Can trains, subways be protected from terrorists


The government's top security officials say they are upgrading subway and rail defenses against terrorist attacks throughout the country, but a USA TODAY examination finds gaping holes, including many that may not be possible to plug.


The holes in security leave travelers more vulnerable on the more than 4 billion trips they take by subway and rail each year than in the sky, where airlines carried fewer than 700 million passengers from U.S. airports last year.
Six terrorist plots targeting U.S. subway and rail systems have been exposed since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and the systems remain a target, transit authorities, security experts and members of Congress agree. An alleged plot to simultaneously bomb four Washington, D.C., Metro subway stations was foiled in October, and another plot to detonate explosives in New York's subway system was averted last year.

Nine charged with plotting terrorism offences in UK


Nine men arrested in police raids a week ago have been charged with conspiracy to cause explosions in Britain and with plotting terrorism offences, police said on Monday.


The nine were among 12 men arrested on December 20 in what police said at the time were counter-terrorism raids essential to protect the public from the threat of attack.

Three of the 12 arrested were released without charge, a statement issued by West Midlands Police said. The remainder will appear at the City of Westminster Magistrates Court later on Monday, the statement said.

12 men arrested in suspected UK terrorism plot


In the biggest anti-terrorist sweep in Britain in nearly two years, police have arrested a dozen men accused of plotting a large-scale terror attack on targets inside the United Kingdom.

The suspects, who ranged in age from 17 to 28, had been under surveillance for weeks and were believed to have links to Pakistan and Bangladesh, security officials said.

The arrests come amid growing concerns in Europe over terrorism following a suicide bombing in Sweden and reported threats of a terror attack on a European city modeled on the deadly shooting spree in Mumbai, India.

The 'bubbly' Luton radical who became a suicide bomber in Sweden

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When he decided to move from Sweden to Britain in 2001, Taimour Abdulwahab al-Abdaly found himself living in a small community that has thrown up more than its fair share of violent jihadists.


Police and security service officers in Sweden and the UK are now attempting to discover how Abdaly came to be radicalised to such an extent that he would attempt to mount a mass-casualty attack in Sweden, the country that became his home when he was 10 years old. They will be particularly anxious to establish whether any individuals living in Luton played a part in the process.
The Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt last night said Swedish authorities were "co-operating closely" with the UK on the investigation and were making an "intensive" effort to work out if Abdaly was acting alone or with accomplices. "That is obviously something that the authorities are extremely keen to try to find out," he said.

Swedes shocked by 1st terror attack in 3 decades


No one died except for the suspected bomber, but two explosions in Sweden's capital tore at the fabric of this tolerant and open nation — a society that hadn't seen a terrorist attack in more than three decades.

Two people were wounded in central Stockholm on Saturday in what appeared to be the first suicide bombing in the history of Sweden, which has been spared the major terrorist strikes seen in several other European countries.
A car exploded in the middle of the seasonal shopping frenzy, shooting flames and causing several smaller blasts as people ran screaming from the scene. The blast that killed the alleged bomber came moments later a few blocks away from the car explosion on a busy pedestrian street.

'Bomb plotter' arrested in Baltimore

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Police officials had arrested a Baltimore man in charges with a vehicle bomb plot at a U.S. Armed Forces recruitment centre in Maryland. U.S. Justice Department said that the plot was a sting operation.


"There was no actual danger to the public as the explosives were inert and the suspect had been carefully monitored by law enforcement for months," reported Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd.
A law enforcement official said the individual arrested was a 21-year-old male who is an American citizen and converted to be a Muslim. A court hearing is set for later on Wednesday.

Horrific plot by a teenager

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FBI described a horrific plot by a teenager. A 19-years-old Somali born Muslim was ready to execute thousands at a busy Portland Christmas tree lighting ceremony with a grudge against the West.

There were few clues of that veiled life to Mohamud’s pals, who knew him as “Mo”, calm, suburban teen, who was fond of gin and playing video games when FBI suspected him as a would-be terrorist.

He, who supposedly decided he was going to slay thousands of people the day after Thanksgiving in the name of Islamic radicalism is the one who, three days prior, wrote and read a Kwanzaa poem about unity with two Christian college students.