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Left and right images: Abu Hamza al Omani. Images from the SITE Intelligence Group. |
An Omani jihadist was among several foreign fighters who were killed in a recent US drone strike in the “Khorasan,” according to a statement released on jihadist Internet forums.
The statement, which was unsigned, said that Abu Hamza al Omani, also known as Imran bin Abdullah bin Khamis al Balochi, was killed in a US airstrike on May 5, 2012 along with several other “brothers and supporters” who were not identified.
“The courageous knight dismounted on the night of Saturday, 5 May 2012, when the planes of the infidel enemy targeted a center in which there were several mujahideen. The brother fell as a martyr, accompanied by a number of his brothers and supporters…,” said the statement, which was translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.
Although the location of the “center” was not disclosed, the statement claimed that Abu Hamza al Omani and the other fighters were killed in “the land of Khorasan,” which includes Pakistan and Afghanistan.
On May 5, the US carried out a drone strike in the Shawal Valley in North Waziristan. The strike targeted a compound known to be used as a training center, killing 10 “militants” [see LWJ report, US drones kill 10 in North Waziristan]. Situated near the Afghan border, the Shawal Valley is a known operating area for al Qaeda, the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, and Taliban fighters under the command of Hafiz Gul Bahadar, the leader of the Taliban in North Waziristan.
Al Qaeda and the Khorasan
The term “Khorasan” refers to a region that encompasses large areas of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Iran. Jihadists consider the Khorasan to be the area where they will inflict the first defeat against their enemies in the Muslim version of Armageddon. The final battle is to take place in the Levant – Israel, Syria, and Lebanon.
Mentions of the Khorasan have begun to increase in al Qaeda’s propaganda over the past several years. After al Qaeda’s defeat in Iraq, the group began shifting its rhetoric from promoting Iraq as the central front in its jihad and has placed the focus on the Khorasan.
Al Qaeda typically is referring to Afghanistan and Pakistan’s tribal areas when it mentions Khorasan. In February 2012, a senior al Qaeda operative said that al Qaeda is “still standing” despite repeated US drone strikes in the Khorasan; the US drone program in the region primarily kills al Qaeda leaders and fighters in Pakistan’s tribal areas. Also in February 2012, al Qaeda released images of leaders and fighters who were killed in drone strikes in Pakistan’s tribal areas and in airstrikes in Afghanistan.
Abu Hamza and jihad
According to Abu Hamza’s martyrdom statement, he “grew up in a humble home in Barka province” (likely a reference to the coastal city of Barka in northern Oman) and “completed his secondary education and enrolled in the High Technical College.” Abu Hamza then abandoned his degree and moved “to the land of migration and jihad,” or Afghanistan, with others about one year ago.
The statement claimed that Abu Hamza traveled to the Khorasan with Abu Obedia al Omani, who was killed while fighting along the Afghan-Pakistan border on Jan. 8, 2012. Abu Hamza and others were wounded in the “bombing by the planes of the infidel enemy” that killed Abu Obedai.
Abu Hamza served as a trainer, according to the statement.
“He quickly mastered the art of fighting and he specialized in the cannon and would train his brothers on it,” his martyrdom statement said. “His brothers knew him only as a person who was stationed in the front lines of combat, committed to his front,” the statement continued, in all likelihood referring to Afghanistan. “[A]nd whenever he left one he would go to another, seeking combat or death.”
Al Qaeda is known to embed small teams of trainers with the Taliban and other terrorist groups in Afghanistan, and in the east is known to fight on the battlefield in small units. [See LWJ reports, Al Qaeda’s paramilitary ‘Shadow Army’ and ‘Foreign trainers’ active in southeastern Afghan province, for more information on al Qaeda’s role in Afghanistan.]
The martyrdom statement indicated that a group of Omanis is still operating along the Afghan-Pakistani border. In addition to the statement that Abu Hamza traveled to the Khorasan with several other Omanis, one of the pictures showed “a group of Omani brothers while heading out for one of the operations.”
14 Comments
This so called martyr should of stayed in College, he would have been more productive person for the future of the region. Let this be a lesson for those reading this and wanting to be a jihadist tool for all Islamic extremist cowardly has-beens!
With Yemen having matured into a full fledged battle front I wonder if the Omani’s will begin focusing their manpower there. These monikers these ‘outsiders’ adopt is pretty interesting.
The jihadist nutjobs need a lesson in both history and geography. Khorasan has nothing to do with the Pashtuns or Pashtun homeland in southern/eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. Khorasan does not even share a border with northwestern Pakistan, let alone include FATA.
It really bothers me how these jihadist nutjobs try to usurp the name and identity of Khorasan (a Persian land) by associating it with some kind of deluded and bogus jihadist prophecy that apparently states that an army of Islamic revivalists will rise up from Khorasan and establish a Caliphate. What the crazy Islamist nutjobs do not realize is that this so-called prophecy is actually just an account of the Abbasid revolt against the Umayyads and subsequent Abbasid take-over of the Umayyad Caliphate, which all started from Khorasan and brought about some sense of Islamic renewal.
Khorasan in fact is a region of northeastern Iran. In a more historic sense, Khorasan also included parts of western and northern Afghanistan and parts of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. The land of Khorasan was originally established as the military and administrative northeastern quarter of the (Persian-Zoroastrian) Sassanid empire. The very name ‘Khorasan’ has Zoroastrian connotations and in Middle Persian meant ‘land of the rising Sun’.
Somebody needs to drill these facts into the thick skullls of the Pakistani Islamists once and for all. These people are NOT from Khorasan and have nothing to do with the land, history and identity of Khorasan other than defiling its good name and rich culture with their terrorism, lies and Islamic fanaticism.
Iranian, good job of clearing that up. Not just geographically, which is important, but also as you say their “deluded and bogus jihadist prophecy that apparently states that an army of Islamic revivalists will rise up from Khorasan and establish a Caliphate. What the crazy Islamist nutjobs do not realize is that this so-called prophecy is actually just an account of the Abbasid revolt against the Umayyads and subsequent Abbasid take-over of the Umayyad Caliphate, which all started from Khorasan and brought about some sense of Islamic renewal.”
Also, I’d like to share my observation of the deep culture that Iran has compared to either these barbarian bedouin Arab jihadists or the shameless, uncouth Paqistanis who fan their fire. No country in the history of the World has regressed as far as Paqistan in the 60-odd, very odd, years that it has.
Somebody needs to drill these facts into the thick skullls of the Pakistani Islamists once and for all. These people are NOT from Khorasan and have nothing to do with the land, history and identity of Khorasan other than defiling its good name and rich culture with their terrorism, lies and Islamic fanaticism
So true.Pakistan is the route of all the problems in the region.Saudi money dont help either.
Iranian,
I was thinking the EXACT same thing a few days ago, and I was going to post what you said in another discussion, but I never got around to doing it.
You’d think that after all these years they would get simple facts straight about where Khorasan is actually physically located.
Very good point Iranian!
I just want to add another fact to support your ideas. People of Khurasan traditionally follow Sufism. Sufism is a very open and soft version of Islam. AQ and Taliban are trying to force Sharia version of Islam down Khurasanis’ throats. It would never work. moreover, Sufism is against central Caliphate dictatorship. Sufism is more like Protestants.
Arabs and Persians have different interpretations of the borders of Khorrasan.
From britannica.com:”After the Arab conquest in ad 651–652, the name was retained both as the designation of a definite province and in a looser sense.”
In this Arab interpretation of (greater-greater) Khorrasan the easter border was the Indus river.Land beyond the river was called Hindustan.
Im not saying the comment above are incorrect, but there have always been different views of its borders.
On the subject of the Omani’s.
It might be interesting to point out that 2/3 of the omani population are Ibadi’s,they do not considere themselves as sunni’s or Shia’s.
Are these Omani fighters ibadi’s who converted to salafism?Or Omani Sunni’s(20% of omani population)?
I dont think Ibadi’s would be theologically accepted by the tribal militants due to different views of the early history of Islam(for exemple they reject the third Caliph Uthman).
It might be a interesting topic to research.
Interesting to note the common thinking in comments 4-7 in support of Iranian. This must be one of the more harmonious threads around. Its time for an Iran-US reconciliation and encircle Paqistan.
Yes, yes, i know its not that simple, but its do-able.
riz, thanks for the info.
You say: “Im not saying the comment above are incorrect, but there have always been different views of its borders.”
Question, putting it positively, are you therefore saying the comment by Iranian, is correct in the here and now? Let’s get real about post-codes. If now is not the time to get real, when will it be?
My personal view is that mythologies are dangerous and kill innocent people.
I’ve always thought that Iran’s problem simply had to do with their regime itself. Beyond that, it is quite an amazing country with a population that I believe overwhelmingly does not support terrorism or violence in any way.
Pakistan, however, is an absolute mess, a disaster. They have many underlying social, educational, institutional, and governmental problems that Iran just doesn’t have. They really need to get their act together as one nation – and if that can’t be done, then the next solution is to split up into multiple different states and let each other live on their own.
sundoesntrise, i think you have it right.
‘Khurasan’ has raised more comments than Omani jihadist’s death. In my May 15th comment I explained the religious reason for unfeasibility of the Arabs’ dream about rise of extremist Caliphate dream in Khurasan. Here is the ethnologic side of the discussion.
The community structure in Arab peninsula is based on tribalism. Dictatorship is the only possible way of ruling a tribal land. So the Al-Sa’aud tribe created their dictatorship in the peninsula to control other tribes. Along with dictatorship came religious fundamentalism or Sharia to the peninsula as a tool to rule.
On the other hand, since Pashtuns also have tribal structure, ISI created Taliban to build the Saudi model of dictatorship and fundamentalism in Afghanistan but miscalculated about ex-Khurasan countries.
Luckily, people of ex-Khurasan, with 5,000 year history of several dynasties and civil lifestyle but no tribal structure, opposed Taliban’s rule. In this case, the governments of Iran, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan (all ex-Khurasan countries) and even Russia joined hands and defended that 5 percent of land that Northern Alliance was holding against Taliban. Tajikistan even provided a military airbase to the Northern Alliance inside Tajikistan.
Now on which other basis do the nomadic and tribal Arab fundamentalists still think their tribalism can be a role model for Khurasan in bringing their dictatorship and Caliphate dreams to Khurasan? The history never goes backwards.
P.S. I am not even counting NATO and US – the ally on reserve of the greater ex-Khurasan against terrorism/fundamentalism and antiquated tribalism.
SUN:
“On the other hand, since Pashtuns also have tribal structure, ISI created Taliban to build the Saudi model of dictatorship and fundamentalism in Afghanistan but miscalculated about ex-Khurasan countries.”
This is a very interesting rationale on the objectives of the ISI, the subtlety of which I think I hadn’t struck me before. That is to say the comparison of the parallel with Saudi Arabia, the dictatorship aspect combined with the tribal structure.
Thank you for your remarks SUN.