Al Qaeda in Iraq
Tag Archives: Al Qaeda
Libya: Al Qaeda Safe Haven?
Al Qaeda
Al-Qaeda fighters turn to secretive chat rooms and encrypted message boards to plan attacks
WASHINGTON — Al-Qaeda fighters have been using secretive chat rooms and encrypted Internet message boards for planning and coordinating attacks — including the threatened if vague plot that U.S. officials say closed 19 diplomatic posts across Africa and the Middle East for more than a week.
It’s highly unlikely that Al-Qaeda’s top leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, or his chief lieutenant in Yemen, Nasser al-Wahishi, were personally part of the Internet chatter or, given the intense manhunt for both by U.S. spy agencies, that they ever go online or pick up the phone to discuss terror plots, experts say.
But the unspecified call to arms by the Al-Qaeda leaders, using a multi-layered subterfuge to pass messages from couriers to tech-savvy underlings to attackers, provoked a quick reaction by the U.S. to protect Americans in far-flung corners of the world where the terror network is evolving into regional hubs.
Syria: Latest Developments and News
The links below are to articles reporting on the latest news and developments within and without Syria, concerning the conflict there and the consequences of it throughout the world.
For more visit:
- http://www.wnd.com/2013/08/u-s-facing-al-qaida-retaliation-strike/
Al-Qaeda leader says Egypt coup proof that Islamic rule cannot come through democracy
CAIRO, Egypt — Al-Qaeda’s leader said Egypt’s military coup that ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi provides proof that Islamic rule cannot be established through democracy, and urged the Islamist leader’s followers to abandon the ballot box in favour of armed resistance.
In a 15-minute audio message posted online late Friday, Ayman al-Zawahri also lashed out at the Egyptian military, the country’s secular and liberal elites as well as the Coptic Christian minority, accusing them of conspiring against Morsi solely because he was an Islamist.
Egypt’s army ousted Morsi, the country’s first democratically elected leader, on July 3 after days of mass protests demanding the president’s removal. The coup has divided the nation into rival camps, with an array of liberal and secular Egyptians supporting the military’s move and Morsi’s supporters and Islamist allies rejecting it.
Baird urges caution for Canadians as U.S. issues international travel alert over al-Qaeda threat
OTTAWA — Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird encouraged Canadian travellers and diplomats in North Africa and the Middle East to exercise added caution Friday after the United States issued a major terrorism and travel alert for the region.
“It’s not for me to discuss the nature of the elevated risk that causes them (the Americans) to take these decisions,” Baird said.
“Having said that, when a close friend and ally has made this determination, obviously at a bare minimum it puts us at elevated risk, and we’re encouraging a higher degree of caution.”
USA: International Travel Alert
Australia: Drone Attacks and Pine Gap
The link below is to an article that takes a look at the drone warfare success story in the war on terror and the Australian part of the story – Pine Gap.
For more visit:
http://www.wnd.com/2013/07/drone-strike-success-credited-to-australian-base/
Al-Qaeda claims responsibility for ‘bold raid blessed by God’ after hundreds escape Abu Ghraib
BAGHDAD — Al-Qaeda’s branch in Iraq claimed responsibility Tuesday for audacious raids on two high-security prisons on the outskirts of Baghdad this week that killed dozens and set free hundreds of inmates, including some of its followers.
The statement issued in the name of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, the al-Qaeda affiliate in Iraq, was posted on an online jihadist forum. It said months of planning went into the highly co-ordinated assaults on the prisons in Abu Ghraib and Taji that began late Sunday.
The attacks, among the most stunning in Iraq since a surge in violence began in April, have drawn sharp criticism from opposition lawmakers and ordinary Iraqis over the government’s efforts to keep the country safe. The spike in bloodshed is intensifying fears of a return to the widespread sectarian killing that pushed the country to the brink of civil war after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
