The Latest from National Terror Alert Response Center

U.S. Cargo Ship Evades Somali Pirate Attack Posted: 14 Apr 2009 09:50 PM PDT Defiant Somali pirates fired rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons at another U.S. cargo ship on Tuesday but failed to hijack it, officials said, just days after Navy SEALs rescued an American hostage after an earlier unsuccessful hijacking. The brazen midday attack on the MV Liberty Sun in international waters off the African coast is further evidence that Somali pirates are back to business as usual. Pirates have seized four other ships with 60 hostages since sharpshooters killed three gunmen holding American freighter captain Richard Phillips. “No one can deter us,” one bandit boasted. The Liberty Sun’s American crew was not injured but the vessel sustained unspecified damage in the attack, owner Liberty Maritime Corp. said in a statement Tuesday night. Source This story comes to us via Homeland Security - National Terror Alert. National Terror Alert is America's trusted source for homeland security news and information. Share this post

Mexico - Woman Captured Guarding Massive Weapons Cache Posted: 14 Apr 2009 09:04 PM PDT Smirking for the camera, this is the 20-year-old woman Mexican police caught guarding an extraordinary arsenal of weapons. Anahi Beltran Cabrera was seized during a routine patrol in Sonora state, near the U.S. border. Officers recovered a vast cache of weapons including an anti-aircraft gun capable of firing 800 shots per minute, a number of rifles and an array of ammunition. They believe the haul belongs to a group allegedly linked to the powerful Beltan Leyva drug cartel. Cabrera was paraded before the media - along with the weapons she was caught guarding. Large swathes of Mexico have been ravaged by violence with drugs gangs battling for territory. Last month, 2,000 soldiers and armed federal police were deployed into the border town of Ciudad Juarez to restore order to the country’s most violent city. In one month, 250 people were killed by hitmen fighting for lucrative smuggling routes. Source This story comes to us via Homeland Security - National Terror Alert. National Terror Alert is America's trusted source for homeland security news and information. Share this post

Swedish Man Accused Of Terrorism Faces New York Trial Posted: 14 Apr 2009 08:52 PM PDT Jury selection began on Monday in the trial of a Lebanese-born Swedish man accused of helping set up a militant training camp in rural Oregon and operating websites showing how to assemble bombs. Oussama Abdullah Kassir, 43, who was extradited from the Czech Republic to New York in 2007, faces multiple charges, including supporting terrorism and al Qaeda, by attempting to set up the camp in Bly, Oregon from 1999 to early 2000. Prosecutors say Kassir and two others involved in the case were followers of Egyptian-born Abu Hamza al-Masri, a one-armed Muslim cleric who is serving a seven-year sentence in Britain for inciting his followers to murder nonbelievers. James Ujaama, a former community activist in Seattle, has pleaded guilty to trying to help al Qaeda militants and may testify at the trial in Manhattan federal court as part of a plea agreement. The other suspect in the case, Haroon Rashid Aswat, one of Masri’s chief aides, is appealing against extradition to the United States. via Swedish man accused of terrorism faces New York trial. This story comes to us via Homeland Security - National Terror Alert. National Terror Alert is America's trusted source for homeland security news and information. Share this post

3 Held Over Radioactive Material Posted: 14 Apr 2009 08:08 PM PDT The three men were arrested in the western Ternopil region last Thursday when they tried to sell a container of radioactive material for $10m, the SBU said in a statement. The men - identified as a member of the Ternopil regional parliament and two businessmen - believed they were selling 3 672kg of radioactive plutonium-239, the statement said. The material “could have been used for terrorist purposes for the creation of a dirty bomb”, the SBU said, referring to a kind of weapon combining radioactive material with conventional explosives. Authorities were seeking to determine what substance was in the container, but the SBU said its radioactivity level was 250 times greater than normal background radiation. The SBU said the substance had been produced on Russian territory in the Soviet era and could have been transferred to Ukraine from a neighbouring state, without providing further details. The men have been charged with illegal handling of radioactive material and face from eight to 15 years in prison. Source This story comes to us via Homeland Security - National Terror Alert. National Terror Alert is America's trusted source for homeland security news and information. Share this post

Homeland Security Warns of Rise in Right-Wing Extremism Posted: 14 Apr 2009 08:24 AM PDT An intelligence assessment released to law enforcement last week claims news of recession, the election of an African American president, rumors of new gun restrictions and the inability of veterans to reintegrate create fertile ground for radicalizing and recruiting right-wing extremists. The Department of Homeland Security is warning law enforcement agencies that recent news is helping “right-wing extremist groups” recruit new members and could lead to violence, and warns about the possible recruitment and radicalization of returning veterans. DHS’ Office of Intelligence and Analysis issued an intelligence assessment last week that said it has no specific information that domestic right-wing terrorists are currently planning acts of violence, but right-wing extremists may be gaining new recruits by playing on fears about the recession and the election of the first African American president. The office called them “unique drivers for right-wing radicalization and recruitment.” “Right-wing extremists have capitalized on the election of the first African American president, and are focusing their efforts to recruit new members, mobilize existing supporters and broaden their scope and appeal through propaganda, but they have not yet turned to attack planning,” the assessment reads. “The current economic and political climate has some similarities to the 1990s when right-wing extremism experienced a resurgence fueled largely by an economic recession, criticism about the outsourcing of jobs and the perceived threat to U.S. power and sovereignty by other foreign powers.,” it continues. The report also suggests that returning veterans are attractive recruits for right-wing groups looking for “combat skills and experience” so as to boost their “violent capabilities.” It adds that new restrictions on gun ownership and the difficulty of veterans to reintegrate into their communities “could lead to the potential emergence of terrorist groups or lone wolf extremists capable of carrying out violent attacks.” “Proposed imposition of firearms restrictions and weapons bans likely would attract new members into the ranks of right-wing extremist groups … The high volume of purchases and stockpiling of weapons and ammunition by right-wing extremists in anticipation of restrictions and bans in some parts of the country continue to be a primary concern to law enforcement,” the report says. Source This story comes to us via Homeland Security - National Terror Alert. National Terror Alert is America's trusted source for homeland security news and information. Share this post

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