija Izetbegovic, to do something about the matter, "but nothing happened," the former official said. A number of the extremists "would travel with impunity and conduct, plan and stage terrorist acts with impunity while hiding behind their Bosnian passports," the former official said. President Clinton's secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, personally appealed to Izetbegovic to oust suspected terrorists or rescind their Bosnian passports.The effort by top State Department aides continued through the last days of the administration. "It wasn't just one meeting, it was 10 to 12, with orders directly from the White House," said a former State Department official. Izetbegovic declined the appeals, several sources said, apparently out of loyalty to the fighters who had come to his country's rescue. The president argued that many had married Bosnian women, had taken up farming and were legal citizens."The point we kept making to Izetbegovic was that if the day comes we find out that these people are connected to some terrible terrorist incident, that's the day the entire U.S.-Bosnia relationship will change from friends to adversaries," the former State Department official said. (Source: Craig Meyer and William C. Rempe, "Terrorists Use Bosnia as Base and Sanctuary," Los Angeles Times, October 7 2001.)

2001/00/00 Atmani was arrested and turned over to France by Bosnia's new coalition government. Kamel, the alleged ringleader of the group, was arrested in Jordan and was extradited to

France, where he is in prison on a terrorism conviction. Ressam and Labsi also have been jailed. (Source: Craig Meyer and William C. Rempe, "Terrorists Use Bosnia as Base and Sanctuary," Los Angeles Times, October 7 2001.)

2001/01/00 January 2001: The passports of two Turkish men, Murat Yuruyuc and Lazgin Ergun, were seized with another 7 travel documents and 9 airplane tickets in Busovaca, during a routine police check of those individuals who illegally entered BiH through Sarajevo's Butmir Airport. Butmir Airport is BiH's weakest entry point into the country, and illegal individuals with problematic pasts are constantly entering there. This investigation, with the possible identification of the mysterious Amir, a participant in Bin Laden's attacks in New York and Washington, allegedly included another three individuals: Ahmed Ressam from Algiers, and Murat Yuruyuc and Lazgin Ergun from Turkey. (Source: Zeljko Rogosic, “Vast Investigation in Bosnia Herzegovina,” Nacional, September 27, 2001).

2001/04/00 April 2001: The Bosnian government arrested Karim Said Atmani, a Moroccan who was Ressam's roommate in Montreal and who was in the group that attempted to bomb LAX, extradited him to France on terrorism charges. (Source: Craig Meyer and William C. Rempe, "Terrorists Use Bosnia as Base and Sanctuary," Los Angeles Times, October 7 2001.)

2001/08/00 August 2001. Abu el Maali was reported to be moving in and out of Bosnia freely. (Source: Craig Meyer and William C. Rempe, "Terrorists Use Bosnia as Base and Sanctuary," Los Angeles Times, October 7 2001.)

2001/09/12 The tragic events which occurred on September 11, 2001, in the USA made a serious impact on Bosnia and Herzegovina. The SFOR units in Bosnia and Herzegovina were in the most sensitive position, as they were forced to carefully assess their situation and determine whether or not they were at war. The first week after the attacks on the US, a veritable political chaos prevailed. Some claimed that Western civilization was endangered by militant Islam, and accused the government of Bosnia and Herzegovina of supporting terrorism; others defended Islam, claiming that terrorism is in contradiction to Islam, for terrorism has no religion, and quoting various passages from the Ku'ran which prohibit the commission of evil acts. The politicians wanted simply to be on the politically correct side in order to reap political and personal gains. Izetbegovic then distanced himself from the mujahedeen, stating that they had not invited "them.” (Source: Ivo Lucic, Bosnia and Herzegovina and

Terrorism, National Security and the Future 3-4 (2), 2001, pp. 111-142.)

2001/09/18 September 18, 2001, Sarajevo officials received a request from Interpol to investigate the identities of 19 terrorists who participated in the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks. It is suspected that these terrorists belonged to Osama Bin Laden's terrorist organization. Since the American investigators had established that members of both the Egyptian Gamm at al Islamiya and the Algerian Groupe Islamique Armee (GIA) groups were involved in the the WTC and the Pentagon, and that both groups had fought in Bosnia, it became necessary to check out whether or not the suspected individuals were still in any contact or connection with BiH. (Source: Zeljko Rogosic, “Vast Investigation in Bosnia Herzegovina,” Nacional, September 27, 2001).

2001/09/20 September 20, 2001. After only two days, the BiH Foreign Ministry, stressing that the same request was sent to other countries as well, responded that there was no trace connecting any of the 19 terrorists to BiH, or with any citizen of BiH. "However, there is a suspicion that one of the individuals on the list possessed BiH citizenship, which puts us in a very awkward situation. We are currently checking another 400 identities, and Zlatko Lagumdzija has called for a meeting of the BiH Council of Ministers," was the comment a source in the BiH Foreign Ministry made for Nacional. "I cannot confirm that this individual from the American list, who is suspected of having a BiH passport and of participating in the recent attacks, is named Amir. This is a suspicion of the intelligence agencies, which we still cannot confirm or deny. We cannot precisely establish which of the foreign citizens who came to BiH from various Arab and Islam states received BiH citizenship, because at that time, it was common that we did not know their real identities or where they were really coming from." (Source: Zeljko Rogosic, “Vast Investigation in Bosnia Herzegovina,” Nacional, September 27, 2001).

2001/09/22 September 22, 2001: Federation Interior Minister Muhamed Besic announced that Bosnia-Hercegovina will extradite to Egypt and Croatia several foreign nationals, holders of Bosnia-Hercegovina passport, wanted by the Interpol and arrested in the anti-terrorist operations this summer. (Source: BH Radio 1, Sarajevo, in Serbo-Croat 1300 gmt 22 Sep 01, via BBC Worldwide Monitoring).

2001/09/24 September 24, 2001. the Director of the Federal Border Agency, Tomo Mihalj, claimed to have information that a certain number of Al Qaeda members had set out to central Europe through Bulgaria and Yugoslavia to Bosnia and Herzegovina after being defeated in Afghanistan. (Source: Dnevni avaz ( Sarajevo) 24.11.2001-p.4.)

2001/09/25 The KDZ department head of the Ministry of the Interior, Mirza Jamakovic, was arrested on September 25, 2001 for illegal weapons trafficking from Bosnia and Herzegovina to Kosovo. After five days imprisonment, he was transferred to the prison hospital. (Source: Ivo Lucic, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Terrorism, National Security and the Future 3-4 (2), 2001, pp. 111-142.)

2001/09/27 September 27, 2001: The fear and caution by the BiH government due to the newest revelations concerning the connections between the famous war heroes, ul-Mujahidin, the terrorism underground and Bin Laden's two organizations are becoming increasingly obvious. Among the 2500 Mujahidin members who remained in BiH, there are still some 40 members of the Gamm'at al Islamiya and GIA in the Zenica region. Bosnian and American investigators are very interested in four former members of the Bosnian ul-Mujahidin. Algerian citizens Lionel Dumont, Hamid Amich and Karim Said Atmani are also members of GIA. Ahmed Zuhair Handal is a member of Gamm at Islamiya. (Source: Zeljko Rogosic, “Vast Investigation in Bosnia Herzegovina,” Nacional, September 27, 2001). Whereabouts Unknown: [*] Ahmed Zuhair Handal, a member of the Bosnian ul-Mujahidin, who together with Ali Hamed Ubeid (a BiH citizen from Bahrain) and Saleh Nebil Ali Ali el Hil (known also as Abu Jemen), placed 4.5 kilograms of explosives, 40 kilograms of anti-tank mines and 15 kilograms of so-called red explosives in a parked car underneath a residential building in Mostar. [*] Algerian GIA member Abu Al Ma-ali, emir (commander) of the Order of the ul-Mujahidin during the time of Operation Hurricane 95 in the attack on Vozuci. There are claims that he was killed at Ozren in 1995, others that he was deported from BiH on a US request, and others still that claim he still lives in BiH, but with a new identity. (Source: Zeljko Rogosic, “Vast Investigation in Bosnia Herzegovina,” Nacional, September 27, 2001).

2001/10/00 October 2001: Bosnia's new interior minister, citing "trustworthy intelligence sources," said scores of Bin Laden associates may be attempting to flee Afghanistan ahead of anticipated U.S. military reprisals for the Sept. 11 attacks, seeking refuge among militant sympathizers in Bosnia. (Source:

Craig Meyer and William C. Rempe, "Terrorists Use Bosnia as Base and Sanctuary," Los Angeles Times, October 7 2001.)

2001/10/07 October 7, 2001: The Los Angeles Times reports that "Hundreds of foreign Islamic extremists who became Bosnian citizens after battling Serbian and Croatian forces present a potential terrorist threat to Europe and the United States, according to a classified U.S. State Department report and interviews with international military and intelligence sources. The extremists include hard-core terrorists, some with ties to Osama bin Laden, protected by militant elements of the former Sarajevo government. Bosnia-Herzegovina is "a staging area and safe haven" for terrorists, said one former senior State Department official. ... Although no evidence connects any Bosnian group to the suicide hijacking attacks of Sept. 11 blamed on Bin Laden, U.S. and European officials are increasingly concerned about the scope and reach of Bin Laden networks in the West and the proximity of Bosnia-based terrorists to the heart of Europe... In several instances, terrorists with links to Bosnia have launched actions against Western targets. ... Abu el Maali is now thought to be in Afghanistan with the leadership of Bin Laden's Al Qaeda group, according to a senior official for the NATO-led peacekeeping force, SFOR, in Bosnia. French court documents say El Maali now is the leader of terrorist cells in Bosnia, Pakistan and Afghanistan. "A senior SFOR official said said that "hundreds of other" Islamic extremists with and without Bosnian passports "come in and out" and that Bosnia remains a center for Al Qaeda recruiting and logistics support. A U.S. counter-terrorism official confirmed that "several hundred" former moujahedeen remain in Bosnia. "Are they a threat? Absolutely." Although the State Department report suggested that the number could be higher than 400, a senior SFOR official said allied military intelligence estimated that no more than 200 foreign-born militants actually live in Bosnia, of which closer to 30 represent a hard-core group with direct links to terrorism. "These are the bad guys--the ones you have to worry about," the official said. Many hard-liners remain in Bosnia's bureaucracy, and they are suspected of operating their own rogue intelligence service that protects Islamic extremists, military and intelligence sources said. A senior peacekeeping official in Bosnia said local police report that "there are plans to attack the Western interests here in Bosnia after any future retaliatory strikes in Afghanistan. We don't have anything to confirm it. .. James Steinberg, deputy national security advisor in the Clinton administration, said that although the U.S. works closely with countries in the Balkans to deal with "the problem of these cells," the very nature of secret terrorist organizations

confounds those efforts. "It's one thing to [arrest] the people you know [are terrorists], but then the others . . . bury themselves even deeper." (Source: Craig Meyer and William C. Rempe, "Terrorists Use Bosnia as Base and Sanctuary," Los Angeles Times, October 7 2001.)

2001/10/12 October 12, 2001. Alija Izetbegovic stated at his last press conference as the president of the Democratic Action Party that the Croatians and not the Bosnians who should explain why they allowed the Mujahedeen into Bosnia and Herzegovina. "We did not invite the mujehadeen; Croatians opened the door to Bosnia and Herzegovina!" (Source: Ivo Lucic, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Terrorism,” National Security and the Future 3-4 (2), 2001, pp. 111-142.)

2001/10/12 SFOR commander General Sylvester said (October 12, 2001) that the mujahedeens posed no threat to Bosnia and Herzegovina. (Oslobo<eth>enje (Sarajevo) 13.10.2001. p.5.)

2001/10/19 Just a week after his statement, the American and British embassies and consulates closed down. A week after that, five foreigners (muja-hedeen) were arrested in BH. The Head Secretary of NATO, George Robertson, confirmed that at least one of those arrested had links to Osama Bin Laden's Al Qaeda. (Source: Ivo Lucic, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Terrorism, National Security and the Future 3-4 (2), 2001, pp. 111-142.)

2001/10/30 The Deputy Minister of the Interior of the Federation of BH, Tomislav Limov, released information that the Federal police had 17 suspects linked to international terrorism under observation, and also confirmed that between 1996 to the present day (30.10.2001), approximately 1000 individuals from Arabic countries had received Bosnian citizenship. He emphasizsed that problems do exist in Bosnia, and that rumors about Bosnia being a safe haven for terrorists were not, in fact, groundless. (Oslobo<eth>enje (Sarajevo) 30.10.2001 p.5.)

2001/11/10 The new American ambassador Bond said on November 10, 2001, that it was not Bosnia as a whole that posed a terrorist threat, but only certain individuals. (Source: Oslobo<eth>enje (Sarajevo) 10.11.2001 p.4.)

2001/11/11 November 11, 2001. The Italian newspaper Corriere de la Sera reported the Bosnian govern-ment's extradition to Egypt of Hasan Masud El Sharif Saad, who was suspected of being implicated in the car bomb planted in front of the Rijeka police station (Republic of Croatia) in October 1995. According to

American and European investigators, Hasan Masud El Sharif Saad was one of Bin Laden's key people in Europe. Based on an Interpol warrant, Hasan Masud El Sharif Saad had been arrested with two other countrymen and extradited to Egypt. (Source: 9Dnevni avaz (Sarajevo) 12.11.2001 -p.6.)

2001/11/15 amir Rizvo and Mirsad *utic Beganovic were proven to have par- ticipated in the illegal issuance of BH citizenship to mujahedeen, yet were promoted by the new federal government of BH. What is even more interesting is the decision of French general Vincent Courderoy, International Police Commissioner of the UN (IPTF), to revoke on November 15, 2001, the work permits of two police officers who had attempted to murder Fikret Abdic, a former member of the Presidency of BH, a former vice-president of the SDA ( Democratic Action Party) in BH, and the former president of the autonomous region of western Bosnia. Abdic, who had once been Izetbegovic's most influential colleague, later became his most bitter adversary. Bihac police offi- cers, Dervis Demirovic and Hajrudin Halilagic had attempted to kill Abdic, who was in Rijeka in the Republic of Croatia at that time. The Croatian police arrested them with weapons and explo- sives and they were charged with endangering the safety of citizens in the Republic of Croatia by an act of terrorism and sen- tenced to prison sentences of 18 months, which translates to 12 months in the Croatian judicial system. After having served their sentences, they returned to their jobs in the Bihac police department. This was more than sufficient grounds for Abdic's party, the Democratic People's Union of BH, to assert that the SDA was the organizer of state terrorism. They also pointed out that the unsuccessful assassination attempt was masterminded by Ejub Ikic, Chief of AID (the Bosnian Intelligence Agency) of BH and Sakib Mahmuljin, the former commander of the third corps in the BH army in which the El Mujahedeen force was incorporated. (Source: Ivo Lucic, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Terrorism, National Security and the Future 3-4 (2), 2001, pp. 111-142.)

2001/11/22 After successful operations in Afghanistan, the press released information that a Bosnian passport and a notebook in Bosnian with instructions on how to make explosive devices had been found in a house in Kabul which had been used by members of the Al Qaeda. This information was confirmed shortly thereafter; however, not only one but two passports were found, belonging to individuals, according to the Prime Minister of the Federation of BH Alija Behmen, whose citizenship had been revoked just a few days earlier. The federal Ministry of the Interior then revoked the citizenship of 94 others who had come from Islamic countries and had obtained citizenship illegally. Investigating the illegal

issuance of citizenship is difficult, as those who enabled it still occupy high positions in the government and are thus protected. (Source: Dnevni avaz ( Sarajevo) 22.11.2001 p.2.)

2001/11/22 One might have thought at that point that the threat of terrorism in BH had been repelled. Especially after a meeting of the heads of BH with SFOR commander general Sylvester, during which it was stated that there was no outright threat of terrorism, at least not to SFOR troops. (Source: Oslobo<eth>enje (Sarajevo) 22.11.2001 p.3.)

2001/11/30 November 30, 2001. SFOR forces arrested a man in Kiseljak(central Bosnia) in a spectacular operation with special forces under suspicion of trafficking in radioactive material from which atomic bombs could be constructed - they released him from prison three days later. While searching the house, they succeeded in confiscating ground paprika, among other things, but no bombs. (Source: Veèernji List ( Zagreb) 06.12.2001 -p.3. 101. Oslobo<eth>enje (Sarajevo) 02.12.2001 -p.5.)

2001/12/03 December 3, 2001. Alija Izetbegovic left by special charter flight to Dubai, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. The plane had been specially sent for him so that he could receive an award for " Islam Personality of the Year". Reisu-l-ulema Mustafa Ceric and the president of the SDA, Sulejman Tihic, trav- elled with him. (Source: Ivo Lucic, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Terrorism, National Security and the Future 3-4 (2), 2001, pp. 111-142.)

2002 The tumultuous events of 2001 exhausted Izetbegovic, and by the end of December his state of health was very grave. So at the invitation of the Saudi king Fahd, who sent a plane for him, Izetbegovic was transported to Rijadh to receive any necessary medical attention. Eight days later Izetbegovic returned to Sarajevo. (Source: Ivo Lucic, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Terrorism, National Security and the Future 3-4 (2), 2001, pp. 111-142.)

2002/01 In the early hours of the morning Bosnia surrendered six individuals of Algerian citizenship to the government of the USA. These individuals had been in custody since October 2001 under suspicion of having links to individuals and organizations in the international terrorist network. (Source: Ivo Lucic, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Terrorism, National Security and the Future 3-4 (2), 2001, pp. 111-142.)

2002/01/18 Extraditions caused an uproar among the Bosniac Muslim public, but this time the response was well-organized, with demonstrators and the media present. In a night of conflict between demonstrators and police, the Islamic groups in Bosnia demonstrated their clout, organizational skills, and will. These events inspired Zija Dizdarevic of Sarajevo's "Oslobo<eth>enje" to write the following: " Bosnia and Herzegovina is confronted with a rise in Islamic fundamentalism.” (Source: Ivo Lucic, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Terrorism, National Security and the Future 3-4 (2), 2001, pp. 111-142.)

2002/03/22 Terrorists belonging to al Qaeda terror were planning to launch destructive attacks on the American embassy compound, as well as on the embassies of several other European countries in Sarajevo, Radio Free Europe on Saturday quoted a senior BiH officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, as saying. The official said the intelligence on the planning of those attacks had been received from Sofia (Bulgaria), from a meeting of al Qaeda members. At the meeting it was decided that ''in Sarajevo, there will happen something similar to what the Americans experienced in New York in September last year''. Three people suspected of terrorism arrested in Bosnia. A Bosnia-Hercegovina citizen who most probably attended a special terrorist training was arrested under suspicion of being involved in the preparation of a terrorist attack on the American and British embassies in Sarajevo, Sarajevo daily Oslobodjenje said. The United States embassy in Mostar was closed down temporarily on Wednesday due to unconfirmed threats to American citizens in Bosnia. Citing unofficial sources, Oslobodjenje said that E.C, born in Visegrad, was arrested in Sarajevo on Thursday. Police believe that E.C. attended terrorist training classes held on the mountain on Pogorelica. The daily said the police have also arrested two heads of the Islamic organization Bosnia's Ideal Future (BIF). The BIF is a legal successor to the US-based Benevolentia International Fundation. The BIF director and his deputy were arrested after police found weapons on them and numerous confidential documents on state security. (Sources: HINA news agency, Zagreb, in English 1116 gmt 22 Mar 02, via BBC Worldwide Monitoring; UNHCR SARAJEVO DAILY MEDIA DIGEST 23 TO 25 MARCH 2002, SARAJEVO, 23/03 ONASA.)

2002/04 Interestingly, although IFOR handed over the arrested persons, it took it six years to pass on the documentation that US forces captured in Pogorelica. It only submitted the documents to the Bosnian police in February this year. The documents are of vital importance if light is to be shed on whether the camp was a

legitimate police and intelligence training centre, or a terrorist base. (Source: BCR No 338, 22 May 02)

2002/05/01 May 1, 2002: FBI arrests a Syrian with a BiH Passport suspected of financing terrorism. American FBI arrested on Wednesday Enam Arnaut, a Syrian-born with a BiH passport, on suspicion that he helped finance terrorist activities. Arnaut is believed to be a “person of trust” to Osama bin Laden. He arrived in BiH in 1992, since when he has been engaged, in his words, in  “purely humanitarian work” in Benevolence International Fund (BIF), the organization closed down in March this year on charges of links with terrorism.  Muslim charity head arrested in Chicago thanks to evidence collected by police in BiH. The arrest in the United States of the head of a Muslim charity was carried out thanks to evidence from police in BiH, which showed that he had been in "direct communication" with Osama bin Laden, SFOR said on Thursday in Sarajevo. "Without going into detail, police found evidence of direct communication between Mr Arnaout and Osama bin Laden," SFOR spokesman Scott Lundy told a news conference, referring to Enaam Arnaout, a Syrian-born US citizen. Arnaout, who is the executive director of Benevolence International Foundation (BIF), was arrested on Tuesday by the FBI on suspicion of links with bin Laden's al-Qaeda.  US law enforcement officials said the search in BiH turned up firearms, classified documents from several governments covering Islamic extremists, and photographs, including some of bin Laden and others of Arnaout handling rifles, anti-aircraft guns and rockets. The SFOR in BiH said it was pleased to see that evidence collected by local police had led to Arnaout's arrest. BiH government's "cooperative approach to dealing with terrorism and its related support network is working well," Lundy said, adding that joint activities will continue. (Source: OHR BiH Media Round-up, May 2 and 3, 2002.) 

2003 The power supplied by the Islamic centres which are appearing throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina and which are completely different from mosques, even though they are located in their backyards.