Pakistan-Based Jihadi Online Discussion Forum: Al Qaeda’s Shadow Army, War on Terror, NewAgeIslam.com

War on Terror

Pakistan-Based Jihadi Online Discussion Forum: Al Qaeda’s Shadow Army

By Shashi Shekhar

Ilyas Kashmiri has been described as the chief of Al Qaeda’s shadow army or Lashkar al-Zil. Since then, the spotlight has been focussed on Ilyas Kashmiri’s role in a recent wave of attacks. The planning behind the deadly bombing of the CIA’s Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khost has been attributed to Lashkar al-Zil and Ilyas Kashmiri

The Chicago conspiracy case that saw Pakistan-born American David Coleman Headley and Chicago-based businessman Tahawwur Rana brought to trial on charges of planned terror attacks in India and Denmark has taken a decisive turn. For the first time details of funds transfer and reconnaissance activities conducted by David Headley have been brought to light. Also both Headley and Rana have been explicitly charged for the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai. It is interesting to note that the new details also reveal the role of four still unnamed operatives of the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba and one unnamed individual in the funding, coordination and planning for the Mumbai 26/11 attacks. Additionally, the charges also reveal the disbursement of funds from the Lashkar to Headley over the three year period for expenses towards reconnaissance in India.

While the new revelations are interesting in their details of when and how much money was disbursed to Headley, there is little new on the more significant questions of the identity of the unnamed Lashkar operatives and their alleged role within the Pakistani military establishment. There also is not much new insight on the dual role of retired Major Abdur Rehman straddling the military jihadi faultline in Pakistan by simultaneously collaborating with both the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba and Ilyas Kashmiri’s 313 Brigade.

http://newageislam.com/pakistan-based-jihadi-online-discussion-forum--al-qaeda%E2%80%99s-shadow-army/war-on-terror/d/2475

Somnath temple, Bollywood and Shiv Sena leaders on LeT hit list: FBI,

Islamic World News

Somnath temple, Bollywood and Shiv Sena leaders on LeT hit list: FBI

WASHINGTON: In a new disclosure, the FBI has said that the famous Somnath temple in Gujarat, Bollywood stars and Shiv Sena leaders in Mumbai were also the targets of Lashkar-e-Taiba, which was planning to carry out strikes with the help of two Chicago-based residents of Pakistani origin.

These three possible LeT targets were revealed for the first time by the FBI in a footnote to the fresh evidence and chargesheet submitted by it against Pakistani-Canadian Tahawwur Rana, the terror suspect whose bail plea hearing is scheduled for Tuesday in a Chicago court.

Earlier, the Federal Bureau of Investigation had said that the National Defence College in New Delhi was on the hit list of LeT.

"In the September 7, 2009 conversation, Headley discussed four targets with Rana - Somnath (a temple in India) and Denmark, Bollywood (a reference to the Indian film industry) and Shiv Sena (a political party in India with roots in Hindu nationalism)," the FBI said in a foot note on page nine of the 10-page fresh affidavit.

"In his post-arrest statement, Rana falsely claimed that these were references to potential business ventures. It is difficult to imagine why a person who praises the work of a designated terrorist group that attacks India would look at an Indian temple or a Hindu nationalist party as a business venture," the FBI noted.

"It bears note that, as set out in the complaint, 'business' and 'investments' were code words used by Rana, David Coleman Headley (Pakistani-origin American terror suspect has been charged for plotting Mumbai terror attacks), "Pasha" (a retired Pakistani Army Brigadier) and others to describe terrorist plots," the FBI said.

The Somnath temple, located on the western coast of Gujarat, is the most sacred of the twelve Jyotirlings (lingas of light) of the God Shiva and is a revered pilgrimage center.

http://newageislam.com/somnath-temple,-bollywood-and-shiv-sena-leaders-on-let-hit-list--fbi/islamic-world-news/d/2226

Did America keep mum on 26/11?, War on Terror, NewAgeIslam.com

War on Terror

Did America keep mum on 26/11?

Did the Americans have detailed advance information about the 26/11 plot which they did not share with India, only passing on a watered-down warning? And was there an American spy within the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba who kept Washington (or Langley) informed of terror acts planned against India — even if this information was never handed over to us?

It is certainly beginning to look that way.

When Headley was first arrested, the Americans declared that they had foiled a plot to kill a Danish cartoonist. Then, more details began to trickle out. The terror suspect, we were told, was a US citizen of Pakistani origin. He had some links with the LeT. He had visited India. He may have been part of an advance team for 26/11.

Indian investigators, intrigued by these reports, flew to Washington to meet Headley. They were denied any access to him. They tried to work out if Headley was in fact somebody they themselves had been looking for. They had asked the CIA if it had any information about an American who, their sources had told them, was part of the LeT. They received no real cooperation.

Then, even as the Indian media were obsessing about Headley’s friendship with Mahesh Bhatt’s son, investigative journalists in America tracked down court papers pertaining to Headley’s arrest on drug charges in 1998. These papers showed that Headley had been convicted and sent to jail. But after 9/11, he had been set free and sent to Pakistan to work as an undercover agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

According to US journalists, Headley had been given a new passport in the American name of David Headley (his American mother’s maiden name is Headley) rather than his original name of Daood Gilani. He flew around the world, entering and leaving the US at will, avoiding the sort of attention that a convicted drug criminal was certain to attract at US airports.

http://newageislam.com/did-america-keep-mum-on-26/11?/war-on-terror/d/2252