The man behind the blasts
10jul05
BRITISH police are hunting for two notorious al-Qaida terrorists whom they suspect were the masterminds behind the London bomb blasts.
Mustafa Setmariam Nasar, the one-time leading light of London's radical Islamic scene, and Mohammed al-Gerbouzi, are now Britain's most wanted men.
Nasar, 46, a poisons and chemicals expert, is on a most wanted list in the US and there is a $6.7 million reward for his capture.
Terrorist expert Lorenzo Vidino, from the Washington-based institute The Investigative Project, (...) said Nasar was also the spiritual mentor for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Iraqi terrorist leader. (...)
Nasar, a Syrian veteran of the Afghan war against the Soviets, was once the European representative for al-Qaida before he joined Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan. While there, he trained al-Qaida foot soldiers in terrorist camps.
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http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,15877727%255E661,00.htmlMohammed al-Gerbouzi
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,1658,5025482,00.jpgThree men allegedly implicated in the Madrid bombings are said to have British links, including a Syrian living in London. His brother was arrested by police in Spain accused of sheltering some of the bombers and was also questioned about suicide bombings in Casablanca which killed 45 people.
Abdelkarim el Mejjati, also known as Abu Elyas, vanished from Spain a few days before the Madrid bombings and was sighted in London. He was convicted in absentia in Tunisia for the Casablanca bombings.
An alleged ringleader of the Madrid attack, Mustapha Setmarian Nassar, also Syrian-born, lived in north London in the late 1990s and is said to have been a visitor to the mosque at Finsbury Park. There had been sightings of him in London after the Madrid bombings, although US authorities, who have placed a US$5m bounty on him, maintain he is now in Iraq where he has established links with the Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian-born militant who runs al Qaeda in Iraq.
Nassar is known to have associated with Abu Qatada, one of the detainees released from Belmarsh in March this year, while he lived in London. Spanish authorities claim that Qatada, described by a British judge as a "truly dangerous" individual, also had links with Abu Dahdah, another Syrian living in Spain who was arrested there on suspicion of recruiting bombers.
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http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10334851