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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In a missive dated September 17, 2014, the leading ideologue of the Salafi-jihadi movement, Sheikh Abu Muhammad Al-Maqdisi, who has opposed the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) since its founding and supported Al-Qaeda in the conflict between the two organizations, states that Muslims must not support the international coalition being formed to fight the IS, since the IS "is still within the [fold] of the [Muslim] ummah and has not left it." At the same time, he condemns the kidnapping of foreign aid workers who came to help the Muslim people in their lands, such as British national Alan Henning who is held by the IS, on the grounds that such an act contravenes Islam. He calls upon the organization to release Henning.
In the last several days, members of jihadi forums have issued several threats against the U.S. and other Western countries that joined its coalition to fight the Islamic State (IS or ISIS). The threats included a lengthy appeal to American Muslims to execute lone-wolf attacks, including against U.S. politicians, heads of financial institutions, military personnel, and various public and private sector employees. Some members even proposed using Ebola to infect as many Americans as possible. The virus, according to one suggestion, could be carried into the U.S. by IS mujahideen who willingly infect themselves with the disease. Jihadis are also contemplating ways to respond to what they call the "global war" against the IS, and are offering, for example, to attack airbases in the Middle East that are used by the U.S. to launch attacks against the organization.
It should be stressed that these threats were made by individuals supporting the IS, not by known fighters or operatives.
Following is a review of recent threats:
Appeal To American Muslims To Execute Lone-Wolf Attacks Against The U.S.: Virtually All Americans Are Combatants
The most elaborate of calls to attack the U.S. came from a member of the Shumoukh Al-Islam forum, who wrote a lengthy post on the forum on September 16, 2014, calling on American Muslims to carry out lone-wolf attacks against a number of targets inside the U.S.
Al-Qaeda Video For 13th Anniversary Of 9/11: America Is On Its Way To The Abyss
On September 14, 2014, Al-Qaeda's media production company Al-Sahab released a new video featuring a message delivered by Hussam 'Abd Al-Ra'uf, one of its spokesmen, to commemorate the 13th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the U.S. The main point of 'Abd Al-Ra'uf's message is that Al-Qaeda is resilient despite the U.S. claims of its downfall, and that the U.S. is in decline due to the organization's efforts. The video, 48 minutes in duration, is titled "And We Are Enraging Them." The following is a summary of the main points in the video. The quotes are taken from the English subtitles provided by Al-Sahab.
AQIM, AQAP Threaten U.S.-Led Coalition In Anticipation Of Attacks On Islamic State
On September 16, 2014, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) published a joint statement in response to the anticipated U.S. assault on Iraq and Syria targeting the Islamic State (IS). The two Al-Qaeda affiliates railed against what they called the "Alliance of Crusaders and apostates" that intends to attack the IS in Iraq and Syria, and warned the countries participating in the U.S.-led coalition that "black days await them" in light of their expected attacks.
AQIM and AQAP called upon the jihad groups in Iraq and Syria, the IS and its rivals, to cease the internal fighting and bickering among them. This appears to be an attempt on their behalf to use the threat of a U.S. attack against the IS to mend the relationship between it and Al-Qaeda.
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AQIM Central Region Establishes New Group, Pledges Allegiance To Caliph Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi
On September 12, 2014, a statement attributed to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) central region was posted online. In it, AQIM central region announced that it, along with a number of other militant factions, have decided to establish a new group called Jund Al-Khilafa Fi 'Ard Al-Jaza'ir ("The Caliphate Army in the Land of Algeria").
On September 18, 2014, the Islamic State (IS) released a video recorded message by John Cantlie, a British journalist, who was taken hostage by IS in 2012. The video, which is titled "Lend Me Your Ears," appears to be part one in a series featuring Cantlie, in which he says he will reveal facts and truths concerning the IS and the Western media campaign against it. Cantlie expresses disappointment with the British government for "abandoning him." He also calls upon the general public to "act now" in order to change a "seemingly inevitable sequence of events."
New JN Video Documents Use Of Remotely Controlled Car Bombs In Capture Of Syrian Army Base
On September 14, 2014, the Al-Manara Al-Baida' media company, affiliated with Jabhat Al-Nusra (JN), released a 40-minute video titled "Continuing the Road" on its official Twitter account. The video documents JN's capture of a "[fuel] tanker base" of the Syrian army and of the nearby town of Khan Sheikhun, on the Hama-Aleppo highway. The operation involved the use of car bombs driven by suicide bombers as well as unmanned remotely controlled car bombs. Interspersed with the footage of the operation are segments from old videos of Osama bin Laden, Abu Mus'ab Al-Zarqawi, 'Abdallah 'Azzam and Abu Yahya Al-Libi on the importance of persisting in jihad despite numerous obstacles.
IS Shoots Down Syrian Airplane Over Al-Raqqa
On September 16, 2014, Islamic State (IS) operatives in Al-Raqqa claimed they had managed to down a Syrian army fighter jet. Local residents and IS operatives uploaded photos of the falling aircraft, as well as photos of the pilot, who ejected, parachuting to the ground.
Report: Indian Police Stop 15 Engineering Students Including Girl On Way To Join ISIS
Following are excerpts from an Indian media report that revealed that a girl was among 15 engineering students from the southern Indian city of Hyderabad who were radicalized and attempted to join the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS):
"At least 15 engineering students, including a girl, from Hyderabad, attracted to the idea of fighting alongside ISIS in Iraq and Syria, were tracked down by the Telangana [state] police in West Bengal this week [before September 11] after their parents complained they were missing. Police sources said their investigations have revealed the outreach of the Islamist jihadists in the country was greater than previously thought."
Masked jihadist militants in Pakistan
Following are excerpts from an Indian media report which indicated that more than 300 Muslim youths from India have been recruited by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP):
"New Delhi: 'I'm an engineer, but I want to be a 'Jihadi first.' This could be the next service-on-offer from a section of Indian Muslim youth, if one goes by the National Investigation Agency's (NIA) dossier allegedly mentioning that more than 300 Indian youth have been recruited by Pakistan-based Tehreek-e-Taliban [Pakistan, or TTP]. What is alarming is the fact that the Tehreek-e-Taliban has joined hands with the ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria), now also calling itself simply the Islamic State or IS after declaring the setting up of a 'caliphate.'"
Following are excerpts from an article written recently by V. Balachandran, a former Indian civil servant, tracing the history of jihad in India:
"From The 1980s, There Were Strong Indications That Some Domestic Sections Were Enticed By Pakistan To Support Terrorism In India"
"India has suffered from religious indoctrination by foreign extremist preachers since the British times. K. Madhavan Nair, a Congress leader who went to jail during the Khilafat agitation [i.e. the movement in India in favor of the Ottoman Caliphate], wrote in 1922 in his Malayalam [-language] book Malabar Kalapam (Malabar Riots) that the British [colonial] government had instituted a commission under the Malabar district judge T.L. Strange to investigate a series of riots in Malabar [now the region of India's southern state of Kerala] between 1836 and 1852. The Strange Commission found that religious bigotry, rather than feelings against the landlords, was responsible for these riots."
In a press statement, Usama Mahmood, the spokesman of the newly established "Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent", has accused the Pakistani military of hiding the fact that the September 6 attack on the Karachi Naval Dockyard was carried out by naval officers and that the target was an American ship.
The statement by Usama Mahmood, dated September 16, was posted in Urdu, Arabic, English, and Bengali on various document-sharing websites such as justpaste.it, and linked through a newly-created Twitter account that is described as Mahmood's "official" account.
"The Reality Is That The Real Target Of The Operation Was The American Naval Fleet In The Indian Ocean, Which Was To Be Targeted Using Pakistani Warships, Including PNS Zulfiqar"
"By the grace of Allah, an extraordinarily bold and audacious plan was prepared by the mujahideen from Al-Qaeda in the Subcontinent – a new branch of Al-Qaeda – to target the American military and its allies on the seas. All praise belongs to Allah alone who guided the mujahideen to undertake this operation and brought the plan to the final stages of execution. The Armed Forces of Pakistan – through their mouthpiece, the ISPR (Inter-Services Public Relations) – are deliberately trying to cover the nature and actual targets of the operation. In an attempt to conceal the failure of their pro-American policies and mislead the world, the attack was presented by the ISPR and the spokesman of the Pakistan Navy as an attack solely on the Pakistan Navy – specifically the Naval Dockyard in Karachi."
Asmatullah Muawiya
In a recent video, a Punjabi Taliban commander who split from Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has indicated that his fighters will continue to wage jihad, possibly in neighboring Afghanistan and against India. However, the video was released to announce that he will cease attacks inside Pakistan.
Asmatullah Muawiya, leader of Punjabi Taliban
Below are excerpts from a Pakistani media report about how different factions of the Pakistani Taliban are aligning with the Pakistani military's objectives to cease attacks in Pakistan but continue to wage jihad in Afghanistan:
"Pakistani jihadi groups are preparing for what they expect will be a civil war in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of U.S. forces at the end of this year, analysts say, and a recent video message of the Punjab chapter of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) corroborates the reports. The TTP Punjab, commonly known as the Punjabi Taliban and headed by Asmatullah Muawiya – a former leader of Jaish-e-Muhammad, a banned Punjab-based jihadi group – announced on September 13 the cessation of subversive activities in Pakistan, 'in the best interest of Islam and the country.' Earlier, in a September 5 statement, the group said it would continue to fight in the neighboring Afghanistan."
