Lessons from the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorist List

[Jroc]

The Federal Bureau of Investigation's list of "Ten Most Wanted" fugitives dates back to 1950 but the list of "Most Wanted Terrorists" dates back to just after 9/11 and a sense that terrorism had become a strategic threat. Today, the list includes 31 individuals, all of them male and with a single exception (Daniel Andreas San Diego, an animal rights extremist), all of them Muslim:

•Abd al Aziz Awda – 1950, Palestinian, Palestinian Islamic Jihad
•Abdelkarim Hussein Mohamed Al-Nasser – ca. 1947, Saudi, Saudi Hizbullah
•Abdul Rahman Yasin – 1960, American, World Trade Center bombing in 1993
•Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah – 1963, Egyptian, Kenya and Tanzania embassy bombings in 1998
•Adam Yahiye Gadahn – 1978, American, Al-Qaeda
•Adnan G. El Shukrijumah – 1975, Guyanese, Al-Qaeda
•Ahmad Ibrahim Al-Mughassil – 1967, Saudi, Saudi Hizbullah
•Ali Atwa – ca. 1960, Lebanese, TWA hijacking in 1985
•Ali Saed Bin Ali El-Hoorie – 1965, Saudi, Saudi Hizbullah
•Anas Al-Liby – 1964, Libyan, Kenya and Tanzania embassy bombings in 1998
•Ayman Al-Zawahiri – 1951, Egyptian, Al-Qaeda
•Faouzi Mohamad Ayoub – 1966, Lebanese, Lebanese Hizbullah
•Hakimullah Mehsud – ca. 1980, Pakistani, Pakistani Taliban
•Hasan Izz-Al-Din – 1963, Lebanese, TWA hijacking in 1985
•Husayn Muhammad Al-Umari – 1936, Lebanese, 15 May Organization
•Ibrahim Salih Mohammed Al-Yacoub – 1966, Saudi, Saudi Hizbullah
•Isnilon Totoni Hapilon – 1966, Filipino, Abu Sayyaf Group
•Jaber A. Elbaneh – 1966, Yemeni, Al-Qaeda
•Jamal Saeed Abdul Rahim – 1965, Palestinian, Pan Am hijacking in 1986
•Jamel Ahmed Mohammed Ali Al-Badawi – 1960, Yemeni, USS Cole bombing in 2000
•Jehad Serwan Mostafa – 1981, American, Al-Shabaab
•Mohammed Ali Hamadei – 1964, Lebanese, Lebanese Hizbullah
•Muhammad Abdullah Khalil Hussain Ar-Rahayyal – 1965, Palestinian, Pan Am hijacking in 1986
•Muhammad Ahmed Al-Munawar – 1965, Palestinian, Abu Nidal Organization
•Omar Shafik Hammami – 1984, American, Al-Shabaab
•Raddulan Sahiron – ca. 1936, Filipino, Abu Sayyaf Group
•Ramadan Abdullah Mohammad Shallah – 1958, Palestinian, Palestinian Islamic Jihad
•Saif Al-Adel – ca. 1960, Egyptian, Al-Qaeda
•Wadoud Muhammad Hafiz Al-Turki – 1955, Palestinian, Pan Am hijacking in 1986
•Zulkifli Abdhir – 1966, Malaysian, Kumpulun Mujahidin Malaysia


(1) Muslims make up 30 out of 31 most wanted terrorists, or about 97 percent of them. That's a pretty good indication of what Bernard Lewis' 1990 article famously called "Muslim rage" and why Islam-related issues have such prominence.

Lessons from the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorist List :: Daniel Pipes

 

[waltky]

Granny says send a Predator drone after him like we did dat Alwacky...

Adam Gadahn, al Qaeda's U.S.-born spokesman, calls for attacks on U.S. diplomats
Mon August 19, 2013 > He urges wealthy Muslims to offer militants rewards; He posted his statement on jihadist websites; He has a $1 million bounty on his head

American-born al Qaeda spokesman Adam Gadahn is calling for attacks on U.S. ambassadors around the world. In a 39-minute video, Gadahn praised the death of Libya's U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens on September 11 last year -- and urged wealthy Muslims to offer militants rewards so they can kill others, according to SITE, a jihadist monitoring group.

Specifically, he referenced a bounty set for the death of U.S. Ambassador to Yemen, Gerald Feierstein. "These prizes have a great effect in instilling fear in the hearts of our cowardly enemies," Gadahn who has a $1 million dollar bounty on his head, says in the video. "They also encourage hesitant individuals to carry out important and great deeds in the path of Allah."

The California-raised Islamic convert, also known as Azzam the American, spoke entirely in Arabic throughout the video, "The Exploits of Muslims and Infamies of the Criminals." It was produced by al-Qaeda's as-Sahab Media Foundation and posted to jihadi websites. "The dead American ambassador Christopher Stevens wasn't a friend of Libya" Gadahn asserts, saying instead he was "representative of the empire of evil and corruption, America".

Multiple American embassies across North Africa and the Middle East were closed earlier this month in light of intelligence information suggesting a possible attack. All have reopened. But an administration official, asked whether the closures were linked to the Gadahn video, told CNN that while al Qaeda's general intentions were a factor in the closures, "this video was not specifically a factor." Gadahn has made similar videos in the past. In 2007, he also called for attacks on U.S. diplomats, vowing that al Qaeda would target American diplomats and embassies in retaliation for the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.

Adam Gadahn, al Qaeda spokesman, calls for attacks on U.S. diplomats - CNN.com

 

[waltky]

Guess he irked al-Shabaab...

American jihadi reportedly killed in Somalia
September 12th, 2013 ~ American Omar Hammami, who built a following in militant circles in the West for his idiosyncratic jihadist rap videos and had a U.S. bounty on his head, was among two notable jihadists reportedly killed in Somalia on Thursday.

Sources said Hammami and Briton Osama al-Britani were apparently ambushed west of Mogadishu by members of al Qaeda affiliate Al-Shabaab. A message posted on the al-Jihad al-Alami forum said they were killed "by an unjust raid by the Emir of the Shabaab al-Mujahideen Movement and his followers in Islamic Bay and Bakool province after clashes that lasted for several hours while they defended themselves," according to a translation by the SITE intelligence group. Hammami, a former Al-Shabaab fighter and prolific English-language propagandist for the group with a $5 million American bounty on his head, went into hiding after falling out with the group last year.

Hammami – who also goes by the name Abu Mansour al Amriki – has been falsely reported killed in the past and CNN cannot independently confirm his death. However John Berger, an American terrorism expert who has closely tracked Hammami and has recently communicated with him extensively online, believes that the latest reports are credible. "I'm pretty sure it's true. I saw it from sources close to Hammami and also from the Shabaab side, which hasn't happened before," Berger told CNN. The United States was working to confirm the report. "We have seen reports that Omar Al-Hammami, also known as "Al-Amriki," was killed in Somalia, and we are working to verify the reports," a State Department official said.

American extremist in Somalia's Al-Qaeda affiliated rebels Omar Hammami poses with the cover of his autobiography on a laptop was released to prove the authenticity of his autobiography in an undisclosed location.

Hammami released a bizarre internet video in March 2012 claiming the group was trying to assassinate him due to what he explained were "some differences that occurred between us regarding matters of the sharia and matters of strategy." One of his grievances appears to have been that he was passed over for promotion. Hammami's father is Syrian-born and his mother an American. He grew up in Daphne, Alabama, a suburb of Mobile. After his family moved to Egypt in 2006, Hammami left with a friend to join Al-Shabaab and quickly climbed the ranks as more foreign fighters converged on Somalia, especially young Somali-Americans. Subsequently he was indicted in federal court in the United States on terrorism charges.

Following the release of his video, he railed against several high ranking figures in Al Shabaab, including its leader Moktar Abu Zubayr, on his Twitter account, in a self-published autobiography he released online, and in a series of online exchanges with Berger. He alleged that Al Shabaab leaders lived extravagant lifestyles from taxes imposed on Somalis, treated foreign fighters poorly, and lacked ambition to fight Jihad globally. He even accused Zubayr of having engineered the shooting of Fazul Mohammed, al Qaeda's leading operative in east Africa, by directing him to a Somali government checkpoint in Mogadishu where he was killed in June 2011. These accusations became a growing irritant to Al Shabaab.

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[Jroc]

Good news

 

[Lipush]

The Federal Bureau of Investigation's list of "Ten Most Wanted" fugitives dates back to 1950 but the list of "Most Wanted Terrorists" dates back to just after 9/11 and a sense that terrorism had become a strategic threat. Today, the list includes 31 individuals, all of them male and with a single exception (Daniel Andreas San Diego, an animal rights extremist), all of them Muslim:

•Abd al Aziz Awda – 1950, Palestinian, Palestinian Islamic Jihad
•Abdelkarim Hussein Mohamed Al-Nasser – ca. 1947, Saudi, Saudi Hizbullah
•Abdul Rahman Yasin – 1960, American, World Trade Center bombing in 1993
•Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah – 1963, Egyptian, Kenya and Tanzania embassy bombings in 1998
•Adam Yahiye Gadahn – 1978, American, Al-Qaeda
•Adnan G. El Shukrijumah – 1975, Guyanese, Al-Qaeda
•Ahmad Ibrahim Al-Mughassil – 1967, Saudi, Saudi Hizbullah
•Ali Atwa – ca. 1960, Lebanese, TWA hijacking in 1985
•Ali Saed Bin Ali El-Hoorie – 1965, Saudi, Saudi Hizbullah
•Anas Al-Liby – 1964, Libyan, Kenya and Tanzania embassy bombings in 1998
•Ayman Al-Zawahiri – 1951, Egyptian, Al-Qaeda
•Faouzi Mohamad Ayoub – 1966, Lebanese, Lebanese Hizbullah
•Hakimullah Mehsud – ca. 1980, Pakistani, Pakistani Taliban
•Hasan Izz-Al-Din – 1963, Lebanese, TWA hijacking in 1985
•Husayn Muhammad Al-Umari – 1936, Lebanese, 15 May Organization
•Ibrahim Salih Mohammed Al-Yacoub – 1966, Saudi, Saudi Hizbullah
•Isnilon Totoni Hapilon – 1966, Filipino, Abu Sayyaf Group
•Jaber A. Elbaneh – 1966, Yemeni, Al-Qaeda
•Jamal Saeed Abdul Rahim – 1965, Palestinian, Pan Am hijacking in 1986
•Jamel Ahmed Mohammed Ali Al-Badawi – 1960, Yemeni, USS Cole bombing in 2000
•Jehad Serwan Mostafa – 1981, American, Al-Shabaab
•Mohammed Ali Hamadei – 1964, Lebanese, Lebanese Hizbullah
•Muhammad Abdullah Khalil Hussain Ar-Rahayyal – 1965, Palestinian, Pan Am hijacking in 1986
•Muhammad Ahmed Al-Munawar – 1965, Palestinian, Abu Nidal Organization
•Omar Shafik Hammami – 1984, American, Al-Shabaab
•Raddulan Sahiron – ca. 1936, Filipino, Abu Sayyaf Group
•Ramadan Abdullah Mohammad Shallah – 1958, Palestinian, Palestinian Islamic Jihad
•Saif Al-Adel – ca. 1960, Egyptian, Al-Qaeda
•Wadoud Muhammad Hafiz Al-Turki – 1955, Palestinian, Pan Am hijacking in 1986
•Zulkifli Abdhir – 1966, Malaysian, Kumpulun Mujahidin Malaysia


(1) Muslims make up 30 out of 31 most wanted terrorists, or about 97 percent of them. That's a pretty good indication of what Bernard Lewis' 1990 article famously called "Muslim rage" and why Islam-related issues have such prominence.

Lessons from the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorist List :: Daniel Pipes

Their 'Janna' is waiting

 

[waltky]

Abu Anas el-Liby nabbed in Libya...

Officials: '98 US Embassy Bomber in Custody
October 05, 2013 ~ U.S. officials say American forces have captured an al-Qaida leader facing federal charges for the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

Officials say the suspect, known as Abu Anas el-Liby, was captured alive Saturday near Tripoli in a joint operation by a U.S. military force and intelligence operatives. The accounts of U.S. involvement came a short while after relatives of Abu Anas said the 49-year-old suspect had been kidnapped in the Libyan capital. The Associated Press quoted the suspect's brother as saying Abu Anas was abducted while parking his car outside his house early Saturday after dawn prayers. He said three cars encircled the suspect, smashed his car window and disarmed him before fleeing with him. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation had offered a $5 million bounty for information leading to Abu Anas' capture, after a federal court in New York indicted him in 2000 for planning the embassy attacks. More than 250 people were killed and thousands wounded in the Nairobi and Dar es Salaam blasts on August 7, 1998.

Somalia Raid

A United States Navy SEAL team has targeted a senior leader of the al-Qaida-linked militant group al- Shabab in a daring predawn raid in Barawe, Somalia. U.S. Defense Department officials say the commandos conducted an operation "aimed at capturing a high value al-Shabab terrorist leader," but they failed to capture him. Sources told VOA a top al-Qaida militant working with al-Shabab was the target of the attack, but did not name him. Several al-Shabab militants were killed in the firefight but it was not clear if the targeted militant was among them. U.S. officials said no American troops were hurt. The raid was in response to an attack on a shopping mall two weeks ago in neighboring Kenya. Al-Shabab, a militant Islamist group, has claimed responsibility for the action, which killed at least 67 people. The mission, first reported by The New York Times, marks the boldest strike on Somali soil since U.S. commandos killed Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, an al-Qaida mastermind, near the same town four years ago.

In notice offering rewards for information leading to the capture of most wanted terrorists, Anas al Liby is bottom row, second from left.

Witnesses in the al-Shabab controlled town of Barawe told VOA Somali foreign forces attacked the militant safe house around 2:30 a.m. Saturday. They report some of the soldiers descended from helicopters while others may have arrived on boats. Al-Shabab spokesman Abdulaziz Abu Musab confirmed the incident in a recorded statement. “Last night a group of fighters docked at Barawe sea port and stormed at one of the safe house occupied by some of our fighters,” he said. “Our fighters saw these troops, fighting broke out and we repelled them.” Musab said one militant was killed in the attack, and compared the raid to a failed attempt by French special forces to free a hostage in the town of Bula Marer in January. At least one French soldier was killed in that operation. Under pressure from regional military forces, al-Shabab has been driven out of major cities in Somalia, but it still controls towns and territory, mostly in the south central regions.

The Islamist group has claimed responsibility for a four-day attack on the Westgate shopping mall in Kenya’s capital Nairobi last month that killed more than 60 people. Kenya's military spokesman on Saturday named four men — including a Sudanese, a Kenyan Arab and a Somali — took part in the attack, giving their names as Abu Baara al-Sudani, Omar Nabhan, Khattab al-Kene and Umayr. Al-Shabab’s leaders said the attack was retaliation for Kenya’s ongoing military operations targeting the group in southern Somalia. Al-Shabab has vowed to carry out other acts of violence against Kenya, unless Kenya withdraws its forces from Somalia. Kenyan forces entered Somalia two years ago to help battle the militant group, which has been fighting to turn Somalia into a strict Islamic state.

Officials: '98 US Embassy Bomber in Custody

See also:

US Forces Conduct Two Major Anti-Terrorist Operations in Africa
October 06, 2013 WASHINGTON — U.S. special forces have launched major anti-terror operations in Libya and Somalia.

Defense Department spokesman George Little, in a written statement, confirmed U.S. forces have captured Abu Anas el-Liby, an al-Qaida leader indicted in the United States for the 1998 bombings of American embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salam, Tanzania. The attacks 15 years ago killed more than 200 people and injured thousands. Little said Abu Anas is currently detained by the U.S. military in what he described only as a secure location outside Libya.

News reports earlier quoted members of Abu Anas's family as saying foreign troops arrested him outside his home in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, on Saturday. In a separate development, U.S. officials on Saturday said U.S. Navy SEALs were involved in an operation in southern Somalia Friday that targeted a leader of al-Shabab, the group responsible for the recent attack on Nairobi’s Westgate shopping center. The Pentagon did not release the name of the individual they were seeking, but a U.S. official described that person as a “high value al-Shabab terrorist leader.”

Reports say the U.S. commandos withdrew after coming under heavy gunfire. A U.S. official says no American personnel were killed or injured. The official says U.S. forces did inflict an undisclosed number of casualties among al-Shabab members. It was not immediately clear if the individual the U.S. forces were targeting was among the dead or wounded.

http://www.voanews.com/content/us-anti-terrorism-africa/1763886.html

 

[waltky]

Unlike the terrorists, we at least consider if children are in harm's way...

Official: Navy SEAL team pulled out when it couldn't capture suspect alive
Mon October 7, 2013 ~ U.S. official: Navy SEALs reported seeing children at the Somalia compound; The Pentagon disputes suggestion that Al-Shabaab drove out the SEALS; Commander decided to withdraw after an intense firefight, senior U.S. official says; The U.S. Navy SEAL team's mission was to capture Ikrima arrive State Department: Abu Anas al Libi won't be sent to Guantanamo

U.S. Navy SEAL Team Six pulled out during a raid in Somalia to capture suspected Al-Shabaab leader Ikrima when it became clear that he couldn't be taken alive, a senior U.S. official told CNN. "Their mission was to capture him. Once it became clear we were not going to (be) able to take him, the Navy commander made the decision to withdraw," said the official, who has direct knowledge of the entire Somalia operation but declined to be identified publicly. The official said the SEALs faced heavy opposition and an intense firefight broke out, leading to the withdrawal. The mission's aim -- to capture Ikrima -- is the reason the team went in rather than using a drone to attack the heavily guarded seaside villa, the official said. Another U.S. official told CNN the Navy SEALs reported seeing children at the compound, part of the reason the mission was stopped during the firefight.

Amid questions about the aborted mission, the Pentagon is disputing the suggestion that Al-Shabaab drove out the SEALs. "That's not how it happened," Pentagon spokesman George Little insisted to CNN. "There was a firefight, absolutely, and they took every step to avoid civilian casualties in this case, and that's what our military personnel do. They weigh these kinds of decisions and they made a prudent decision on the ground to depart. It was their decision." Little said earlier that the United States will continue to work with Somalia's government to confront Al-Shabaab. "While the operation did not result in Ikrima's capture, U.S. military personnel conducted the operation with unparalleled precision and demonstrated that the United States can put direct pressure on Al-Shabaab leadership at any time of our choosing," he said.

Somalia welcomed the U.S. raid, Somali Deputy Prime Minister Fawzia Yusuf Adam told CNN's Christiane Amanpour Monday. "We are welcoming more if this will help us ... get rid of al Qaeda and Al-Shabaab," said Adam, who is also the country's foreign minister. It was one of two U.S. military operations in Africa over the weekend targeting what officials called high-value terrorism suspects. In the other raid, members of the elite U.S. Army Delta Force captured Abu Anas al Libi, an al Qaeda operative wanted for his alleged role in the deadly 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa.

Next stop, New York?

See also:

Why capture of al-Libi is "a big deal" for the U.S.
October 7, 2013 ~ Intelligence officials are interrogating a suspected al Qaeda leader Nazih Abdul-Hamed al-Ruqai -- known by his alias, Abu Anas al-Libi. After 15 years on the run, the suspect in the bombings of two American embassies in Africa was captured by American special forces.

The operation was one of two raids carried out over the weekend, in Libya and Somalia. The capture is "a big deal", according to CBS News senior correspondent John Miller, a former FBI assistant director, because of the intelligence he may have about the current inner workings of al Qaeda, as well as what he represents to the U.S. in their search for terror suspects. Miller said, "He may have very good intelligence about what is going on inside al Qaeda's command in control now. He also may have intelligence that relates to what's going on in al Qaeda's affiliates in Libya. Why is that so important? If you look at (the Islamist militant group) Ansar al-Sharia in Benghazi -- or groups like that that are extensions of al Qaeda, they're the people behind the Benghazi consulate attack that killed the U.S. ambassador, so that's a potential place to mine. "

Miller added, "But the important part is -- push the intelligence aside. He's wanted for the murder of 225 people in the destruction with truck bombs of two U.S. embassies on August 7, 1998, and that is something they have vowed to track down everyone involved with, no matter where they are in the world." Al-Libi has been on the FBI's Most Wanted list for nearly two decades. His interrogation, Miller explained, will be done by a group of specialists in the CIA, the Department of Defense, and the FBI, perhaps among others. "(They are) trained specifically as subject matter experts in what they're looking into, but also in the arts of interrogation."

As for the second mission on Saturday in Somalia, Miller said the effort was perhaps affected by flawed intelligence, an unexpected number of assailants or an early give-away of their location. "The suggestion is either the intelligence was flawed, meaning there were are a lot more bad guys that they ended up confronting than they expected or part of what we're hearing ... is that they ran into somebody who spotted them early on. They had to shoot that person and that attracted attention before they expected to get attention. Their thing is speed, surprise, violence of action. That's the mantra of the Navy SEALs, and once you lose either or both of those first two things, you've damaged the third thing and that means to go to Plan B or Plan C."

The Navy SEALS were caught in a firefight in an attempt to apprehend a senior leader of al-Shabab, the terrorist group responsible for the recent massacre at a shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya. The SEALs were forced to withdraw before capturing him. It is unclear if he was killed or wounded in the attack. Miller said it appears the SEALs were faced "with an overwhelming force." He added, "At that point the idea was well, let's get in, let's get out, because we can come back and do this another day, a different way."

Why capture of al-Libi is "a big deal" for the U.S. - CBS News