Image courtesy Maersk Line
Al Qaeda Affiliate Targets US Ships: Report -- ABC News
Algerian authorities have foiled a plot by an al Qaeda affiliate to ram U.S. or European ships in the Mediterranean with an explosive-laden boat, according to an Algerian report.
Three members of an alleged terror cell were arrested in connection with the plot, which Algerian authorities believe to have been directed by an al Qaeda affiliate in Algeria, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the Algerian daily newspaper Echorouk reported.
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Update #1: Algeria squashes Al Qaeda plan to attack U.S ships -- New York Daily News
Update #2: US and European Ships Targeted in Al-Qaeda Terror Plot -- gCaptain
Update #3: Algeria foils Qaeda attempt to attack foreign ships sailing in the Mediterranean -- Al Arabiya
My Comment: Aside from raising insurance rates for shipping, I fail to see how such a terrorist attack will impact shipping.
1 comment:
Basically it creates publicity and attention for AQIM. It would also have given Algeria (which has been fighting Islamic elements that are affiliating themselves with AQIM) a black eye. Lastly, it opens up a new front in the Mediterranean and North Africa in general.
With the instability of Libya and the the ongoing political upheavals elsewhere in North Africa means that there is an opportunity for the group to garner support from disaffected Islamic elements in both North and Sub-Saharan African countries.
Perhaps a bit more ominously, it might also have caught the eye of Islamists in Europe.
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