Boko Haram of Nigeria | Meaning , Leaders, History | Strange Military Stories

 

Boko Haram Meaning

Boko haram is a Jihadist group of Sunni terrorists based in northern Nigeria. Boko Haram means ‘Western education is forbidden’. It was formed by Mohammed Yusuf. 

Mohammed Yusuf hated the West and was very critical of the government, which he saw as corrupt and un-Islamic. He set up a religious complex, including a mosque and an Islamic school in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state. 

Mohammed Yusuf was a charismatic speaker whose followers were a mixed bag, not only some of society's poorest but also upper class and university students, who invited him to speak on campus.

Founder	Mohammed Yusuf(2002)
Leader	Abubakar Shekau Abu Musab al-Barnawi
Logo
Meaning	Western education is forbidden
Ideology	Salafism

Background

On the 18th of May a young woman who had been kidnapped with 275 others, from Chibok school in Borno state in Nigeria, was found. They had been taken by Boko Haram, an Islamic group two years previously. of the 276 taken it is believed that 218 remain the group's captives. On the 20th of May, the Nigerian army rescued 97 women and children who had been abducted by the group, it was initially thought that one of the group was a girl who had been kidnapped from Chibok school. It later emerged that the girl had attended Chibok school, but had been abducted in a separate incident and was not part of the 276. When they were taken, on the 14th of April 2014, the story was reported globally and remained in the news for some time.

Now that the latest Chibok schoolgirl had been freed the media attention has returned – but more important than that, her liberation may be a sign that Boko Haram is critically weak. Boko Haram’s official name was Jamā'atuAhli is-Sunnah lid-Da'wati wal-Jihād meaning "People Committed to the Prophet's Teachings for Propagation and Jihad”, until around the 7th of March 2015 when they declared their allegiance to ISIS or Islamic State and changed their name to Wilāyat Gharb Ifrīqīyyahor Islamic State West Africa Province. 

The group was also sometimes referred to as Yusifiyya, after its founder, Mohammed Yusuf, until his death in July 2009. Here I’ll refer to the group like Boko Haram, the translation of which is usually given as "Western education is forbidden” or border variations of that phrase, such as “Western influence is sin”.
Foundation

Boko Haram History

The group was founded in 2002 in Maiduguri, the capital of the northeastern state of Borno, as a strict Sunni sect. following Wahhabist ideas - a movement with a fundamentalist interpretation of Islamic teachings, emanating from Saudi Arabia, that influenced Osama Bin Laden, and is similar to, in ways that are often debated, Salafism, which appears to largely be the movement ISIS affiliate themselves with. Yusuf and his followers established themselves Kanamma, a town in the north-eastern state of Yobe, and although they set up a mosque in Maiduguri, it seems the group largely withdrew from much of society, and although over the years they became both radicalized and militarized, initially their activities appear to have been peaceful.

They initially established small camps and schools in the remoter regions of Borno and Yobe. However what arguably made them stand out from other radical groups was their reaction to the police, which Boko Haram actively worked against from 2004. There is also speculation that in the mid-2000s the group may have been partially funded by politicians and people within the Nigerian government with the objective of intimidating and disrupting opponents and rivals. Dr. Stephen Davis, a former canon at Coventry Cathedral who has spent several years negotiating with Boko Haram, has named several officials who he accuses of directly funding the group in the past, although his allegations have never been proven. What is clear is that Boko Haram succeeded in attracting many, especially young people, in the poorer North, and this often is attributed to disaffection with a state plagued by problems with corruption and inter-religion violence, with bloody riots the norm: on the 4th of May 2004 an estimated 600 people, mainly Muslim Fulanis were killed by Christian Taroks in the town of Yelwa.

A week or so later in the town of Kano, 500-600, mostly Christians, were killed in two days of violence, Christian community leaders say. At least 157 people died in a week of rioting by Muslim and Christian groups in Maiduguri, in February 2006. At least 700 people in Jos were killed in violence between Muslims and Christian caused by a disputed local government election in November 2008. Boko Haram became increasingly radical and isolated from the mainstream Muslim community, and it is reported that more than 50 Muslim leaders repeatedly called on the Nigerian police and state security urging them to take action against Boko Haram because of their increasing militarisation. Sometimes at the end of July 2009 members of Boko Haram were stopped by police in the city of Maiduguri as they were on the way to a cemetery to bury one of their numbers. The police demanded that group members follow a new law which made helmets compulsory for motorbike riders, and a confrontation followed in which several of the group were shot.

On the 26th of July, the group attacked a police station in Bauchi, and a gun battle ensued, resulting in 32 of Boko Haram’s number killed and a Nigerian soldier killed – security forces then began to raid neighborhoods associated with the group, although the President at the time, Umaru Yar’Adua, claimed it was the Nigerian military who struck first. Whoever was the first to act, around a thousand people died during what is now called the Boko Haram uprising, and on the 30th of JulyYusuf was killed in custody. The police justified his death by saying he was attempting to escape, but witnesses have since stated that he was executed. Yusuf’s death is perhaps the formative moment for Boko Haram as they are known today. Yusuf was succeeded by his second-in-command, Abubaker Shekau, who arguably took the group in a more extreme direction and was perhaps able to use Yusuf’s apparent murder to galvanize support. Boko Haram spent much of 2010 recovering, but in September they broke 105 of their members out of prison in Bauchi along with over 600others prisoners and began a campaign of insurgency across the north of Nigeria, carrying out assaults and bombings.

In July 2009, Boko Haram staged a failed uprising against the Nigerian government. Eight hundred people were killed, and many of their members arrested. Authorities thought they’d successfully crushed the group when Mohammed Yusuf was killed in police custody. But that July uprising marked the beginning of a ten-year-long battle that continues to this day. Just a year after the uprising, one of Yusuf’s lieutenants, Abubakar Shekau, announced he was now the new leader of Boko Haram. The re-emergence of Boko Haram under Shekau’sleadership marked one of the first times when authorities claimed to have defeated BokoHaram, only for the group to resurface. It’s a pattern that would be repeated time and again over the next decade. 

In August 2011, Boko Haram made international headlines when it sent a car bomb into the United Nations compound in Abuja. Twenty-three people were killed, and more than seventy-five injured. The next few years would be some of the group’s deadliest. Between 2013 and 2015, Boko Haram killed more than eleven thousand people. It was impossible to count the number of dead bodies, there were so many. Women, men, and children were killed. During that period, the group seized more and more territory - and by 2015 was in control of much of Nigeria’s Borno state. It also spread its attacks beyond Nigeria’sborders, to neighboring Niger, Chad, and Cameroon. As people fled the terror, the UN estimates that over 2.2 million people were displaced. But Boko Haram’s most notorious attacks came when they targeted schoolgirls. 

One night in April 2014, students of the Girls’Secondary School of the northern town of Chibok were sleeping in their dormitories. But armed members of Boko Haram stormed the boarding school. They bundled 276 terrified schoolgirls together and took them away. The abduction led to global outrage. Prominent global figures asked for more to be done to free the girls. But although a number of them have been released in the last five years, more than a hundred of the students are still missing. The Chibok incident showed Boko Haram that kidnappings could bring them publicity. Four years after Chibok, they abducted 110 schoolgirls from the town of Dapchi. Most were released a month later. But one of them, a Christian student called Leah Sharibu remains in captivity. Her peers say she refused to give up her faith. Since 2013, more than a thousand children have been abducted by the terror group. The Nigerian military has been criticized for their failure to free those kidnapped by Boko Haram. Low morale and corruption have left the army floundering. But Boko Haram’s shifting strategy, including the use of female suicide bombers, has made them hard to pin down. In recent years Boko Haram has fractured and split, forging new alliances, and developing new tactics. 

In 2015 Boko Haram lost its self-proclaimed capital, Gwoza, to Nigerian troops. Over time, the government has taken back territory, forcing the group towards the hilly area east of Gwoza, as well as Lake Chad and the SambisaForest. Whilst losing territory, Abubakar Shekau looked for new international allies. He pledged allegiance to the so-called Islamic State. But IS had other ideas. A year later, it announced that the new leader of what was now known as the Islamic State West Africa Province was Abu Musab al-Barnarwi. Remember this guy? Mohammed Yusuf, the founder of Boko Haram? Well, Al Barnawi is believed to be his son. Although he keeps a low profile - there are no verified images of him. So Boko Haram was now split. Abubakar Shekau remained in control of another faction, now known as Jama’tu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati Wal-Jihad. Or JAS to you and me.

The Islamic State West Africa Province, also known as ISWAP, has developed new tactics - focusing on winning the hearts and minds of the communities in the territory it controls. ISWAP's tactic now is actually, is a combination of, not just warfare, but it's also a combination of a state-building project, so ISWAP is actually engaging in that state-building project, having their own judicial system where they establish court judgments. Also monitoring economic activities, especially fish farming, cattle rearing, and farming activity in the region. Now all of these activities were not the activities we saw from Boko Haram at the early and the nascent stage. As IS’s caliphate is lost in the MiddleEast, ISWAP is attempting to establish one in West Africa. If it is successful, this insurgency could be around in another decade.

Read the Indian Strategy to deal with the Taliban in Afghanistan

On June the 16th 2011 the group was responsible for Nigeria’s first suicide bombing, which targeted a United Nations Compound in Abuja. Along with gorilla style assaults and bombings, the group has since 2014 increasingly used women and children who they have captured detonate suicide bombs, with at least 105 used in suicide attacks since June 2014. On the night of the 14th of April 2014, Boko Haram militants kidnapped 279 female students from Chibok secondary school, 218 of which are still thought to be held captive. The Sunday Times reports an unnamed Nigerian military commander saying that the international attention given to the girls taken from Chibok means they may now be worth more to the group’s leadership than other captives and quotes him as saying “We think they are keeping them with their main leadership. The day we get to the Chibok girls will spell the end of Boko Haram, but I fear they will kill all the girls in mass suicide bombings in the process.” In the same year, Boko Haram abducted a total of around 2000 women and girls and killed around 10 000 people. During 2014, they gained large amounts of territory in and around the state of Borno, estimated to be around 50,000 square kilometers (20,000 sq mi).

At the end of January 2015, a coalition of WestAfrican nations began a major military offensive against Boko Haram. Mohammed Musa Mshelia: We've mounted on the heat against Boko Haram. Before the arrival of these weapons, it was a defensive operation, but now we are on the offensive. On or around the 7th of March, the group announced its affiliation with ISIS. But such affiliation may have little practical meaning. Physical support would probably be too difficult to worth attempting, and perhaps the pledge of allegiance is important in that it shows a shift across many different regions, where groups that once identified with Al-Qaeda are now identifying with ISIS. Interviewer: Can you really see Boko Haram and ISIS working together or is this just a partnership in a name? Chris Dickey: Well it's an extension of the ISIS franchise, I mean this is part of the ISIS strategy; to draw in groups from all over the world. I think now 31 groups of various sizes from the Philippines to North Africa to now Boko Haram in Nigeria have pledged allegiance to the Caliph Ibrahim - Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, the head of ISIS. So all of that is good publicity, but co-ordinating those groups - that's another question.

On March 27th the Nigerian Army took Gowzafrom Boko Haram, a town believed to have been used by the group as their headquarters. At the end of April 2015, the army began pushing into Sambisa forest, considered by many to be Boko Haram’s last stronghold. During this time the army began to free hundreds of women and children who had been abducted, but their progress slowed, and later in the year, Boko Haram retook towns including Marte. On the 24th December 2015, the President of Nigeria Muhammadu Buhari, claimed that Boko Haram was "technically defeated." Despite that US General David Rodriguez, Commander of United States Africa Command said on the 8th of March that Boko Haram still holds significant territory and Boko Haram has continued its actions and engaged the Nigerian army in small battles, notably at Kareto on the 18th of April 2016.

On the 14th of May Cameroon's government announced that five Boko Haram leaders had been arrested, apparently fleeing Nigeria. Many militants have been captured, and their ability to fight pitched battles appears to have been diminished, yet Boko Haram still controls an inexact but no doubt a significant amount of ground. The danger, as their conventional military abilities dwindle, is that they will up the ante in terms of suicide bombings and attacks on civilians. Although much of the world seems to anxiously await news of the Chibok girls, it is worth noting that the BBC reports that the Nigerian Army freed 11 and half thousand captives of Boko Haram between February and April this year. On the 21st of May, The Times reported that senior Boko Haram militants claim that they are prepared to negotiate a surrender and release their hostages. An unknown number remain their captives. Perhaps it's only a matter of time until the organization is defeated. So, until next time, goodbye, and try to remain calm. 

Boko Haram movie

Watch Stolen Daughters: Kidnapped By Boko Haram movie on 276 Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped from a school in Chibok,

Osama Bin Laden : most wanted terrorist

Osama bin Lade was the world’s most wanted international terrorist – the Svengali like leader at the helm of a violent political movement that brought havoc and destruction the world over. His name became instantly familiar – Osama bin Laden. We all recognized his image; the long, drawnface, the scraggly beard, the turban. Yet, discovering the man behind the image has never been easy, causing him to be referred to as a ‘fact-checker’s nightmare.’ Only now, 6 years after his death, are weable to piece together a complete profile of the life and death of the man at the fore-front of a violent political movement that significantly impacted our world.

Osama bin Laden

Personal Life

Formative Years Osama bin Laden was born into a wealthy industrialist family in the city of Riyadh in 1957. His father, Mohammed bin Laden, was a builder and contractor, who, during his lifetime had eleven wives and at least fifty-two children. His mother was a petite Syria woman. Mohammed was an ambitious businessman who had brought his family from Yemen to Saudi Arabia in the hopes of both advancing his own professional opportunities and providing opportunities for his sons. Things went well, and the elder bin Laden built importanat social relatoonships and forged enduring bonds with notable membersof Saudi society, including members of the House of Saud – Saudi Arabia’s ruling family. Mohammed built the bin Laden Construction Corporation into one of the largest and most profitable construction businesses in the Middle East. As he became more successful, Mohammad further strengthened his bond with the Saudi Royal family. He used his money and influence to bolsterthe image of the House of Saud. In return, King Faisal decreed that all the nation’s construction contracts would be awarded to the bin Laden Corporation. Mohammad bin Laden died in a plane crash in1967. The ten-year-old Osama was told at the funeralby King Faisal that ‘today I have lost my right hand.’ 

The Construction Corporation was taken overby Osama’s older brothers. By the mid-1990’s it was worth around $36 billion. Osama was groomed to enter the family business. After successfully completing high school,he furthered his education at King Abdul Aziz University. There he studied economics and management with an eye to a future in business. He also learned the behind-the-scenes dynamics of the family enterprise. Unlike Osama, most of his brothers chose to attend Western Universities where they were not constricted by Islamic tradition. This was particularly true of Osama’s half-brother Salim. Known for his good looks and charm, Salim was educated in London and flew his own private plane. In the early 1970’s, Osama, now in his mid-teens,began to enjoy the excesses of wealth. He would regularly make the trip to Beirut,Lebanon to take in the excitement of the city’s fast-paced nightlife. He spent hours frequenting bars, nightclubs and casinos and often drank more than he should have. He also began enjoying the company of beautiful young women. Spiritual Awakening around 1975, however, Osama bin Laden had a spiritual rebirth, causing him to return to Islam with a fervent devotion that altered his goals and lifestyle dramatically. It began when he decided to help with restoration work on two mosques. At the same time, he began meeting with Islamic fundamentalists and reading more about the teachings of Islam. Within weeks he had disowned his former looseway of life and become a devout Muslim. At the age of twenty, Osama entered an arranged marriage with a devout Syrian woman who was a distant cousin. Together they immersed themselves in IslamicFundamentalism, rejecting Western values and priorities and condemning its greatest proponent,the United States. When Saudi Arabia’s King Faisal was killed by his deranged nephew, bin Laden’s anti-American sentiments were reinforced. The king’s nephew had been educated in the United States and had become completely westernized. Bin Laden was thrilled when, in 1979, a fundamentalist religious leader known as Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini overthrew the Shah of Iran, who wasseen as a puppet of the United States. For the first time, Islamic fundamentalists had seized a Muslim country and established an Islamic state. It gave undeniable proof that radical Islami forces could prevail over Western decadency. 

Militant career

Then, towards the end of 1979, the Soviet union invaded the largely Muslim nation of Afghanistan. Soviet forces were ruthless, pouring overwhelming fire power on the Afghanistan resistance. They killed the Afghanistan president, and put their own government in place. Middle Eastern Arab nations were alarmed. They were all sympathetic to the Afghani cause,but knew that none of them had the ability to take on the Soviet war machine. Yet, Islamic fundamentalist militants were determined to do something. Ousting the Soviets and restoring Islam inits purest sense fit their definition of jihad, or Holy War. Thousands of young men, united by Islam rather than national boundaries, travelled to Afghanistan to risk their lives for their beliefs. Among them was Osama bin Laden. Afghanistan The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan was the impetus that took Osama bin Laden out of his comfortable life of privilege and into his reincarnation as a freedom fighter. Yet, unlike many others, he did not unthinkingly grab an AK-47 and rush off to the desert to join the guerrilla army. His first stop was Pakistan, where he setup a recruitment station to bring Muslims from surrounding Arab nations to the cause of jihad. It soon became clear that his business background and money were going to be a huge asset. He organized training camps where the recruits learner the art of strategic warfare. Bin Laden knew that the thousands of eageryoung men he was gathering together needed a support network. So, he also began recruiting doctors, bombexperts, military strategists and engineers from all over the Arab world. His family’s building background impelledhim to build the infrastructure that would be needed to defeat the Soviets. Men who had come to fight soon found themselvesdigging trenches, paving roads and building hospitals and depots. During the 1980’s, bin Laden was instrumentalin bringing together in Afghanistan and nearby areas of Pakistan more than twenty-five thousand Muslim fighters from at least thirty-five countries across the Muslim world. Yet, support also came from the most unlikely of places – the United States. The U.S. was fixated on stopping Soviet expansion and so were willing to support Islamic efforts to remove the Communist invaders from Afghanistan. Despite their hatred of the United States,the jihadists gladly accepted their backing – after all, it meant money, weapons and supplies. Still, they made sure that the Americans stayedwell clear of their operations. 

One Islamic intelligence officer noted that‘no American instructor was ever involved in giving training on any kind of weapon or equipment to the mujahideen,’ or holy fighters. Bin Laden was instrumental in securing from the United States ‘stingers’, which were heat seeking ground-to-air missiles with the ability to bring down a Soviet fighter plane. With the aid of American stingers, bin Laden’s men could bring down at least 270 Soviet aircraft. Through their fixation on defeating the Soviets by whatever means necessary, the U.S, was creating a monster. As well as bringing money, resources and organisational skills to the jihadist cause, bin Laden fought alongside his fellow jihadists. One of his troops recalled . . . He was a hero to us because he was on the front line, always moving ahead of everybody else. He not only gave us money, but he also gave himself. He came down from his palace to live with the Afghan peasants and the Arab fighters. He cooked with them, ate with them, dug trenches with them. That was bin Laden’s way. Bin Laden was not afraid of death, convinced that there was a special place in the hereafter for those who participated in jihad. He often stated that one day of fighting in Afghanistan was like a thousand days of praying in an ordinary mosque. As a result, he was more than willing to becomea martyr for the cause. Conquering HeroIn 1989, after a painful decade, the Soviets finally withdrew from Afghanistan. Osama bin Laden returned to Saudi Arabia with the reputation of a jihadist hero. He was hugely popular amongst the common people,and the ruling family saw friendship with him as a way to quell criticism from Islamic fundamentalists, who saw them as too western. Bin Laden milked his hero status for all itwas worth. He spoke at mosques and other places, often drawing large crowds of young men who were inspired to help create an Islamic fundamentalists old. His speeches, filled with venom against the United States, were often taped, with over a million copies circulating around the Muslim world. 

Despite returning to the rich embrace of his family, Osama did not avail himself of the lavish lifestyle that was available to him. He moved into a modest apartment with his wife and children and did his best to live according to strict Islamic teachings. Yet, a fire was smouldering inside him. That fire was inflamed in August 1990 when Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein invaded the neighbouring nation of Kuwait, with Saudi Arabia looking to be his next target. Panic arose in the House of Saudi. Bin Laden stepped up to offer his assistance,his experience in Afghanistan allowed him to map out a battle strategy to save his country. He was determined that any Iraqi aggression would be met my Muslim forces alone. To call on the West for help would be, heargued, contrary to Islamic teachings and demoralizing to the nation. Bin Laden warned the Saudi government that assistance from the U.S. would mean that Islamic fundamentalists would withdraw their support. But Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Défense,Prince Sultan knew that even bin Laden’s forces could not defend his country from theair, naval or chemical and biological weapons attacks that Saddam Hussein had at his disposal. One one occasion, bin Laden burst in the Prince’soffice and yelled, There is no need for American troops! Yet, when the prince asked him how he wouldsave the people from an Iraqi chemical weapon attack, he could only reply . . . We will defeat them with our faith. The Saudi Government did turn to the United States for help. The result was the Gulf War – a U.S. led western assault on Iraq. Saddam was pushed back and his threat negated. However, to the outrage of bin Laden and his fundamentalist followers, U.S. military forces remained in the region in case Saddam made any further aggressive moves. The House of Saudi, who had not long before seen association with bin Laden as an asset, now got nervous at Osama’s hero status and huge popularity. They warned him to restrain from making negative public comment about their reliance on the West, threatening to remove the lucrative public contracts that had been given to the family business. Exile The relationship between bin Laden and the house of Saud quickly deteriorated to the point that, in 1991, he was expelled fromthe country. Three years later his citizenship was revoked. He fled to Sudan with his immediate family,which now included three wives and fifteen children. They moved into a brick and stucco home inKhartoum where he lived a simple and deeply religious life. In Sudan, bin Laden quickly found support for his ideology, which was fiercely opposed to any collaboration with the West. His goal was to overthrow regimes that were friendly to the U.S. and establish in their place true Islamic states. The first step towards that end would be to strike at U.S. targets throughout the world. By doing so, it was believed that the United States would be forced to withdraw from the Middle East. Then, the governments that been propped up by America could easily be toppled. The nucleus of the terrorist organisation that would bring about these changes was a group that bin Laden helped develop. It was called al-Qaeda. From their base in Sudan, experienced Al-Qaeda leaders were sent to various parts of the world where there were large Muslim populations. Their mission was to incite an Islamic revolution and carry out acts of terrorism. In his first year in Sudan, bin Laden became a disciple of Hassan Abdallah al-Turabi, the Islamic spiritual leader of Sudan. While Turabi helped Osama to deepen his spiritual development, bin Laden, in turn, built up Turabi’s jihdist group, the Popular International organization or PIO. He also built connectiions with various international financial institutions to channel money towards his growing terror networks. At the same time, he could smuggle terrorists into the United States by arranging for them to be employees of companies owned by wealthypro-islamic Middle eastern businessmen. Meanwhile, within Sudan, bin Laden established a building company known as the al-Hirjah for Construction and Development Ltd. Its sole purpose was to build an infrastructurein Sudan to move the equipment, vehicles, and weaponry needed to expedite terroristacts. International Terrorist by the mid-1990’s . bin Laden had established a world-wide reputation as a revolutionary, with thousands of young jihaidts idolizing him and dreaming of being just like him. 

Attacks conducted by Osama Bin Laden

The first bombing attack that was credited to bin Laden was the December 29, 1992 attack on two hotels in Aden, Yemen. Both hotels were frequently used by U.S. military personnel in the area. Three people were killed and five more were wounded in the attack. This was part of a concerted effort to oustthe Americans from the Horn of Africa and assert fundamentalist Islamic power in the region. The focus of the action was Somalia, wherebin Laden organized fierce figting against U.S. forces who were there for humanitarian purposes. Bin Laden counted the withdrawal of U.S, troops from Mogadishu as among his most significant victories against the U.S. Following his actions in Somalia, bin Laden turned his attention to Europe. His first step was to bolster the Islamic fundamentalists movement in the Balkans, before setting his sights on western Europe and theUnited States. Muslim communities in these places were saturated with pro-Islamic, anti-Western propaganda. Bin Laden also relied heavily on e-mail and the internet to get the word out. In 1995, al-Qaeda turned its attention back to the Middle Eastern nations that it belived were road blocks to the establishment of Islamic fundamentalists regimes throughout the Muslim world. 

Bin Laden saw Egypt and Saudi Arabia as the two biggest local obstacles to his cause. In Saudi Arabia he became obsessed with overthrowingthe House of Saud. In November 1995, he orchestrated the bombing of a U.S. Militartry training center in Riyadh, killing seven people. The House of Saud were outraged at the attack,convinced that bin Laden was behind it. A few days after the attack, four mercenaries from Yemen opened fire with AK-47’s outside of his residence in Sudan. Bin Laden’s bodyguards returned fire and,within minutes, three of the assailants and two bodygusrds were dead. From that day on, Osama bin Laden’s houseand street were transformed into an armed camp. It wasn’t just the House of Saud that were after him. 

In 1996, a U.S. Special Forces operation was launched to capture bin Laden, with the aid of America friendly Mulsim nations. From now on, he refused to venture out of Sudan.But then both Saudi Arabia and the U.S. turned up the screws, threatening economic sanctions on Sudan unless they handed bin Laden over. He was quietly asked to leave and he and hiswife and children headed for Afghanistan in May 1996. Safely ensconced in Afghanistan, bin Laden now fully embraced the role of internatiional leader of the Islamic extremist movement. To stay alive, though, he had to surround himself with many bodyguards. He established a three-room operations basein a cave that had been carved out of the mountainside, that was equipped with basicfurnishings. His only connections to the outside worldwere his satellite phone and two laptops. In 1998, bin Laden turned his destructive attention back to Africa. His plan was to bomb two U.S. Embassies in different African countries. On August 7th, simultaneous attacks in Kenyaand Tanzania killed hundreds of people. Although he denied responsibility, the international community were unanimous that bin Laden was behind the attacks. As a result, the U.S. stepped up its attempts to take him out, with an air strike on October 20th known as Operation Infinite Reach. It destroyed three terrorist training campsin the Afghani mountains, but bin Laden remained at large. Target: USA A year later, he was connected to an attack on the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Cole. The ship had stopped to refuel in the port of Aden, Yemen, when terrorists blasted it, killing seventeen sailors. Less than a month after that, two planes smashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, striking a devastating blowat the very symbol of American business and achievement. Within moments it had been transformed intoa full-blown war zone. About 45 minutes later, the terror struck again. A hijacked airliner that had departed from Virginia was spearheaded into the Pentagon – the natiion’s military headquarters. The horrific, shocking attack, the deadliest since Peral Harbor, was a major wake up call for the United States. A $25 million reward was offered for bin Ladenand antiterrorist task forces were set up. Despite a full-on effort to bring hm to justice,bin Laden was able to remain at large, plotting further attacks for another decade. Sometime in the mid 2000’s he slipped into Pakistan. For a while he stayed in rural mountain villages protected by local tribal leaders. 

WTC attack 9/11

Then he moved to the Abbottabad compound with three of his wives (he now had five) and thirteen of his children. It was there that the Americans finally got their man. The EndIn the early morning hours of May 2nd,2011, about twenty-five Navy SEAL commandos descended on the Abbottabad compound. They quickly breached the 18-foot walls and then stormed the house, using explosives to gain entry. Two men encountered on the first floor were killed, and then the commandos rushed upstairs where they identified and killed bin Laden. He was shot in the chest and the forehead. One of his wives was also shot in the leg when she lunged at a SEAL. To make sure that they had gotten their man,one of the SEAL’s took a photo and then quickly put it through facial recognition software. The result showed a 95 percent likelihood that this was Osama bin Laden. Later DNA testing put it beyond a shadow of doubt – the world’s number one terrorist was dead. Osama bin Laden was buried at sea shortly after the raid. Unfortunately, the terror organization that he created remains. 

Obama administration tracking the mission

Taliban,India and IC 814

In 1994, Masood Azhar was travelling in an auto rickshaw with Sajjad Afghani. At that time, Masood was a part of a group called Harkat-ul-Ansar, while Sajjad Afghani was a part of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM).

                         Masood Azhar

                              Sajjad afghani

The the military intelligence was intercepting both of them. They were both arrested after a small chase at Khanabal Chowk, Anantnag, Kashmir. They were both sent to Jammu for interrogation. Immediately after their arrest, Ajit Dovel was one of the officials who played a very crucial role in the interrogation of Masood. Ajit Dovel says that Masood was initially very rigid and was unwilling to speak out to the Indian army regarding any information after his arrest. One of the Army jawan ended up in slapping him hard undercover sti, Masood did not breakdown, This was the time New Delhi recalled Dovel  (who was on an mission in London) to interrogate Masood at Kot Bhalwal Jail in Jammu. Dovel recalls that when he Masood for the first time, Masood complained to him that he had never been slapped by his father but by an Indian Army jawan. Dovel showed him the picture of Omar Saeed Sheikh and Ilyas Kashmiri. Be of them had a relationship with Masood and Dovel wanted to know the relationship. Masood opened up in front of dovel. During interrogation, Masood told Dovel that he had landed in India through a fake Portuguese passport and ISI had instructed him to carry out the merger of HuM and harkat-ul-jihad-E-Islami (HUJI), led by Nasrullah Manzoor Langaryar, who was also in the Indian custody. Dovel says that in 1995, a group called Al Faran (led by Abdul Hamid al-Turki) and created by the ISI, as a shadow group sought the release of Masood Azhar. When Dovel asked Masood about Abdul Hamid al-Turki, Masood said that Turki was a man of low intellect and one who had been a Turkish national and presently living in Anantnag. The army used this input of Masood and on 4 December 1995, army killed Turki in an operation in Anantnag. However, Dovel asserts that throughout his interrogation, Masood always asserted that India is underestimating the popularity of Masood. He used to say that ISI would do anything and everything to secure his release. 

Dovel says that probably, the words of Azhar proved out to be prophetic and on 31 December 1999, in return for passengers of IC 814 (an Indian Airlines aircraft hijacked by the ISI and taken to Kandahar), Masood was released. Mullah Mansoor (Minister of Civil Aviation of afganistan 1996-2001) in Pakistan at that time observed that moment Masood reached Pakistan, he was declared the ultimate Ghazi' against India and ISI handed over to him all the training camps cadre of HuM. The cadre was now merged into a new group called Jaish-e-Mohammad. Dovel was sent to Pakistan in 2000 on a diplomatic cover. Dovel says that one day he was on his way to his office (Indian High Commission) when the vehicles on the road were stopped for allowing a convoy to pass. As Dovel sat in his car, he saw a convoy of Toyota vehicles with Masood Azhar branding Kalashnikov going towards the Lal Masjid. Dovel says that thankfully Masood Azhar did not see him in the car!

Ajit Dovel with Masood Azhar (white turban), Omar Sheikh & Mushtaq Zargar in Kandhar

The IC 814 incident not only cemented the Pakistan-Taliban nexus but also was an eye opener for India. India realised its strategic failure of not being able to establish contacts with Taliban. But, a per Mullah mansoor the IC 814 incident also softened India's stand on Taliban as India realised that Taliban had no role to play in executing the IC 814 incident, which was solely the brain of ISI. X and Z say that Taliban was reluctant to allow IC 814 to even land in Kandahar, but the ISI put its foot do his also helped India realise that Taliban was not a threat to India. Mullah mansoor says that Taliban may supported by Pakistan but they are not bondage of Pakistan, Taliban has never fought in Kashmir they do condemn violence by India in Kashmir, but they favour a peaceful dialogue. In fact, Dovel so that Taliban has never waged a jihad against India. All these helped India to gradually change tie Perception of Taliban.

               Mullah mansour(leader of Taliban )

ISIS Meaning, Territory and Relations with india

ISIS full form

ISIS/ ISIL logo 

ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria), or ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) has the black flag with the words La ‘ilaha ‘illa-llah means “There is no God but God” . Underneath is a white circle emblazoned with black writing reading "Mohammed is the messenger of God".

ISIS and India relations

The latest challenge that has emerged in the Middle East is of the Islamic State (henceforth referred to of the Gulf War-I. as the ISIS). To understand the origin of the ISIS, we need to trace back to the period of the Gulf In 1990, when the Gulf War-I began, in Iraq, Saddam Hussein used chemical and biological weapons against his adversaries. The US supported Kuwait in the war but as the war ended, it failed to remove Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq. As the UN imposed sanctions against Iraq and isolated it, it was believed that a weak Iraq under Saddam Hussein would lead to a palace coup against Saddam and the would be a subsequent regime change.                            

In 1998, the US passed a law signed by Clinton authorising 97 billion US dollars to replace the regime of Saddam with a democratic regime in Iraq. The task was entrusted to the CIA. However, the 9/11 attacks changed all equations. In 2001, the US President was empowered with the Authorized use of Military Force (AVMF) to declare a war on Afghanistan and Iraq for which the US President would not require authorisation from the UN Security Council. This led to the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001and of Iraq in 2003. After the end of Gulf War, the UN had instructed Iraq to remove and dismantle all its chemical and biological weapons. Iraq had not complied with the directions of the UN. In November 2001, the UN Weapon Inspector Hans Blix informed the Security Council that Iraq is in possession of weapons of mass destruction. On 20 March 2003, after the failure of Iraq to dismantle the weapons of weapons mass destruction, the US invaded Iraq and launched Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Saddam was captured in December 2003 and hanged subsequently after court's verdicts. After Saddam's capture, the ground was prepared in Iraq for democratic elections. Before we move further, we have to keep a few things in mind. Firstly, the Muslims living in Iraq are Shia and are in majority.

Secondly, Saddam was a Sunni Muslim. The situation in Iraq under Saddam was that Shia-majority nation was controlled by Sunni minority and a Sunni leader. When the US invaded Iraq, the US was determined to side with the Shias as they constituted the majority. This created an inherent sense of betrayal and a rising number of Sunni extremist groups who unleashed violence and chaos in Iraq. One such prominent group was Jamaat al Tawhid Wa-i-Jihad (JTD). It was founded in 1999 by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Jordan. Al-Zarqawi developed proximity to Al-Qaeda's Osama Bin Laden in due course of time. In 2004, the JTWJ performed bay'ah and joined the Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI). The commonality of Al-Qaeda and JWT in Iraq was the deep anti-Shia sentiment

In 2006, Al-Zarqawi took steps to bring other pro-Sunni, anti-Shia groups fighting in Iraq under a uniform banner and succeeded in knitting the organisations under Majlis Shura-al-Mujahideen (MSM).

Al-Zarqawi was killed in the same year in a US air strike. He was succeeded by Al-Masri, with the Al- Qaeda in Iraq now transformed into Islamic State in Iraq (ISI). Abu Ayyub al-Masri announced that the new goal of ISI was to capture the territory of Iraq which had passed into the hands of Nour Al Maliki (the Shia ruler who assumed power after elections in 2005 in Iraq). Al-Masri clarified that the goal of ISI is to establish Sharia in Iraq.

The ISI began to capture the lands of the Anbar province in Iraq where Sunni disenchantment with Shias was very high. The US forces in Iraq in 2007 began to take help of Shawat al-Anbar to tackle ISI.

As the US used Shawat al-Anbar, they began to successfully wipe out ISI. In 2010, al-Masri died and was succeeded by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Al-Baghdadi began to rework the structure of Islamic state of Iraq. He decided that the group needs to broaden its thinking and reach. Al-Baghdadi repositioned the group, shifted base to Syria and renamed the group as the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL). The shifting of ISIL in Syria upset the Al-Qaeda in Syria fighting against the Assad government and they decided to split from ISIL. Al-Baghdadi, on 21 June 2014, announced a new goal of ISIS or ISIL that is the establishment of a Caliphate once again in the Islamic world, followed by its establishment in rest of the world later. Al-Baghdadi, on 29 June 2014, designated himself as the Caliph Ibrahim. The ISIS has vowed affiliation to the Salafi-Jihadi ideology.