A short article from the Longwar Journal describing the senior leadership of al Qaeda in Pakistan:
Al Qaeda has a deep bench inside Pakistan and relies on highly-skilled operatives from other like-minded jihadist organizations in plotting against the West. Members of various terror groups allied with al Qaeda, including Harkat-ul-Jihad-i-Islami (HUJI) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), work with al Qaeda’s external operations committee.
Al Qaeda shares a safe haven in northern Pakistan with these groups, and this allows the organization to regenerate its external operations network despite being heavily targeted by the covert US air campaign in the tribal areas.
No terrorist better typifies this phenomenon than Rashid Rauf. A senior member of JeM, which was founded by the Pakistani military-intelligence establishment, Rauf has a long pedigree in Pakistan's terror circles. He is a relative of Maulana Masood Azhar, the leader of JeM. His father founded Crescent Relief, a Muslim charity that collected funds for earthquake relief and is currently under investigation for funding the failed 2006 London airliner plot.
Rauf and senior al Qaeda leader Matiur Rehman were the architects of the 2006 London airline plot. The foiled attack, which has been called the "son of Bojinka," was modeled after the 1995 Bojinka plot devised by Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and his nephew Ramzi Yousef. Rauf also assisted Adnan el Shukrijumah in training the al Qaeda operatives who planned to attack trains in the New York City area last year.
Ilyas Kasmiri, like Rauf, is a good example of how al Qaeda fills leadership voids by hand-selecting members from allied terror groups. Kashmiri is one of al Qaeda's top military leaders and the architect of al Qaeda's terror assaults utilizing coordinated suicide attack teams in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India.
Kashmiri is the operational commander of the Harkat-ul-Jihad-i-Islami (HUJI), a terror group backed by Pakistan's military and Inter-Service Intelligence directorate. He is also the leader of Brigade 313, al Qaeda's military organization in Pakistan. His training camp in Miramshah is hosted in a region administered by Siraj Haqqani, a top Taliban and al Qaeda leader.
Kashmiri has organized multiple attacks in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India, including the November 2008 terror assault on the Indian city of Mumbai, in collaboration with the Lashkar-e-Taiba. He has also attempted to execute attacks in the US and in Denmark, and was indicted by the US in 2009 along with David Coleman Headley, his point man. In Pakistan, he masterminded the assassination of the former commander of the Pakistani Special Services Group, and organized attacks on the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) headquarters and Pakistani police headquarters in Lahore.
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Wednesday, October 6, 2010
A Brief History of the IMU
From everything that I am reading, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) has become a real player in the global jihad arena. I will provide a more in-depth analyis of the IMU later, but the Longwar Journal provides a nice synopsis of the group:
The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan is based in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan, and primarily operates along the Afghan-Pakistani border and in northern Afghanistan. According to one estimate, more than 3,000 Uzbeks and other Central Asian fighters are sheltering in North Waziristan.
Since Sept. 1, the US has ramped up airstrikes against the terror groups in North Waziristan, with 21 strikes that month and three more already this month. The IMU's former leader, Tahir Yuldashev, was killed in a US Predator airstrike in South Waziristan in September 2009. Yuldashev sat on al Qaeda's top council, the Shura Majlis. He has been replaced by Abu Usman Adil.
Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan fighters often serve as bodyguards to top Pakistani Taliban leaders. The IMU fights alongside the Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan. In northern Afghanistan, the IMU has integrated its operations with the Taliban, and senior leaders serve as members of the Taliban's shadow government [see LWJ report, Coalition continues pursuit of IMU commanders in the Afghan north].
Tajikistan has seen an uptick in attacks from Islamist terror groups since the summer of 2009. [See LWJ report, Al Qaeda-linked IMU claims deadly ambush on Tajik troops.] In late spring of that year, NATO opened a supply line from Tajikistan into northern Afghanistan after the Taliban and allied groups heavily targeted the main NATO route from Pakistan.
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The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan is based in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan, and primarily operates along the Afghan-Pakistani border and in northern Afghanistan. According to one estimate, more than 3,000 Uzbeks and other Central Asian fighters are sheltering in North Waziristan.
Since Sept. 1, the US has ramped up airstrikes against the terror groups in North Waziristan, with 21 strikes that month and three more already this month. The IMU's former leader, Tahir Yuldashev, was killed in a US Predator airstrike in South Waziristan in September 2009. Yuldashev sat on al Qaeda's top council, the Shura Majlis. He has been replaced by Abu Usman Adil.
Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan fighters often serve as bodyguards to top Pakistani Taliban leaders. The IMU fights alongside the Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan. In northern Afghanistan, the IMU has integrated its operations with the Taliban, and senior leaders serve as members of the Taliban's shadow government [see LWJ report, Coalition continues pursuit of IMU commanders in the Afghan north].
Tajikistan has seen an uptick in attacks from Islamist terror groups since the summer of 2009. [See LWJ report, Al Qaeda-linked IMU claims deadly ambush on Tajik troops.] In late spring of that year, NATO opened a supply line from Tajikistan into northern Afghanistan after the Taliban and allied groups heavily targeted the main NATO route from Pakistan.
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German al Qaeda, or "White al Qaeda"
AP file photo of an ICE Predator drone on the Mexican border. With the escalating violence in Mexico (and national security threat), I wonder how long it will take to put Hellfire missiles on these bad guys.
Presumably, in response to the disrupted (maybe?) terror plot in Europe that seems to stem out of the Hamburg, Germany mosque (same one tied to 9/11) and tied to the al Qaeda-linked Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), German al Qaeda, or "white al Qaeda", have been getting a beating.
From Dawn.com (October 4, 2010):
MIRANSHAH: A suspected US drone strike killed eight militants of German nationality in northwest Pakistan on Monday, Pakistani intelligence officials said.
They were killed when two missiles from a suspected CIA pilotless aircraft struck a mosque in Mirali in North Waziristan, the intelligence officials said.
The strikes came a day after the United States and Britain issued warnings of an increased risk of terrorist attacks in Europe.
The US State Department warned American citizens to exercise caution if travelling in Europe. Britain raised the threat level to “high” from “general” for its citizens travelling to Germany and France.
The plot that triggered the alerts involved al Qaeda and allied militants, possibly including European citizens or residents, intelligence sources said last week.
They said the militants were plotting coordinated attacks on European cities.
Western security officials said they believed a group of individuals in northern Pakistan were connected to the plot.
The United States has stepped up drone missile bombings on the Pakistan border with Afghanistan.
It is as yet unclear, however, how closely these intensified drone strikes are linked to the reported plot in Europe.
Nato helicopters from Afghanistan have also attacked militant targets within Pakistan, drawing anger in Islamabad
which has condemned these as violation of sovereignty.
Pakistan blocked one of the supply routes for Nato troops in Afghanistan after a helicopter strike last week killed three Pakistani soldiers in the western Kurram region.
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Newton's Third Law (of Geopolitics)
Newtown's third law states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. So when ISAF crosses the Pakistani border and kills a boatload of insurgents and "Frontier Corps", Pakistan is obliged to repond in a quid pro quo fashion. Frontier Corps (FC) troops are like mall cops in the FATA areas and notoriously cowardly and on the take.
You have to wonder why the FC were in the immediate vicinity of Haqqani militants in the first place (and not engaging them).
From the Longwar Journal (October 3, 2010):
The Taliban destroyed 28 NATO fuel tankers bound for Afghanistan in an attack near Islamabad. The attack is the second of its kind since Pakistan closed down the Khyber Pass on Sept. 30 in protest against US cross-border attacks on Haqqani Network fighters fleeing from Afghanistan into Pakistan.
Suspected Taliban fighters hit the fuel tankers during a midnight raid on a compound on the outskirts of Pakistan's capital. Three people were reported killed and 28 tankers burned in the aftermath of the attack. The suspected Taliban fighters escaped. It is unclear if Pakistani security forces provided any security for the fuel tankers.
The Taliban, commanded by Hakeemullah Mehsud, claimed the Islamabad attack and vowed to carry out further attacks on convoys in Pakistan.
“We will carry out more such attacks in future," Azam Tariq, Hakeemullah's spokesman, told AFP. We will not allow the use of Pakistani soil as a supply route for NATO troops based in Afghanistan."
Tariq also stated the attacks on NATO convoys were designed "to avenge drone attacks" from US Predators and Reapers that have been pounding Taliban and al Qaeda operatives in North Waziristan.
The Islamabad attack took place just two days after a nearly identical raid by the Taliban in the city of Shikarpur in Sindh province in the Afghan south. More than 36 fuel tankers and several container trucks were destroyed.
The Taliban spokesman Tariq also claimed the Shikarpur attack, and said a group based in Sindh known as the Siyara Group carried out the attack.
“They were local militants and had acquired training in South Waziristan and returned to their native towns to start attacks on government and security installations,” Tariq told The News.
The Taliban struck at a NATO convoy outside Islamabad earlier this year, when a 15-man squad of Taliban hit a truck stop in Tarnol on June 9. Eight people, including two drivers, were killed in the attack, while more than 30 NATO fuel and supply trucks were destroyed. The Taliban have consistently hit NATO convoys and trucks in Peshawar, Khyber, and Quetta.
The latest two strikes took place after the Pakistani government angrily shut down NATO's supply route through the Khyber Pass, the main passage to NATO troops in Kabul and the surrounding areas. The Pakistan government closed the Khyber Pass after US helicopters pursued Haqqani Network fighters across the border from Afghanistan into Pakistan three times last week. The Pakistani military claimed that three Frontier Corps troops had been killed in the attacks, and the US military apologized for the attack before an investigation into the incident began.
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You have to wonder why the FC were in the immediate vicinity of Haqqani militants in the first place (and not engaging them).
From the Longwar Journal (October 3, 2010):
The Taliban destroyed 28 NATO fuel tankers bound for Afghanistan in an attack near Islamabad. The attack is the second of its kind since Pakistan closed down the Khyber Pass on Sept. 30 in protest against US cross-border attacks on Haqqani Network fighters fleeing from Afghanistan into Pakistan.
Suspected Taliban fighters hit the fuel tankers during a midnight raid on a compound on the outskirts of Pakistan's capital. Three people were reported killed and 28 tankers burned in the aftermath of the attack. The suspected Taliban fighters escaped. It is unclear if Pakistani security forces provided any security for the fuel tankers.
The Taliban, commanded by Hakeemullah Mehsud, claimed the Islamabad attack and vowed to carry out further attacks on convoys in Pakistan.
“We will carry out more such attacks in future," Azam Tariq, Hakeemullah's spokesman, told AFP. We will not allow the use of Pakistani soil as a supply route for NATO troops based in Afghanistan."
Tariq also stated the attacks on NATO convoys were designed "to avenge drone attacks" from US Predators and Reapers that have been pounding Taliban and al Qaeda operatives in North Waziristan.
The Islamabad attack took place just two days after a nearly identical raid by the Taliban in the city of Shikarpur in Sindh province in the Afghan south. More than 36 fuel tankers and several container trucks were destroyed.
The Taliban spokesman Tariq also claimed the Shikarpur attack, and said a group based in Sindh known as the Siyara Group carried out the attack.
“They were local militants and had acquired training in South Waziristan and returned to their native towns to start attacks on government and security installations,” Tariq told The News.
The Taliban struck at a NATO convoy outside Islamabad earlier this year, when a 15-man squad of Taliban hit a truck stop in Tarnol on June 9. Eight people, including two drivers, were killed in the attack, while more than 30 NATO fuel and supply trucks were destroyed. The Taliban have consistently hit NATO convoys and trucks in Peshawar, Khyber, and Quetta.
The latest two strikes took place after the Pakistani government angrily shut down NATO's supply route through the Khyber Pass, the main passage to NATO troops in Kabul and the surrounding areas. The Pakistan government closed the Khyber Pass after US helicopters pursued Haqqani Network fighters across the border from Afghanistan into Pakistan three times last week. The Pakistani military claimed that three Frontier Corps troops had been killed in the attacks, and the US military apologized for the attack before an investigation into the incident began.
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