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Cemaat-ul-Islam emir Abu Bara’a Turki. Image from the SITE Intelligence Group. |
A Turkish jihadist group known as the Cemaat-ul-Islam [Jamaat or Assembly of Islam] has an agreement with the Afghan Taliban to run training camps and to train foreign jihadists.
The agreement was disclosed in a statement released on March 31 by another group, the Turkish Islamic Liberation Front, on Gazavat Media, a jihadist propaganda website that caters to Turkish jihadists belonging to the Taifatul Mansura, or the Victorious Sect. The statement was translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.
In the recent statement announcing its first official meeting, the Turkish Islamic Liberation Front [TILF] said that it had an agreement in 2010 to train fighters at camps run by Abu Bara’a Turki, the leader of Cemaat-ul-Islam, who is also known as Abu Yasir. But the Turkish Islamic Liberation Front said that the “agreement did not go into effect in the passage of time, as the required conditions did not develop.”
“[T]he Turkish Islamic Liberation Front decided that their domain is not the Afghan region, and that the presence of its members is not dependent on the group hierarchy, but that it is individual,” and “the group’s main domain is Turkey.”
The Turkish Islamic Liberation Front also republished the video of Abu Bara’a Turki from 2010, in which he announced that his group, the Cemaat-ul Islam, “is affiliated with the Afghan Taliban” and that the Taliban “authorized” his group to train members of the TILF at his camps.
“The Cemaat-ul Islam Brigade is authorized by the Taliban to provide training to the mujahideen. With this authority, the mujahideen of the Turkish Islamic Liberation Front will be staying at our camps and training centers,” Turki said.
While Turki did not disclose the location of his training camps in his video statement, Turkish jihadists from the Taifatul Mansura, or the Victorious Sect, are known to train in camps in Pakistan’s tribal areas, and Turkish fighters have been killed in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
In November 2011, Gazavat Media released a statement that announced the deaths of 21 “Turkish mujahideen affiliated with the Haqqani group,” a powerful Taliban subgroup, in a US airstrike in Afghanistan, and four more Turkish fighters in a drone strike in Mir Ali in North Waziristan [see LWJ report, Jihadists announce deaths of 21 Turks linked to the Haqqani Network]. And in February of this year, Gazavat Media announced that a commander named Sinan Tekin was killed in Waziristan in July 2010.
Although the Afghan Taliban attempts to portray itself as fighting a nationalist cause, it has alliances with numerous international jihadist groups, including al Qaeda, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, the Islamic Jihad Group, the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Party, the Caucasus Mujahideen in Khorasan, Jund al Khilafah, Cemaat-ul Islam, and Taifatul Mansura.
2 Comments
Just more new guys for us to target in Drone strikes and night raids:)
that is true, also most of Al shabab leader trained in afghanistan,
In addition to that some of Al Shabab supporters who is living overseas have recently began to convince Muslim communities around the world and Muslim countries to take part of resolving disputes and infighting within the organization.This has been taking tours throughout the region in recent weeks to meet with Islamic leaders from various countries such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Al-Noor party in Egypt, and many other countries, it is fact that AL Shabab has allegedly sought financing from these Regions, especially after Ethiopian government invaded to Somalia recently, simply because Al Shabab it looking for justification for its attack against Somali transitional federal government and also looking for support for its fight against foreign troops in Somalia and western backing administration. Therefore it is possible to receive some sort of support from the Islamic countries including Qatar and Saudi Arabia. And Al-Nuur party in Egypt. the Hard-line Islamist Salafist Al-Nur party is one of the most prominent supporter for Al shabab, It is very obvious that Al shabab has very close affiliation with Al-Nuur party and I’m afraid if this relationship continues then we may encounter another crisis for the next four years.
So it is advisable to put pressure on Al-Nuur party to avoid its support to Al Shabab. In addition to that The Members from Al-Itisam clerics has also began recently to visit to Egypt and convince Al-Nuur party to take part of resolving arguments and infighting within Al Shabab leadership. An Credible sources says the Al-Nuur party pledged to provide huge assistance to Al-Itisam movement. Al-Nuur party which is also radical Salafis determined to stand beside the hard-line extremist in Somalia which it considered the most successful means in the face of the foreign peacekeeping forces in Somalia. And it has even encouraged the jihadists factions to continue their resistance. According to the reliable source also indicates that the some salafi charity organizations in Qatar pledged to provide different kinds of assistance to the Somali radical groups in Somalia.