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Al-Qaida's Jihad in Europe: The Afghan-Bosnian Network

"About [Al-Qaida's] operations in Europe, Evan F. Kohlmann has written an illuminating book... Kohlmann is at his best in exhaustively reporting the details of such terrorist episodes. He has compiled prodigious research about the perpetrators and their support networks. Moreover, he never loses sight of the strategy behind the individual attacks... [a] genuine historical analysis."
- Political Science Quarterly (PSQ)

"This book is a pathbreaking piece of research… Kohlmann addresses the issue in unprecedented detail, exploiting a wide variety of available sources to piece together a largely neglected segment of contemporary Bosnian history… [which] provide critical insights into terrorist preferences, motives, and interests… The book… is descriptive and empirically rich."
- Studies in Conflict and Terrorism

"Written by a genuine expert in the subject... this is a lucid and informed account of the involvement of the mujahedin in Bosnia, one that lays the myths to rest... This excellent book is essential reading for anyone wishing to understand the truth about an episode of the Bosnian war that is so frequently misrepresented by those with a political motive for doing so."
- Dr. Marko Hoare, History Faculty, University of Cambridge

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NEFA Chart: "State of the Sunni Insurgency 2008"
[March 8, 2008]: The NEFA Foundation has released a new chart by NEFA Senior Investigator Evan Kohlmann mapping the complex network of Sunni insurgent groups fighting in Iraq. The chart includes representations for the four dominant insurgent umbrella groups--Al-Qaida's Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), the Reform and Jihad Front (RJF), the Political Council for the Iraqi Resistance (PCIR), and the Front for Jihad and Change (FJC)--as well as over twenty individual organizations, including Al-Qaida, the Ansar al-Sunnah Army, the Army of al-Mustafa, the Dera Islam Brigade, the Islamic Army in Iraq (IAI), the Mujahideen Army, the Fatihin Army, the Salahudeen Brigades, Hamas al-Iraq, Asaeb al-Iraq al-Jihadiya, the Army of Abi Bakr al-Siddiq, the Saad Bin Abi Waqqas Brigades, the Brigades of Medina al-Munawwara, the Al-Naqshabandiya Army, the Al-Qassas Brigade, the 1920 Revolution Brigades, the Al-Rashideen Army, the Islamic Movement of Iraqi Mujahideen (IMIM), the Al-Muslimeen Army (JAM), the Al-Tabiin Army, the Army of Mohammed al-Fatih, and Saraya Dawa Wal Ribat (SDWR).

West Point CTC Sentinel Article: "Al-Qaida's MySpace"
[January 17, 2008]: The Combating Terrorism Center at West Point has released the second issue of its Sentinel journal, including a new piece by Evan Kohlmann on "Al-Qaida's MySpace"--which tracks a growing number of case studies in which users on extremist Internet forums such as Al-Ekhlaas have been vanishing off the forums, only to suddenly re-appear later as suicide bombers in the service of Al-Qaida in Iraq.  Kohlmann warns that, "in the same way that traditional terrorist training camps once served as beacons for would-be jihadists, online support forums such as Muntada al-Ansar and al-Ekhlaas now operate as black holes in cyberspace, drawing in and indoctrinating sympathetic recruits, teaching them basic military skills and providing a web of social contacts that bridges directly into the ranks of Al Qaeda. Rather than simply using the web as a weapon to destroy the infrastructure of their enemies, Al Qaeda is using it instead as a logistical tool to revolutionize the process of terrorist enlistment and training... This is the hidden dark side of online social networking--as a virtual factory for the production of suicide bombers."

Report from NEFA: "The Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG)"
[October 23, 2007]: An analytical report is available for download from the NEFA Foundation website focusing on the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), authored by NEFA Senior Investigator Evan Kohlmann (with NEFA Senior Analyst Josh Lefkowitz). This document is based upon an expert witness report filed in 2007 on behalf of Scotland Yard's SO-15 Counter Terrorism Command and the U.K. Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) during Operation Cavern (Regina v. Al Bashir Mohammed al-Faqih). In July 2007, Mr. al-Faqih pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing a document or record containing information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism—specifically documents demonstrating how to fabricate explosives and set up a terror cell. The report is divided into the following sections: Part I: Origins in the 1980s Part II: Exile in the Sudan (1992-1995) Part III: The Libyan Theater (1990-1997) Part IV: A Return to Jihad in Afghanistan (1998-2001) Part V: The LIFG and the Contemporary War on Terrorism Additionally, the report includes an appendix featuring an actual personnel form completed by recruits seeking to enlist in courses offered at the LIFG-run "Abu Yahya al-Liby" terrorist training camp near Kabul, Afghanistan in 2000-2001.

State of the Sunni Insurgency in Iraq: August 2007
[August 15, 2007]: A new report is available for download from the Nine Eleven Finding Answers (NEFA) Foundation website, titled "State of the Sunni Insurgency in Iraq." This 31-page document is intended to offer readers a clearer understanding of the changing dynamics behind the Sunni insurgency in Iraq, based primarily upon a critical analysis of open source intelligence and propaganda material published by insurgents themselves, and also by the U.S. and Iraqi governments. It follows up on a previous inaugural version released through Globalterroralert.com in December 2006. The report is divided into five sub-sections, as follows: "The Rise of Al-Qaida’s 'Islamic State of Iraq' (ISI)"; "Conflict Over Al-Qaida’s Expansion; "Emergence of the Reformation and Jihad Front (RJF)"; "Hot and Cold War Between the ISI and RJF"; and, "Conclusions."

Two Decades of Jihad in Algeria: the GIA, GSPC and Al-Qaida
[May 1, 2007]: A new report is available for download from the Nine Eleven Finding Answers (NEFA) Foundation website, titled "Two Decades of Jihad in Algeria: the GIA, the GSPC, and Al-Qaida", by NEFA Senior Investigator Evan Kohlmann.  The report examines the rise of the jihadist movement in Algeria and attempts to trace its evolution in tactics, ideology, and its now official relationship with Al-Qaida.  It includes separate chapters on the following subjects: The Afghan Theater, The Founding of the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), Collapse of the GIA, Arrival of the Salafist Group for Prayer and Combat (GSPC), The GSPC and the "War on Terrorism", The GSPC's Transformation into Al-Qaida, and The GIA/GSPC Operational Presence in Europe.