US embassy cable - 05PARIS513

S E C R E T PARIS 000513 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR S/CT 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/26/2014 
TAGS: PTER, PREL, PGOV, FR 
SUBJECT: POTENTIAL 'JIHADISTS TO IRAQ' A "SERIOUS GROUP" 
 
REF: PARIS 479 
 
Classified By: DEPUTY CHIEF OF MISSION ALEX WOLFF, FOR REASONS 1.4 B/D 
 
1. (S) Attention in the French "jihadists to Iraq" 
investigation has focused on a group of young French citizens 
(reportedly 20-24 years old) that had recently returned from 
a hajj together, investigating judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere 
told the DCM on January 27.  They were arrested in Paris when 
authorities discovered that they were planning to stay in 
France for only 24-36 hours before departing for Iraq.  Their 
objective was to target the American military, if necessary 
via suicide attacks.  Brugiere said that the potential 
jihadists were not part of a formal network.  Bruguiere told 
the DCM that these jihadists had been radicalized over the 
past year by viewing al-Jazeera, and listening to local imams 
and audio tapes on radical Islam.  They looked up to al-Qaeda 
terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. 
 
2. (S) Bruguiere said the level of radicalization concerned 
him and he believed that there were other such cases 
throughout Europe.  France was not the only country where 
this could happen, he feared.  Bruguiere expressed concern 
that other such cases were not being discovered outside of 
France.  French press reported on January 27 that the 
potential jihadists were from the same neighborhood in the 
19th arrondisement of Paris, and frequented the same prayer 
halls as Redouane el-Hakim (killed in Fallujah on July 17, 
2004) and his brother Boubakeur (caught and imprisoned in 
Syria for attempting to cross the border into Iraq). 
Leach