40 AQ members killed by Plague

[Sionnach Glic]

By ALEX WEST
Published: Today

ANTI-TERROR bosses last night hailed their latest ally in the war on terror - the BLACK DEATH.

At least 40 al-Qaeda fanatics died horribly after being struck down with the disease that devastated Europe in the Middle Ages.

The killer bug, also known as the plague, swept through insurgents training at a forest camp in Algeria, North Africa. It came to light when security forces found a body by a roadside.

The victim was a terrorist in AQLIM (al-Qaeda in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb), the largest and most powerful al-Qaeda group outside the Middle East.

It trains Muslim fighters to kill British and US troops.

Now al-Qaeda chiefs fear the plague has been passed to other terror cells - or Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.

One security source said: "This is the deadliest weapon yet in the war against terror. Most of the terrorists do not have the basic medical supplies needed to treat the disease.

"It spreads quickly and kills within hours. This will be really worrying al-Qaeda."

The al-Qaeda epidemic began in the cave hideouts of AQLIM in Tizi Ouzou province, 150km east of the capital Algiers. The group, led by wanted terror boss Abdelmalek Droudkal, was forced to turn its shelters in the Yakouren forest into mass graves and flee.

The extremists supporting madman Osama bin Laden went to Bejaia and Jijel provinces - hoping the plague did not go with them.

A source said: "The emirs (leaders) fear surviving terrorists will surrender to escape a horrible death."

AQLIM boss Droudkal claims to command around 1,000 insurgents. Training camps are also based in Morocco, Tunisia and Nigeria.

AQLIM bombed the UN headquarters in Algiers in 2007, killing 41. Attacks across Algeria last year killed at least 70 people.

In an interview last July, Droudkal boasted his cell was in constant contact with other al-Qaeda "brothers".

While I doubt anyone's particularly bothered by these particular victims, what happens when it hits the civillian population? And if it transmits to the troops occupying the country it could cause some problem.

[Aaron]

Shouldn't be too much trouble for the occupying troops. They'll have easy access to anti-biotics but the locals might have a hard time depending on the country and the willingness to share meds. It's spread by fleas, so it also depends on the countries access to the various flea killing chemicals.

[Captain Seafort]

While I doubt anyone's particularly bothered by these particular victims, what happens when it hits the civillian population? And if it transmits to the troops occupying the country it could cause some problem.

Shouldn't be too much trouble for the occupying troops. They'll have easy access to anti-biotics but the locals might have a hard time depending on the country and the willingness to share meds. It's spread by fleas, so it also depends on the countries access to the various flea killing chemicals.

This assumes the report is accurate. Check your source Rochey - it's the Sun. If that bunch of clowns claimed water was wet I'd want independent verification.

[Aaron]

What's the deal with the Sun?

[Captain Seafort]

What's the deal with the Sun?

It's a tabloid, and a particularly bad one at that - they have a track record of making shit up if they think it makes a good story (this being the most infamous example). While the story is certainly plausable, the source's reliability is none-existent.

[IanKennedy]

It's a low quality tabloid news paper. The Sun. It's more famous for it's page three girls (topless photos shown on page 3) than it's in-depth journalism.

[Aaron]

Well here's two that might be a little better:

Telegraph

Daily Mail

[Captain Seafort]

Not much better unfortunately. The Telegraph is certainly a quality newspaper, but it makes a point of saying (repeatedly) that all it's information is from the Sun. The Daily Mail, while better than the Sun (it at least seems to consider news, albeit usually sensationalised, its main business) isn't a good quality paper, and in this case also states that the Sun is the source of its information.

[Aaron]

It's probably BS then, Google turns up squat and there's nothing on Reuters.

[colmquinn]

I must admit when I saw the topic name I automatically thought 40 Alpha Quadrant members killed by Plague

[Sonic Glitch]

I must admit when I saw the topic name I automatically thought 40 Alpha Quadrant members killed by Plague

Me too.

[Monroe]

I must admit when I saw the topic name I automatically thought 40 Alpha Quadrant members killed by Plague

As a WoW player I thought of the dungeon AQ40. Especially since I had a WoW forum open in another window.

If this is true then I wonder how they'd spin their doing god's work and all when plague is killing them.

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

I must admit when I saw the topic name I automatically thought 40 Alpha Quadrant members killed by Plague

Me too.

Sadly, same here. I figured it was from a non-aligned world, or a testbed by Cardassians.

[colmquinn]

Yeah, I'm not alone in my stupidity

[Mark]

I must admit when I saw the topic name I automatically thought 40 Alpha Quadrant members killed by Plague

You have NO idea how much better I feel knowing that I wasn't alone