Two Canadians among fugitive al-Qaeda members: U.S. officials
CBC News | Posted: January 26, 2002 3:30 PM | Last Updated: January 26, 2002
The U.S. Justice Department is hunting two Canadian men it believes are linked to the al-Qaeda terrorist network, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft said Friday.
Ashcroft named Al Rauf bin Al Habib bin Yousef Al-Jiddi, 36, of Montreal as one of the five men shown last week in a videotape that shows al-Qaeda members delivering martyrdom messages.
The suspect goes by several aliases. Other law enforcement sources have identified him as Abderraouf Jdey.
The tape was found in the wreckage of the Kabul home of Mohammad Atef, believed to have been Osama bin Laden's military chief.
The second Canadian man, Faker Boussora, 37, is believed to be an associate of Al-Jiddi's, Ashcroft said, and is also sought by U.S. authorities "working closely with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police." He said both men should be considered "extremely dangerous."
Ashcroft said both Canadians were born in Tunisia, but now hold Canadian passports. The two were last seen living in the Montreal area. He said law enforcement officials are not sure where either man is now, but he encouraged anyone who knows to call the FBI or the nearest U.S. consulate
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The FBI was able to identify the men with help from CSIS, the Canadian spy agency, the U.S. Justice Department said earlier Friday.
"I would like to thank the Canadian government for providing significant assistance in identifying Al-Jiddi," said Ashcroft.
In Ottawa, Prime Minister Jean Chretien said he's not concerned that Friday's revelations might add fuel to accusations that Canadian immigration policies are too lax.
"They have arrested people in England for that, in France and other jurisdictions," he said, "and it might be that one had been a Canadian."
Ashcroft said photos of all six men are being distributed worldwide.
The U.S. government last week identified four of the men in the tape as Abd Al-Rahim, Muhammad Sa'id Ali Hasan, Khalid Ibn Muhammad Al-Juhani and Ramzi Binalshibh.
Only one, Binalshibh, was known to officials before the tape surfaced. He's a Yemeni allegedly associated with Sept. 11 suicide hijacker Mohamed Atta.
He was named in the December indictment against Zacarias Moussaoui, as an unindicted co-conspirator.