Periodical Review: Summary from the Jihadi Forums – The Second Half of September 2012
This report summarizes notable events discussed on Jihadi Web forums during the second half of September 2012. Following are the main points covered in the report:
• In a new video clip, Al-Qaeda leader Sheikh Ayman Al-Zawahiri remembers his predecessor Sheikh Osama bin Laden, and also announces the death of Sheikh Muhammad Yasser, a senior member of the Taliban.
• Sheikh Harith bin Ghazi Al-Nadhari, a member of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), stresses that impugning the honor of the Prophet Muhammad incurs a death sentence. He urges imitating the attack on the US diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, as a response to such desecration.
• Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) announces the death of Sheikh Nabil Abu Alqama Al-Awrasi, deputy emir for the Sahara.
• Kenyan Army and AMISOM forces take control of the port of Kismayo, a stronghold of Al-Shabab Al-Mujahideen. In response, Muslim Youth Center, a Kenyan Islamist group with strong ties to Al-Shabab, threatens to join the fight in Kismayo if Muslim blood is shed.
• Ansar Bet Al-Maqdes, a Salafi-jihadist group active in the Sinai Peninsula, takes responsibility for a September 20th terrorist attack on the Egypt-Israel border in which an Israeli soldier was killed.
• A new Islamic group, Jihadist Islamic Da’wa, is established in Egypt. It is headed by prominent Salafi-jihadist Sheikh Muhammad Al-Zawahiri, brother of Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri.
• Egyptian Salafi-jihadist Sheikh Muhammad Al-Zawahiri outlines the terms of a ”contract” between the Islamist movement and the West, which will lead to a ceasefire.
• Members of the jihadist Web forum Shumukh Al-Islam urge attacks on British embassies and consulates in the Islamic world and elsewhere, in response to Britian’s intention to extradite Sheikh Hamza Al-Masri to the US.
• Shabaka Islaamiga Gurmad [Islamic Gurmad Network], a new jihadist Web forum in Swahili, is launched.
