My latest for Jamestown, this time looking once again at the German Jihad and particularly its new rising star Bekkay Harrach. While the elections seem to have passed without a hitch, his threat still holds and we shall see if he has something to push through.
Still having to access this through awkward means, so apologies for the fact that this one and the last are both printed as one long text. Hoping to be able to fix this in the next week or so.
http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=35563
Bekkay Harrach: The Face of German Terror
Publication: Terrorism Monitor Volume: 7 Issue: 30
October 1, 2009
By: Raffaello Pantucci
Germany’s federal elections passed without incident on September 27, though they took place against a backdrop of intense concern in the German security services about a growing number of increasingly pointed al-Qaeda videos threatening Germany over its military deployment in Afghanistan. These messages included a videotape from Osama bin Laden on September 25, entitled “To the Peoples of Europe.” The video had English and German subtitles along with footage of German cities and monuments (Al-Fajr Media Center, September 25). The message appeared only two days before the German elections. Germany has 4,200 troops in northern Afghanistan, where they have come under more frequent attack in the last year as the Taliban insurgency spreads.
While the message from bin Laden is alarming, it appeared to only incidentally target Germany, without the terrorist leader naming it specifically. A more direct threat came from a series of videos released by Bekkay Harrach (a.k.a. Abu Talha al-Alamani), a Moroccan-born German citizen who has joined al-Qaeda in the Afghanistan-Pakistan frontier region.
Filed under: HSToday | Tags: Pakistan, terrorism, Transatlantic Affairs, UK
My latest for HSToday, this one looking specifically at the transatlantic tensions between the UK and U.S. as a result of the conclusion of the recent trial against the group who were plotting to bring down a series of planes flying from the UK to North America. This is not to overplay the tensions, but this was the specific angle being explored here, and there has been a great deal of coverage about the trial more generally.
http://www.hstoday.us/content/view/10333/152/
The Plot ‘Bigger Than 9/11’ Causes Transatlantic Tensions
by Raffaello Pantucci
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
IEDs would have been enough to blow hole in hulls of pressurized passenger jets
Coinciding with the commemoration of the 8th anniversary of Al Qaeda’s September 11, 2001 attack on the United States, a jury at Woolwich Crown Court in London found three British Muslims guilty of plotting to simultaneously bring down seven passenger planes on transatlantic routes.
However, while the British government has been keen to highlight success of the trial as a victory in the fight against international terrorism, tensions have been exposed in the transatlantic partnership against Al Qaeda.
This article makes a similar point to my earlier one in EU Observer (http://raffaellopantucci.wordpress.com/2009/05/12/europes-threat-from-pakistan/), but is instead in more direct response to one in the current Europe’s World journal by (http://www.europesworld.org/NewFrancais/Accueil/Article/tabid/190/ArticleType/ArticleView/ArticleID/21416/BlueprintforanEUroleinObamasAfPakstrategy.aspx) – apologies again for all the links, but unfortunately, am still having trouble posting properly.
Anyway, these piece have also attracted some media interest including this piece: http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/european-union/090615/eu-pakistan-summit – which is an interesting news outlet that I would commend to any readers.
http://www.europesworld.org/NewEnglish/Home/Article/tabid/191/ArticleType/ArticleView/ArticleID/21456/EuropesrealAfPakproblemisthatourpoliticianshavenotconvincedpublicopinion.aspx
Europe’s real AfPak problem is that our politicians have not convinced public opinion
Summer 2009
by Raffaello Pantucci
Shada Islam presents a sensible, if perhaps overly optimistic, view of European objectives on “AfPak”. It is hard to disagree with many of her fundamental points, in particular that greater coordination on Central-South Asia would be a boon to European and American interests in the region.
Unfortunately, the reality is that such coordination is still lacking and we are unlikely to see a greater push under an EU banner. More European involvement in any sort of “civilian surge” would be welcome, but will be unrealistic until the security situation is stabilised.
Filed under: EU Observer | Tags: counter-radicalization, Europe, Pakistan, terrorism
This is a long article for an op-ed, I have actually been circulating the idea for a while but finally found a good home for it. Some mention of the recent Europol report (1) or the upcoming EU-Pakistan Summit (2) would have probably been worthwhile, but no matter. My main point is that continental European government’s need to be a little clearer about what they are trying to achieve in AfPak as otherwise they might face sudden shocks. As if to reinforce my point, I see that the Italian police have just arrested a couple of alleged terrorists in Bari for plotting, radicalizing and organizing to help people travel to fight jihad (3).
1: http://www.europol.europa.eu/publications/EU_Terrorism_Situation_and_Trend_Report_TE-SAT/TESAT2009.pdf
2: http://euobserver.com/9/28104
3: http://www.corriere.it/cronache/09_maggio_12/al_qaeda_terroristi_arrestati_bari_f81b144c-3eb3-11de-914a-00144f02aabc.shtml
And here is the actual article, sorry for these links, I have been having probs hyperlinking where I am.
http://euobserver.com/?aid=28103
[Comment] Europe’s threat from Pakistan
RAFFAELLO PANTUCCI
11.05.2009 @ 18:21 CET
EUOBSERVER / COMMENT – During a recent visit to Pakistan, Britain’s Prime Minister Gordon Brown stated that a third of terror plots in the UK have connections to that beleaguered country.
In a press conference with President Asif Zardari he went on to state that with a set of new proposed measures, he hoped to “break the chain of terror that links the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan to the streets of the UK.”
But while the UK seems to have taken a view that there is a very real threat to Europe that needs to be engaged with in Afghanistan and Pakistan and makes the case regularly to its public, there is remarkably little sensible public discussion on such matters from other European capitals.
(more…)
My latest for HSToday, which I have not contributed to for a while, though as well as this one I now have another one coming up in the latest magazine as well. This one explores the connection between the UK and Al Qaeda in Pakistan, the second attempt at the trial against the airline plotters, and also touches upon the new stories to have emerged about Britons going to fight abroad. Not something new, but given what has happened in the past, potentially dangerous.
http://www.hstoday.us/content/view/7518/152/
UK Jihadists’ Have Ties to Al Qaeda in Pakistan, Afghanistan
by Raffaello Pantucci Friday, 06 March 2009
Authorities are concerned hardened fighters may return to plot attacks in Britain
The conclusion last year in the British trial of jihadists who allegedly were planning to bring down as many as 18 eighteen passenger jets in transit from London to North America with liquid explosives was a disappointment to the British security services.
Filed under: Jamestown Foundation | Tags: Afghanistan, Germany, Pakistan, terrorism
My latest for Jamestown, looking at Al Qaeda’s new focus on Germany – am also shopping some other piece around about this, but no bites yet. Interesting topic, but hard to know what exactly is going to happen – is this all going to lead to something? Or is it simply hot air? I am also very interested in the parallels between the situation in Germany and that in the UK – happy to expand if anyone is interested.
Afghanistan Deployment puts Germany in al-Qaeda’s Crosshairs
Germany’s Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier tours a German ISAF contingent in Afghanistan (German Federal Foreign Office photo)
Speaking in accented but fluent German, Abu Talha al-Alamani made al-Qaeda’s most direct threat to the German nation yet in a recent video, saying that Germans were “naive and gullible” if they thought they could “emerge unscathed” from being the third-largest troop provider in the NATO alliance in Afghanistan (al-Faloja.info, January 19). The video, released by al-Qaeda’s al-Sahab media wing and entitled “Das Rettungspaket Fuer Deutschland” (The Rescue Package for Germany), first emerged on jihadi websites on January 17 (though it is dated October 2008). The video showed a turbaned individual identified as Abu Talha al-Alamani (Abu Talha the German) brandishing weapons in a rocky environment, before switching to a direct picture of him preaching to the camera. In the half-hour video, Abu Talha declares that it has been his “wish to blow myself up for Allah since 1993,” and provides a nuanced overview of the German political environment highlighting the nation’s involvement in Afghanistan. [1] Germany currently provides over 3,300 troops to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan and has agreed to increase the size of its deployment to 4,500 troops.
(more…)
Filed under: Jamestown Foundation | Tags: al muhajiroun, Pakistan, terrorism, UK
A longer piece looking at the recently concluded trial into Rangzieb Ahmed and Habib Ahmed up North in Manchester. Some other details that I didn’t get to include in here as they didn’t impinge on the actual narrative, including looking into South Africa as a transit point or hub for terrorists moving from East to West. Something for a future article maybe. However, the links to Al Muhajiroun and Omar Saeed Sheikh are amongst the most interesting to emerge here, and I would welcome any further comments or information from anyone out there on either topic.
http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=34402
UK Trial Exposes al-Qaeda Terrorist Network with Connections to Pakistan
In a trial that passed with remarkably little fanfare last December, a jury in Manchester, England, convicted Rangzieb Ahmed and Habib Ahmed (no relation) on charges of being members of al-Qaeda. In a released statement, the Crown Prosecution Service described Rangzieb Ahmed as “an important member of al-Qaeda and in a position to direct some of its activities.” [1] Detective Chief Superintendent Tony Porter of the Greater Manchester Police went further, describing Rangzieb as “a very dangerous man,” whom he believed “was intent on masterminding terrorist attacks and would have considered mass murder part of his duty” (BBC, December 18, 2008).
(more…)
A short piece on Rashid Rauf, the infamous British-Pakistani who was killed in a Predator missile strike in Waziristan. Lots of gaps in the knowledge about him and his role, in fact, not even his death is really confirmed – but an interesting case that I suspect will still have some as of yet unknown repercussions. One report i saw even said he may have been involved in the Mumbai attacks.
U.S. Missiles Target Suspect in Transatlantic Airliner Plot
Rashid Rauf, the alleged target of the strike (Times Online)
Late in the evening of November 21, a U.S. operated Predator drone struck a house in North Waziristan owned by local warlord Khaliq Noor. Among those allegedly killed were British-Pakistani militant Rashid Rauf and senior al-Qaeda leader Abu Zubair al-Masri (Dawn [Karachi], November 22; BBC, November 22). It was not immediately clear whether Rauf, wanted by British and American security services for his alleged role in masterminding the August 2006 transatlantic airlines plot, was the target of the attack, though Pakistani authorities later confirmed that Rauf was the main target. His location was determined after communications between Rauf and other militants in the area were intercepted (Times, November 24).
Some musings on the Mumbai atrocity for HST. I see everyone else has expressed an opinion at this point…
http://www.hstoday.us/content/view/6288/149/
| Who Was Responsible for Mumbai? |
| by Rafaello Pantucci | |
| Wednesday, 03 December 2008 |
Violence on the scale of the Mumbai attacks is not unheard of in India.
LONDON, ENGLAND—It’s still unclear who directed last week’s grim terrorist attacks on Mumbai, India, even though for many blame logically rests inside Pakistan. The one captured terrorist, Azam Amir Qasab, who hails from Pakistan’s Punjab province, has apparently told interrogators that his orders came from Pakistan and that he was trained in a Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET) terrorist training camp.
