Recently in Al-Qaeda Category

"Al-Zawahri said al-Shabab would support the jihad movement against what he called the "Zio-Crusader campaign."

As if any outside conspiracy could make Somalia any more awful than the jihadists have already made it. The major risk to the rest of the world, however, is that that al-Shabaab has a better conduit to export jihadists, both to neighbors who have intervened in Somalia, and to Somali communities in the West where the group has already been recruiting. "Somalia's al-Shabab joins Al Qaeda, leader says," from the Associated Press, February 9:

NAIROBI, Kenya -- Al Qaeda's leader says that the Somali militant group al-Shabab has formally joined Al Qaeda.

A video translation by the Site Intelligence group released on Thursday said that Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri gave "glad tidings" that al-Shabab had joined Al Qaeda.

Al-Zawahri said al-Shabab would support the jihad movement against what he called the "Zio-Crusader campaign."

Al-Shabab leaders have pledged allegiance to Al Qaeda in the past, but the video -- which was posted on an Islamic Internet forum on Thursday -- is the first formal welcoming of al-Shabab by Al Qaeda.

The al-Shabab-Al Qaeda alliance in Somalia counts hundreds of foreign fighters among its ranks.

This may be the plainest demonstration yet of the adoption of al-Qaeda-style tactics by Boko Haram: coordinated attacks, attackers disguised in uniforms, and suicide bombing. Such an evolution in tactics would not be possible without support, training, and financing. "Suicide attack, two other blasts rock Nigerian city," by Victor Ulasi for Agence France-Presse, February 9:

Explosions rocked an army barracks, a bridge and an air base in the northern Nigerian city of Kaduna Tuesday, a set of coordinated attacks claimed by the Islamist group Boko Haram, officials said.

The military said the attack on the barracks was carried out by a suicide bomber wearing an army uniform. Troops opened fire on him before he was able to reach the compound's buildings.

Boko Haram, which has claimed a series of recent attacks in Africa's most populous nation and top oil producer, said it was responsible for the Tuesday blasts and that its insurgency would go on.

According to the military, the blast went off after soldiers opened fire on the car as the bomber sought to force his way onto the grounds at the barracks in Kaduna, a major city in Nigeria's mainly Muslim north.

Army spokesman Raphael Isa told journalists the man was "dressed in military uniform (and) driving in a private car" which he tried to crash into headquarters of the 1st Mechanised Division.

Multiple military sources have insisted the driver was the only person killed.
After the blast, the army sealed off the area and blocked rescue workers from accessing the site, preventing them from assessing whether anyone was killed or injured.

"I was standing at the gate for 2 hours. The military have not been helpful. I pleaded with them to allow us in, but they refused us entry," said Musa Ilallah, an official with the National Emergency Management Agency in Kaduna.

Another bomb also went off outside a nearby air force base, defence spokesman Colonel Mohammed Yerima told AFP.

He described the device as being planted "in a canister" not far from the base, but said it was not clear what caused it to explode.

A third explosion struck near a bridge in Kaduna, damaging a group of commuter buses and wounding passengers, residents and the military said.

The attack at the army barracks happened just after midday, Kano-based army spokesman Abubakar Edun told journalists.

He said the driver managed to crash through an outer gate but then the soldiers started firing as he approached the building, causing him to lose control of his vehicle and crash into a wall, which set off the explosion.

One resident said he saw soldiers being taken out of the barracks with cuts thought to be from the shattered glass.

"Virtually all the glass has been shattered," the resident said. "I saw soldiers with glass cuts on their bodies being taken out, but it's difficult to say if there were any (more serious) casualties."

The army blocked journalists from accessing the site and confiscated the equipment of some reporters, an AFP correspondent said.

Speaking to journalists by phone conference in Maiduguri, the northwestern city that is seen as their base, a purported Boko Haram spokesman claimed the Tuesday attacks.

"We are responsible for the attacks on the army barracks and the air force base in Kaduna today," a man who claimed to be Boko Haram spokesman Abul Qaqa said....

Authorities recently said they arrested Abul Qaqa. Since it is a pseudonym, however, there's plenty more Qaqa where that came from.

Al-Qaeda did not invent the jihadist ideology that drives it, but it is an effective transmitter of tactics to distant theaters of jihad, most notably in the case of suicide bombings. Here, a tactic associated with the Palestinian jihad and the Chechen "black widow" jihadists threatens to make inroads in Britain. "Al-Qaeda bid for Brit girl bombers," by Graeme Wilson for The Sun, February 6:

Al-Qaeda is trying to recruit women to carry out suicide bombings in the UK, MPs warn today.

It is using extremist websites to radicalise the angels of death, says their chilling report.

The Commons home affairs committee says it has heard evidence the terror group is "specifically launching and targeting women for violent acts".

It is already a deadly tactic in the Middle East, where growing numbers of Palestinian women are volunteering for suicide missions against Israel. The MPs' report comes days after four Islamic extremists admitted plotting to bomb the London Stock Exchange.

Woolwich Crown Court heard how the gang — who also had London mayor Boris Johnson on a hit list — had been brainwashed by the twisted ideology of Anwar al-Awlaki, an al-Qaeda leader until the US killed him in Yemen last year.

His attempts to recruit UK Muslims were exposed by The Sun. Last night the committee chairman, Labour's Keith Vaz, said the gang's admissions show "we cannot let our vigilance slip"....

The aim of jihad in all of its forms is to impose Sharia law. That is why jihadist movements find common cause with one another, sometimes over vast geographical distances, and it is why purportedly "regional" jihadist conflicts become globally interconnected.

Think jihad globally, wage jihad locally. "Al-Qaeda’s hand in Boko Haram's deadly Nigerian attacks," by David Blair for the Telegraph, February 5:

The radical Islamist group, based in northern Nigeria, once specialised in robbing banks and attacking defenceless Christian congregations. In the past month, however, its gunmen or suicide bombers have struck 21 times, killing at least 253 people.

The Daily Telegraph understands this transformation has come about partly because of the help Boko Haram has received from al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), a branch of the international terrorist network based in the Saharan states of Mali, Niger and Algeria.

Boko Haram demonstrated its new potency on Jan 20, when at least 100 of the movement's fighters executed eight assaults in Nigeria's northern city of Kano, overwhelming the security forces and killing 185 people.

This operation bore all the hallmarks of al-Qaeda: a mixture of suicide bombers and gunmen, some in police or army uniform, carried out multiple, carefully coordinated attacks on hard targets.

Boko Haram destroyed two police stations and the regional police headquarters, and damaged the local office of the State Security Service, Nigeria's version of MI5.

Al-Qaeda's influence was also evident from the choice of weapons: car bombs exploded outside some targets, while police found caches of "improvised explosive devices", with detonators and shrapnel packed into soft drinks cans.

Since then, Boko Haram has kept up the momentum, launching night raids on two more police stations in Kano.

Officials and experts in the Nigerian capital of Abuja believe Boko Haram has learnt its new capabilities from AQIM. Niger, a key operating theatre for AQIM, shares a largely unmarked frontier with Nigeria, spanning 900 miles of desert and scrub.

Boko Haram probably has little need for weapons or money as its fighters are accomplished bank robbers and whenever they raid a police station, they usually empty the armoury. AQIM's contribution is most likely to be in tactics and expertise, with Boko Haram fighters taken out of Nigeria for training.

While the country has a long history of political and religious violence, experts point to the novelty of Boko Haram's techniques.

"Suicide bombing was, until recently, something we saw in the movies," said Chinedu Nwagu, a security analyst from the Cleen Foundation, which monitors Nigeria's justice system.

"People never thought that anybody here would do that".

The Kano attacks, he added, showed a degree of "coordination that you would not just pick up without very specialised training"....

The message to the West is, "there's more where this came from." It could backfire to some extent, however, as al-Qaeda is certainly no friend of Assad's Alawite establishment, and would like nothing better than to see it replaced by a Sunni-controlled Islamic regime. "Syria releases the 7/7 'mastermind’," by Jason Lewis for the Telegraph, February 5:

Abu Musab al-Suri had been held in Syria for six years after being captured by the CIA in 2005 and transported to the country of his birth under its controversial extraordinary rendition programme.

But he is now said to have been released as a warning to the US and Britain about the consequences of turning their backs on President al-Assad’s regime as it tries to contain the uprising in the country.

Al-Suri, also known as Mustafa Setmariam Nasar, was al-Qaeda’s operations chief in Europe and has been accused of planning the London bombings, in which four British-born terrorists detonated three bombs on the Underground and another on a bus, killing 52 people and injuring more than 700 others in 2005.

In a statement released after the attacks, al-Suri said: “[In my teachings] I have mentioned vital and legitimate targets to be hit in the enemy’s countries … Among those targets that I specifically mentioned as examples was the London Underground. [Targeting this] was and still is the aim.”

A mechanical engineer, he is also wanted in Spain in connection with the Madrid train bombings in 2004, which left 191 dead, and for links to an attack on the Paris Metro in 1995.

A judge has also ordered his arrest with other members of a Spanish terror cell that helped prepare the way for the September 11 attacks in 2001 on New York and Washington.

With his red hair, green eyes, pale features and trimmed beard, Syrian-born al-Suri was able to easily pass as a European and plot some of al-Qaeda’s worse atrocities.

Married to a Spanish woman, he spent three years in London in the 1990s, before moving to Afghanistan to run two of Osama Bin Laden’s terrorist training camps where he began experimenting with chemical weapons and set up sleeper cells in Europe.

While in this role, he conceived the plan to attack the London transport system and may have met some of the British-born suicide bombers led by Mohammad Sidique Khan when they are believed to have visited terrorist train camps in Pakistan. [...]

With the uprising continuing and heavy fighting on the streets of the capital Damascus, European and Arab countries last week drafted a UN resolution calling for the president to stand down, only for it to be blocked by the Russians who said they would veto the strong wording.

But if al-Suri is now a free man, it will be a blow to the attempts to dismantle al-Qaeda’s leadership and undermine its ability to launch terrorist attacks following the death of Osama Bin Laden last May and the death of Anwar al-Awlaki in a US drone attack in Yemen last September.

Before al-Suri’s capture, he was seen as a possible successor to Bin Laden, though the pair had been bitter rivals.

Out of hatred for the Jews, of course. The claim is dubious, but revealing in many ways. From the Ansar al-Mujahideen site (thanks to Dan):

Allah Almighty says: (And wage war on all of the idolaters as they are waging war on all of you) 36 Surah At-Taubah

Allah have granted a group of our brothers from the lions of Masadat Al-Mujahidin at 8:00 in the day before yesterday Thursday 25 Safar 1433 A.H. corresponding 19 January 2012 to set fire in the forests of Nevada in the Reno region.

And we by this great event and paradigm shift declare the following:

1. we declare our full responsibility of setting fire in the Nevada forests in America.

2. we declare widening the area of war and transferring it currently to inside America and soon to elsewhere.

3. we give the enemies of Islam and the allies of the Jews who occupy the land of Palestine three months beginning from the date of this statement to disown from the Jews who occupy the land of Palestine, and their actions against our Moslem brothers, and we demand the end of their alliances that oppress our rights as owners of the land, or we will be forced to extend our war until it spreads in all the lands that plot with our enemies.

4. we emphasize that targeting the so called Israel and its allies headed by America in every kind of targeting including fighting and all the types of peoples civilian and military is an individual obligation (Fradu Ayin) on every Moslem until the liberation of Palestine, and all their armies are expelled from the Moslem lands, and Allah's Word become the uppermost and religion is all for Allah.

5. we also point out that fighting the Jews and their allies is easy to those who want to repel their evil on the Moslems, and here you see with your own eyes what simple materials can do, that are cheap in your enemy, and how much damages it can inflict in them, so we incite the Moslem Ummah to participate in this blessed work and move their inherent energies for that.

This blessed Gazwa comes within a series of Gazawat that we declared and have previously begun and which will Insha’Allah destroy the edifices of the hateful Jewish occupation, until the Jews return from where they came since they have no place among us, and until the global alliances with the occupying Jews who occupy the land of the Moslems.

May Allah bless the soldiers of Al-Rahman and lions of Tawhid, may Allah aim their shooting and steadfast their feet, and accept from them their jihad and good deeds, because they made the friend happy and annoyed the foe.

And we say to the Jews and their agents this is a disgrace for you in this Dunya, and you have a big punishment in the hereafter, so have tidings with what you hate we have for you more, and do what you want, your cunning won’t benefit you and your scheme won’t benefit you, either we live under the governance of Allah or we seek shade under the Shadow of Allah.

والله أكبر الله أكبر .. ولله العزة ولرسوله وللمجاهدين.
وَاللّهُ غَالِبٌ عَلَى أَمْرِهِ وَلَكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ النَّاسِ لاَ يَعْلَمُونَ.

General command of Masadat Al-Mujahidin

Saturday 27 Safar 1433 A.h.

Corresponding 21 January 2012

This is not the first time Yemen's Saleh has been accused of allowing jihadists to gain a foothold to "prove" the country "needs" him. If true, that would make it the second alleged case of Munchausen Syndrome as public policy in Yemen. "Al Qaeda in Yemen captures town south of capital," from the Associated Press, January 17:

SANAA, Yemen – A band of Al Qaeda militants seized full control of a town 100 miles south of the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Monday, overrunning army positions, storming the local prison and freeing at least 150 inmates, security officials said.

The capture of Radda expanded already significant territorial conquests by the militants, who have taken advantage of the weak central government and political turmoil roiling the nation for the past year during an uprising inspired by Arab Spring revolts.

Authoritarian President Ali Abdullah Saleh recently agreed to step down, but he remains a powerful force within the country and a spark for ongoing unrest.

The group had previously taken control of a string of towns in the mostly lawless south. But its capture of Radda is particularly important because it gives the militants a territorial foothold closer than ever before to the capital, where many sleeper cells of the terror network are thought to be located.

An Associated Press photographer who visited Radda on Sunday said the militants were armed with rocket-propelled grenades, automatic rifles and other weapons. He quoted residents as saying the black Al Qaeda banner has been raised atop the mosque they captured over the weekend.

The opposition accused Saleh, who is to step down this month in line with a power transfer deal, of allowing the militants to overrun Radda along with two other towns in southern Abyan province captured previously -- Zinjibar and Jaar -- to bolster his claims that he must remain in power to secure the country against the rising power of Islamist militants.

Some tribal leaders also accused Saleh of giving the "green light" to the militants to overrun the city.

"We are surprised by the silence of the security forces," said opposition activist Abdel-Rahman al-Rashid, who lives in Radda. "They have not moved, which only means that this is all arranged to spark chaos."...

They already have quite a few friends there. Along with the havoc they can wreak within Libya, it would be a handy forward operating base for striking in Europe, noting that one of the major figures named below has already spent time in the United Kingdom. This development may also be a chance to bolster ties with the North African franchise, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. "Source: Al Qaeda leader sends veteran jihadists to establish presence in Libya," by Nic Robertson and Paul Cruickshank for CNN, December 29:

(CNN) -- Al Qaeda's leadership has sent experienced jihadists to Libya in an effort to build a fighting force there, according to a Libyan source briefed by Western counter-terrorism officials.

The jihadists include one veteran fighter who had been detained in Britain on suspicion of terrorism. The source describes him as committed to al Qaeda's global cause and to attacking U.S. interests.

The source told CNN that the al Qaeda leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, personally dispatched the former British detainee to Libya earlier this year as the Gadhafi regime lost control of large swathes of the country.

The man arrived in Libya in May and has since begun recruiting fighters in the eastern region of the country, near the Egyptian border. He now has some 200 fighters mobilized, the source added. Western intelligence agencies are aware of his activities, according to the source.

Another al Qaeda operative, of dual European-Libyan nationality, was arrested in an unnamed country on his way to Libya from the Afghan-Pakistan border region.

The individual now trying to establish a bridgehead for al Qaeda in Libya is known as "AA." His name has not been made public because of UK law on terrorist suspects who are detained but not charged.

"AA" has been close to Ayman al-Zawahiri since the 1980s and first traveled to Afghanistan in the early 1990s to join mujahideen fighting the Soviet occupation -- as did hundreds of Arab fighters.

"AA" later moved to the United Kingdom, where he began spreading al Qaeda's ideology to younger Muslims. He was an admirer of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who emerged as leader of al Qaeda in Iraq after the U.S. invasion and who led an especially brutal campaign that targeted civilians and promoted sectarian hatred between Sunni and Shia Muslims.

After the terrorist attacks in London in July 2005, heightened concern about terrorist activities in the UK led to the arrest of a number of Libyans resident in England.

"AA" was detained under what was termed a "control order," a mechanism used to detain terrorist suspects -- usually under home arrest -- without charging them. Control orders have been used in dozens of cases where the government does not want to reveal evidence in court for fear of compromising security sources. Those subject to control orders are not named by authorities.

"AA" also spent some time in Belmarsh high-security jail in the UK in 2006-07, possibly because he was seen as a flight-risk. It is also possible, according to the source, that he was resisting legal moves to have him deported to Libya. At the time, relations between the Gadhafi regime and the United Kingdom were improving, and Libyan authorities were seeking the deportation of opponents.

At some point the control order lapsed, and "AA" left Britain late in 2009 and went back to the Afghan-Pakistan border area -- taking two teenagers with him. One was subsequently killed.

Western intelligence agencies have voiced concern in public and privately about the potential for Islamist extremists and especially al Qaeda to gain a foothold in Libya....

"When Al Qaeda operatives are released, the Iranian government transfers them to the custody of al-Suri, who then coordinates their travel to Pakistan."

More on an apparent gentlemen's agreement, sans the gentlemen, between Iran and al-Qaeda. "U.S. Offers $10M for Iran-Based Al Qeada [sic] Financier," from NewsCore, December 22:

WASHINGTON – The U.S. State Department offered a $10 million reward Thursday for information that helps authorities find Ezedin Abdel Aziz Khalil, better known as Yasin al Suri, an Iran-based senior financier of Al Qaeda.

Suri, operating under an agreement between Al Qaeda and the Iranian government since 2005, allegedly moves money and recruits through Iran and on to Pakistan and Afghanistan, the department said in its announcement.

He is an important fundraiser for the terrorist network and has collected money from donors throughout the Persian Gulf region, the department said.

Suri, born in Syria in 1982, also is accused of arranging the release of Al Qaeda personnel from Iranian prisons.

"The enemy of my enemy..."

"When Al Qaeda operatives are released, the Iranian government transfers them to the custody of al-Suri, who then coordinates their travel to Pakistan," the State Department said.

The reward was posted under the federal government's "Rewards for Justice Program," which offers millions of dollars for information leading to the capture of some of America's most wanted terrorists.

The program's top wanted terrorist is Al Qeada leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, who's capture comes with the potential for a $25 million reward

Suri is one of three men in the $10 million reward category, the others being Taliban leader Mullah Omar and Abu Dua, leader of Al Qeada in Iraq.

But, as the network television slogan used to go, if you haven't seen it, it's new to you. This video was apparently only released on Tuesday. "Awlaki video urges U.S. Muslims to join al Qaeda," from Reuters, December 20:

(Reuters) - U.S.-born al Qaeda militant Anwar al-Awlaki, killed in a CIA drone strike in September, posthumously called on U.S. Muslims to join the group in the Middle East in a video released on Tuesday.

Awlaki, identified by U.S. intelligence as "chief of external operations" for al Qaeda's Yemeni branch and a Web-savvy publicist for the Islamist cause, was killed in a remote Yemeni town by missiles fired from multiple CIA drones.

"You have two choices: either hijra (emigration) or jihad (holy war)," Awlaki said in the video, which was posted on Islamist websites.

"I specifically invite the youth to either fight in the West or join their brothers in the fronts of jihad: Afghanistan, Iraq, and Somalia.

"I invite them to join us in our new front, Yemen, the base from which the great jihad of the Arabian Peninsula will begin, the base from which the greatest army of Islam will march forth," said Awlaki, a cleric of Yemeni descent, speaking in English.

Awlaki was implicated in a failed attempt by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to bomb a U.S.-bound airliner in 2009, and he had contacts with an American army psychiatrist who killed 13 people at a U.S. military base the same year.

The video included a message to the American people issued by Awlaki in March 2010. But the SITE monitoring service, which tracks jihadist statements, said Awlaki's call to join al Qaeda abroad had not appeared on that tape, although it has since been referred to in an online magazine of al Qaeda's Yemeni wing....

An update on this story. "Iraqi pleads guilty to trying to kill US troops," from Reuters, December 16:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An Iraqi living in Kentucky pleaded guilty on Friday to charges that he tried to kill U.S. soldiers in Iraq, aided al Qaeda operatives there and taught how to make roadside bombs, the Justice Department said.

Waad Ramadan Alwan, 30, pleaded guilty to a 23-count indictment in a federal court in Kentucky - a case that drew harsh criticism from Republicans in the U.S. Congress who argued that such terrorism suspects should be tried in military courts at the American military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The Obama administration rebuffed such demands, countering that federal courts also can handle major terrorism cases.

"The successful investigation, arrest, interrogation and prosecution of Mr. Alwan demonstrates the effectiveness of our intelligence and law enforcement authorities in bringing terrorists to justice," Lisa Monaco, the head of the Justice Department's national security division, said in a statement.

Alwan was accused of taking part in roadside bomb attacks on U.S. troops between 2003 and 2006, linked in one such instance by fingerprints obtained by U.S. forces from a device that did not detonate.

The FBI started investigating him in September 2009 and nearly a year later began using a confidential source to talk with him about his activities in Iraq, which allegedly included using improvised explosive devices, known as IEDs, and sniper rifles to target U.S. troops.

During conversations with the source, Alwan said he worked at a power plant but often hid roadside bombs, according to court papers filed earlier this year. He also allegedly boasted of attacking Hummers and Bradley fighting vehicles.

He and a second Iraqi, Mohanad Shareef Hammadi, also were charged for allegedly trying to provide support and weapons to an al Qaeda affiliate in Iraq in a sting operation subsequently run by U.S. authorities.

Hammadi has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The two Iraqis entered the United States in 2009 after receiving refugee status. They were arrested in May in their hometown of Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Refugee Iraqis from their hometown of Bowling Green, Kentucky? Did we miss something about the space-time continuum?

Alwan faces at least 25 years and up to life in a U.S. prison under the plea agreement and he is scheduled to be sentenced on April 3.

The Arabic word Ansar translates as "helpers," and also refers to those who aided Muhammad in Medina. The choice of the new name underscores the fact that the fundamental aim of all jihad is the imposition of Sharia, the various excuses du jour notwithstanding.

Besides, all the cool al-Qaeda affiliates are doing it. Al-Shabaab has been working on a new identity as "The Islamic Authority." "Al Qaeda Rebranding Itself to Improve Image, Arab Diplomat Says," from Fox News, December 14 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is rebranding itself to try to lose the negative "baggage" associated with the larger terror organization's identity, according to a senior Arab diplomat who says the Yemeni-based group is trying to attract more foreign fighters to its cause.

AQAP is increasingly going by the name "Ansar al Sharia," which means Army of Islamic Law, the diplomat told Fox News.

The literal translation is not "army," though one also sees "supporters" or "partisans."

"After (Usama) bin Laden's death and the Arab Spring, the name (al Qaeda) seems to have negative connotations and baggage," said the diplomat, who would discuss the changes only on condition of anonymity.

The name swap was likened to a similar evolution experienced by al Qaeda in Iraq's military and political wings. The rebranding of AQAP is seen as an effort to create "a big tent" to attract foreign jihadists and give it a greater air of legitimacy as a political movement.

Since al Qaeda leader bin Laden's death in May at the hand of U.S. Navy SEALs, the number of foreign fighters traveling to Pakistan has dropped, but the number heading to Yemen is on an upswing.

A senior Yemeni official with access to the intelligence said the number of foreign fighters in Yemen now exceeds 1,000. If accurate, that is more than four times the number of al Qaeda members believed to be in the tribal areas of Pakistan.

Combined with the al Qaeda affiliate in Somalia, which Kenyan officials is now the base for upwards of 750 foreign fighters now in training, the horn of Africa -- and by extension Yemen -- are now the central threat hubs.

Rick "Ozzie" Nelson, director of homeland security and counterterrorism at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Fox News that "moving away from the larger al Qaeda brand is something I think we're starting to see more of."...

It seems like one can just count on this sort of thing happening now and then in Yemen. "'Al-Qaeda jail break' in Yemeni city of Aden," from BBC News, December 12:

Twelve al-Qaeda militants have broken out of a prison in the southern Yemeni city of Aden, officials have said.

The militants, and two others, escaped through a six metre tunnel dug from the yard at the city's central prison.

The escapees were in the process of being tried for bank robbery or were charged with assassinations of security officers, the Yemeni officials said.

In June, al-Qaeda fighters raided the central jail in the southern city Mukalla, freeing dozens of prisoners.

Yemen's army has been fighting heavy gun battles with al-Qaeda militants in different parts of Yemen. [...]

The most intense fighting between the army and al-Qaeda is in the city of Zinjibar, the capital of Abyan province, where militants control much of the city.

Jihad causes poverty:

The United Nations says that suspected al-Qaeda fighters in southern Yemen have displaced 45,000 people.

So, does anyone still say "friend and ally?" "Pakistan says U.S. drones in its air space will be shot down," from MSNBC, December 11:

ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan will shoot down any U.S. drone that intrudes its air space per new directives, a senior Pakistani official told NBC News on Saturday.

According to the new Pakistani defense policy, "Any object entering into our air space, including U.S. drones, will be treated as hostile and be shot down," a senior Pakistani military official told NBC News.

The policy change comes just weeks after a deadly NATO attack on Pakistani military checkpoints accidentally killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, prompting Pakistani officials to order all U.S. personnel out of a remote airfield in Pakistan.

Pakistan told the U.S. to vacate Shamsi Air Base by December 11.

A senior military official from Quetta, Pakistan, confirmed to NBC News on Saturday that the evacuation of the base, used for staging classified drone flights directed against militants, “will be completed tomorrow,” according to NBC’s Fakhar ur Rehman.

Pakistan's Frontier Corps security forces took control of the base Saturday evening after most U.S. military personnel left, Xinhua news agency reported. Civil aviation officials also moved in Saturday, Xinhua said.

Pakistani Military Chief Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kayani had issued multiple directives since the Nov. 26 NATO attack, which included orders to shoot down U.S. drones, senior military officials confirmed to NBC News on Saturday.

It was unclear Saturday whether orders to fire upon incoming U.S. drones was part of the initial orders.

Cutting off their noses to spite their faces:

The Pakistani airbase had been used by U.S. forces, including the CIA, to stage elements of a clandestine U.S. counter-terrorism operation to attack militants linked to al-Qaida, the Taliban and Pakistan's home-grown Haqqani network, using unmanned drone aircraft armed with missiles.

President Barack Obama stepped up the drone campaign after he took office. U.S. officials say it has produced major successes in decimating the central leadership of al-Qaida and putting associated militant groups on the defensive.

Since 2004, U.S. drones have carried out more than 300 attacks inside Pakistan.

Pakistani authorities started threatening U.S. personnel with eviction from the Shamsi base in the wake of the raid last May in which U.S. commandos killed Osama bin Laden at his hide-out near Islamabad without notifying Pakistani officials in advance.

Nothing shows the bravery, nobility, and magnanimity of the glorious mujahedin quite like... beating up on 70-year-olds. An update on this story. "Concern grows for American kidnapped in Pakistan," from MSNBC, December 5:

ISLAMABAD — Concern was growing Friday for the safety of American development expert Warren Weinstein, who was kidnapped from home in Pakistan in August.

Al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri said in an audio recording issued on Islamist websites late Thursday that his organization had captured "this man who has had an active part in American aid to Pakistan since the seventies."

And that's just the sort of thing you really want to punish. Jihad causes poverty.

However, sources told NBC News on Friday that there were strong indications that Weinstein, 70, had been passed to a dreaded faction of the Pakistani Taliban.

They said he was presently in the custody of militants led by Commander Tariq Afridi, operating in the gun-manufacturing, semi-autonomous tribal region of Darra Adamkhel.

It is the same militant group that kidnapped a Polish engineer, Piotr Stancza, from Attock area of Punjab province on Sept. 28, 2009. Stancza was later executed after their demands for money and a release of prisoners were not met by the government.

Some sources said that Weinstein was kidnapped by another group and later sold to Afridi, NBC News reported.

Ruthless

He is considered the most ruthless among his militant colleagues and is known for his harsh policies.

The list of demands is staggering:

In the al-Qaida Internet statement, Zawahri said the group's demands for Weinstein's release included the release of all those held by the United States at the Guantanamo detention center and all others imprisoned for ties to al-Qaida or the Taliban. The statement was translated by the SITE group, which says it monitors the "jihadist threat."

Sneer quotes noted.

He also demanded an end to air strikes by the United States and its allies against militants in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen and Somalia and Gaza.

Zawahri specifically demanded the release of high-profile militants including Ramzi Yousef, imprisoned in the United States for the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, and Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, serving a life sentence for plotting to attack the U.N. headquarters and other New York City landmarks.....

The intrepid mujahedin, keeping the world safe from septuagenarians with ideas for aid and development. Jihad causes poverty. "Al-Qaeda says it kidnapped Warren Weinstein in Pakistan," from BBC News, December 1:

Al-Qaeda says it has 70-year-old US aid expert Warren Weinstein, who was kidnapped by armed men in the Pakistani city of Lahore nearly four months ago.

In a video, al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri said he would be freed if the US stopped air strikes in Afghanistan and Pakistan, among other demands.

Mr Weinstein is a former USAID worker who has lived in Pakistan for five years.

US officials have not said publicly who they believed was holding him.

"Just as the Americans detain whomever they suspect may be connected to al-Qaeda or the Taliban even in the slightest of ways, we have detained this man who has been involved with US aid to Pakistan since the 1970s," Zawahiri said in the 31-minute video.

'Retaliation'

He also demanded that America stop air strikes on Somalia and Yemen, according to a US monitoring group, Site Intelligence.

And he called for the release of al-Qaeda and Taliban suspects around the world, including the 1993 World Trade Center bombers.

Zawahiri confirmed, too, an announcement by US officials in August that his Libyan deputy, Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, had been killed in an air strike in Pakistan's north-western tribal region.

"The retaliation, with permission from Allah, will be taken against those crusader Westerners who killed him [Rahman] and his two sons, and killed hundreds of thousands of our brothers, sons, women, and sheikhs, and occupied our countries [and] looted our wealth," said Zawahiri. [...]

[Weinstein] was said to be the country director in Pakistan for JE Austin Associates, an American firm that advises a range of Pakistani business and government sectors.

Mr Weinstein reportedly lived mainly in Islamabad, but also travelled to Lahore. He was described on the firm's website as an "expert in international development with 25 years' experience".....

A possible fundraising drive for Jihadists Without Borders. "Terror: Al-Qaeda 'planning N. Africa kidnapping wave of Westerners'," from AdnKronos International, November 29 (thanks to Kenneth):

Algiers, 29 Nov. (AKI) - Algeria's secret service agency believes a branch of Al-Qaeda is planning a wave of abductions of Westerners in North Africa, according to a local news report.

The Department of Investigation and Security, or DRS, has informed its neighbours in the Sahel region that Al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb has a plan to kidnap Westerners in the Sahel, according to a report in Algerian daily el-Khabar.

Sahel the countries bordering Saharan and sub-Saharan Africa: parts of the territory of Senegal, southern Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, southern Algeria, Niger, northern Nigeria, Chad, Sudan, northern Ethiopia and Eritrea.

The next kidnappings were slated to be carried out by Mauritanian terrorists.

The DRS believes recent abductions were carried out by a group headed by Algerian Wahi Abdel Baqi, the report said.

European humanitarian aid workers - Italian woman Rossella Urru, Spanish woman Ainhoa Fernandez Rincon and Spanish man Enrico Gonyans - were abducted on 23 October from the Rabuni camp, primarily inhabited by refugees from Western Sahara, in western Algeria.

Baqi, 44, speaks English and French as [sic] was allegedly in competition with other North African Al-Qaeda cells, said el-Khabar.

An update on this evolving story. Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb grew out of the Algerian Salafist Group for Call and Combat. Here again, one finds "regional" jihadist conflicts finding common cause with one another and cooperating. All share the aim of imposing Sharia law, the purpose of jihad in all its forms.

The conflict is local, but the agenda is global. "Al Qaeda-linked group finds fertile territory in Nigeria as killings escalate," by Paul Cruickshank and Tim Lister for CNN, November 18:

(CNN) -- Two weeks ago, dozens of armed men descended on a town in northern Nigeria and killed more than 100 people in a coordinated series of bombings and gun attacks.

Many of those targeted were Christians, but police stations and mosques deemed "insufficiently Islamic" were also attacked.

The town was Damataru, capital of the Nigerian state of Yobe, and the assailants belonged to the group Boko Haram, which translates from the local Hausa as "Western education is outlawed."

In two years, Boko Haram has morphed from a radical Muslim sect into an insurgency responsible for dozens of attacks in Nigeria and beyond. Western intelligence analysts believe it is also developing links with al Qaeda affiliates in Africa.

Boko Haram's targets include police outposts and churches, as well as places associated with 'western influence.' Its signature attack is a Karachi-style drive-by shooting from a motorbike, but this year it has begun a campaign of suicide vehicle attacks. [...]

Think jihad globally, wage jihad locally:

According to U.S. officials, the groups have since forged a partnership -- with AQIM sharing its evolving expertise in suicide bombing.

"We know that there are increasingly frequent contacts, and indeed, training of members of Boko Haram by al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, and that's of great concern," Ambassador Anthony Holmes, U.S. Africa Command's civilian deputy said earlier this month. Algerian officials, long concerned at the growth of AQIM, have voiced the same concerns. And last week a senior Nigerian military officer told Reuters: "Boko Haram is al Qaeda."

In a global poll conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2009, a higher percentage of Nigerian Muslims (54%) stated they had confidence in Osama bin Laden than in any other Muslim-majority country. [...]

How about now?

"Bin Laden brought in a teacher who would threaten to beat the children with a stick to teach them the Quran, the Islamic holy book, al-Zawahri said."

Not exactly Cosby, but then again, we already knew that on so many levels. "Al-Qaida head recalls 'human side' of bin Laden," by Ben Hubbard for the Associated Press, November 15:

CAIRO (AP) — Here's how the new head of al-Qaida remembers Osama bin Laden: A sensitive man who cried when his friends lost family members, remained close to his children despite the hard life of an international jihadist, and fondly remembered — by name — the 19 men who carried out the deadliest terrorist attack ever on U.S. soil.

Longtime bin Laden deputy Ayman al-Zawahri, now al-Qaida's new head, related these and other memories in a new video posted on jihadist websites Tuesday. In the video, al-Zawahri said he wants "to show the human side" of bin Laden's life.

In doing so, he also is likely trying to boost his own popularity by emphasizing his closeness to the terror group's former, more charismatic leader.

Bin Laden, who built al-Qaida into the world's most feared and despised terror organization and was the mastermind behind some of its deadliest attacks, was killed by Navy SEALs in May during a raid in Pakistan. Al-Zawahri assumed control of the organization shortly after, though experts say he lacks bin Laden's charisma, which drew many to the group.

Throughout the 30-minute, conversational video, apparently the first in a series, al-Zawahri emphasizes what he calls the "nobility" of bin Laden's character — as well as his own proximity to him.

"People don't know that this man was tender, gentle, kind, with refined feelings, even when life was hard," he said, wearing a white robe and turban and sitting in front of a green curtain. "We never saw a man like him."

Al-Zawahri told stories of how bin Laden remembered al-Qaida members who died fighting "jihad," or "holy war." He gave special mention to the hijackers who carried out the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 in the U.S., which killed nearly 3,000 people.

"The sheik would remember with goodness and gratitude and be moved by the memory of the 19 brothers who attacked the idol of our age, America — the Pentagon, the headquarters of its military power, and New York, the symbol of its economic power," he said, pointing his finger for emphasis. "He would remember these brothers with extreme fidelity."

He recalled one time when he and bin Laden were hiding in the Afghan mountains of Tora Bora, saying bin Laden wrote death certificates for each one of the hijackers, fearing he would be killed "without remembering these heroic martyrs."

At one point, al-Zawahri related bin Laden's reaction when al-Zawahri got the news that some members of his family had been killed. Bin Laden came to him with tears in his eyes and hugged him, he said.

Al-Zawahri devotes much of his talk to bin Laden's relationship with his children, saying he paid great attention to educating them well despite having to move from place to place.

"Everyone close to him saw the fine and noble education in his children," he said.

Bin Laden brought in a teacher who would threaten to beat the children with a stick to teach them the Quran, the Islamic holy book, al-Zawahri said.

To conclude the video, al-Zawahri recalled when the two men and one of bin Laden's sons were driving a truck in the dark in Afghanistan and decided to split up for safety. Bin Laden went to say goodbye to his son, not knowing when, or if, he would see him again, al-Zawahri said.

"He told him, My son, we are keeping our oath, fighting jihad in the path of Allah," he said.

"As to the thief, male or female, cut off his or her hands: a retribution for their deed and exemplary punishment from Allah and Allah is Exalted in Power, full of Wisdom." (Qur'an 5:38)

This article says that Al-Qaeda is implementing a perversion of Islam in Yemen, but how exactly is it a perversion of Islam to follow an explicit directive of the Qur'an?

Sharia Alert from Yemen: "Al-Qaeda lashes 5 youth over alleged drugs in Yemen," by Chiara Onassis for Bikyamasr, November 13 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

SANA’A: According to reports coming from the southern Yemen province of Abyan, al-Qaeda militants have punished a group of five youth for consuming narcotics by lashing them.

The group, Ansar al Shariah, which has declared it wants to restore their own interpretation of the Sharia Law, or Islamic law, has been handing out public corporal punishment over the past few months.

A young man recently passed away after his hand was cut off as he had been accused of stealing electric cables by the Islamists.

According to al-Arabiya news channel, the punishment was carried out in a field just outside Jaar, a town under the Islamic group’s control in front of dozens of witnesses.

The militants appear to be mimicking the Taliban’s tactics, instilling fear of reprisals into the civilian population as they pervert Islam to serve their own selfish ambitions, analysts say.

After receiving 80 lashes each, the young men were released.

Residents, which have been living in fear ever since the al-Qaeda fighters occupied their town, are now living an absolute nightmare, living under the “tyrannical rule” of a group of “fanatics whose understanding of Islam is biased,” locals argue.

Then they ought to be able to refute them on Islamic grounds, no?

The costs of the Great Libyan Jihadist Garage Sale continue to spread. Just the other day, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb affirmed that it had acquired part of Gaddafi's former arsenal.

"Israel rushes airliner defenses as Libya leaks SAMs," by Dan Williams for Reuters, November 11:

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Israel has accelerated the installation of anti-missile defenses on its airliners, a security official said on Friday, seeing an enhanced risk of attack by militants using looted Libyan arms.

Jets flown by El Al and two other Israeli carriers are being equipped with a locally made system known as C-Music that uses a laser to "blind" heat-seeking missiles, the official said, giving a 2013 target for fitting most of the fleet.

As a stop-gap, Israel is adapting air force counter-measures for use aboard civilian planes, said the official, who declined to elaborate on the technologies involved, or to be identified.

"We have long been aware of the threat and were ahead of the rest of the world in preparing for it. Libya has meant government orders to step things up even further," the official said, citing intelligence assessments that chaos during the North African nation's uprising against Muammar Gaddafi allowed trafficking of Libyan shoulder-fired missiles to Palestinians and al Qaeda-linked groups in the Egyptian Sinai.

Israel began deploying another system, "Flight Guard," on El Al after al Qaeda tried to shoot down a planeload of Israeli tourists in Kenya in 2002. Flight Guard's use of diversionary flares set off safety concerns abroad and the Israelis turned to C-Music, manufactured by Elbit Systems Ltd..

According to the Israeli official, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government is covering the $1 million to $1.5 million that it costs to fit C-Music to each plane.

The bathtub-sized pods, built into the planes' bodies, increase drag in flight, meaning "a few million (dollars) a year" in extra fuel expenses, the official said, adding that this, too, would be borne by the government.

Israel's main international gateway, Ben-Gurion Airport, is 10 km (6 miles) from the occupied West Bank where, along with the Islamist-ruled Gaza Strip, Palestinians want a state.

The Israeli official said he had no information indicating the presence of anti-aircraft missiles in the West Bank -- unlike in Gaza, which has seen an influx of smuggled weaponry from Egypt since Israel withdrew settlers and soldiers in 2005.

The official said Netanyahu had, in closed-door discussions, described C-Music as a way to help reassure the Israeli public about security should the government one day return occupied land to the Palestinians under a peace agreement.

Asked for confirmation, Netanyahu's spokesman, Mark Regev, quoted him as saying that "in any possible peace deal there have to be effective security arrangements that can deal with a range of security threats, including shoulder-fired missiles."

Israel also wants to protect traffic to its small airport in the Red Sea resort of Eilat, which abuts Jordan and Egypt, where Islamist militants have operated in the past. Armed infiltrators killed eight Israelis on the Egyptian border on August 18.

Thank you, Sheikh Obvious: we and a few million other people figured as much. Al-Qaeda was in an ideal position to be a major beneficiary of the Great Libyan Jihadist Garage Sale.

"Al-Qaeda's North Africa branch says got Libya weapons," from Agence France-Presse, November 9:

Al-Qaeda's North Africa franchise acknowledged it had acquired part of slain Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi's arsenal, in comments by one of its leaders quoted Wednesday.

Mokhtar Belmokhtar, believed to be one of the leaders of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), made the remarks to Mauritanian news agency ANI, which has carried interviews and statements from the group in the past.

"We have been one of the main beneficiaries of the revolutions in the Arab world," said Belmokhtar, an Algerian national.

Early on, some officials were puzzled why al-Qaeda was cheering on the various revolutions breaking out in Africa and the Mideast.

"As for our acquisition of Libyan armament, that is an absolutely natural thing," he said, without elaborating on the nature of the weapons purportedly acquired.

Officials and experts have expressed concern that part of Kadhafi's considerable stock of weapons could end up in the hands of AQIM, which has bases in the Sahel and currently holds several foreign hostages.

According to several experts, AQIM has acquired surface-to-air missiles which could pose a threat to flights over the region.

Belmokhtar also claimed a level of ideological convergence existed between his movement and the Islamist rebels who eventually toppled Kadhafi last month and became Libya's new rulers.

"We did not fight , alongside them in the field against the Kadhafi forces," he said. "But young Islamists, jihadis... were the ones spearheading the revolution in Libya."

The National Transitional Council now in charge of Libya owes its victory over Kadhafi's 42-year rule partly to Western military backing and claims to seek the establishment of a moderate Islamic administration.

But, while representing himself in court, Barry Bujol claims he was just a disgruntled taxpayer. More on this story. "Texan tells court he did not want to help al-Qaida," by Dane Schiller for the Houston Chronicle, November 7 (thanks to L):

When Barry Bujol walked out of his Hempstead apartment in the early morning hours of May 2010, for what he thought was the start a covert journey to the Middle East, the FBI was watching overhead with a plane outfitted with a night-vision camera.

Cross hairs of the lens were on him as he made his way to a rendezvous point.

About an hour later, when Bujol and a government informant posing as an al-Qaida operative sneaked aboard a ship at the Port of Houston, agents still were watching.

Some posed as security guards, ship workers and dock personnel at the port. A Coast Guard boat was nearby in case anyone dove into the water.

The federal government went full bore after Bujol, a U.S. citizen who is on trial this week on charges he sought to aid the al-Qaida terrorist organization by holding himself out as a recruit, as well as delivering supplies such as phone cards, GPS trackers and U.S. military manuals.

Bujol, who is originally from Louisiana and converted to being a Muslim in 2005, could face 20 years in prison if convicted of trying to aid al-Qaida by providing support - mainly himself - to the fight.

His trial began Monday at the federal courthouse under heavy security. A bomb-sniffing dog checked the courtroom and the identity of anyone entering the court was recorded.

When Bujol was arrested at the port, agents pretended to arrest the informant, who crafted an alliance with Bujol while secretly working for the FBI.

The two are to see each other again for the first time since the arrest when the informant testifies from behind a screen to shield his face from the courtroom audience.

He will be questioned by Bujol, who made the bold move to not only serve as his own lawyer, but have his fate determined by a judge instead of a jury.

Sought to leave U.S.

Evidence presented in the trial shows counter-terrorism agents spent plenty of time tracking Bujol but got their first look at him in 2008 as they staked out the main library at Prairie View A&M University.

Until then, they had only known him as abdul_bari05@yahoo.com, an address federal agents said he used to correspond at least once with an al-Qaida cleric from a computer on the building's first floor.

They now contend that Bujol was desperate to go to the Middle East to join a holy war against the U.S.

Agents tracked Bujol through the college campus and in nearby towns, and in cyberspace, where they monitored email addresses and his alleged visits to a Muslim dating site, as well as a Web site advocating radicalism and taking up arms against America.

The timeline is unclear on this point: was he married at the point when he started browsing Muslim dating sites? Was he looking for a second wife, as allowed by Qur'an 4:3?

FBI Special Agent Bryan S. Cannon testified about Bujol sending email to the same Muslim cleric who communicated with the Army major charged with the mass attack at Fort Hood in 2009. In one case, Bujol received a reply with a list of ways to support jihad, Cannon said.

The report is referring to Anwar al-Awlaki.

Bujol said he never intended to harm any Americans and that he merely had been trying to learn and educate himself as he navigated the web.

"The evidence in this case will demonstrate that I did have radical Islamic views, and I was interested in leaving the United States of America," Bujol said in his opening statement. "My desire was not to harm the U.S. or U.S. nationals here or abroad, but to express my discontent and displeasure with (how my tax dollars are being spent.)"

Note to wife

A video clip played Monday was an apparent goodbye note he left for his wife. In it, he says he met a person affiliated with al-Qaida and that he was going to the Middle East.

In the message, in which there are prayers and music in the background, as well as images of what appear to be al-Qaida fighters, he says he hopes to be reunited with her, if not on earth, then in heaven. He speaks of meeting the man, who he did not know was a government informant. The informant had been planted in a jail cell with Bujol after he had been arrested for a traffic violation.

"I just happened to meet a brother and he changed my life," Bujol tells his wife. "Know that this is truly a miracle from Allah. Not you, not me, not anybody could imagine things happening like this."

An update on this story. "Convictions upheld in ‘Liberty City Seven’ terrorism case," by Jay Weaver for the Miami Herald, November 1:

Five Miami men convicted of conspiring to support the terrorist organization al-Qaida lost their appeal Tuesday for a new trial.

A federal appeals court ruled that U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard did not make a mistake when she removed a main juror and replaced her with an alternate juror during trial deliberations that led to the men’s convictions.

The judge removed the unidentified woman, known only as Juror No. 4, in late April 2009 because the other 11 jurors said she refused to deliberate about the five remaining defendants in a group originally dubbed the “Liberty City Seven.”

A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta had to find a “clear error” by the trial judge to overrule Lenard’s decision to eject Juror No. 4.

“In light of the consistent answers given by eleven of the jurors, and the vague and evasive answers given by Juror No. 4, we cannot say that the district court clearly erred in finding that Juror No. 4 was not willing to follow the court’s instructions,” the panel ruled unanimously.

The trial judge’s decision led to the juror’s replacement by the alternate juror, a man, and the eventual conviction of the five defendants on material-support conspiracy charges. One other defendant was acquitted and another defendant had been found not guilty in an earlier trial.

The removal of Juror No. 4 from the 12-person panel carried great consequences at the trial, the third in the case after two previous mistrials.

Had she been allowed to hold out as the minority juror, prompting a third mistrial in the controversial FBI case, the five defendants could have walked out of the courtroom because the U.S. Attorney’s Office had already said it would not try them a fourth time.

The men were accused of conspiring to aid al-Qaida to blow up Chicago’s Sears Tower and FBI offices in Miami and other cities.

In late 2009, Lenard sentenced Narseal Batiste, 37, the ringleader, to 13½ years; his self-described “No. 1 soldier,” Patrick Abraham, 32, to just over nine years; Stanley Phanor, 36, to eight years; Burson Augustin, 26, to six years; and Rotschild Augustine, 27, to seven years.

"They told me to stop talking or they would take the necessary measures. I told them they might as well do whatever they have planned because there is no way I am going to stop."

"Mali lawmaker tells of threats over al-Qaida talk," by Martin Vogl for the Associated Press, October 30:

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — A Malian lawmaker who has been outspoken about his country's alleged role in providing refuge to an offshoot of the al-Qaida terror network says he was stopped in traffic Sunday in the capital by armed men who warned him to stop talking about the matter.

Ibrahim Ag Mohamed Assaleh, a member of parliament from the Bourem region in the north of Mali, where al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, is known to operate, says he was stopped at around 11 a.m. in Bamako by four men in a black Mercedes.

"They presented themselves as agents of the Malian intelligence service. I could see they had automatic pistols concealed under their clothes," Assaleh told The Associated Press by telephone just hours after the incident.

"The men told me I should stop speaking about the links between the Malian state and the drugs trade, and the Malian state and AQIM," Assaleh said.

Assaleh said he has since checked with the head of the Malian intelligence service, who said the men were not working for him.

The lawmaker is among the most outspoken members of Mali's government about the problem of AQIM, a terror outfit that grew out of the groups fighting the Algeria's secular government in the 1990s. The groups merged with al-Qaida in 2006, and were pushed into Mali where they were able to install themselves with little resistance from local authorities.

AQIM militants have raised millions of dollars by kidnapping dozens of European aid workers and tourists, nearly all of whom were abducted in the countries neighboring Mali, then transported to Mali where they've been held until a ransom is secured.

Diplomatic cables made available by WikiLeaks indicate frustration in the diplomatic community with Mali's inaction.

Among the sources quoted in the cables is Assaleh, who acted as a hostage negotiator when an Austrian couple was kidnapped by AQIM. Another is the Algerian ambassador in Bamako who told his American counterpart, according to a February 2010 cable, that Mali is "willfully complicit" in the presence of AQIM on its soil. [...]

Assaleh said he had no idea who the men were, but he has no intention of giving in to the intimidation. "They told me to stop talking or they would take the necessary measures. I told them they might as well do whatever they have planned because there is no way I am going to stop," Assaleh said.

Officially, al-Shabaab calls the famine declaration a conspiracy. It may have occurred to al-Qaeda that the Somali jihadists' willingness to starve the country into submission might be bad for business, or there may have been private appeals from al-Shabaab.

In any event, what is of additional interest to U.S. officials in this case is the identity of the al-Qaeda emissary in a recent video, who speaks nearly perfect English. It is all too likely we will see or hear from him again, and increased cooperation between al-Qaeda and al-Shabaab poses its own set of problems inside the region and beyond. "Who is “the Foreigner,” al-Qaida’s new aid emissary to Somalia?," by Laura Rozen for The Envoy, October 25:

Despite recent high-profile successes in U.S. efforts to remove key al-Qaida leaders from the battlefield, American counter-terrorism officials are increasingly concerned about al-Qaida affiliates finding fertile ground in unstable, weakly-governed parts of Africa. So terrorism analysts are paying particular attention to a fluent English-speaking al-Qaida emissary who appeared on a video in famine-ravaged Somalia last week, NPR's Dina Temple-Ralston reports.

On a video distributed to Islamist websites last week, the light-skinned man described himself as an emissary of bin Laden's successor, Ayman al-Zawahiri. As NPR correspondent Temple Ralston reports Tuesday, the man's Islamic name translates to "the Foreigner," and in his slightly north African accented English, he said he had been sent to Somalia by Zawahiri to distribute aid to southern Somalia's starving population, much of it under the control of the al-Qaida-linked Somali militant group al-Shabab:

So imagine the reaction when a little over a week ago an unusual video appeared on Islamic websites. It was of a white man with a scarf twisted over his face standing before bags of grain and piles of clothes in a desert in Somalia. In the video, he was addressing the hungry at a local feeding station. He said his name was Abu Abdulla al-Muhajir, or "the foreigner." And there was one thing US officials noticed about the man almost immediately: He was speaking nearly perfect English.[...]

His English wasn't quite unaccented and his word choice wasn't quite right — but it was close. The young man went on to tell the crowd that al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri had sent him to Somalia to distribute food and clothing. "Al-Qaida, under the leadership of Sheikh Ayman al-Zawahiri, continues to highlight the plight of the (community) and continues to support them with every means at their disposal," he said.

"Counter-terrorism officials say the release of this tape could mean al-Qaida is forging closer ties" with Somalia's al-Shabab, Temple-Ralston reports.

And indeed, the release of the tape comes as al-Shabab is accused of stepping up a campaign of kidnappings that target foreign tourists and aid workers providing famine relief in neighboring Kenya.

Several such kidnapping incidents have recently threatened Kenya's critical tourism industry, and have also hampered international famine relief efforts in the Horn of Africa. [...]

However, the president of Somalia's weak transitional government on Monday dismayed western allies when he urged Kenya to halt its military incursion in southern Somalia, the Associated Press reported. Somalia's transitional regime ostensibly works with a 9,000-member African Union peacekeeping force to fight al-Shabab to maintain minimal control of the capital of the civil war-stricken country.

"American and European officials on Tuesday joined some Somali residents in expressing dismay over comments from Somalia's president that called on foreign military allies to stop twin advances against Islamic insurgents," the AP's Katharine Houreld reported from Nairobi Tuesday. Somalia President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed "on Monday publicly told Kenya to halt its military advance in southern Somalia. Diplomats say he also privately asked African Union troops not to move beyond the Deynile neighborhood of Mogadishu, where they are fighting al-Shabab militants for control."

So who is Zawahiri's English speaking aid emissary to Somalia, "the Foreigner?" U.S. military and intelligence officials are intently trying to find out.

"If you ask me what keeps me up at night, it is the thought of an American passport-holding person who transits to a training camp in Somalia, gets some skill, and finds their way back to the United States to attack Americans," U.S. Africom commander Gen. Carter Ham told the Center for Strategic and International Studies earlier this month, Temple-Ralston reported.

No, they aren't really there, but they're better reading than what he's got

That should be easy enough for his colleagues to bring about. "Al-Qaida chief urges Islamic rule in Libya," from AP, October 12 (thanks to EH):

CAIRO (AP) — Al-Qaida's new leader called on Libyan fighters who overthrew Moammar Gadhafi to set up an Islamic state and urged Algerians to revolt against their longtime president in a new Internet video posted on Wednesday.

Ayman al-Zawahri warned Libyan revolutionaries to protect their gains against "Western plots," claiming NATO will demand they give up their Islamic faith as the country sets up a new government.

"The first thing NATO will ask you to do, is to give up your Islam and not to implement Islamic Sharia law," al-Zawahri said "They want the nonreligious and the atheists who don't accept Sharia to rule the Islamic world."

The 13-minute video entitled "And the defeats of Americans continue" was released by al-Qaida's media arm and surfaced on militant websites. It shows al-Zawahri, wearing a white robe and turban, sitting against a green backdrop.

Al-Zawahri, who is Egyptian, also urged Algerians to revolt against President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and follow the examples of Arab uprisings that toppled the autocratic rulers in Egypt and Tunisia.

"Why don't you revolt against your tyranny, Algerian lions," al-Zawahri asked.

Al-Qaida has long opposed the regimes of autocratic Arab leaders the terror group views as godless, corrupt and too closely allied with the United States, and has called for the establishment of Islamic rule to replace their regimes.

However, the Arab Spring uprisings have largely been driven by those calling for freedom, human rights and democracy....

Bridge for sale!

An international jihadist group committed to killing as many Americans as it can chides the U.S. for taking action against it. Obviously, they would object in any case.

The irony that a group that would destroy the U.S. Constitution if it had its way is invoking its tenets in protest is exceptionally rich. "Al-Qaeda joins those questioning legality of U.S. killing of citizen Anwar al-Awlaki," by Jason Ukman for the Washington Post, October 10 (thanks to Kenneth):

Al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen has confirmed the deaths of American-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan, the young American propagandist killed alongside him in a U.S. drone strike late last month.

Al-Qaeda has also criticized the Obama administration for killing U.S. citizens, saying doing so “contradicts” American law.

“Where are what they keep talking about regarding freedom, justice, human rights and respect of freedoms?!” the statement says, according to a translation by SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist Web sites.

Said the pot to the kettle.

The Obama administration has spoken in broad terms about its authority to use military and paramilitary force against al-Qaeda and associated forces, and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula would find itself hard-pressed to claim the moral high ground in the debate over the killing of Awlaki and Khan.

But the killing of two U.S. citizens has prompted outrage among civil liberties groups, as well as a debate in legal circles about the basis for the administration's position.

The Washington Post’s Peter Finn reported after the strike that Awlaki’s killing had been authorized in a secret Justice Department memo, a revelation that later prompted senior Democratic senators and scholars to call for its release. Over the weekend, The New York Times quoted people who have read the document as saying that the memo found it would be lawful to kill the cleric only if it were not possible to take him alive. The memo, the Times said, was narrowly drawn to the specifics of Awlaki’s case.

Among those who have raised legal objections to the strike: Samir Khan’s family in Charlotte, N.C.

In a statement, the family said that, Khan was a “law-abiding citizen of the United States” and “was never implicated of any crime.”

“Was this style of execution the only solution?” the family said. “Why couldn’t there have been a capture and trial?”

Khan’s relatives also described themselves as “appalled by the indifference shown to us by our government,” saying they had not been contacted by a U.S. official.

After the release of the statement, the Charlotte Observer reported, an official from the State Department called the family last week to offer the government’s condolences.

“They were very apologetic [for not calling the family sooner] and offered condolences,” Jibril Hough, a family spokesman, told the Observer.

Confirmation, tributes, calls for revenge. Lather, rinse, repeat. An update on this story. "Al-Qaida confirms killing of US-born cleric," by Ryan Lucas for the Associated Press, October 10:

CAIRO (AP) — Al-Qaida's Yemeni offshoot on Monday confirmed the killing of U.S.-born militant cleric Anwar al-Awlaki late last month and vowed to avenge the prominent propagandist's death.

The 40-year-old al-Awlaki, who died in a Sept. 30 U.S. drone strike in the mountains of Yemen, was the most prominent al-Qaida figure to be killed since Osama bin Laden's death in a U.S. raid in Pakistan in May. He had been in the U.S. crosshairs since his killing was approved by President Barack Obama in April 2010 — making him the first American placed on the CIA "kill or capture" list.

On Monday, Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula said in a statement posted on Islamist extremist websites that al-Awlaki was killed by an American airstrike, along with three other militants, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors extremist websites. AQAP, which has become the most active al-Qaida branch in recent years, vowed to strike back.

"The blood of the sheik (al-Awlaki) and his brothers will not go in vain; there are heroes behind him who do not sleep under oppression, and they will retaliate soon," the group said. "We and the Americans are at war: we get them and they get us, and the end is for those who are patient - they are the ones who will be victorious."

The strike that killed al-Awlaki also killed a second American, Samir Khan, who edited al-Qaida's Internet magazine. AQAP said two other militants were also killed.

Imam Potrzebie is alive and well. The fold-in fatwa will see publication yet!

Al-Awlaki, born in New Mexico to Yemeni parents, was believed to be key in turning al-Qaida's affiliate in Yemen into what American officials have called the most significant and immediate threat to the Untied States. The branch plotted several failed attacks on U.S. soil — the botched Christmas 2009 attempt to blow up an American airliner heading to Detroit and a foiled 2010 attempt to send mail bombs to Chicago-area synagogues.

Known as an eloquent preacher who spread English-language sermons on the internet calling for "holy war" against the United States, al-Awlaki's role was to inspire and — it is believed — even directly recruit militants to carry out attacks.

In its statement Monday, AQAP warned that while the U.S. may have killed al-Awlaki, "it cannot kill his ideas," and that his death "gives new life and revival to his ideas and style."

It said that al-Awlaki "has students who he taught and disciples who benefited from him all over the earth, who will follow his steps and his path."

U.S. officials believe al-Awlaki became involved in operational planning for AQAP, and Yemeni officials have said al-Awlaki had contacts with Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the accused would-be Christmas plane bomber, who was in Yemen in 2009.

In New York, the Pakistani-American man who pleaded guilty to the May 2010 Times Square car bombing attempt told interrogators he was "inspired" by al-Awlaki after making contact over the Internet.

Al-Awlaki also exchanged up to 20 emails with U.S. Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, alleged killer of 13 people in the Nov. 5, 2009, rampage at Fort Hood. Hasan initiated the contacts, drawn by al-Awlaki's Internet sermons, and approached him for religious advice.

Indeed. Al-Qaeda benefits not only from the decentralization of its "franchises," but from the fact that they did not invent the jihadist ideology that drives them. They are simply the best-known brand name.

"FBI chief: Qaeda still a 'threat' after Awlaqi death," from Middle East Online, October 7:

WASHINGTON - The killing of US-born Islamic cleric Anwar al-Awlaqi has weakened Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, but the group remains a "significant threat" to the United States, the head of the FBI said Thursday.

Awlaqi -- the leader of external operations for AQAP -- and Samir Khan, a Pakistani-American who was the editor of Al-Qaeda's English-language magazine, were killed last week in a suspected US drone strike in Yemen.

"Despite this blow to their leadership, AQAP remains a significant threat to the homeland, and we must maintain our vigilance in responding to this threat," FBI Director Robert Mueller told the House intelligence committee.

"AQAP has proven its capability to direct attacks into the United States, and a strike against its leadership, even a significant one, does not eliminate the potential for retaliation or other action by AQAP."

Matthew Olsen, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, agreed.

"We remain concerned about the group's intent to attack Western targets, as well as its propaganda efforts designed to inspire like-minded Western extremists," Olsen said in his testimony before the committee.

"And we are monitoring how the loss of Awlaqi and Khan will affect AQAP's propaganda machine."

There has been some debate over whether the underwear bomb builder was also killed in the strike.

Olsen also expressed concerns about ongoing links between AQAP and Somalia's Shebab rebels, who claimed responsibility for a car bomb attack this week on a government compound in Mogadishu that left more than 70 people dead.

"I would say that that remains a significant concern -- the potential alliance between Shebab and AQAP," Olsen said, adding that Awlaqi's death would have little effect on the connections between the two.

There's jihad by the sword, and jihad of the pen, but the jihad of the tighty whities has suffered a bit of a setback.

More on this story. They were foolishly overconfident to travel together. "Underwear-bomb maker believed dead in Yemen strike," by Lee Keath for the Associated Press, October 1:

CAIRO (AP) — A Saudi militant believed killed in the U.S. drone strike in Yemen constructed the bombs for the al-Qaida branch's most notorious attempted attacks — including the underwear-borne explosives intended to a down a U.S. aircraft, and a bomb carried by his own brother intended to assassinate a Saudi prince.

The death of Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri would make the Friday drone strikes on a convoy in the central deserts of Yemen one of the most effective single blows in the U.S. campaign to take out al-Qaida's top figures.

The strike also killed Anwar al-Awlaki, a Yemeni-American cleric who had been key to recruiting for the militant group and a Pakistani-American, Samir Khan, who was a top English-language propagandist.

But Christopher Boucek, a scholar who studies Yemen and al-Qaida, said al-Asiri's death would "overshadow" that of the two Americans due to his operational importance to al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, the Yemen-based group that is considered the most active branch of the terror network.

Late Friday, two U.S. officials said intelligence indicated al-Asiri was among those killed in the strike. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because al-Asiri's death has not officially been confirmed.

The 29-year-old al-Asiri was one of the first Saudis to join the Yemen-based al-Qaida branch and became its key bombmaker, designing the explosives in two attempted attacks against the United States.

His fingerprint was found on the bomb hidden in the underwear of a Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up Northwest Airlines Flight 253 over Detroit on Christmas Day 2009, according to U.S. counterterrorism officials. The attack failed because the would-be bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab botched detonating the explosives, ending up only burning himself before being wrestled away by passengers.

The explosives used in that bomb were chemically identical to those hidden inside two printers that were shipped from Yemen last year, bound for Chicago and Philadelphia in a plot claimed by al-Qaida. The bombs were intercepted in England and Dubai.

In perhaps his most ruthless operation, al-Asiri turned his younger brother, Abdullah, into a human bomb in a 2009 attempt to kill Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, the kingdom's top counterterrorism official and son of its interior minister.

Abdullah volunteered for the suicide mission, asking to replace another militant named to carry it out, according to an acccount in Sada al-Malahem, an Arabic-language Web magazine issued by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. Abdullah pretended he was surrendering to Saudi authorities, and Prince Mohammed agreed to receive him in his home in Jiddah during a gathering to celebrate the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

While talking to the prince, Abdullah blew himself up. The prince, however, escaped with only injuries.

Saudi officials have said the bomb was "inside" Abdullah's body, but explosives experts believe that al-Asiri strapped the bomb between his brother's legs.

"Come see my brother Abdullah's body parts. May he enjoy it, he was killed the way he had hoped for and his body was torn for the love of God," al-Asiri said afterward, according to Sada al-Malahem....

This kind of warning always follows a victory in the struggle against jihad -- as if to suggest that if only we didn't resist, they wouldn't be fighting us. In any case, they hardly need to fight us when the ACLU is fighting us well enough on its own, as you can see below, and as Obama continues to purvey the delusion that Yemen is an ally and that the jihad against the U.S. is being pursued only by a few lone nuts in al-Qaeda. "U.S. officials warn of possible retaliation after al Qaeda cleric is killed," from CNN, September 30:

Washington (CNN) -- The killings Friday of alleged terrorists cleric Anwar al-Awlaki and computer expert Samir Khan could spark retaliatory attacks against the United States, according to the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security.

The agencies issued a joint intelligence bulletin late Friday that said supporters might seek to portray al-Awlaki as a martyr in a supposed U.S. war against Islam. It says the deaths "could provide motivation for homeland attacks" by "homegrown violent extremists," the type the two men allegedly tried to recruit or inspire.

The bulletin came less than a day after U.S. and Yemeni government officials announced that al-Awlaki -- an American whose fluency with English and technology made him a top terrorist recruiter -- was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Yemen.

"It was a joint U.S. military-intelligence operation," a U.S. official said, adding that the U.S. military helped target al-Awlaki and that manned American military aircraft were flying overhead ready to offer assistance. The drone was operated by the CIA, officials said.

The strike also killed Khan, an American, and two others who were in the same vehicle as al-Awlaki, said another U.S. official who was briefed by the CIA. Khan specialized in computer programming for al Qaeda and produced the terrorist network's English-language online magazine, Inspire. [...]

U.S. President Barack Obama called al-Awlaki's death a "major blow" to al Qaeda, reeling still from the killing and capture this year of several top leaders, most notably bin Laden.

"His hateful ideology and targeting of innocent civilians has been rejected by the vast majority of Muslims and people of all faiths and he has met his demise because the government and the people of Yemen have joined the international community in a common effort against al Qaeda," Obama said.

He said al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, remains a dangerous but weakened organization. "Working with Yemen and our other allies and partners, we will be determined, we will be deliberate, we will be relentless, we will be resolute in our commitment to destroy terrorist networks that aim to kill Americans," Obama said. [...]

The American Civil Liberties Union said Friday that the killing was part of an American counterterrorism program that "violates both U.S. and international law.

"This is a program under which American citizens far from any battlefield can be executed by their own government without judicial process," said ACLU Deputy Legal Director Jameel Jaffer.

But Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Maryland, said al-Awlaki was on a "special list" of individuals attempting to attack the United States that is approved by the National Security Council and the president. Targeting those individuals is legal and legitimate, said Ruppersberger, the ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, who was in Yemen two months ago.

He called Khan's death collateral damage: "He just happened to be in the vehicle."...

A bad day for the Usual Gang of Idiots who incited and instructed prospective jihadist murderers.

This, too, is likely to be painted as a petty political "assassination" by an annoyed government, even though Khan was reported to be "increasingly involved" in operational activities by al-Qaeda. Al-Awlaki was certainly the main target of the strike; that they would travel together was an overconfident miscalculation. "American Jihadi Samir Khan Killed With Awlaki," by Mark Schone and Matthew Cole for ABC News, September 30:

A young American who edited al Qaeda's English-language magazine, and had urged Muslims to mount deadly attacks on U.S. targets, was killed in the same CIA drone strike that eliminated Anwar Awlaki in Yemen Friday, U.S. officials said.

Khan, 25, was the Saudi-born, New York-raised editor behind "Inspire" magazine, the English language online publication of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP. Khan had become a rising figure in jihadist propaganda and an "aspiring" Awlaki, according to U.S. intelligence officials.

But while Awlaki relied on sermons to recruit jihadis, Khan used sarcasm and idiomatic English in an attempt to appeal to Western youth. As Khan himself has said, "It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that I [am] Al Qaeda to the core." He titled a rebuke of toppled Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak "A Cold Diss." Khan's ability to use American vernacular, like a graphic depicting graffiti that reads, "Jihad 4 Eva," had prompted concerns that young Muslims with an interest in jihad and al Qaeda would be drawn to a voice similar to their own.

"He does appear to be increasingly involved with operational activities [of Al Qaeda]", a U.S. official told ABC News in 2010.

British officials found copies of "Inspire" in the apartments of several suspects arrested and charged in connection to a bomb plot in the U.K.Officials said the suspects were avid followers of both the magazine and Awlaki.

Mohamed Osman Mohamud, a Somali-American college student charged with plotting an attack on a Christmas lighting event in Portland, Oregon, last year, was in contact with Khan, and wrote articles for him, authorities say.

Mohamud, who was arrested in an FBI sting, is accused of attempting to detonate what he believed to be a car bomb in Portland's Pioneer Courthouse Square via cellphone during the annual lighting of the Christmas tree, which had drawn a crowd of thousands. The FBI affidavit alleges that Mohamud told FBI agents that he had written four articles since 2009 for two different on-line jihadist magazines edited and distributed by Samir Khan.

Khan had edited seven separate issues of "Inspire" since launching the publication in 2010, penning such articles as "How To Build A Bomb In the Kitchen of Your Mom." Inspire carried sermons by Awlaki and other jihadi figures, boasted about the failed "printer bomb" cargo plane plot, and paid tribute to Osama bin Laden before and after his death. It outlined various techniques for jihadis to attack Americans with U.S. borders, including using pick-up trucks to mow down pedestrians, how to blow up buildings with natural gas, and how to use an AK-47 automatic rifle. The magazines grew in graphic sophistication with each issue, and Khan seemed to write, edit or design the majority of the content.

In the latest issue, which expressed frustration with Iran for spreading conspiracy theories about 9/11 instead of giving credit to al Qaeda, the editor-in-chief called himself "Yahya Ibrahim," but U.S. officials suspect that's just a pseudonym for Khan....

The "Usual Gang of Idiots" continues to write new material for al-Qaeda's mad magazine, Inspire, which sounds less like a jihadist tract and more like a bargain brand from the toiletries aisle. In any event, the latest round includes a denunciation of Ahmadinejad's peddling of 9/11 conspiracy theories that fail to give al-Qaeda due credit for its acts of jihadist murder.

And so for a moment, the Sunni-Shi'ite rivalry degenerates into "Did not! Did too!" "Al Qaeda chides Iran over 9/11 'conspiracy theories'," from BBC News, September 28:

Al-Qaeda has accused Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of spreading "conspiracy theories" about the 9/11 attacks in 2001.

Inspire, an al-Qaeda-linked online magazine, described Mr Ahmadinejad's controversial speech to the United Nations last week as "ridiculous".

The Iranian leader said he believed the World Trade Center towers could not have been brought down by aircraft.

The article said such a belief "stands in the face of all logic and evidence".

Entitled "Iran and the Conspiracy Theories", the Inspire article said Iran used the theory "as a rallying call for the millions of Muslims around the world who despise America".

Iran "is a collaborator with the US when it suits it" nonetheless, the Yemen-based author said.

Could it be Imam Potrzebie? Or Samir Khan?

There have been sharp sectarian tensions between mainly Shia Iran and Sunni Muslim al-Qaeda - although are both fiercely opposed to US influence.

Mr Ahmadinejad's speech last Thursday triggered a walkout from the General Assembly by diplomats from more than 30 countries.

In August, France's top counter-terror judge opined: "It's been shown that AQIM is only able to strike in its own zone, by wanting to kill tourists — and we have seen nothing emerge as a significant foreign operation in Europe that was really organized by AQIM." But U.S. General Carter Ham and other European authorities disagree, warning of a pan-African jihadist network that will be better equipped and connected to carry out attacks across the Mediterranean as well as on the African continent.

The presence of financiers is a foot in the door. "Police in Spain arrest 5 suspected of financing terrorists," by Al Goodman for CNN, September 27 (thanks to Alexandre):

Madrid, Spain (CNN) -- Civil Guards arrested five Algerian men early Tuesday in northern Spain on suspicion of providing logistical and financial support for Islamic terrorist activities, Spain's interior ministry said.

The suspects, aged 36 to 49, allegedly supported "terrorist groups that operate in the Algerian area of the Maghreb, specifically for al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb," a ministry statement said.

They also had suspected links to Islamic militants in Italy, France and Switzerland.

Some 150 Civil Guards took part in the operation, making nearly simultaneous arrests and conducting searches of homes and premises linked to the suspects in two towns of northern Guipuzcoa province and two others in neighboring Navarra province, the statement said.

Computer hardware and software was seized and will be analyzed. Spain's National Court, which handles cases of terrorism, is supervising the operation, the statement said.

Spanish authorities have said repeatedly in the past few years that the group known as al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb is of key concern, because of its operational base in northern Africa, just across the Mediterranean Sea from Spain and southern Europe.

Last week, Civil Guards arrested a Cuban man on Spain's Mallorca Island in the Mediterranean for allegedly recruiting and indoctrinating others for Islamic terrorist activities.

A judge released the suspect from custody Friday, but he must report daily to police while authorities investigate computer documentation seized when he was detained.

Since the Madrid train bombings of 2004 that killed 191 people and wounded 1,800 others, Spanish police have arrested more than 400 suspected al Qaeda militants or collaborators, the Interior Ministry website says. Most have been of North African or Middle Eastern origin, with a few from Latin America.

Misunderstanding yet again that Islam teaches peace. "Six killed in Tunisian clashes near Algeria: diplomat," from AFP, September 23 (thanks to David):

Clashes this week between Tunisian soldiers and an armed group that crossed the border from Algeria left six dead among the infiltrators, a western diplomatic source said Friday.

"According to our reports, six attackers were killed," the source said, while the Tunisian ministry of defence said one body had been found so far.

The fighting took place on Wednesday when the Tunisian army neutralised an armed convoy of nine vehicles fitted with anti-aircraft guns that crossed over from the Algerian desert near Bir Znigra....

According to the diplomatic source, seven attackers were taken prisoner and the group was probably made up of Algerians and Libyans.

A regional security source who asked not to be named said that "it was about a score of heavily armed terrorists of Ql-Qaeda [sic] in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) who attacked the Tunisian troops."

"At this stage, we have no details on the identity of the group. It could be AQIM, it could be a band of armed smugglers. It is too early to identify these men with any certainty," the official in the Tunisian defence ministry said.

That'll show those jihadists how serious British authorities are. The Revolting Geek of Mass Proportions himself, Adam Gadahn, has already remarked on this phenomenon: "If it's Allah's will that you be captured, then it's not the end the world, and it doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to spend the rest of your life in prison," and "Over these past few years, I've seen the release of many, many Mujahideen whom I had never even dreamed would regain their freedom."

Britain is obviously less safe if prison sentences for jihadists lose whatever deterrent power they may still have. "'Invisible ink' al-Qaeda plotter released early from prison," by Martin Evans for the Telegraph, September 19:

Habib Ahmed, 32, was convicted after being caught smuggling code books written in invisible ink into the country.

He was part of a British terror cell, headed by Rangzieb Ahmed, that police believe were planning a massacre in Britain.

But despite being jailed for ten years in December 2008, he has now been released and is living at a bail hostel in Manchester.

During his trial the court heard how Ahmed downloaded a document called “a study of assassination” and looked up bomb-making techniques.

He was caught when British Customs found notebooks containing names and phone numbers of key al Qaeda figures as he flew from Dubai to hand them to Rangzieb.

Ahmed was arrested in 2006 and so had spent five years in prison including time spent on remand.

A spokesman for the National Offender Management Service said: “Serious offenders on licence are subject to strict conditions and controls.”

An update on this story. While U.S. operations have been making Swiss cheese of al-Qaeda's operational structure in Pakistan, another threat has been quietly emerging over a broader geographical area. The rise of any of the current "Big 3" jihadist groups in Africa, Boko Haram, al-Shabaab, and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (or the Apparently-Not-Islamic-Enough Maghreb) is cause for concern, but reports of collaboration between all three groups obviously escalates the threat not only for the African continent, but for its use as a forward operating base for targets across the Mediterranean and beyond.

All of them were once local groups, pursuing supposedly "local" grievances with local "underlying causes," but they have found common cause because they share the same aim: the imposition of Sharia law, which is the goal of jihad in all of its forms. "Terror threat 'very worrying' in Africa: US general," from Agence France-Presse, September 15:

Africa must improve security cooperation in battling extremists or face the prospect of a continent-wide terror network threatening the region and the United States, a top US commander warned Wednesday.

General Carter Ham, head of US African command AFRICOM, said countries in North Africa face increasing threats from terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda affiliates who wish to join forces -- as well as from extremists in Libya who might fan out to other locales, bringing a proliferation of weapons and an exodus of people from the war-torn country.

"Al-Qaeda main may be somewhat diminished, but the affiliates, both acknowledged and those who would like to be affiliated, may be gaining in capacity. And that's what I see in Africa and that's what concerns me," Ham told reporters in Washington.

He said three groups form the greatest threat: the Algeria-based Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which has claimed numerous terrorist attacks in the region; the militant Shebab operating out of Somalia and East Africa; and Islamist group Boko Haram, blamed for repeated attacks in Nigeria including a bomb blast at UN headquarters in Abuja in August.

"Each of those three independently I think presents a significant threat, not only in the nations in which they primarily operate, but regionally, and I think they present a threat to the United States," Ham said.

The organizations have "very explicitly and publicly" voiced intent to target the West, and while Ham said he questions their capability to do so, "I have no question about their intent to do so."

The four arrested in Sweden last weekend on suspicion of planning a jihadist attack were reported to have connections to al-Shabaab.

He also warned that the groups have expressed intent to "more closely collaborate and synchronize their efforts" in training and operations.

"If left unaddressed, you could have a network that ranges from East Africa, through the center and into the Sahel and Magreb, and I think that would be very, very worrying."

Ham said US cooperation with regional partners was vital, and that while African nations must take the lead, Washington is providing assistance to countries like Mali.

But when pressed on specifics of US operations, including the possible use of military drones over Somalia, Ham was dry on the details.

"I like the fact that Al-Shebab and other extremist leaders in some parts of the world don't know where we are, what we might do, what we are doing, what we're not doing," he said.

No word on whether he qualifies as the umpteenth "No. 3" of al-Qaeda to be neutralized, or if that unlucky number has just been retired.

The standard expressions of indignation from Pakistan are almost certainly forthcoming. "US officials: Al-Qaida ops chief killed by CIA," by Kimberly Dozier for the Associated Press, September 15:

WASHINGTON (AP) — A top al-Qaida operative was killed earlier this week in Pakistan's tribal areas, U.S. and Pakistani officials said Thursday. The death landed another blow against the besieged terrorist network.

The man killed was Abu Hafs al-Shahri, whom two U.S. officials describe as al-Qaida's chief of operations in Pakistan.

Though his name is little known beyond intelligence circles, Al-Shahri is described as dangerous by both the Pakistani and U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe classified counterterrorist operations.

He was apparently killed by a CIA drone strike in Pakistan's lawless tribal areas, though officials would not describe the method since the program is classified. A drone strike was reported by locals on Sunday night.

The officials say al-Shahri worked closely with the Pakistani Taliban to carry out attacks inside Pakistan, and was also a contender to assume some duties of al-Qaida's second in command, Atiyah Abd al-Rahman. Al-Rahman was killed by a CIA drone strike in late August.

U.S. officials believe they can cripple the core al-Qaida organization if they take out the top four or five figures, following the killing in May of al-Qaida chief Osama by Laden by Navy SEALs. Eight of the network's top 20 leaders were killed this year alone, according to the Pentagon's undersecretary for defense intelligence, Michael Vickers, in remarks this week. Vickers predicted that with sustained counterterrorist operations, "within 18-24 months, core al-Qaida's cohesion and operational capabilities could be degraded to the point that the group could fragment and exist mostly as a propaganda arm."

But Vickers and CIA director David Petraeus said al-Qaida's offshoots will remain a serious threat to the U.S.

A Pakistani intelligence official says Pakistani operations chief al-Shahri was a Saudi national, who had lived in the tribal regions of Pakistan, bordering eastern Afghanistan, since 2002.

One of the U.S. officials said the same individual is No. 11 on Saudi Arabia's top-85 most wanted terror suspects, where his full name is listed as Osama Hamoud Gharman Al-Shihri. The official said the same person is No. 68 on Interpol's most wanted list, where his name was spelled "Al-Shehri" and his birthdate was listed as Sept. 17, 1981.

Al-Shahri engaged in liaison mainly with Pakistan's Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan to conduct coordinated attacks against targets inside Pakistan, one of the U.S. officials said. But al-Qaida also inspired the Pakistani Taliban to undertake its first known overseas attack, when a U.S. based operative tried and failed to detonate a car bomb in Times Square last year.

Al-Shahri's killing was first reported by NBC News.

Al-Qaida's senior planner of global terror operations, Adnan Shukrijumah, remains at large.

Earlier, at least one U.S. official found it "puzzling" that al-Qaeda would support the Arab Spring. Several months later, the reasons ought to be that much clearer, as Sharia is poised to play a dominant role in the "new" Egypt and Libya, as well as Tunisia, and with a Sunni majority in Syria in a position to topple both the Syrian branch of the Baath movement, and the ruling party of Alawites. The fundamental aim of all jihad is the imposition of Islamic law; of course al-Qaeda is pleased.

In addition to being less secular and promising a greater role for Sharia, the regimes taking shape to replace the former ones are much likelier to be more demonstrably hostile to Israel, as is already amply in evidence in Egypt. That is another development that al-Qaeda is overjoyed to see, and expects to be a harbinger of things to come. "New al Qaeda leader releases message to mark 9/11," from CNN, September 13:

(CNN) -- Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri has apparently released a new message to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, in which he praises the Arab Spring as a "devastating blow" to the United States.

The hour-long video, posted Monday on websites run by supporters of the terror network, includes an audio broadcast purportedly from al-Zawahiri and a video message from Osama bin Laden, recorded before his death in May.

Al-Zawahiri's speech lauds the Arab Spring as having "liberated thousands of the members of the Islamic movement's prisoners, who were imprisoned by direct orders from America."

The uprising in a number of Arab nations, including Egypt, Tunisia and Libya, has also "liberated the Arab people from handcuffs of fear and terror," the message says.

The bin Laden video is apparently the same footage that was released by the U.S. government after bin Laden was killed in a raid by U.S. forces in Pakistan, but this one includes the audio of the former al Qaeda leader speaking.

The version issued by the Pentagon, after it was found in bin Laden's Abbottabad compound, was silent.

The SITE Intelligence Group cites bin Laden's message as warning Americans against "falling as slaves" to the control of major corporations and "Jewish money capital."

In his message, bin Laden also recommends that Americans read the book "Obama's Wars" by Bob Woodward, saying that they should realize that Obama's government has not lived up to his campaign slogan, "Yes we can."

At the time they released it, U.S. officials said they believed the video, which was entitled "A Message to the American People" and had not been broadcast by al Qaeda, was recorded in October or November last year.