Head of Irish government confirms terrorists are in Ireland
From Slugger O'Toole:
Bertie Ahren confirms Jihadist presence in Ireland--
Not that he had much choice in the matter, since RTÉ had already obtained documents dating from 2003, under the US Freedom of Information Act, from the US State Department revealing that "up to six Islamist groups have had cells operating in Ireland." and that the information was based on intelligence gathered by gardaí.
Asked if any "foreign terrorist groups" had a presence in Ireland, the embassy named the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, Al-Gama'at al-Islamiyah, the Algerian Armed Islamic Group, al-Qaeda, and "possibly Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad".
Asked to describe the presence, the embassy said there are "operational support, logistical and financial cells located in Ireland". Asked if there are "any ethnic or religious communities in the country that are sympathetic to these groups", the embassy said yes. Asked if there had been any anti-American demonstrations in Ireland over the previous 12 months, the embassy said yes, and estimated the average size of a protest at between "30 to 300 people".
Meanwhile, the embassy also told the US state department that there were "suspect non-governmental organisations in the country that have a relationship" with some of the groups.
One could have guessed this being so close in proximity to England and France. as one of Slugger's commentors put it "Where there is a Muslim there is a terrorist eh?" Not neccesarily in the same room, but you get the picture.
Labels: al-Qaeda, Hamas, Ireland, Islamic Jihad, Terrorist Cell
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