Muslim leaders frustrated with report of alleged terror plot

8-19-2005

   LOS ANGELES, Aug. 19 (Xinhuanet) -- Muslim leaders in Southern California said Friday that unnamed sources were wrong to leak information to the media about an alleged terrorist plot involving three members of a local mosque.

    Edina Lekovic of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) said too few details have been provided by the sources, which encourages speculation and backlash against all Muslims.

    The information has been released in "random dots that they allow people to connect on their own," she said.

    Unnamed counterterrorism officials have linked three men in their early thirties to a possible plot to attack National Guard recruitment centers, synagogues and other locations in Southern California, the Los Angeles Times reported.

    The men attend Jamat-E-Masijidul Islam mosque in Inglewood, a Los Angeles suburb, according to mosque leaders.

    Leaders from MPAC, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Los Angeles, and the Shura Council of Southern California -- an umbrella group for 80 local mosques -- asked the media to deal with the story carefully for fear that generalizations may lead toall Muslims being discriminated against.

    "Generalizations breed hate and may lead to hate crimes and violence against the innocent," said Muzammil Siddiqi, chairman ofthe Shura Council.

    Lekovic said MPAC should have received some warning from the FBI if sources were going to provide information about the investigation to the media.

    Representatives of MPAC -- which has offices in Los Angeles andWashington, DC -- meet often with local, state and federal officials to promote open dialogue between the Muslim community and law enforcement, she said.

    Law enforcement sources told the Los Angeles Times that they are investigating a possible link between the three men and a state prison in California.

    A senior FBI counterterrorism official in Washington told the newspaper that they have several ongoing investigations into the use of federal and state prisons to recruit potential Islamic terrorists.

    An investigation by the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force began last month, after local police arrested two of the three men in connection with a string of robberies and allegedly recovered evidence suggesting a possible terrorist plot. Enditem