Terrorist Training and Indoctrination

During the late 1990s, Al Qaida joined forces with other extremist movements, notably Egyptian Islamic Jihad (whose head Ayman al-Zarahiri became Usama bin Laden's deputy) and the Taliban movement in Afghanistan. The Taliban leadership gave shelter to bin Laden and his supporters, actively supporting Al Qaida and forming close links with its leadership.

Under Taliban protection, Al Qaida established a number of training camps in Afghanistan. Fellow extremists from around the world were encouraged to visit the camps to undergo terrorist training and religious indoctrination. They were trained in skills such as:

• Use of firearms and explosives
• Map-reading and field operations
• Military tactics
• Espionage and information-gathering
• Kidnapping and assassinations
• Torture methods
• Communications methods
• Personal security

Not every recruit was given the same level of training but, even so, thousands are estimated to have passed through Al Qaida's camps. Many of those trained by Al Qaida returned to their home countries - including the UK - where they joined existing terrorist networks or established new, loosely-knit networks which were often centred on a leading figure or "emir".

Most of the Al Qaida terrorist training camps in Afghanistan were destroyed in the international military action that followed the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. However, terrorist training has continued elsewhere in remote regions of Pakistan and Kashmir, though this has sometimes consisted of little more than groups of people meeting informally in places where their activities would be difficult to detect.

Individuals who passed through Al Qaida's camps have been involved in a variety of subsequent terrorist attacks in Europe and elsewhere. Although a significant number of Al Qaida's "graduates" have been killed or arrested in the worldwide campaign against terrorism, many trained terrorists remain at large and continue to pose a serious threat. They include a number of UK citizens and foreign citizens resident in the UK (see "Al Qaida and the UK").

In recent years, the Internet has become a key means of indoctrinating and training would-be terrorists. Extremist websites aim to recruit and radicalise individuals through videos and ideological statements. Such websites also provide detailed advice and instructions on how to plan and prepare for attacks, in effect acting as a "virtual training camp". A number of individuals in the UK and elsewhere have been convicted for running or contributing to extremist websites.