[AP/Houston Chronicle] Karin Laub - Al-Qaeda is looming increasingly large in Hamas-ruled Gaza. Palestinian intelligence officials believe al-Qaeda has formed some sleeper cells in Gaza and suspect possible al-Qaeda involvement in several spectacular attacks on Palestinian security chiefs since 2004. As early as 2003, an Israeli military court sentenced a Gaza man to 27 years in prison on charges he was recruited by al-Qaeda in Afghanistan to form a network in the Palestinian territories. Still, quiet cooperation between some Gaza militants and al-Qaeda is increasingly possible. Smuggling tunnels run under the Gaza-Egypt border, and al-Zawahri specifically called on Bedouins in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula - implicated in three major attacks since 2004 and heavily involved in smuggling - to help Hamas.
2007-06-26 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive