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.)
Note to media and government: For a full copy of these reports, send an email with the title of the report in the subject line to media@memri.org. Please include your name, title, and organization in your email.
On February 24, 2014, the Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP) released a video-recorded message titled "We Are Coming O Buddhists." The message is presented by Sheikh Abu Dhar 'Azzam, who extols the acts of the foreign fighters (muhajireen) coming from Eastern Turkestan and calls upon Muslims to support them with money and men. Addressing the "Chinese and Buddhists," Abu Dhar warns them of dire punishment for their crimes against Muslims and Islam, and says that killing them and shedding their blood is "good".
The Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) organization published a February 22 communiqué threatening to harm French interests and French citizens in Africa and outside it, in retaliation for French involvement in the Central African Republic and other places in Africa.
New 'Martyrs Brigades Group' Established In Libya
On February 21, 2014, an announced was posted on Facebook declaring the establishment of Jama'at Kataib Al-Shuhada' ("Martyrs Brigades Group") in Libya. The group, says the announcement, was established in response to the attack of the global unbelief against Islam and Muslims, and in response to the various democratic movements hijacking the Arab Spring. The announcement says that the group decided to raise the banner of jihad and to "unsheathe our sharpened swords" in order to respond to those acting not according to Allah's shari'a.
The announcement begins by saying that that the sons of Islam had to respond strongly in the face of the fierce attack of the global forces of unbelief against Islam and Muslims, and in order to ensure Muslims' right to have a dignified life. In addition, the Martyrs Brigades were established to answer the various democratic movements, whether those being communist, liberal or secular, attempting to hijack the "jihad of the nations rising up against their tyrannical regimes in the Arab world."
TV Report On Training Of Bomber Who Carried Out Beirut Suicide Attack
Following are excerpts from a report about Beirut suicide bomber Nidhal Mghayar, which aired on LBC TV on February 21, 2014:
Footage of terrorist training cam
Click here to view this clip on MEMRI TV
Trainee (off camera): "Say: "Allah Akbar."
Trainees (Nidhal Mghayar in center): "Allah Akbar!"
Commander: "Are you ready for this?"
Trainees: "We're ready."
Commander: "Are you ready?"
Trainees: "We're ready."
Reporter: "This is a cry uttered by Nidhal Mghayar two months ago in Qalamoun, Syria. Two months after he declared that he was ready, he carried it out."
Viewer Discretion Advised - Syrian Army Kills Scores Of Militants In Ambush
Following are excerpts from an Al-Manar TV report on a Syrian Army ambush against militants, which aired on February 27, 2014. The report is followed by footage from reports by Russia Today TV and Syria News TV on February 26.
Al-Manar TV, February 27, 2014:
Click here to view this clip on MEMRI TV
Anchor: "More than 170 militants were killed in an ambush by the Syrian military in the Al-Otaiba Lake region, known as the gateway to East Ghota. Al-Manar TV has obtained footage of the activation of explosive devices against a convoy of hundreds of militants on foot in the Al-Otaiba region."
Footage of convoy
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Voice of reporter: "Step by step they march towards their death. Perhaps they thought that under cover of night, they would be able to save themselves from the stifling siege on East Ghota. Alas, darkness could not conceal them from the precise surveillance of the Syrian military elite."
Jabht Al-Nusra In Lebanon Vows To Take Fight To Hizbullah’s Lebanese Strongholds
In a February 24, 2014 communiqué, Jabhat Al-Nusra in Lebanon declared that given Hizbullah’s involvement in Syria all its Lebanese bases were legitimate targets for attacks. The Lebanese were told to avoid aiding Hizbullah and Iran in their battle against the Syrian people.
Following are excerpts from the communiqué:
"Every intelligent person is aware of the evil that Hizb Iran [the party of Iran, a dig at Hizbullah’s name] has wrought in all Lebanese and Syrian areas, especially Qusair and Qalamun, and the crimes it has committed."
Jabhat Al-Nusra Announces Beginning Of Attacks In Al-Quneitra In Southern Syria
On February 26, 2014, Jabhat Al-Nusra (JN) announced the beginning of attacks in the rural areas of the Al-Quneitra Governorate (southern Syria) aiming to take over the main road leading to the town of Nawa in the adjacent Dara'a Governorate.
Jabhat Al-Nusra Leader Al-Joulani Mourns Death Of Abu Khalid Al-Suri, Issues Ultimatum To ISIS
On February 24, 2014, Jabhat Al-Nusra (JN) released an audio message by the group's leader, Abu Muhammad Al-Joulani. In the approximately 11 minute-long message, Al-Joulani mourns the killing (reportedly by the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS)) of Abu Khalid Al-Suri, a founder of Ahrar Al-Sham and Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri's representative to Syria. Al-Joulani also rejects ISIS accusations that JN and other jihad groups had joined the "Sahawat" anti-jihad movement in Syria and that they committed acts of apostasy and heresy.
ISIS Forces Poll Tax On Christians Of Al-Raqqa
The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, which controls the city of Al-Raqqa, announced that it had signed a "Security" pact with the Christian residents of Al-Raqqa in return for their embracing the laws of dhimma – protection. In a statement dated February 23, 2014, that ISIS published in the city, the organization said that it posed three alternatives to Christians who had fled Al-Raqqa, but now sought to return:
- Convert to Islam
- Accept the conditions of dhimma
- Reject these offers and face war
The statement claimed the agreement to sign the pact was reached at a meeting between representatives of ISIS and the Christian community.
ISIS Kills Abu Khaled Al-Suri, Founder Of Ahrar Al-Sham And Al-Zawahiri Representative To Syria
Ahrar Al-Sham, one of the main components of the Islamic Front, announced that one of its founders, Abu Khaled Al-Suri, was killed today (February 23, 2014) from an attack on one of its headquarters in Aleppo. Al-Suri also served as Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri’s representative to Syria. Ahrar Al-Sham blamed the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) for the bombing.
Al-Qaeda Toddlers In Syria Cock Rifles And Pledge Allegiance To Al-Baghdadi
Children with the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant in Syria pledge allegiance to Al-Baghdadi in a video posted to the Internet on February 19, 2014.
Click here to view this clip on MEMRI TV
Afghan Taliban Video Details How Taliban Bombers Planned Attack On CIA Base In Kabul
A model used to plan the attack at CIA base in Kabul
The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (the Taliban's shadow government) has released a video showing Taliban fighters undergoing military training and planning for an attack that took place in June 2013 on the CIA compound adjacent to the Presidential Palace in Kabul.
Aside from the 6-8 member group of fidayeen dressed in NATO forces' uniforms, a large number of Taliban fighters wearing Afghan forces' uniforms,military helmets and carrying backpacks are seen being trained at an undisclosed training facility called "Salahuddin Ayyubi Military Training Center" – based somewhere in the lawless Afghan-Pakistan border region.
According to a Pakistani media report, the Afghan Taliban are turning into a well-trained fighting force, using Google Earth and wearing bullet-proof helmets.
Following are excerpts from the report:
"The Taliban's fighting machine, a combination of clerics and students of madrassas, was an untrained force when it was launched in 1993-94. The untrained fighters wearing shalwar kameez [loose trousers and shirts worn by Pakistani men] were armed with rusty tanks, rocket launchers and machine guns that they had snatched from warlords and forces loyal to the-then Afghan regime."
The Afghanistan Islamic Movement Fidai Mahaz (AIMFM) is a jihadi group run by the Mullah Dadullah group of the Afghan Taliban. Mullah Dadullah was killed in a NATO airstrike in May 2007 while his brother, Mullah Mansoor Dadullah, was recently released by Pakistan. The Afghan Taliban are organized under the banner of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) led by Mullah Omar.
The group, also known as Mullah Dadullah Mahaz (Mullah Dadullah Front), carries out terror attacks mostly in southern Afghanistan. Besides claiming responsibility for different attacks, the group claimed to have killed Maulvi Arsala Rahmani, a top negotiator for Afghanistan's High Peace Council (HPC) in Kabul in mid-2012.
In a recent statement, the AIMFM alleged that India has provided 50 missiles to the Afghan National Army (ANA) and has established a strong spy network in Afghanistan which led to the killings of dozens of mujahideen in Afghanistan.
Following is the text of the statement in the original English:
"It is a clear truth that Afghanistan has been invaded since long by the enemies of Islam... Among the enemies is India that has supported the long-lasting oppression over the soil of Afghanistan; and it is not their first support for the Kuffar [infidels] on the pure land but they had continuous partnership with the Soviet Union against the mujahideen [in the 1980s]. When mujahideen successfully defeated the Russian forces, the Indians delayed their support [for the victorious mujahideen's government in Kabul] for a long time; but when the U.S. forces invaded Kabul, they again proceeded to support… the hypocrite regime [of Hamid Karzai]."
According to an indictment filed in a Delhi court by India's counter-terrorism agency, several top leaders of Indian Mujahideen (IM) have joined Al-Qaeda and are fighting in Afghanistan and in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) of India filed a supplementary chargesheet/indictment against IM co-founder Yasin Bhatkal, his aide Asadullah Akhtar, and two other IM members before a court in Delhi. As per the indictment, the NIA said: "One IM operative, Bada Sajid, is fighting in Afghanistan-Pakistan border region … [and] was also wounded in one of the skirmishes."
Mast Gul (left) at a press conference in Waziristan
Hizbul Mujahideen, a pro-Pakistan militant organization that has been fighting against Indian security forces in Kashmir, has disowned commander Mast Gul after he took responsibility for a bombing in Peshawar, according to a Pakistani media report.
Mast Gul, aka Haroon Khan, a former major of the Pakistan Army who had worked as part of Hizbul Mujahideen in Indian Kashmir, has been recently working as part of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). In the image above, he sits alongside Mufti Hassan Swati of the TTP. He surfaced in Miranshah town of North Waziristan this month.
Report: Leading Taliban Commander Asmatullah Shaheen Shot Dead In Waziristan
According to a Pakistani media report, leading Taliban commander Asmatullah Shaheen has been shot dead in his car in Miranshah, the main town in the jihadi hub of Pakistan's North Waziristan district bordering Afghanistan.
The following are excerpts from a Pakistani media report examining the February 24 killing of Asmatullah Shaheen Bhittani, the former acting emir of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP):
"According to highly-informed sources in militant circles, Bhittani has been killed by Saeed Khan Sajna's faction of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, to avenge the deaths of three comrades of Sajna who were shot dead in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan by Bhittani's men last week [third week of February]. Bhittani, along with three of his aides, was killed when unidentified gunmen opened fire on his car in the Dargah Mandi area of Ghulam Khan Tehsil in North Waziristan. Bhittani had served as the acting emir of TTP after Hakimullah Mehsud’s death, and played a key role as the emir of the TTP's supreme Shura in the appointment of Mullah Fazlullah as the new emir [of TTP]. He had narrowly escaped the January 20, 2013 air strikes by PAF [Pakistan Air Force] fighter jets in the Mir Ali area of North Waziristan. Coming from the Khichi sub-tribe of Bhittani in South Waziristan, he was a close confidant of Hakimullah Mehsud, and known for his ruthless tendencies toward those taken prisoner by the TTP."
In a statement, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (the Taliban shadow government) has denied media reports that its officials met in Dubai for peace talks with the officials of the Afghan government-appointed High Peace Council recently.
It also clarified that Agha Jan Mutasim, who has been at the forefront of contacts with Western officials, is a "former" Taliban official and no longer holds a position in the Islamic Emirate. It should be noted that past talks between the U.S. and the Islamic Emirate unsuccessfully involved the exchange of captured U.S. soldier Bowe Bergdahl for the leading Taliban inmates at the Guantanamo Bay detention center.
Following is the text of the statement:
"Media reports have recently published a statement attributed to a former official of the Islamic Emirate, Agha Jan Mutasim, which alleges that high-ranking officials and commanders of the Islamic Emirate or the Islamic Movement of the Taliban convened a meeting in the United Arab Emirates and showed willingness to launch a peace initiative."
Twitter Suspends Kavkaz Center’s Account
On February 22, 2014, the social networking website Twitter suspended the account of the Kavkaz Center, a website linked to Chechen jihadi elements and the Caucuses Emirate, for violations of its terms of service. In response, Kavkaz Center issued a communiqué accusing "the KGB" of pressuring Twitter into suspending their account, due to their reporting of the events in Kiev, Ukraine.
Bangladeshi Youth Arrested For Spreading Jihadi Audio Message of Al-Qaeda Leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri
Security officials also seized jihadi literature
Bangladesh's elite counter-terrorism force Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has announced the arrest of a 21-year-old Bangladeshi youth for spreading an audio message of Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri, according to a Bangladeshi website.
