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Abu Usama al-Kini

Abu Usama al-Kini

al-Qaeda in Africa

Africa: East

20030826

Terror Networks

Ten reasons Al Qaeda fears drones.

2009-07-24

Usama bin Laden's son isn't the only Al Qaeda operative believed to have been killed in an attack by an unmanned U.S. drone in the past year. U.S. officials tell FOX News that Saad bin Laden, who is not considered a significant player in Al Qaeda leadership, was "collateral" damage in an airstrike in Pakistan and was not considered important enough to target on his own. Click here for photos of the terrorists. But other high-value operatives, some of them with key roles in Al Qaeda, also have been taken out by U.S. attacks. The following are 10 top operatives killed in the past year: Khalid Habib -- veteran combat leader and operations chief involved with plots to attack the West; deputy to Shaikh Said al-Masri, Al Qaeda's No. 3. Rashid Rauf -- mastermind of the 2006 transatlantic airliner plot. Abu Khabab al-Masri -- Al Qaeda's most seasoned explosives expert and trainer, and the man responsible for its chemical and biological weapons efforts. Abdallah Azzam -- senior aide to Sheikh Sa'id al-Masri. Abu al-Hassan al-Rimi -- led cross-border operations against Coalition forces in Afghanistan. Abu Sulaiman al-Jaziri -- senior external operations planner and facilitator. Abu Jihad al-Masri -- senior operational planner and propagandist. Usama al-Kini -- Marriott attack planner and listed on the FBI's terrorist most wanted list. Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan -- involved in the attacks on the US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Abu Sulaiman al-Jaziri -- senior trainer and external operations plotter.

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Home Front: WoT

Predator Drones Could Face Legal Challenges - Usual Suspects

2009-05-30

Human rights activists at odds with President Obama over his recent national security decisions are indicating that they might legally challenge the U.S. military's use of Predator drones, a weapon that intelligence officials say is their single most effective tool in combating Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Predator spy planes are unmanned aerial vehicles that are virtually invisible when flying overhead. The Air Force uses them frequently in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where they are able to track and hit targets from the air when mountainous terrain makes it notoriously hard to send troops. "That's the spooky thing about the Predator," national security and terrorism expert Neil Livingstone said. "Even if the Predator is directly overhead and you know it's overheard, you still can't see it or hear it. This is kind of like death out of the blue." Human rights activists are turning their attention to the drone program in part because they say there's no warning to innocent civilians who are in a targeted area. Gabor Rona, international legal director of Human Rights First, a U.S.-based group that advocates universal rights and freedom, said large number of civilians are being unintentionally hit, harmed and killed. "This is not only a violation of the international laws of war," he said. "It's bad policy." Who says that 'large numbers of civilians' are being hit? Who's making that call? HRW? Our military has traditionally gone out of its way to avoid civilian casualties. Opponents of the drones say that the policy could be illegal. The laws of war allow individuals who are engaged in hostilities to be targeted in an armed conflict but strictly prohibit actions against those not engaged. "Even when you're attacking a legitimate military objective, you cannot cause civilian casualties that exceed the value of a legitimate military attack," Rona says. It's undeniable that more civilians have been killed than actual Al Qaeda terrorists in the 16 Predator strikes this year. But there's little chance that could change. "So many of these guys surround themselves with collateral casualties," Livingstone said, and large numbers of women and children are strategically placed around hotbeds of activity. So, Mr. HRW guy, who's responsible for that? If an al-Qaeda perp hides behind a bunch of skirts, isn't he the one responsible for any civilian deaths? And if not, haven't you just granted him a free pass and the power he craves? Livingstone makes the point that even if high-value targets are killed in one of these drone attacks, Al Qaeda still can claim a "propaganda victory" because of the number of civilian casualties. Which is why they hide like that. Our response has to be to whack them anyway and make clear to the civilian population that they need to stay clear of the perps. Two high-value Al Qaeda operatives were killed on New Year's Day this year in northern Pakistan. Usama al Kini and Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan were wanted for their involvement in the 1998 embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. More than 200 people were killed in the embassy bombings, including 12 Americans. The men sought refuge in the tribal areas of Pakistan. "Our military fighting in Afghanistan has got to be able to pursue high level (operatives) who flee across the border from Afghanistan into Pakistan," said Matt Bennett, a national security expert for a Washington-based think tank. On the presidential campaign trail, Obama had said that if there was legitimate intelligence about high-level Al Qaeda personnel he would not hesitate to act. And although there's no formal agreement between the U.S. and Pakistan when it comes to Predator drone attacks, Pakistan more or less looks the other way. Even so, human rights advocates continue to grow more disillusioned by the president's decisions on the Guantanamo military commissions and his refusal to release photos of alleged detainee abuse by U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as other national security issues. The Predator program, which is a holdover from the Bush administration, could be the next legal battle. Let's disillusion HRW some more, then ... "This is part of a broader campaign on the left to begin the drumbeat of withdrawal from Afghanistan and Pakistan generally to change the direction there and make it about only providing aid and not about military engagement," Bennett said. Even though the progressive Left once thought of Afghanistan as the 'good' war ...

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India-Pakistan

Pakistain: Nine suspects due to appear in court

2009-01-31

(AKI) - Nine militants suspected of links to Al-Qaeda and the Taliban were due to appear in a Pakistani court on Friday accused over a string of suicide attacks that killed dozens of people and damaged the Danish embassy in the Pakistani capital Islamabad. Police said they arrested the gang earlier this week in the northeastern garrison town of Rawalpindi. The suspects are expected to be charged under anti-terror legislation and held in custody for up to 14 days. The suspects are reportedly wanted chiefly in connection with five high-profile suicide attacks, including one outside the Danish embassy and another on an Italian restaurant in Islamabad. The devastating embassy car bombing on 2 June last year killed six people including a Dane. The blast caused severe damage to a nearby United Nations agency and damaged the embassy building and the residences of the Indian and Dutch ambassadors. The bombing of the popular Luna Caprese Italian restaurant on 15 March last year killed a female Turkish aid worker and injured at least 10 other foreigners including four American Federal Bureau of Investigation or FBI officials. Police also suspect the gang of helping orchestrate a suicide bombing near the Islamabad's Red Mosque on 7 July last year which killed 19 people, mostly policemen and injured dozens. The gang is also accused over the killing on 25 February last year of Pakistan's chief military medical officer and an attack earlier that month against an army medical corps bus. Police claim that gang was involved in logistics and providing suicide bombers for targeted attacks, including one on Independence Day in the eastern city of Lahore on 14 August last year and an earlier attack on the Naval War College, also in Lahore. The Pakistan Observer daily quoted senior police officers as saying the Rawalpindi gang had links to Al-Qaeda's top commander in Pakistan, Usama al-Kini, who was killed in a US missile strike in the South Waziristan tribal region bordering Afghanistan on 1 January. The gang's ring leader, Mohammed Illyas, also known as Qari Jamil, was identified as a former detainee in the US-run military prison for terrorist suspects, at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, according to an unnamed senior police investigator.

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India-Pakistan

Pakistan busts suicide bomb gang

2009-01-29

PAKISTANI police said today they had arrested a nine-member gang linked to al-Qaeda and the Taliban, who are wanted for multiple suicide bombings, including an attack outside the Danish embassy. "We have busted a gang of nine high-profile terrorists, who were involved in several high-profile attacks in recent times," said Rao Iqbal, police chief in Rawalpindi - the garrison city close to the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. A senior police investigator said the nine were linked to al-Qaeda and Taliban insurgents in Pakistan's lawless tribal areas, which US officials say have become a safe haven for hundreds of extremists fleeing Afghanistan. "They were involved in five high-profile suicide attacks (in Pakistan)," said the investigator, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to release the information. He listed the attacks as bombings outside the Danish embassy and an Italian restaurant in Islamabad; an attack on an army medical corps bus and the killing of Pakistan's most senior military officer to die in a post-2001 attack. Six people were killed, including a Dane, in a devastating car bomb attack outside the Danish embassy on June 2. A Turkish woman aid worker died and at least 10 other foreigners were wounded, including several US diplomats, when a bomb exploded at the popular Luna Caprese Italian restaurant in Islamabad on March 15. Police said the gang also helped orchestrate a suicide bombing near Islamabad's Red Mosque on July 7 that killed 19 people, mostly policemen. "They were involved in logistics and providing suicide bombers to hit targets," the senior police official said. Police said the arrests marked the highest number of suspected militants captured from one gang from Rawalpindi since Pakistan joined the US-led "war on terror" after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. According to senior police officers, the Rawalpindi nine had links to Usama al-Kini, al-Qaeda's top commander in Pakistan, who was killed in a US missile strike on January 1, in South Waziristan. The suspects were arrested this week when a police intelligence team raided their den, the police official said. He said the ring leader had been identified as Mohammed Illyas, also known as Qari Jamil, a former prisoner held for three years at the US-run Guantanamo Bay detention centre housing alleged suspects in the US-led "war on terror". Mr Iqbal said police recovered 100kg of potassium chloride, 50 detonators and 20kg of ball bearings, which militants pack in suicide vests to maximise carnage. Police officials said the gang also provided suicide bombers for an Independence Day attack in the eastern city of Lahore on August 14 last year and an earlier attack on the Naval War College, also in Lahore. They had confessed to their involvement in these attacks, police said.

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India-Pakistan

New Year's Missile Strike Kills Top Al-Qaeda Operatives

2009-01-09

A New Year's CIA strike in northern Pakistan killed two top al-Qaeda terrorists long sought by the United States, including the man believed to be behind September's deadly suicide bombing at a Marriott hotel in the Pakistani capital, U.S. counterterrorism officials told The Washingon Post today. Agency officials determined in recent days that among the dead in the Jan. 1 missile strike were a Kenyan national who used the name Usama al-Kini and who was described as al-Qaeda's chief of operations in Pakistan and his lieutenant, identified as Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan, the sources said. Both men were associated with a string of suicide attacks in Pakistan in recent months and were also on the FBI's most-wanted list for ties to the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in East Africa. Kini, who had been pursued by U.S. law enforcement agencies on two continents for a decade, was the eighth senior al-Qaeda leader killed in clandestine CIA strikes since July Kini, who had been pursued by U.S. law enforcement agencies on two continents for a decade, was the eighth senior al-Qaeda leader killed in clandestine CIA strikes since July, the officials said. The CIA declined comment on the reported strike, citing the extreme secrecy of its operations on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border where al-Qaeda is believed to be based. However, a U.S. counterterrorism official confirmed that the two died in a CIA strike on a building that was being used for explosives training. "They died preparing new acts of terror," said the official, who insisted on anonymity because the agency's actions are secret. Details of the attack were sketchy, but counter-terrorism officials privy to classified reports said the pair was killed by a 100-pound hellfire missiles fired by a pilotless drone aircraft operated by the CIA. The strike took place near Karikot in South Waziristan, a province in the rugged autonomous tribal region of northern Pakistan that has long been a haven for al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters.

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Africa: East

Kenya’s Most Wanted

2003-08-26

A Comoran suspected to be the leader of a terrorist cell in Kenya has been named as Fazul Abdullah Mohamed. He is also known as Harun Fazul or Abdulkarim, and tops the list of the most wanted terrorists in the country. The list has nine Kenyans named yesterday by police as Fahid Mohamed Ally alias Abu Usama al-Kini, Ahmed Salim Swedan alias Abu Yayha al-Kini, Mohamed Karama Salim, Harun Abdisheikh Bamusa and Mohammed Swaleh Saliman. Others are Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, Issa Osman Issa, Fumo Mohamed Fumo and Salim Samir Baamer. The above list will also cause your spellchecker to vomit. Reports from the National Security Intelligence Service and the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit indicate that Mohammed was believed to be the new local leader of the Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda terrorist network. He assumed the leadership of the cell after Wadi el-Hage was arrested and deported to the US for the role he played in the 1998 bomb attack on the US embassy in Nairobi, which left 213 people dead and 5,000 injured. He reportedly rented a house in Runda Estate where the bomb used to attack the embassy was assembled, and left for Afghanistan after overseeing the attack. Intelligence reports indicate the Comoran left Afghanistan sometime in 2001, sneaked back into Kenya the following year and set up base in Lamu under a pseudonym, Abdulkarim. Another graduate of the Afghan School of Mines and RPGs. And to entrench himself in the community, he married Miss Amina Kubwa, 14, a few months before last year’s terror raid on the Israeli-owned Paradise Hotel in Mombasa and the abortive missile attack aimed at an Israeli jet at the Moi International Airport, Mombasa. Miss Amina Kubwa, 14: I see he likes older women. He then went underground after the attack and his whereabouts are unknown. Kenyan security agents believe he might be holed up in the country plotting another attack with the help of Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, who is hiding in Mogadishu. Sustained intelligence reports over the past three months has established that there was frequent communication between Nabhan and his associates in Kenya. It was based on this information that five terrorist suspects were recently arrested. One was seized after detectives intercepted e-mail communication between him and Nabhan. They arrested someone? Was this before or after one of their suspects boomed himself and a cop while his buddy slipped out the back door of the police station? It is believed that planning for a new terrorist atrocity in Kenya by the group had reached an advanced stage before the gang was scattered after the Mombasa raid. Police seized an arms cache that included five shoulder-launched missiles, a hand grenade and ammunition for AK-47 assault rifles from a flat in the town’s Tudor Estate. One of the Kenyans being sought by the anti-terrorist police - Fahid Mohamed Ally Msalam - is believed to have bought the cars that were used in the 1998 bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. He is also believed to have purchased components of the bomb used in Tanzania. Three others - Mohamed Karama Salim, Harun Abdisheikh Bamusa and Mohammed Swaleh Saliman - are suspected to have been involved in the 1998 attack. Issa Osman Issa, Fumo Mohamed Fumo and Salim Samir Baamer are wanted for the Kikambala attack. Investigations indicate that only the terrorist cell led by Wadih El-Hage - currently serving life imprisonment in the US together with Mohammed Sadiq Odeh, Mohammed Rashed Daoud al-Owhali and Khalfan Khamis Mohammed over the embassy bombing -was active in Kenya. I’d look closer if I was you.

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