Switzerland just got its first big public win in the war on terror, overshadowed on the day American forces killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and other al-Qaeda in Iraq targets and Israel took out #2 on their own hit parade. The Guardian (UK) reports that the Swiss foiled an airliner attack on El Al last December, and announced arrests in the case today:

A terrorist cell plotted to shoot down an Israeli airliner over Switzerland but was foiled by intelligence services, Swiss prosecutors said yesterday.

Seven people of north African origin are under arrest in connection with the alleged plot, said a statement from the federal prosecutor's office. Officials declined to give further details.

Israeli media reported last month that terrorists had planned a rocket attack on a plane operated by the Israeli airline El Al last December during takeoff from Geneva. A series of arrests began last month around Zurich and Basle, and the investigation continues in Switzerland and other countries.

"Those who were arrested in Switzerland maintained contact with similar cells in France and Spain, which were likewise smashed," the statement said. One of the members of the Swiss cell was said to have been in contact with Mohamed Achraf, an alias for Abderrahmane Tahiri, who has been indicted in Spain for an alleged 2004 plot to carry out a lorry bombing against Madrid's national court. Tahiri was extradited from Switzerland in April 2005.

The Israeli authorities said last month that a plot had been uncovered by the Swiss and French intelligence agencies. An undercover agent is said to have heard three migrants of Arabic origin boast of attempts to smuggle weapons from Russia with the goal of shooting down an airliner.

It appears that the West has taken the fight against the Islamofascists up a notch or two this week, and the terrorists have been caught flat-footed. Big arrests have been made on three continents and their most successful enterprise, the foreign insurgency in Iraq, just got decapitated, a fitting end for the terror leader whose idea of entertainment was making decapitation videos. Too many of these cells have been shut down for all of this to be a coincidence; it appears that the nations fighting terror have coordinated well beyond our prior understanding -- fortunately for us.

June 8th may be remembered as a tipping point not for Iraq,which has progressed handsomely, but for the entire war on Islamofascist terror. Never before have the terrorists experienced such a day of loss and retreat, but with the intelligence wins that these captures and kills will undoubtedly bring, they will probably start experiencing them more often from now on.

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