South African officials probably don’t want to believe it either. The alleged Cape Town connection to international Islamic terrorism can only deepen their concern over the threat of violence posed by homegrown Islamic radicals. An intensive law-enforcement effort by the government has revealed, among other things, that several of the South Africans implicated in a bloody local campaign of terror learned bomb-making from Muslim radicals in Lebanon. The army-police crackdown, Operation Good Hope, nipped a rash of bombings and murders, but authorities believe some of the authors haven’t been caught–and that a support network that helped the Tanzanian suspect go under cover still operates in Cape Town.
When the crackdown came early this year, the militants went down fighting. Three top detectives were ambushed in their cars; one died. Bombs hit two police stations; armed robbers invaded another and got away with arms and cash. Ganief Daniels, chief of Operation Good Hope, says police have charged most of the 10 leading Islamic radicals they targeted. This month two appeared in court to face a total of 124 charges stemming from terror attacks.
But some officials still are wary. “The bad guys are quiet, but they’re not all behind bars,” says one detective. Intelligence officials acknowledge privately that Islamic militants have infiltrated the security services. The FBI is reported to be investigating funding for Islamic organizations in Durban and Cape Town by the family of alleged terror mastermind Osama bin Laden; according to Jane’s Defense Weekly, Israel formally complained to South Africa two years ago about the presence of Hizbullah training camps in Natal Province. And immigration officials have hinted that more fugitives from American justice may have sought refuge in South Africa’s Muslim community. Nobody will be surprised if the FBI quietly conducts another Cape Town-to-New York shuttle.
