Uncovering the London Link

Abu Doha, who also goes by the names of Amar Makhlulif, Rachid Boukhalfa and Rachid Kefflous, is suspected of having been one of Ouassini Cherifi’s key London contacts. An Algerian, he came to Britain in 1999 after allegedly being involved with an al-Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan. Doha is suspected of being the mastermind behind the foiled millennium bomb attack on Los Angeles airport on Dec. 31, 1999.

Arrested at London’s Heathrow Airport last February, he is in custody fighting extradition to the U.S., where he was indicted in August for conspiracy to commit terrorist acts and providing money, safe houses and other material support to terrorists. He is alleged to have been the handler of fellow Algerian Ahmed Ressam, an operative living in Montreal who was arrested in December 1999 while trying to cross the U.S.-Canadian border in a rental car filled with homemade explosives; in April, Ressam was convicted of plotting to blow up lax on New Year’s Eve. Italian antiterrorist police believe Abu Doha was also a key al-Qaeda link to terrorist cells in Europe involved in planning attacks like the thwarted attempt on the Cathedral and Christmas market in Strasbourg in 2000.

Phone calls intercepted by Italian police indicate that Abu Doha was in touch from London with an al-Qaeda cell in Milan. European investigators believe the reach and influence of Doha’s suspected planning, fund raising and support activities were formidable.