Bosnia: Hub of terrorist axis? (Insider Report).(Brief Article)

In a series of reports beginning in 1996, THE NEW AMERICAN warned that Bosnia, the UN-administered former Yugoslav province, had become a staging area for Muslim terrorist groups. Following the Black Tuesday attacks, we reviewed those prior warnings and pointed out that both Bosnia and Kosovo had become UN-protected "safe havens" for Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network (see "Behind the Terror Network" in our November 5, 2001 issue). A February 21stAP report from Sarajevo confirms those warnings.

Last October, NATO troops raided the offices of the Saudi High Commissioner for Aid to Bosnia, a "charity" created by Saudi Prince Selman bin Abdul-Aziz allegedly to aid Bosnian Muslim war orphans. Among the materials seized during the raid were "photos of targets of past terror attacks -- the World Trade Center, the Pentagon,... the U.S.S. Cole,... and the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.... The pictures showed the targets both before and after the attacks."

NATO troops captured six suspected collaborators in the Black Tuesday attack, including Bensayah Belkacem, "who U.S. officials ...