Word: aroud
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...Hicheur's name first arose in earlier Franco-Belgian investigations into a network that is suspected of finding recruits in the two countries and sending them to the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area to undergo training to eventually launch attacks in Europe. Among the group's members was Malika el Aroud, the widow of an al-Qaeda suicide bomber who killed the anti-Taliban militia leader Ahmed Shah Massoud in northern Afghanistan two days before the Sept. 11 attacks. El Aroud, a Belgian national, wrote a radical blog and participated in online forums urging Muslims to join the jihad against...
...unclear exactly when Hicheur began communicating with el Aroud's group or whether he was interested in going to Afghanistan or just looking for other terrorist-group contacts. Either way, the busts in December and May left el Aroud's group weakened, apparently causing Hicheur to seek out other extremists in online forums. "[Hicheur] eventually found AQIM people ready to discuss and encourage his jihadist ambition," the French official said. "These forums allow extremists from different countries to strike up partnerships and even plan together ... But that gives police and intelligence services very useful places to keep under close watch...
...With the Taliban now resurgent in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, el Aroud's group has managed to remain active despite the raids that have sapped its membership. Hicheur's ability to move from that group directly into AQIM circles, meanwhile, is a reminder of how many places the terrorism threat now resides in Europe. Hicheur's case also marks the first instance of AQIM using a French recruit as an active terrorist operative in Europe, rather than solely for logistical assistance as the group has in the past. All the more reason for Europe's counterterrorism authorities to continue their...
...expected to be a key witness in the cases of other Al Qaeda members, including that of Malika El Aroud, a Morrocan-born Belgian woman accused of recruiting Al Qaeda members over the Internet...
...case of what they described at the time as a looming suicide bomb plot by the group. According to police, several members of the group were known to have traveled to and from Pakistan and Afghanistan. Among those arrested in the raid and still detained is Malika El Aroud, 48, a Belgian national known for her blogging calls to fellow Muslims to take up jihad and the widow of Abdessater Dahmane, one of two Tunisian nationals recruited by Belgian extremist networks to assassinate Afghanistan's key anti-Taliban commander, Ahmed Shah Massoud, two days before 9/11...