North Africa - Pro Al Qaeda preaching in Tahrir square Egypt

Further reading: Emerging Islamic State of Tunisia

Further reading: Libya Al Qaeda flags on government building

'Iran strike aftermath couldn't be as bad as nuclear Iran'

Former Mossad head Danny Yatom says Israel can't afford to wonder if Tehran "will go crazy and throw a bomb on us," says "painful" IDF response would stop rocket fire from Hezbollah and Hamas.

   The outcome of a strike on Iran's nuclear sites, no matter how destructive, can never be as bad for Israel as an Iran armed with nuclear weapons, former Mossad chief Danny Yatom said on Wednesday at a security conference at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University.

Continue reading: Jerusalem Post

France: Reconstruction of a nuclear attack

Further reading: Gadaffi - The day after

They could be scenes from a disaster film with rescuers donning futuristic gas marks and carrying survivors to safety.

But these pictures show an exercise simulating a nuclear, biological and chemical attack at La Defense metro station, just west of Paris.

Rescue workers checked on volunteers involved in the chaotic scenes as they evacuated the busy station located underneath the Grande Arche building in the business district of the city.

Continue reading: Reconstruction of a nuclear attack

Video: (Docu-drama) Dirty bomb in London

Busy week For Malta's military bomb disposal unit

Ominous signs...

Times of Malta

Updated - The airport arrivals lounge was briefly evacuated this afternoon after a man raised suspicion when he left a suitcase in the hall and ran out, eyewitnesses said.

The incident happened at about 4 p.m. The suitcase was in the street side of the building, close to the car park ticketing machines.

The building was sealed off and army bomb disposal experts were on the scene to check the suitcase.

The suitcase was 'blown up' using a high pressure water jet. It was found to be empty.

Bomb maker on the loose in Malta

Car bombings throughout the Middle East are the usual means of assassinating targets, only this one in Malta failed to have its desired result.

Sends a clear message though of what is out there in Maltese society now.

The Maltese are not known for such sophisticated car bombings, or even comitting such terrorist acts so I would be looking at the intended targets Arab associates who would have links to Libyan terrorists, and any possible grievences there might be due to his past criminal dealings with them.

Now Gadaffi is gone and a new Libya is emerging, there is a new proliferation of all types of weaponry coming out of the Country, and many Gadaffi Loyalists making their escape and setting up home and business (legitimate/terrorist) in other parts of the World with Malta a favourite destination due to its historical links with the Gadaffi regime, its proximity to Libya, and its ever expanding expat community living on the island.

Times of Malta

Quote: Forensic expert Anthony Abela Medici, backed by several years of experience in the field, argued that it must have been a bomb with highly explosive material.

Judging by footage and photographs he had seen on the media, since he is not involved in the case, Dr Abela Medici agreed it looked like it was “very unlikely” to have been planted in a few minutes.

This indicates, he said, that it was either being transported or else the person who placed it got the timing wrong.

Such a bomb would have to be manufactured by experienced people, especially because high-explosive material and the detonators to set it off are not so easily available.

Dr Abela Medici said this explosion reminded him of a similar car bomb that killed Emanuel Micallef in December 1969 in Paola. That time, however, the bomb was connected to the engine and went off when the ignition was switched on.

Continue reading: Bomb maker on the loose in Malta

North Africa's emerging Tunisian Islamic State

Tunisia's Islamists hail arrival of the 'sixth caliphate'

The Islamist politician likely to become Tunisia's first democratically elected prime minister has alarmed liberals and secularists by claiming the arrival of the "sixth caliphate", a controversial term for a Muslim empire.

Hamadi Jebeli, secretary-general of Ennahda, the moderate Islamist party which romped to victory in last month's elections, told a rally in the city of Sousse: "My brothers, you are at a historic moment in a new cycle of civilisation, God willing. We are in sixth caliphate, God willing."

Continue reading: North Africa's emerging Tunisian Islamic State

Further reading: Iraq executes Tunisian for shrine bombing

Gadaffi's End game scenario - The day after

Hand all your most deadly dangerous weapons to Al Qaeda's Libyan wing to continue the Jihad against the West when gone.

"Mad dog of war" and one time the Worlds No.1 State sponsor of international terrorism, so he knew what he was doing when it comes to terrorism and who the best people to give his undeclared weaponry too were.

To think that these weapons are not now in the hands of Al Qaeda is naive.

It doesn't take much to cause a catastrophe...

SAM's carried away on the back of a lorry

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Gadaffi's secret stash of chemical weapons

You can only wonder whether Al Qaead's Libyan wing have traced some other secret stash and plundered it to bolster their arsenal that already comprises some of Gadaffi's surface to air missiles ready for the coming North African front opening up in the Med.

David Cameron said last night that the new Libyan government had told him it had identified an arsenal that had been ‘kept hidden from the world’.

Diplomatic sources said several sites thought to contain mustard gas agent and other chemicals had been discovered across the country and were now under armed guard.

Continue reading: Gadaffi's secret stash of chemical weapons

Al Qaeda's Libyan wing has Gadaffi's weapons

Times of Malta

Al-Qaeda’s North Africa franchise acknowledged it had acquired part of slain Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi’s arsenal, in comments by one of its leaders quoted yesterday.

Mokhtar Belmokhtar, believed to be one of the leaders of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), made the remarks to Mauritanian news agency ANI, which has carried interviews and statements from the group in the past.

“We have been one of the main beneficiaries of the revolutions in the Arab world,” said Mr Belmokhtar, an Algerian national.

“As for our acquisition of Libyan armament, that is an absolutely natural thing,” he said, without elaborating on the nature of the weapons purportedly acquired.

Officials and experts have expressed concern that part of Colonel Gaddafi’s considerable stock of weapons could end up in the hands of AQIM, which has bases in the Sahel and currently holds several foreign hostages.

According to several experts, AQIM has acquired surface-to-air missiles which could pose a threat to flights over the region.

Mr Belmokhtar also claimed a level of ideological convergence existed between his movement and the Islamist rebels who eventually toppled Col Gaddafi last month and became Libya’s new rulers.

“We did not fight , alongside them in the field against the Gaddafi forces,” he said. “But young Islamists, jihadis... were the ones spearheading the revolution in Libya.”

The National Transitional Council now in charge of Libya owes its victory over Col Gaddafi’s 42-year rule partly to Western military backing and claims to seek the establishment of a moderate Islamic administration.

UN fears for Libyas surface to air missiles

Further reading: When a plane drops out of the sky

Quote: The MANPAD surface-to-air missiles can be used against civilian jets and other ordnance can easily be converted into car bombs and roadside explosives, according to experts. Meanwhile, according to Associated Press, Libya’s interim Prime Minister confirmed the presence of chemical weapons in Libya and said foreign inspectors would arrive this week to deal with the issue.

Continue reading: Libyas missing surface to air missiles

A new game begins

The black flag of Al Qaeda was hoisted in Libya yesterday as Nato formally ended its military campaign.

The standard fluttered from the roof of the courthouse in Benghazi, where the country’s new rulers have imposed sharia law since seizing power.

Seen as the seat of the revolution, the judicial building was used by rebel forces to establish their provisional government and media centre.

The flag has been spotted on the courthouse several times, prompting denials from the National Transitional Council that it was responsible.

Complete with Arabic script declaring ‘there is no God but Allah’ and a full moon underneath, it was hoisted alongside the Libyan national flag.

There are reports that extremists have been seen on Benghazi’s streets at night, waving the Al Qaeda flag and shouting ‘Islamiya, Islamiya! No East, nor West

Read more: A new game begins