Al-Qaida Claims December 22th Baghdad Bombings

by Florian Flade

Just two days before Christmas numerous bomb explosion hit the predominately Shiite districts of Iraq´s capital Baghdad killing at least 69 people, wounding 180 others – most of them Shiite civilians. The sixteen different attacks took place only about two weeks after U.S. forces officially withdrew from the country.

Immediately blame was on Sunni militants linked to Al-Qaida. Today the „Islamic State of Iraq“, an umbrella organization which de facto represents Al-Qaida, has claimed responsibility for the December 22th Baghdad bombings. A written statement was released and posted in several Jihadi Internet forums.

The multiple attacks, Al-Qaida claims, were carried out „to support the weak Sunnis in the prisons of the apostates and to retaliate for the captives who were executed by the Safavid (Persian) government“. „Special operations“, as Al-Qaida calls the attacks, have allegedly targeted headquarters of the Al-Sadr Militia (Al-Qaida calls them „Army of the Devil“).

„The Iranian project has shown its ugly face“, Al-Qaida´s statement describes the Shiite-dominated government of Iraq. The terrorist group promises to punish the government in the future.

The December 22th bombing series is a clear signal that Al-Qaida – although it is weakened – is very much able to carry out coordinated suicide bombings on a large scale. America´s withdrawal from Iraq will activate and encourage those political elements in the region which are fearful of a strengthened Iran and a Shiite regime in Iraq that is getting its orders from Tehran. Sunni regional powers like the Kingdom of Saudi-Arabia might support the Anti-Shiite elements – like Al-Qaida – in a form that will cause the civil war in Iraq to explode intensify.

 

New AQAP Video – „Oh People Of The Sunnah!“

by Florian Flade

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„You Have Gained Victory, Oh People Of The Sunnah!“ is the title of a new video produced and released by Al-Qaida´s Yemeni branch „Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula“ (AQAP). In it, the militant group presents a Anti-Shiite message, accusing the Houthi movement – followers of the Zaidi confession of Shia Islam – of being a Iranian puppet murdering the Sunni Muslims of Yemen.

The new video shows – besides the AQAP Deputy  Said al-Shihri aka Abu Sufyan al-Azdi  – a suicide bomber named Amin al-Uthman who carried out a attack on a convoy of Houthi leaders. „The Shiites are the enemies of Allah, they spread corruption on earth, they kill women and children and destroy mosques“, the suicide bomber says in his martyrdom statement.

Last year, on November 24, a car bomb exploded during a Houthi festival in the province of Al-Jawf, killing 23 people. The next day, the Houthi movement announced their spiritual leader Badr ad-Din al-Houthi had dead age 86 from chronic asthma. AQAP claimed it had killed al-Houthi in the bombing of the convoy.

On November 26 2010, the day of Badr ad-Din al-Houthi´s funeral in Sa´ada, North-Western Yemen, al-Qaida again struck the Shiites of Yemen, killing two people with a car bomb.

 

Bahrain´s Neda – Revolt Takes Violent Turn

by Florian Flade

Ahmad Farhan – Bahrain´s Revolutionary Symbol

Two days ago, the Kingdom of Saudi-Arabia invaded Bahrain by sending about 1,000 troops, tanks and armored vehicles into the small island state to help the Bahraini government fight the Shia-dominated uprising which began some weeks ago in the aftermath of the Egyptian, Tunisian and Libyan revolts.

Bahrain´s Royal family had requested support from their Saudi-Arabian neighbors in the crackdown of the anti-regime demonstrations which are labeled as a „Iranian led“ insurgency. Saudi-Arabia, fearing its own internal turmoil and quickly isolating their own Shiite population from world media attention, finally decided to sent the army to Bahrain.

Yesterday, the King of Bahrain, announced a three-month emergency rule. The Bahrain revolt has now taken a more violent turn, reports of heavy fighting and casualties are coming not only from the capital Manama but also from Sitra, east of the main island.

Seven protesters and at least two or three Bahraini and Saudi-Arabian soldiers and policemen are reported to have been killed in recent days. One of the first casualties of the Bahrain uprising is now becoming a symbol figure similar to Iran´s Neda, Egypt´s Khalid Said or Tunisia´s Mohammed Bouazizi.

Ahmad Farhan, a 24 year-old from Sitra, was shot in the head by security forces on March 15 and died in the hospital, Dr.Ibrahim Youssef of Sitra Health Center said. A video showing the young men with his head shattered by bullets was distributed on the Internet, calling the young Bahraini a „Martyr of the Revolution“.

Bahrain, which the Iranian government sometimes calls its „14th province“ is now becoming a bloody battlefield of the larger war between Sunni and Shia superpowers in the region.