Author: Marlise Simons, New York
Times
Publication: The Mercury News
Date: May 31, 2002
URL: http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/3371899.htm
A network of Islamist militants
has been recruiting young Muslim immigrants at mosques in the Netherlands,
urging them to join the ``holy war'' in places like Afghanistan or Kashmir,
the Dutch Internal Security Agency reported this week.
The agency is also investigating
reports that groups with links to Al- Qaida have instructed their Dutch
Muslim followers that they should join the Dutch army to get military training.
But Sybrand van Hulst, the director
of the Dutch Internal Security Agency, said at a news conference that there
was no evidence that the recruiters themselves were from Al-Qaida. Rather,
he said, they were apparently from the Algerian-based Salafist Group for
Preaching and Combat and other groups from the Middle East.
As evidence of ongoing recruitment,
the agency disclosed that two Dutch-born sons of Moroccan parents were
found dead in January in Kashmir, where they had apparently joined Muslim
rebels fighting against India. The agency said the two men -- Ahmed el-Bakiouli,
20, and Khalid el-Hassnaoui, 21 -- had been killed by Indian security forces
who told the Dutch that the men were suicide fighters who had tried to
kill Indian border guards.
The men, both high school graduates
but not soldiers, were the first Dutch Muslims known to be involved directly
with Islamist fighters.
In recent weeks, the Dutch police
have also arrested as many as 10 young men suspected of links with armed
militants, but they were foreign nationals who had been in the country
only briefly.
The disclosures come at a time of
growing public concern in the Netherlands about the recent large influx
of Muslim immigrants, who make up close to 6 percent of the population.
Most are from Morocco, Turkey and Suriname, countries where Islam is largely
moderate.
The disclosures also coincide with
government concern about the activities of conservative teachers at Islamic
schools. The government says these schools receive funds from foreign Muslim
foundations, in particular from Saudi Arabia.
In recent months, the government
has stepped up its surveillance of religious and political groups in schools
and mosques, a government official said. Some of the Islamic schools are
teaching anti-Western attitudes, the official said. Also, they are reportedly
teaching that Muslims should battle non-Muslims until they acknowledge
that Allah is the only God.
