U.K. raises terror alert to "severe," attack "highly likely"

There is no mention in this report about the nature or origin of the threat. Hmm. Lapsed Quakers? Militant Methodists?

"UK terror threat raised to 'severe', Home Secretary announces," by Andrew Hough for the Telegraph, January 22:

The announcement means that an attack is now "highly likely".

Mr Johnson said that although the threat had increased there was no intelligence to suggest an attack was imminent.

The Home Secretary was not specific about the threat, but indicated it was not linked to the Detroit bombing on Christmas Day.

"The Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre has today raised the threat to the UK from international terrorism from substantial to severe," he said.

"This means that a terrorist attack is highly likely, but I should stress that there is no intelligence to suggest than an attack is imminent.

"JTAC keeps the threat level under constant review and makes its judgments based on a broad range of factors, including the intent and capabilities of international terrorist groups in the UK and overseas."

He said that authorities were "not being specific about this, we are not gong to be specific about this".

"In his statement to Parliament on security and counter terrorism earlier this week, the Prime Minister said that the first and most important duty of government is the protection and security of the British people," he said.

"We still face a real and serious threat to the UK from international terrorism so I would urge the public to remain vigilant and carry on reporting suspicious events to the appropriate authorities and to support the police and security services in their continuing efforts to discover, track and disrupt terrorist activity.

"We have a very focused counter terrorism facility in this country and the public should be reassured by that."

He added: "The fact is we keep this under review and moving to this different threat level means we have to be more alert and it means that an attack has moved to the level of being likely, but we have absolutely no intelligence to suggest that it is imminent."

With thanks to JihadWatch

Hidden threat from al-Qaeda sleeper cells

Counter-terrorism police and Whitehall officials believe dozens of extremists could have arrived here by posing as students or legitimate visitors.

They are concerned both by the relatively lax checks that are made on the visitors before they arrive and by the ease with which they can outstay their visas without anyone noticing.

As many as 13,000 visa applicants may have entered the country from Pakistan in a seven month period since October last year without any checks on their supporting documentation.

The security services fear that because most do not mix with home grown terrorists, they are able to operate under the intelligence radar, acting as sleeper cells until ready to launch attacks in Britain.

Every year around 100,000 visitors arrive in Britain from Pakistan alone, which has been described by the Prime Minister as being part of a "crucible of terror" along with Afghanistan.

They are supposed to be checked by Home Office visa staff working in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

But according to an official watchdog, the Independent Monitor for Entry Clearance, many visa officers do not have "enough time to go through applications carefully".

The security services are also worried about arrivals from Somalia, Yemen and North Africa.

MI5 have got 2,000 domestic extremists under surveillance across the country but is becoming increasingly concerned about the threat from abroad.

Similar concerns are felt in the police and one senior counter-terrorism officer told the Daily Telegraph: "There is a lack of control and supervision at our borders in the broadest sense.

"The problem is not confined to Pakistan, terrorists could arrive from anywhere, and we simply have no idea how many extremists may be here."

Police have discovered that the leader of an alleged plot to blow up shopping centres in Manchester last Easter ran a visa advice service in Peshawar, Pakistan.

He is thought to have helped other alleged members of his terrorist cell to arrive from Pakistan under the cover of student visas.

At least one arrived to attend a course at a "bogus college" that had already had its accreditation withdrawn.

The discovery of the group based in Manchester and Liverpool earlier this year set off alarm bells among counter-terrorism officials who believed the threat was coming under control.

More at the Telegraph

Britain's Spy Service Says Islamist Terrorism Severe, but Not Growing

LONDON — Britain's domestic spy service thinks the threat from Islamist terrorism has stopped growing but remains severe, with terrorists eager to acquire weapons of mass destruction, according to the first authorized history of the agency.

"The Defence of the Realm," by Cambridge University historian Christopher Andrew, was commissioned by the agency, MI5, to mark its 100th anniversary this year -- the first time a major intelligence agency has granted an outsider access to its secret files.

The 1,000-page volume, published Monday, describes an organization that fought Hitler with stunning success but struggled to combat Soviet espionage during the Cold War and initially failed to grasp the threat from Islamic extremism.

Andrew claims MI5 was "slow to see the coming menace of Islamist terrorism." The book says the agency's then-head, Stella Rimington, had never heard the name Al Qaeda until a meeting in Washington in 1996, during which MI5 representatives were "taken aback by the interest" in Osama bin Laden shown by the Americans.

That changed with the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Since then MI5 has foiled several major terrorist plots against Britain, including a plan to blow up trans-Atlantic airliners using liquid explosives, for which several British Muslims were sentenced to life in prison last month.

It failed to stop the July 7, 2005 London transit bombings, which killed 52 bus and subway passengers, and Andrew said Al Qaeda-inspired terrorists remain determined to kill even more people with chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.

Read more here,,,,

Source: FoxNews

New Threat Message Warns: Al-Qaeda Will Attack Germany on a Sunday in October

The Al-Falluja jihadist forum has posted a new threat message to Germany specifying that attacks will be carried out on one of the Sundays in October.

It is titled "To the Infidel German Nation: We Bestow on You the Kindness, for the Third Time, of Specifying the Appointed Day!"

The message, which is being heavily promoted by Al-Falluja, is the latest in a series of threats to appear on the forum [1] following the release of Al-Qaeda videos threatening attacks in Germany. [2]

This message had a strange rollout. Early on October 3, 2009, a forum member called Abu Hamza 2005 wrote a post titled "Welcome to the new member Mou10ra11bitt18oun25!" He wrote that when browsing the Al-Falluja forum he had come across this newly-registered user, and that the username reminded him of "p2l0a0g8u9e," a member on the now-defunct Al-Ekhlaas forum who, in May 2008, posted a video threatening the destruction of the U.S. in a nuclear strike.

The Al-Falluja moderators made Abu Hamza 2005's article a featured post. [3] About 12 hours later Mou10ra11bitt18oun25 posted his threat; [4] it was a featured post, and was later given a banner on the top of the Al-Falluja home page.

A jihadist media workgroup that had been formed ahead of time to distribute threats to German forums and emails [5] took the post by Mou10ra11bitt18oun25 as their go signal and began to distribute it. [6]

As with the other threats on Al-Falluja, it is difficult to know whether Mou10ra11bitt18oun25 is really privy to Al-Qaeda attack plans (if these exist), or whether the post is just meant to spread panic and/or disinformation. The circumstances of the release of his message do seem to indicate that the Al-Falluja moderators had advance knowledge of it. Al-Falluja has a direct link to Al-Fajr, the media group Al-Qaeda uses to distribute its propaganda.

Forum members have speculated that the numerals in Mou10ra11bitt18oun25's username refer to the month of October ("10") and the dates October 11, 18, and 25, all of which are Sundays. [7] One forum member voiced the opinion that the numerals in the username mean that the attack will be on October 11 at 18:25 (6:25 PM). [8]

In a video released on September 19, the German Al-Qaeda operative Abu Talha warned Muslims to stay away from public areas for two weeks after the German elections unless a government were elected that supported a withdrawal from Afghanistan. [9] The German elections were held on September 27, 2009.

Following is a translation of the new threat message:

"To the Infidel Crusader Nation of Germany... Death Be Upon You"

"In the name of Allah the Beneficent, the Merciful.

"To the Muslims in Germany and outside it we say: peace and Allah's mercy and blessings be upon you.

"To the infidel Crusader nation of Germany, we say: Before the elections Sheikh Osama, may Allah protect him, and the brother Abu Talha, [10] may Allah grant him success, said to you: peace be upon those who follow the guidance. [Now,] after the elections, we say: death be upon you! [11] Death be upon those who want war!

"Perhaps many among you Germans saw on your [TV] screens the black days that passed over London, Madrid, New York, and Washington.

"The entire world still remembers the black Tuesday in New York and Washington. Everyone remembers the black Tuesday in Madrid. Everyone remembers the black Thursday in London.

"To be sure, these arrogant peoples were not warned about these attacks, and [were not told] the days [on which they would occur], in contrast with you. You were extremely lucky that we did you a good deed [and gave you the choice], and you chose blood, body parts, and destruction. We specified the time period [in which the attacks will take place]; this is a kindness over which your brothers in Madrid and London will envy you.

"We will bestow on you a third [kindness] and specify the day [of the week]!

"We would allow you the choice in specifying it, but we preferred to choose it for you with care and precision! How do you feel about Sunday? That is a good day, and is a holiday for you, as it is for others of your coreligionists.

"After we chose Thursday for London, and Tuesday for New York and Washington, and Tuesday for Madrid, here we choose Sunday for you.

"Would it be good [for the attacks to be] on Sunday, October xx, 2009? Or Sunday, October xx, 2009? Or Sunday, October xx, 2009? [12]

"Sorry, we won't bestow on you the kindness of telling you a fourth time, but we have definitely specified it.

"There remains [the matter of] the city! Will Berlin wear the same garb as New York? Or will other cities win this honor, such as Bonn, Frankfurt, Hamburg, or perhaps: [-----------------]

"Angela Merkel, you certainly drank the victory toast! But we promise you that you will be drinking it again and again, but this time it will have a different taste and a different color, because the cup will be filled with the blood of your people, who elected you and chose war!

"Oh, by the way we heard that you are good at cooking, and that you cook regularly! Sunday is a good day for this hobby, is it not? How do you feel about making your dish that day 'shoulder of German citizen', or their head?

"We have a date on *******

"Important note to the helpers [of Al-Qaeda]: This is your day. Do not spurn anything that is of good. Take it and put it on the German forums and send it by email. Don't take the trouble of translating, they have many in their brigade and who work under their banner that are from among our countrymen [i.e. Arabs] - they will take care of translating it for their masters.

"The end.*.

"*Mou10ra11bitt18oun25*"

Source: MEMRI

Terror fears at Oktoberfest

German authorities banned all flights over Munich's annual Oktoberfest beer festival on Saturday after a series of Islamic terror threats targeted Germany for its role in Afghanistan.

Some 6 million visitors a year pack the massive tents that dot Munich's sprawling 77-acre (31-hectare) Theresienwiese beer garden during the 16-day festival known across the globe. This year's event began Sept. 19.

The ban - a measure normally reserved for high-ranking state visits - is to remain in place through the end of the festival on Oct. 4.

Islamic terror groups such as al-Qaeda and the Taliban have directed threatening videos and audio messages at Germany in the past two weeks as citizens prepared to vote Sunday in national elections.

The latest video, released by the Taliban late Friday, included pictures of Oktoberfest and threatened attacks on Germany in revenge for its military presence in Afghanistan.

"Given the current security situation, we view a flight ban as necessary," the top security official in the state of Bavaria, Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann, said Saturday.

Oktoberfest has been targeted in the past - Saturday's festival opened with a minute of silence to honor the victims of a bomb attack that killed 13 people and injured 200 others on Sept. 26, 1980.

Every year, visitors down more than 1.6 million gallons (six million liters) of beer and consume 500,000 chickens and 100 oxen at the festival. .

Source: Ynet

Urgent terror alert for Israelis in India

The Counter-Terrorism Bureau at the National Security Council issued a severe terror warning for India on Thursday.

A Pakistani terror organization affiliated with al-Qaida and responsible for the attacks in Mumbai last year is planning to carry out a string of attacks throughout the Indian subcontinent, it warned.

The warning said that while all westerners in India are in peril of being targeted, Israelis and places where Israelis usually congregate in large numbers are in more serious danger.

The bureau asked all Israelis in India to steer clear of places where Western tourists are found in large numbers. It put a special emphasis on Chabad houses, which are popular with Israeli tourists, especially during the High Holidays.

The bureau rated the threat as "imminent and concrete," and emphasized the Jammu and Kashmir regions in India's North.

Thursday's warning was unusual, as India is a friendly country and there are tens of thousands of Israelis in India at any given time.

Arab countries like Jordan, Egypt - including the Sinai Peninsula - and Morocco are regularly mentioned in Counter-Terrorism Bureau statements, especially during and following Israeli military operations.

Source: JPost

Taliban threat to Afghanistan election

Amanda Hodge, in Kabul | August 17

THE Taliban has for the first time threatened to attack polling stations directly in Afghanistan's crucial presidential elections on Thursday, just hours before President Hamid Karzai prepared to face his first election debate on national television.

The threat, in leaflets distributed across southern Afghanistan and authenticated by a Taliban spokesman, is bad news for the President, who faces a last-minute poll surge by his closest presidential rival and former foreign minister, Abdullah Abdullah.

"This is to inform respected residents that you must not participate in the elections so as not to become a victim of our operations, because we will use new tactics," said one leaflet posted in the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar.

All voters were allies of the Afghan government and foreign forces and therefore enemies of Islam, it added.

"We are using new tactics targeting election centres. If anyone is harmed in and around election centres, they will be responsible because we have informed them in advance," Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi said.

While Mr Karzai remains the frontrunner in Afghanistan's second presidential elections this Thursday, his campaign has been marred by security threats amid an escalating Taliban campaign to derail and discredit the elections. Late last month, the Taliban ordered voters to boycott the polls and join them in waging holy war to "liberate" Afghanistan.

Taliban militants have also been holding community shuras (meetings) across the conservative Pashtun-dominated south - Mr Karzai's voter heartland - to appeal for support.

But the latest warnings mark the first direct Taliban threat to attack polling sites.

The soaring insurgent attacks have raised concerns that voters will stay away from the polling centres on Thursday, jeopardising the legitimacy of the elections.

A massive suicide bombing on Saturday morning in the heart of Kabul's embassy district has heightened those fears. Read more here ...

Source: The Australian

Africa's Terror Threat Real

By Dr. Walid Phares

Over the past months, the narrative of Washington’s “new direction” in world affairs blurred the clarity of the confrontation with the terror forces worldwide. Are we at conflict with a global threat?

The administration, insisting on treating the issue locally, claimed otherwise. But during President Barack Obama’s July 11th speech in Accra, he said that “when there’s a genocide in Darfur or terrorists in Somalia, these are not simply African problems — they are global security challenges, and they demand a global response.”

This zigzag between local and global risk is confusing not only to the public but to strategists as well. If terrorism in Somalia is a global security challenge, then it is a global threat. And thus it is a global confrontation, call it war or call it anything else. Therefore, the response has to be global, security, military, political, economic, and ideological.

Responding to the Jihadi threat throughout Africa must be continental and integrated with international efforts. The president should have drawn the attention of his audience to the trans-African Jihadi threat commencing in Somalia with the al-Shabab, and thrusting through the immensity of the Sahel via Chad, Niger, Mali, and Mauritania. The menace is even wider as the Salafists (al Qaeda-like Jihadists) threaten northern Africa via Algeria, Morocco, and even Egypt.

Unfortunately, neither the Cairo nor the Accra speeches described the terror threat in full. In the next few years, 50 percent of the continent will be involved in a full-fledged war with terror.

That is not a little detail obstructing development; that is the main threat against social, economic, and democratic progress across Africa. The Jihadists aren’t just some extremists with local demand: they have an all-out agenda diametrically opposed to the modern democratic agenda and to U.S. efforts in international development.

In his speech Obama raised another point of confusion created by the administration: The ideology of the global threat. Since early 2009, (but also under the last two years of the George W. Bush administration), all reference to the existence of “an” ideology, doctrine, or school of thought of the foe, let alone its name, was scrapped out of the lexicon. The “J” word (Jihad) was banned along with all “I” words (Islamism, etc).

Until the Accra address, the Obama speech writers wanted the public to digest the idea that there is no ideological battle. But in front of an all-African legislative audience in Ghana, Obama resuscitated the unavoidable conclusion: “That is why we must stand up to inhumanity in our midst. It is never justified, never justifiable to target innocents in the name of ideology.”

So is it or is it not an ideology, regardless of what one wishes to call it? In Africa, we cannot convince the people subjected to Wahhabi, Salafi, or Khomeinist propaganda that ideology has nothing to do with the massacre of black men, women, and children. But in Cairo, we didn’t raise the issue. In Washington, we act as if we want it to go away by changing our lexicon. In the end, Africa knows all too well the nature of the ideological menace. It knows its name, its goals, and it has seen its work. The U.S. must catch up with the continent’s deep and dramatic knowledge of the roots of “evil.”

Twice in his speech, Obama asserted that “we must start from the simple premise that Africa’s future is up to Africans.” Indeed, after the receding of Western colonialism during the last decades of the 20th century, who is obstructing Africa’s global independence? What regional and international organizations are controlling the African vote at the United Nations, paralyzing the African Union when it decides to intervene against ethnic cleansing in Darfur, southern Sudan, and Biafra, or to solve civil wars in Cote d’Ivoire and Somalia?

The Arab League controls 10 of Africa’s countries and the Organization of the Islamic Conference covers half of the continent. Both organizations are essentially commanded by oil-producing regimes and jointly “colonize” the African Union. NATO, the EU, the CIS, and the OAS have no membership in Africa. But OPEC’s big boys determine at what price Nigerians, Ghanaians, and others must sell their oil. What I have coined as “oil imperialism” in my last book has been devastating third world independence since 1973, when petrodollars pushed back against the West and intimidated weaker nations.

If oil regimes can exert influence in the world’s most powerful capitals, how can poor African nations resist their domination?

FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor Dr Walid Phares is the author of The Confrontation: Winning the War against Future Jihad. He is the Director of the Future Terrorism Project at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a visiting scholar at the European Foundation for Democracy.

Source: Faith Freedom

Obama fails to win NATO troops for Afghanistan

Michael Evans and David Charter in Strasbourg | April 04

BARACK Obama has made an impassioned plea to the US's allies to send more troops to Afghanistan, warning that failure to do so would leave Europe vulnerable to more terrorist atrocities.

But though the US President continued to dazzle Europeans on his debut international tour, the Continent’s leaders turned their backs on the US President.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was the only one to offer substantial help. He offered to send several hundred extra British soldiers to provide security during the August election, but even that fell short of the thousands of combat troops that the US was hoping to prise from Britain.

Just two other allies made firm offers of troops. Belgium offered to send 35 military trainers and Spain offered 12. Mr Obama’s host, Nicolas Sarkozy, refused his request.

The derisory response threatened to tarnish Mr Obama’s European tour, which yesterday included a spellbinding performance in Strasbourg in which he offered the world a vision of a future free of nuclear weapons.

Mr Obama – who has pledged 21,000 more troops to combat the growing insurgency and is under pressure from generals to supply up to 10,000 more – used the eve of NATO’s 60th anniversary summit to declare bluntly that it was time for allies to do their share.

“Europe should not simply expect the United States to shoulder that burden alone,” he said. “This is a joint problem it requires a joint effort.”

He said that failing to support the US surge would leave Europe open to a fresh terrorist offensive. “It is probably more likely that al-Qa’ida would be able to launch a serious terrorist attack on Europe than on the United States because of proximity,” he said.

The presidential charm offensive failed to move fellow NATO countries. President Sarkozy told Mr Obama that France would not be sending reinforcements to bolster its existing force northeast of Kabul.

Germany, Italy, Poland, Canada and Denmark said that they were considering their positions. After a meeting with Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, Mr Obama tried to apply further moral pressure.

“I am sure that Germany, as one of the most important leaders in Europe, will be stepping up to the plate and helping us to get the job done.”

Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, the NATO Secretary-General, warned that new laws proposed by President Karzai in Afghanistan sanctioning child marriage and marital rape had made it harder to raise more soldiers.

“We are there to defend universal values and when I see, at the moment, a law threatening to come into effect which fundamentally violates women’s rights and human rights, that worries me,” he said.

“I have a problem to explain to a critical public audience in Europe, be it the UK or elsewhere, why I’m sending the guys to the Hindu Kush.”

The temporary British deployment falls short of the 2,000 soldiers that the Army had planned to deploy long-term to Afghanistan and appeared to catch defence chiefs by surprise.

Mr Brown announced the commitment as he flew into Strasbourg for the two-day summit, but hopes that it would spur other allies to follow suit were soon dashed.

British officials said the extra troops, expected to number between 500 and 700 – increasing Britain’s military strength there to about 9,000 – would be dispatched to southern Afghanistan for a four-month period leading up to and beyond the election, due to take place on August 20.

The plan is to withdraw them once the election is over. Mr Brown said the extra troops were only supposed to provide a “temporary uplift”.

Military contingency plans remain on the table to send up to 2,000 more troops long-term, taking the total to 10,000, but that will depend on the political will to approve the deployment.

Although Mr Brown discussed Afghanistan with Mr Obama when they held bilateral talks before the G20 summit in London, it is understood that no formal offer of extra troops was made.

Source: The Australian

American Al Qaeda Resurfaces in New Tape

After Nearly 7 Months of Silence, Adam Gadahn Addresses U.S. Financial Crisis in Web Video

By RHONDA SCHWARTZ

Adam Gadahn, the former Orange County, Calif., resident who's become known as al Qaeda's media director, resurfaced in a new video released on the Web today after nearly nine months of silence.

Looking thin but healthy, the young al Qaeda spokesman lashed out against escalating U.S. and Pakistani air strikes in tribal regions, where he and other top al Qaeda leaders are believed to be hiding.

The tape appeared to be recently recorded, as Gadahn pointedly spoke about America's financial crisis, referring to "the escalating chaos and looming meltdown threatening the crusaders' economic system."

Source: ABC News

Bali bombers Mukhlas, Amrozi and Imam Samudra still laughing

Paul Toohey | October 02, 2008

KILL us, Bali's laughing bombers vowed yesterday, and there will be revenge.

During their trials for the 2002 nightclub bombings on the Indonesia party island, Amrozi and fellow Islamic militants Mukhlas and Imam Samudra said they were happy to die for their cause - whatever it was - but now they squeal and squirm.

"If I am executed, later there will be retribution," Amrozi, awaiting death by firing squad, threatened yesterday.

Amrozi, 47, a resident of Nusakambangan Island, a prison for end-of-the-line criminals off Java, yesterday told journalists on the third anniversary of the subsequent 2005 Bali bombings that those who executed him would be "condemned to die by God".

"Of course we are all condemned to die by god - or fate, or time, whatever you like to call it. Some of us would prefer that time picked us, rather than having it decided by a group of miserable humans who insult their god by imagining they share his power."

The smiling assassin, the cowardly Amrozi, so unremorseful, is clearly terrified of his imminent execution. As is Mukhlas, who said: "If the execution is carried out, that will constitute the biggest criminal act because they will be killing holy warriors."

Despite Amrozi laughing through their trials, and the three using every legal stalling method they could to stay their executions - all failed - they have now reached the point of imagining what it will feel like when a bullet passes through their respective hearts. Maybe they won't feel a thing.

Yet there is no reason their deaths should be celebrated. But none of them has given a single reason for anyone to fight for them.

This is especially so because they remain committed to killing, even as their ends draw nearer. Yesterday, at the end of Ramadan, Amrozi delivered his threat of retribution. He did not expound on what form this retribution would take.

Asked by a journalist if he would seek forgiveness - a tradition during the Muslim celebration of Eid al-Fitr - from the families of Western victims, Imam Samudra said: "I don't ask for forgiveness from infidels, I only ask for forgiveness from Muslims."

If certain parents or loved ones of the 202 who were killed in the October 12 bombings believe the three should not be shot, they should be respected in that wish.

So should loved ones who think otherwise.

Anyone who has stood in Kuta looking at the memorial to the 202 - 88 of them Australian - could not fail to be deeply moved.
The bombers, who were themselves mass executioners, also turned on their own Government yesterday, with Mukhlas describing it as "satanic".

Indonesian people, in my experience, are among the warmest people on the planet. They are also susceptible to superstition, which is what Mukhlas is playing on. They will not be conned in this instance.

When the three are taken to a lonely beach - or perhaps to a coconut grove - at dawn to have small aprons pinned on their chests to assist the execution squad's aim, it will simply not matter that they are gone. The people I feel most for are those in the firing squad, most of whom will have their long weapon armed with blanks but will probably know, based on the rifle's recoil, whether or not it was their bullet that did the damage.

"The people who will execute us, if they do this execution they will be cursed by God," Mukhlas said.

Well, in this life, some people have unpleasant jobs they just have to do. On October 12, 2002, Amrozi, Mukhlas and Samudra were not such people.

Source: The Australian

Terror group Fidayeen-al-Islam vows more Pakistan hits

Bruce Loudon, Islamabad | September 26, 2008

A FULL-SCALE emergency was sounded at Islamabad's international airport last night as the al-Qa'ida-linked organisation responsible for bombing Pakistan's Marriott hotel vowed to launch even bigger attacks.

In a mobile phone message in English sent to reporters, theal-Qa'ida-linked Fidayeen-al-Islam - "Islamic commandos" - warned that "all those who facilitate Americans and NATO crusaders like (Marriott hotel owner) Sadruddin Hashwani, they will keep on receiving blows."

The group claimed it attacked the Marriott because 250 US marines and NATO troops were staying there - something denied by the US embassy.

Fifty-three people were killed in the attack, the worst terrorist strike in Pakistan.

Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari declared his country to be "in a state of war", while intelligence agencies said they had "credible and verifiable" information of an imminent suicide bomb attack.

The US State Department and governments of allied nations have barred their citizens from hotels in Islamabad, saying they fear new terror attacks.

This follows the US accelerating attacks on suspected militants in Pakistan's frontier region, mostly with missiles fired from unmanned drones operating from Afghanistan.

The incursions - especially a ground raid into South Waziristan by US commandos on September 3 - have angered many ordinary Pakistanis as well as the militants.

Owais Ghani, governor of the troubled North West Frontier Province, said the time had come to talk to the militants, including the Taliban leader Mullah Omar.

"The solution, the bottom line, is that political stability will only come to Afghanistan when all political power groups, irrespective of the length of their beard, are given their just due share in the political dispensation in Afghanistan," he reportedly said.

Mr Ghani was reported as saying that "Mullah Omar is a political reality" and adding that Afghans intolerant of foreigners on their soil were staging "a national uprising - to eliminate the Taliban you have to slaughter half the Afghan nation".

Meanwhile, the road to Islamabad airport has been declared "insecure" and susceptible to terrorist attack.

Two weeks ago, would-be assassins near the airport road fired shots at a convoy of prime ministerial cars, apparently in an attempt to kill Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.

Speaking to journalists at an Iftar dinner to mark the end of another day of fasting for Ramadan, Mr Gilani said with reference to the US incursions in Pakistan: "I want to declare categorically that we will not tolerate violation of our sovereignty by anyone in the name of combating terrorism.

"We are fighting extremism and terror not for any another country, but our own country. This is our own war."

At almost the same time, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates maintained the US had "the right to act against terrorist targets in Pakistan" but that the new Government in Islamabad had to be "a willing partner".

Source:The Australian