Terror group warns of more attacks in region 'Doha blast only the beginning' By Agence France Presse (AFP) Wednesday, March 23, 2005
DUBAI: A shadowy Islamist group which claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing near a British school in Qatar has vowed to carry out attacks against oil installations, churches and Western military bases in the Middle East, in two statements posted on the Internet Tuesday. Singling out the United States, Britain and Italy as potential targets, the Jund ash-Sham Organization, (Organization of Soldiers of the Levant) said the attack in the Qatari capital Doha was "only the beginning" and a "big surprise" was coming. There was no way to verify the authenticity of the two statements. They followed a statement attributed to the group and also posted on an Islamist website Monday claiming Saturday's attack in Doha, which killed a Briton and injured 12 people. Addressing its "cells in Ash-Sham and Mohammed's (Arabian) peninsula," the group called for "striking at the enemies of God while sparing civilians." "Hit their bases and churches," the group told its followers, decrying the presence of "crusader military bases, containing churches and idols, across the land of Islam." The group suggested it would not spare France, saying: "We tell all our cells to hit oil [facilities], military bases and churches and prevent them from entering mosques through martyrdom (suicide) operations, as they prevented us from [wearing] the hijab (Islamic veil) in France." The car bombing in Doha, which the group said was carried out by one of its "lions," occurred outside at a theater affiliated with the British school. The Qatari Interior Ministry confirmed on Tuesday that the bombing was a suicide attack. Qatari authorities have identified the bomber as an Egyptian resident, Omar Ahmed Abdullah Ali, saying he had blown up his own, booby-trapped car, the first such attack in the gas-rich Gulf state. "Congratulations on your martyrdom," the group said of the Qatar attacker, also indicating he was a suicide bomber. "Kill the infidels wherever they are," it added. The Jund ash-Sham Organization said it was not linked to "mujahideen (holy warriors) in Palestine or Lebanon." The group appeared to be dissociating itself from a radical Palestinian Islamist group which uses the same name and was involved in clashes in a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon last year. The latter group reportedly has a very small number of members. - AFP http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id= 13646 ..................................................................... Qatar: A botched bombing and illusions of an advancing jihad [From: Stratfor (Strategic Forecasting, Texas, USA) via Kuwait Times 23 March 2005] A suicide bombing March 19 in Doha, Qatar - the first such attack in the country - killed two people and injured 12 others at a theatre frequented by Westerners near the US Embassy. A previously unheard of militant Islamist group calling itself Jund Al-Sham claimed responsibility for the attack. Since it was a suicide bombing, and jihadists have been trying to shift their attacks out of the Saudi kingdom and into the Persian Gulf states, Jund Al-Sham is probably an Al-Qaeda-linked group. Al-Qaeda always has referred to itself as Tandheem Al-Qaeda fi Jazeerat Al-Arabiyah (Al-Qaeda Organisation in the Arabian Peninsula), and its foray into Kuwait and Qatar is only part of its self-styled mandate. On March 18, a jihadist Web site warned of attacks against liquor stores, nightclubs, hotels and satellite television stations in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) because the country hosts Christians and Jews, allows women to dress "immodestly" and lets U.S. naval ships dock at its ports. The magnitude of the March 19 blast indicates the jihadists are having trouble in Qatar as well as Kuwait. Since the end of June, jihadist attacks on the peninsula have tended to be small and ineffective, and the Doha bombing was no exception. The blast was small and the bomber poorly positioned to maximize casualties. Although jihadists seem to be having a tough time spreading their influence, Al-Qaeda likely has plans for more attacks in the gulf sheikhdom. Given Qatar's US alignment - the country is home to the US Central Command - the government will crack down hard on Islamist militants, and jihadist plans for Qatar could meet the same fate they did in Kuwait, where the government has been able to curtail the violence. Other Gulf states also will likely beef up their relatively lax security. Al-Qaeda realises it is unable to mount large attacks in the West or sustain operations in a single country in the Persian Gulf region, its primary sphere of operations. Therefore, the group wants to maintain the image that it is alive and well by staging small attacks on the Arabian Peninsula. Al-Qaeda's ability to strike in the West has been severely downgraded, and it is consolidating its assets to focus on operating within the Muslim world. Spreading its resources thinly across the Arabian Peninsula, the jihadist network is likely responding to Saudi Arabia's accelerated counter terrorism initiative. Hit hard by the campaign, jihadist masterminds in the kingdom have redirected their resources toward staging attacks in other Persian Gulf states. Earlier this year, security forces thwarted a number of attacks in Kuwait by either arresting or killing the militants. While it tries to recuperate from the aggressive counterterrorism dragnet, Al-Qaeda is trying to show that, having pushed US forces out of Saudi Arabia, it also can push them entirely off the peninsula. Al-Qaeda hopes such a perception will compensate for its declining level of activity since Sept. 11, 2001. It also is very possible Al-Qaeda branches in the Saudi kingdom and Iraq are teaming up to act as the movement's principal operators, which would make it easier for them to operate in more than one state in the region. In any case, the jihadists appear contained on the peninsula and unable to make any headway in Iraq, where the insurgency seems to be slowly running out of steam. If Al-Qaeda is unable to carry out a major strike any time soon - even in the region - its attempt to create the illusion that jihadism is proliferating eventually will fail. - Stratfor http://www.kuwaittimes.net/today/analysis_s1.php ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Take a look at donorschoose.org, an excellent charitable web site for anyone who cares about public education! http://us.click.yahoo.com/_OLuKD/8WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 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