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North Korea Preparing For Test Of Long Range ICBM Missile ?

Posted: 31 May 2009 12:52 AM PDT

North Korea appears to be preparing for a long-range missile
test, defying the U.N. Security Council whose members are negotiating a
resolution to punish it for its recent nuclear test, Yonhap News Agency
reported Saturday, quoting an informed intelligence source.

The source, asking not to be identified, said an object that
appeared to be an intercontinental ballistic missile ICBM was recently
spotted on a cargo train at an artillery research center near Pyongyang,
the North Korean capital.

“We believe that the object is certainly an ICBM,” said the
official, adding that its size is somewhat similar to the one the North
fired into the Pacific on April 5.

North Korea is believed to have started moving the object to a
missile launch pad in Musudan-ri on the country’s east coast, according to
the official.

“The missile may be a modified version of a Taepodong-2
missile, which can travel over 4,000 km,” the official said. A Taepodong-2
missile is theoretically capable of reaching the western U.S.

“It usually takes about two months to set up a launch pad, but
the process could be done in as little as two weeks, which means the North
could launch a long-range missile as early as mid-June,” the source
said.

The developments of what appears to be preparations for a
missile launch follow Monday’s nuclear test, which drew the international
community’s condemnation against North Korea. The test came less than two
months after it fired a rocket that the U.S. and its allies say was a
disguised form of an intercontinental ballistic missile.

The remarks came shortly after a South Korean defense source in
Singapore said some activities were spotted at a North Korean munitions
factory used to build long-range missiles.

Some watchers speculate that North Korea may launch a missile
at a time close to a summit set for June 16 between South Korean President
Lee Myung-bak and his U.S. counterpart, Barack Obama.

“There is a possibility that North Korea may push the ‘fire’
button right before or after the South Korea-U.S. summit,” said a key
diplomatic official at the presidential office, requesting to be
unnamed.

Source

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Taliban Target Britain On Orders From al-Qaeda

Posted: 30 May 2009 01:33 PM PDT

The terrorist informant has told prosecutors he was trained by
Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistan Taliban, and was planning a
series of suicide attacks with 11 other men.

The informant, known as “Ahmed”, told investigators the bombers
were to work in pairs using a “device carried in a backpack with a third
person to detonate a remote control” in order to ensure the bombers went
through with their mission.

Details of the attempted attacks emerged in papers submitted to
the Spanish authorities in a case against the alleged bombers, who were
arrested in raids in the Raval district of Barcelona in January last
year.

It is claimed the attacks were to begin on the Barcelona
underground system and then spread to the other European countries with a
presence in Afghanistan, thought to include Britain, according to new
documents.

The information echoed claims made by British security services
that a terrorist cell was sent to Manchester from the Taliban heartland in
Pakistan’s lawless tribal areas.

British investigators believe that the cell, which was
allegedly planning attacks on the Trafford and Arndale shopping centres
over the Easter holidays, had connections with al-Qaeda, and Spanish
prosecutors say their cell may also have had links with al-Qaeda.

The terrorist group is believed to have formed a “holy
alliance” with the Taliban to launch terrorist attacks on foreign
soil.

Instead of relying on British-born men travelling to Pakistan
for training, al-Qaeda is now recruiting “ready made” terrorists from
among the Taliban, investigators believe.

The 10 men arrested in the north west are fighting deportation
on national security grounds after Government lawyers accused them of
being members of a “UK-based network linked to al-Qaeda involved in attack
planning”.

Spanish police found chemicals including nitrocellulose and
potassium perchlorate along with batteries, timers and cables in the
raids.

They also found “materials for indoctrination” relating to
attacks against Nato forces in Afghanistan and books and DVDs.

Spanish prosecutors submitted documents laying out their case
earlier this month and Dolores Delgado Garcia, a prosecutor at Spain’s
National Court, told the Daily Telegraph she believed the Barcelona cell
was inspired by speeches by Osama bin Laden about the “loss of Andalucia”
once part of the Muslim Ottoman empire.

“Al-Qaeda has been targeting Spain because of its historic
associations with Andalucia,” she said. “But other cities in Europe where
countries have troops in Afghanistan were also targets.”

Explaining her case at a top-level conference organised by New
York University’s Centre for Law and Security, she said “Ahmed” had become
a “protected witness” and had told them that “Baitullah Mehsud would make
demands and when they were not complied with, they would launch their
attacks”.

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