Terrorist web sites are being hosted by U.S. companies

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A terrorist site might have been hosted in Tampa.

TAMPA (Bay News 9) -- There are radical Islamic web sites now being hosted by U.S. companies and possibly even in Tampa.

Sarasota private investigator Bill Warner said last year he discovered what is known as one of the largest jihadist web sites currently online being hosted through a web company in Tampa.

"This is how you sign up with al-Qaida now," Warner said. "You don't have to go to Pakistan or Afghanistan anymore. You do it on the Internet. Explosives training, arms training, everything you need is on these web sites 24/7; jihad central."

Web hosting companies in the U.S. have expanding bandwidth and security encryption, exactly what terror organizations such as al-Qaida are looking for.

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In a flash video on one of the sites homepage an American minesweeper is blown up in Iraq and what appears to be al-Qaida fighters firing on U.S. troops.

In the forum section the user can find a detailed report of the death and destruction terrorists caused U.S. troops in Iraq just last month.

Bay News 9 contacted the Tampa based web hosting company about the site. And although late last year the sites IP address traced to NOC4Hosts Inc. in Tampa, the site now takes on a different IP address corresponding with a host in Amman, Jordan.

Web hosting general manager Steve Eschweiler told us in a statement that although it doesn't appear NOC4Hosts ever hosted this terrorist web site the company hosts:

"...hundreds of thousands of web sites on several thousand servers for several thousand customers located in over 40 countries worldwide, Eschweiler said. "If we are notified of any abuse we either null-route the IP, immediately pull the server offline or contact the proper authorities depending on the nature of the infraction."

Bay News 9 did contact the FBI concerning this web site.

Special agent Richard Kolko said in a statement:

"The FBI is aware of this and other web sites with similar material. If there is a violation of federal laws, we take the appropriate action. As always, if people become aware of information that would be useful to the FBI or law enforcement, we encourage them to contact the proper authorities."