Converts take on larger roles in militant Islam
Trial of French radical sheds light on latest recruits to terror organizations
By Craig Whitlock
Updated: 3:02 a.m. ET Jan. 1, 2006

DOUAI, France - Despite his history as a convicted killer and radical Islamic fighter, Lionel Dumont had a real knack for charming the ladies.

Flashing a tender smile and soft brown eyes, the former French Catholic schoolboy seduced women in many parts of the world, using them as unwitting accomplices as he dodged arrest warrants and met clandestinely with Islamic radicals in at least 10 countries.

Two female German tourists whom he wooed separately on the beaches of Thailand served as cover for his travels as he secretly developed plots to transfer weapons and launder money, according to court testimony and European terrorism investigators. The rest


Radical clerics ignore decree on madrassas
By Massoud Ansari
LONDON SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
January 2, 2006

KARACHI, Pakistan -- Radical Muslim clerics have ignored an edict to expel all foreign students from Pakistan's madrassas, heightening fears that the Islamic schools will continue to be recruiting grounds for young Western-born suicide bombers.

After the July 7 London bombings, in which three of four suicide bombers were of Pakistani origin, President Pervez Musharraf pledged to the West that foreigners would be excluded from the schools.

Two of the bombers, Shehzad Tanweer and Mohammed Sidique Khan, are thought to have visited madrassas. Story