Several months before his death in May 2011, Osama bin Laden ordered al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb to stand down with respect to hostage negotiations. The terror master said he would negotiate with France concerning AQIM’s hostages. Mokhtar Belmokhtar’s spokesman recently confirmed that he still answers to al Qaeda central.
This is the third time that Ansar al Sharia Tunisia has used social media to update Ali Ani al Harzi’s case. In December, the group prayed for his release and published photos of the FBI agents who interviewed him.
The Daily Beast reported that the brother of a key suspect in the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi is an al Qaeda in Iraq facilitator.
A recently declassified threat assessment authored by Canadian intelligence in April 2012 concludes that the al Qaeda network still leads the global jihad movement and remains the “primary threat.”
The Tunisian government has freed Ali Harzi, a key suspect in the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya. The FBI questioned Harzi in December, and Ansar al Sharia Tunisia released photos of the investigating agents online.
A British paper incorrectly reported that Mohammed al Zawahiri was arrested in Syria.
Morocco’s interior minister said that an Ansar al Sharia cell in Morocco “was seeking to obtain financial and military support” from al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).
Al-Bayariq Media Foundation, Ansar al Sharia Tunisia’s media outfit, has released photos purportedly showing three FBI agents who questioned Ali al Harzi, a suspect in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya. The three FBI agents reportedly questioned Harzi about the attack in Benghazi, as well as the Sept. 14 assault on the US Embassy in Tunis.
The Tunisian government has arrested members of a terrorist cell trained by al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). Tunisia’s interior minister says that members of the cell were “active within” Ansar al Sharia Tunisia.
Die Welt, a German daily, has published an account that jibes with The Long War Journal’s reporting on the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi.
A new Ansar al Sharia group has been established in Mali. According to press reports, the group’s leaders are “close to” the official spokesman for Ansar Dine.
According to a Moroccan press report, Ansar al Sharia Morocco does not hide its sympathy for AQIM, uses the same flag as other Ansar al Sharia chapters, and is suspected of recruiting jihadists to fight in Syria.
A video showing Ayman al Zawahiri calling on Hazem Salah Abu Ismail to restart the Egyptian revolution is circulating on Egyptian web sites. The video is actually a clip from al Qaeda’s Oct. 24 video. Zawahiri urges Abu Ismail to work toward the implementation of sharia law.
An Egyptian group calling itself the Ansar al Sharia Brigades has reportedly posted a list of people to assassinate in the event that the Egyptian government collapses.
Egypt has arrested Muhammad Jamal al Kashef (a.k.a. Abu Ahmed), a terrorist with direct, longstanding ties to al Qaeda’s leadership. Some of the terrorists responsible for the Sept. 11 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya were trained in his camps. He is also part of the jihadist network that incited protesters in Cairo earlier that same day.
During an interview with a Cairo-based publication in late October, Ahmed Ashush repeatedly praised and defended al Qaeda. Ashush also said, “We are at war with the United States and Israel.”
During a speech last week, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said that ISAF’s analysis of the Afghan insurgency shows that the level of violence has decreased in 2011 and 2012. That is true when compared to 2010, a peak year for violence. But the level of violence remains worse than prior to the surge.
Two convicted members of an al Qaeda-affiliated terror network in Italy are now senior members of Ansar al Sharia Tunisia. One of them, Sami Ben Khemais Essid, was the head of al Qaeda’s operations in Italy and plotted to attack the US Embassy in Rome in early 2001.
Ansar al Sharia Egypt has released a statement outlining its 16 goals. In addition to working toward the implementation of sharia law, the group says it will support the mujahideen opposed to the “Zionist-Crusader” coalition. The group is headed by Ahmed Ashush, a jihadist with longstanding ties to al Qaeda.
Data released by ISAF show that the number of insurgent attacks increased slightly in September 2012, as compared to September 2011. And the number of civilian casualties has increased dramatically.
In a statement released online, al Qaeda’s emir provides several goals for Muslims to strive toward. While ignoring the toll that al Qaeda’s violence has taken inside the Muslim world, Zawahiri says that Muslims must resist the “Crusader” alliance and implement sharia law.
The Moroccan Interior Ministry announced earlier this month that it had disrupted planned terrorist attacks by an organization calling itself Ansar al Sharia in the Islamic Maghreb. The group allegedly sought the support of al Qaeda’s allies in northern Mali, and reportedly partnered with an unnamed Egyptian from the Sinai.
Egyptian authorities continue to investigate the Nasr City terrorist cell, which they say has ties to al Qaeda and the Sept. 11 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya.
The Tunisian government arrested Bilel Chaouachi in connection with the Sept. 14 storming of the US Embassy in Tunis. Chaouachi has been identified as a member of Ansar al Sharia Tunisia, which orchestrated the embassy assault, and has openly praised al Qaeda’s leaders.
In a message addressed to Shabaab, al Qaeda’s affiliate in Somalia, Ayman al Zawahiri cites the Sept. 11 terrorist attack in Benghazi, as well as the assaults on US embassies in Cairo and Sanaa, as evidence of American weakness.
Sheikh ‘Adel Shehato, a senior Egyptian jihadist who helped instigate the Sept. 11 protest in Cairo, has been arrested in Egypt. Authorities allege that he was the founder of the Nasr City terrorist cell. Members of the cell are reportedly connected to the terrorist attack on the US consulate in Benghazi.
Muhammad Jamal al Kashef, who is suspected of playing a role in the terrorist attack on the US consulate in Benghazi on Sept. 11, has longstanding ties to a group of al Qaeda-linked jihadists who helped incite a protest in Cairo that same day.
An Egyptian media organization has posted a video purportedly showing Muhammad Jamal al Kashef, who is one of the main suspects in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya. Jamal has longstanding ties to Ayman al Zawahiri and his younger brother, Mohammed al Zawahiri.
A video released by Al Faroq media earlier this month shows four al Qaeda-linked jihadists inciting the US embassy protest in Cairo on Sept. 11. One of them is Rifai Ahmed Taha Musa, a Gamaa Islamiyya leader whose ties to senior al Qaeda leaders date to the 1990s.
The US Treasury Department has designated Adel Radi Saqr al Wahabi al Harbi, a “key member” of al Qaeda’s Iran-based network. Al Harbi serves as the deputy to Muhsin al Fadhli, who now leads al Qaeda’s presence in Iran. The US government has highlighted the Iran-al Qaeda relationship several times since July 2011.