International Jihadists Use Karachi as Hub

Karachi is the pulsating heart of Pakistan, but the city of 18 million is descending into a maelstrom of violence. While NATO uses the port to support its war in Afghanistan, international jihadism has established strongholds in the metropolis's slums and suburbs. The circle had to be closed with blood, in order to wipe out the disgrace of the previous day. That's the way of life here -- the way of life in Karachi. The six men were heavily armed, and yet they still managed to get through all the checkpoints and reach Club Road in the red zone, a highly secured district in the heart of the city. The head of the provincial government has his official residence here, not far from the American consulate, two luxury hotels and the police headquarters, where the office of the young inspector Omar Shahid is located. As the head of the anti-extremism unit, Shahid was at the top of the attackers' hit list.

The terrorists started shooting at the entrance to the police station. For 10 minutes, they fired at the guards, who returned their fire, until a vehicle packed with 1,000 kilograms (2,200 lbs.) of explosives rammed the gate of the police station. The massive explosion destroyed the three-story building occupied by the counterterrorism division and set off a firestorm. At least 20 people, including the suicide attackers, died on the evening of Nov. 11. Some 120 police officers, residents and passersby lay bleeding under the wreckage, as well as an unknown number of members of the extremist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi who had already been in custody at the police station. It was a retaliatory attack committed by al-Qaida's foot soldiers. On the previous day, a counterterrorism unit had arrested half a dozen of their fellow terrorists.

Omar Shahid was supposed to be one of the victims, but he happened to be on duty elsewhere on that evening. He is usually in command of counterterrorism units when they conduct raids against militant Islamists in the backstreets of Karachi neighborhoods like Sohrab Goth or Shershah Market. "They are showing us that they are there, and that they can strike back," Shahid says, speaking very calmly. He does not show any visible emotion. Otherwise he would be unable to deal with the situation. His office was destroyed by fire, and many of the people with whom he had been waging this battle for years are now dead.

Read more...

Australia Releases Counter Terrorism White Paper

Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd yesterday released a counter terrorism white paper prepared by the Australian intelligence community. Mr Rudd said at the release, "that many home-grown terrorists were inspired by what he called international jihadist narratives, and that the threat of home-grown terrorism is now increasing. This white paper is clear: some of the threat we now face comes from the Australian-born, Australian-educated and Australian residents."

Al-Qaida-linked groups in Yemen and Sudan are the new centre of threat internationally, the policy paper says, and the risks posed by Afghanistan and Pakistan remain high. The paper says that, despite Indonesia's successes against terrorism, the Jakarta hotel attacks of last July point to an ongoing threat there. "Terrorism continues to pose a serious threat and a serious challenge to Australia's security interests. That threat is not diminishing," Mr Rudd said.

• COUNTER-TERRORISM WHITE PAPER
  Securing Australia | Protecting Our Community
  

Read more...

Terrorists are using blogs to engage counter-terrorists experts online

A senior Arab Afghan adviser to al Qaeda and the Taliban has openly challenged an Australian counter-terrorism expert in a series of blog posts. Abu Walid al Masri has written direct responses to Leah Farrall, an Australian academic who writes the All things Counter Terrorism blog and has years of experience fighting terrorism with the Australian Federal Police.

Farrall recently described al Masri as “one of Mullah Omar’s most trusted advisers” in an op-ed for the Australian. He has written 12 books in Arabic relating to Afghanistan and al Qaeda, and has just re-emerged as an author for the Taliban’s flagship magazine publication, in which he recently encouraged the Taliban to engage in the kidnapping of British and American soldiers. Because of this, Al Masri has been one of Farrall’s “main academic interests for many years” and she was shocked read his blog posts about her: “To say that I am blown away by this would be a pretty massive understatement”.

Read more...

Australian police mount counter terrorism raids

Australian police say they have foiled a mission by Islamic terrorists to launch a suicide shoot-out on a military base in what they say would have been the worst terrorist attack on Australian soil. Police also say they have pinpointed an Australian terrorist cell supporting and directly involved in insurgency activity in the African country of Somalia.

In seven months of surveillance and a series of raids early today, codenamed Operation Neath, approximately 400 officers from the Australian Federal Police, Victoria Police and NSW Police made four arrests and are questioning several other people. The four arrested are all Australian citizens, police say. They are being interviewed and several others are assisting with inquiries, a joint press release said.

Victoria Police Commissioner Simon Overland said: "I can assure the Victorian community that we are doing everything in our power to ensure the state remains one of the safest in the country.''

Mr Overland said police acted after it "got to a point where we decided it was appropriate to act" and stressed the overwhelming number of Islamic people in Australia and Melbourne were valued members of the community, not terrorists.

He said he was disappointed by leaks that lead to reporting of the raids in The Australian newspaper. The newspaper this morning reported that national security agencies had uncovered the plot by Islamic extremists to launch a suicide attack on an Australian army base.

It said the raids involved a suspected terrorist cell of Australian nationals of Somali and Lebanese backgrounds. The report said members of the group had been observed carrying out surveillance at the army base and other suspicious activity around defence bases in Victoria. Copies of the newspaper were publicly available at 1.30am in Melbourne, well ahead of the raids.

• "Four arrested as 400 police mount counter terrorism raids", Sydney Morning Herald, 8/4/09.
• "Australia arrests 'terror' suspects", Al Jazeera, 8/4/09.
  
• "Australia Launches Major Anti-Terror Operation", New York Times, 8/3/09.

Read more...

Terrorism Monitor Volume 7 Issue 18

For those of you working in counter-terrorism intelligence, the Jamestown Foundation publishes a weekly Terrorism Monitor bulletin. This bulletin outlines the events that have taken place worldwide that centers on terrorism and terror networks. It is very useful for situational awareness.

The mission of the Jamestown Foundation is to inform and educate policy makers and the broader policy community about events and trends in those societies which are strategically or tactically important to the United States and which frequently restrict access to such information. Utilizing indigenous and primary sources, Jamestown’s material is delivered without political bias, filter or agenda. It is often the only source of information which should be, but is not always, available through official or intelligence channels, especially in regard to Eurasia and terrorism.

To read (and later download) the PDF version of the Terrorism Monitor V7 I18, please click here.

Read more...