Terror Networks |
Journey to jihad: Iran’s Sunni Kurds fighting a holy war in Idlib |
2020-06-28 |
Very long. It all started with Abdul Qader Tawhidi, leader of the Salafist Sunni Kurds in Iran around the time of the 1979 Iranian revolution, and can be traced through the formation of Al Qaeda in Iraq and then Ansar al Islam and Al Nusra. [Rudaw] Zakaria sat at an outpost framed by olive trees on one of the bloodiest frontlines in Syria, full combat gear weighing down his slender body. His close friend Faruq had unexpectedly joined him. An Arab fighter was meant to man a stretch of front line with Zakaria that cold morning in January 2019, but he fell ill, and Faruq volunteered to replace him. The two began to sing a nasheed, an Islamic recitation, as they gripped their guns in anticipation of battle.Zakaria and Faruq were foreign jihadists in Sahel, an area cutting across embattled northwest Syria’s Latakia and Tartus governorates. They had travelled thousands of kilometers from the Kurdish region of Iran, where four decades of ethnic and religious discrimination has left the local population bitter about Shiite theocratic rule. Thousands of young, Sunni, Kurdish men from Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneouslytaking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militiasto extend the regime's influence. The word Iranis a cognate form of Aryan.The abbreviation IRGCis the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA).The term Supreme Guideis a the modern version form of either Duceor Führeror maybe both. They hate have sought solace in carrying out religious warfare, or jihad, in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and beyond. |
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Bangladesh |
Militants stalked Xulhaz through LGBTQ platforms |
2019-01-18 |
[Dhaka Tribune] Police investigation into the murder of LGTBQ activist Xulhaz Mannan has revealed that his murderers from Ansar al-Islam, a banned bad boy group, were stalking him on a pro-LGBTQ Facebook group and rallies. A source within the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit confided to the Dhaka Tribune that Asadullah, one of the prime suspects placed in durance vile ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... for his involvement in Xulhaz's murder, have revealed chilling details about how the murderers blended in with the LGBTQ crowd that the rights activist was campaigning for. The police arrested Asadullah on Tuesday and took him into remand. Ansar al Islam's intelligence wing, known as Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) had opened several Facebook IDs to gather information on Xulhaz, who founded Roopban - Bangladesh's first and only LGBTQ magazine - and several other targets. The ABT outfit assigned to kill Xulhaz made their plans in a house in Gazipur, where they were trained in melee weapons and explosives. Asadullah and Zubair, another Ansar al-Islam member, had stalked Xulhaz on Facebook, in particular the pro-LGBTQ groups that their target was active in. They became increasingly involved in the pro-LGBTQ activities and even participated in Roopban pride rallies. Thus, the ABT was able to track Xulhaz and draw up plans for his execution by determining the time and place where he would be most vulnerable. On April 25, 2016, Xulhaz and his friend Mahbub Rabbi Tonoy, a theatre activist, were hacked to death at the former’s Kalabagan residence in Dhaka. CTTC Chief Monirul Islam said that Asadullah is directly involved in the murder of Xulhaz and Tonoy. Mohibul Islam Khan, deputy commissioner with the CTTC, also said that the police are still investigating and trying to get more information out of Asadullah. |
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Bangladesh |
Suspected militants hack to death Bangladesh professor |
2014-11-17 |
[ARABNEWS] Suspected Death Eaters have hacked to death a university professor in western Bangladesh, several years after he led a push to ban students wearing full-face veils, police said Sunday. Police have tossed in the calaboose Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! at least 20 people for questioning over the murder near Rajshahi University in the west of the Moslem-majority country where the victim was a professor of sociology, a senior officer said. The victim, Shafiul Islam, followed the folk sect Baul, popular in parts of western Bangladesh, whose members call themselves followers of humanism rather than a particular religion. The murder has triggered protests in the capital Dhaka and in Rajshahi where mainly students have marched through university campuses and boycotted classes since news of the killing broke on Saturday. "We are working on several possible motives behind the killing," Rajshahi police commissioner Mahbubur Rahman said, adding that the "leading" one was that the murder was carried out by myrmidons. He said some 20 people have been arrested but declined to say which religious or political groups they were connected to. A previously unknown group calling itself the Ansar al Islam Bangladesh-2 grabbed credit for the killing, after opening a Facebook page late on Saturday. "Our Mujahideens have today murdered an apostate who had prohibited female students from wearing veils in his department and the classrooms," a posting said. Bangladesh is the world's third largest Moslem-majority nation with the vast majority following a moderate form of the religion. Hard-line Islam has gained strength in recent years, but killings carried out in the name of Islam are rare. Militant attacked a famous writer in 2004, and killed a well-known atheist blogger in February last year. In August, Death Eaters were accused of killing a moderate holy man who hosted popular shows on TV. Sirajul Islam, also a sociology professor, said the slain teacher was not anti-Islam but was against full-face veils. "He moved to ban full-face veils from the classrooms and examination halls. He thought full-face veils could be used to cheat in the examinations and it was impossible to identify a student who wears a full-face veil," he said. Rajshahi University had been a stronghold of the student activist wing of the country's largest Islamist party before police launched a crack down on the group, after the secular government of Prime Minister ![]() the Battling Begums.. took over in 2009. |
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Iraq |
Militant camp in Iraq named after Lal Masjid's Abdul Rasheed Ghazi |
2014-03-07 |
[DAWN] An Iraq-based bully boy group named the Ansar al-Islam has released a video of its new training camp, which is named after the Lal Masjid's Abdul Rasheed Ghazi. They have also apparently named a subdivision of their group after the Lal Masjid's controversial holy man. Rasheed Ghazi was killed in 2007 when an operation was conducted against the armed snuffies holed up inside the Lal Masjid in Islamabad. He was the brother of Abdul Aziz, the khateeb of the Lal Masjid. The video starts, routinely enough, with a slickly edited training montage showing fighters of the Ansar al-Islam engaged in various exercises and posing for the camera, their faces covered by keffiyehs and pieces of cloth. Then, in a departure from the norm, the video segues into a tribute to Abdul Rasheed. In the beginning, what seems to be a 'message' from the late Abdul Rasheed Ghazi is read out, addressed to the "men of the ummah". While the voice-over is in Arabic, in one speech the speaker seems to be switching between Arabic and another language, most likely Kurdish. In another part of the video, snuffies appear to be clad in traditional shalwar-like pants commonly worn by Kurds in Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria. This is in keeping with what is known about the Ansar al-Islam, a hardline bully boy group that operates in the Kurdish-dominated north of Iraq and aims at setting up a radical Islamist state. It was formerly called Ansar al-Sunnah and its membership is believed to be mostly Kurdish. The video then shows visuals of the Lal Masjid itself, along with the Jamia Hafsa and also visuals of troop deployment prior to the operation itself. The voice-over, which showers praise on the Lal Masjid bully boys, also condemns the government of Pakistain and the army for conducting the operation. There is also a quote, attributed to the late Osama bin Laden ... who is now neither a strong horse nor a weak horse, but a dead horse... , which refers to Ghazi as a hero. The Ansar al-Islam had previously released pictures from this camp, but this is the first known video of the actual camp. The bully boys, who appear very well-trained, are shown practising hand-to-hand fighting, drilling hostage-taking scenarios and also demonstrating how to disarm opponents. The terrain seems to be that of a flat, rocky desert, and it is difficult to tell exactly where it may have been shot. At one point in the video the heavily armed snuffies are shown holding a banner with the organization's name: Jamaat Ansar al-Islam's Mu'askar al-Sheikh Rasheed Ghazi. This loosely translates as: Ansar al-Islam's Sheikh Rasheed Ghazi force. Even more interesting is that the video ends with an Urdu jihadi anthem, interspersed with Arabic lines. While foreign bully boys, mostly of Arabic and Uzbek origin, have been known to operate in Pakistain, this is possibly the first time that a group has actually named itself after a Pak bully boy holy man. There is also anecdotal evidence suggesting that some Pak-origin snuffies may be fighting in Syria. Some reports suggests that Ansar al Islam has also sent fighters to Syria, where they operate under the name of Ansar al-Sham. |
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Iraq | ||
Abu Ayyub al Masri in Iraq since 2002 for Al Qaeda | ||
2010-04-21 | ||
But here is one fact the press is not likely to trumpet: Abu Ayyub al Masri set up shop in Saddam's Iraq roughly ten months prior to the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. His presence there was tracked by the CIA. The agency was even concerned that al Masri and his al Qaeda compatriots might be planning terrorist attacks outside of Iraq from Baghdad. In his book, At the Center of the Storm, George Tenet details some of the evidence the CIA collected on the relationship between Saddam's Iraq and al Qaeda prior to March 2003. Tenet revealed that the agency, which was divided on the extent of the relationship, had compiled "more than enough evidence" connecting the two. In other words, contrary to what is now the conventional wisdom, there was a relationship between the Baathist regime and the jihadist terror network. The CIA just wasn't sure how close the relationship was. In particular, the CIA tracked Abu Musab al Zarqawi, who would go on to lead al Qaeda in Iraq, as well as an al Qaeda affiliate named Ansar al Islam (AI). Tenet says that AI established training camps in northeastern Iraq and as many as 200 al Qaeda terrorists relocated to the camps, which became a "hub for al-Qa'ida operations." | ||
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Europe |
Shots fired at Oslo home of Kurdish cleric |
2010-01-25 |
A man was injured when several shots were fired early Monday morning into the Oslo residence of Mullah Krekar, a Kurdish cleric who helped found the militant Islamist group Ansar al-Islam in Iraqi Kurdistan in 2001 while he enjoyed refugee status in Norway. Mr. Krekar, whose birth name is Najmuddin Faraj Ahmad, was at home with several other people when shots were fired through a window shortly before 2 a.m., according to an Oslo police spokeswoman, Unni Grondahl. Mullah Krekar's son-in-law, who was not identified by name, was struck in the arm during the shooting but his injuries were not life-threatening, Ms. Grondahl said. Afterward, the injured man was taken away in an ambulance while Mullah Krekar and the others left in a police vehicle. The gun was apparently fired from a sheltered outdoor corridor providing access to the cleric's fifth-floor family apartment in Oslo's Toyen district. Soon after the bullets were fired, the police spokeswoman said, two men were seen running. A short time later, in a secluded parking lot nearby, the police discovered a burning car and began investigating whether it was connected with the shooting. Mr. Krekar, 53, was granted refugee status here after the Gulf War of 1991 but traveled frequently to Kurdistan in the 1990s. After several armed groups joined forces to form Ansar al-Islam in December 2001, he emerged as its leader, calling for an independent, Islamic Kurdistan, according to court documents here. The United States accused the organization of being a link between Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda. That accusation, later partially discredited, was used to help justify the 2003 invasion of Iraq by American forces. Mr. Krekar's militant activities abroad caused a furor here when they came to light in 2002. He has claimed that his leadership of Ansar al Islam ended later that year, but in 2007 Norway's Supreme Court ruled that he remained a threat to Norwegian security as a result of continuing ties to the radical group or its offshoots. Since 2003, the Norwegian authorities have sought to deport him but have been stymied by a lack of assurance from Iraq that he would not face the death penalty in connection with lethal bombings and other violent acts attributed to Ansar al-Islam. Under Norwegian law no one can be sent abroad to face capital punishment. Terror-related criminal charges in Norway were dropped in 2004 for lack of evidence, and he has lived freely in Oslo since then, although his activities have been monitored. His wife and four children obtained Norwegian citizenship in 2000. |
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Europe |
Mullah 'not sorry for cameraman's death' |
2007-11-12 |
THE former leader of the terrorist group responsible for the suicide bombing that killed an Australian cameraman in Iraq in 2003 is unapologetic about his death. Paul Moran, a freelance cameraman, was in the Kurdish region covering the opening days of the Iraq war for the ABC when a blast killed him and at least five Kurdish soldiers. Dozens more, including ABC journalist Eric Campbell, were wounded. The suicide bomber belonged to Ansar al Islam, a Sunni Muslim group listed as affiliated with al-Qaeda. Najmaddin Faraj Ahmad, the Kurdish Iraqi better known as Mullah Krekar, had by that time allegedly relinquished control of Ansar and fled to Norway as a refugee. Krekar told ABC TV's Foreign Correspondent the suicide bomber's target was the Kurdish soldiers and not the film crew. But he showed little remorse that Mr Moran was among the dead. "How (would the bomber) know that this man is Australian - and is photographer only - and know he is innocent?" Krekar told Foreign Correspondent in Norway. "(The bomber) came to kill this line, which is the military line, he cannot choose to stop, oh your friends ... who are with the other soldiers. "I think it is, like you say, Muslims not say this, wrong time ... wrong work in the wrong time," he said with a smile. Krekar said he had never been quizzed by Australian officials over his involvement in Moran's death. This is despite the Australian Government formally listing Ansar as a terrorist organisation a week after the suicide bombing and listing Mullah Krekar as its leader. "If there was something against me ... Australian people, (Prime Minister) John Howard can send some people or some papers, some letters to court in Norway," he said. "... no one ask me about this, which mean that I have not any contact with this." Asked if he had any message for Moran's widow and family, Mullah Krekar said: "I say to all of the western women, don't send your sons to kill us." When reminded Moran was a cameraman and had not killed anyone, he replied: "Yes ... he was also with our enemy." Krekar said jihad allowed Muslims to kill their enemies and anyone who helped them. "It is allowed for me in Islam to kill him (the enemy), to kill his translator, to kill the people which give him food and water, give him medicine, all of them is in the line of war," he said. Krekar has lost a Norwegian Supreme Court appeal against deportation but is unlikely to be sent back to Iraq because of Norway's strict policy against deporting individuals to countries that engage in torture or have the death penalty. |
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
Call It War, Mr. President |
2007-09-05 |
By Kenneth R. Timmerman The Islamic Republic of Iran has been waging war against America in Iraq from the very first days of U.S. military operations against Saddam Hussein. And yet, until just recently, no one in the U.S. government has been willing to acknowledge this openly. Iran began planning operations to undermine an eventual U.S. invasion of Iraq many months before U.S. military forces arrived in the region in late 2002. As I will reveal in my upcoming book, Shadow Warriors, one aspect of this forward-looking Iranian planning became apparent as U.S. troops were rolling toward Baghdad. Whereas the United States was still relying on a Commando Solo aircraft to beam crude Arabic-language radio programming into Iraq, the Iranians unrolled a whole series of slick, Arabic language television stations that blanketed the entire country with anti-U.S. propaganda. The effect on Iraqi public opinion was devastating. At one point, Iran had 42 radio and TV stations in Arabic beaming into Iraq, whereas the U.S.-led coalition had just one. A new report jointly sponsored by the Weekly Standard and the Institute for the Study of War, released last week, provides extraordinary new details of Irans propaganda, intelligence, and military offensive against the U.S. presence in Iraq since those early days of the war. Kimberly Kagan has done yeomans work in pulling together information released in dribs and drabs in recent months by U.S. military spokesmen in Iraq. Here are just a few of the main points she covers in great detail in this dense 32 page report: Iran is using Hezbollah to train Iraqi terrorists, sending top Hezbollah operatives into Iraq periodically to ensure hands-on management of their terror protégés; Iran has set up training camps near Tehran where they regularly graduate classes of between 20-70 terrorists, who then return to Iraq as a self-contained network to carry out terrorist operations against U.S. military and Iraqi targets; The Revolutionary Guards Qods Force is running operations in Iraq through a network of secret cells within Shia militias, whose agents assassinate key Iraqi leaders, run death squads, infiltrate government ministries, and distribute weaponry to other insurgents. Iran is also working with Sunni terrorist groups, include al Qaeda in Iraq and an Ansar al Islam, and has been terrorists from both groups at special camps inside Iran. This deadly litany of Iranian actions leaves no doubt about the intentions of Irans leaders. They aim to defeat us in Iraq. Its as simple as that. Rest at link. |
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Europe |
7 Maghrebans including an Algerian declared innocent |
2007-06-29 |
Italy Florence court released seven Maghreban arrested including an Algerian charged with belonging to a terrorist cell close to extremist organizations namely the Kurdish Ansar al Islam and the Algerian Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat GSPC. Aki press agency reported that five of the prosecuted persons since October 25th 2005, were arrested in May 2004 in their workplace located in Toscana territory including Rachid Mâamri, a former volunteer Imam in Florence mosque. Charges mention that the alleged cell was striving for collecting funds and recruiting people to lead terrorist operations in Iraq, and the Algerian was said to be the mastermind of the cell. |
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Iraq |
Kurdish Arm Of Al-Qaeda Claim Erbil Blast |
2007-05-11 |
![]() The official site of the Kurdish Ansar al-Islam said "the suicide bomber who completed the attack is a member of the Kurdistan Brigade which forms part of the Islamic State of Iraq [cartel] set up by al-Qaeda in Iraq". Groups of Ansar al Islam - a Sunni Islamist Kurdish group - have been spotted on various occasions recently near the border between Iraqi Kurdistan and Iran, a fact which makes the authorities suspect Tehran of providing logistical support and refuge to the group. A source within the Kurdish peshmerga militia - which allied itself with the US-led coalition in the 2003 war and serves as the main security force for the Kurdistan regional government - told Adnkronos International (AKI) on Monday that "intelligence acquired by the local authorities shows that Ansar al-Islam and Ansar al-Sunna - linked to al-Qaeda - are reorganising their ranks and deploying their forces near the border". At the same time, a Kurdish armed group has distributed a statement in the area close to the Iranian border, threatening the 'apostates' of Islam and calling on local people to reveal the names of young people who recently converted to Christianity. The statement, which Adnkronos International (AKI) has seen, adds that "the apostates of the Islamic religion will be the targets of a programme by the jihadi groups and the residents must collaborate with Ansar al-Islam to reveal their identities". Kurdish MP Mahmoud 'Uthman held a press conference condemning the attack and announcing his suspicions of the Ansar al-Islam organization. He also blamed Ansar al-Sunna, a militant Sunni Arab group opposed to the US occupation and the current government of Iraq. The attack that targeted the city of Erbil was expected, despite the intense security operations in recent days. We had intelligence information that terrorist groups had plans to disrupt security and to bring the instability of Baghdad and central Iraq to Kurdistan, a source told AKI. Large quantities of weapons and explosives were discovered in Kurdistan in recent days, the security source said. Kurdish intelligence officials initially believed that these were destined to be smuggled into the rest of Iraq, but later investigations revealed that they were intended for operations inside Kurdish territory. |
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Iraq |
Iraq: Kurdish arm of al-Qaeda claims Erbil blast |
2007-05-10 |
Erbil, 10 May (AKI) - The Kurdistan Brigade of al-Qaeda in Iraq - a new military formation which belongs to the Kurdish Ansar al-Islam, has claimed responsibility for Wednesday's suicide bomb attack in Erbil. At least 19, people were killed when a vehicle with explosives rammed into the offices of the interior and security ministry of the autonomous region of Kurdistan. The official site of the Kurdish Ansar al-Islam said "the suicide bomber who completed the attack is a member of the Kurdistan Brigade which forms part of the Islamic State of Iraq [cartel] set up by al-Qaeda in Iraq". Groups of Ansar al Islam - a Sunni Islamist Kurdish group - have been spotted on various occasions recently near the border between Iraqi Kurdistan and Iran, a fact which makes the authorities suspect Tehran of providing logistical support and refuge to the group. A source within the Kurdish peshmerga militia - which allied itself with the US-led coalition in the 2003 war and serves as the main security force for the Kurdistan regional government - told Adnkronos International (AKI) on Monday that "intelligence acquired by the local authorities shows that Ansar al-Islam and Ansar al-Sunna - linked to al-Qaeda - are reorganising their ranks and deploying their forces near the border". At the same time, a Kurdish armed group has distributed a statement in the area close to the Iranian border, threatening the 'apostates' of Islam and calling on local people to reveal the names of young people who recently converted to Christianity. The statement, which Adnkronos International (AKI) has seen, adds that "the apostates of the Islamic religion will be the targets of a programme by the jihadi groups and the residents must collaborate with Ansar al-Islam to reveal their identities". Kurdish MP Mahmoud 'Uthman held a press conference condemning the attack and announcing his suspicions of the Ansar al-Islam organization. He also blamed Ansar al-Sunna, a militant Sunni Arab group opposed to the US occupation and the current government of Iraq. The attack that targeted the city of Erbil was expected, despite the intense security operations in recent days. We had intelligence information that terrorist groups had plans to disrupt security and to bring the instability of Baghdad and central Iraq to Kurdistan, a source told AKI. Large quantities of weapons and explosives were discovered in Kurdistan in recent days, the security source said. Kurdish intelligence officials initially believed that these were destined to be smuggled into the rest of Iraq, but later investigations revealed that they were intended for operations inside Kurdish territory. |
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Down Under |
Uncovered meat sheik linked with terror groups |
2006-10-30 |
![]() ASIO warned the authorities 20 years ago that Sheik Taj Eldeen Alhilaly could inflame communal violence in Australia. Court judgments show ASIO initially believed the controversial mufti posed a risk to the community because of his alleged propensity to cause or promote violence. Shortly after his arrival in Australia as the new imam of Lakemba Mosque in 1982, Sheik Alhilaly was also linked with a shadowy terrorist group, Soldiers of God, which is thought to have been involved in the assassination of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat in 1981. A group of the same name, also known as Ansar al Islam, is among those listed by the Federal Government as a banned terrorist organisation. Western governments believe Ansar al Islam has close ideological and operational links with al-Qaeda. Sheik Alhilaly was also alleged to have endorsed suicide bombing, verbally attacked women and preached a highly political message of extremism. The Sunday Telegraph columnist Piers Akerman writes today that a former intelligence officer said Alhilaly's name first surfaced in a report by one of Australia's most senior intelligence assets in Cairo. The report named the sheik, claimed he had spent a number of years training in Libya and was sent to Australia to train extremists. Akerman writes the report was shelved and the agent who sent it believes that a campaign was waged against its contents. The pressure on Alhilaly grew yesterday, with Parliamentary Secretary for Multicultural Affairs Andrew Robb saying it was time for Sheik Alhilaly to heed the wishes of moderate Muslims and resign. He also questioned the sincerity of his apology for comments comparing women to uncovered meat and blaming them for rape. "The body language of the apology was totally unconvincing,'' Mr Robb said. "He's condoned violence against women and snubbed his nose at ... every section of the community.'' |
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