SA on high alert for 11 terrorists

The UN Security Council has warned South Africa to be on the lookout for 11 international terrorists who may decide to use the country as an operational base, The Times reported on Friday.

The 11 have links to al-Qaeda and Islamic State, the newspaper reported.

A proclamation in the Government Gazette this week noted that the group consisted of financiers, recruiters and logistical supporters of the terror groups.

The 11 men and women are from Norway, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq, reported The Times.

Senior politics professor at the University of the Free State, Hussein Solomon, reportedly told the newspaper South Africa had been used by global terror networks since the 1990s.

"Al-Qaeda has had a presence here since 1997," Solomon was quoted as saying.
"By 1995 there were five Hezbollah camps in South Africa. The list of the who's who of the terrorism zoo in South Africa goes on and on."