Al-Qaeda in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Al-Qaeda in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Participant in the Bosnian War

Shahada flag
Active 1992–present
Ideology Jihadism
Pan-Islamism
Groups Bosnian mujahideen[1]
Part of al-Qaeda
Allies
Opponents

Al-Qaeda in Bosnia and Herzegovina is the al-Qaeda branch based in Bosnia and Herzegovina, active since the Bosnian War in 1992. During the Bosnian War, the group organised the Bosnian mujahideen (called El Mudžahid), a volunteer jihadist detachment of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The group operated through the Saudi High Commission (SHC), and after the war carried out the Mostar car bombing in 1997. The operations in Bosnia were a key factor in the development of al-Qaeda following the Soviet–Afghan War, and its expansion into Europe and the West.[5][6]

History

Bosnian War

During the Bosnian War, al-Qaeda gained a huge boost, both in the terms of organization and recruitment, and contributed to the radicalisation of European Muslims. Al-Qaeda's operations in Bosnia were led by Ayman al-Zawahiri in 1993.[5] Al-Qaeda-leader Osama bin Laden, who received a Bosnian passport in 1993 is thought to have visited camps in the country three times between 1994 and 1996.[5] Volunteer mujahideen arrived from all around the world, including France, Indonesia, Iraq, Malaysia, Morocco, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Thailand, the United Kingdom, the United States and Yemen.[7]

Islamic operations in Bosnia during the war including al-Qaeda were funded and supported by the Saudi High Commission (SHC), founded by Saudi prince Salman bin Abdul-Aziz.[3] During the Bosnian War, a British worker Paul Goodall was killed in Bosnia and Herzegovina with several bullets to the head. An employer of the SHC, Abdul Hadi al-Gatani was arrested for murder, after which he admitted that the gun he used in the killing was his. However, Bosnian-Herzegovina authorities released him without trial. Al-Gatani was later killed fighting along with al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan.[8]

After the war

After the war, al-Qaeda reestablished its connections in Bosnia and Herzegovina through the SHC and its charity organization.[9] The organization was closely tied and financed by the Saudi government, for which reason an American judge declared it immune after the September 11 attacks in 2001, concluding that it's a body of the Saudi government. The next year, after the war ended, the Ministry of Finance of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina conducted a raid in offices of the SHC and found documents that pointed out that the SHC was "clearly a front of radicals and terrorist related activities".[10] The same year, an employer of the USAID William Jefferson was killed. One of the suspects was Ahmed Zuhair Handala, linked to the SHC. But he was released as well, even though there was an evidence that he murdered civilians during the war.[11]

In 1996, the National Security Agency (NSA) found out through wiretapping devices that prince Salaman financed Islamist militants through charity organizations. A report of the CIA from the same year said that "the CIA has evidence that even high officials of charity organizations and supervisory boards in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Pakistan, such those of the Saudi High Commission, are participating in illicit activities, including support of terrorists."

Ronald Jacquard claims that majority of the SHC officials supported Osama bin Laden. Even though it participated in legitimate charity, the SHC used its charity character for sending illegal merchandise, drugs and weapons in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In May 1997, in a French military report it is written that "the Saudi High Commission, under cover of the humanitarian aid, is helping a development of permanent islamisation of Bosnia and Herzegovina influencing the country's youth. A successful end of this plan would give Islamic fundamentalism a perfect position in Europe and gave cover to members of the Bin Laden's organization".[12]

A terrorist attack occurred in Mostar in 1997, mexecuted by Handala and his two associates, also linked to the SHC. They managed to escape, but Handala was arrested after the September 11 attacks and detained in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.[13] The same year, an employer of the SHC, Saber Lahman, was arrested under suspicion that he planned to carry out an attack on the USA Embassy in Sarajevo. He was convicted, but was pardoned later after he served two thirds of punishment in prison. He was arrested again in 2002 for participation in al Qaeda's plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina and was sent to the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.

However, the USA took nothing until the September 11 attacks happened, when they carried out a raid on offices of the SHC in Bosnia and Herzegovina. They found incriminating documents, including manuals on how to forge the United States Secretary of State office ID cards, as well as manuscripts and notes on meetings with Bin Laden. They also found a proof about planned attack by an agricultural aircraft.[14] Even after this, the Bosnian-Herzegovina authorities refused to close the SHC offices.

Attacks and terror plots

In October 2001, Bosnian-Herzegovinan police officers arrested several Bosnian citizens of Algerian origin on charges of plotting to fly small aircraft from Visoko and crash them into SFOR bases in Tuzla and Bratunac.[15]

On 24 December 2002, Muamer Topalović killed a married couple and their daughter and also wounded their son in village of Kostajnica. He claimed that he killed them because of ideological and religious reasons. He was sentenced to 35 years in prison.

In 2005, the plot to bomb the funeral of Pope John Paul II was discovered in Croatia. The plot originated from Gornja Maoča, a Wahhabist village in northern Bosnia, and included smuggling rocket launchers, explosives and detonators to Italy.[15] The same year, Bosnian-Herzegovina police raided an apartment connected to a group seeking to blow up the British Embassy in Sarajevo, seizing explosives, rifles, other arms, and a video pledging vengeance for jihadists killed in Afghanistan and Iraq. Amongst the arrested was a Swedish citizen of Bosnian Muslim origin, who ran a website on behalf of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, head of al-Qaeda in Iraq.[16]

The next year, in 2006, a group of Bosnians and Macedonians linked to al-Qaida was arrested in northern Italy, after smuggling 1,800 guns in that country from Istanbul.[16]

In 2007, Swedish citizen Mirsad Bektašević (8 years and 4 months), Danish Turk Abdulkadir Cesur (6 and half years) and Bajro Ikanović (4 years) were convicted on charges for terrorism. Bektašević and Cesur traveled to Bosnia in 2005 with intention to commit terrorist attack on unidentified target in Bosnia or elsewhere in Europe. During investigation police seized guns, 20 kilograms of explosives, suicide vests, extremist documents, videos and testament.

In March 2008, in an operation conducted in Sarajevo and Bugojno police arrested Rijad Rustempašić, Abdulah Handžić and Edin Velić. They were accused for preparing terrorist attacks on facilities of Government of Republika Srpska, Roman Catholic Church, EUFOR and Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Rustempašić was declared guilty and was sentenced on 4 and half years, while Velić and Handžić were sentenced on 3 years and 4 months.

On 9 October 2008, security guard died in an explosion in shopping center in Vitez. Several persons were wounded.[17] Amir Ibrahimi, who admitted he was guilty, was sentenced on 2 years in jail.[18] He testified against Suvad Đidić, who was sentenced on 9 years in jail.[19]

On 27 June 2010, Haris Čaušević bombed a police station in Bugojno and tried to escape. One policeman died in an attack and 6 were wounded. Haris Čaušević was a supporter of al-Qaeda. He attacked Sulejman Tihić in mosque in Bugojno for "sending army in Iraq to die for American interests" and left the mosque shouting "long live al-Qaeda". Čaušević was sentenced on 45 years and Adnan Haračić got 14 years in jail. Accused Naser Palislamović was acquitted of all charges.

In April 2011, Zijad Dervišević was sentenced on 8, Amel Sefer on 7 and Saša Bonić on 6 years in jail for detonating an explosive device in April 2010 under an automobile in which were, at the moment, Pero Mamić and Ivo Tadić, MPs of HDZ BiH in Assembly of Zenica-Doboj Canton. No one was injured.

On 28 October 2011, Salafi Mevlid Jašarević attacked U.S. embassy in Sarajevo. Police wounded and then arrested the attacker. No one died in an attack, although one person was wounded. He was sentenced on 17 years in jail. In retrial he was sentenced to 15 years.

On 27 April 2015, Nerdin Ibrić attacked a police station in Zvornik, killing one police officer in front of the station. He then went inside the station and wounded two more police officers before he was killed.

On 18 November 2015, Salafi Enes Omeragić walked into a betting shop in Sarajevo and killed two soldiers, before exiting and firing on a bus, injuring the driver and two passengers. After a manhunt, police cornered the attacker in the building where he resided early on November 19. He committed suicide by detonating two explosives.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Shrader, Charles R. (2003). The Muslim-Croat Civil War in Central Bosnia: A Military History, 1992-1994. Texas A&M University Press. p. 52. ISBN 9781585442614.
  2. ↑ Woehrel, Steven (2007). "Islamic Terrorism and the Balkans". In Malbouisson, Cofie D. Focus on Islamic Issues. Nova Publishers. p. 75. ISBN 9781600212048.
  3. 1 2 Newton, Michael (2010). Terrorism - International Case Law Reporter 2008. 2. Oxford University Press. p. 1091. ISBN 9780195398335.
  4. ↑ Freeman, Michael (2016). Financing Terrorism: Case Studies. Routledge. p. 186. ISBN 9781317135074.
  5. 1 2 3 Atwan, Abdel Bari (2012). The Secret History of al Qaeda. Saqi. p. 155. ISBN 9780863568435.
  6. ↑ Clements, Frank (2003). Conflict in Afghanistan: A Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 153. ISBN 9781851094028.
  7. ↑ Lebl 2014, p. 8.
  8. ↑ Schindler 2007, p. 143-144.
  9. ↑ Jacquard 2002, p. 69.
  10. ↑ Bur & Collins 2006, p. 145.
  11. ↑ Schindler 2007, p. 263-264.
  12. ↑ Jacquard 2002, p. 67-71.
  13. ↑ Schindler 2007, p. 266.
  14. ↑ Schindler 2007, p. 129, 184.
  15. 1 2 Lebl 2014, p. 9.
  16. 1 2 Lebl 2014, p. 10.
  17. ↑ "Teroristički napad u tržnom centru Fis u Vitezu". Glas Srpske. 9 October 2008.
  18. ↑ "Amir Ibrahimi osuđen na dvije godine zatvora". Klix. 5 March 2010.
  19. ↑ "Zbog eksplozije u centru FIS Vitez: Suvad Đidić osuđen na devet godina zatvora". 24sata. 11 May 2010.

Sources

  • Burn, J. Millard; Collins, Robert O. (2006). Alms for Jihad: Charity and Terrorism in the Islamic World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521673952. 
  • Jacquard, Ronald (2002). In the Name of Osama Bin Laden: Global Terrorism and the Bin Laden Brotherhood. Collingdale, Pennsylvania: Diane Pub Co. ISBN 9780756767112. 
  • Lebl, Leslie S. (2014). Islamism and Security in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Strategic Studies Institute. ISBN 1584876220. 
  • Schindler, John R. (2007). Unholy Terror: Bosnia, Al-Qa'ida, and the Rise of Global Jihad. New York City: Zenith Press. ISBN 9780760330036. 
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