‘Morocco suspect met with Samir A.’

1 December 200

AMSTERDAM — A Belgian national arrested by anti-terrorist police in Morocco in November claims he offered Samir A. the services of female suicide bombers to attack the headquarters of the Dutch security service AIVD.

Mohamed Reha, a Belgian of Moroccan ancestry, said A. was prepared to co-operate in a suicide attack on the AIVD but only wanted male bombers.

A, a 19-year-old Dutch-Moroccan, was cleared for the third time of terrorist charges by a Dutch court in November. He has a further case pending against him.

Reha was among several people arrested in Morocco earlier this month. News agency AFP has obtained a copy of the statement.

He told police partners of several suspected terrorists being detained in Belgium were ready to carry out suicide attacks in Morocco, it was reported on Thursday.

Reha studied at a Koran school in Syria, but was deported at the age of 18 in June 2005 and returned to Belgium, Flemish newspaper ‘De Standaard’ reported.

In Belgium, he allegedly received a telephone call from the wife of a man identified as Rachid Iba. “She asked me to come to Brussels. We agreed to meet in a [train] station,” Reha told Moroccan police.

“She told me that many Muslim women whose husbands were arrested in Belgium would like to become involved in Jihad, the holy war. She asked me to help them by finding someone to train them and supply them with explosives.”

Reha emphasised that the conversation was conducted via small notes. He confessed to promising the woman he would do everything possible to help them succeed.

Later, Reha informed the Algerian Khalid Abou Bassir — who he claims is the co-ordinator of terror network al-Qaeda in Europe — about the plans. Reha also told Rachid Iba that Abou Bassir would become the leader of the female suicide bombers.

Reha then left  for the Netherlands where he allegedly met Samir A., who was recently acquitted by the appeals court in The Hague of terrorist activities.

A. allegedly said he was prepared to co-operate in a suicide attack against the Dutch intelligence services. Reha then offered the services of the female suicide bombers, but A. is said to have refused the offer because he only wanted men to carry out the attack.

On 28 September, Reha left for Morocco where he was arrested in November with 16 other suspects. They are accused of planning attacks against US and Israeli targets in Morocco.

Meanwhile, the federal public prosecution office in Belgium said on Thursday morning, five of the 14 suspects arrested in the anti-terror sweeps in various Belgian cities on Tuesday night have been remanded in custody.

They are accused of breaching terrorism laws, forgery and using forged documents.

The raids in Brussels, Antwerp, Riemst and Charleroi were carried out after reports emerged on Tuesday that a Belgian woman had carried out a suicide attack in the vicinity of the Iraqi capital Baghdad on 9 November.

[Copyright Expatica News 2005]

Subject: Belgian news