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From The Sunday Times
October 16, 2005

Al-Qaeda chief sets up UK network
THE head of Al-Qaeda in Iraq has established a new terror network in Britain which is recruiting young Muslim fanatics to fight coalition troops.

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has recently set up the group to recruit and train would-be suicide bombers and gunmen, counter-terrorism officials have said.

The new group, Ansar al-Fath — Partisans of Victory — is an offshoot of Ansar al-Islam, an organisation that is to be banned under new anti-terror rules announced by Charles Clarke, the home secretary, last week.

Ansar al-Fath provides logistical support to foreign fighters in Iraq and uses the internet to find new recruits for Zarqawi.

Government officials say a “steady trickle” of about 70 young Muslim men have travelled to Iraq from Britain in the past two years.

They warn that some newly trained “professional jihadists” have returned here and may be planning attacks.

The American government has offered $25m for Zarqawi’s capture dead or alive — the same as the bounty for Osama Bin Laden.

Zarqawi was implicated in the beheading in Iraq last September of Ken Bigley, a British contractor.

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