Briefs
Muqtada al-Sadr’s Radical Rival: A Portrait of Qais al-Khaz’ali
For most observers, the link between the release of British hostage Peter Moore, held in Iraq for two and a half years and the nearly simultaneous release of Iraqi militia commander Qais al-Khaz’ali by Iraqi authorities was clear and obvious. Al-Khaz’ali, a Shiite cleric, was... MORE
A Close-Up Look at Darfur’s Paramount Rebel Leader: Dr. Khalil Ibrahim
Dr. Khalil Ibrahim Muhammad Achar Foudeil Taha is the chairman of Darfur’s Justice and Equality Movement (JEM – Harakat al-Adl wa’l-Muswaa), the most powerful and determined of the many-armed movements in Darfur challenging the authority of the military/Islamist regime in Khartoum. As a former Darfur... MORE
Abdul Basit Usman: Waziristan’s Filipino Connection
Abdul Basit Usman, a leading Filipino Muslim militant trained in bomb making, was reported killed, along with 11 other militants in a Predator drone strike along the North and South Waziristan border on January 14, 2010 (The News International [Karachi], January 22). Usman, who was said... MORE
January 2010 Briefs
TOP RANKING MILITANT SURRENDERS TO ETHIOPIAN GOVERNMENT: A PROFILE OF LICHO BUKHURA Licho Bukhura (a.k.a. Lucho Burbura), a senior militant leader of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), has surrendered to central government authorities in Addis Ababa along with some 100 other OLF fighters. Bukhura spoke... MORE
Abu Sayyaf Group’s Notorious Chieftain: A Profile of Khadaffy Janjalani
In the first week of August, intense fighting broke out against a faction of Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) militants on the southern Philippine Island of Jolo (Sun Star [Cebu], August 15, 2006). While the Armed Forces of the Philippines claimed to have killed five militants,... MORE
Mujahid Dokubo-Asari: The Niger Delta’s Ijaw Leader
Among the restive Ijaw population in Nigeria's troubled, energy-rich delta region, one man stands alone as the most recognizable face of resistance: Mujahid Dokubo-Asari. Asari has been a central figure in the Ijaw cause, forming in late 2003 one of the delta's most notorious Ijaw... MORE
Bekkay Harrach: The Face of German Terror
Germany’s federal elections passed without incident on September 27, 2009, 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... MORE
Hafiz Gul Bahadur: A Profile of the Leader of the North Waziristan Taliban
Perhaps no one has greater stature or importance in the Pakistani Taliban leadership than Hafiz Gul Bahadur, supreme commander of the North Waziristani Taliban. A direct descendant of Mirza Ali Khan, a legendary Waziristani freedom fighter who fought against the British Indian government and later... MORE
Pakistan’s Most Wanted: A Profile of Tehrik-e-Taliban Leader Baitullah Mahsud
By threatening to attack the White House and making a bizarre claim of responsibility for the shooting rampage at a U.S. immigration center in Binghamton, New York, the Tehrik-e-Taliban (TTP) chief in Pakistan’s restive tribal areas, Baitullah Mahsud, has been making big headlines in global... MORE
Ibrahim al-Rubaish: New Religious Ideologue of al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia Calls for Revival of Assassination Tactic
The mufti (religious leader) plays an essential role for al-Qaeda and affiliated Salafi-Jihadi groups, particularly in Saudi Arabia, where the government’s counterterrorism strategy involves denouncing al-Qaeda’s religious credentials. There have been several mufti-s since al-Qaeda began attacks on the Saudi establishment in 2003: Issa bin Sa’ad al-Oshan... MORE