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Abu Sulaiman	Abu Sulaiman	Abu Sayyaf	Southeast Asia	Filipino	Deceased		20031001
		Successor to Khadaffy Janjalani

Terror Networks

What do we know about Baghdadi’s bodyguard?

2016-05-22

[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Security officials in the Kurdistan region recently announced the death of Ali Aswad al-Zubai Abu Mujahid, the head of intelligence office in ISIS. More importantly, he was described as the one responsible for the safety of the group’s leader, His Supreme Immensity, Caliph of the Faithful and Galactic Overlord, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi ...formerly merely the head of ISIL and a veteran of the Bagram jailhouse. Looks like a new messiah to bajillions of Moslems, like just another dead-eyed mass murder to the rest of us... According to intelligence information gathered so far, al-Aswad was targeted by an Arclight airstrike carried out by the international coalition near the village of Tel Azba in the Nineveh province of northern Iraq. Two other senior ISIS leaders were said to have been with him at the time of the attack. Born in 1978 in Khan Dhari in Iraq, al-Aswad was known to be an bad boy affiliated to hard-line organizations that were affected by the return of Afghan Iraqis. He is said to have been close to al-Baghdadi since 2003 and was responsible for his movements and security. Expert on terrorist groups, Hisham al-Hashimi, says terror leaders who returned from Afghanistan included Mohammed Hussein al-Jubouri who is currently the leader of Ansar al-Sunna, deceased Mohammed al-Falastini, who was the leader of Jund al-Aqsa in Syria, Abdel-Hamid Abu Azzam who runs al-Qaeda’s recruitment network in Europe and Mohammed Saleh, the ISIS secretary in Baghdad. According to al-Hashimi, these were the leaders who inspired Ali al-Aswad al-Zubai, who was incarcerated in the Bucca prison from 2005 to 2008. Notably, all the reports explaining the hierarchy of the organization do not put al-Aswad in the top ranks of the leadership. People who have been described as close to the ISIS leader al-Baghdadi include Alaa al-Afri, Abu Ali Anbari, Abu Omar al-Chichani, Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, and Abu Sulaiman Nasser. These reports also suggest that al-Aswad was Baghdadi’s intelligence agent and his personal guard.

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Africa North

ISIS cell in Tripoli dismantled

2016-05-15

The Rada Special Deterrence Force (SDF), commanded by Abdel Rauf Kara, reported yesterday that it has successfully broken up and arrested an entire Tripoli-based IS cell. Rada reported that the operation followed a period of surveillance and intelligence gathering in the Bu Sleem area of Tripoli. One of the cell’s main members, Rada spokesman Ahmed Ben Salem said, was a Tunisian national who was an expert in explosives. They confessed that they were planning a number of terror operations including on checkpoints in the capital in order to cause chaos and disrupt the political process, Ben Salem said. He added that he believed that IS was now paralysed in Tripoli with 90 percent of its cells exposed and arrested. Rada has been regularly involved in Tripoli operations against IS. In February this year it claimed to have arrested a Libyan man, and two companions, chosen by IS to be its new ‘’emir’’ of Sabratha named as Mohamed Saad Tajouri, aka Abu Sulaiman. He was were on his way to Sabratha from Sirte after being appointed by the IS leadership. In the same month Rada arrested and expelled two groups of Tunisians suspected of being IS members. In December it released a video of a confession by an alleged IS member. That month it also reported that it had killed an IS commander.

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Iraq

12 ISIS Big Dawgs die in joint operations

2015-10-25

(IraqiNews.com) Anbar – Joint Operations Command announced on Saturday the killing of 12 senior leaders of the ISIS organization, including Arabs and foreigners, in addition to wounding a “substantial” number of militants by an aerial bombardment in western Anbar. The command said in a statement received by IraqiNews.com, “The warplanes carried out air raids against a shelter for ISIS belonging to the so-called Wilayat Baghdad in the city of al-Qaim,” adding that, “The operation resulted in killing dozens of elements of the ISIS gangs, including leaders, in addition to injuring a large number of them.” The statement added, “The most important figures among the ISIS dead were Abu Ali al-Salamani, Muntasir al-Haradani (also known as Abu Omar al-Ansari), Sabah Fallah, Abu Turab al-Muhajir from eastern Asia, Abu Jarah al-Iraqi, Abu Ibrahim al-Shami, a Syrian national,” pointing out that, “Abu Obaida al-Saudi, Abu AbdulRahman, an Arab national, Abu Sulaiman al-Kuwaiti, Omar al-Satouri (Abu Ishaq al-Shami), Mohamed al-Mashadani (Abu Suhaib) and Khaled al-Zahrani were also among the dead.”

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Europe

Police tight-lipped about Islamist links to Helsinki bomb scares

2011-06-06

A group calling itself a supporter of worldwide jihad has praised two bomb scares that happened in Helsinki this past weekend on an internet discussion forum. On Friday morning, police cordoned off an area in the Pasila district after a home-made device was found. Early Saturday, a petrol bomb was thrown into the yard of an unmanned service station in another part of the city. The group said online that it hoped fresh attacks would succeed. The Finnish Security Police (SUPO) says it is taking the matter seriously but does not wish to speculate for now. SUPO’s communications director said that police are responsible for investigating the incident, but that SUPO would give its expert assistance if a terrorist link was revealed. “Naturally we are employing our own channels. Previously we have not had such threats to civilian targets,” she noted. No one was apparently injured in either incident. The internet message was ascribed to Abu Sulaiman al-Nasser, who is considered to be one of the most followed al-Qaeda bloggers in the world. The same name was connected with a recent online threat made against Finnish peacekeepers in Afghanistan. Evan Kohlmann, author of Al-Qaida's Jihad in Europe, published this of the message on his Twitter feed IntelTweet: "On Friday, a homemade bomb was found in the capital of Finland Helsinki... We ask Allah that the next bomb is successful." Kohlmann says the message was "another apparent terror threat to Finland, written in both Arabic and Finnish."

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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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Southeast Asia

Al-Qaida-linked militants in Philippines get foreign funds despite crackdown

2008-07-08

Al-Qaida-linked militants in the Philippines continue to get significant funding from foreign donors despite a crackdown aimed at stopping the flow of cash that finances bombings and other attacks, two terrorism experts said Monday. 'There is no evidence that terrorist financial flows to the Philippines have dried up,' Rohan Gunaratna, a Singapore-based terrorism expert, told reporters on the sidelines of a Manila conference on terror financing. But he said the militants also use extortion and kidnappings for ransom as a means of supplementing the foreign funding, which isn't always enough to carry out all of their planned terrorist attacks in the country. Philippine military and police officials have said that the Abu Sayyaf, a small but brutal group accused of involvement in bombings, beheadings and kidnappings, suffered a major financial setback when its chief, Khaddafy Janjalani, and his presumed successor, Abu Sulaiman, were killed in 2006 and 2007, respectively. The two leaders had established connections with Middle Eastern and Asian financiers, something most other Abu Sayyaf commanders have failed to do, the officials said. The fundraising task, however, has been taken over by a little-known Abu Sayyaf commander, Yassir Igasan, who developed links with Middle Eastern financiers when he went there for terrorist training in the past, said Gunaratna, author of 'Inside al-Qaida: The Global Network of Terror.' 'As long as he is alive and as long he is active, the Abu Sayyaf will continue to get money from Saudi Arabia,' Gunaratna said of Igasan. Top Indonesian terrorism suspect Umar Patek, who has been hiding in the southern Philippines, also gets funds from Indonesia-based groups such as Jemaah Islamiyah that are used by the Abu Sayyaf and other Muslim rebel groups for terrorist training and attacks in the Philippines, Gunaratna said. National police chief Avelino Razon declined to comment on Gunaratna's claim, saying a lack of information on terror financing has made it hard for authorities to assess the flow of money to local militants. But he said that in the past some of those funds have been monitored and frozen with the help of foreign intelligence agencies.

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Southeast Asia

Leadership, funding woes hamper Abu Sayyaf attacks--general

2008-04-05

Leadership and funding problems, along with incessant US-backed offensives, have prevented the Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf from launching more major attacks, a Philippine military official said Thursday. Abu Sayyaf factions have failed to choose a suitable replacement for rebel chieftain Khaddafy Janjalani and his successor, Abu Sulaiman, who were killed in clashes with US-backed Philippine forces in 2006 and 2007 respectively, Brigadier General Juancho Sabban said. Janjalani and Sulaiman are believed to have united at least six Abu Sayyaf factions on the southern islands of Jolo and Basilan and developed relations with Asian and Middle Eastern financiers. A number of possible successors have been considered, according to intelligence officials. "They haven't been able come up with a single, influential leader who can unite the different factions," Sabban told The Associated Press, citing intelligence information and monitoring of the rebels. The Abu Sayyaf, blacklisted by Washington as a terror group for bombings, ransom kidnappings and beheadings, is believed to have launched its last major attack in February 2005 with simultaneous bombings in Manila and two southern cities that killed eight people and wounded more than 100. An earlier military report that a little-known, foreign-educated commander, Yasser Igasan, had been picked to lead the Abu Sayyaf remains unconfirmed, said Sabban, who heads an anti-terrorism force based in Jolo, about 950 kilometers south of Manila. Two other rebel commanders, one-armed Radulan Sahiron and young, violent Albader Parad, have not gained enough support and trust among members, he said. During recent meetings of Abu Sayyaf commanders, arguments reportedly erupted over logistical and other concerns, Sabban said. They also apparently have problems with ammunition supplies and funds. Indonesian militants from the Indonesia-based Jemaah Islamiyah group, who have been hiding with the Abu Sayyaf since 2003, were also constantly on the run, limiting their usefulness, he said. Huge US rewards offered for two top Indonesian terror suspects, Umar Patek and Dulmatin, have severely constricted their movement. "They have to constantly hide because even from within their ranks, some are eyeing such rewards," Sabban said. American and Philippine experts have been conducting DNA tests to confirm if a cadaver dug up in Tawi Tawi province, near Jolo, in February was that of Dulmatin. An Indonesian police official has said the body was not Dulmatin's, citing initial DNA test results, but Philippine police say they will make an official announcement after US experts complete the testing. Efforts by Philippine and US forces to ease widespread poverty on Jolo -- a predominantly Muslim island where fewer than 200 Abu Sayyaf members hide in remote jungle camps -- are weaning communities away from the militants, Sabban said. Projects include repairing roads, schools and water supply systems. "Anything from us used to be considered `haram,' " said Sabban, referring to the local term for forbidden things. "Now they're clamoring for roads, schools and development from us."

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Southeast Asia

14 Abu Sayyaf in Jug for Life for kidnapping

2007-12-06

MANILA, Philippines (AP) -- Fourteen Muslim terrorists militants were sentenced to life in prison Thursday for the 2001 kidnapping of a U.S. missionary couple and 18 others in a yearlong jungle ordeal that prompted U.S.-backed offensives against the guerrillas. Gracia Burnham, of Wichita, Kan., survived the captivity, but her husband, Martin, was killed during a military rescue in June 2002. Guillermo Sobero of Corona, Calif., was beheaded by the rebels. Most of the top leaders of the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf group, which orchestrated the abductions at a resort island, have been killed in clashes since the trial opened in 2003. Philippine officials have credited the U.S. counterterrorism training that started in 2002 for many of the battlefield successes. "We commend the justice system for showing the rule of law," said Robert Courtney, the U.S. Justice Department's attache at the Manila embassy. He said he would relay the decision to Gracia Burnham. The Burnhams, missionaries for the Florida-based New Tribes Mission, were celebrating their 18th wedding anniversary when they were snatched by the Abu Sayyaf at the upscale Dos Palmas resort on Palawan island in May 2001, and taken by speedboat to southern Basilan island. The rescue operation left a Filipino nurse dead, and two Filipino security guards from the resort also were beheaded by the terrorists rebels. The other hostages were released or managed to escape. Defendant Toting Hannoh, who was found guilty, struck a defiant note. Asked if this was the end of the Abu Sayyaf, he said: "No, it will become stronger." Out of 85 suspects originally charged with kidnapping, 23 were captured and tried, and 18 appeared in court. Four were acquitted Thursday. Four others were killed in a botched prison break in 2005, and one has been cleared of charges. Out of 85 suspects originally charged with kidnapping, 23 were captured and tried, and 18 appeared in court. Four were acquitted Thursday. Four others were killed in a botched prison break in 2005, and one has been cleared of charges. A year after the resort raid, the U.S. military began sending troops and instructors to train Filipino soldiers in counterterrorism. U.S.-backed offensives had dislodged the terrorists guerrillas from their bases on Basilan, but they have remained a major threat and continued to regroup. Officials estimate their number is down to about 300 terrorists guerrillas from about 1,000 in 2001. The overall leader, Khadaffy Janjalani, was killed last September in fighting on southern Jolo island. His presumed successor, Abu Sulaiman, was shot dead in a separate clash earlier this year. Dont'cha just love stories that finish with a happy ending.

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Southeast Asia

Philippines says coordinated strategy led to downfall of Abu Sayyaf

2007-06-03

Top leaders of the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf group were killed through a combination of sustained military operations and development aid, the Philippine defense minister said Sunday. Months of community dialogue, medical assistance and infrastructure projects on the southern Philippine island of Jolo underpinned military operations that led to the killing of the group's top leaders, Hermogenes Ebdane said. "The world witnessed the fall of the elusive leaders of the Abu Sayyaf group in several military encounters," Ebdane said in an address to the Shangri-La Dialogue, a meeting of regional defense chiefs in Singapore. "What the world did not see were the operations that applied the combination of hard and soft approaches to addressing terrorism," he said. The military launched a major offensive last August on volatile Jolo, about 960 kilometers (600 miles) south of Manila. It targeted leaders of Abu Sayyaf and another group, Jemaah Islamiyah, who together have been blamed for attacks including a bomb blast on a ferry in Manila Bay in 2004 that killed 116 people. Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khaddafy Janjalani and his presumed successor, Abu Sulaiman, were both killed in the operations, part of a campaign that began in 2002 to apply a combination of humanitarian work and military tactics to win over the local Muslim population and marginalize militants. Washington has funded roads, schools, and other civic projects on Jolo, and the U.S. military has helped train and arm underfunded Philippine forces and often flies P3 Orion spy planes to help track insurgents hiding in Jolo's tropical jungles. The battle setbacks have driven more than 300 Abu Sayyaf remnants, split into at least six factions, along with a few Indonesian terror suspects, deeper into the jungle and provided a months long respite from violence in Jolo's townships. Ebdane said heightened interaction between the government and local communities constricted Abu Sayyaf's previously unhampered room for activity and produced intelligence on the location of top leaders. Military operations on land and control of the surrounding seas — the fighters' traditional route of escape — further strangled the group's operating space, he said. "It is this combination of developmental and military tools that led to the fall of the top leaders," Ebdane said. Despite its recent setbacks, Abu Sayyaf has staged occasional attacks seeking to reassert itself as a terror force. In April, one faction beheaded seven men they had kidnapped and had the heads delivered by civilians to the doors of two army detachments on Jolo.

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Southeast Asia

Unknown militant may lead al-Qaida-linked group in Philippines

2007-03-04

JOLO, Philippines: A little-known Filipino militant is being considered to lead the violent al-Qaida-linked group Abu Sayyaf after U.S.-backed troops killed its two top leaders, security officials said Saturday. Citing intelligence information, Philippine Army Lt. Gen. Eugenio Cedo said Yasser Igasan has been tipped as a possible replacement. Cedo is overseeing a massive U.S.-backed offensive against the Abu Sayyaf on the southern Philippine island of Jolo. Igasan, who had been to Libya and the Middle East, was being considered because of his terror training abroad, his good education and his crucial connections with possible foreign financiers — traits which other Abu Sayyaf commanders lack — two security officials told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, citing policy. The Abu Sayyaf, which is on the U.S. list of terrorist organizations, has been blamed for deadly bombings, beheadings and high-profile ransom kidnappings, including of Americans. Not much is known about Igasan's background. His name cropped up during intelligence operatives' monitoring of goings-on within the Abu Sayyaf following the separate killings of its chieftain, Khaddafy Janjalani, and presumed successor, Jainal Antel Sali Jr. or Abu Sulaiman, the two security officials said. Igasan, an explosives expert, may have already returned to Jolo island in Sulu province, Cedo told The AP. "He's from abroad," Cedo said. "He has the connections." Military and police intelligence officials have speculated that the next most likely leader of the Abu Sayyaf would be chosen from among its most senior commanders, led by Radulan Sahiron, a one-armed militant based in the mountain jungles near Jolo's Patikul town. Despite the emergence of possible successors, it may take time for the Abu Sayyaf to anoint a new leader because its remaining 400 armed members, mostly on Jolo and in nearby Basilan island, were struggling to run away from relentless military assaults, the two security officials said.

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Southeast Asia

US troops build roads in Philippine aid project

2007-02-19

American troops will repair schools, roads and do other civic projects as part of annual joint exercises launched in Mindanao yesterday aimed at fighting grassroots support for Al Qaida-linked militants, US military officials said. “We know that terrorists here get some support from the local population, but that level of support continues to decrease with more humanitarian projects,” said Maj. John Redfield, a spokesman for the US contingent. “We are seeing more and more people come forward with information against the terrorists, and certainly we encourage people to continue to do that,” he told The Associated Press. He also cited recent Philippine battlefield successes for declining support for the Abu Sayyaf, who authorities say number about 400 on the pre-dominantly Muslim island of Jolo, about 950 km south of Manila. More than 7,000 Filipino soldiers, backed by US military surveillance and other non-combatant assistance, have been waging an offensive in Jolo that has so far led to the killing of Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani and his presumed successor, Jainal Antel Sali Jr. or Abu Sulaiman—both wanted by US and Philippine authorities. A manhunt continues for other Abu Sayyaf commanders and two top Indonesian militants who are wanted for their alleged role in the 2002 nightclub bombings that killed 202 people on Indonesia’s Bali Island. Philippine Lt. Gen. Eugenio Cedo, who is overseeing the Jolo offensives, on Saturday vowed to capture or kill the remaining militants before the May 14 local and congressional elections. Aside from helping repair a 4-km road, the American troops will renovate school buildings and clinics in Jolo. In nearby Tawi Tawi province, US troops will help build a pier and a boat ramp. US troops will also offer medical assistance in impoverished central Mindanao, including Makilala town, where a bomb attack by suspected Muslim guerrillas killed eight people last year, Redfield said. US and Philippine troops are also holding drills on “crisis action planning” to help them deal with terrorists at sea, along with piracy, drug smuggling and infrastructure protection, the US embassy said in a statement.

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Southeast Asia

Indon terrorist, Abu bandits killed in Sulu sea battle

2007-01-24

An Indonesian member of the Al Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist organization was among six Muslim terrorists killed in a sea clash with troops off Tawi-Tawi province early this month, officials said yesterday. The Army, Navy, and Marines were involved in the gunbattle that killed the six Muslims aboard a motorboat in the waters off Balingbing in Panglima Sugala town, Tawi-Tawi, Navy spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Giovanni Carlo Bacordo said. He said Indonesian terrorist suspect Gufran, also known as Abu Samur, who allegedly belonged to the Indonesia-based Jemaah Islamiyah terror group, was among the dead. Five Filipino members of Abu Sayyaf also were killed, he added. Four of them were identified as Abu Hubaida, Jundam Jamalul alias Black Killer, Ibrahim Hassan alias Abu Muksin, and Gadar Abubakar. Gufran was a key aide of Dulmatin, a top Indonesian terror suspect who has been hunted by troops in a months-long US-backed offensive on Jolo island, he said. Marine commander Brig. Gen. Juancho Sabban said captured members of the Abu Sayyaf identified the dead men, many of whom were aides of leaders of the group. Sabban said all indications were that top Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah members, including bomb-makers Dulmatin and Umar Patek, were still on Jolo or its surrounding islands. Both are wanted for assembling and detonating bombs on the Indonesian island of Bali in 2002, killing more than 200 people. Gufran's reported death bolsters military reports that Indonesian terrorists have taken refuge in the southern Philippines. One of the Filipinos killed was Jamalul, one of 17 Abu Sayyaf members, including the group’s chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani, who are wanted by the US for attacks on American citizens. US and Philippine authorities have offered a reward of $20,000 (about P1,000,000) for Jamalul’s capture. Another ranking Abu Sayyaf member, Abu Hubaida, and two key aides of Janjalani and prominent Abu Sayyaf commander Abu Sulaiman were also killed in the clash. Troops recovered two M16 rifles, an M203 grenade launcher, and huge amounts of ammunition on the rebels boat, Marine spokesman Lt. Col. Ariel Caculitan said. Troops were pursuing the terror suspects but they managed to flee from Jolo earlier. Marines spotted and engaged the group Saturday in a firefight off Tawi-Tawi, he said. An officer involved in the assault said the military had information that the slain terrorists were planning to carry out kidnappings in Tawi-Tawi to raise funds. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to talk to the media.

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