The web site of Iraqi Islamic underground organization al-Jama’a al-Salafia al-Mujahada recently called on the group’s fighters to focus on propaganda acts in addition to the armed activity against allied forces in Iraq. To that end, the web site also outlined a series of objectives and directives to be followed.
There are good reasons for al-Qaida to attack Turkey and its interests, and at this stage it seems that the target and the modus operandi point to bin Ladin’s global Islamist network as the main suspect. The primary motivation for targeting Turkish sites is its historical significance as the last survivor of the Muslim Caliphate.
The new Iraqi Sunni resistance organization al-Jam’iya al-Salafiya al-Mujahida offers a radical Islamic platform that contains many points in common with al-Qaeda.
The participation of women in Palestinian terrorism is increasing. Israeli security forces are aware of as many as twenty cases in which women were involved in terrorist activity against Israeli targets; some as facilitators, while others operated at the most radical level, carrying out suicide bombings.
The 12 May 2003 bombings in Riyadh were dramatic evidence that al-Qaida is at work in the Saudi kingdom, the birthplace of the terror group’s founder, Osama bin Laden.
The Sharon Government is about to make a strategic mistake. If the prisoner-exchange deal now being worked out comes to fruition, Hizballah will be strengthened politically, psychologically and, in the final analysis, strategically, too.
The Olympic games is the world’s most-watched sporting event, with an estimated four billion viewers from over 160 countries. This is good news for sports fans, but unfortunately may be no less so for terrorists seeking a high-profile target.
On 28 August, Al-Jazeera’s web site reported that Italian forces in Iraq had arrested the passengers of a vehicle carrying a load of weapons and hand grenades in the city of al-Nasseria.
A radicial Islamic group, the Shahid Abu Hafas al-Masri Brigades, recently claimed responsibility for the July 20th plane crash in Kenya that killed twelve American tourists and the plane’s two South African pilots. Their statement was published on the on the FAROQ web site which is associated with Al-Qaeda and radical Islamic groups in Iraq
At the beginning of July 2003, a new Bin Ladin audiotape roughly 30 minutes long was disseminated via the web sites identified al-Qaida supporters. It is unclear when the tape was recorded, nor whether the speaker is in fact Osama bin Ladin. However, the tape is important in that it contains new ideological material and uses a new strategy for selling the Islamic message to the younger generation.