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Africa Subsaharan
Brother-in-law of Osama bin Laden assassinated
2007-01-31
Unidentified gunmen shot and killed a brother-in-law of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in a raid on his home in Madagascar, his brother said on Wednesday. Malek Khalifa told Dubai-based Al Arabiya television that the aim of the killers appeared to have been to rob his brother, Jamal Khalifa, who mined and traded precious stones in Madagascar.

Malek said a gang of 20 to 30 gunmen broke into his brother's bedroom, shot him dead ``in cold blood'' and stole his belongings. Arabiya said the businessman was staying at a precious stones mine he owns in Madagascar when he was killed early on Wednesday. ``We still don't have a complete picture of the incident,'' Malek told Arabiya by telephone from Saudi Arabia's Red Sea port of Jeddah. ``I don't think it was politically motivated,'' he added in response to a question.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer, in what it said was the last interview given by the leader of the Abu Sayyaf group before his death, on Monday quoted Khaddafy Janjalani as saying that his group had received funds from two men close to bin Laden, identifying one of them as Jamal Khalifa. But CNN reported on Tuesday that Jamal called reports he had funded the Abu Sayyaf group in return for volunteers to fight in Afghanistan ``completely false.'' ``I have never given any money to any group or persons that include the Abu Sayyaf,'' CNN quoted Jamal as writing in an e-mail.

Malek also denied his brother was involved in political activity, and said that apart from family ties, Jamal had no links to bin Laden, a Saudi national who was stripped of his citizenship long before the September 11 attacks on the United States. Khalifa said the Saudi authorities had been informed of the killing.
Posted by:Anguper Hupomosing9418

#23  Rumor is Task Force 145
Posted by: tipper   2007-01-31 23:14  

#22  Khalifa was arrested in the United States in Decmeber of 1994 ... Khalifa was detained numerous times, but each time was freed.

Thank you Mr. Clinton. Further information can be obtained from documents in Sandy Burglar's socks.
Posted by: DMFD   2007-01-31 23:11  

#21  Also, never forget that local mafias can get antsy when they are not given their "proper cut" of the deals. Maybe some local boys decided that Jamal was not paying the correct tribute to them, and made an example of him.

In the alternative, the Mossad has been known to use local mobsters to erase problems in areas where they do not have the necessary teams. Usually works out that one of mob's boys got in trouble in Israel and suddenly finds himself deported and permanently banned from Israel {instead of doing 20 years in an Israeli jail first}, right after the problem is dead.

Or the Saudis decided that he was not worth the effort anymore, and had him eliminated. Never forget the one prince that kept running off at the mouth about Islam and crushing the West right after 9/11 : he was found in the desert, in a Mercedes with NO food, NO water, NO desert equipment, NO compass or GPS, NO gas in the tank, NO cellphone, and stone dead. Interestingly, he was the head of the Desert Survival Training Center there in Saudi Arabia, but he was a bigmouth and not beloved of the ruling King's faction.
Posted by: Shieldwolf   2007-01-31 19:59  

#20  Sometimes it is what it appears to be. Let's hope the robbers got the entire inventory and another link in the Golden Chain is broken. Hey Jamal, give my regards to Osama.
Posted by: ed   2007-01-31 18:44  

#19  Doesn't sound like the Israelis- I think they use 4 to 6 man 'wet-teams.'
But what about the French? Madagascar is surrounded by French colonial islands... Now granted, GIGN wouldn't need 20 guys, but maybe their Foreign Intel Service might use a reinforced unit?
Posted by: Free Radical   2007-01-31 18:29  

#18  Except the foxy neice

Yeah, leave her alone. She's mine! :-P

So 1 brother-in-law down, 499 to go.
Posted by: gorb   2007-01-31 17:38  

#17  IRA or IRS, not a lot of difference between the two.
Posted by: Steve   2007-01-31 16:53  

#16  Correction "IRS" violations. Fingers aren't working as they should today.
Posted by: JohnQC   2007-01-31 15:32  

#15  #12 There is an interesting article in today's Wall Street Journal regarding a Justice Department probe into IRA violations by Dar Al-Maal Al-Islami Trust and the Overland Capital Group. The funding for these organizations is rather murky and it is suspected that wealthy individuals in Saudi Arabia are linked. Where is that illusive "moderate" Muslim?
Posted by: JohnQC   2007-01-31 15:31  

#14  Except the foxy neice.
Posted by: Zarquon Pebbles in Blairistan   2007-01-31 13:35  

#13  Good. The entire family should've been exterminated long ago---would've done more to deter terrorism than 100 000 000 000 invested in security.
Posted by: gromgoru   2007-01-31 13:18  

#12  It's said that wealthy individuals in Saudi Arabia are still funding jihad. I wonder just how much of that funding is coming from the bin Laden family, despite their public disavowals of bin Laden's actions.
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2007-01-31 12:52  

#11  Wonder if he still had his leather mask and dog collar on.
Posted by: Icerigger   2007-01-31 12:25  

#10  It had to be 20 or 30. Less than 20 and Jamal would have beaten them up and dis-armed them. The Arab penchant for exageration is truly amazing.
Posted by: Deacon Blues   2007-01-31 12:06  

#9  Mewonders if'n we have some Spec Ops in Madagascar now? 20-30 does seem like an awful lot of men for just a little burglary. Of course, it's the NY Times too, so who knows? Mr. Kahlifa could be on the editorial staff there for all we know.
Posted by: BA   2007-01-31 11:35  

#8  Malek said a gang of 20 to 30 gunmen broke into his brother's bedroom, shot him dead ``in cold blood''
hmmm, 20 to 30 gunmen? Just for a robbery? Sounds fishy to me, but what a great whopper of a story ;)
Posted by: Jan from work   2007-01-31 11:29  

#7  From BillRoggio
Khalifa was arrested in the United States in Decmeber of 1994, and "The FBI finds and quickly translates literature in KhalifaÂ’s luggage advocating training in assassination, explosives, and weapons, bombing churches, and murdering Catholic priests. Over the next weeks, they discover his ties to funding bin LadenÂ’s activities, as well as to Ramzi Yousef and other Operation Bojinka plotters." Information connecting Khalifa to Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Osama bin Laden, associates of Ramzi Yousef, and Bojinka plotter Wali Khan Amin Shah were also found. He also contacted Hambali, the former Southeast Asian commander of al-Qaeda who is now in U.S. custody. Hambali attended planning sessions in the Philippines for the 9-11 strikes.

Jamal Khalifa is perhaps the poster-child for failure in exclusively relying on the law-enforcement model for counterterrorism operations is flawed. Khalifa was detained numerous times, but each time was freed. Khalifa was released by the U.S. and deported to Jordan, where he was sentenced to death for a string of bombing in the country. The conviction was overturned after a witness recanted. "No government had enough evidence to put him behind bars," noted a CBS News report in 2003. "Khalifa was arrested in America, in Jordan, and after 9/11, in Saudi Arabia, and on each occasion was eventually released."

Khalifa cannot escape the grave.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418   2007-01-31 10:49  

#6  BillRoggio.com has more on Jamal's background.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418   2007-01-31 10:47  

#5  Deader is gooder.
Posted by: Excalibur   2007-01-31 09:45  

#4  ``We still don't have a complete picture of the incident, .... and you never will.

The family has requested that flowers not be sent. Those wishing to donate to the memory of Mr. Khalifa are encouraged to send their checks to Yad Vashem, P.O.B. 3477, Jerusalem 91034 Israel.
Posted by: Besoeker   2007-01-31 09:36  

#3  IIRC, trading and smuggling gemstones was an Al Qaeda fundraiser.
Posted by: Grunter   2007-01-31 09:35  

#2  ...shot him dead ``in cold blood'' and stole his belongings.

Wow. That must, like, really suck...
Oh, well. Coffee time!
Posted by: tu3031   2007-01-31 09:08  

#1  Another Laden family member that will not be missed. This kind of stuff needed to happen a long time ago to this family.
Posted by: 49 Pan   2007-01-31 08:46  

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