JIHADISTS ARRESTED IN EUROPE AND EGYPT

BBC:

Italian police have arrested at least 10 suspected Islamist militants who are believed to be linked to the bombings that rocked Algiers in April.

The suspects, held in Milan, allegedly provided logistical and financial support for the militants in Algeria.

Two blasts killed at least 30 people and injured 160 in Algiers.

A group called the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat said it carried out the attacks. It later changed its name to al-Qaeda in the Maghreb. Police said the suspects were also believed to be linked to Islamist activities in Tunisia in January.

The Milan suspects are reported to be Tunisians.

REUTERS:

... British police carried out a further arrest linked to the swoop in Milan. ... British police did not give his nationality but said he was wanted for offences including terrorism and forgery and that the warrant alleged that "between 1997 and 1999 he convinced and organized volunteers to undergo military training in Afghanistan for jihad with the use of false documentation."

The arrests appeared to be the first against the group in Europe since it changed name in January to position itself as the North African arm of Osama bin Laden's network. France's top anti-terrorism investigator, Jean-Louis Bruguiere, told Reuters this week that the former GSPC might now try to expand its network into France, Spain and Italy.

"The GSPC has become, as it were, a sort of regional branch of al Qaeda, its mission being to federate all the radical, Salafist organizations in North Africa -- Moroccan, Libyan and Tunisian -- and, at the same time, to provide logistical support to the Iraqi networks," Bruguiere said.

EGYPT:

Police arrested 105 members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood group in the past two days, including two candidates competing in upcoming parliamentary elections, the group and police officials said Wednesday.

The arrests were part of an ongoing crackdown that has intensified in the lead up to elections for the upper house of Parliament, known as the Shura Council.

The Brotherhood has announced it has fielded 19 candidates in the June 11 elections.

"We're expecting many more arrests leading up to Monday elections," said the group's lawyer Abdel Moneim Abdel Maksoud on Wednesday. "Brotherhood members in prison have exceeded 600," he added.

THE SCOPE OF THE ENEMY'S ACTIVITIES IS ENORMOUS: NOBODY ANYWHERE IN THE WEST, OR ANY NATION ASPIRING TO WESTERN IDEALS IS SAFE.