The Long War Journal

Al Qaeda in Iraq executed its second major suicide attack against Iraqi security personnel in two days. Today, a suicide bomber attacked members of the Awakening in Taji, a city just north of Baghdad.

The suicide bomber detonated his vest in the midst of the anti-al Qaeda Awakening fighters as they were collecting their salaries. Nineteen Awakening members and three Iraqi soldiers were killed in the blast, and 44 more people were wounded, according to reports.

The Awakening, which gained critical momentum in the fall of 2006 in the western province of Anbar, was formed by Sunni tribes to fight al Qaeda in Iraq. The movement rapidly expanded to other areas of Iraq, and also included Shia and other ethnic groups. Awakening forces, which in the past were sometimes referred to as the Sons of Iraq and Concerned Local Citizens, were supported by the US and the Iraqi government and military, and were instrumental in helping to drive al Qaeda from cities and towns during the "surge" in 2007 and 2008.

Al Qaeda in Iraq has frequently targeted Awakening leaders and fighters for their opposition to the terror group. Most recently, on Jan. 15 a suicide bomber killed Sheikh Aifan Sadoun Aifan al-Issawi, who was a member of parliament and a prominent Awakening leader in Fallujah, along with five Awakening fighters in an attack near that city. Several years earlier, Sheikh Abdul Sattar Abu Risha, the founder of the Awakening in Ramadi who organized the first effective resistance to al Qaeda, was killed in a car bombing outside of his home in September 2007.

Today's suicide attack is the second against Iraqi security personnel in Taji in the past two weeks. On Jan. 22, a suicide bomber killed seven people in an attack outside an Iraqi military base in the city.

The suicide attack in Taji is also the second in Iraq in the past two days. Yesterday, an al Qaeda in Iraq suicide assault team attacked a police headquarters in Kirkuk in an apparent attempt to free prisoners being held there. More than 16 people were killed in the deadly attack.

Security in Iraq has slowly deteriorated after the withdrawal of the US military at the end of 2011. While al Qaeda in Iraq does not openly control territory as it did in 2007, before US and Iraqi forces drove it from strongholds throughout the country, the terror group can still organize and execute large-scale attacks, such as a March 2012 raid in Haditha that killed 27 Iraqi policemen, including two commanders. The group has also launched a number of coordinated attacks, including large-scale bombings, in multiple cities throughout Iraq. Furthermore, al Qaeda has been empowered by recent unrest in Syria, regenerating under a new banner, that of the Al Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant, one of the most prominent rebel groups fighting the regime of Bashar al Assad.

The Al Nusrah Front is under the command Abu Du'a (a.k.a. Abu Bakr al Baghdadi al Husseini al Qurshi), the emir of al Qaeda in Iraq, according to the US State Department, which which designated Al Nusrah as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in December 2012. The group has claimed credit for 48 of the 58 suicide attacks that have taken place in Syria since December 2011. Several of those attacks were complex suicide assaults on heavily defended targets.

Sources:

Suicide blast near Baghdad kills 22, injures 44, AFP
Suicide bomber kills over a dozen in Iraq, Al Jazeera
Iraq suicide blast kills 22 north of Baghdad, Associated Press

An al Qaeda in Iraq suicide assault team attacked an Iraqi police headquarters in the northern flashpoint city of Kirkuk today. The tactic is being employed with increasing frequency by al Qaeda and its affiliates and allies in all of the major theaters of the Long War.

The attack began when a suicide bomber drove a car packed with explosives into the main gate of a police headquarters in Kirkuk. After the blast breached the entrance, a small team of fighters wearing police uniforms and armed with suicide vests, assault rifles, and hand grenades attempted to storm the compound.

Iraqi forces then engaged and killed the al Qaeda assault team, which was thought to be made of up two or three fighters, before they could reach the main building. Estimates of casualties from the assault have varied, from between 16 to 33 people killed, including four policemen, and dozens wounded, including a police brigadier. Many civilians were killed in the initial blast, which also heavily damaged the surrounding area.

Iraqi military officers told AFP that they believe the assault team was attempting to free al Qaeda prisoners being held at the facility. Al Qaeda in Iraq has attacked multiple prisons and freed scores of prisoners as part of its "Destroying the Walls" campaign, which was announced by the group's emir, Sheikh Mujahid Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, on July 21, 2012.

Kirkuk is in an area where ethnic tensions persist between Sunnis, Kurds, and Turkmen. The Kurdish Regional Government wants to annex Kirkuk into its semiautonomous state, but the central Iraqi government has resisted such moves. Al Qaeda in Iraq has exploited these fault lines by conducting attacks such as the one today.

Security in Iraq has slowly deteriorated after the withdrawal of the US military at the end of 2011. While al Qaeda in Iraq does not openly control territory as it did in 2007, before US and Iraqi forces drove it from strongholds throughout the country, the terror group can still organize and execute large-scale attacks, such as a March 2012 raid in Haditha that killed 27 Iraqi policemen, including two commanders. The group has also launched a number of coordinated attacks, including large-scale bombings, in multiple cities throughout Iraq. Furthermore, al Qaeda has been empowered by recent unrest in Syria, regenerating under a new banner, that of the Al Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant, one of the most prominent rebel groups fighting the regime of Bashar al Assad.

The suicide assault is a common jihadist tactic

Today's suicide assault is the latest in a series of similar attacks in the theaters of the Long War by al Qaeda and its affiliates and allies operating in South Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.

The Taliban and the Haqqani Network frequently use the tactic to strike at Coalition and Afghan bases, ministries, police and military headquarters, and other high-value targets such as hotels. In one of the most successful attacks, in September 2012, a suicide assault team attacked Camp Bastion in Helmand province. The 15-man Taliban team penetrated the perimeter at the airbase, destroyed six USMC Harriers and damaged two more, and killed the squadron commander and a sergeant. In the course of the assault, 14 of the 15 members of the assault team were killed, while the last was wounded and captured. Camp Bastion is a sprawling military base shared by US Marines and British troops that is located in the middle of the Dashti Margo desert in Helmand province.

Jihadists have also conducted multiple suicide assaults in Pakistan. Just yesterday, a suicide assault team overran a military outpost in Lakki Marwat, killing 13 soldiers and 10 civilians. In one of the most brazen attacks, in October 2009, a suicide assault team stormed the Pakistani Army General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, taking control of several buildings and killing two senior officers before being killed.

In India, the Lashkar-e-Taiba, an al Qaeda-linked group that is backed by the Pakistani military and its intelligence branch, the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, shut down the city of Mumbai for three days in 2008 as a suicide assault team fanned out across the city and attacked hotels, a train station, a Jewish center, and other targets. One hundred and seventy-six people were killed during the 60-hour-long battle.

In Syria, the Al Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant, al Qaeda in Iraq's affiliate, has launched multiple suicide assaults on military and intelligence headquarters in Damascus and elsewhere, including one in late January, in which five suicide bombers attacked a base near the Golan Heights.

In the Egyptian Sinai, jihadists launched a complex attack at night on a border crossing between Israel, Egypt, and the Gaza Strip in August 2012. The terrorists killed 16 Egyptian soldiers and overran their base, seized two Egyptian armored personnel carriers, attacked the border checkpoint, and penetrated more than a half mile into Israeli territory. Israeli soldiers and the Israeli air force engaged and killed the terrorists who had entered the country. Additionally, a jihadist group attacked the Multinational Force & Observers base in the Gora region in September 2012.

And last month in Algeria, a suicide assault team from the al-Mua'qi'oon Biddam, or Those who sign with Blood Brigade, took control of a natural gas facility at In Amenas, killing 38 foreigners during the several-day-long battle. Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the leader of the group, claimed the attack in al Qaeda's name. Belmokhtar has longstanding ties to al Qaeda and its affiliate in North Africa, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

Sources:

Car bomb and attack on north Iraq police HQ kills 30, AFP
Deadly suicide bomb attacks rock Iraq's Kirkuk, Xinhua
Attackers kill 33 at police HQ in disputed Iraqi city, Reuters

The Taliban claimed credit for today's deadly suicide assault on a Pakistani military checkpoint in the northwestern district of Lakki Markat. The Taliban claimed the attack was carried out to avenge the deaths of commanders who were killed in recent US drone strikes in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal areas.

The heavily-armed suicide assault team stormed a military checkpoint in the Serai Naurang area of Lakki Marwat district. Thirteen Pakistani military personnel, 11 civilians, and 12 Taliban fighters are reported to have been killed during the heavy fighting, according to Dawn. The civilians are said to have died after the suicide bomber ran into a home during the fighting and detonated his vest, killing 10 members of a family, including three children.

Taliban spokesman Ihsanullah Ihsan claimed the attack, but denied that 12 of his fighters were killed. Ihsan said the attack was executed to avenge the deaths of two senior Movement of the Taliban commanders, Faisal Khan and Toofani, who were killed in drone strikes in early January.

"We sent only four suicide bombers to attack this checkpost. We attacked it to avenge the killing of two of our friends in a recent drone strike," Ihsan told AFP.

"Pakistan has been co-operating with the US in its drone strikes that killed our two senior commanders, Faisal Khan and Toofani, and the attack on military camp was the revenge of their killing," Ihsan also said, according to Reuters.

Toofani, who was also known as Wali Mohammed, is said to have directed suicide operations for the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan. He was killed in a US drone strike in South Waziristan on Jan. 6.

Faisal Khan, who was said to be a senior commander in the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, was killed in a US drone strike along with two Uzbek fighters in the Mir Ali area of North Waziristan on Jan. 3.

The US has carried out seven drone strikes in Pakistan so far this year. The last recorded strike took place on Jan. 10. In addition to Toofani and Khan, the US killed Mullah Nazir, the head of the Taliban in the Wazir areas of South Waziristan. Although Nazir's group is not part of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, it shelters the group as well as al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations.

Ansar al Sharia Egypt, an extremist group headed by an al Qaeda-allied jihadist, has called on Muslims to pray for a jihadist victory in Mali and to "[q]uickly offer material and moral support for the Muslim Mali people." The group's statement, which was authored by an Egyptian Salafist named Jalaluddin Abu al Fotouh and released online in late January, was translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.

Al Fotouh argues that France's "real motives" for the war, which is "supported by Crusader Europe and tyrannical America and the rest of the forces of evil against the Muslims in Mali," are to prevent the implementation of sharia law. This is a common argument advanced by Salafi Jihadists in the wake of France's intervention.

"The forces of evil and disbelief cannot be silent about the establishment of a real Islamic State that is committed to the Qur'an and the Sunnah [traditions of the Prophet Muhammad], especially regarding its foreign relations with the countries of the world," Al Fotouh claims, according to SITE's translation. "They want Mali to be subordinate, servile, and weak and frail so as to be able to loot its resources and steal its wealth."

In a separate entry on Ansar al Sharia Egypt's Facebook page earlier in January, the group threatened France by re-posting an image of the Eiffel Tower being attacked. The graphic was originally produced on another jihadist web site. An Air France airliner can be seen approaching the tower from the left.

The Long War Journal captured a screen shot of the image, which is reproduced at the beginning of this article.

The Arabic text of the image, which can be seen at the top of this article, reads: "France, beware! We are able to carry this out and it would not be the first time." According to a translation obtained by The Long War Journal, Ansar al Sharia Egypt added a caption to its Facebook post that reads, "Is France unaware of who it is fighting?"

Leadership of Ansar al Sharia Egypt

Ansar al Sharia Egypt is led by Ahmed Ashush, who does not hide his allegiance to al Qaeda. In an interview with the Cairo-based publication Al Shuruq al Jadid late last year, Ashush said he was "honored to be an extension of the al Qaeda organization in its beliefs, principles, and concepts."

"We must perpetuate [Osama] bin Laden whether alive or dead," Ashush explained. "If the revolutions of the Arab Spring were fair they would have adopted bin Laden as the symbol of heroism and sacrifice." Ashush called al Qaeda the "House of Honor," the "Title of Glory," and the "Home of the Nation's Dignity."

Ashush adamantly defended al Qaeda's jihad. "We are at war with the United States and Israel and all the Worldly Rulers whom they appointed in the countries of the Muslims to carry out their imperialist blueprint in our countries," Ashush added.

Ashush's ties to al Qaeda date to the early 1990s, when he traveled to Afghanistan. Ashush befriended Abu Hafs al Masri, who went on to become al Qaeda's military chief before he was killed in late 2001, and other senior al Qaeda figures. Ashush forged a lasting relationship with the Zawahiri brothers. He served in the Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ), headed by Ayman al Zawahiri (now the emir of al Qaeda), before helping to establish his own offshoot terrorist organization.

Ashush was arrested in the 1990s and imprisoned inside Egypt until after the fall of Hosni Mubarak's regime. In 2007, Ashush defended al Qaeda's violence from within prison. He was one of the key signatories on a letter rebutting Sayyid Imam al Sharif's (also known as Dr. Fadl) critique of al Qaeda's approach to waging jihad. Another of the signatories was Mohammed al Zawahiri, the younger brother of al Qaeda's emir, who had served as a senior EIJ leader before his arrest in the late 1990s. Mohammed al Zawahiri was also freed from prison in the wake of the Egyptian revolution.

Since both the younger Zawahiri and Ashush were freed from prison, the two have often worked together, as can be seen in numerous jihadist videos and on Ansar al Sharia Egypt's Facebook page.

Mohammed al Zawahiri (right, in front of an al Qaeda in Iraq flag), Sheikh 'Adil Shehato (center, bottom), and Ahmad Ashush (center, speaking on microphone), from an As Sahab video released on Sept. 10, 2012.

Ayman al Zawahiri is so fond of Ashush that clips of the Ansar al Sharia Egypt leader are frequently included in al Qaeda's videos. A Sept. 10, 2012 video starring al Qaeda's emir featured a clip of Ashush praising Osama bin Laden. A two-part al Qaeda video released on Oct. 24 included nine video clips showing Ashush and other Egyptian jihadists. Mohammed al Zawahiri can be seen listening to Ashush's pro-al Qaeda sermons in the same clips.

Ansar al Sharia Egypt's Facebook page features Mohammed al Zawahiri in several posts. Some of the posts show the younger Zawahiri's protest outside the French Embassy in Cairo in January. Mohammed al Zawahiri has criticized the French intervention in Mali and threatened the West with retaliation.

The protest orchestrated by Mohammed al Zawahiri outside the French Embassy was poorly attended, with perhaps hundreds or maybe one thousand demonstrators in attendance. In fact, Ansar al Sharia Egypt has criticized Islamist groups for not doing more to support Zawahiri's demonstration.

It is a "scandal" that "many of the Islamic movements..didn't participate in the peaceful protest in front of the French embassy in Cairo, and all of those who attended the protest were no more than a thousand," Jalaluddin Abu al Fotouh writes in Ansar al Sharia Egypt's statement on Mali.

Ansar al Sharia Egypt, Ahmed Ashush, and Mohammed al Zawahiri will undoubtedly continue to call for jihad in Mali and threaten the West.

Faqir Mohammed. Image courtesy of AfPax Insider.

Faqir Mohammed, the former emir in Bajaur of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, has returned to the fold after his dismissal a year ago for conducting negotiations with the Pakistani government. Faqir is close to al Qaeda emir Ayman al Zawahiri.

Faqir recently appeared on a videotape with Maulvi Abu Bakr, the new emir for the Taliban in the Pakistani tribal agency of Bajaur, along with four commanders identified as "Brother Ahmad," Sheikh Osama, Maulana Abdullah, and Qari Zahid. The videotape, which was produced by the Taliban's Umar Studio sometime in December 2012, was released on the Jamia Hafsa Urdu Forum, a pro-al Qaeda and Taliban website, on Jan. 22. A translation of the videotape was obtained by The Long War Journal.

The video begins with an unidentified interviewer asking Faqir if the "minor differences among the mujahideen in the tribal area of Bajaur Agency" have been resolved, and if Abu Bakr is indeed the new Taliban leader for the agency.

Faqir responds by saying that "it is a fact that there were differences among the mujahideen of Bajaur area," but the differences were resolved after Hakeemullah Mehsud, the overall emir of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, and Mullah Fazlullah, the Taliban emir for the Swat Valley, "sent a powerful and independent delegation to us." Faqir, who also at one time served as the Taliban's deputy leader under Baitullah Mehsud and then Hakeemullah, described Fazlullah as "the chief organizer of our movement."

Faqir confirmed that Abu Bakr is the new emir for Bajaur. Abu Bakr replaced Mullah Dadullah, who was killed in a US airstrike in the eastern Afghan province of Kunar in August 2012. Dadullah took over the Taliban in Bajaur after a long-running dispute with Faqir led to the latter's dismissal in March 2012. Faqir was accused of both not fighting hard enough against Pakistani forces and negotiating with the government without approval from the top leadership.

Abu Bakr also confirmed that he is the emir in Bajaur and that "the differences have been resolved as a result of the efforts of the delegation."

In addition, Abu Bakr affirmed that the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan seeks to wage jihad and establish a caliphate by force, which is a goal of al Qaeda.

"We will continue fighting until we achieve our current objectives of Sharia, caliphate, jihad, honor and our sacrifices ..." he said. He also indicated that there are foreign fighters in the ranks, but was not specific.

Pakistani Taliban far from disorganized and defeated

Faqir's abrupt dismissal last spring was considered by some analysts to indicate a major division within the Taliban ranks. Some local Taliban leaders in Bajaur were unhappy that Faqir had been fired, and warned it might lead to infighting. Ihsanullah Ihsan, the Taliban's top spokesman, announced Faqir's dismissal in an offhand manner in March 2012.

"The TTP [Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan] shura met with its central emir Hakeemullah Mehsud in the chair," Ihsanullah Ihsan, the Taliban's top spokesman said at the time. "It felt that the organization no more required the role of Maulvi Faqir Mohammad as naib [deputy] emir. From today, he will be considered a common fighter and will no longer enjoy the status of TTP naib emir."

Faqir led the Taliban in Bajaur for years, and he is also tied to some of al Qaeda's top leaders, including the group's emir, Ayman al Zawahiri. In the past, Faqir sheltered Ayman al Zawahiri and other senior al Qaeda leaders; one of the first US drone strikes in Pakistan targeted Zawahiri and other top commanders in an area controlled by Faqir.

But Faqir's return to the Taliban fold shows that the group is capable of managing internal divisions and reconciling them. Faqir noted this in the recent videotape, when he said "they are militants and militant work certainly has differences."

Additionally, the videotape shows that the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan is far from defeated, disorganized, and rife with leadership disputes, as the Pakistani government has claimed. Hakeemullah and Fazlullah were able to convene the Taliban's shura, send a delegation to Bajaur to mediate the dispute, and organize the reconciliation of the Taliban factions in the tribal agencies.