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British blame terror libya algeria { May 6 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=290542&sw=touristhttp://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=290542&sw=tourist
Tuesday, May 06, 2003 Iyyar 4, 5763
UK probes ties between British bombers and Libya, Algeria
By Sharon Sadeh and Arnon Regular, Haaretz Correspondents
British investigators are trying to determine whether the two Britons who committed last week's fatal suicide bombing in Tel Aviv had ties to Libyan or Algerian terrorist organizations, the British media reported yesterday.
According to the Sun, the authorities are investigating whether Omar Sharif, who escaped after his explosives failed to detonate and is still being searched for in Israel, was recruited by members of an Algerian terrorist cell recently arrested on suspicion of setting up a laboratory in London for the manufacture of Ricin poison. Sharif was in contact with Algerian activists, the paper said.
Three Israelis were killed and about 60 wounded in the bombing at Mike's Bar on the Tel Aviv beachfront last Wednesday.
The Daily Telegraph reported that one of the six suspects arrested to date by the British police in connection with the bombing - who include Sharif's wife, sisters and brother - was found at the Nottingham residence of Altaf Abassi, who served as an agent for Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi in the 1980s. The paper said that Sharif and the other bomber, Asif Hanif, were persuaded by extremist organizations in Britain to study in Damascus, where they encountered local terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah.
The Telegraph also said that several Western security services have requested details from Israel on the type of explosive used by the two Britons, to determine whether this is indeed a new type of plastic explosive that is difficult for standard airport x-ray equipment to detect. Israeli officials have suggested that this might explain how the terrorists smuggled the explosives through the Allenby Bridge border crossing between Israel and Jordan. But Western agencies also say these suggestions could merely be an Israeli attempt to whitewash an embarrassing security lapse.
British and Israeli investigators also continue to investigate whether Hamas carried out the bombing in conjunction with another terrorist organization, such as Hezbollah or Al-Qaida. If so, however, this raises the question of why an "easy" target such as a Tel Aviv nightclub was chosen - the type of target Hamas is capable of hitting without
outside help.
Meanwhile, a member of the International Solidarity Movement revealed yesterday that the bombers met with movement activists in the Gaza Strip at the end of April.
ISM member Raphael Cohen told a press conference that he met the two men on Friday, April 25, five days before the bombing, when 15 people gathered in a Rafah apartment belonging to the movement. The participants included four Britons from London, who planned to establish a summer camp in Gaza, three Italians, the two bombers and Cohen and another five ISM members.
Tea was served at the meeting and general questions were asked about the participants' identities and plans in Rafah. Cohen said the two Britons answered that they did not belong to any particular group, but were rather "alternative tourists" in the territories. He said the ISM members were at the apartment for 15 minutes before leaving for a memorial ceremony for ISM's Rachel Corrie, who was killed by the IDF in March while trying to prevent a house demolition in Rafah.
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