Daily Terrorist Round-up 5/15/05 (al-Libbi was turned in by the Uzbeks)

The US has said its forces have cleared an area in north-west Iraq of insurgents following a week-long operation codenamed Matador. The Americans said they had killed more than 125 rebels, for the loss of nine of their own men. The campaign involving air strikes and at least 1,000 ground troops took place close to the border with Syria.

Meanwhile, in the capital Baghdad, a senior foreign ministry official has been shot dead outside his home. The assassination of Jassim al-Muhammadawy, the director general of administration at the ministry, followed a suicide car bomb attack on a police convoy in the city in which at least four people died.

Syrian alarm

Explosions were heard on the Syrian side of the border during Operation Matador. The Syrians moved up extra troops as a precaution.

Reports from the area said US troops began pulling out almost exactly a week after the campaign began, and that they had dismantled a pontoon bridge they built across the Euphrates during the operation. The US said the operation had achieved its goals of eliminating insurgents, and denying them both a sanctuary and a through route for fighters and materials involved in attacks deep inside Iraq.

"During Operation Matador, marines, sailors and soldiers neutralised this sanctuary, killing more than 125 insurgents, wounding many others, and detaining 39 insurgents of intelligence value," the US military said in a statement. The area concerned is highly tribal and has traditionally been a route for smuggling across the Syrian border. The Americans said they would continue to monitor the area and would be back.

The BBC's Jim Muir, in Baghdad, says the operation appears to have exacerbated tribal tensions in the area, with clashes reported in the nearby town of al-Qaim. About 250 people fled the town into the desert as a result of the fighting and are currently receiving assistance from the Iraqi Red Crescent, the AFP news agency reports. "I left al-Qaim with nothing. My five-year-old son was killed in the clashes," Hassan al-Kubaissi, 34, told the news agency.

The governor of the province was also abducted by gunmen who said they would only free him if the Americans pulled out.

The operation was the largest campaign against insurgents since the US-led assault on Falluja in November.

Bomb-maker killed as US exploits ethnic rifts in al-Qa'eda (New info)
By Massoud Ansari in Karachi and Philip Sherwell in Washington

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.

Iraq: Palestinians involved in terror (In Iraq)

Iraqi security forces have captured five men, including four Palestinians, who allegedly carried out a deadly Baghdad market bombing that killed at least 17 people, a police commander said Friday.

Brig. Gen. Mohammed Mohsen, commander of the Interior Ministry's Commandos Brigade, told state-run al-Iraqiya television that the men were captured hours after Thursday's attack in the eastern Baghdad Jadida neighborhood. Eighty-one people were also wounded, including women and children.

Mohsen said the Shiite Muslim Badr Brigades militia, the military wing of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, helped the commandos capture the Iraqi and four Palestinians.

New Iraqi Interior Minister Bayan Jabr is a SCIRI member.

"We give the Iraqi people the good news that we have captured those who carried out the Baghdad Jadida operation nine hours after the attack," Mohsen told al-Iraqiya.

"They have given us information in which the (commando) brigade will benefit from," he said without elaborating, neither providing the detainees' names nor saying where they were captured.

The TV station showed the detainees seated on a floor with their hands tied behind their backs. At least one had a black eye.

Baghdad Jadida residents interviewed by the station after the arrests said the suspects deserved to be executed.

Since the new Iraqi government was announced April 28, dozens of bomb blasts around Iraq have killed at least 430 people. The United States and the Iraqi government have accused foreign fighters are taking part in the bombings campaign.

U.S. prods prime minister to act against insurgents (Excerpt)

Jonathan Finer and Bradley Graham

BAGHDAD - After nearly three weeks of unrelenting attacks by insurgents, U.S. military officials are urging Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari to respond with strong and decisive action or risk erosion of confidence and a widening sense of insecurity among Iraqis.

Army Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. officer in Iraq, conferred with Jaafari on Thursday and Friday in meetings that other U.S. officials said focused on reviewing options and encouraging a firm government response to the violence. More significant than what the government might do, one senior military officer said, is the fact that the government should be seen as doing something.

"The perception of governance is important," he said.

Marines kill 7 Sayyaf gunmen in Jolo clash

MANILA -- Philippine Marines killed at least seven Muslim extremist gunmen in a gunbattle on a southern island Saturday, a military spokesman said.

Colonel Juancho Sabban, the 3rd Marine Brigade commander in Sulu, in a television interview, identified Kumander Sabri Isah and Kumander Mahidon Aruk as among the seven casualties. Sabban said Isah was among those who abducted 21 Western tourists and workers from a resort in Sipadan, Malaysia five years ago while Aruk is a member of the Abu Sayyaf faction led by Radulan Sahiron. The Western tourists and resort workers were brought to Abu Sayyaf strongholds on Jolo, about 950 kilometers south of Manila.

In the same encounter, two soldiers were also injured in the clash with the Abu Sayyaf bandits said Captain Rommel Abrau. Abrau said identities of the soldiers were not immediately available but the injuries they suffered were just superficial. The Marines are still conducting mopping up operations and so far recovered five high-powered rifles in the area.

Patikul Mayor Ismunlatip Suhuri in a television interview said none of the civilian populace was affected by the encounter. Suhuri said relatives of the slain bandits were advised to bury them after getting clearance from the Marines.

Manila has credited US-counter-terrorism training of Filipino soldiers for successful offensives against the Abu Sayyaf.

The al-Qaida-linked group, which is on the US and European terror lists, has been blamed for numerous kidnappings, beheadings and bombings, including a blast on a ferry in Manila Bay last year that killed 116 people.

Up to 10 militants besieged in apartment in southern Russia

CHERKESSK, Russia. May 14 (Interfax) - Security forces on Saturday evening besieged five to 10 militants sitting in an apartment in Cherkessk after a security operation in the city, which is capital of Russia's Karachayevo-Cherkesia region, Karachayevo-Cherkesian law enforcement service sources told Interfax.

The militants seized the apartment after a clash in Cherkessk with Federal Security Service (FSB) forces that involved intensive firing for 15 minutes in which one of the militants was killed.

The tenants of the apartment in the block where the militants were beleaguered were evacuated.

"It is surmised there are between five and 10 of them [the besieged militants], and there are women among them. Among the militants are people for whom federal arrest warrants were issued in 1992. There have been no reports about possible hostages," said one of the law enforcement service sources.

J&K militants hiring hitmen
Rajnish Sharma

Militant outfits in the Valley are now hiring “contract killers” to attack soft targets — particularly children, the elderly and tourists. The new modus operandi was used in Thursday’s grenade attack outside a Srinagar school in which two people were killed and around 20 schoolchildren injured.

The new militant strategy was discussed at a meeting chaired by thehome minister here on Friday. The meeting was attended by the national security advisor, top home ministry officials, DG (military operations), DG (military intelligence) and DGs of the BSF and CRPF.

Intelligence inputs from J&K indicate militant groups are now roping in people, mostly unemployed, by paying them hefty amounts to lob grenades at "soft targets''. According to intelligence officials, the involvement of such killers makes it difficult for security and intelligence agencies to identify the outfit responsible. However, the home ministry suspects that some front organisation of the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba is behind the school attack.

It was decided at the meeting that the army, BSF and CRPF would launch a joint operation to identify and eliminate outfits targeting children. In addition, the state has been directed to beef up security outside schools and colleges.

The incident, ministry officials said, shows the desperation of militants as infiltration is down by almost 76 per cent in the last two months. Intelligence inputs indicate that there are plans to strike against tourists too.

Al-Qaeda said to favour Canadian recruits

OTTAWA - The majority of al-Qaeda recruits in Canada are being trained at home, not abroad, making the terror network a direct threat to Canada, according to a recently declassified intelligence report.

The homegrown recruits are highly prized for their familiarity with Western societies, says the Canadian Security Intelligence Service report, obtained by the Toronto Star.

The group once trained recruits in the hills of Afghanistan, but the camps were dismantled as the U.S.-led "war on terror" became firmly established.

Michael Juneau-Katsuya, who spent 21 years as a CSIS agent, told the Star the U.S. campaign itself has fuelled anger and frustration in a new generation of potential al-Qaeda fighters. (SV-Not to mention the sharp spike in demand for virgins)

Security investigators have responded to the trend of expanded recruitment by doing things like monitoring internet chat rooms for angry youths willing to join a cause, the report says.

They're also keeping their eyes on who's playing paintball. Paintball is mentioned in Canada's only arrest under new anti-terrorism legislation.

Mohammad Momin Khawaja, a Canadian who's charged in Britain with planning terrorist bombings, played paint ball near his Ottawa-area home in the summer of 2003. Khawaja is being held without bail.

Yemen president claims peace deal with rebel leader

SANAA, May 14 (Reuters) - Yemen's president appeared on state television on Saturday saying a rebel leader had agreed to renounce a campaign that has cost more than 700 lives and millions of dollars of damage in return for a pardon.

President Ali Abdullah Saleh was shown addressing a group of clerics and parliamentary figures with a piece of paper he said carried a commitment from Sheikh Badr el-Deen al-Houthi, leader of a Shi'ite sect, confirming reports of such a deal.

Officials say Houthi's group is trying to install Shi'ite Muslim clerical rule and preaches violence against the United States and Israel. The group is not linked to al Qaeda.

Saleh talked of a "conspiracy against the republican system" with outside backing, but did not elaborate.

Fighting first broke out last year in the mountainous north of the impoverished country at the tip of the Arabian peninsula, during which Houthi's son Hussein was killed. A new round of clashes began in March. Saleh did not say if fighting was over.

Interior Minister Rshad al-Alimi told the meeting a total of 525 people had died and 2,708 been wounded, comprising civilians and security forces. The authorities said at least 200 rebels died last year but have not given a figure for this year's fighting.

Planning Minister Ahmad Soufan cited direct material losses of 52 billion Yemeni rials ($274 million).

Yemen said this week it had arrested 21 supporters of Houthi on suspicion of hurling grenades at troops and planning to kill officials.

Yemen has joined the U.S. "war on terror" since the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001. It has cracked down on al Qaeda-linked militants after attacks at home, including the bombing of an American warship in 2000 and an attack on a French supertanker in 2002.

Top Hizb ultras killed in Doda

Jammu, May 14: Two top ultras of Hizbul Mujahideen, including its self-styled district commander, were gunned down by security forces in a remote village of Banihal Tehsil of Doda district in Jammu and Kashmir this evening, official sources said.

A joint team of police and Rashtriya Rifles (RR), on specific information, launched a search operation in Agnari-Buzla area, about 20 kms from Banihal tehsil on Friday afternoon.

An encounter broke out between the security forces and the militants in which both the ultras were killed and two AK rifles with four magazines, three hand grenades and two wireless sets were recovered from them.

The slain ultras have been identified as Jamaluddin alias Saifullah and Ghulam Mohammad alias Javed alias Gulfam.

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.

Confusion to the enemy!

U.S.-led "war on terror" became firmly established

Quotation marks around the phrase. Why not just describe it as "so-called?" Good grief.

Have I mentioned how much I absolutely despise the anti-military, anti-American media?

"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."

Brilliant post! Bad guys are eating the dust. Some old friends turn up? You'll love this.

Thanks for the ping Fred.

My gut feeling here is that this information should not have been published, unless that is, it was already widely known, or deliberate misinformation to create further tension and divisions among the Uzbek and Arab branches of the RoPs Ummah in that part of the world. Either way, I suppose it achieves the same goal... let the Koranimals fall out and undermine and kill each other.

It seems Faraj al-Libbi was not taking the same precautions as OBL, and staying away from phones when they know us clever infidels have technology that can trace their calls and locations.

Now, if only we can spread a new rumor that "Zionists and Crusaders" have implanted microchips in Qurans so we can listen in and trace them. We may then be able to determine how flushable, or even flammable, a Quran really is...

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