Jewish & World News

Turkish police said Thursday that they had found evidence of a plot linked to Al Qaeda to bomb the United States Embassy in Ankara, a synagogue in Istanbul and other targets, from a raid on two houses in February, according to news reports. The reports said the police had seized nearly 50 pounds of plastic explosives with detonation systems attached, as well as six laptop computers and other evidence. Twelve people were detained during the operation — two Chechens, two Azeris and eight Turks.

11 al-Qaeda members have been detained in Istanbul following a raid by Turkey’s special forces, reported Sabah newspaper on Thursday. The terrorists reportedly planned to launch attacks on the U.S. embassy in Turkey in addition to a number of synagogues and churches in the country.

Almost two years after his death at the hands of U.S. special forces in Pakistan, a U.N. Security Council committee has removed former al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden from its sanctions list, although an order freezing any assets of the Islamist extremist remains in place. Bin Laden had been subjected to a travel ban and asset freeze since he was listed by the Security Council al-Qaida sanctions committee Jan. 25, 2001. He was shot and killed May 2, 2011, by U.S. forces who stormed his compound in Pakistan.

A US aid worker held by al-Qaida in Pakistan for more than a year has appealed to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to help meet the demands of his captors and secure his release, a group that monitors Islamist websites said on Wednesday. Hostage Warren Weinstein said US President Barack Obama had shown no interest in his case and had failed to respond or accept al-Qaida's demands, the SITE monitoring service said.

Israel’s Security apparatus is concerned that Al-Qaeda is planning a large scale terror attack on Israel’s civil aviation, Walla reported. Recently there has been an increase in the warnings within the security system about possible attacks against civilian and foreign flights by terrorists affiliated with Al-Qaeda and other groups, who are working on such an attack.

Global terror group al-Qaeda is in need of new recruits and like all other modern enterprises, if the buddy system fails – online message boards just might do the trick. According to a Tuesday report in Yedioth Ahronoth, the terror group posted an employment opportunity in June, on a message board known as a restricted forum frequented by radical Islamists. The position offered – "suicide bomber."

The wife of Warren Weinstein, who was kidnapped in Pakistan by Al-Qaida gunmen, marked the first anniversary of his abduction with a plea for his return. Elaine Weinstein released a statement Monday saying she fears that his health will "deteriorate" since he suffers from several medical conditions, and that his grandchildren ask for him every day, the Associated Press reported.

If you're on Facebook, Al Qaeda wants to friend you.  Terrorist groups are using Facebook to share operational information and to target, recruit and radicalize members of the general public, according to a Department of Homeland Security report obtained by FoxNews.com. The DHS report, "Terrorist Use of Social Networking Sites: Facebook Case Study," notes while terrorists have been using social networking sites for quite some time, their strategies for exploiting Facebook have evolved and that they have learned "the inherent value in exploiting a non-ideological medium." According to the November report, terrorists and jihadists use Facebook as:  a way to share operational and tactical information, including bomb recipes and weapons maintenance; a gateway to extremist forums;  a media outlet for propaganda;  a source of remote reconnaissance for targeting purposes. “Every person who connects to the Internet with a computer needs to take this issue serio...

The U.S. is preparing for an expanded campaign against al Qaeda in Yemen, mobilizing military and intelligence resources to enable Yemeni and American strikes and drawing up a longer-term proposal to establish Yemeni bases in remote areas where militants operate.

A senior U.S. law enforcement official has told CNN that U.S. intelligence believes the principal author of the new online al Qaeda magazine is an American citizen who left for Yemen in October 2009.

Al-Qaeda launched its first online propaganda magazine in English on Tuesday, a move that could help the terror group recruit inside the US and Europe.

New York - U.S. officials have linked a senior al Qaeda operative -- one of the nation's most wanted terrorists -- to the New York subway bomb plot that netted the arrests of Najibullah Zazi and other alleged co-conspirators, CBS 2 has learned.

London - Young British Muslims are being groomed to carry out terrorist attacks in this country by Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical al-Qaeda preacher based in the Middle East, it can be disclosed.

New York - Now that's socking it to him! A former Queens resident who admitted helping send waterproof socks, ponchos and sleeping bags to al Qaeda insurgents in Afghanistan got 15 years in the slammer yesterday.

Al-Qaida's number three — a co-founder of the terror network — has been killed in Pakistan's border area with Afghanistan, according to a statement attributed to the group that was posted on Islamist websites Monday. The statement did not say how Egyptian-born Shaykh Saeed, whose real name is Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, was killed nor did it identify a successor. Saeed was al-Qaida's financial director and ran its operations in Afghanistan. An initial report that he was also Osama bin Laden's brother-in-law was incorrect. One senior U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity told NBC News that Saeed was killed in an attack by a missile-carrying drone aircraft. The strike was said to have happened last week. Another official said that "in terms of counterterrorism this would be a big victory," describing Saeed as "the group's chief operating officer, with a hand in everything from finances to operational planning. He was also the organization...

An Iraqi news agency has revealed more evidence linking Saudi Arabia with terror. The Buratha news service published what it said it is a secret document disclosing how much money the Saudi kingdom has transferred to Al-Qaeda in Iraq. The kingdom reportedly sends explosives and weapons to terrorist groups in Iraq.

The Yemen-based arm of Al-Qaida recently sent members of the organization in the Gaza Strip a training manual with instructions for building a light aircraft and using it against Israeli targets near the border with the Strip. The plane is powered by a car engine and can be used to launch explosives into Israel.

Al-Qaeda operatives who have been detained for years in Iran have been making their way quietly in and out of the country, raising the prospect that Iran is loosening its grip on the terror group so it can replenish its ranks, former and current US intelligence officials say.

Paris - French authorities arrested a French-Moroccan man suspected of heading an al-Qaida support cell that planned to send militants to fight in Afghanistan, Iraq and other conflict zones, and was plotting terror attacks in Morocco, they said Thursday.

New York - A more modern, more frightening brand of terrorism was broken up in New York City after two men from Brooklyn were arrested for allegedly working to give al Qaeda a 21st century upgrade. The suspects, identified as Wesam "Khaled" El-Hanafi and Sabirhan "Tareq" Hasanoff, who are both American citizens, are accused of aiding terrorists by way of tech support.