18 November, 2005: A Whole Lotta Training Going On: Spanish security forces link bomb hoaxes with Islamist radical activity

by Laura Mansfield

For several years now, we have been convinced that many of the false alarms and hoaxes such as bomb threats, suspicious packages left at strategic locations, etc., that we’ve seen are terror-related.

Certainly a significant number of these incidents are copycats, pranks, criminal, and/or just pure stupidity. But others, because of the strategic nature of the threat, seem to be more than that.

We’ve heard many of these incidents described as “probes”, “pulsing the system”, and “dry runs”.

But until this morning there has been no official confirmation that any of these were terror-related.

However, this morning, the Spanish newspaper El Mundo is quoting Spanish Civil Guard officials, citing this technique as a new strategy currently being used by radical Islamists. According to the report, “the Civil Guard are investigating a new strategy by radical Islamists based in Spain which consists of giving hoax warnings of bombs as part of their jihadist activity.”

The article goes on to state: “The members of the Civil Guard have proof that at least one of the evacuations conducted in Spain in the last few months because of a bomb warning was caused by an Islamist as part of his "period of training".”

That’s an incredibly important admission, and it verifies what many analysts have suspected for quite some time.

It certainly appears that there has been a lot of training going on in the US!

The complete article from El Mundo follows:

Spanish security forces link bomb hoaxes with Islamist radical activity Friday, November 18, 2005 Excerpt from report by Spanish newspaper El Mundo website on 18 November Madrid: The Civil Guard are investigating a new strategy by radical Islamists based in Spain which consists of giving hoax warnings of bombs as part of their jihadist activity, so sources in the investigation have told Europa Press (news agency). The members of the Civil Guard have proof that at least one of the evacuations conducted in Spain in the last few months because of a bomb warning was caused by an Islamist as part of his "period of training". In a message intercepted by the Civil Guard this fundamentalist tells another Islamist that he warned the state security forces that an explosion was going to occur in a public building. The rapid police response to the call and the "panic", in his own words, which it caused among citizens fulfilled the fundamentalist's hopes. "I felt very calm. I am ready for the jihad now", the Islamist said in the intercepted conversation. This information obtained by the Civil Guard, which is part of an investigation still under way, is in line with the analysis of those in charge of combating Islamist terrorism, concluding that the threat of Islamist terrorism in Spain still stands. According to their conclusions, the radical Islamists are currently carrying out various kinds of activities on Spanish territory, from proselytizing to recruitment for the sending of mujahedin to other regions of the world or the collection of funds to finance the activities. Until now bomb hoaxes are not something the experts would have identified as a jihadist activity. (Passage omitted) (Description of Source: Madrid El Mundo (Internet Version-WWW) in Spanish -- independent national daily)