Italian police help bust jihadist ring led by jailed mullah

(ANSA) - Rome, November 12 - Carabinieri police launched dawn raids on Thursday as part of an anti-terrorism operation for the arrest of 17 people conducted with other European police forces, ANSA sources said. The operation was launched simultaneously in several European countries and was coordinated by Eurojust, the EU's judicial cooperation unit. The arrested people, 16 Kurds and a Kosovar, are suspected of criminal association for international terrorism.
    Abdul Rahman Nauroz, one of the suspects, "was particularly active in recruitment activities" investigators said. They added that his apartment in the northern city of Merano was "a place of secret meetings and a crossroads for aspiring jihadists". They said Nauroz's aims including that of convincing another of the arrested people, "his pupil Hasan Saman Jalal, to participate in armed actions of war or terrorism planned as suicide". They said that Jalal's intentions "were never translated into action". The group was led Faraj Ahmad Najmuddin, alias Mullah Krekar, from a Norwegian jail, investigative sources said.
    Mullah Krekar founded the Ansar Al-Islam Islamist terrorist group in 2001. The sources said he continued to be the ring's ideological and strategic leader while in prison and sent orders throughout Europe, including Italy.
    The operation was conducted with the help of the authorities in Britain, Norway, Finland, Germany and Switzerland. The Carabinieri probe uncovered threats of "violent actions" in Norway as a form of reprisal against the detention of Krekar.
    It uncovered no specific references to attacks in Italy, investigators said, while stressing that the group was "very active," especially regarding proselytism and logistical support.

Krekar was caught on a wiretap in November 2012 saying "death for us is martyrdom...and we are ready against anyone who occupies Kurdistan...Americans, Russians or others". Krekar said "for these (people) who have burned the Koran, at least 100 people are ready to do justice in Europe and Kurdistan".

Interior Minister Angelino Alfano admitted Thursday that Italy faced a risk of being targeted by Islamist terrorists, while stressing that its preventative measures were working. "We are a country that is exposed to international terrorism as we are part of the grand coalition against the (ISIS) Caliphate," he said. "But up to now Italy has conducted preventative action that has worked".

photo: Mullah Krekar