Tag Archives: Al Qaeda

American al Qaeda suspect faces new U.S. terrorism charges

By Jonathan Stempel

(Reuters) – Federal prosecutors in New York unveiled new criminal charges on Wednesday against a U.S. citizen believed to have once been an al Qaeda operative, accusing him of involvement in a 2009 car bomb attack on a U.S. military base in Afghanistan.

According to a nine-count indictment, Muhanad Mahmoud Al Farekh, 30, helped prepare one of two explosive devices for use in the Jan. 19, 2009 attack.

Prosecutors said an accomplice detonated one device, while Al Farekh’s fingerprints were found on packing tape for the second device, which a second accomplice carried and did not detonate. The military base was not identified.

Sean Maher, a court-appointed lawyer for Al Farekh, did not immediately respond to request for comment.

The Texas-born Al Farekh was charged with providing material support to al Qaeda, providing material support to terrorists and using explosives. He also faces six conspiracy counts including to murder Americans, use a weapon of mass destruction, bomb a government facility and aid al Qaeda.

Al Farekh faces up to life in prison if convicted. He is scheduled to be arraigned on Thursday before U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan in Brooklyn, New York.

Also known as Abdullah al-Shami, Al Farekh had been detained in Pakistan prior to being flown to Brooklyn, where he first appeared last April 2.

He pleaded not guilty on June 4 to three criminal counts in an indictment made public a week earlier.

Prosecutors accused Al Farekh of providing material support to al Qaeda from Dec. 2006 to Sept. 2009, in a plot that involved two fellow students from the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada.

Al Farekh was purportedly inspired by Anwar Al-Awlaki, a radical cleric whose teachings are believed by prosecutors to have inspired terrorism plots including the 2005 London subway bombings and a failed 2010 bombing in New York’s Times Square.

Al-Awlaki was killed in a 2011 U.S. drone attack in Yemen.

The case is U.S. v. Al Farekh, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York, No. 15-cr-00268.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by David Gregorio)

Hostages in Mali Hotel : U.S. Special Forces Assisted in Rescue Efforts

Two gunmen arrived in cars with diplomatic plates early Friday morning and fired their way into the Radisson Blu Hotel in Mali,West Africa’s capital.  A combination of UN peacekeeping forces, U.S. Special Forces and local police  worked together to rescue well over 100 Staff and Guests.  The siege ended with both gunmen killed.  Currently officials are combing the building looking for more injured.  So far 21 people have been confirmed to be dead.   There are an unconfirmed number of injured being brought out of the building.

“U.S. forces have helped move civilians to secured locations as Malian forces clear the hotel of hostile gunmen,” said Lt. Cmdr. Anthony Falvo, a spokesman for U.S. Africa Command said before the crisis ended.

The Islamist terrorists stormed the US-owned hotel,  popular with foreign businesses and airline crews, shooting and shouting “God is great!” in Arabic, according to the BBC.  The gunman took over 170 people including many foreigners as hostages.

Reuters reports that dozens of people were reported to have escaped or been freed. Some people were freed by the attackers after showing they could recite verses from the Koran, while others were brought out by security forces or managed to escape under their own steam.

Interior Security Minister Colonel Salif Traore, speaking on state-run television, said 76 people had been freed by security forces.

Mali has been battling rebels allied to al Qaeda for several years.  An al Qaeda Islamic Terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Terrorists Seize Key Syrian Airbase

The key Syrian government airbase in Idlib has fallen to rebels after a two-year siege of the base.

The majority of the rebel groups that finally overran the base were Islamists groups including the al-Qaeda affiliated al-Nusra Front.  The capture was possible because a major dust storm that struck the region grounded all the aircraft at the base.

The rebels now control the province of Idlib.

Syrian state TV even conceded the base, stating that troops had “evacuated their positions and moved to another point”.

Syrian President Bashir al-Assad has admitted that his army is facing a “manpower problem.”  He said that they will have to give up some land so they have sufficient forces to defend “more important” properties.

At least 240,000 people have died so far in the four year Syrian civil war.

Al-Qaeda Second In Command Killed

The number two man in the al-Qaeda power structure has reportedly been killed in a drone strike in Yemen.

Nasir al-Wuhayshi was called the “leading light” of the terrorist organization and one terrorism analyst told CNN the death is “the biggest blow against al-Qaeda since the death of bin Laden.”

“[Al-Wuhayshi] was responsible for the deaths of innocent Yemenis and Westerners, including Americans,” U.S. National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said.

“While AQAP, al Qaeda and their affiliates will remain persistent in their efforts to threaten the United States, our partners and our interests, (al-Wuhayshi’s) death removes from the battlefield an experienced terrorist leader and brings us closer to degrading and ultimately defeating those groups.”

Al-Wuhayshi was notorious for saying that Al-Qaeda needed to “eliminate the cross and the bearer of the cross is America!”

“Nasser al-Wuhayshi was a major global figure among jihadists, even supporters of al-Qaeda’s rival Islamic State viewed Wuhayshi with respect,” Islamic groups analyst Murad Batal al-Shishani said to the Christian Post.

“As well as creating AQAP itself, Wuhayshi also played a major role in forming the AQAP off-shoot, Ansar al-Sharia, in 2011, to appeal to disaffected youth in Yemen at the time of the Arab Spring. AQAP’s leader cultivated good relations with local tribes, which helped his group advance in various places in the south of the country.”

Unfortunately, the man who is replacing al-Wuhayshi is considering a formidable opponent.

“Qasm al-Rimi was considered the brains of the operation,” CNN terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank said. “For more than a decade, he’s really been at the helm of the military side of things for AQAP but also planning their large international operations.”

Senator Says U.S. Vulnerable To ISIS

The chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee said that the United States is “certainly vulnerable” to the Islamic terrorist group ISIS.

Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) said those who support ISIS see them as a “winning organization” so the U.S. has no other choice but to completely defeat the group.

“The best strategy the U.S. can employ to defeat this is actually defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria so that the reality is conveyed that this is not a winning organization, it is a losing organization,” Johnson said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.

Johnson cited the recent failed attack on a cartoon contest in Texas as an example of ISIS supporters seeing them as “winning” despite the attack failing in its goal.  Johnson said it’s also difficult because they can’t easily deal with those who are activity promoting ISIS.

“The problem is, what do you do with the not-guilty-yet? We do have laws, we have a Constitution, and it’s extremely difficult for law enforcement officials when you might have tens of thousands of sympathizers — how do you track them all?” Johnson asked.

Johnson said that up to 90,000 twitter accounts in the United States were promoting ISIS although Twitter has begun to delete them.

FBI Director James Comey said Thursday that the terrorists are trying to recruit “hundreds, maybe thousands” of potential terrorists in the U.S.  Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said the U.S. is in “more serious circumstances today than we were after 9/11.”

“Remember, back then we thought about al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan and a few other places? Well, we’ve seen al-Qaeda metastasize,” Ridge told CNN. “It is now a global scourge. And you have the ascendancy of ISIL. The combination of those two groups — their appeal to the lone wolfs and we see them acting in Belgium and in France and in Canada and the United States, so the threat factors and the nature of the threats are far more complicated and far more serious today than on Sept. 12, 2001.”

Top Cleric of Yemen’s Al-Qaeda Branch Killed

A terrorist leader with a $5 million bounty on his head has been killed in Yemen.

Yemen’s Al-Qaeda branch posted a statement saying that Ibrahim al-Rubaish was killed along with other terrorists in a Sunday night drone strike.  The statement did not say where the strike that killed the terrorist leader took place.

Al-Rubaish once was imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay but had been released in 2006.  He joined Al-Qaeda’s Yemeni branch and was considered the main theological advisor to the group.  His writings and sermons were among the most viewed in terrorist publications.

If the drone attack is verified, it will be the first drone strike since the country devolved into war when Islamic terrorists backed by Iran advanced into the nation.  Saudi Arabia has been leading a coalition of airstrikes against the terrorist’s advances.

Al-Qaeda is a rival of the advancing terrorist group and has launched their own assaults to stop the advanced of the Iranian-backed group.  U.S. intelligence sources say that as Al-Qaeda is forced to focus on stopping the terrorist advance, they have less resources and time to plot against Western interests in the region.

Tunisia Arrests 23-Member Terror Cell

Tunisian officials announced that a 23-member terror cell has been arrested in connection with the attack on the Bardo Museum that left 20 tourists and police dead.

All of the members of the jihadist network were Tunisian.  Officials say they are looking for another Tunisian, two Moroccans and an Algerian who have connections to the terrorist networks.

The Tunisian man was identified as Maher Ben Mouldi Kaidi, also known as the “third attacker”, that provided the weapons for the terror attack.

The investigators say they have confirmation that the group was connected with Al-Qaeda, not ISIS as originally believed by some investigators.  The group was working with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

AQIM had been the segment of the terrorist group that had been in control of much of Mali until French forces drove them out of the major cities and into the mountains.

 

Pakistani Man Found Guilty Of Terrorism In New York

A Pakistani man who was brought to the U.S. from Great Britain on terrorism charges has been found guilty.

Abid Naseer was found guilty in a jury trial of providing material support to al-Qaeda and conspiracy to use a destructive device.  He faces life in prison at his sentencing as part of the condition for him to be extradited for trial is that the death penalty would not be considered.

The jury’s decision took a day after closing arguments on Monday.

“If the defendant hadn’t been stopped, hundreds of innocent men, women and children wouldn’t be alive today,” prosecutor Zainab Ahmed said during closing arguments. “He was trying to cover up his motive for revenge against the United States and its NATO allies. Revenge was the defendant’s motive.”

Naseer defended himself in court and said that the government did nothing to prove connection to al-Qaeda and all the email communications they pointed out where just him trying to find a wife.

Islamists Call For Attacks On American Malls

A video released by an Al-Qaeda affiliate is calling for attacks on malls in the United States and other parts of the western world.

Al-Shabaab release the video Saturday citing three malls:  The Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota; West Edmonton Mall in Alberta, Canada; Oxford Street shopping area in London, England.

The terror group, which was behind the deadly Westgate Mall attack in Nairobi, Kenya in 2013, showed images of that assault at the start of the clip before issuing a call.

“If just a handful of mujahedeen fighters could bring Kenya to a complete standstill for nearly a week then imagine what a dedicated mujahedeen in the West could do to the American or Jewish-owned shopping centers across the world?” he asks. “What if such an attack were to occur in the Mall of America in Minnesota? Or the West Edmonton Mall in Canada? Or in London’s Oxford Street?”

“What would be the implications of such an attack? One could only imagine. And all it takes is a man with firm determination,” he continues. “So hurry up, hasten towards Heaven and do not hesitate.”

The Mall of America announced they have increased security in response to the video.  The Department of Homeland Security said they are aware of the video and they’re taking steps to analyze the footage.

Jeh Johnson, head of Homeland Security, said people shopping need to be careful.

“If anyone is planning to go to the Mall of America today, they’ve got to be particularly careful,” he said. “There will be enhanced security there, but public vigilance, public awareness and public caution in situations like this is particularly important, and it’s the environment we’re in, frankly.”

Yemen’s Fall Took U.S. Intelligence By Surprise

The top counterterrorism official for the White House admitted Thursday that the overthrow of the Yemeni government by Islamic extremists had taken U.S. intelligence services by surprise.

National Counterterrorism Center Director Nick Rasmussen told the Senate Intelligence Committee the Yemeni army’s response to the advancing rebels was similar to Iraqi forces who simply laid down arms before ISIS last summer.

“As the Houthi advances toward Sanaa [Yemen’s capital] took place,” Rasmussen said, “they weren’t opposed in many places. … The situation deteriorated far more rapidly than we expected.”

The terrorists overran the government last September, deposing the U.S. backed President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.

The terrorists are providing a safe haven in Yemen for al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, who carried out the terrorist attacks in Paris on magazine Charlie Hebdo and a Kosher market.

The U.S., Britain and France have closed their embassies in the country and Britain & France have told their citizens to immediately leave Yemen.