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U.S. Extends Terrorism Alert To March 11 & Eyes Somalia
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| Rumsfeld
Refuses to Speculate On Next Moves
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WASHINGTON, Jan. 5 (IslamOnline
& News Agencies) - The FBI has extended the December 3 terrorism alert in
the United States through March 11, U.S. officials announced, as the U.S. steps
up military activities in and around Somalia to prevent it from becoming a safe
haven for terrorists, according to newspaper reports.
The alert was extended
"based on the continuing high level of generalized threat
information," Homeland Security Office spokesperson Gordon Johndroe said in
a report by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Homeland Security Director
Tom Ridge decided to issue the announcement mainly to warn law enforcement
agents rather than the general public, Johndroe said.
Ridge "didn't feel there
is a need to do another announcement" to the public, Johndroe said,
"but he still urges people to be aware."
Some 18,000 police agencies
across the United States were informed about the alert through the Federal
Bureau of Investigation's Law Enforcement Telecommunications System late
Wednesday, officials said.
FBI terrorism alerts have
been continuous since the September 11 deadly attacks in the United States.
An FBI official speaking on
condition of anonymity said the latest alert, the fourth since September 11, was
not linked to a specific threat of danger.
Meanwhile, officials said
Friday January 4, that the U.S. was increasing reconnaissance flights off the
coast of Somalia out of concern that escaped al-Qaeda fighters may try to enter
the Horn of Africa state by ship, U.S. newspapers reported.
"We are working to try
to ensure that Somalia does not become a haven for terrorists," said State
Department spokesperson Richard Boucher, quoted in the New York Times.
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld said at a Pentagon news conference that al-Qaeda members have been
known over the years to have trained in camps in Somalia, flowing in and out of
the country, according to a Washington Post article Friday.
But when he was asked about
the specifics of possible U.S. military action there, the Post reported he would
only say, "It doesn't do any good at all for me to be speculating about
different countries and what we might do next."
The U.S. suspects the Somali
Islamic group al-Ittihad al-Islamiya of having ties to al-Qaeda.
While Somalia has no formal
government, a Transitional National Government (TNG), which the U.S. does not
recognize, exists in the capital of Mogadishu, and several armed factions such
as the Rahanwein Resistance Army oppose the TNG.
U.S. officials have visited
Somalia in recent weeks to meet with leaders of the TNG, the RRA and other
groups to discuss what they call the 'eradication of terrorism'.
The TNG has established an
anti-terror task force, AFP reported, whose head, Dahir Sheikh Mohamed Dayah, is
also the Interior Minister in the TNG.
Dayah said Friday that Somali
police freed 18 foreigners detained last month on suspicion of links with
international terrorism.
"The arrested people
were questioned and investigated by the Criminal Investigation Department,
anti-terrorism task force and national intelligence services," he said.
"The number of
foreigners arrested on alleged terrorism in Somalia are 18 who are Arabs and
Kurdish. After serious investigation they have been cleared from any link to
international terrorism," said Dayah.
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