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The arrest by Norwegian police of an Uzbek, a Uighur, and a Kurdish Iraqi - all described as being linked to Al Qaeda - shows the ability of jihadi groups to better organize abroad in a united front where race or nationality is ever less a determining factor, analysts have said. Coming at a time when many combatants killed or captured in Afghanistan, Waziristan, and Pakistan are discovered to be from nations as wide-ranging as Uzbekistan, Egypt, and Yemen, the arrests in Norway show the ability of a well-connected transnational Islamic group to bring widely differing individuals together, the Christian Science Monitor reports. "Whether it is organized by Al Qaeda or a new group, we are seeing varied nationalities coming together under one banner.... They are not yet realizing their aims, but are taking first steps, connecting and planning," CSM quoted Maha Azzam, a specialist at Chatham House, an international research group in London, as saying. "Despite different Islamic contexts...there is a thread that is bonding these individuals in the name of a cause," Azzam added. The arrest of the three men, two in Norway and one in Germany, took place after a year of surveillance by Norwegian authorities. The decision to arrest came after unnamed members of the "international media" had discovered the investigation, Norwegian police said. The men were said to be preparing homemade peroxide bombs not unlike the one that failed to go off in the New York subway in 2009. The backgrounds of the three men may be significant not simply because they are so varied, analysts say, but also because they come out of what a decade ago would have been nationalistic movements in which "Islam" had far lesser meaning. The group arrested in Norway may not have been targeting Norwegian sites, and the terrorism threat levels in Norway remained low. The Police Security Services statement states that "groups in Norway that may constitute a threat to national security are small and primarily involved in support activities to foreign countries." Eventual targets were likely the UK and the US, it said. Norway, however, is considered a "third circle" priority target very far down the list, according to one senior European terrorism expert.

Terror suspects arrest in Norway shows huge reach of Qaeda-linked groups