Abu Yahya al-Libi – Dead or Live?

by Florian Flade

New Abu Yahya al-Libi video announced

While Western media and numerous news agencies are citing U.S. intelligence sources saying a recent CIA drone strike in North Waziristan killed Al-Qaida commander Abu Yahya al-Libi, there is no word from the Jihadi side yet on wether these claims are true or not.

Yesterday there was an announcement released on several major Jihadi Internet forums indicating Abu Yahya was in fact not killed and is still roaming the mountains of the Pakistani tribal area.

„Glad Tidings: New As-Sahab Video of Abu Yahya al-Libi (may Allah protect him) will be released soon“ – the forums post reads.

Does this announcement made by a forum member mean the Al-Qaida commander survived the U.S. drone attack or was in fact never in the house that was hit by the missiles? No, it does not. In the past Online Jihadis have reacted in a similar way when a prominent Al-Qaida figure was killed. Within the intelligence community there is a saying: „First they deny it, then they mourn it, then they celebrate it, then they call for revenge“.

Question remains if the person who posted the video announcement some 17 hours ago on the forums is in fact in contact with Al-Qaida operatives or those working for the propaganda wing As-Sahab Media.

America´s spies and terrorist hunters are pretty sure they got Al-Libi this time. And even in Pakistan military and intelligence sources claim the Al-Qaida commander is dead now. Three to four Arabs and some Haqqani and Bahadur Taliban were killed in the drone strike on Khassu Khel village, Pakistani sources are saying. Likely Abu Yahya al-Libi was killed next to his Arab bodyguards and driver. 

U.S. Journalist Found Dead In Lebanon

by Florian Flade

UPDATE: Lebanese media is reporting today that U.S. journalist John Redwine died as a result of a hiking incident. The American allegedly fell of a rock while climing the mountains of Central Lebanon and suffered from a deadly injury to his head. His death meanwhile was confirmed by United Nation staff in the country.

Lebanese TV reports U.S. freelance journalist John Redwine went missing last Saturday on a hiking trip in Northern Lebanon. Mr.Redwine´s car was found in the Kesrouan region. Unconfirmed reports say the American journalist was found dead near the city of Baskinta. No word on wether Redwine was killed or died because of an accident or natural causes.

Lebanese soldiers were using two helicopters and trained sniffer dogs to search for the missing journalist. UN staff meanwhile told reporters John Redwine´s dead body has been found.

John Redwine, a U.S. citizen born in 1978 in Sioux City (Iowa), has been living in Beirut for several years, reporting about political events in the country and neighboring Syria. He is fluent in Arabic and traveled the region extensively. In April American TV channel „Fox News“ interviewed Mr.Redwine about the uprising in Syria. In 2006 he worked as an Arabic translator for ABC News during the Israel-Hizbollah War.

Redwine´s death comes admits rising tension in the intelligence community as Lebanese Hizbollah has exposed a CIA spy network allegedly operating in Lebanon.

Al-Qaida´s East-Africa Leader Killed in Somalia

by Florian Flade

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One of the most-wanted al-Qaida figures was allegedly killed in Somalia on Wednesday. Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, a terrorist commander born in the Comoros Islands in 1974 , was a al-Qaida veteran who joined the organization in the 1990s after traveling to Pakistan. He was trained at an al-Qaida camp in Afghanistan and was allegedly sent to Somalia in 1993 where he took part in the famous incident known as „Black Hawk Down“ in which two US military helicopters were shot down in Mogadishu and 18 US troops were killed.

Fazul Abdullah Mohammed is thought to be a mastermind of the 1998 US Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania as well as a suicide bombing on a luxury hotel complex in Mombasa (Kenya) in 2002. The US placed a bounty of US$ 5 Million on the terrorist whom the counter-terrorism officials say speaks five languages including French and English.

Since 2006 the US has been hunting Abdullah Mohammed as a main al-Qaida target in East Africa. In January 2007 a US airstrike on a al-Qaida training camp in Somalia failed to kill him. Back then, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed had joined the Islamic Courts, a militant group that later became Al-Shabaab. Allegedly Mohammed established several training camps in Southern Somalia and was bringing foreign fighters into the country.

When in November 2009 US special forces carried out a raid in Somalia and killed al-Qaida´s East-Africa leader Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed was chosen as his successor by the al-Qaida leadership in Pakistan. „I will honestly perform my duties following my appointment to this new big position by Sheikh Osama bin Laden“, the new al-Qaida East-Africa commander said in speech that was recorded as an audio message.

According to intelligence reports, Mohammed was suspected of traveling in and out of Somalia. He holds a Kenyan passport which led those hunting him believe he would occasionally slip into neighboring Kenya.

On Wednesday last week Somali government troops opened fire on a „Toyota Surf“ SUV heading towards a checkpoint in Somalia´s capital Mogadishu. Two terrorists were killed. The soldiers searched their bodies. One of the two militants carried a South African passport bearing the name „Daniel Robinson“. It was issued in April 2009 and showed that the man had entered Tanzania March 19 and was granted visa there. Additionally US$ 40,000 in cash found in the car.

Initially Somali media reported a Canadian national had been killed by government troops in a firefight. A Al-Shabaab fighter named „Abdurrahman al-Kanadi“ was tought to be the one who was shot dead.

Today Kenyan newspaper The Daily Nation quoted Somali security sources as saying Fazul Abdullah Mohammed was one of the terrorists killed in Mogadishu on Wednesday. Kenya Television Network (KTN) claimed police chief Matthew Iteere confirmed Mohammed´s death.

The US State Department would not comment on the reports coming out of Somalia. Pictures published by Radio Mogadisho of the terrorist´s car and one dead body seem to indicate that it was indeed Fazul Abdullah Mohammed who has been killed.