Terrorists Recruiting Bosnia's White Muslims

The Article

April 18, 2006

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina -- His code name was Maximus, and he held secret meetings in a shabby room at the Banana City Hotel on the gritty outskirts of Sarajevo.

Bosnian police put him under surveillance, and in a raid on his apartment on Poligonska Street last fall, authorities seized explosives, a suicide bomber belt and a videotape of masked men begging Allah's forgiveness for the sacrifice they were about to commit.
It was a chilling discovery, say investigators, who believe the cell was close to carrying out a plot to blow up a European embassy. But more troubling, they say, was the ringleader's background: Maximus turned out to be Mirsad Bektasevic, a 19-year-old Swedish citizen of Serbian origin with ties to a senior al-Qaida operative.

Terrorists have been working to recruit non-Arab sympathizers -- so-called "white Muslims" with Western features who theoretically could more easily blend into European cities and execute attacks -- according to classified intelligence documents obtained by The Associated Press........(continued).............