[piasa]

DECEMBER 2001 : (JUND AL ISLAM MERGES INTO OR BECOMES ANSAR AL ISLAM -- See KREKAR) Jund al-Islam group, or Soldiers of Islam, became Ansar al-Islam in December - "Ansar al-Islam’s leader arrested - Jordan asks his extradition," Iraqi Kurdistan Dispatch, news, 15 September 2002

DECEMBER 2001 : (KREKAR LEAVES IMK & JOINS NEWLY ESTABLISHED JUND AL-ISLAM : THE TWO GROUPS WOULD FORM ANSAR AL ISLAM UNDER LEADERSHIP OF KREKAR) Following splits in the Islamic Movement in Kurdistan (IMK) movement last year [2001], Mala Krekar and his followers left IMK in December 2001 and joined the newly established Kurdish Islamic radical group, Jund al-Islam. The two groups formed Ansar al-Islam, with Mala Krekar as the group’s leader. - "Ansar al-Islam’s leader arrested - Jordan asks his extradition," Iraqi Kurdistan Dispatch, news, 15 September 2002

DECEMBER 2001 : (WAR ON TERROR : BATTLE OF AFGHANISTAN : ABU SALEH KILLED IN US BOMBING? --- See MILAN CELL, ITALY) The Arab-language newspaper Al Hayat, published in London, reports that Abu Saleh had been killed "during the recent bombing of Najran in Afghanistan" by American forces. As far as is known, however, his body has never been recovered, and one Western diplomat half-joked that he might have joined "the al-Qaida equivalent of the witness-protection program." - "Milan cell linked to al-Qaida operatives, " By John Crewdson and Tom Hundley, Chicago Tribune via Seattle Times June 30, 2002

2001 late : (BATTLE OF AFGHANISTAN : TALIBAN DEFEATED BY US : ZARQAWI FOLLOWERS FLEE AFGHANISTAN FOR CHECHNYA & VILLAGE OF SAGAT IN NORTHEASTERN IRAQ, IN SAGAT THEY EXPERIMENT WITH CHEMICALS SUCH AS RICIN & PLOTTED ATTACKS IN EUROPE) Investigators say the case offers a picture of how Al Qaeda sought to transform Ansar's Iraqi stronghold into a substitute, on a smaller scale, for the Afghan camps to which the terrorist network had sent aspiring holy warriors before the U.S. defeated the Taliban in late 2001.
After the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, members of a network commanded by Abu Musab Zarqawi, a top Al Qaeda figure, fled to the Russian republic of Chechnya and northeastern Iraq. U.S. and European investigators say Zarqawi's specialists used a camp in the village of Sargat, near Kurmal, to experiment with cyanide poisons, toxic gas and ricin, a castor bean extract that can be used as a biological weapon.
The network allegedly plotted attacks in Europe that were assigned to different ethnic cells — Algerians in Britain and France, Jordanians and Palestinians in Germany — but were ultimately dismantled by police. - "Ansar al Islam's European connection : A Road to Ansar Began in Italy," By Sebastian Rotella, Times Staff Writer, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES , Second of two parts  April 27, 2003, Times staff writer Jeffrey Fleishman, in northern Iraq, contributed to this report.

2001 LATE : (ITALY : US SAYS MAIN EUROPEAN AL QAEDA BASE IS IN A MILAN MOSQUE COMPLEX) Late last year [2001], U.S. officials said an Islamic cultural center and adjacent mosque in Milan were part of al Qaida's main base in Europe, something leaders of the mosque have denied. --- "Italy nabs eight new al Qaida suspects," Eric J. Lyman, UPI, 7/13/02

[piasa]

DECEMBER 19, 2003 : (REPORT : NADA TRYING TO KEEP HIS COMPANIES IN LIECHTENSTEIN ALIVE DESPITE ANTITERRORISM EFFORTS OF OFFICIALS -- See AL TAQWA NETWORK {See SWITZERLAND, MILAN CELL, LUGANO CELL, ITALY, BAHAMAS}) ...despite decisions by the Bush administration and the United Nations to put out of business a Swiss-and-Bahamas-based Islamic financial network called Al-Taqwa ("Fear of God" in Arabic), the network's long-time chief [YOUSEF NADA] , who is also the subject of U.S. and United Nations sanctions, still is fighting to keep some of his businesses open....And NEWSWEEK has learned that authorities in the tiny alpine money haven of Liechtenstein have recently failed in efforts to seize control over the remnants of one of Nada's corporate vehicles.
In an apparent effort to keep part of his financial network alive, law-enforcement sources say, Nada successfully applied to Liechtenstein officials for permission to rename two of his companies based in the pocket principality, both of which were in the process of liquidation. Liechtenstein authorities subsequently launched an effort to oust Nada as liquidator of one of the companies, now called Waldenberg, and install a former senior Liechtenstein government official as the new liquidator. This would have given investigators control over what remains of the records of the company, which might have yielded valuable clues as to Nada's financial activities.
But European law-enforcement sources say that a judge in Liechtenstein recently rejected the government's proposals to install a new liquidator, leaving Nada in charge of the failed company—and its critical records. A recent U.N. report noted that even though U.N. sanctions say that officially designated terrorist financiers like Nada must not be allowed to travel internationally, Nada has traveled from his residence in a tiny enclave of Italian territory surrounded by the Swiss canton of Ticino to Liechtenstein on business. A Swiss government official said that due to relaxed travel controls around Europe, it is not practical for the Swiss government to enforce an international travel ban on Nada, who has repeatedly denied any connection to Al Qaeda or terrorism.
------- "Dubious Link Between Atta and Saddam A document tying the Iraqi leader with the 9/11 terrorist is probably fake. PLUS, how terror financiers manage to stay in business," by Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball, WEB EXCLUSIVE Newsweek Updated: 11:31 a.m. ET Dec.19, 2003