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Terrorists known to possess SAMs
MOMBASA, Kenya (CNN) -- If Thursday's failed missile attack on a charter jet taking off from Mombasa airport turns out to have been the work of al Qaeda, it would not be the first time terrorists have been in possession of surface-to-air missiles. In May, a Sudanese national named Abu Huzifa, described by U.S. sources as "an important operative with links to al Qaeda leadership," fired a SA-7 at a U.S. plane as it took off from Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia. The remnants of the device were discovered on the base. In one of the al Qaeda videotapes obtained by CNN in Afghanistan, a man gives about an hour of instruction on how to fire a SA-7 missile. In June 2001, a Hezbollah communiqué quoted in the Lebanese media claimed it had deployed into the field units equipped with both SA-7s and SA-9s, with the intention of confronting Israeli aircraft intruding into Lebanese airspace. According to the Lebanese newspaper Al-Nahar, two of the missiles were fired at Israeli aircraft flying separate sorties near Tyre on June 12, 2001, and did not hit. On May 8, 2001, an arsenal of weapons, including SA-7s was seized from a Lebanese fishing boat. Israeli officials said the weapons were destined for Palestinian militants. Strela missiles (SA-7s, SA-9s) have a range of 50 meters to 5,000 meters, and are effective against targets at altitudes from 25 meters to 3,500 meters. Stinger missiles and the more sophisticated SA-18s are heat-seeking and tend to be more accurate. SA-7s are widely available in Afghanistan, former Soviet Union countries and Lebanon. One Kenyan official said Thursday, "You could almost get them in a supermarket." Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said passenger planes are not typically equipped with anti-missile defense systems. He said he has ordered Israeli authorities "to check out the measures needed in order to reduce this threat. We have to think about this, but so does every single country in the world."
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