Terrorists Threaten United States Over World Trade Center Bomber

0 Comments | Insight on the News, May 21, 2001 | by Catherine Edwards, | Stephanie K. Taylor

Fundamentalist Egyptian Muslims from the terrorist group Al-Jihad openly have threatened to attack U.S. targets unless the United States releases their leader, Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman.

The sheik is in prison after being convicted for his involvement in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Al-Jihad held a conference recently in Cairo to support the sheik and, at that conference, Abdel-Rahman's attorney, Muntasir Al-Zayyat, warned aborn the possibility of future violence against Americans, according to the London-based Arabic daily Al-Hayat.

"When the Jihad organization [which the sheik leads] found out that the CIA was involved in the extradition of three of its people from Albania to Egypt, it decided to get involved in the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam," Al-Zayyat said. "Therefore, once the U.S. harms a cleric at the level of Sheik Abdel-Rahman, the revenge will be stronger and more violent and its impact wider."

Al-Zayyat, according to the Arabic daily, said that the violence would not be endorsed officially by the terrorist organization but would result from the loyalty of the sheik's followers.

"Despite the fact that the sheik's attorneys attempted to resolve the problem through the courts, while the leaders of his organization [Al-Jama'ah Al-Islamiya] practice restraint, it is inevitable that, as a revenge for hurting the honorable sheik, one or a few of those who love the sheik will turn to carrying out acts against American interests around the world," the paper said.

Yigal Carmon, president of the Middle East Media Research Institute in Washington, believes the threats should be taken seriously. "Al-Jihad is dangerous. It's as simple as that," he says.

"Activists of fundamentalist Islam are spread all over," Carmon tells news alert! He says that this geographical diversity -- the organization has a strong presence in Africa, Asia, Europe and even the United States -- makes potential attacks much easier and much more likely.

However, Al-Zayyat excluded the possibility of such attacks occurring on Egyptian soil. Carmon hypothesizes that the group did not want to cause friction between their organization and the Egyptian government, which would feel obligated to protect U.S. interests within that country.