The following are some of this week's reports from the MEMRI Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM) Project, which translates and analyzes content from sources monitored around the clock, among them the most important jihadi websites and blogs. (To view these reports in full, you must be a paying member of the JTTM; for membership information, send an email to jttmsubs@memri.org with "Membership" in the subject line.)
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EXCLUSIVE REPORT: MEMRI Archives - Reports Tracing The Growth Of Jihad In The Maldives
Maldivian suicide bomber Abu Turab (second from left)
Below are reports from the archives of MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM), which highlight the growing jihadi threat from the Maldives. Links to all reports can be found in the endnotes.
MEMRI Scholar Tufail Ahmad: "Currently, 20 Maldivians Are Fighting In Syria; The Maldives Is At A Turning Point Which Favors Jihadists"
In July 2014, MEMRI's South Asia Studies Project director Tufail Ahmad wrote a column in an Indian newspaper in which he examined the rise of Maldivian jihadists and transformation of the Maldives along the lines of Pakistan by Islamist and jihadist forces.
Maldivian Bloggers: "[The Maldives Is] '100% Muslim' … [And] An Attractive Prospect For Those Pursuing Bin Laden's Agenda Of An Islamic Caliphate"
In May 2014, Maldivian bloggers Azra Naseem and Mushfique Mohamed traced the origins of Islamic rule in the Maldives, and the transformation of an authentic Islamic way of life of the Maldivians into a distinctly Islamist way of living and the rise of jihadism in the public sphere.
New Al-Qaeda In The Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) English-Language Magazine: 'Palestine'
On August 16, 2014, Al-Malahem, the media arm of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), released an English-language magazine titled "Palestine – Betrayal of the Guilty Conscience."
While this magazine is not an official issue of AQAP's well-known Inspire magazine, it is similar in appearance, contains almost exclusively content previously published by it, and refers to it repeatedly. Its slickly produced 24 pages are introduced by a Table of Contents page that states "Palestine in Focus – Focus on Palestine from previous Inspire issues."
Unlike previous English-language Al-Malahem productions, and following the post-Edward Snowden trend, the magazine provides no information for readers to contact it.
On August 19, 2014, a member of the jihadi website alplatformmedia.com called for "lone-wolves" to execute attacks against targets in the U.S. The member, Mubghib Ulamaa' Al-Tasawoul, also reposted a tutorial on making homemade bombs, including those built from pressure cookers, to be used in those attacks. The tutorial appeared previously in a number of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) materials.
Jihadi Website: IS Has Downed U.S. Plane, Taken Soldiers Hostage
The communiqué, as posted on alplatformmedia.com
The jihadi website alplatformmedia.com has posted what it claims to be an official release by the Islamic State (IS) announcing that the organization has downed a U.S. plane in Kurdistan and has captured the soldiers that were in it.
On August 16, Al-Anjad, an official media company of the Islamic State (IS), published a new nasheed (religious hymn) titled "Al-Maliki Is Defeated", which has since been widely circulated on jihadi forums and social media. The nasheed, which celebrates the achievement of the IS in Iraq and its victory over the its enemies – chiefly the Shi'ites headed by ousted Iraqi prime minister Nouri Al-Maliki – reflects the euphoria that currently prevails among the IS and its supporters.
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Islamic State Captures Japanese National In Aleppo Region
Screenshots of one of the videos showing Yukawa being interrogated just following his capture
On August 17, 2014, two videos were circulated on jihadi social media accounts showing Japanese national Haruna Yukawa, who was captured at an unknown date by Islamic State forces in northern Aleppo province. While his current status is unknown, he is likely still being held by the IS.
It is not entirely clear what Yukawa was doing in Syria at the time of his capture. According to his captors, he was apprehended armed and with Free Syrian Army fighters.
In one of the videos, Yukawa, speaking in broken English, claims under duress and while threatened with a knife that he is a photographer who came to Syria in the framework of his job, and adds that he his "half journalist, half medical doctor" and "I am no soldier."
Canadian ISIS Fighter And Nephew Of Former Somali PM Killed In Iraq Fighting For The IS
Canadian ISIS fighter Farah Mohamed Shirdon, who went by the Twitter name Abu Usamah, has reportedly been killed in Iraq.
On July 22, 2014, Shirdon wrote on his Twitter account (MuhajirSumalee): "I've been in Iraq for a few days and have already experienced American drone strikes. May Allah destroy them!" His death was reported on August 13 by IS fighter Abu Anter after several other online jihadis expressed concern about his absence.
In a communiqué posted on August 17, 2014 on its page on the Diaspora social network, the "information department" of the Islamic State (IS) in Ninveh province addressed the organization's current battles with the Kurdish forces and the US attacks on it. The communiqué stresses that the organization's mujahideen have not lost any ground to the Peshmerga forces, and that all their apparent withdrawals were for tactical reasons. About the US's renewed involvement in Iraq, it says that this country has apparently not learned the lesson of its previous entanglement in the "Iraqi quagmire", which caused it economic crises that neatly "wiped it out", and promises that the US will yet be eliminated by the IS fighters.
The following are details:
The communiqué states that, after the Kurdish Pershmerga and Asayish (i.e., security) forces suffered defeats, and after the IS nearly reached their capital of Irbil, these "slaves of secularism" called upon their "Crusader master in black Washington" [Obama] to come to their rescue, and the latter responded by reentering the Iraqi fray, having failed to learn the lessons of the past. "This complete idiot has apparently forgotten, or wishes to forget, that, only a few years ago, the Iraqi quagmire eliminated tens of thousands of Crusaders... not to mention the material damage and economic crises that nearly wiped America off the map. Allah wiling, it will [eventually] be wiped off the map by the knights of the khilafa [i.e., the IS]," it says.
Pro-Is Media Groups Announce Formation Of 'Media Front'
On August 19, 2014, online activists announced that several jihadi media groups have formed a joint media outlet called "The Media Front for Supporting the Islamic State". The groups involved in the project are at Al-Wafa', the Al-Batter Media Foundation, Al-Ghuraba, Fada'ih Al-'Ilmaniyya, Ghurfat Minbar Al-Ansar (the members of the Paltalk chat room Minbar Al-Ansar), Dabeq, Al-Wagha and the 'Aisha Media Center (IS supporters in Lebanon).
Cover page of the magazine
The Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi-led Islamic State (IS), formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), has released a Pashtu-Dari bilingual magazine; according to local journalists, print copies of it, on low quality paper in black and white, have recently been distributed in Pakistani and Afghan cities.
Journalists based in northern Pakistani city of Peshawar as well as in Kabul and other parts of Afghanistan say that print copies of the magazine, called Fatah("Victory") were distributed in their regions. The 12-page magazine is equally divided into Pashtu and Dari sections – the languages spoken in Afghanistan and the militancy-hit Pashtun border region of Pakistan – besides carrying a message to the Muslim world.
Articles in Pashtu – on the current situation of Muslim Ummah and the international Crusade war; revival of the Islamic caliphate; plan to get rid of the ongoing crisis; a message and advice to the Muslims and Islamic Ummah; the condition for the divine support and gaining victory; and the aim behind the publication of the magazine – are written so as to appear to be part of a single article.
Osama Bin Laden Quoted As Saying: "We Consider Imprisonment In The Way Of Allah As Exercise, Exile As Tourism And Death As Martyrdom"
The front or title page carries an editorial, a list of the articles, and a quote by the late Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden which is the motto of his organization: "We accept neither conspiracy nor humiliation. We will emerge either conquerors or martyrs. We want a life of freedom or the honorable death of martyrdom. We consider imprisonment in the way of Allah as exercise, exile as tourism, and death as martyrdom."
Abu Bakar Ba'asyir (image courtesy: The Jakarta Post)
Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, the face of the jihadist groups in Southeast Asia and now jailed leader of Indonesia's former jihadist group Jema'ah Al-Islamiyyah, has urged his followers to support Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, the chief of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) who declared himself as the Caliph of Islam in a statement dated June 29. ISIS is now known as the Islamic State (IS).
The Jema'ah Islamiyyah, the former Indonesian jihadist group that was found guilty in the Bali bombings, is now known as Jamaah Anshorut Tauhid (JAT), and is allied to Jabhat Al-Nusra, an Al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria. According to reports, excerpts from two of which are given below, the JAT split after some of its members, including his son, did not agree with Ba'asyir's decision in mid-July to offer bai'yah (oath of fealty) to Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi.
The new faction of JAT, now known as Jamaah Ansharusy Syariah (JAS) and backed by Ba'asyir's two sons, will continue to support Jabhat Al-Nusra, the Al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria from which Al-Baghdadi-led ISIS (aka ISIL) split.
July 14 Report: "Ba'asyir's Support Of ISIL Was Conveyed After He Gathered High-Ranking... [Jihadist] Leaders And His Family Members... In The Supposedly Maximum-Security Pasir Putih Prison In Nusakambangan, An Island Near The Coast Of Cilacap, Central Java"
"[Ustad Abu aka Abu Bakar] Ba'asyir's message was delivered to the chairman of Jamaah Anshorut Tauhid (JAT), Mochammad Achwan. 'Ustad Abu has told us that he and JAT will generally support our brothers fighting for ISIL [aka ISIS],' Achwan told The Jakarta Post... Achwan said the support may come in the form of helping fund the ISIL movement and preparing JAT members to fight in Syria."
Logos of Jaish-e-Muhammad, which is headed by Maulana Masood Azhar
Following are excerpts from an alarming report in the Pakistani media claiming that the leading Pakistani jihadist organization Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) took 25 teenagers for militant training in Pakistan's North Waziristan Agency (NWA), who have now returned to their homes following JeM trainers' instruction to wait for orders.
"Over a dozen teenagers who were being trained by militants in North Waziristan Agency have returned to their native village of Sheikhan on the outskirts of the city [of Peshawar], on instruction from their 'trainers.' While their families are delighted to see them, a fear lingers that the mindset of these boys may have been changed forever."
On August 16, 2014, a Gaza-Based Salafi organization called Jaysh Al-Ummah Al-Salafi posted on the jihadi website 'Arin Al-Mujahideen (al3aren.com) a list of its alleged rocket-launches against Israel during the July-August 2014 Gaza conflict. This list includes the date and time of each launching, the types of rockets fired, and the areas in Israel were aimed at, all of them in the south of Israel.
West Mediterranean Countries Prepare To Face Threat Of September 11-Type Attacks
Screenshot from an August 13, 2014 YouTube video showing Royal Moroccan Army deployment of surface-to-air missiles near Casablanca
Since July, 13, 2014, the international airport in Tripoli, Libya, has been the theater of violent combat between rival rebel groups that have been trying to gain control of it. On July 31, 2014, an Egyptian daily reported that western intelligence sources had warned Egypt that several passenger airliners had fallen into the hands of rebels, and that these planes could end up in the hands of terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and be used as weapons for 9/11-style attacks. In response to the warning Egypt raised the alert level on sensitive targets. An Algerian security source reported that 9 countries in the Mediterranean Basin are similarly under threat.
Ahead of the August 14 marches planned separately by Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Imran Khan and Pakistani religious leader Maulana Tahir-ul-Qadri, who returned to Pakistan from Canada in 2012, an Urdu-language daily reveals that the two leaders' planned rallies for a Tahrir Square-like revolutionary change of government in Islamabad were planned by former Pakistani intelligence chief Lt.-Gen. (retired) Shuja Pasha.
Both Khan and Qadri have asked their supporters to converge in Islamabad, with Khan favoring new elections to bring about a change of government and Qadri calling for a revolutionary change with support from the Pakistani military. Lt.-Gen. Shuja Pasha, who served as the chief of the Pakistani military's all-powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), was known to be the most powerful man dictating Pakistan's foreign policies on Afghanistan and India. The ISI has been known in the past to be involved in bringing about change of governments in Islamabad.
