Archive » Al Qaeda

The Miami Herald reports today on the latest development in the Jose Padilla case:
After the U.S. military invaded Afghanistan to oust its Taliban rulers, authorities found a locker full of applications to join al Qaeda’s holy war overseas.
Among the alleged applicants: José Padilla, the former ”enemy combatant” who once lived in Broward County.
A prosecutor produced [...]

The “Abdullah al-Azzam Brigades of the al Qaeda Organization” is claiming responsibility for the multiple rocket attack on a U.S. Navy ship in Jordan.
Athena at Terrorism Unveiled has thorough coverage and photos, and shares some insights about the claimed attackers and their M.O.:
This is the same group who claimed responsibility for the deadly Sharm el-Sheikh [...]

Pakistan arrested al Qaeda’s purported “No. 3″ guy, Abu Farraj al-Libbi this week. According to the country’s Information Minister:
“This is a very important day for us This arrest gives us a lot of tips, and I can only say that our security agencies are on the right track” in the hunt for bin Laden.
This morning, [...]

A Canadian judge refuses to deport a suspected terrorist on the grounds that he may be tortured if sent back to Egypt, the Ottawa Citizen reports.
The suspected terrorist, Mohamed Mahjoub, has met Osama bin Laden several times and was a senior official at a bin Laden-owned agricultural firm in Sudan in the early 1990s. When [...]

Apropos of the Time report on possible limousine bomb terror at the inaugural, there’s a good backgrounder from Global Security.org on Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Devices (VBIEDS).
Wonder how that’s pronounced? VEE-bides? Vee-buy-eds? Vuh-BEADS?
Anyway, here’s a handy BATF explosive standards chart on VBIEDS:

The Time article says an al Qaeda document on VBIEDS attacks calls for [...]

Ryan Anderson, the National Guardsmen accused of attempting to peddle sensitive military information to al Qaeda, will face a court-martial–but not the death penalty:
At a hearing in May, prosecutors presented a secretly recorded video showing Anderson meeting with two undercover military officials who were posing as members of al-Qaida.
In the meeting, Anderson offered information [...]

“Al-Qaida: Saudis Aided American Abduction.” This is news?
UPDATE: Ed at Captain’s Quarters has a different take:
It seems to me to be a classic misdirection tactic — get the security apparatus to waste time chasing its own tail while AQ does what it pleases during the confusion. Somewhat like the Nazi strategy of putting on American [...]