Posted on 05/14/2005 6:35:53 PM PDT by blam
Bomb-maker killed as US exploits ethnic rifts in al-Qa'eda
By Massoud Ansari in Karachi and Philip Sherwell in Washington
(Filed: 15/05/2005)
A leading al-Qa'eda bomb-maker has been killed in a US missile strike as America and Pakistan exploit worsening ethnic rifts within the terror network.
The death of Haitham al-Yemeni comes shortly after Pakistan captured Osama bin Laden's suspected third-in-command using intelligence from disaffected militants. Abu Faraj al-Libbi was traced after exiled Uzbek fighters on the Pakistan-Afghan border who had fallen out with al-Qa'eda's Arab-dominated leadership gave Pakistani intelligence officials his mobile phone number.
The capture of al-Libbi and death of al-Yemeni show how ethnic fissures are effecting al-Qa'eda. Uzbek and other Central Asian extremists are co-operating in return for cash and permission to stay in Pakistan.
"The Arabs and Central Asians are competing for protection," said Kenneth Katzman, a terror analyst with the Congressional Research Service in Washington. "The Central Asians are losing out because the Arabs have the money and the respect of the locals."
An al-Qa'eda training camp at Shakai, on the Afghan border, was destroyed after fighters from the former Soviet territories of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Chechnya revealed its whereabouts.
Since the arrest of al-Libbi, who organised two attempts on the life of President Pervez Musharraf, several more al-Qa'eda operatives have been detained using data from his phone.
US military chiefs decided to strike against al-Yemeni, whom they had been tracking in the hope that he would lead to bin Laden, because they feared he would go into hiding after the arrests. He was killed by a missile near the Afghan-Pakistan border last week.
Pakistan has denied that he was killed on its soil, although details of his death were confirmed by US security officials.
While the leadership of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan remains loyal to Bin Laden, many compatriots have formed a splinter group. "These defectors are in regular touch with the Pakistani security agencies and US officials and they are helping us track down the militants," officials said. Divisions within al-Qa'eda have worsened since Arab fighters fled Afghanistan in 2001.
Several thousand exiled Central Asian militants were already living in the lawless Pakistani tribal areas along the mountainous frontier but the Arab arrivals tried to squeeze them out, buying the support of tribal elders. "There are only a limited number of places to hide, even along that border," said Mr Katzman.
The rifts widened after a Pakistani offensive to expel foreign fighters from the tribal belt of Waziristan in 2003, when some Uzbeks began to do deals with Pakistani and US intelligence.
Ping!
No honor among thieves or terrorists, apparently.
"Reach out and touch someone."
Thanks for the ping Normal.
I think the Russians did something like this back around 1994. They managed to get ahold of a top Chechan terrorist's cell phone number and dialed him up. When he answered, they pretended to want to give him vital information on Russian military activities in Chechnya, but were actually keeping him on the line until the missile homing in on his signal found him. A year later, the Israelis did the same thing.
Yeah, I've read about the Mossad (or Shin Bet) doing this
Paris Hilton had the same problem. Probably used the password "TROP".
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