Friday, March 14, 2008 Mohammed/Muhammed Rahim: Al Qaeda biggie captured!!!
Update: The DoD press release about the capture is here.
Update: It looks like he was captured off the street in Lahore back in August 2007. You gotta wonder where the CIA has been keeping him stashed since then...
Al-Qaeda and Taliban have received another setback when their two important aides were arrested from different places in Pakistan, sources said Wednesday. Muhammad Rahim was arrested few days back from Lahore while Sheikh Ilyas Khel ( Bin Ladens personal translator ) was netted from the general bus-stand in Peshawar, the sources maintained.
From the The Belmont Club: Genius work. Two men in personal contact with Bin Laden were arrested in close conjunction in time but widely separated in space. the six month lagged snapshot shows an intelligence net closing in around Osama Bin Laden's immediate circle.
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty has an interesting piece about an ongoing online spat in the blogosphere between Egyptian-based Al-Qaeda sympathisers and the Afghan Taliban. Apparently the Egyptians are accusing the Taliban of “straying from the path of global jihad” - accusations which have prompted sharp retorts from Taliban spokesmen.
The criticism expressed on pro-AQ blogs follows Taliban leader Mullah Omar’s recent declaration that, while committed to expelling foreign forces from Afghanistan, his movement wishes to maintain positive relations with the international community:
We want to have legitimate relations with all countries of the world… We are not a threat to anyone. America believes that the Taliban is a threat to the whole world. And with this propaganda, America wants to use all other countries to advance their own interests.
Such sentiments were more recently echoed by the Taliban’s former ambassador to Pakistan, Mullah Salam Zaief, whose views are said to be in line with those of the Taliban leadership. Zaief stated:
The conflict in Afghanistan doesn’t mean [the Taliban] has to confront the world… Afghans are very tired of war. They want their homeland. They want peace in their country. They want independence. Whether they are Taliban or other Afghans, I don’t think either wants to confront the entire international community. The Taliban doesn’t want to rule the world.
In addition to these apparently conciliatory statements, which seemed designed to distance the Taliban from their more hardline AQ allies, pro-AQ bloggers were further angered in early March when the Taliban expressed solidarity with Shia Iran by condemning recent UN Security Council sanctions imposed on the country in response to its nuclear activities.
Such criticisms were dismissed by Zaief however, who argued that the “irresponsible comments” of foreign extremists indicated they were more motivated by their own self-interest than what was good for Afghans.
LAHORE, March 12: While Lahore police appear to be clueless about Tuesday's devastating suicide attacks on Federal Investigation Agency's headquarters on Temple Road and the office of an advertising agency in Model Town, reports about presence of about half-a-dozen would-be suicide bombers in the city sent shivers down their spine on Wednesday.
After receiving the report, what police could do immediately was to barricade a portion of a road facing the office of the Inspector-General of Police in the Old Anarkali area.
Other government buildings in the city are doing the same. According to a senior police officer, the Lahore police had beefed up security and were looking for the suspected terrorists in Lahore and elsewhere.
Meanwhile, police and the Federal Investigation Agency's Special Investigation Group collected evidence from the sites of Tuesday's suicide attacks.
"We have still found no clue to Tuesday's devastating suicide bombings and no arrests have been made," DIG Tussadaq Husain told Dawn.
He said he hoped that investigation teams would soon get a lead. Suspected terrorists, who had been detained in connection with a suicide bombing at the Navy War College on March 4, were being interrogated also about Tuesday's blasts.
Police have so far collected the chassis numbers of the two vehicles used in the bombings and limbs of the bombers had been sent for DNA tests.
Two investigation teams have been working on different lines. One of them is trying to determine if the two mini-trucks had been parked near the targets. The other team is trying to find out whether two or four suicide bombers had carried out the attacks.
Meanwhile, a source said that law-enforcement agencies had arrested four suspects in Faisalabad in connection with the Lahore terrorist attack on the FIA building.
He said the owner of one of the pick-ups used in the bombings was among the arrested.
The man, identified as Imtiaz Ahmed, was taken into custody from the Samundri Road where he had his transport business.
Earlier, funeral prayers for 15 FIA officials were held the Police Lines.
Governor Khalid Maqbool, Caretaker Chief Minister Ijaz Nisar, FIA Director-General Tariq Pervaiz, IGP Azhar Nadeem and CCPO Malik Iqbal attended the prayers.
The government has announced Rs500,000 compensation for each of the FIA victims and jobs for their kin.
Aftermath of the suicide bombing outside. Geo News photo. Click to view.
Taliban suicide bombers have struck again in the Pakistan city of Lahore. Near-simultaneous suicide car bomb attacks hit two buildings in Lahore, killing at least 28 and wounding over 160 Pakistanis. One of the suicide car bombers struck an office building housing Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency headquarters and a US counterterrorism team.
Pakistani officials received warnings the offices of the Federal Investigation Agency would be attacked, “but we were not expecting it in Lahore,” Federal Investigation Agency chief Tariq Pervaz told Geo News. “The agency mainly deals with immigration and people smuggling but the building also housed the offices of a special US-trained unit created to counter terrorism,” Geo News reported. Twenty-two Pakistanis were killed in the blast; no US deaths have been reported in the blast that tore the front of the eight-story office building.
The second bombing occurred outside an advertising firm, but the motive for this attack is unclear. At least six Pakistanis were killed and scores wounded in the bombing.
Footage from one of the CCTV cameras at the Lahore's Federal Investigation Agency building seems to have captured the suicide bomber in action on Tuesday.
Caught on tape is a truck that drove through the gates of the building knocking over a man standing there.
The first suicide bomber allegedly drove into the building carrying 55 kilos of explosives and ploughed down one of the guards at the gate.
After Tuesday's blasts, security plans and intelligence-gathering operations are being accelerated across Pakistan, according to the outgoing interior minister.
''We are going through a very crucial phase of transition and we are transiting towards a full fledged democratic rule. And, of course, I think perhaps one answer could be that the terrorists are trying to put maximum pressure on to the government that's in the making,'' said Javed Iqbal Cheema, Interior Minister, Pakistan.
Al-Qaeda steps up its battle in Pakistan By Syed Saleem Shahzad
PESHAWAR, North-West Frontier Province - Al-Qaeda masterminded the deadly suicide attacks in Lahore this week at the offices of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Asia Times Online has learned. The attacks are part of al-Qaeda's broader plan to undermine recent Pakistan-United States joint efforts to eradicate al-Qaeda's growing influence in Pakistan society.
Huge Paradigm shift in GWOT Major change, still classified. Breaking will share as soon as released.
Begining of the end of GWOT
G gona go pratice my dancin.
updating today: 031908 We expected this to break in the News, still waiting, We have background noise, chatter about al Qaeda suicide strikes against the Taliban. For abandoning al Qaeda in Afghan. Some evidence of Taliban disengaging from al Qaeda G
I think the USA paradigm on this is very clear. The kidnappers have just brought the full weight and force of the USA Intelligence agency's down on them. There are CIA hunter killer teams tracking them now. If the hostages are harmed further USA will hunt the kidnappers into hell.
There are rewards for info leading to the death or arrest of these kidnappers. The $150.000.00 USD stands for the safe return of the hostages. A $150,000 ransom has been offered on a Minneapolis-based website, Save5.net See links in our side bar, to CIA, FBI, MI5. The CIA site you may have to try 2 or 3 times, it doesn't work well.
This will unite the American public behind Bush like nothing else I could have thought of. And could guarantee a "WAR" President is elected.
In 1991 Tom Clancy released a book titled The Sum of All Fears. It portrayed the face of a world in fear from nuclear terrorists. Ten years later terrorists sucker punched the heart of American. The media again painted the world wearing a face of fear.
Unseen In the years that followed, a different face quietly stepped forward. The U.N. isn't aware. Governments and business ignore it. The media is blind to it. The new face has no funding. No power brokers. No lobbyists. No authority. Still it emerged. Fearless.
Self Aware One day a lone human caught sight of the new face. Somehow, grasping it on a global scale, he called it, "The Brilliant Sector". It evolved into a call to action. Some, working alone, heard the call. Now aware that others are working together, they too boldly stepped forward to join the new face. Fearless. Relentless. Tireless.
It Knows What nightmare makes a terrorist tremble in fear? What horror wakes them in a cold sweat? The face of the tracker. The face of the infiltrator. The witness. The ringing phone. In April a new torment will begin to haunt them. One hundred keyboards working in concert. Fearless. Relentless. Tireless. Untouchable. Here the new face becomes… The Sum of All "Their" Fears
Al-Qaida Lashes Out At Taliban For Straying From Global Jihad
(RTTNews) - Supporters of al-Qaida have lashed out at Afghanistan's Taliban extremist group for straying away from their avowed goal of global jihad by trying to mend fences with the West and sympathizing with Shi'ite Iran.
In an unprecedented flood of criticism of Afghanistan's Taliban unleashed on the Web, al-Qaida supporters accused the Taliban of straying from the path of global jihad after its leader Mullah Omar issued a statement saying he seeks good relations with the world and even sympathizes with Shi'ite Iran.
In February, the Taliban, once seen by extremists as the model of an Islamic state, announced it wanted to maintain good and "legitimate" relations with neighboring countries.
The militants were again outraged when the Taliban movement expressed solidarity with Iran, condemning the latest round of sanctions imposed on Tehran by the U.N. Security Council over its controversial nuclear program.
The Sunni militants of the al-Qaida and other extremist movements view the Shi'ite Islamic state of Iran as anathema.
"This is the worst statement I have ever read ... the disaster of defending the Iranian regime is on par with the Crusaders in Afghanistan and Iraq," wrote poster Miskeen, one of the more influential writers on an al-Qaida linked Web site.
KHAR, Pakistan (AFP) - A pro-Taliban leader in Pakistan's tribal area on Sunday said that Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden and fugitive Taliban militant leader Mullah Omar were "not enemies of Pakistan."
Addressing a rally near Khar, the main town of Bajaur tribal district bordering Afghanistan, Maulana Faqir Mohammad said that US President George W. Bush was the "biggest enemy" of Pakistan.
"America is the biggest terrorist in the world and the current war in Pakistan had been imposed as a consequence of American policy," Mohammad, who is also a Muslim cleric, said.
"As compared to Pakistani rulers, Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar are the biggest well-wishers of Pakistan. They are not enemies of Pakistan," the cleric said.
So al qaeda is angry with Taliban in Paki, for not fighting in Afghan. And Taliban in Paki says al Qadea in Paki not bad. To make up for not fighting in Afghan Taliban says al Qaeda ok in Paki and BM is trying to work out a peace agreement with the Paki military. Guess they want to include al Qaeda as protected in Paki.
Gerald
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Next wave of terrorists could destroy jihadist movement: expert Ian MacLeod, Ottawa Citizen Published: Monday, March 10, 2008
Al-Qaeda as we know it is dead, replaced by a leaderless generation of ever-younger homegrown jihadists whose venomous beliefs could poison the movement from within, says a leading al-Qaeda scholar.
Marc Sageman, a medical doctor and Central Intelligence Agency officer turned forensic psychiatrist and noted al-Qaeda researcher, rejects conventional thinking that "al-Qaeda Central" - Osama bin Laden and an estimated 200 high command and hard-core followers holed up in northwest Pakistan - is resurgent.
"Those days are long over, but the social movement they inspired is as strong and dangerous as ever," he writes in the current issue of Foreign Policy, encapsulating his new book, Leaderless Jihad: Terror Networks in the Twenty-First Century..........
"The individuals we should fear most haven't been trained in terrorist camps, and they don't answer to Osama bin Laden or Ayman al-Zawahri. They often do not even adhere to the most austere and dogmatic tenets of radical Islam.
"They are young people seeking thrills and a sense of significance and belonging in their lives. And their lack of structure and organizing principles makes them even more terrifying and volatile than their terrorist forebears."
The ease with which they are able to translate their frustrations into acts of terrorism, often on the back of professed solidarity with terrorists halfway around the world whom they have never met, is especially frightening, he writes.
"They seek to belong to a movement larger than themselves, and their violent actions and plans are hatched locally, with advice from others on the web. Their mode of communication also suggests that they will increasingly evade detection. Without links to known terrorists, this new generation is more difficult to discover through traditional intelligence gathering. Of course, their lack of training and experience could limit their effectiveness. But that's cold comfort for their victims."................
"Feeling marginalized is, of course, no simple springboard to violence. Many people feel they don't belong, but don't aspire to wage violent jihad. What transforms a very small number to become terrorists is mobilization by networks."
Former face-to-face groups that once acted as an echo chamber, amplifying grievances, intensifying bonds to each other, have been largely replaced by forums of online radicalization, "which promote the image of the terrorist hero, link users to the online social movement, give them guidance, and instruct them in tactics. These forums, virtual marketplaces for extremist ideas, have become the 'invisible hand' that organizes terrorist activities worldwide.
"The true leader of this violent social movement is the collective discourse on half a dozen influential forums. They are transforming the terrorist movement, attracting ever younger members and now women, who can participate in the discussions."
Because al-Qaeda Central cannot impose discipline on these anonymous third-wave wannabes, "each disconnected network acts according to its own understanding and capability, but their collective actions do not amount to any unified long-term goal or strategy. These separate groups cannot coalesce into a physical movement, leaving them condemned to remain leaderless, an online aspiration."
That makes them difficult to detect, but also offers "a tantalizing strategy for those who wish to defeat these dangerous individuals: The very seeds of the movement's demise are within the movement itself."
Terrorist acts must be stripped of glory and reduced to common criminality; terrorists who are arrested or killed must not be placed in the limelight; terrorism convictions must be exploited by the authorities, he says.
"There is no glory in being taken to prison in handcuffs. No jihadi website publishes such pictures. Arrested terrorists fade into oblivion; martyrs live on in popular memory."
"This is very much a battle for young Muslims' hearts and minds," especially with the advent of the Internet. The web is "where young Muslims share their hopes, dreams, and grievances. That offers an opportunity to encourage voices that reject violence. Only then will the leaderless jihad expire, poisoned by its own toxic message." SOURCE: MORE"
Posted by Zeeshan Hyder | Filed Under National, Politics
Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leader Maulana Faqir Mohammad declared that the United States is "the biggest terrorist in the world," while Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar were "not enemies of Pakistan." These statements were made during a rally held by the TTP near Khar, the main town of the Bajaur tribal district bordering Afghanistan.
Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan was formed in mid-December as an umbrella group of various pro-Taliban outfits operating in the tribal areas and other parts of the NWFP. Baitullah Mehsud, a militant commander from South Waziristan, was elected the chief of the organisation.
Maulana Faqir Mohammad is a militant cleric and leader of the radical Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammed (Movement for the Enforcement of Islamic Sharia). He has been closely linked to senior al Qaeda operatives, for which he is wanted by Pakistani and US authorities. He has made announcements on behalf of TTP in the past.
During the TTP rally, Mohammad launched a scathing attack on the United States, and linked the conflict in Pakistan's tribal areas to the Pakistan government's support for the US. "America is the biggest terrorist in the world and the current war in Pakistan had been imposed as a consequence of American policy," said Mohammad.
He blamed the Pakistani government for the ongoing violence. Mohammad stated "Mujahedeen (holy warriors) had the right to wage jihad against the rulers in the nook and corners of the country as a result of continued operations against them" said Mohammad. He also disavowed any intention of taking over the country, saying "We do not want to capture the government, but we want imposition of Islamic system in the country."
"Pakistan is our country. We love it. Osama bin Laden and Mulla Omar are also sincere to Pakistan and its people and don't want war with them" he said.
Listen, why don't you just leave us alone and get out of our country and take their love with them. We reject you, yes we reject you and your way of thinking, preaching, and bullying. Get out of our land, you have been daring us too long, get out while you can, get out before our patience with you and your brand of religion is overstretched and we as a nation the Pakistanis decide to obliterate you from the face of earth. Get out of our country and take your agenda and its sick propoents and propogators with you. Out, go to hell!
This weekend news came that a Gmail archive service called G-Archiver, which backs up all of your Gmail emails to your hard drive, was actually the front for a scam - hard coded into the application was a “feature” that sent every user’s email address and password to the creator’s own email account, giving him access to all of their Gmail messages.
These users should have known better than to type their email credentials into a third party service, so sympathy levels are at a minimum. But there is a much bigger problem to consider. Gmail is the entry point into a vast array of Google office services - including Google Docs and Google Apps. Those services allow users to share documents with others. If one user's email credential become compromised, all of those sensitive documents become available to the bad guys, too. So if a single user's credentials become known, the business they work for is at risk. From Techcrunch email.
Four police officers in Britain's top force are reportedly under close secret service surveillance after being identified as Al Qaeda spies, it emerged today.
MI5 are said to have homed in on the the "sleeper" agents passing secrets from Scotland Yard to the terror group only in recent weeks.
The suspected spies are believed to have used methods similar to those employed by the IRA in the 1970s as they infiltrated the police and the Army in Northern Ireland.
Bombed: Police began searching for spies after July 7 attacks
All four are understood to be Asians living in London and are feared to have links both with Islamic extremists in Britain and worldwide terror groups - including al-Qaeda training camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
MI5 chiefs reportedly believe the suspected moles have been planted as sleepers - agents under deep cover - to keep al-Qaeda informed of anti-terror raids planned by London's Metropolitan Police.
They are said to fear the four could have already accessed sensitive information about secret operations to root out terror cells planning further attacks in the UK.
Scotland Yard refused to discuss allegations that a sleeper cell of al Qaida spies is being kept under secret service surveillance after infiltrating the Metropolitan Police.
According to the News of the World, in the past few weeks MI5 agents have identified four officers suspected of passing secrets from the force.
All four are allegedly Asians living in London and are feared to have links with Islamic extremists in Britain and worldwide terrorist organisations.
MI5 bosses reportedly fear the moles may have been planted to keep al Qaida informed of anti-terror raids, and may have already accessed sensitive information about ongoing operations.
Secret service agents are said to be monitoring the suspects, who work at different London police stations. A Yard spokesman said: "All police officers and police staff, upon joining the Metropolitan Police Service and during their careers undergo a range of security checks.
"These are robust and vary accordingly to the type and sensitivity of the individual postings.
"We take matters of security very seriously and if any issues arise about individuals, they may be subject to further assessment.
"This could lead to restrictions being put in place relating to where an individual may work within the organisation or could lead to their dismissal."
"If there are people within the police force feeding information to terror groups this needs to be stopped.
"Since the names came to light there has been a non-stop effort to find out everything about their backgrounds."
The officers' names apparently emerged during a low-profile investigation into police force infiltration which has been going on since the July 2005 London bombings.
Last year MI5 believed there were up to eight police staff—uniform and civilians with links to extremist groups.
Now agents, helped by anti-terror police, are understood to be watching the four suspects - who work at different police stations around London - around the clock while searching for the vital evidence needed to make arrests.
The officers' every move at work is being monitored along with their phone calls, it was claimed.
Homeland security agents are reportedly sifting through their bank account transactions.
MI5 experts are also understood to be building a family tree for each one and trying to put together a picture of their links to their home countries.
Their names are being cross-referred with lists of men who have been to terror training camps in Pakistan or Afghanistan.
What is clear is that the infiltration methods used by the officers under suspicion bear hallmarks of the IRA in the past.
The police source said: "The IRA tried to infiltrate and they succeeded to a certain extent.
"By just slipping under the radar it takes suspicion away from you.
"If you are a young Pakistani of English origin and you feel you want to do something for the cause of Islam, what better way than to join the enemy and attack from within?"
MI5 believes other sleeper cells are trying to infiltrate public services across Britain in order to gain vital intelligence.
Even exiled cleric Omar Bakri has revealed how Islamic extremists were working at the heart of the NHS and other vital services.
Failed asylum seeker Omar Altimimi was jailed for nine years last July for keeping manuals on detonating car bombs.
Before his conviction he had applied to work as a cleaner for Greater Manchester police.
Numbers of officers from ethnic minorities have risen since the Met was accused of being institutionally racist in the Stephen Lawrence public inquiry report.
MP Patrick Mercer, Tory terrorism advisor, said: "This discovery by MI5 comes as no surprise to me.
"Recruiting ethnic people into key public sector organisations - in place to protect us - is a risk.
"Our vetting procedures have to be toughened before it's too late."
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