The country of Norway observed a period of silence this morning for the victims of the attacks that took place on Friday. Anders Behring Breivik, an apparent right-wing extremist and Christian fundamentalist, is being held after apparently targeting Norway's government institutions for their liberal policies toward immigration. The combined death toll from the bombing in Oslo and shooting on the island of Utoya now stands at 93, with 97 injured.
A breach in air security and the smuggling of explosives onto two cargo planes bound for the U.S. has raised concerns about the screening process of air-freight cargo. Two packages carrying explosives originating in Yemen made their through four countries on at least four different airplanes before being tracked down in Britain and Dubai. Empty printer cartridges were used to hide the bombs.
Officials are now admitting vulnerabilities in the screening of cargo flights that are being exploited by terror organizations like al-Qaida.
The discovery of explosive devices hidden on cargo planes bound for the U.S. has become a clear reality of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula’s strong presence in Yemen, as well as the Saudi Arabian government's increasingly necessary role in counter-intelligence in that region.
A tip from the Saudi counter-terrorism intelligence agency was the key that led to the discovery of the bombs, which were destined for addresses in the U.S.
U.S. intelligence officers call him “The New Bin Laden.” Forty-six year old Pakistan-born Ilyas Kashmiri has long years of experience planning commando terror attacks and a declared goal of attacking the West. Intelligence services believe he hopes to run Mumbai-style bomb attacks in western Europe; coalition drone attacks have reportedly been aimed at finding Kashmiri near the Pakistan/Afghanistan border.
President Obama has long held that Afghanistan is a key battleground in the War on Terror, and for that reason, has maintained a commitment to a mission that began back in October 2001. But the exact form of that mission is in flux.
The case of the failed Times Square bombing and its accused perpetrator, Faisal Shahzad, is rapidly expanding in reach. Late Thursday the Pakistan government said it had arrested a man who claims to have acted as an accomplice to Shahzad. And here at home, federal agents raided homes in suburban Massachusetts and Long Island, New York. The details of the Massachusetts and New York raids are still developing.
Senior members of the Obama administration confirmed yesterday that Faisal Shahzad, the suspected Times Square bomber, was directly helped by the Taliban in Pakistan.
In a dramatic scene that could have been pulled from TV’s "24," federal agents arrested 30-year-old Pakistani-born Faisal Shahzad on the tarmac of New York’s Kennedy Airport for an alleged connection with Saturday’s attempted Times Square car bombing.
The Department of Homeland Security recently announced changes in its approach to passenger screenings at airports, in an effort to increase security after the failed bomb plot on Christmas Day. However, statistically, it is more likely that a terrorist would target a subway system or public buses than an airplane. And a week after two coordinated bombings on the Moscow subway, many cities are concerned about securing their surface-level public transportation systems.
A network of secret caves dug into rocky mountains reportedly used by both Taliban and al-Qaeda has been discovered in Pakistan. Still housing bedding and mattresses, the network may have been used by some of the organizations' top leadership. BBC correspondent Shoaib Hassan joins us to describe this mysterious discovery further.
U.S., U.K. and Afghan forces continue a military assault against Taliban fighters in Marjah, Afghanistan this morning. Plans for the offensive were widely discussed by U.S. and NATO commanders before the operation began, in an attempt to warn civilians in the area and limit civilian casualties. But on Sunday, two coalition rockets missed their mark, killing 12 civilians. We look at how coalition forces are doing in this critical operation with Jeffrey Dressler an Afghanistan expert with the Institute for the Study of War and Global Post correspondent, Jean MacKenzie, who is on the ground in Afghanistan.
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