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Suspicion falls on Chechens for Iraqi blasts
Asia Times Online, so grab your salt. EFL:There are indications that Arab nationals of Chechen origin belonging to al-Qaeda were responsible for the four explosions in Iraq recently - three in Baghdad and one at Najaf. The explosions in Baghdad were directed at the Jordanian Embassy, a building housing the offices of the United Nations and its allied organizations, and police headquarters. According to sources in Pakistan, which are well informed on the activities of the Osama bin Laden-led International Islamic Front (IIF), (Theyâre on his mailing list) about 50 Arab nationals of Chechen origin, who are members of al-Qaeda or closely associated with it, have infiltrated Iraq from the Waziristan area of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. They were responsible not only for the attacks on US soldiers in many incidents, but also for the four explosions. They reportedly received the explosives and other material for the explosions from the ordnance stocks of Saddamâs disbanded army. It is said that the explosions, using vehicles, closely resembled those that have taken place in Chechnya in the past. Yeah, well, a truck bomb is a truck bomb is a truck bomb. Elements close to the IIF in Pakistan have been saying that the United States is in a vulnerable position in Iraq at present and that if the jihadis miss this opportunity to humiliate it, they will not get another one for some time. They hope. They also say that by teaching the US a lesson in Iraq that it will not forget, they could protect other Islamic countries from similar intervention by the United States and weaken its credibility as a superpower. Which is why the other countries are helping them. The jihadis have been recalling the Beirut car-bomb attack against US marines in the early 1980s, which resulted in the death of more than 200, after which Ronald Reagan, then president of the United States, ordered a withdrawal of US troops from the Lebanon. It is reported that the jihadis are planning a similar massive explosion against US troops in Iraq, designed to cause a large number of casualties, possibly coinciding with the second anniversary of September 11, 2001. Weâve learned since Beirut as well. Many Chechens, whose ancestors left the Caucasus during the 1817-64 Caucasian war, now live in Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Turkey, Syria, Egypt and Persian Gulf countries and have acquired the local nationality. A large number of them had joined the 6,000 plus jihadi mercenary force raised by the US Central Intelligence Agency through Pakistanâs Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in the 1980s to fight against the Soviet troops and they fought in Afghanistan under bin Laden. Mandatory "the CIA created the problem" sentence. They maintained their links with bin Laden after the withdrawal of the Soviet troops from Afghanistan in 1988. Some of them were taken by bin Laden into his al-Qaeda and IIF and worked as instructors in training camps in Afghan territory. They were also used by the ISI for training the Taliban militia after 1994 and for assisting the Taliban in its fight against the Northern Alliance. Many others were sent to Chechnya by bin Laden after 1994 to assist the indigenous Chechen groups in their jihad against Moscow for an Islamic caliphate. Interesting. The author B Raman is additional secretary (retired), Cabinet Secretariat, government of India, and currently director, Institute for Topical Studies, Chennai; former member of the National Security Advisory Board of the government of India. He was also head of the counter-terrorism division of the Research & Analysis Wing, Indiaâs external intelligence agency, from 1988 to August 1994. Posted by: Steve 2003-09-08 |
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