http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=a08c03db-e6b1-4679-98 e6-072cfc92a60d
Jihadi website posts call to kill Canadians Ian MacLeod, The Ottawa Citizen Published: Tuesday, July 29, 2008 A virulent al-Qaeda website has issued a new call for followers to kill Canadians and other westerners, and attack oil and economic targets. The message on the password-protected al-ekhlass.net forum was posted July 7, the third anniversary of the London transit massacre. The website is a notorious and favoured site of hardcore jihadists. Experts are debating the significance of the latest al-Ekhlaas threat calling for the targeting of Christians, especially those from Canada the United States, Britain, Spain, Australia and Italy. Most unsettling, perhaps, is the instructional nature of the posting, which epitomizes the burgeoning tactical weapon the Internet has become for teaching operational knowledge about political assassinations, kidnappings and other crimes to young, amateur homegrown jihadists. Details of the Arabic-language posting, titled "Clandestine work inside the city," were recently translated and reported by the Jamestown Foundation, a conservative Washington think-tank. Under the nom de guerre Abu Hajar Abdul Aziz al-Moqrin (the former leader of al-Qaeda's Saudi wing, killed in 2004), the posting explains how a four-unit jihadi cell should be properly trained in urban terror warfare before activation. (Another of Mr. al-Moqrin's how-to postings on the forum is: "The preferred rules of the art of kidnapping Americans.") Jihadis must learn from past mistakes and operate on a need-to-know basis, according to the Jamestown translation and synopsis of the posting by counter-terrorism expert Abdul Hameed Bakier. An urban cell needs a commanding unit, an intelligence unit, a logistics unit and an execution unit, it explains. The units are to communicate indirectly through the dead-letter-box technique (or "save draft" drop box on a shared e-mail account.) Mr. al-Moqrin warns jihadis not to attack religious figures because it harms the jihadi cause. Instead, urban jihad cells should seek economic targets, such as Jewish investments in Muslim countries, international companies, international economic experts, exports from "Crusader countries" and raw materials being "stolen from Muslim countries by the enemies," with Mr. al-Moqrin calling for attacks on oil wells, pipelines and oil tankers. The human target list, according to the Jamestown synopsis, should be prioritized as follows: 1. Jews: Jews from Israel and the United States have priority over Jews from Britain and France. 2. Christians, especially those from Canada, the United States, Britain, Spain, Australia and Italy. 3. Apostates, particularly Muslim leaders who keep close ties with Jewish and "Christian governments," such as Egyptian President Husni Mubarak and the leaders of the Gulf States. 4. Secular individuals, including "spies and security officials" who "protect Jews and Christians." Terrorism experts are divided on the message's import. "The reference to Canada is fairly peripheral and embedded in a broad anti-'kufar' (non-believer) strategy targeting Jews, Christians, apostate Muslim leaders, and 'secular officials'," says Wesley Wark, a security expert and visiting research professor at the University of Ottawa's Graduate School of Public and International Affairs. "The main interest in the story would seem to me the effort taken on some jihadi websites to try to encourage professionalism and clandestinity in terrorist operations. ... The website is another reminder that the Internet is a powerful tool for jihad and al-Qaeda, " he said. Martin Rudner, founding director of the Canadian Centre of Intelligence and Security Studies, said he believes the specific threat to oil interests and possibly overseas corporate executives is worrying, especially for Canadian energy interests in places such as Yemen, where the offices of Calgary-based Nexen Inc. were shaken by a blast in April. The latest message, Mr. Rudner said yesterday, should be viewed with real concern, but not alarm, for three reasons: al-ekhlass.net is a legitimate militant Islamist website; the call to target oil and energy infrastructure and individuals is specific; and the message may be a formal warning required by Shariah law before jihadists can attack. "We ought to take it seriously," Mr. Rudner said. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? 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