May 29, 2008	Thursday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 23, 1429

NEW YORK, May 28: Malika El Aroud, a Belgian woman whose first husband was implicated in killing Afghan leader Ahmed Shah Masood days before 9/11, has become an “Al Qaeda” warrior, using Internet to rally Muslim women.

The New York Times which profiled here on Wednesday said that “Ms El Aroud had made a name for herself among devotees of radical forums where she broadcast her message of hatred towards the West. “She also is well known to intelligence officials throughout Europe as simply ‘Malika’ — an Islamist who is at the forefront of the movement by women to take a larger role in the male-dominated global jihad.” She calls herself a female holy warrior for Al Qaeda. She insists that she does not disseminate instructions on bomb-making and has no intention of taking up arms herself. Rather, she bullies Muslim men to go and fight and rallies women to join the cause,” the Times said.

“It’s not my role to set off bombs — that’s ridiculous,” she said in a rare interview. “I have a weapon. It’s to write. It’s to speak out. That’s my jihad. You can do many things with words. Writing is also a bomb.” Ms El Aroud has distinguished herself. Writing in French under the name “’Oum Obeyda’, she has transformed herself into one of the most prominent Internet jihadists in Europe.

The Times says that Ms El-Aroud who has remarried, and in 2007 she and her new husband were convicted in Switzerland for operating pro-Qaeda websites. Now, according to the Belgian authorities, she is a suspect in what the authorities say is a plot to carry out attacks in Belgium.