A former Guantanamo detainee named Sabar Lal Melma was shot by security forces in Afghanistan. According to ISAF, Melma was a “key affiliate of the al Qaeda network.” Melma was once a senior Afghan official in charge of border security in Kunar province. Leaked files allege that he allowed al Qaeda members to escape Afghanistan.
AQAP has released a biography commemorating former Guantanamo detainee Hani Abdo Shaalan. In the video, AQAP claims that Shaalan was killed in an American airstrike in December 2009. Previously, the Yemeni government claimed that Shaalan was killed during a shootout with government forces.
Atiyah Abd al Rahman, a top al Qaeda leader, was reportedly killed on August 22. Senior US intelligence officials contacted by The Long War Journal would neither confirm nor deny Atiyah’s death. Atiyah was al Qaeda’s “general manager” and Osama bin Laden’s “chief of staff,” according to a senior US intelligence official.
Two senior members of al Qaeda’s al Ghuraba cell were designated by the Treasury Department earlier this month. The cell was first broken up in 2003, based on intelligence gleaned from detainees in the CIA’s controversial enhanced interrogation program. Lashkar-e-Taiba reportedly provided training for the cell.
The US State Department released its annual Country Reports on Terrorism yesterday. The report mentions Iran’s support of the Taliban and refusal to bring senior al Qaeda terrorists to justice.
The court’s ruling and a leaked threat assessment of Moath Hamza Ahmed al Alwi, who is held at Guantanamo, revealed that he was a member of al Qaeda’s elite 55th Arab Brigade. Al Alwi also allegedly received specialized training and was a bodyguard for Osama bin Laden.
The US Treasury Department designated six al Qaeda members who work for a terror network based in Iran. One of the six leaders designated today was identified as al Qaeda’s “operations chief” earlier this month; he was also reported to be involved in plotting an attack set to coincide with the tenth anniversary of 9/11.
AQAP has released the sixth edition of its Inspire magazine. In it, Osama bin Laden is praised as a martyr. Inspire’s editors also praise the selection of Ayman al Zawahiri as al Qaeda’s new emir. Two other al Qaeda affiliates have already sworn their allegiance to Zawahiri.
A Somali man named Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame was transferred to New York where he will stand trial for allegedly providing material support to both Shabaab and al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The unsealed indictment in his case follows a series of reports connecting Shabaab to AQAP.
According to a leaked Joint Task Force Guantanamo threat assessment, a current detainee named Haji Wali Mohammed was al Qaeda’s “primary financial manager.” Haji Wali also allegedly worked for the Taliban, and purchased missiles for Osama bin Laden with support from Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency.
The New York Times reports that Osama bin Laden’s courier was found to be in contact with members of Harakat ul Mujahedin (HUM), a terrorist organization long backed by Pakistan’s spy agency. Leaked Guantanamo files provide more details about the relationship between HUM and al Qaeda.
In a decision released on Thursday, a DC district court denied Mullah Khairullah Khairkhwa’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The court cited Khairkhwa’s clandestine meetings with Iranian officials, among other evidence.
AQAP’s chief Mufti, Ibrahim Rubaish, has released a biography honoring ex-Gitmo detainee Fahd Saleh Suleiman al Jutayli. Rubaish, himself a former Gitmo detainee, denies that Jutayli was killed while fighting alongside the Houthis in Yemen.
The State Department designated former Gitmo detainee Othman al Ghamdi as a global terrorist today. Al Ghamdi is an “operational commander” in al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
Pakistan freed the al Qaeda operative who gave the CIA key intelligence on Osama bin Laden’s courier. That intelligence led to Osama bin Laden’s demise.
Leaked Guantanamo threat assessments highlight Osama bin Laden’s influence over East Africa al Qaeda (EAAQ) and its leader, the recently slain Fazul Mohammed. The files also contain striking details about the ties between EAAQ and Somalia’s Islamic Courts Union, the predecessor of Shabaab.
The DC Circuit Court ruled on Friday that al Qaeda facilitator Hussain Salem Mohammad Almerfedi is properly detained at Guantanamo. According to a leaked threat assessment, Almerfedi operated out of an al Qaeda safehouse in Iran.
Inayatullah, an Afghan detainee at Gitmo, died of an apparent suicide.
Al Qaeda’s interim emir is reportedly Saif al Adel, a longtime member of al Qaeda and the Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Al Adel has a decades-long relationship with Iran and was protected by the Iranians after 9/11.
A leaked threat assessment prepared at Guantanamo describes one current detainee and his father as “Iranian agents.” The detainee, Haji Hamidullah, allegedly “murdered 71 people.” The leaked file connects several others to Iran, including two members of Hamid Karzai’s government.
Two of the Taliban’s most senior commanders successfully hid their leadership roles from interrogators and analysts at Guantanamo. Both were subsequently transferred to the custody of the Afghan government but were freed and rejoined the Taliban.
The Pakistanis freed Hassan Ghul, a top al Qaeda operative who gave up vital intelligence on Osama bin Laden while in US custody.
Details of bin Laden’s modus operandi emerge.
At a meeting that included representatives of the Pakistani government and the ISI, Omar “told attendees that they should not cooperate with the new infidel government (in Afghanistan) and should keep attacking coalition forces.”
Abdul Hafiz, a former Guantanamo detainee who quickly rejoined the Taliban after being transferred, had been deemed a “high risk” by US officials less than two years earlier. His insurgency group had been trained by Pakistani military officers to attack Westerners in Afghanistan and had killed an ICRC worker.
According to a leaked Gitmo intelligence assessment, Abd al Salam al Hilah was both a member of Yemen’s Political Security Organization and al Qaeda. He “probably” had foreknowledge of the Sept. 11 attacks, analysts concluded.
A detainee assessment claimed that two al Qaeda operatives had knowledge of the 2001 anthrax attacks in the US, but the report cannot be confirmed.
A top Libyan Islamic Fighting Group leader known as Urwah was killed in an ambush by Colonel Muammar Qaddafi’s forces earlier this month. Urwah was reportedly detained by Iran in 2004 but allowed to return to Libya to fight Qaddafi.
The Italian government announced the deportation of a former Gitmo detainee to Tunisia. Adel Ben Mabrouk had been convicted of terrorism-related charges, but his sentence was commuted to time served because of his eight-year-long detention at Gitmo. Mabrouk went to Afghanistan to train and fight in early 2001 and was part of an al Qaeda cell that plotted to blow up Milan’s Gothic cathedral.
The DC Circuit Court affirmed a district court’s decision to deny Guantanamo detainee Yasein Khasem Mohammad Esmail’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus. Esmail was trained at a notorious al Qaeda camp, studied at an al Qaeda-run school for martyrs, and fought at Tora Bora.