Tamerlan Tsarnaev had links to slain radical militants: Russian newspaper
By Agence France-Presse
Monday, April 29, 2013 17:02 EDT
One of the brothers suspected of carrying out the Boston bombings had made
links with two figures in the Islamist anti-Kremlin insurgency in the
Northern Caucasus, both of whom were killed by Russian security forces, a
security source said Monday.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, who was himself killed during his capture by US
authorities, was known to have been in contact with a Dagestan militant
named Makhmud Nidal and also a militant of Canadian origin named William
Plotnikov, a Russian security source in the Northern Caucasus told AFP.
Plotnikov took part, like Tamerlan Tsarnaev, in boxing competitions in both
Canada and the United States and the two men also had contacts on social
networks, said the source.
Plotnikov was among seven militants killed in a shootout with Russian
security forces in July 2012. It was not clear if they ever met on the
territory of Dagestan itself.
According to the Moscow-based Novaya Gazeta opposition newspaper, which also
published details of Plotnikov's links to Tsarnaev, he was a 21-year-old
ethnic Russian who had converted to Islam in Canada.
It said that Tsarnaev's name first became known to the Russian security
forces when Plotnikov was arrested in 2010 in the Dagestani town of
Izberbash. He was later released.
Makhmud Nidal meanwhile was a known militant with whom Tamerlan Tsarnaev was
seen when he made a trip back to Dagestan from the United States in 2012,
the security source told AFP.
They were seen together four times, on each occasion at a mosque known for
its Salafist tendencies in the Dagestani capital Makhachkala.
During his visits to the mosque he became the subject of some interest among
fellow worshippers owing to an unusual interest in the study of Islam.
Nidal was killed in May 2012 in a "counterterrorist" operation in
Makhachkala. After his death, Tsarnaev disappeared from the view of the
Russian security services.
The avowed purpose of Tamerlan Tsarnaev's visit to Dagestan in 2012 was to
obtain a new Russian passport which in the end he never picked up.
The visit is now being closely scrutinised in Russia and the United States
to see if the true aim was to activate contacts with Islamists in Dagestan,
which has been dogged by an anti-Kremlin insurgency for years.
A source in the Dagestan centre for fighting extremism, which is part of the
federal security service, told the Novaya Gazeta that in the light of the
latest information it appeared this was the case.
"Judging by this all, Tamerlan Tsarnaev indeed came to Dagestan with the aim
of making contact with militants," said the source.
But the source added that he had failed to achieve his goal as it takes
several months for a willing new militant to go through a "quarantine"
period to be accepted by other Islamists as one of their own.
After the deaths of Nidal and Plotnikov, Tameralan Tsarnaev "lost his
contacts, got scared and jumped."
US and Russian security services are looking closely for signs Tamerlan
Tsarnaev and his brother and suspected accomplice, Dzhokhar, had active
links to the Islamist underground in the Northern Caucasus or acted on their
own.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, who was wounded in an escape attempt, has been
charged with using a weapon of mass destruction and could face the death
penalty if convicted in US federal court.
Their parents, who gave a highly-charged news conference last week, had been
planning to return to the United States but went back on their plans due to
the ill health of the father Anzor.
The security source told AFP that Anzor and his wife Zubeidat had been taken
out of Dagestan by friends and flown to Moscow via the regional Mineralnye
Vody airport.
The Northern Caucasus region of Dagestan is home to dozens of ethnic groups
and languages and experiences almost daily shootings and bombings that
officials blame on local criminals and Islamists with links to neighbouring
Chechnya.
==========================================
(F)AIR USE NOTICE: All original content and/or articles and graphics in this
message are copyrighted, unless specifically noted otherwise. All rights to
these copyrighted items are reserved. Articles and graphics have been placed
within for educational and discussion purposes only, in compliance with
"Fair Use" criteria established in Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976.
The principle of "Fair Use" was established as law by Section 107 of The
Copyright Act of 1976. "Fair Use" legally eliminates the need to obtain
permission or pay royalties for the use of previously copyrighted materials
if the purposes of display include "criticism, comment, news reporting,
teaching, scholarship, and research." Section 107 establishes four criteria
for determining whether the use of a work in any particular case qualifies
as a "fair use". A work used does not necessarily have to satisfy all four
criteria to qualify as an instance of "fair use". Rather, "fair use" is
determined by the overall extent to which the cited work does or does not
substantially satisfy the criteria in their totality. If you wish to use
copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you
must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
THIS DOCUMENT MAY CONTAIN COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL. COPYING AND DISSEMINATION IS
PROHIBITED WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT OWNERS.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment