Posted on 08/02/2004 4:58:57 PM PDT by Darko
TERRORIST ABU MUSAB AL ZARQAWI (AMAZ)
AMAZ TERRORISTS CONNECTIONS AMAZ AND AL-QAIDA AMAZ is operationally an Al-Qaida's commander, appointed to orchestrate attacks in Europe. Even if his name did not appear in the UBL first circle in Afghanistan, AMAZ won his status inside Al-Qaida hierarchy by his ability to draw alliances with new organizations, thus expanding the reach of the network, and by successfully carrying out elaborated targeted terrorist actions. In 1999, Security officials in Jordan accused AMAZ and other radical activists of planning to attack on U.S. and Israeli interests and tourist sites during the Millennium celebrations, targeting the Radisson SAS hotel in Amman as well as other American, Israeli, and Christian religious sites in Jordan. At that time, AMAZ was not formally integrated in the Al-Qaida organization but he shared his detention from 1992 until 1999 with Abu Mohamed Al Maqdasi, close associate of Abu Qutada, and founder of several extremist movements, who is still jailed in Jordan. In 2000, AMAZ was indicted and condemned to 15 years in absentia in Jordan for his key role in the al-Qaida Millennium bombing plot. The USG claims that AMAZ moved to Pakistan in 1999, where he contacted Al-Qaida members and asked for assistance to train Jordanian nationals. He crossed the Afghan border and met with senior Al-Qaida leaders in Kandahar, before setting up a guesthouse in Logo (Afghanistan), a village in the west of Kabul, in an area ruled by warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. He sheltered in his residence a group of forty Jordanian Muslim Brothers. AMAZ was also reported to live in Kabul, three blocks from Square Wazir Allbar Khan. Since then, Intelligence officials suspect that AMAZ wanted to develop his own group dedicated to overthrowing the Jordanian monarchy. This was confirmed soon by AMAZ involvement in Al-Qaida affiliated groups Ansar-al-Islam and Al-Tawhid. Moreover, in late 2000, USG reported that he established a training camp near Herat, in western Afghanistan, far from Al-Qaida’s Kandahar base, on the opposite east of the country. This training camp was dedicated to training Jordanians and Palestinians in the area with the logistical and financial support of al-Qaida. Soon other Jordanians began to arrive, according to the USG, many from the Bani Hassan tribe of Palestinian origin. AMAZ controlled a route for smuggling men into Afghanistan. Recruits made their way through the eastern Iranian city of Mashhad and were redirected to Herat, about 300 miles away. In need of funds, AMAZ got closer to Al-Qaida’s leadership in the course of 2001. According to intelligence sources, in mid-2001 he visited Kandahar and was given $35,000 by Al-Qaida along with a promise of sustained support if he organized attacks against Israel. Later in 2001, AMAZ sent followers on missions to mount attacks in Israel, though they were arrested in Turkey on their way to Israel. Firaz Sulaiman Ali Hijir and Ahmed Muhanned Mustafa should have traveled through Iran and Israel. On October 2002, another Al-Qaida high-ranking member, Abu Zubaydah, arrested earlier in March 2002 in Pakistan, revealed AMAZ’s key role in several Al-Qaida projects in Europe (chemical and poison attacks in Europe, UK-France). Abu Zubaydah disclosed details under interrogation about AMAZ’s plots in Europe. An AMAZ operative named Abu Atiya, operating in the Pankisi gorge region of Georgia, dispatched nine North African men to Europe to prepare the attacks in 2001. Adnan Muhammad Sadik (a.k.a. Abu Angila Abu Saad, aka Abu Atiya) a veteran of AMAZ’s Herat camp, was later captured in Baku, Azerbaijani, and turned over to the USG. U.S. intelligence officials suspected that Abu Atiya was an AMAZ family member and that his father helped run AMAZ’s Herat camp. US Intelligence sent reports about the Zubaydah interrogations to European governments. A Few weeks later in London, traces of Ricin toxin were found in an apartment of several other North African men arrested by British counter-terrorism. Police investigators believed they had been dispatched by Abu Atiya, AMAZ’s operative. Subsequently, in a raid near Paris in December 2002, the French police recovered a chemical suit as well as cyanide. Three of those arrested had been named by Abu Zubaydah, according to the USG. Among them was Menad Benchellali, currently jailed in France for this terrorism plot. According to US information confirmed by European counter-terrorism services, at least 116 AMAZ operatives are currently detained in the world, they belong to the Al Tawhid group in Germany, in the UK, or to Ansar-Al-Islam in Italy and other countries. All these individuals are connected to Al-Qaida. In mid-2002, AMAZ set up his headquarters in Iraq, but he always wanted to return to Afghanistan according to German intelligence. At this time, he attempted to purchase weapons in Chechnya and the Czech Republic as well as paramilitary equipment, night vision devices and radios. In late October 2002, AMAZ supplied the logistic and the financing for various Al-Qaida plots in the Middle-East, including the assassination of US diplomat Laurence Foley in Amman, Jordan. Key individuals involved in both the planning and execution of the operation had strong ties to Afghan Jihad and Al-Qaida. Yasser Fathi Ibraheem and Salim Sa'd Salim Bin- Suwayd recognized AMAZ as the planner of the operation. Suwayd, a Libyan member of Al-Qaida, received $62,000 from AMAZ for planning assassinations in Jordan against U.S., Israeli, and Jordanian government officials. AMAZ personally instructed Suwayd to run covert operations and recruited 11 individuals to launch terrorist operations in Jordan according to prosecution records. AMAZ also provided them with machineguns, silencers, tear gas pipes, gloves and a vehicle to conduct terrorist operations. According to the Jordan government, Mohammad Adwan and Salim Sa'd Salim Bin- Suwayd received a phone call from Moammar Ahmad Youssef, a non-identified individual believed to be a deputy for AMAZ, confirming that the operation had been successfully carried out. In March 2003, when coalition forces attacked Iraq, intelligence officials believe AMAZ had already fled back to Khurmal, across the border to the Kurdish areas of Iran. In July and August 2003, AMAZ was reportedly back again in Iraq, with U.S special forces mounting several unsuccessful raids hoping to capture him. Other sources reported signs of his presence in Syria in or about July 2003. In January 2004 in a letter found in northern Iraq by US Special forces, AMAZ claimed 25 attacks against the coalition forces and revealed his network’s implication in all martyrdom operations in Baghdad and Southern Iraq since the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom. His stamp was on the November attack on Italian police Headquarters but also on other major attacks against Shiite targets in Iraq. In recent statements dated April 2004, AMAZ is claiming responsibility for attacks in Iraq against coalition forces but also against the Iraq's majority Shia Muslims. These statements authenticated by the US Intelligence, are confirming that AMAZ follows the same radical ideology against the Shia Muslims initiated by Al-Qaida. On April 6, 2004, AMAZ was among eight defendants who were tried in absentia and sentenced to death for the assassination of U.S. diplomat Laurence Foley in Amman on Oct. 28, 2002. AMAZ networks are progressively taking over most of the Al-Qaida networks. The US operations in Iraq and the reinforcement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, could serve the increasing development of radical Sunni groups like Ansar-Al-Islam, and Al Tawhid, now both controlled by AMAZ or his associates. AMAZ is representing a new model of Sunni terrorism, with no concession toward Shiite movements. His engagement in a regional strategy, especially in Jordan and Iraq, may have reopened the internal Al-Qaida debate on these sensitive issues and create conflicts of interests within the organization, as suggested by AMAZ Iraqi letter.
This terrorist is very interesting. He's got the western media eating out of his hand.
The Democrats are smiling because if they get into office the only thing they'll be able to do is Nuke Afghanistan if the U.S. is attacked again. The American people will pray for that..Just like they prayed during World War II against the Japanese Imperial Army when the U.S. invaded.
Hmmm!!!
But you know, it's allot like the minutemen of the U.S. during the Colonial wars with Britain. They hid under Bridges and it took the War of 1812 to resolve the issue.
What will the Al Queada do to American Shipping (Hawaii to California) that the U.S. Navy can't handle?
Thanx
Darko, good stuff ...ever try putting it into paragraphs?
This guys sounds as important as KSM (9/11 mastermind was), who was also a 'freelance' terrorist who got spun into the Al Quaeda orbit. After Bin Laden, Zarqawi is our #1 must-catch terrorist.
Formatting, please.
AMAZ TERRORISTS CONNECTIONS AMAZ AND AL-QAIDA AMAZ is operationally an Al-Qaida's commander, appointed to orchestrate attacks in Europe. Even if his name did not appear in the UBL first circle in Afghanistan, AMAZ won his status inside Al-Qaida hierarchy by his ability to draw alliances with new organizations, thus expanding the reach of the network, and by successfully carrying out elaborated targeted terrorist actions.
In 1999, Security officials in Jordan accused AMAZ and other radical activists of planning to attack on U.S. and Israeli interests and tourist sites during the Millennium celebrations, targeting the Radisson SAS hotel in Amman as well as other American, Israeli, and Christian religious sites in Jordan.
At that time, AMAZ was not formally integrated in the Al-Qaida organization but he shared his detention from 1992 until 1999 with Abu Mohamed Al Maqdasi, close associate of Abu Qutada, and founder of several extremist movements, who is still jailed in Jordan. In 2000, AMAZ was indicted and condemned to 15 years in absentia in Jordan for his key role in the al-Qaida Millennium bombing plot.
The USG claims that AMAZ moved to Pakistan in 1999, where he contacted Al-Qaida members and asked for assistance to train Jordanian nationals. He crossed the Afghan border and met with senior Al-Qaida leaders in Kandahar, before setting up a guesthouse in Logo (Afghanistan), a village in the west of Kabul, in an area ruled by warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.
He sheltered in his residence a group of forty Jordanian Muslim Brothers. AMAZ was also reported to live in Kabul, three blocks from Square Wazir Allbar Khan. Since then, Intelligence officials suspect that AMAZ wanted to develop his own group dedicated to overthrowing the Jordanian monarchy.
This was confirmed soon by AMAZ involvement in Al-Qaida affiliated groups Ansar-al-Islam and Al-Tawhid. Moreover, in late 2000, USG reported that he established a training camp near Herat, in western Afghanistan, far from Al-Qaida’s Kandahar base, on the opposite east of the country. This training camp was dedicated to training Jordanians and Palestinians in the area with the logistical and financial support of al-Qaida.
Soon other Jordanians began to arrive, according to the USG, many from the Bani Hassan tribe of Palestinian origin. AMAZ controlled a route for smuggling men into Afghanistan. Recruits made their way through the eastern Iranian city of Mashhad and were redirected to Herat, about 300 miles away.
In need of funds, AMAZ got closer to Al-Qaida’s leadership in the course of 2001. According to intelligence sources, in mid-2001 he visited Kandahar and was given $35,000 by Al-Qaida along with a promise of sustained support if he organized attacks against Israel.
Later in 2001, AMAZ sent followers on missions to mount attacks in Israel, though they were arrested in Turkey on their way to Israel. Firaz Sulaiman Ali Hijir and Ahmed Muhanned Mustafa should have traveled through Iran and Israel.
On October 2002, another Al-Qaida high-ranking member, Abu Zubaydah, arrested earlier in March 2002 in Pakistan, revealed AMAZ’s key role in several Al-Qaida projects in Europe (chemical and poison attacks in Europe, UK-France). Abu Zubaydah disclosed details under interrogation about AMAZ’s plots in Europe. An AMAZ operative named Abu Atiya, operating in the Pankisi gorge region of Georgia, dispatched nine North African men to Europe to prepare the attacks in 2001. Adnan Muhammad Sadik (a.k.a. Abu Angila Abu Saad, aka Abu Atiya) a veteran of AMAZ’s Herat camp, was later captured in Baku, Azerbaijani, and turned over to the USG.
U.S. intelligence officials suspected that Abu Atiya was an AMAZ family member and that his father helped run AMAZ’s Herat camp. US Intelligence sent reports about the Zubaydah interrogations to European governments.
A Few weeks later in London, traces of Ricin toxin were found in an apartment of several other North African men arrested by British counter-terrorism. Police investigators believed they had been dispatched by Abu Atiya, AMAZ’s operative. Subsequently, in a raid near Paris in December 2002, the French police recovered a chemical suit as well as cyanide.
Three of those arrested had been named by Abu Zubaydah, according to the USG. Among them was Menad Benchellali, currently jailed in France for this terrorism plot. According to US information confirmed by European counter-terrorism services, at least 116 AMAZ operatives are currently detained in the world, they belong to the Al Tawhid group in Germany, in the UK, or to Ansar-Al-Islam in Italy and other countries. All these individuals are connected to Al-Qaida.
In mid-2002, AMAZ set up his headquarters in Iraq, but he always wanted to return to Afghanistan according to German intelligence. At this time, he attempted to purchase weapons in Chechnya and the Czech Republic as well as paramilitary equipment, night vision devices and radios. In late October 2002, AMAZ supplied the logistic and the financing for various Al-Qaida plots in the Middle-East, including the assassination of US diplomat Laurence Foley in Amman, Jordan.
Key individuals involved in both the planning and execution of the operation had strong ties to Afghan Jihad and Al-Qaida. Yasser Fathi Ibraheem and Salim Sa'd Salim Bin- Suwayd recognized AMAZ as the planner of the operation. Suwayd, a Libyan member of Al-Qaida, received $62,000 from AMAZ for planning assassinations in Jordan against U.S., Israeli, and Jordanian government officials.
AMAZ personally instructed Suwayd to run covert operations and recruited 11 individuals to launch terrorist operations in Jordan according to prosecution records. AMAZ also provided them with machineguns, silencers, tear gas pipes, gloves and a vehicle to conduct terrorist operations. According to the Jordan government, Mohammad Adwan and Salim Sa'd Salim Bin- Suwayd received a phone call from Moammar Ahmad Youssef, a non-identified individual believed to be a deputy for AMAZ, confirming that the operation had been successfully carried out.
In March 2003, when coalition forces attacked Iraq, intelligence officials believe AMAZ had already fled back to Khurmal, across the border to the Kurdish areas of Iran. In July and August 2003, AMAZ was reportedly back again in Iraq, with U.S special forces mounting several unsuccessful raids hoping to capture him. Other sources reported signs of his presence in Syria in or about July 2003.
In January 2004 in a letter found in northern Iraq by US Special forces, AMAZ claimed 25 attacks against the coalition forces and revealed his network’s implication in all martyrdom operations in Baghdad and Southern Iraq since the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom. His stamp was on the November attack on Italian police Headquarters but also on other major attacks against Shiite targets in Iraq. In recent statements dated April 2004, AMAZ is claiming responsibility for attacks in Iraq against coalition forces but also against the Iraq's majority Shia Muslims.
These statements authenticated by the US Intelligence, are confirming that AMAZ follows the same radical ideology against the Shia Muslims initiated by Al-Qaida. On April 6, 2004, AMAZ was among eight defendants who were tried in absentia and sentenced to death for the assassination of U.S. diplomat Laurence Foley in Amman on Oct. 28, 2002.
AMAZ networks are progressively taking over most of the Al-Qaida networks. The US operations in Iraq and the reinforcement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, could serve the increasing development of radical Sunni groups like Ansar-Al-Islam, and Al Tawhid, now both controlled by AMAZ or his associates.
AMAZ is representing a new model of Sunni terrorism, with no concession toward Shiite movements. His engagement in a regional strategy, especially in Jordan and Iraq, may have reopened the internal Al-Qaida debate on these sensitive issues and create conflicts of interests within the organization, as suggested by AMAZ Iraqi letter.
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