Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Notable cases of Islamist terrorist attacks ( by Bosniaks & Albanians), by Ioannis Michaletos


Bosniaks (From 1997-2011)


- On 12 April 1997, during the visit of Pope John Paul II to Sarajevo, local police
discovered and removed an explosive device under the bridge over which he was
to drive. Although the perpetrators were never discovered, police subsequently
said they suspected Islamic insurgents (mujahidin).





- On 17 September 1998, in Mostar (west), four suspected insurgents detonated a
car bomb in front of a police station, wounding over 50 people.



- On 24 December 2002, a self-declared “Wahhabi”, Muamer Topalović from Konjic,
entered the house of Croat returnee family Anđelić in the village of Kostajnica
and killed three members. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison.


- On 20 October 2005, Federation [the majority Bosniak of the state’s two entities]
police arrested four Bosniaks, Mirsad Bektašević, Abdulkadir Cesur, Bajro Ikanović
and Senad Hasanović, for possession of almost 20kg of explosives and other
equipment. On 21 May 2007 a state court found them guilty of plotting terrorist
activities and gave them sentences ranging from six months to eight years.


- On 27 February 2006, Vedad Hafizović killed his mother, because she did not
want to pray with him. He was placed in an institution after he was determined to
be mentally unstable.



- On February 12, 2007, Bosnian-born teenager Sulejman Talović killed five and
wounded four at a mall in Salt Lake City (U.S.), before being shot dead by police. No
evidence has been found of ideological or political motivations for his attack.



- On October 9, 2008, a bomb detonated in a shopping mall in the central Bosnian
town Vitez, killing one and wounding one. The case was prosecuted before the
state court as an act of terrorism, although officials and media suggested it was
more likely related to organised crime.Suvad Đidić and Amir Ibrahimi, were
sentenced to nine years and two years in prison respectively.



- On July 27, 2009, Anes Subašić, a Bosnian immigrant and U.S. citizen was arrested
with six others in North Carolina (U.S.) and subsequently sentenced to 30
years in prison for unlawful procurement of citizenship and conspiring to provide
material support to terrorists.



- On 5 November 2009, Federation police carried out a series of raids in Sarajevo
and Bugojno and arrested three Salafis, Rijad Rustempašić, Abdulah Handžić
and Edis Velić, who had been previously arrested and were under police surveillance.
Two years later they were sentenced to four and a half years, three years
and four months respectively for illegal possession of weapons.




- On June 27, 2010, a car bomb exploded in front of the police station in the central
Bosnian town of Bugojno. A local police officer was killed and six other persons]
injured. The main suspect, Haris Čaušević, and a few of his associates were
arrested. Čaušević is a former member of the local Salafi community with a criminal
record. His trial is still ongoing.



-Adis Medunjanin, a Bosnia-born U.S. citizen was arrested in August 2010 and
sentenced to life in prison in November 2012 for a foiled suicide bomb attack on
New York subways.



- On 28 October 2011, Mevlid Jašarević fired at the U.S. embassy in Sarajevo with
an AK-47 rifle for over 40 minutes, wounding a local policeman. Jašarević had a
criminal record and had spent some time in the Salafi community in Gornja
Maoča.On 6 December 2012, he was sentenced to eighteen years in prison –
the single longest sentence for terrorism in Bosnia. The decision is still open to
appeal.














Albanians (Attacks against USA interests, 2007-2012)



 2007 – Four Albanian Muslims (one from Kosovo, three from adjacent areas of FYROM) attempted to commit a terrorist attack at Fort Dix, New Jersey.



- 2011 – An Albanian Muslim from Kosovo opened fire on a bus full of American soldiers in Frankfurt, Germany, killing two.



- 2012 – An Albanian Muslim from Kosovo was caught plotting to blow up nightclubs in Tampa, Florida.



- 2012 – An American Albanian Muslim was sentenced to 15 years for funding a Muslim terrorist group in Pakistan.