US charges Ilyas Kashmiri in Danish newspaper plot.
Also formally charged was Pakistani-born Chicago businessman Tahawwur Rana, 48, and Abdur Rehman, a retired Pakistani Army major, both previously named in the investigation.
Latest Updates: Ilyas Kashmiri RSS
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johnpi
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johnpi
The Pakistani Taliban have been trying to take credit for the recent bombing that killed seven CIA operatives in Afghanistan, but Syed Saleem Shahzad reports that it was actually Ilyas Kashmiri and his 313 brigade, which is comprised of veteran combatants from the Kashmir conflict that were highly trained by the Pakistani military.
Supporting Kashmir ain’t what it used to be: Militant groups fighting for Kashmiri liberation seem to have largely been colonized and absorbed into Al Qaeda’s global caliphate project. Some Islamist national liberation movements, such as Hezbollah and Hamas, have resisted being assimilated into the Al Qaeda borg.
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johnpi
The Asia Times excellent correspondent Syed Saleem Shahzad, who recently had a face-to-face interview with Ilyas Kashmiri proving that he was still alive after the Americans announced him dead in a drone attack, has another good feature article with a lot of new information about Al Qaeda and its plans to expand in Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen.
Remember when Lashkar e Taiba was primarily a Kashmiri independence group before being transformed into a global jihad group? Al Qaeda wants to effect the same transformation elsewhere with local resistance movements – that is, colonize indigenous movements with local nationalist grievances and transform them into global jihad/global caliphate fighters.
…al-Qaeda sources have told Asia Times Online, al-Qaeda has re-established itself in Somalia and Yemen. From Somalia, the sources say, al-Qaeda plans to further disrupt trade routes around the Horn of Africa, while from Yemen, al-Qaeda aims to make a comeback in Iraq and in Saudi Arabia and beyond. The overall goal is to take control of all Muslim resistance movements in the region, very much on the lines of al-Qaeda’s South Asian pattern.
There’s also new information about the extent to which Ilyas Kashmiri is now an al Qaeda military leader.
In South Asia, al-Qaeda’s chief of the Lashkar al-Zil (Shadow Army), Ilyas Kashmiri, sits in Afghanistan orchestrating targets, including in India. (Lashkar al-Zil is an alliance of several Pakistani, Afghan, Uzbek, Iraqi and al-Qaeda groups that carry out operations under the al-Qaeda banner.)
Kashmiri is also cited as one of two al Qaeda leaders who worked on the ground in Somalia establishing the al Shabaab militia.
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johnpi
The US government has charged the first US citizen in the Mumbai terror attacks. He is Lashkar-e-Taiba operative David Headley, formerly Daood Gilani.
Headley reportedly provided surveillance before the attack, and also took boat trips in Mumbai harbor, from where the attacks were launched.
The foreign media, especially Indian, has it all over the US press with reportage on this story. Here’s a few video pieces from a Delhi news service. Pardon the circus-like sensationalism, but these reports have the most information I’ve seen yet about Headley’s background (this video), and his ties to extremists including Ilyas Kashmiri (this video). The second video also reports the names of the operatives as-yet-unnamed-by-the-FBI-or-the-US-press that were also involved with Headley.
One person, identified by the FBI as Lashkar-e-Taiba’s director of transnational operations is Sajid Mir, a former Pakistani army officer and ISI agent. Mir is reported to have recruited French white convert Willy Brigitte to carry out a terror attack in Australia.
The second person named is Lashakr-e-Taiba’s ’section head’ for Bangladesh, Sheikh Saeed.
U.S. prosecutors also unsealed charges against a retired major in the Pakistani military, Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed, for participating in the conspiracy to attack the Danish newspaper and its employees.
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johnpi
There’s been a lot of developments in the story of the two Pakistani American men from Chicago who were arrested by the FBI for plotting to attack the Copenhagen newspaper that published the Mohammed cartoons.
One of the men, Tahawwur Hussain Rana, is being described as more of an enabler for the other – David Coleman Headley – formerly Daood Gilani.
Both men are now being described as operatives of Lashkar-e-Toiba/Lashkar-e-Taiba who have made a number of trips to India and where investigators say they suspect Headley may have helped with scouting and planning last year’s Mumbai massacre.
Indian papers report that Headley’s chief patron is a former elite Pakistani commando turned Caliphate-aspirant militant named Ilyas Kashmiri who established a group called the 313 Brigade – mentioned in conversations by the Mumbai attackers. An article in an Indian paper reports that Headley was so despondent a few months ago when it was reported that Kashmiri was killed in a drone attack that all his activity ground to a halt – but became active again when he got a message that Kashmiri was alive.
The Indians are also reporting:
“We have established that Headley and Tahawwur were in touch with the same Pakistani-based ‘handlers’ who gave directions to the 10 terrorists who attacked Mumbai on 26/11. We are now investigating how he had corresponded with Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and Zarar Shah (presently in Pakistan’s custody) and other masterminds who carried out the audacious Mumbai attacks,” said an investigating officer.
Indian investigators are now looking for a woman Headley met with frequently on his trips to India and who they say may have been involved in setting up safehouses for militants in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.