Al-Qaida in Islamic Maghreb Demands Release of Abu Qatada

by Florian Flade

Last November Islamist militants of Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) kidnapped three Europeans in the Mali desert city of Timbuktu. Among them British-South African national Stephen Malcolm.

Today AQIM released a statement offering the release of the Briton in return for the release of Palestinian cleric Abu Qatada. If the British government agrees to deport Abu Qatada to a country of his choice, Stephen Malcolm will be freed, the statement by AQIM reads.

Britain has been trying to extradite Abu Qatada to Jordan for more than six years now. In the Arab country the cleric has been sentenced in absentia for the involvement in terror attacks. Now the European Court of Human Rights is about to decide wether or not the British government is allowed to extradite Abu Qatada.

In today´s statement AQIM says that Britain will „open the doors of evil“ if the Palestinian cleric will be send to Jordan.

British Jihadi Killed By U.S. Drone In Somalia

by Florian Flade

They are Al-Qaida´s hidden force, joining Al-Shabaab, fighting and training in a country that has suffered from civil war, occupation and drought for decades – foreign Jihadi militants in Somalia.

Hundreds of foreign fighters are actively training and fighting in Somalia, Western intelligence agencies and Somali government officials are estimating. Most of these so-called „Al-Mujahiroun“ are suspected to be from other African countries like Sudan, Kenya, Chad or Eritrea followed by the Arab fighters, some of which are Pakistan/Afghanistan-trained and experienced.

The real concern for Western intelligence services are the Jihadis holding Western passports. The threat these Islamists from Europe and North America are posing has long been underestimated according to various European counter-terrorism officials. Dozens of young men from the Somali communities of Scandinavia, the United Kingdom and the United States have joined Al-Shabaab in recent years, turning the group into an international terrorist organization.

Nevertheless Al-Qaida has successfully established its own branch in Somalia, regularly cooperating with Al-Shabaab. One of these Al-Qaida members in Somalia was killed today by what local sources believe to be a U.S. drone strike on a car.

„At around 2 p.m., a U.S. drone targeted our Mujahidin. One foreigner, a Lebanese with a British passport died“, the chief spokesman for Al-Shabaab, Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage, told news agency Reuters, „Bilal Al-Barqawi, a great Mujahid brother who was in Somalia for a long time was killed today. He was in a car in Elasha. This foreigner is a martyr.“

The British-Lebanese is Bilal Al-Barqawi known as „Abu Hafsa“, a Islamist who grew up in West-London and came to Somalia in 2006 and served as the deputy to Fazul Abdallah, Al-Qaida´s most senior commander in Somalia killed in June 2011 by Somali troops in a Mogadishu shoot-out.

When a U.S. airstrike targeted Lower Jubba region in Southern Somalia in July 2011 Bilal Al-Barqawi was injured on his head and later received treatment in Kenya according to Al-Shabaab.

British intelligence officials have warned about the emerging threat of Western Jihadi militants trained as terrorists in Somalia – especially those holding Western passports. Numerous of these foreigners have died in Somalia, most of them during gun-battles, others became suicide bombers. If the news of Bilal Al-Barqawi is confirmed, this shows: a Western Jihadi was for some years Al-Qaida´s No.2 man in the country.

Al-Qaida in North Africa Warns Of European Military Action

by Florian Flade

The Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has threatened European countries if they are launching a military operation in order to free kidnapped European tourists held by the terrorist group.

A written statement released by AQIM today on the Internet forums says there is information about a planned military operation by a joined force of European countries headed by France to rescue five Europeans abducted by Al-Qaida last year.

„That signals their definite preparation to launch a military operation to target the Mujahidin in an attempt to rescue the Western hostages held captive by the organization (…) And it clearly appears that France and her agents did not learn from the past lessons. They have no intention to avoid repeating the previous stupidity that caused the death of the French hostages in Niger and Mali.“

The Islamists are warning European governments of any attempt to engage with the Al-Qaida hostage takers.

„We send a clear warning to the government of the following countries; France, Britain, Holland and Sweden, that a military attack on the Mujahidin in north Mali will be taken as their approval for executing their citizens“

Al-Qaida further states it will not take any responsibility for the death of hostages if they are killed during a military confrontation.

„The Mujahidin do not wish for such a tragic ending. They are careful to find a peaceful and just resolution for the affair of the hostages. And based on it, we direct an urgent call to the families of the hostages. We say to them: you must pressure your governments to avoid a military operation that will surely cause the death of your relatives“

At this point AQIM is holding at least nine European citizens, including five tourists kidnapped last year. Two French geologists were kidnapped by AQIM on November 24 2011 from their hotel in eastern Mali. AQIM claims the two men are spies of the French intelligence agency.

The following day AQIM gunmen kidnapped three European tourists – a Swede, a Dutchman and a South African with British citizenship – in the historical city of Timbuktu. The group of tourists was having launch at a restaurant in the city when the Islamists attacked. A 58 year-old German national who resisted the kidnappers was shot dead in the incident.

Images of the hostages have been released by AQIM in December 2011.