International Business Times reports on the Taliban car bombing of the Jalalabad Airport. Nine people were killed, and more than two dozen were injured in the attack.
]]>Why is this proposal being made now? Should the US and NATO adopt it?
The US proposal
The ANSF, which consists of the Afghan army, air force, and police, is currently at about 300,000 troops. It is still in the process of growing, and will reach its end strength goal of 352,000 troops by September 2012. At that point, the plan is to stop the growth of the ANSF and to maintain its size at 352,000 troops. The new plan being proposed by the US calls for maintaining 352,000 troops only until the end of 2014, however, at which point the ANSF would start drawing down until the troop level is reduced to 220,000.
The driving force behind this proposed cut was discussed in a Long War Journal article last September. The issue is funding.
The US and NATO pay for the vast majority of ANSF expenses. The US, which is the largest donor by far, wants to reduce its costs. The projected cost for maintaining the ANSF at a level of 352,000 troops is about $6 billion per year. The US is seeking to reduce the cost by about one-third, to $4.1 billion per year; hence, the US and NATO are considering cutting the size of ANSF by about a third, from 352,000 to 220,000 troops.
How should the size of the ANSF be determined?
With regard to the optimal size of the Afghan Army, US and Afghan generals agree that the size of the ANSF should be determined by the military situation on the ground. The goal is to defeat the insurgency. Accordingly, the size of the ANSF should be determined by the military needs to achieve that goal.
It had previously been determined that the ANSF needed to grow to 352,000 troops. But last fall the Washington Post reported that US Lieutenant General William B. Caldwell, Commander of NATO's training mission, said: "There is just no need to keep a [352,000-man security force] if the insurgency level goes down" [emphasis added].
On the Afghan side, General Wardak has voiced concern that the insurgency level has not yet diminished. And it is unclear if, or by how much, it will go down by 2014. As reported in Fox News, the Afghan defense minister is concerned that cutting the size of the Afghan army at this point will leave the country vulnerable after NATO's withdrawal in 2014:
"Nobody at this moment, based on any type of analysis, can predict what will be the security situation in 2014. That's unpredictable," Wardak said. "Going lower [in Afghan troop numbers] has to be based on realities on the ground. Otherwise it will be a disaster, it will be a catastrophe, putting at risk all that we have accomplished together with so much sacrifice in blood and treasure."
Wardak makes an important point. There are huge uncertainties over the course events will take over the next three years. So far, the insurgency has not been defeated and is, in fact, still strong. Future developments in the insurgency are unpredictable. At the same time, NATO military strategy calls for increasing the responsibility of the ANSF, not decreasing it, while NATO forces will be drawing down. And the degree to which the ANSF will develop its capabilities to meet its new responsibilities is uncertain. Another important concern is the effect the demobilization of 132,000 Afghan soldiers, who will probably face a difficult economic environment after NATO's withdrawal, will have on Afghanistan.
With this level of uncertainty, it seems unwise to decide today what the size of the ANSF should be after 2014. It would seem better to delay the decision until 2014. By then, many of these uncertainties will have been resolved, one way or another.
But, the US is proposing a plan today. Why? Because the plan is not being driven by military necessity but by economics. US Army Lieutenant General Daniel Bolger, the new commander of the NATO Training Mission (he succeeded Caldwell in November), said that the proposal for a smaller Afghan force costing approximately $4.1 billion a year reflects "our assessment of what the international community will provide and what the Afghans can provide for themselves," Fox News reported.
Petty Officer 3rd Class Michael Soto accompanies litter-bearers as they load an injured Marine into a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter during a medical evacuation in Garmsir, in Afghanistan's Helmand province, Jan. 30. Photo by Corporal Bryan Nygaard.
]]>The suicide bomber rammed his car packed with explosives into the main gate at Jalalabad Airfield in Nangarhar province, killing nine Afghans, "to include civilians, security guards and an ANA [Afghan National Army] soldier," the International Security Assistance Force said in a statement condemning the attack. Six civilians, two security guards, and an Afghan soldier were among those killed, according to Pajwhok Afghan News.
The Taliban claimed the attack in a statement that was released on their website, Voice of Jihad.
"A martyr attacker of the Islamic Emirate this morning drove up to the gates of the airport at dawn and slammed his car into the facility as the invading forces were changing from night to morning guard duty, killing a dozen of the US-NATO troops besides blowing a tank with scores of US invaders on board to pieces," the statement said. The Taliban identified the suicide bomber as Mujahid Ahmadullah, who was "resident of Nangarhar province."
The Taliban wildly exaggerate the effects of their attacks and resultant Coalition and Afghan casualties. No US or NATO soldiers were killed in the attack. Four ISAF soldiers were reported to have been wounded in the blast.
Today's attack takes place as Afghans continue to riot over the accidental burning of Korans at Bagram Air Base last week. Four US soldiers have been murdered by Afghan troops since last week; two were Army officers who were gunned down inside the Interior Ministry by an Afghan intelligence sergeant who had attended a madrassa in Pakistan. The other two soldiers were killed by an Afghan soldier while protecting a base in Nangarhar province.
The Taliban have launched several attacks against Jalalabad Airfield in the past. The last major attack took place in November 2011, when a six-man suicide assault team was gunned down while attempting to storm the base. In June 2010, a suicide assault team attempted to penetrate security but was repelled during a firefight with US and Afghan security forces manning the perimeter.
The Peshawar Regional Military Shura, one of the Afghan Taliban's four major commands, directs activities in eastern and northeastern Afghanistan. In 2011, Sheikh Mohammed Aminullah, who in 2009 was placed on the United Nations Sanctions Committee's list of "individuals and entities associated with al Qaeda," was named to lead the Taliban's Peshawar Regional Military Shura.
A Taliban group known as the Tora Bora Military Front operates in Nangarhar and has been behind a series of deadly attacks in the province. The Tora Bora Military Front is led by Anwarul Haq Mujahid, the son of Maulvi Mohammed Yunis Khalis, who was instrumental in welcoming Osama bin Laden to Afghanistan after al Qaeda was ejected from Sudan in 1996. Pakistan detained Mujahid in Peshawar in June 2009. He has since been released and was spotted at the funeral of Awal Gul, who was detained by US forces in 2002 and died at Guantanamo Bay on Feb. 1. Gul was a Taliban commander in Nangarhar province who had allegedly been entrusted by Osama bin Laden with $100,000 to aid al Qaeda operatives fleeing Afghanistan to Pakistan in late 2001. [See LWJ report, Tora Bora Military Front commander speaks at funeral of former Gitmo detainee.]
Nangarhar is a strategic province for both the Taliban and the Coalition. The province borders the Pakistani tribal agency of Khyber. Prior to Pakistan's shutting down the supply route after a deadly clash with US forces last November that killed 24 Pakistani troops, the majority of NATO's supplies passed through Khyber and Nangarhar before reaching Kabul and points beyond.
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| A screen shot of the video released on Feb. 26 by the Al Nusrah Front. Image from the SITE Intelligence Group. |
A recently formed jihadist group known as the Al Nusrah Front claimed credit for suicide attacks in the Syrian capital of Damascus as well as in Aleppo. The Al Nusrah Front is one of two Islamist terror groups in Homs to have announced their existence in the past month to battle President Bashir al Assad's regime.
The Al Nusrah Front to Protect the Levant released a 45-minute-long videotape today on the al Qaeda-linked Shumukh al Islam web forum. The video was translated by the SITE Intelligence group.
In the video, Al Nusrah said the "martyrdom-seeking operation" was executed "in revenge for our mother Umm Abdullah - from the city of Homs- against whom the criminals of the regime violated her dignity and threatened to slaughter her son," SITE reported. The suicide bomber was identified as Abu al Bara'a al Shami, who is seen on the tape giving a martyrdom statement.
The video also shows "an excerpt of allegiances, operations, and training of the al-Nusra Front" as well as a fighter "amongst the masses in a public demonstration, advising them to do their prayers and adhere to the rituals of Islam."
The Al Nusrah Front announced the formation of the "Free Ones of the Levant Brigades" in a YouTube video statement that was released on Jan. 23. In the statement, the group claimed an attack on security headquarters in Idlib.
"To all the free people of Syria, we announce the formation of the Free Ones of the Levant Brigades," the statement said, according to a translation obtained by The Long War Journal. "We promise Allah, and then we promise you, that we will be a firm shield and a striking hand to repel the attacks of this criminal Al Asad army with all the might we can muster. We promise to protect the lives of civilians and their possessions from security and the shabihah [pro-government] militia. We are a people who will either gain victory or die."
In addition to the Al Nusrah Front, a second jihadist group has been activated in Homs in the past month. Last week, a group calling itself the Al Baraa Ibn Malik Martyrdom Brigade said it had formed a martyrdom battalion and was prepared to carry out suicide attacks against Syrian forces. The group, which posed in front of a flag belonging to al Qaeda in Iraq, said it was part of the Free Syrian Army, which claims to be secular. The Free Syrian Army has blamed suicide attacks in Syria on Assad's intelligence services. A group known as the Al Baraa Ibn Malik Martyrdom Brigade was created to wage jihad in Iraq in 2005, and merged with al Qaeda in Iraq under the command of Ayman al Zawahiri.
Al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri has recently urged Muslims inside and outside of Syria to take up arms against the Syrian government. In a statement issued on Feb. 11 and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group, Zawahiri said: "I appeal to every Muslim and every free, honorable one in Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, and Lebanon, to rise to help his brothers in Syria with all what he can, with his life, money, wonders, opinion, and information." Telling Syrians not to trust Turkey, the Arab League, or the West, he exhorted the "lions of the Levant" to "[d]evelop the intention of jihad in the Cause of Allah to establish a state that defends the Muslim countries and seeks to liberate the Golan and continue its jihad until it raises the banners of victory above the usurped hills of Jerusalem."
Since the end of December, there have already been five suicide bombings in Syria. The Syrian government said that a pair of suicide bombers targeted security headquarters in Damascus on Dec. 23; over 40 people were reported killed and scores more were wounded in the blasts. On Jan. 6, the Syrian government said that a suicide bomber killed 25 people in an attack on security forces in Damascus. And on Feb. 10, a pair of suicide bombers killed 25 people while targeting security headquarters in Aleppo.
Al Qaeda in Iraq already has a strong presence in Syria [see LWJ report, Eastern Syria becoming a new al Qaeda haven]. The Abdullah Azzam Brigades, a regional al Qaeda affiliate, also is known to operate in Syria. Two of its senior leaders, Saudi citizens Saleh al Qarawi and Suleiman Hamad Al Hablain, have been added to the US's list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists since November 2011. The terror group has denied any involvement in the Dec. 23 suicide attack.
Correction: The Al Nusrah Front claimed credit for suicide attacks in Damascus and Aleppo, not in Homs as originally reported.
The man who shot two military officers Saturday at the interior ministry was a junior intelligence officer with ties to a Pakistani religious school, an Afghan counter-terrorism official said.The gunman was identified as Abdul Saboor, an employee in the ministry's intelligence department, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.
"We believe it was 100% linked to the Quran burning because of the religious background of this junior officer. He spent two months in a Pakistani madrassa," the official said.
The interior ministry confirmed that the gunman in Saturday's shooting is believed to be one of its employees, whose "whereabouts are unknown." Police "are making every effort to find him as soon as possible," the ministry said.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the shooting Saturday. A Taliban spokesman gave the same first name for the shooter that the counter-terrorism official gave Sunday. But the official did not say whether the alleged gunman was affiliated with the Taliban.
The Guardian identified the Afghan shooter as an "ethnic Tajik" named Abdul Saboor Salangi, who was from the Salang district in Kunduz province. He shot the two US officers in the back of the head.
Abdul Saboor Salangi had been an ordinary policeman with a history of absenteeism who dropped out of the force and spent some time in Pakistan before returning to another police job with the ministry, said a security source who asked not to be named.Police raided his home in a small village in the southern part of Salang district, where he lived with his mother, wife and two children.
"When the police first sent a delegation into his house for the investigation, they didn't tell her why, so she thought her son had died and couldn't stop crying," said the Salang district governor, Abdulshakur Qudosi.
The two officers, reported to be a colonel and a major, were found dead in a room inside the interior ministry that was used only by foreigners and secured with combination locks. They had been shot in the back of the head, the Associated Press reported.
Afghan security personnel have killed four US soldiers and an Albanian soldier in separate attacks over the past week [see Threat Matrix report, Afghan troops kill 2 US Army officers in Kabul, for more details].
]]>A suicide car bomber detonated his explosives Sunday morning outside of the major church in the heart of a restive central Nigerian city that has seen hundreds die in religious and ethnic violence, an official said, killing three people and injuring others.The explosion struck the main headquarters of the Church of Christ in Nigeria during its early morning service, Plateau state spokesman Pam Ayuba said. The blast killed the bomber and a father and child near the explosion, while wounding others, Ayuba said.
According to Vanguard Nigerian News, Jos police said at least six people were killed, and the Red Cross reported that 50 were wounded.
Jos was the scene of the bombings on Christmas Eve 2010 that targeted Christians and killed more than 80 people. Boko Haram, the radical Islamist terror group that is linked to al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and has targeted both the government and Christians, and even the United Nations, claimed the Christmas Eve attack. Young Christians have retaliated for today's suicide attack, killing at least three people during riots in Jos. From AFP:
Christian youths rioted Sunday in the Nigerian city of Jos, killing at least three people in suspected reprisal attacks after a suicide bomber killed three at a church, witnesses said.]]>An AFP reporter saw three bodies lying by a street near the bombed church. Elsewhere, he saw a row of Muslim-owned shops that were apparently burned by the rampaging youths.
"There was a rampage by angry Christian youths after the blast at the church. They marched on the streets and set up a barricade on the road leading to the church. They also burned down shops owned by Muslims," said resident Bello Mohammed.
A car was driven at the gates of the building in the port city of Mukalla, Yemen's fourth-largest city, far from the capital Sanaa where Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi was sworn in.Dozens were injured. The governor of Hadramout province Khalid Saeed al-Dayni said 20 of the dead were soldiers and an investigation was under way to identify the suicide bomber.
Al Qaeda claimed responsibility and said the attack had been carried out by a "Yemeni jihadi," according to text messages sent to Reuters and other media outlets.
"The attack is a retaliation of the continued crimes of the Republican Guards," AQAP said, according to The Yemen Post.
Today's attack is one of the largest suicide bombings by AQAP in Yemen in some time. AQAP carried out the attack just hours after newly elected President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi was sworn in and vowed to battle al Qaeda. "Continuing the war against al Qaeda is a national and religious duty," he said, according to Reuters.
AQAP has focused much of its efforts in waging an insurgency, and continues to control vast areas of southern Yemen, including Zinjibar, the provincial capital of Abyan province, and several other cities and towns. The Yemeni security services are still largely under the control of the family of former President Ali Saleh, who has supported Islamist terrorists, including al Qaeda, in the past.
]]>The merger was confirmed by Shabaab at its official Twitter account, HSM Press Office [Harakat Al Shabaab Al Mujahideen Press Office], as well as with a radio statement by a senior Islamist leader from the semi-autonomous region of Puntland in northern Somalia.
"Following the London Conference, the Mujahideen in Galgala area of Puntland have officially become part of Harakat Al-Shabaab Al Mujahideen," the first tweet from HSM Press Office declared.
"The Mujahideen in Northern #Somalia have now formally pledged allegiance to Sh. Mukhtar Abu Zubeyr, Emir of Harakat Al-Shabaab Al Mujahideen," it continued.
"Apart from reigning over the Golis Mountain range, Mujahideen control several towns/villages surrounding Bosaaso, commercial hub of Puntland," HSM Press Office said.
"The Mujahideen of Somalia now dominate the vast stretch of mountainous terrains of the North as well as the fertile plains of the South," HSM Press Office boasted, while ignoring the fact that Shabaab fighters abandoned the strategic western city of Baidoa to advancing Ethiopian and Somali troops just this week.
HSM Press Office's announcement was paired with a statement from a spokesman for Sheikh Mohammed Said Atom, who leads a large group of Islamist fighters in Puntland. Yasin Khalid Osman 'Yasin Kilwe,' who leads a group of fighters under Atom and serves as his spokesman, said the group "joined" with Shabaab and welcomed the merger with al Qaeda, according to Somalia Report. Osman's statement was broadcast on Al-Andalus, Shabaab's official radio station.
"I swear allegiance and adherence to the Amir of Harakat Shabab al Mujahidin Sheikh Muktar Abu Zubayr," said Osman, who described himself as the "Emir of the mujahidin in Golis mountains." Osman
"I want to praise God for the unity of our Shabaab brothers with al Qaeda fighters," Osman continued, according to Somalia Report. "This is a great victory for the all mujahideen in the world, marking the unity of Muslim jihadists in the world for the first time in recent years. I want to declare today that we are joined with our al Shabaab brothers who are devoted to the Jihad in Somalia. On behalf of the mujahideen fighters in Galgala mountains, I want to confirm to you that we shall obey the orders of the leader of the Shabaab mujahideen, Sheikh Muktar Abu Zubayr who will also be our leader."
Osman also said that for the northern Somali jihadists, "this is the first step toward the start of proper solidarity with all Muslim jihadists in the world."
Atom's pledge of fealty takes place just two weeks after Shabaab announced its official merger with a Qaeda. The two terror groups have been intricately linked for years, and the announcement of the merger was merely the formal acknowledgment of the ties between the two groups. Several days later, the Muslim Youth Center in Kenya announced its merger with Shabaab and al Qaeda East Africa.
UN links Atom to Shabaab
Both Shabaab and Atom have previously denied the two were linked, even though Atom is known to have cooperated with the Somali terror group and has espoused its ideology.
But the United Nations has said that Atom and Shabaab have been linked for years. In early 2010, the United Nations identified Atom as "one of the principal suppliers of arms and ammunition for Al Shabaab operations in the Puntland region."
"Atom is aligned with Al Shabaab and may receive instructions from Al Shabaab leader Fu'aad Mohamed Khalaf," the UN report continued. The UN linked Atom to the Feb. 5, 2008, bombing in Bosaso that killed 20 Ethiopian migrant workers and wounded more than 100. Shabaab has declared war on Ethiopia and has attacked Ethiopian troops and interests throughout the country.
Shabaab has successfully carried out terror attacks in the relatively peaceful Somali north in the past. On Oct. 29, 2008, five Shabaab suicide bombers struck four compounds in Somaliland and Puntland, killing 28 and wounding scores. Three suicide car bombers struck the presidential palace, the UN Development Program compound, and the Ethiopian Consulate in the city of Hargeisa in Somaliland. And in Bosaso, two bombers targeted an intelligence facility.
Atom's forces have openly clashed with Puntland security forces in the past. In July and August 2010, Puntland troops claimed to have killed dozens of Atom's forces during heavy fighting in the Galgala Mountains region. Local Puntland officials said Atom's bases in the mountainous region in the province of Sanaag are "like Tora Bora in Afghanistan," the cave complexes and training camps in eastern Afghanistan used by Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda during fighting with US forces in 2002.
More recently, on Feb. 15, one of Atom's spokesmen claimed his forces killed 15 Puntland troops in Sugare north of Bosaso. Atom's brother, Ahmed Saeed Mohamed, was captured by Puntland security forces two days prior in the Golis Mountains.
]]>Gama'a al-Islamiyya, or the Islamic Group, one of the original affiliate groups of the al Qaeda network, was responsible for a wave of terrorism both inside Egypt and abroad in the 1980s and 1990s that elicited a sustained and brutal response from the Egyptian security services.
In his statement, Nasr added that some of the Gamaa members rounded up in the government crackdowns have gone "missing until this moment." He further noted that many of the interior ministry officials involved in the sweep "are still in power."
The Gamaa emerged as a loose grouping of independent Islamist organizations in Upper (southern) Egypt in the early 1970s. By the end of the decade, Gamaa's groups united under a single banner, and were led by Asyut-based cleric Omar abd ar-Rahman. Rahman was first known for his involvement in a 24-man cell responsible for the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1981. Ayman al-Zawahiri, now the
commander of al Qaeda, was also a member of that cell.
After Sadat's assassination, the Gamaa launched a violent uprising in the Egyptian town of Asyut. New Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak responded by arresting thousands. He cracked down on unlicensed mosques and implemented a state of emergency that remained until his ouster last year.
In 1984, the Gamaa published a radical manifesto titled The Program for Islamic Action. The group launched a sporadic campaign of violence that targeted Christian Copts, liquor stores, theaters, and government mosques throughout Upper Egypt.
By 1992, the terror campaign had expanded to include attacks on prominent Muslim moderates and tourists, in addition to bank and train robberies. There were also several higher-profile attacks over the span of a few years, including a 1992 attack on a tour bus full of Germans in Qena, the first of several attacks designed to debilitate Egypt's tourism industry.
But the Gamaa's activities were not restricted to Egypt. On Feb. 26, 1993, three men affiliated with the group attempted to destroy the World Trade Center in New York. The men belonged to a New Jersey mosque where Omar abd al-Rahman had been preaching. Abd ar-Rahman, who was jailed in Egypt from 1981 to 1984 for his role in the Sadat assassination, was eventually convicted in the US for conspiracy to bomb the United Nations and FBI buildings, as well as the George Washington Bridge and the Holland Tunnel.
While the Gamaa was never definitively linked to the 1993 attacks, its growing ties to al Qaeda were clear. Members gravitated to al Qaeda's new base in neighboring Sudan from 1992 to 1996. Indeed, terror analyst Rohan Gunaratna believes that al Qaeda's "Manual of Jihad," compiled in Sudan between 1993 and 1994, was likely written by Gamaa members.
On Nov. 17, 1997, Gamaa carried out a grisly attack in the southern Egyptian town of Luxor, killing 62 tourists in cold blood. On Feb. 23, 1998, the Gamaa officially announced its affiliation with al Qaeda. Along with Ayman al-Zawahiri (representing the Egyptian group al-Jihad), Gamaa leader Refa'i Ahmad Taha joined Osama bin Laden's World Islamic Front, an umbrella group for al Qaeda affiliates, which publicly declared its goal of waging a holy war "against Jews and Crusaders," imploring all Muslims to "kill the Americans."
With increased support from the West to address its terror problem, the Mubarak regime arrested more than 20,000 terror suspects. Some were detained for long periods of time without due process. Other detainee allegations included torture, beatings, and threats to suspects' families. In the end, the group was defeated to the point that it was forced to concede. The Gamaa's incarcerated leaders called for a ceasefire.
In 2002, the defeated group issued a four-volume set of books entitled Correction of Concepts, criticizing al Qaeda's strategy and tactics. And in June of that year, the group condemned the Sept.11 attacks, in the government-run al-Mussawar magazine. In the wake of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) attacks on Saudi targets in 2003, the Gamaa called the violence "a series of errors," and implored the faction to "apologize to the parents of the victims." Gamaa member Issam Derbella also published a book in 2003 entitled Al-Qaeda Strategy: Flaws and Dangers.
Former Interior Minister Habib al-Adly, who is now standing trial for killing protesters during the 2011 protests that brought down the Mubarak regime, recently boasted that he had played a positive role in Egypt because he had forced the Gamaa to renounce terrorism. The Gamaa denied that this was the case, however, as Asem Abdel Maged, a Gamaa leader, shot back: "Not even once did the group coordinate with the Interior Ministry or security services."
For Egyptians who recall the war between Mubarak's security services and the Gamaa, Abdel Maged's claims are difficult to reconcile. For that matter, Abdel Maged's claim that the Gamaa "did not kill innocent people" is a tough one, too.
Nevertheless, the former Egyptian arm of al Qaeda now operates under the umbrella of a legal political party that currently has16 parliamentarians and even includes Copts among its members. The Gamaa's historic opposition to Mubarak and its populist Salafi ideology appeal to the public. And in an attempt to harness anti-Mubarak sentiment, the group appears poised to sue for damages stemming from the crackdown against the terror campaign it launched three decades ago.
The Gamaa remains on the US list of terrorist organizations. But like much of the rest of Egypt in the post-Mubarak era, the group is rewriting its history.
Jonathan Schanzer is vice president for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the author of Al-Qaeda's Armies: Middle East Affiliate Groups & The Next Generation of Terror (SPI Books, 2004).
Two Americans believed to be a U.S. colonel and major were shot dead in Afghanistan's interior ministry on Saturday, security sources said, while rage gripped the country for a fifth day over the burning of the Muslim holy book at a NATO base.A spokeswoman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) confirmed two of their servicemen had been shot dead in central Kabul by an individual who turned his weapon on them. She declined to say if the killer was a member of the Afghan military or police.
According to the BBC, NATO has withdrawn all of its personnel from the Afghan ministries after today's shooting.
The Taliban claimed credit for the attack in a statement that was released on their website, Voice of Jihad:
A recent news report from Kabul province state that on later Saturday Abd-ur-Rahman and his fellow, two brave Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan Afghan shot and killed 4 high-ranking American military officer-cum-advisers within the ministry of defenses in the heart of Kabul city, the capita of the country.Mujahid Abdurrahman, working in the ministry of defenses, said though cellular phone from within the facility of the ministry of defense that they took out the four said American invaders this evening in reaction to the desecration of Holy Quran by the US invaders in Bagram Airbase and as way of retaliatory action for the constantan blasphemy and violation of our sacrosanctities by the foreign occupiers, particularly the US terrorist forces. Abdurrahman added that they were putting up strong resistance against the invaders and their puppets within facility for quite a while.
Two days ago, two US soldiers were killed when an Afghan soldier in Nangarhar turned his weapon on US forces at a base during protests. The Afghan soldier escaped into the crowd.
And on Feb. 20, one Albanian soldier was killed in an ambush by Afghan policemen in Spin Boldak in Kandahar. From The Associated Press:
Monday's shooting occurred in the village of Robat, in Kandahar province's Spin Boldak district which borders Pakistan, said Kandahar police chief Abdul Raziq. The troops had gone there for a meeting about opening two schools and a health center, the Albanian defense ministry said.The soldiers "found themselves attacked by a group of persons wearing uniforms of the Afghan police," Brig. Gen. Viktor Berdo, the head of Albanian land forces, told reporters in the country's capital Tirana.
The attackers opened fire with five assault rifles and one light machine gun, the Albanian Defense Ministry said. One Albanian, a captain, died later in a hospital in the provincial capital of Kandahar city. Albanian officials initially said a corporal also was killed, but later clarified that the soldier was in a coma, adding "there is still hope of improvement."
After the shooting, 11 Afghan policemen were arrested.
The US is predicating its transition of security to the Afghan National Security Forces on the US military's ability to partner with Afghan forces. With the rash of murders by Afghan troops in the field, at military bases, and in Afghan ministries, this will be exceedingly difficult to do.
But the bulk of al 'Adnani's speech is devoted to his hatred of the Shia, and by extension Iran. Al 'Adnani rails against the growing power of the Shia in Iraq and the wider Middle East. And he appears to advocate a return to the days of 2004-2006 Iraq, when al Qaeda leader Abu Musab al Zarqawi attempted to drag Iraq into a sectarian civil war between Sunnis and Shia by running death squads and attacking Shia mosques, markets, neighborhoods, and religious sites.
Zarqawi believed this was the only viable option to keep the Sunnis from cooperating with Iraq's majority Shia in the government and serving in the newly-formed national security forces. He said that if the Sunnis feared the Shia, they would be forced to turn to al Qaeda as their protectors. Ayman al Zawahiri, in a letter to Zarqawi, had directed Zarqawi not to follow such a strategy as it would be counterproductive.
The following is a small portion of Al 'Adnani's speech, which was translated by the SITE Intelligence Group:
So, Iraq, Iraq, O people of the Sunnah. Stop the black extension that is coming towards you. Cut off the head of the [Shi'ite] snake, the tail of which is amongst you. Know that the coming stage is a stage of real confrontation and war against the despicable [Shi'ites], whether you like it or not, and that the war of the Sunnis with the [Shi'ites] is not a sectarian war, like people are braying about. A sect is part of something, and the [Shi'ites] don't have anything to do with Islam; they have their own religion and we have our own. The war of the Sunnis with the [Shi'ites] is a religious war, a holy war of faith, a war of faith and unbelief, a war of idolatry and monotheism. There is no way out of it and there is no swerving from it. The [Shi'ites] know this well.
Later on, Al 'Adnani echoes Zarqawi when he says that al Qaeda in Iraq's front, the Islamic State of Iraq, is the only true defender of the Sunnis:
O our people, the people of the Sunnah, the Islamic State is only there to defend you and preserve your rights, and to stand in the face of your enemies. The Islamic State is your only true hope after Allah, Glorified and Exalted be He, to get out of the dark tunnel into which your leaders and representatives put you with their alliance with the [Shi'ites].
Al 'Adnani also reminds us that al Qaeda in Iraq seeks to wage jihad beyond the borders of Iraq, including in the West:
In the end, everyone should know that we vowed and are determined that without the State of Islam, there is no security or peace, not in Iraq or in the Levant, nor in Egypt nor the Peninsula nor in Khorasan nor in the East nor the West. We will never negotiate or surrender. We will never bargain or exchange. Allah's Shariah is only placed in power by the sword, and it will only stand with power and strength.]]>
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| Moroccan jihadist Abu Ibrahim. Image from the SITE Intelligence Group. |
A Moroccan jihadist was among several Shabaab fighters, including other foreigners, who were killed in an airstrike in southern Somalia today.
In a web posting today, a jihadist forum member who also serves as an operative in Somalia said that Abu Ibrahim, who was also known as Hassan al Toor and Abu Qatada, was killed in an airstrike south of Mogadishu. The jihadist announced Abu Ibrahim's death in a statement that was released on the al Qaeda-linked Shumukh al-Islam forum and translated by the SITE Intelligence group.
While the jihadist forum member did not give an exact date for Abu Ibrahim's death, his statement indicates that Abu Ibrahim was killed in an airstrike that took place in the K60 area of the Lower Shabelle region in southern Somalia (K60 is an area 60 kilometers south of Mogadishu near the coastal city of Merca).
"The knowledge [sic] knight dismounted his horse as a result of an airstrike in area of 60 in Lower Shabelle province..," the statement said.
Reports from Somalia said that several aircraft, thought to be helicopters, struck two vehicles traveling at night in the K60 area, killing four to six Shabaab operatives, including "foreigners." Mareeg Online claimed that a Kenyan known as Sheik Abukar Hajji Ahmed was among several Kenyans killed in the attack. The Internet jihadist said that Abu Ibrahim was killed along with two others, who were known as Abu Ahad al Muhajir and Abu Bakr a Ansari al Muhajir. The two men were likely foreigners, as Muhajir means "immigrant."
The jihadist also stated that Abu Ibrahim was killed after his "dream" of Shabaab merging with al Qaeda was realized.
"The Sheikh was keen to have al Qaeda take the helm of jihad in this land... The Sheikh departed after some of his dream came true, and there are still some things to be done
by those after him...," the Internet jihadist stated.
Shabaab officially merged with al Qaeda on Feb. 9 [see LWJ report, Shabaab formally joins al Qaeda]. Today's airstrike in K60 is the first reported in that area since the merger.
The jihadist claimed to personally know Abu Ibrahim, presumably from the jihadist web forums, and said that he had, along with al Qaeda leader Bilal al Berjawi, encouraged and helped Abu Ibrahim enter Somalia. The jihadist said he first met Abu Ibrahim in the Somali city of Baidoa. The city was controlled by Shabaab for the past three years before the terror group abandoned it just this week to advancing Somali and Ethiopian forces.
Abu Ibrahim attempted to join al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al Zarqawi prior to his death in June 2006. The jihadist claimed Abu Ibrahim "arrived in Turkey and then returned," but did not give the reasons for why he could not enter Iraq.
Likely a US airstrike
The BBC said that the Kenyan military, which has conducted airstrikes several hundreds of miles south in the Kismayo region, denied hitting targets in the K60 area today. The strike was likely carried out by the US, as the Kenyan Air Force would be hard-pressed to hit moving vehicles in an airstrike in an area more than 500 miles north of its borders. The Kenyan military also would not be likely to have the intelligence capabilities to identify the targets and execute the strike.
US military and Intelligence officials who were contacted by The Long War Journal would neither confirm nor deny that the US carried out today's airstrike in Somalia. If helicopters were used in today's strike, the mission was likely executed by the Joint Special Operations Command, which also used helicopter gunships to kill top al Qaeda operative Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan in a similar raid along the coast south of Mogadishu in September 2009.
The US has been actively hunting al Qaeda and Shabaab operatives operating in southern Somalia. Last month, the US killed Bilal al Berjawi, a British citizen who served as a senior al Qaeda and Shabaab leader, in a Predator airstrike near Mogadishu.
The US military's Joint Special Operations Command and the CIA are known to operate the armed Predators and Reapers from bases in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa, Arba Minch in Ethiopia, the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean, and a base in an unnamed country on the Arabian Peninsula. The bases are to be used to attack al Qaeda affiliates Shabaab, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.a
]]>The three-man assault team armed with suicide vests, hand grenades, and assault rifles broke through the gate of the police station and attempted to take it over, according to reports in Dawn and Al Jazeera. The terrorists hurled hand grenades and opened fire on the policemen, then detonated their vests, killing themselves and four policemen.
Abu Zar, who identified himself as a spokesman for the Abdullah Azzam Brigade, told The Associated Press that the terror group carried out the attack to avenge Badr Mansoor, who was killed in a US Predator airstrike on Feb. 9 in Miramshah in North Waziristan.
Mansoor was a senior Taliban and al Qaeda leader who trained recruits to fight in Afghanistan. More importantly, he served as a nexus between the Taliban, al Qaeda, and the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM), a Pakistani terror group supported by the Pakistani military and intelligence services. He operated in an area under the control of the Haqqani Network, an al Qaeda-linked group that also is supported by the Pakistani military and intelligence services.
"Mansoor funneled Pakistani jihadists from HuM and TTP [Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, or the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan] into the ranks of al Qaeda," a US intelligence official told The Long War Journal on Feb. 9. "He didn't just recruit low level-jihadists, but also convinced more experienced commanders to fill positions in al Qaeda."
Another US intelligence official said that Mansoor is part of the "deep bench" of commanders who are culled from the plethora of Pakistani and Central Asian jihadist groups operating in Pakistan to fill vacant leadership positions in al Qaeda.
Badr Mansoor's terror group is named after Abdullah Azzam, who co-founded al Qaeda along with Osama bin Laden. Azzam was killed in a bombing in 1989. Osama is widely believed to have killed his mentor after Azzam disagreed with making al Qaeda an international terror group.
The Abdullah Azzam Brigade claimed credit for the June 9, 2009 suicide assault on the Pearl Continental Hotel in a high-security zone in Peshawar. Seventeen people were killed in the attack, and the hotel was badly damaged. A spokesman named Amir Muawiya took credit for that attack and said the Taliban and al Qaeda shura directed that all future strikes would be claimed by this group. Amir Muawiya is a leader in the Commander Tariq Group, a Taliban faction that is based out of Darra Adam Khel in Pakistan's Arakzai tribal agency.
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US Special Operations Forces personnel wade into the snow-covered village of Cabalaq during a personnel recovery mission Feb. 22. Nine Afghan Uniformed policemen and two Afghan women were rescued by USSOF after becoming stranded by severe snowstorms. Courtesy photo, US Marine Corps Forces, Special Operations Command PAO.