Globalterroralert.com

An Information Clearinghouse for Counterterrorism Researchers, Analysts, and Policymakers

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

NOW ON SALE IN EUROPE AND NORTH AMERICA

March 2008	NEFA Chart: "State of the Sunni Insurgency 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).

March 2008	Expert Witness Report: U.S. v. Abu-Jihaad The NEFA Foundation is making available the expert witness report filed by NEFA Senior Investigator Evan Kohlmann on behalf of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Connecticut in U.S. v. Hassan Abu-Jihaad. On March 5, a jury in New Haven found Abu-Jihaad guilty of providing material support to terrorists and disclosing classified national defense information. During the trial, federal prosecutors detailed how Abu-Jihaad--a former U.S. Navy signalman--had secretly passed along details regarding the planned movements of U.S. Navy vessels in the Persian Gulf to an Al-Qaida website known as "Azzam Publications." The information was later recovered by British authorities during a raid of the London home of Babar Ahmad, the former administrator in charge of Azzam Publications.

January 2008	West Point CTC Sentinel Article: "Al-Qaida's MySpace" 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."

January 2008	Expert Witness Report: Regina v. Tsouli et al. ("Irhaby007") The NEFA Foundation is making available the expert witness report produced by NEFA Senior Investigator Evan Kohlmann on behalf of New Scotland Yard in the case of Younis Tsouli (jihad webmaster Irhaby007), Waseem Mughal, and Tariq Al-Daour. The three defendants were accused of various criminal charges, including inciting others to commit acts of terrorism “wholly or partly” outside the U.K. and conspiracy to murder. Kohlmann testified as a witness for the U.K. Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), and Tsouli and his co-conspirators pled guilty in July 2007 to inciting murder for terrorist purposes.

January 2008	Expert Witness Report: U.S. v. Muntasser et al. The NEFA Foundation is making available exclusive excerpts from the expert witness report filed by NEFA Senior Investigator Evan Kohlmann on behalf of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Boston, in U.S. v. Muhamed Mubayyid, Emaddedine Muntasser, and Samir al-Monla. On January 11, a Massachusetts jury found Mubayyid, Muntasser, and al-Monla guilty of seven of eight criminal charges, including tax code violations, making false statements, and conspiracy to defraud the U.S. The three men had concealed that their "religious charity" Care International was, in fact, a cover for financing armed Islamic extremist groups.

October 2007	Report from NEFA: "The Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG)" 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.

August 2007	"State of the Sunni Insurgency in Iraq: August 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."

May 2007	"Two Decades of Jihad in Algeria: GIA, GSPC and Al-Qaida" 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.

December 2006	State of the Sunni Insurgency in Iraq: August 2006 A new report is now available for download from Globalterroralert.com titled "State of the Sunni Insurgency in Iraq: 2006." The report details the evolving structure of Iraq's Sunni-led insurgency and includes a chart laying out the various relationships between these groups. The insurgent organizations profiled include Al-Qaida's "Islamic State of Iraq", the Ansar al-Sunnah Army, the Islamic Army of Iraq (IAI), the Mujahideen Army, the Al-Fatihin Army, and Jund al-Sahaba.

September/October 2006	"The Real Online Terrorist Threat" (Foreign Affairs) Fears of a "digital Pearl Harbor" -- a cyberattack against critical infrastructure -- have so preoccupied Western governments that they have neglected to recognize that terrorists actually use the Internet as a tool for organizing, recruiting, and fundraising. Their online activities offer a window onto their methods, ideas, and plans.

May 2006	"The Afghan-Bosnian Mujahideen Network in Europe" Last month, I presented a research paper at a conference in Stockholm organized by the Swedish Emergency Management Agency and other co-sponsors--including the Swedish National Defence College's Center for Assymetric Threat Studies (CATS). Our CTBlog colleague Dr. Magnus Ranstorp--former director of the St. Andrews University Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence--is now Chief Scientist at CATS. At the request of Dr. Ranstorp, I prepared a lengthy study for the conference focusing on the impact of "The Afghan-Bosnian Mujahideen Network in Europe." Copies of the paper are now available for download care of the Swedish National Defence College's website.

April 2006	"Countering the New Dayton: Shift in Strategy for Zarqawi" A new strategy paper is now available for download from Globalterroralert.com titled "Countering the 'New Dayton': A Shift in Strategy for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq." The paper analyzes Zarqawi's recent decision to form a joint alliance with other Iraqi insurgent groups (within the so-called "Mujahideen Shura Council")--and how the February bombing of the Shiite Askariyya mosque in Samarra fits into Zarqawi's larger plan aimed at disrupting democratic elections and foreclosing any hope of peace between Sunnis and Shiites.

January 2006	"The Jihadists of Pakistan: JEM, HUM, and SSP" A new report is available for download from the Nine Eleven Finding Answers (NEFA) Foundation website titled, "The Jihadists of Pakistan: Jaish-e-Muhammad (JEM), Harakat ul-Mujahideen (HUM), and Anjuman Sipah-e-Sahaba (SSP)." The document is based upon an expert witness report that I submitted on behalf of federal prosecutors in the recent case of United States v. Hamid Hayat (U.S. Dist. Court for the Eastern District of California, CR#05-240GB). The report contains a detailed discussion of Pakistan-based military training camps used by JEM and HUM, and further analysis of what has become of those camps under the so-called "Regime of Controlled Freedom."

January 2006	"The Role of Islamic Charities in International Terrorist Recruitment and Financing" This week, I presented a paper on behalf of the Danish Institute of International Studies at an international development conference organized by Denmark's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Copenhagen. My report, titled "The Role of Islamic Charities in International Terrorist Recruitment and Financing", may be downloaded for free in PDF format or, alternatively, can be ordered in printed form directly from the DIIS. Abstract: "The roots of the contemporary radicalisation and support to terrorism can be traced back two decades to the organisational lessons of the Soviet-Afghan war. At the time a number of sympathetic NGOs provided various kind of assistance which proved to be invaluable in the longterm struggle. By clothing their militant activity with charitable ideals, radical militants discovered that they were able to maintain their level of efficiency while working with very few restrictions on an international level. The practice of radical and militant involvement with NGOs and charitable organisations continues today, and an understanding of the linkages between radicalisation and the NGO community is necessary when considering development interventions."

December 2005	"Al-Qaida's Committee in Saudi Arabia: 2002-2003" An occasional report prepared on behalf of the NEFA Foundation is now available for download analyzing the origins and structure of Al-Qaida's Committee in the Arabian Peninsula during its first two years of operation, 2002-2003. The report focuses on the cells inspired by senior Saudi Al-Qaida operative Shaykh Yousef al-Ayyiri (a.k.a. "Al-Battar") and includes analysis of the roles played by extremist Saudi Arabian clerics and U.S. national Ahmed Omar Abu Ali--recently convicted of conspiring with Saudi Al-Qaida members to carry out terrorist attacks in the United States, including the assassination of President George Bush.

January 2005	"Missed Opportunities: The December 1994 Air France Hijacking" A decade ago, the notion that international terrorists were intent on hijacking commercial aircraft and suicide-crashing them into buildings would have seem a bit far-fetched to many in the Western world. Traditional terrorist organizations--including radical Islamic groups like Hezbollah--had often hijacked aircraft and held them hostage in exchange for a list of demands. Passengers and crewmembers were routinely told to remain passive and cooperative during such hijackings; the logic being, terrorists would stand to gain nothing by simply executing their captives. This philosophy on dealing with hijacked commercial airline flights continued throughout the Clinton administration and up until 9/11--even though as early as December 1994, a group of fanatic Algerian militants associated with Usama Bin Laden had brazenly attempted to do the unthinkable: suicide-crashing a jetliner packed with fuel into the city of Paris, possibly aimed at the landmark Eiffel Tower.

January 2005	"Terror-linked Charities Funnel More than $1 Million to Iraq" Several purported foreign Islamic "charities" now active in insurgent-held areas of central Iraq have long histories of aiding armed Islamic extremist groups around the world, including Al-Qaida and other designated terrorists. In this exclusive profile, Globalterroralert.com reveals how two such suspect charities with past terrorist ties--the Egyptian Human Relief Agency (EHRA) and the Turkish Foundation for Human Rights, Liberties, and Humanitarian Relief (IHH)--are responsible for funneling over $1 million in supposed "humanitarian aid" to the Sunni Triangle in the last eighteen months alone.

November 2004	"Missouri Charity Donations Helped Finance Al-Qaida" After years of investigation, U.S. government agencies have taken punitive action against the Columbia, Missouri-based Islamic African Relief Agency (IARA) for purported links to the Taliban, Al-Qaida, and Usama Bin Laden. An exclusive dossier shows that at least $250,000 IARA raised for "charity" in 1999 actually ended up in the coffers of an Al-Qaida front group that provided weapons and travel documents to the Millenium terror network.

March 2003	"Arabian Gulf Financial Sponsorship of Al-Qaida" (Testimony of Matthew Epstein with Evan Kohlmann Before the House Committee on Financial Services, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. "Progress Since 9/11: The Effectiveness of U.S. Anti-Terrorist Financing Efforts.") Abstract: "The roots of the modern Al-Qaida financial network can be directly traced to lessons learned during the early days of the Soviet-Afghan jihad. As the 1980s drew to a close, thousands of idealistic Islamic fundamentalist volunteers arrived in Central Asia, often with no local guide or requisite accommodations. At the time, several wealthy Arabian Gulf charitable organizations, under the guise of aiding Afghan and Pakistani refugees, stepped forward to help channel the jihadi recruits where they were most needed. These wealthy NGOs, sponsored by a number of prominent Gulf businessmen, provided weapons, guesthouses, and travel papers to needy members of the quickly-coalescing Al-Qaida movement. Medical ambulances belonging to the Saudi Red Crescent and other fundamentalist-run relief groups were even diverted to bring Arab fighters back and forth from combat operations."

April 2001	"The Legacy of the Arab-Afghans: A Case Study" (International Politics Honors Thesis; Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service (SFS), Georgetown University; Washington, D.C.) Abstract: "...My thesis will attempt to explain why, despite the doctrine of universal Islamic revolution preached on the battlefields of Afghanistan, the new holy struggles initiated after the war were fought neither uniformly in method nor in extent... Why do such great disparities remain in the activities and success of the various Arab-Afghan organizations? Why has a state such as Algeria which does not have a strong tradition of fundamentalist Islamic values been more susceptible to an Islamist revolt than Saudi Arabia, which was literally founded upon them? To what degree are individual, domestic socioeconomic factors important in mobilizing support for militant revivalist movements in the Islamic world? Which government tactics have been most effective in reducing the extremist threat posed by these radicals and channeling discontent into peaceful, non-threatening activities? ...by understanding the confluence and synthesis of the variety of factors present, we gain a better understanding of the Arab-Afghans and how to prevent their violent disaffection and anger from spreading throughout the developing world."

January 1999	"Trends in Anti-American Terrorism" (Journal of Counterterrorism and Security International, by John Eubanks and Evan Kohlmann) Abstract: "...Individuals such as Bin Laden and his terrorist cadre have shifted the focus of American foreign policy regarding terrorism to the Middle East. Bin Laden's group has been held responsible for attacks against Americans in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Somalia... What do the actual statistics reveal? Does Middle Eastern terrorism pose a calculable threat to American interests overseas? To get an accurate picture of the trends of Middle Eastern terrorism, we have undertaken an analysis of international terrorist statistics..."