All Blog Posts from Internet Terror Monitor

The militant Afghani Taliban movement claimed in an Internet statement that some of its members had attacked a U.S. base in the Afghan province of Blakh and inflicted extensive damage.

According to a statement to the “voice of jihad” website, the group claims to have also destroyed a U.S. tank in the province of Kandahar and killing six soldiers.

A new manual named after al Qaeda chief bomb maker Midhat Mursi al Sayid Umar, who was known as Abu Khabab al Masri was distributed online today. The 34-page manual, written by a person using the name “Brother Abu Safiyah,” gives details about a variety of materials used in the making of bombs and ways to produce them at home.

Militant Islamist Internet forums have been dominated today by news about the surrender of former Saudi Guantanamo detainee Mohammed a -Awfi to Saudi authorities.

Al Awfi, who was a key figure in the resuscitated al Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula, recently appeared in a video along with three other al Qaeda leaders, including former Guantanamo detainee Saeed Ali Al Shihri, where he threatened attacks against foreign interests throughout the Gulf region, particularly in Saudi Arabia.

“We tell the policemen of the Saud family, the guardians of the Jews and the Crusaders, repent to God what you have been doing by guarding the gates of their embassies, their churches, their compounds, and their military and intelligence headquarters,” he had said in the video.

Realizing how al Awfi’s surrender undermines the credibility and the status of al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, many forum members chose to refute the news of his surrender and claim that al Awfi had been arrested.

One member even claimed that “the Americans must’ve planted metal chips in al Awfi’s body or else how did they manage to nab him so quickly?!”

Abu Dujana al Azdi, a pro-al Qaeda author and a regular contributor to the militant Islamist websites, published a “warning message” that was posted on all forums today. He told fellow members not to believe reports on the surrender of al Awfi until it’s been confirmed by a trusted jihadi source. He suggested that this might be an ambush set by the Saudi intelligence to arrest many of the militants who would try to contact al Awfi upon hearing the “fabricated news.”

Yesterday, al Arabiya News channel aired video of al Awfi looking weak and tired boarding a plane that was taking him back to Saudi Arabia from Yemen.
Following major arrests, Saudi authorities often run television broadcasts of what it calls “the confessions of the misled ones.” If al Awfi appears on national television and retracts his militant ideas, it would be considered a serious blow to al Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula and its credibility.

The Iraqi insurgent group Hezbollah Brigades released a video entitled “The Truth” to refute reports in Arab media about the killing of Iraqi civilians in attacks carried out by the group.

In the video, the group claims to have called off “many” attacks against U.S. forces because civilians were around.

The group also showed footage of U.S. mistreating Iraqis. One part showed a U.S. convoy driving down a road. The Humvee leading the convoy runs over a woman who was crossing the street. The convoy does not stop as passersby is seen rushing to where the woman is.

Footage of Taliban fighters torching dozens of NATO trucks at a Peshawar depot last December were revealed in a new video distributed on militant Islamist Internet forums today. The video is an indication of the Taliban’s strategy of cutting off NATO supply lines.

The 12-minute video was produced by al Qaeda’s media wing As Sahab, suggesting that the attack might have been a joint Arab-Afghan operation.

It opened with footage from a reconnaissance trip made by the group prior to the attack, followed by night pictures of Taliban fighters storming the terminal and setting fire to dozens of containers carrying different trucks and Humvee vehicles. There were also A/math pictures of the terminal, taken after the attack.

Although Pakistani authorities had announced that over 300 heavily-armed Taliban operatives had carried out the attack, the footage shows there were only a dozen or two militants.

The video also featured a statement by al Qaeda’s Afghanistan leader Mustafa Abul al Yazid. There were excerpts from an old video entitled: "Harvest of Seven Years of Crusades" released last September, where Abu al Yazid was incited Pakistani militants to attack NATO supply lines. The video closed with a new statement by Abu al Yazid appealing to Muslims to donate money to the militants.

A short video of an IED attack on two Iraqi soldiers in Mosul was released by the Iraqi militant group Ansar al Islam, which is also known as Jaysh Ansar al Sunna. The undated video shows the two soldiers standing exactly on top of the spot where the IED was planted.

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Three “martyrdom” videos of Hamas’ militants killed by Israeli forces after carrying out a mortar attack on an Israeli Kibbutz on June 11th were released on the Internet today. The men, who were members of Hamas’ military wing Ezzedine al Qassam Brigades, were identified as Ahmed Adnan Safadi, Mohammed Yehya Hamid, and Mostafa Sabri Atallah. Hamas had released a video of the attack on the Nir Oz Kibbutz on Thursday.

Al Qaeda’s leader Osama bin Laden called on Egyptians to overthrow President Hosni Mubarak and lift the blockade imposed on Gaza in an audio statement posted on the Internet today and focused on criticizing Arab countries for not supporting Palestine.

This is bin Laden’s second statement in three days. His last statement, released Friday, also centered on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The 22-minute tape was released by al Qaeda’s media wing al Sahab and is entitled “To the Muslim Nation…A Message from Sheikh Osama bin Laden – May God Protect Him.” It opens with an old still picture of bin Laden in front of a pink backdrop showing a picture of al Aqsa Mosque.

Bin Laden insists that nothing exempts Muslims from the responsibility to come to the rescue of Palestinians and calls on Egyptians to be the first to act. “Those on whom rests the duty of lifting that siege are our brothers the knights of the land of the Kenanah (Egypt) for they are the only ones who have a border with Gaza…they should work on ending that siege and throw out that merciless tyrant .. the assassin of Gaza’s children.”

In the new statement, bin Laden argues that “the only way to get back Palestine” is by fighting the governments and parties surrounding Israel. “There is no other way but jihad to liberate Palestine and al Aqsa and restore the caliphate, God willing.”

He insists that Israel is much weaker than it seems and blames the “traitor” Arab rulers for Palestine being under its control. Bin Laden says there has not been one serious attempt to liberate Palestine through a war. “I assure you…the Zionist state would not stand one tenth of what the mujahideen have done while fighting the Russians in Afghanistan, and would not stand a tenth of what the mujahideen have done today to strike against America and its allies in Iraq.”

Al Qaeda leader lashes out at the supreme guide of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and the leader of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah, claiming they’re not eager to serve Islam as they say they are. He warns that Muslims should not be fooled by them.

Bin Laden also attacks world leaders for participating in the event, as he has done in his previous statement. “The Jews’ celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the creation of the Zionist state on the lands of Palestine, in the presence of world leaders, clearly shows that the values of justice, freedom and humanity are nothing but empty slogans used to deceive the oppressed.” He also talks about the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the role played by Britain.

This is bin Laden’s 27th statement since the Sept. 11th attacks, including four videos and 23 audio messages.

Al Qaeda’s leader Osama bin Laden will issue a new statement on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the creation of Israel, according to a banner posted on a number of websites often used by al Qaeda and other terrorist groups.

It is unclear if the new statement will be a video or an audio release. However, the old picture of bin Laden used on the banner may be an indication that it is an audio. Bin Laden is expected to address the Israeli-Palestinian issue, as the statement is entitled “Message to the Western People: The Reasons for the Conflict…On the 60th Anniversary of the Establishment of the Occupier State of Israel.”

As is the case with all of bin Laden’s and Ayman al Zawahri’s statements in recent years, the release was produced by the terror group’s media wing al Sahab.

Al Qaeda officials’ statements are usually posted within one or two days of the announcement.

This will be Bin Laden’s 26th statement since the Sept. 11th attacks, including four videos and 21 audio messages. Bin Laden’s last statement was an audio tape released on March 20th. Al Zawahri’s last statement was a video released on April 22nd.

A video posted on militant Islamist Internet forums Saturday shows a suicide bomber vowing to fight “the enemies God” wherever they go before carrying out an attack on what the video claims is a U.S. military base in Khost in Afghanistan.