Investigation in Tunisia Leads to Al-Qaida

German and American intelligence agencies investigating the April 11 explosion at a synagogue on the Tunisian island of Djerba have evidence showing the attack may have deliberately targeted tourists. A German TV station says authorities have reports by witnesses who claim they saw the suspected terrorist visiting the synagogue half an hour before he drove a gas truck into the walls of the La Ghriba synagogue. They say the man left again because there were too few people at the scene.

The man, later identified as the Tunisian Nizar Ben Mohammed Nawar, may also have had links to the Al-Qaida terrorist network of Osama bin Laden. According to reports in German newspapers, American investigators believe it is highly likely that the terrorist organization was behind the attack. They say Nawar attended an Al-Qaida training camp in Afghanistan about one and a half years ago.

Advanced planning

As proof of the long-term planning involved in the attack on the synagogue, intelligence agencies point to a letter from the "Islamic Army for the Freedom of Holy Sites", which was sent to an Arabic newspaper in London around the middle of April. In the letter, Nawar is said to have "observed, photographed and studied" the target in order to "discover its weak points and determine where to attack it". The authorities say the letter is genuine.

The so-called Islamic Army has been involved in terrorist attacks before and is thought to be connected to Osma bin Laden. In 1998, the terrorist group admitted responsibility for the bomb attack on two US embassies in Africa. Shortly after the explosion in Djerba, a correspondent for an Arabic newspaper in Pakistan received a second letter with the logo of the Al-Qaida organization.

German investigators say the salesman Nawar, who early on adopted the alias "the Sword", carefully planned what was made to look like an accident. He obtained the small truck well in advance of the attack, pumped propane gas into a water tank and loaded it onto the back of the vehicle.

The explosion was set off by a detonator attached to the inside of the truck. At the time of the attack, on the morning of April 11, a German tour group of 45 people visited the synagogue. It’s still not clear if Nawar waited specifically for a German group to arrive before setting off the blast that killed and injured so many people. It’s possible he lit the fuse when a Tunisian police officer approached the truck which was parked between the tour group and the walls of the synagogue.

German connection

German intelligence still has not fully clarified the role Nawar’s uncle played in planning the attack. A few days after the explosion, Tunisian investigators arrested the uncle after finding a mobile telephone in his possession, from which Nawar supposedly called a fellow Muslim in Mülheim, Germany. An hour before the attack, Nawar asked the German Christian G. to pray for him. The two had met in Afghanistan.

According to the investigation, Nawar and his uncle drove into the city early in the morning. The uncle is said to have been dropped off a short ways away from the synagogue in order to walk to work from there. The question for the investigators is whether or not the uncle is the man several German witnesses observed approaching the truck before the attack and then suddenly disappeared.

But as the investigation continues, and as more intelligence information is gathered, it becomes increasingly clear that the explosion was not an accident as the Tunisian authorities originally claimed. More and more evidence points to the involvement of a much larger terrorist network.