July 8: Three suspected Al Qaeda members were arrested on Thursday morning in what Norwegian and US officials said was a terrorist plot linked to similar plans in New York and England. The three men, whose names were not released, had been under surveillance for more than a year.
Two of the men were arrested in Norway and one in Germany, according to Janne Kristiansen, head of Norway’s Police Security Service. She declined to give further details of the locations. Ms Kristiansen said one of the men was a 39-year-old Norwegian of Uighur origin, who had lived in Norway since 1999. The other suspects included a 37-year-old Iraqi and a 31-year-old citizen of Uzbekistan, both of whom have permanent residency permits in Norway. Officials believe they were planning attacks with portable but powerful bombs like the ones at the heart of 2010 thwarted suicide attack in the New York City subway.
US attorney-general Eric Holder has called that one of the most serious terrorist plots since 9/11. On Wednesday, prosecutors revealed the existence of a related plot in Manchester, England. Officials believe the Norway plan was organised by Salah al-Somali, Al Qaeda’s former chief of external operations, the man in charge of plotting attacks worldwide. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity. The Norwegian Police Security Service said only that the three were arrested on suspicion of “preparing terror activities.” Al-Somali, who was killed in a CIA drone airstrike in 2009, has been identified in US court documents as one of the masterminds of the New York subway plot. Two men have pleaded guilty in that case, admitting they planned to detonate explosives during rush hour. A third man awaits trial.
Officials said it was not clear the men had selected a target for the attacks but they were attempting to make peroxide bombs, the powerful home-made explosives that prosecutors say were attempted in both New York and England.