Terrorist 007 and Islamist Internet adventures (2)

In October, 2005, no-one knew that Younes Tsouli, then a 22-year old student living in Shepherds Bush, West London, was the same individual as "Irhabi 007", a webmaster being hunted by counter-terror agents. As "Irhabi 007", this individual had presented graphic videos onto the world-wide web of slow decapitations of hostages, carried out by Al Qaeda in Iraq's most feared terrorist, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. "Irhabi 007" or "Terrorist 07" ran a web forum called Al-Ansar, along with several other sites. On September 11 a message had appeared on this forum claiming to have come from "Al Qaeda in Northern Europe". One of those was a young man who called himself "Maximus", probably after the character in the 2000 movie "Gladiator".

"Maximus", whose real name was Mirsad Bektasevic, was 19 years old. Born in Bosnia, his widowed mother took him to Sweden in 1994 when he was six years old. They lived in Kung älv in southwestern Sweden. He attended Bellevuemoskén, a mosque in the nearest city to his home, Gothenburg. According to his mother Nafija Hamedovic, he had been urged to join this mosque by "terrorists". She said: "He went there to pray. The ones who led him astray are terrorists."

Hamedovic claimed in November 2005 that a Palestinian from Syria, a Kurd and a Somali had influenced him, saying: "He was not religious before, but in the past two years he practiced more seriously. Some people frightened him and talked to him about hell, and told him he would be tortured in hell if he does not pray and does not believe."

Mohammed Mohsin, a board member at the Bellevue mosque denied that Baktasevic was known at the mosque. He told the Dagens Nyheter newspaper: "We do not know (him) and have not met him." Mohsin claimed that the Bellevue mosque had "nothing to do with terrorism."

Bektasevic's mother said that for two years, her son had been unemployed and had no money. She said he had to give him the bus fare which he used to travel to Bosnia.

Bektasevic was arrested with a Danish citizen of Turkish background, called Cesur Abdulkadir on October 19, 2005. With them was found a cache of weaponry including explosive suicide vests, explosive bullets, high explosives and a machine pistol. A video, recorded shortly before the arrest, showed three individuals asking Allah for "forgiveness" for their "sacrifice", indicating that a suicide attack was imminent.

Bosnian border police had claimed that the pair had entered the country three weeks earlier. Bektasevic had left Sweden on September 27, 2005. Cesur Abdulkadir did not arrive until October 14, claims the Danish Institute for International Studies (pdf document, p44).

Born in November 1985 in Frederiksberg, Denmark, Cesur had been living in Hvidvore, Copenhagen before he left for Bosnia. He was described in the indictment handed down later by Bosnian authorities as a laborer, single, and unemployed. He was known by his code-name "Turkey", referring to his ethnic ancestry.

According to Dragan Mektic, Bosnia's deputy security minister, 10 people had been under surveillance since the end of September 2005. Five of these had lived in a rented apartment in Sarajevo, where Mirsad Bektasevic and Cesur Abdulkadir were arrested. Only three people, including Bektasevic and Abdulkadir, were apprehended.

The third man was arrested a month later. He had kept 10 kilograms of explosives hidden outside the capital, in a forest in Hadjici. This individual was a 28-year old Bosnian called Barjo Ikanovic. He had helped Bektasevic and Abdulkadir to purchase 22 kilograms of explosives, for the purposes of creating a suicide belt. He