Revue de Presse (25 août - 31 août)

Maroc: "Police 'dismantle terrorist network'" (AKI) - Police on Friday dismantled a "dangerous terrorist network" allegedly linked to Al-Qaeda and arrested 15 suspects who were planning attacks in the country, the Moroccan news agency MAP reported, quoting police sources. The 15-member terrorist network called 'Fath Al Andalus' was in possession of chemicals and electronic equipment used to make explosives, police sources said, cited by MAP.

Algérie: "Algeria security official: Spate of roadside bombs" (AP) - A spate of roadside bombs has targeted police and the military in Algeria this week, a security official said Wednesday, as local media reported that a large army and police sweep was under way against Islamist militants.

Grande-Bretagne: "BBC denies interference in al-Qaida coverage" (Guardian) - The BBC has denied that its editorial independence was compromised after it emerged that a Radio 4 documentary about Islamic extremism bore similarities to a programme described in a leaked Whitehall document as one at which anti-al-Qaida propaganda was put forward. Concerns were raised after it became apparent that extracts of the leaked document published yesterday in the Guardian had a likeness to a BBC Radio 4 Analysis programme by security correspondent Frank Gardner titled al-Qaida's Enemy Within, which was first broadcast on August 7, after the leaked propaganda dossier was compiled.

Hezbollah: "Hezbollah presence in Venezuela feared" (LA Times) - Western anti-terrorism officials are increasingly concerned that Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based Shiite Muslim militia that Washington has labeled a terrorist group, is using Venezuela as a base for operations. Linked to deadly attacks on Jewish targets in Argentina in the early 1990s, Hezbollah may be taking advantage of Venezuela's ties with Iran, the militia's longtime sponsor, to move "people and things" into the Americas, as one Western government terrorism expert put it.

Irak: "Hackers attack Iraq's vulnerable computers" (ABC News) - Maj. Ahmed Khathem, the head of Iraq's newly formed cybercrimes division, sits in a borrowed office, at a borrowed desk, working on a laptop borrowed from one of his subordinates. It is his unit's lone computer, highlighting the country's vulnerability to a community of Iraqi hackers defacing websites and attempting to hack into sensitive internal networks.