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Terror Networks

New issue of Al Qaeda's magazine recos. attacks on U.S.

2014-12-26

[WashingtonPost] A new issue of Inspire, the English-language online magazine produced by al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen, is devoted to “jihad on America” and suggests targeting major American figures as well as Western commercial airliners, according to a report Wednesday by SITE Intelligence Group. The issue is the 13th since Inspire was first published online in 2010. Its founder, Samir Zafar Khan, was born in Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... to Pak parents but grew up in New York state. Mr. Khan was dronezapped in Yemen in 2011, along with his fellow technically American citizen, Anwar al Awlaki. Thus the world was made a better place. Also this month, the media wing of AQAP released a video providing guidance to turbans on avoiding detection by drones, according to the Long War Journal, a news Web site. The video notes that drones locate targets on the ground through visual and heat detection. It provides instructions on creating an "insulation cover" made from everyday materials such as a canvas sheet and aluminum foil. It suggests that the cover be painted to match the terrain and color of the surrounding environment.

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Home Front: WoT

American Imam of al Awlaki's Dar al-Hijrah Mosque Calls On Muslims To Wage Jihad

2013-04-25

Two months old, but a pointed reminder while some try to be good citizens, some are citizens of something else altogether. A taste of an article that covers the mosque's connections to CAIR and other Muslim Brotherhod-linked organizations, the previous employment there as imam of Al Qaeda in Arabia's Anwar al Awlaki, and the concern that, while the authorities arrest those engaged in jihad, they do nothing about those who promote it in mainstream Muslim organizations. That this imam, like al Awlaki and one of the Boston Marathon Bombers, is an American citizen, is mentioned in passing. [DailyCaller] The controversial imam of a prominent mosque in Arlington, Va., has urged immigrant Mohammedans in the United States to wage war for Islam. "The enemies of Allah are lining up. The question for us is, are we lining [up] or are we afraid because they may call us terrorists?" Shaker Elsayed told a crowd of Æthiopian Mohammedans during a lecture at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Va. "Let me give you the good news: they are already calling us hard boyz anyway. Whether you sitting at home, watching TV, drinking coffee, sleeping or playing with your kids, you are a terrorist because you are a Mohammedan." "Well, give them a run for their money. Make it worth it. Make this title worth it, and be a good Mohammedan," said the Cairo-born Mohammedan And then came the fig leaf: At the end of the imam's incendiary speech, a representative of the Æthiopian group walked to the podium and declared the speech was not calling for jihad. "Just a disclaimer," the emcee said. "Imam Shakir, he's not advocating for armed struggle in Æthiopia. He's just simply giving us a lesson. We'll just continue with our non-violent struggle until these guys who are in prison [in Æthiopia] who did not bow down for this repressive government ... are free." "If Dar al-Hijrah were like most American religious institutions it would fire Elsayed, but it's not like most religious institutions," John Rossomando, a researcher at the Investigative Project on Terrorism. "The mosque operates as a front for Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, ... [and] has the distinction of being connected with more terror plots than just about any other mosque in America," he said in a statement to TheDC.

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Terror Networks

US-born terror boss Awlaki e-mailed accused Fort Hood gunman

2012-06-17

The US-born terror criminal mastermind Anwar al Awlaki used more than 60 e-mail addresses and sent several thousand e-mails to his followers, some with encryption and code words, while under FBI surveillance -- according to a five-month investigation by FOX News. Some of those e-mails were exchanged with accused Fort Hood shooter Maj. Nidal Hasan. "FOX Files: The Enemy Within," which debuted on FOX News Channel at 10:00 p.m. on June 15, draws on exclusive interviews and firsthand accounts of the Fort Hood massacre that killed 13 people and injured at least 43 others on Nov. 5, 2009. For the first time, victims of the shooting, as well as senior Sherlocks, break their silence about the worst act of terrorism on US soil since 9/11.

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Afghanistan

UPDATE: Al-Libi-- al-Qaida leader targeted in US drone strike that killed 15 in Pakistan

2012-06-05

Update 12:30 CST (Got 'em) Abu Yahya Al-Libi, a top Al Qaeda operative, was killed in a US drone strike in Pakistan, Fox News confirms. More on the number two Fred notes below... "Getting close ... A couple inches higher and you're there!" A Predator attack over the weekend targeted Abu Yahya al-Libi, a leading al-Qaida operative who was viewed as one of five candidates to succeed Osama bin Laden as leader of the terrorist group when he was killed last year. U.S. officials confirm that he was the target of the Sunday attacks and say they are awaiting word on his status. Hopefully RTP. May we see the severed head? In one of three strikes over the weekend, a U.S. drone struck a militant compound early Monday morning in North Waziristan, part of Pakistan's northwestern tribal area. Pakistan insecurity reports indicated the pre-dawn strike killed 15 insurgents, but. U.S. officials said the number of dead was "exaggerated." It's kind of a knee-jerk reaction they have, especially if they think the Mighty Pakistaini Army is involved. The Agence France Presse news agency reported that two missiles were fired on the compound in Mir Ali, 15 miles east of Miramshah, the capital of North Waziristan, near the Afghan border, in an area considered a hive of Taliban and al-Qaida activity. Bees, meet Brakleen. A Pakistani official, who spoke with NBC News on condition of anonymity, said the victims were mostly foreigners and Urdu-speaking Punjabi Taliban who had gathered with the intention of crossing into Afghanistan to fight with Afghan Taliban fighters against NATO forces. And then re-crossing back into the safety of Pakistain if things started getting weird. Reuters, citing reports from the region, said nearly 30 people were killed during the sequence of strikes, including four suspected militants on Saturday, 10 suspected militants on Sunday, and 15 people in the strike in which Abu Yahya was targeted. People? Maybe "a gory medley of terrorist chiefs and their bodyguards" would be more descriptive. Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said Monday it "strongly condemns" the US drone strikes, which it described as "illegal attacks" on Pakistani sovereignty. Doesn't sovereignty imply that you are in control of your kingdom? The most-recent attack of the weekend was the eighth drone strike in Pakistan since a NATO conference on Afghanistan in Chicago last month. Since taking office in 2009, the Obama administration has carried out nearly 300 drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia, the majority of them in Pakistan's tribal areas, according to the New America Foundation, which keeps an unofficial count. The majority of them in Pakistain's tribal areas? Does Pakistain have anything but tribal areas? If Abu Yahya was indeed killed, it would be another blow to al-Qaida in Pakistan, the so-called al-Qaida Central. We're out to get your Yahyas. The Libyan, believed to be 39 years old, is one of the most influential propagandists in al-Qaida and one of its best known deaders leaders. Getting younger and younger, aren't they. Suppose this guy is old enough to have a sixth grade education yet? Abu Yahya draws much of his credibility from having escaped a U.S. military prison at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan on the night of July 10, 2005. He subsequently appeared in more than 30 videos produced by al Shahab, the al-Qaida media wing, and other militant sites. In December 2009, Pakistani officials erroneously reported he had been killed in a Predator strike, further enhancing his image. In that part of the world, a video of a guy molesting a goat would enhance his image. Unless the goat had reached the age of majority, of course. U.S. officials say unlike many al-Qaida propagandists, Abu Yahya also is a seasoned fighter. Now he's just seasoning, hopefully. In May 2011, shortly after bin Laden was killed, U.S. officials identified Abu Yahya as one of five potential successors to the slain al-Qaida leaders. The leading candidate, Ayman al Zawahiri, ultimately did succeed bin Laden. If Abu Yahya was killed, he would be the fourth of the five to have been killed in drone strikes. I'll bet Zawahiri's aids are having a hard time separating him from his chair right now, even while pulling hard on both arms. Ilyas Kashmiri, al-Qaida's director of external operations, was killed on June 3. Abdul Rahman Atiya, bin Laden's chief of staff, was killed Aug. 22. Both of those attacks took place in northwestern Pakistan. Anwar al Awlaki, a leader of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula and an American citizen, was killed in Yemen, also in a drone strike, on Sept. 30. What did they do, move him over to Yemen and put a target on him so the pattern wouldn't look so obvious?

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Home Front: WoT

Al-Quso Tied to Foiled Bomb Plot

2012-05-08

This part we read recently... A drone missile strike in Shabwa, Yemen, on Sunday killed a man named Fahd Mohammad Ahmed Al-Quso, the Yemeni government said in a statement. Al-Quso, 37, from Yemen, was best known in the United States for heading terrorist operations in the USS Cole bombing, which killed 17 American sailors in 2000. More recently, Al-Quso had replaced Anwar al Awlaki as head of external operations for Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. But this part is new... He was continuing the terrorist group's plans to take down an international airliner with an explosive -- one foiled in recent days, government officials say. A previous attempt, with a bomb made by AQAP bomb-maker Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri, had failed on Christmas Day 2009, when the bomber, Umar Faruq Abdulmuttalab, failed to detonate the device that had been hidden in his underwear. Although he did manage to catch it on fire, with predictable results...for him. U.S. government sources tell ABC News that Al-Quso and Asiri continued to plan for a similar terrorist attack, using a small IED that could be hidden on a person, with the same goal of bringing down an international airline. In April, their plot, based in Yemen, was detected by intelligence sources. American and other intelligence agencies were, sources said, on top of the plot from the beginning and closely monitoring it. Early last month White House counterterrorism czar John Brennan told President Obama about the plot. I'd forgotten we had a counterterrorism czar. What is it that he does, exactly? Senior administration officials say their understanding is that this was not a plot tied to the anniversary of the death of Osama bin Laden, that this was just a coincidence of timing. U.S. intelligence sources assess the threat from AQAP is growing "due to the territorial gains the group made during the political standoff in Yemen that lasted from early 2011 until this past February, a government official says. "Those territorial gains have allowed the group to establish additional training camps." Which is why, remember, we had to wipe them out of Afghanistan. We may have to play whack-a-mole and go heavier into Yemen, though with Champ in charge it's unlikely. If we do, I certainly hope we've learned our lesson and don't try to do any 'nation-building'... "We were aware of the plot throughout its development," a senior administration source tells ABC News. "So we never thought Americans were at risk. They never got to the point where they were close to putting it on a plane." "The device has the hallmarks of previous AQAP bombs that the group used in the failed assassination attempt on Saudi security official Mohammed Bin Nayif and that it used in the failed 2009 Christmas Day bombing," the government official said. "The device, like those earlier devices, is non-metallic." And no doubt why there have been so many stories of mortifying Depends inspections recently. A preliminary review indicates that it has some significant differences from Abdulmuttalab's device, the third official said. "It is clear that AQAP is revamping its bomb techniques to try to avoid the causes of the failure of the 2009 device," that official said. "We are confident that the study of the device will yield valuable insights that will aid us in adapting security practices and counterterrorism operations here and abroad." The IED is in the hands of top experts the FBI and is, according to sources, being thoroughly examined.

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Arabia

Awlaki's son among militants killed in Yemen strikes

2011-10-15

A SON of the US-born al Qaeda cleric Anwar al Awlaki was among seven suspected jihadist militants killed in a trio of apparent US air strikes in Yemen, a member of his tribe said Saturday. The heart (urp) bleeds... "Abderrahman Anwar al Awlaki was killed in the raid," the tribal source said, adding that he received confirmation from the militant-controlled Yemeni hospital where the dead and wounded from Friday evening's strikes were taken. Like father, like son... Awlaki himself was killed in a US drone strike on Sept. 30, which US President Barack Obama hailed as a "major blow" to al Qaeda worldwide. US intelligence officials believe Awlaki was linked to a US army major charged with shooting dead 13 people in Fort Hood, Texas, and to a Nigerian student accused of trying to blow up a US airliner on Dec. 25, 2009. He was also believed to be the leader of external operations of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

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Arabia

No evidence Al Awlaki was killed in Yemen

2011-10-07

Yemen’s security agencies have no substantial evidence that Al Qaeda leader Anwar al Awlaki was killed in a recent air strike in the eastern province of Mareb, an official security source said yesterday. “The latest information available to the security agencies is that Al Awlaki was driving in a motorcade of three cars when a US drone targeted them (on September 30),” the source told the Yemeni website Mareb Press on condition of anonymity. He added that one car had been hit, while the other two escaped. “There is no irrefutable information that Al Awlaki was inside the hit car,” he said. According to the source, it was hard to identify the remains left after the raid. “There was no actual body. All that was left after the incident were mere remains mixed with wrecked pieces of the targeted car,” he said. “These remains were collected and buried by residents in the area.”

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Arabia

AQAP bomb maker Asiri thought killed in Yemen Predator strike

2011-10-01

The Associated Press reported that Ibrahim Hassan Tali al Asiri, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's senior bomb maker may have been in the same strike that killed Anwar al Awlaki and possibly Samir Khan. The report has not been confirmed. I heard some speculation Friday evening about Asiri being killed but nothing definitive. If we had a CIA that was any good at all we'd spread the rumor that Asiri is dead, and force him to surface to prove that he isn't. Then we'd drone-zap him for sure. The US added Asiri to the list of designated terrorists in March of this year. Asiri is best known for assembling the explosive device that was used by his brother, who in some circles is known as the 'anal bomber.'

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Britain

Britain cooks up confusion for terrorists with Ellen's all-American cupcake recipes

2011-06-02

WOULD-BE terrorists searching the internet for tips on how to build bombs were instead taught how to bake the perfect cupcake after an intervention by British intelligence. Intelligence agency MI6 launched the cyber operation against jihadi magazine, Inspire, in an attempt to hamper attempts by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsular (AQAP) to attract "lone wolf" terrorists, The Daily Telegraph in London said. Surfers trying to download the English-language magazine's Make a bomb in the Kitchen of your Mom feature were instead redirected to a site boasting recipes for The Best Cupcakes in America. The baking site, which is published by The Ellen DeGeneres Show, promises treats for "today's sweet-toothed hipsters" including the mojito cupcake, made using white rum and vanilla buttercream. The 67-page Inspire contains instructions on how to make rudimentary pipe bombs using sugar, match heads and a miniature lightbulb. The jihadi magazine is produced by Anwar al Awlaki, one of the leaders of AQAP, who has lived in Britain and the United States, and his US colleague Samir Khan. Britain and the US both planned separately to disrupt the magazine on learning of its publication, but the US decided against action as they believed it was cutting off a source of intelligence, the British newspaper reported.

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Arabia

Radical Yemeni cleric Awlaki calls for killing of Americans

2010-11-08

US-born radical Yemeni cleric Anwar al Awlaki has called for the killing of Americans in a new video message posted yesterday on Islamist websites. Awlaki said Americans are from the "party of devils" and that no special religious permissions are needed to kill them, the Associated Press reported. In the 23-minute, Arabic-language message, Awlaki said it was "either them or us." Speaking in Arabic, Awlaki appears sitting behind a desk with a sheathed dagger in his belt. The cleric, who was charged last Tuesday in Yemen over alleged ties to al-Qaeda and incitement to kill foreigners, is also wanted in the US on terrorism charges. Washington linked the young imam and son of a former Yemeni government minister to a shooting rampage last November at a US army base and to the botched Christmas Day 2009 attack on a US airliner. Prosecutors told a Yemeni court specialising in terrorism cases that Awlaki corresponded with Hisham Mohammed Assem, a Yemeni accused of shooting dead French energy contractor Jacques Spagnolo near Sanaa in October, for months and encouraged him to kill foreigners. Yemen, the ancestral homeland of Usama bin Laden and headquarters of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, was coming under increasing pressure from Washington to hunt down the cleric. "M. Awlaki is a problem," US Homeland Security and Counterrorism Adviser John Brennan said in January. "He's clearly a part of al-Qaeda in [the] Arabian Peninsula. He's not just a cleric. He is in fact trying to instigate terrorism." Mr Brennan directly accused Awlaki of having links with Major Nidal Hasan, who is suspected of shooting dead 13 people at Fort Hood military base in Texas, and said Awlaki also likely had contact with Nigerian student Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, accused of trying to blow up the Christmas Day plane.

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Home Front: WoT

Al Qaeda finally releases full English language magazine online

2010-07-11

AL Qaeda finally released the full version of its English language web magazine Inspire, the Nine Eleven Finding Answers foundation (NEFA) confirmed. The magazine, which included articles such as How to Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mum, was plagued with problems when it was first put online on July 1. Only three of its 67 pages were legible due to an apparent computer glitch. The magazine, according to intelligence sources, is seen as a direct step toward the recruitment of Americans and an effort to further penetrate the US market. Until now, al Qaeda relied on Arabic websites to carry its message, but analysts say the new magazine is intended to build on recent success in the radicalisation of Western citizens. The first edition of the magazine, published by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, includes an article by controversial cleric Anwar al Awlaki entitled May our souls be sacrificed for you, as well as a detailed yet short, easy-to-read manual on how to make a bomb using ingredients found in a kitchen. It also contains part one of a treatise on What to expect in Jihad and translated messages from Usama Bin Laden on how to save the earth, and his second in command Ayman al Zawahiri.

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Terror Networks

Al Qaeda branch inspired to launch English magazine

2010-06-30

They call it Inspire, and Al Qaeda is hoping it will. Al Qaeda's media-savvy branch in the Arabian Peninsula has announced this week in an online advertisement that they will publish the group's first English magazine. Featuring guest writer Anwar al Awlaki — the American cleric blamed for inciting violence among Western Muslims youth, including members of the so-called Toronto 18 — the magazine Inspire is an extension of an already popular online Arabic magazine Sada al-Malahim (Echo of the Battle). Simply the idea of Al Qaeda churning out a magazine while supposedly dodging drone attacks and security forces in Yemen's tribal areas has led to ridicule in the past. Articles in the Arabic magazine have included profiles of terrorist leaders or suicide bombers, an analysis of the role of women in jihad and helpful tips of how to not divulge information if caught and interrogated. “In some ways, Sada al-Malahim isn't all that different from Slate,' wrote Brian Palmer in a piece for his current affairs online magazine, noting that both publications separate content into rubrics, “like Martyr Biographies,' and often run pieces in installments. But noted Yemen scholar Gregory Johnsen says the new magazine is worrying because it confirms a presence of western, English-speaking members of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) beyond Awalki. “This is something myself and others have long suspected, but the magazine is the first real evidence we have a core group of these type of individuals, many of whom likely possess western passports,' he said. The magazine will also likely be powerful online tool of recruitment, says Johnsen. “The idea here is that AQAP can reach, influence and inspire other like-minded individuals in the west. No longer do these individuals need to travel to Yemen or read Arabic in order to take instructions from AQAP. Now they can just download and read the magazine in English.' The magazine is another attempt to show their international reach, said Schmitz. “These guys are capable. They're not backwater, underprivileged folks who have been drawn into the battle. These are educated folks who know about the world and have seen how the media works and want to imitate it for their own cause. They want whenever possible to just stick it in the eye of the American administration.' But Schmitz and Johnsen, both of whom have travelled extensively in Yemen and are fluent in Arabic, caution that sometimes the reaction to arrests or attacks makes the jobs of online recruiters' easier. New Mexcio-born Awlaki, for instance, was not considered among the hierarchy of AQAP or well known to Yemenis until the failed Christmas Day plot and the White House confirmed he was on the CIA's hit list. “Awlaki gets defended because they say America's trying to act above the law,' said Schmitz. “So we play into their hands by appearing to be above the law in that sense.' In the first 12 editions of AQAP's Arabic magazine Awalki's name is mentioned only once, and then only to dispute claims he had been killed in a U.S. drone attack. Judging by the slick online promotion of the new English magazine — advertised as “A special gift to the Islamic Nation' — guest writer Awlaki appears to have become the group's rising star.

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