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Gitmo Detainees Return to Terror
By Nathaniel Botwinick
September 20, 2012 2:10 P.M.
In light of reports that former Guantanamo Bay detainee Sufyan bin Qumu was involved in the terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, National Review presents the current list of those who upon release from Guantanamo have returned to terrorism.
Sufyan bin Qumu was released in 2007 to Libyan custody. The Libyans let him go in 2008 in an amnesty for former militants. According to intelligence sources, he was directly involved in the terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.
Ibrahim Shafir Sen was released from Guantanamo in November 2003 to Turkey. He was arrested in January 2008 and charged with leading an active al-Qaeda cell.
Ibrahim Bin Shakaran and Mohammed bin Ahmad Mizouz were transferred to Morocco in July 2004. They were convicted in 2007 of recruiting Moroccans for al-Qaeda in Iran.
Abdullah Mahsud was released in Afghanistan in 2004. He was involved in the kidnapping of two Chinese engineers in October 2004, and directed the suicide bombing against an Islamabad hotel that killed 31 people. Mahsud killed himself in July 2007 to avoid capture by Pakistani forces.
Ruslan Anatolivich Odishev was sent to Russian in 2004. He took part in several terrorist attacks in the Caucuses before he was killed in a shootout with Russias Federal Security Service.
Ravil Shafeyavich Gumarov and Timur Ravilich Ishmurat were released in Russia in March 2004. They were convicted in 2006 of a bombing of a gas line.
Mohammed Ismail was released in 2004 and recaptured that same year in a Taliban attack on U.S. forces in Kandahar.
Maulvi Abdul Ghaffar was returned to Afghanistan in 2002. He became the regional Taliban commander in Uruzan and Helmand. He was killed in a raid by Afghan security forces while planning an attack on Afghan police.
Yousef Muhammed Yaaqoub was released in 2003 and became a Taliban commander in southern Afghanistan. He led the massive jailbreak from Kandahars prison, and was killed in 2004 fighting U.S. forces.
Mohammed Nayim Farouq rejoined anti-coalition forces in Afghanistan following his release in 2003.
Abdul Rahman Noor was released in July 2003, and has since been identified as the deputy defense minister of the Taliban.
Abdallah Salih al-Ajmi was sent to Kuwait in 2005 and became a suicide bomber in Mosul, Iraq, in April 2008. The attack killed seven people.
Abu Sufyan al-Azdi al-Shiri and Mazin Salih Musaid al-Alawi al-Awfi were returned to Saudi Arabia in 2007. On January 24, 2008, they announced their leadership within al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
Abdullah Kafkas was repatriated to Russia in 2004. He is suspected of involvement in the 2005 Nalchik attack in which over 100 people were killed in southern Russia.
Almasm Rabilavich Sharipov was returned to Russia in 2004. Sharipov is suspected of associating with the terrorist group Hezb-e-Tahrir.
Isa Khan was released in Pakistan in 2004. In 2010, he was arrested in Pakistan for rejoining the Taliban.
Abdullah Majid al-Naimi was repatriated to Bahrain in 2005. He was arrested in October 2008 and had rejoined al-Qaeda.
Saad Madhi Saad al Azmi was returned to Kuwait in 2005. He is suspected of also rejoining al-Qaeda.
Majid Abdullah Lahiq al Joudi was repatriated to Saudi Arabia in 2007. He has been confirmed as a facilitator of terrorism since his release.
Humud Dakhil Humud Said al-Jadan was returned to Saudi Arabia in 2007. He is suspected of associating with known terrorists since his release.
Abd al Hadi Abdallah Ibrahim al Sharikh was repatriated to Saudi Arabia in 2007. He is currently on Saudi Arabias most-wanted list for suspected terrorists.
Zahir Shah was released in Afghanistan in 2007. He has been confirmed as returning to terrorism.
Abdullah Gulam Rasoul was also released in Afghanistan in 2007. He is now a leader in the Taliban, and led the major Taliban offensive against coalition forces in 2009.
Abdullah Gulam Rasoul reportedly became the second-in-command of the Taliban in 2010.
Haji Sahib Rohullah Wakil was returned to Afghanistan in 2008. He is suspected of rejoining anti-coalition forces.
Source: Defense Intelligence Agency: Former Guantanamo Detainee Terrorism Trends
The deputy leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and one of the most wanted men in Saudi Arabia has been killed, a prominent jihadist announced Tuesday, though officials in the group's home base of Yemen said they had no evidence of his death. Abu Sufyan al-Azdi, also known as Saeed al-Shahri, died "after a long journey in fighting the Zio-Crusader campaign," jihadist Abdulla bin Muhammad said on his Twitter account. The tweet was reported by SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors global terrorism. It was not clear how al-Azdi died. SITE said media reports indicated he died of injuries incurred in a December drone strike. The Arabic news network Al-Arabiya reported al-Azdi's death, citing his relatives.
Three senior Yemeni Defense Ministry officials told CNN the country has no evidence proving his death. "We have no evidence to prove his death and our government continues to hunt down the leaderships of the terror network," one of the officials told CNN on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to talk to media. He said more than 80 suspected al Qaeda militants have been killed since early December but that al-Azdi is still out there. Al-Azdi has been reported dead in the past, the latest incident being in September when Yemen claimed he was killed in an air raid. An audio message released the next month supposedly featured al-Azdi saying he was still alive.
Al-Azdi spent six years in the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay before being released in 2007. A Saudi national, he escaped Saudi Arabia to Yemen in 2008. U.S. drone activity increased in 2012 targeting senior leaders of AQAP. Monday, a U.S.-led drone strike in Marib, an oil-rich province of Yemen east of the capital, targeted a vehicle carrying alleged al Qaeda operatives. The strike killed two militants, identified by the defense ministry as Ali Saleh Toaiman and Qassim Nasser Toaiman, and wounded five others.
Saturday, two U.S drone strikes killed eight people in Marib and another province, al-Baitha. Yemeni President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi announced in October that Yemen would step up its military operations with the United States against al Qaeda operatives. In response, al Qaeda carried out a number of attacks on military and security commanders, personnel, patrols and installations, killing more than 60 people, according to Yemen's Interior Ministry.
Report: Top al Qaeda leader killed - CNN.com
