TIME kommenterar stängningenav terroristmoskén Taiba i Hamburg:
"The Taiba mosque was the main meeting
point for radical Islamic militants in
Hamburg and had been supporting
the international terrorist network
for years," Manfred Murck, deputy
director of Hamburg's intelligence
service, tells TIME.
**
"Young Muslim men were drawn to
the mosque — they met there, prayed,
chatted together, became radicalized
and set up extremist groups."
Murck adds that the men came from
different backgrounds, ranging from
Moroccans and German Islam converts
to militants from the former Yugoslavia,
Chechnya and the Middle East.
They all had one thing in common —
their commitment to jihad.
"Some Muslims at the Taiba mosque
had contacts with al-Qaeda," claims
Murck.
**
Intelligence officials say the mosque
had been under continuous surveillance
since the 9/11 attacks. Back then, the
mosque was known as al-Quds.
Hijackers Mohammed Atta, Marwan
al-Shehhi, Ziad Jarrah and Ramzi
Binalshibh — who according to U.S.
officials was a key 9/11 facilitator
and Atta's roommate — were all
regulars at the prayer house in the
run-up to the 2001 attacks.
**
In March 2009, the Taiba mosque
again became a location of special
interest to investigators when a
group of 11 Hamburg jihadists,
mostly German men with roots in
the Middle East and the Caucasus,
traveled to Afghanistan and Pakistan
to attend terrorist training camps.
**
Now that the mosque has been closed,
fears have been raised that members
could regroup and gather in other
mosques in Hamburg. A large harbor
city with a thriving immigrant
community, Hamburg has acted as a
haven for Islamic extremists in the past,
as New York, Washington and
Pennsylvania learned to their horror
nearly 10 years ago.
(....)
With one of their alleged meeting points
closed, the challenge for intelligence
agencies now is to prevent new terrorist
cells from forming within their dispersed
ranks.
****
