POTENTIAL 'JIHADISTS TO IRAQ' A "SERIOUS GROUP"

SECRET S E C R E T PARIS 000513 SIPDIS STATE FOR S/CT E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/26/2014 TAGS: PTER, PREL, PGOV, FR SUBJECT: POTENTIAL 'JIHADISTS TO IRAQ' A "SERIOUS GROUP" REF: PARIS 479 Classified By: DEPUTY CHIEF OF MISSION ALEX WOLFF, FOR REASONS 1.4 B/D 1. (S) Attention in the French "jihadists to Iraq" investigation has focused on a group of young French citizens (reportedly 20-24 years old) that had recently returned from a hajj together, investigating judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere told the DCM on January 27. They were arrested in Paris when authorities discovered that they were planning to stay in France for only 24-36 hours before departing for Iraq. Their objective was to target the American military, if necessary via suicide attacks. Brugiere said that the potential jihadists were not part of a formal network. Bruguiere told the DCM that these jihadists had been radicalized over the past year by viewing al-Jazeera, and listening to local imams and audio tapes on radical Islam. They looked up to al-Qaeda terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. 2. (S) Bruguiere said the level of radicalization concerned him and he believed that there were other such cases throughout Europe. France was not the only country where this could happen, he feared. Bruguiere expressed concern that other such cases were not being discovered outside of France. French press reported on January 27 that the potential jihadists were from the same neighborhood in the 19th arrondisement of Paris, and frequented the same prayer halls as Redouane el-Hakim (killed in Fallujah on July 17, 2004) and his brother Boubakeur (caught and imprisoned in Syria for attempting to cross the border into Iraq). Leach