By Ivelina Puhaleva
Editor at Novinite.com
The Islamist militant group calling itself al-Tawhid and claiming to be the "European cell of al-Qaeda" appeared to be less unknown than it was initially announced amid terror threats against Bulgaria and Poland.
The group has links through Germany to Jamaat al Tawhid Wa'l Jihad, which is led by Jordanian, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Zarqawi is one of the world's most wanted terrorists. He's been linked to terrorist attacks in Jordan, as well as the Madrid bombings. He's also thought to be the leader of anti coalition terrorists in Iraq and has a USD 25 M bounty on his head.
According to Dr Michael McKinley, a terrorism expert from the Australian National University, the al-Tawhid Group seems to have some form. Some of it in Germany, where there's three members of the group on trial for having conspired to attack Jewish targets in Germany.
There's a person who the British Government claim is the religious leader of Tawhid. He is in prison inside the United Kingdom. And there appears to have been appearances by them through the Balkans, as Balkan intelligence services has hinted that.
Bulgaria's reconnaissance services have confirmed that the al-Tawhid terror group had passed through the Balkans over previous years. The activities of the terror group in the Balkan region have been tracked down and under checking as far as in 2001.
In April 2002, a 26-year-old Jordanian who claimed to have been a bodyguard for Osama bin Laden was arrested as part of the al-Tawhid group.
German Prosecutors' office has also confirmed for their Bulgarian colleagues that members of the al-Tawhid group had been checked and even arrested in Germany.
Last year, several members of an Islamic group have been charged in Germany for suspected links to terrorist network al-Qaeda and plotting anti-Jewish attacks.
In September 2004 German prosecutors filed charges against two Jordanians and a Palestinian for being members of al-Tawhid, a Palestinian group suspected of planning attacks on Jewish targets.
An Algerian was also charged with supporting the group. He was accused of trying to obtain a crate of hand grenades and a pistol with a silencer for the al-Tawhid members.
All of them were arrested in April 2002 and German prosecutors said they were planning an attack near a Jewish building in Berlin. The insurgents also allegedly plotted to throw hand grenades in restaurants in the western city of Duesseldorf that were owned or frequented by Jewish people.
The latest public appearance of the Islamists occurred on Wednesday, July 21, with a message published in a popular Islamists' forum web site threatening "crusader Bulgaria" and US ally Poland with "bloodbaths", unless they withdraw troops from Iraq.
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