Al Qaeda group in Argentina?

Members of Tablighi Jamaat, an Islamist missionary group that the United States accuses of links to Al-Qaeda, are in Argentina with the possible aim of recruiting local Muslims for terrorist activities, a newspaper has said.

Citing sources in the intelligence community and the foreign ministry, the La Nacion said the 26 Islamists arrived in Argentina in five groups over the past few months.

The militants, from Pakistan, Malaysia, South Africa, Qatar and Egypt, came into the country to possibly contact and recruit Argentine Muslims to train them abroad to conduct terrorism, the newspaper said on Friday.

The Argentine government, which will host the Summit of the Americas November 4-5 in Mar del Plata in the south, did not immediately comment on the report. US President George W Bush is to attend the summit.

La Nacion reported that Argentine intelligence received information from their Spanish and Italian counterparts. Spanish counter-terrorism experts gave the Argentine government details on Tablighi Jamaat, saying it was under investigation for the alleged role of some of its members in the March 11, 2004, bomb attacks in Madrid, the daily said.

Immigration_terror · Sat, 09/03/2005 - 04:00 · · Importance: 1