The Times November 18, 2005
Bin Laden’s ruthless rival spreads tentacles of jihad across region
By Richard Beeston, Catherine Philp and Michael Theodoulou
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has his sights on battlegrounds beyond Iraq as he strives to lead al-Qaeda
THE world’s most feared terrorist mastermind, who has been responsible for a two-year campaign of violence in Iraq, is planning to turn his sights on moderate regimes in the Middle East, Europe and Africa, where he intends to spread his ruthless brand of jihad.
An investigation by The Times into Abu Musab al- Zarqawi, the head of al-Qaeda in Iraq, has revealed that the former petty criminal from Jordan has built up a formidable terrorist network that stretches from Britain to Afghanistan and covers many countries in between.
Once regarded as a brutal but relatively minor figure in the al-Qaeda hierarchy, al-Zarqawi has outstripped his mentor, Osama bin Laden, who has not been heard of for a year.
Al-Zarqawi commands more people, has access to greater funds and enjoys growing support among young Muslims drawn to his slick internet websites, which give lurid details of his latest attacks on “infidels”.
A recent study about Iraq’s insurgency by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington estimated that 3,000 foreign fighters had gone to Iraq to join the insurgency.
Now, battle-hardened, they form the vanguard of a “foreign legion” ready to take the jihad to their homelands in what US intelligence officials refer to as “bleed-out”.
The National Counterterrorism Centre in America believes that al-Zarqawi’s network extends to 40 countries and that he has developed links with 24 militant groups worldwide.
Already notorious in Iraq for committing the worst outrages of the insurgency, including personally beheading several foreign hostages and killing thousands of Shia Muslim civilians, al-Zarqawi carried out his first big operation abroad last week.
Iraqi suicide bombers attacked three hotels in Amman, the Jordanian capital, killing mainly Jordanian civilians, many of whom were attending a wedding reception. Hala al-Faroukah, the mother of the bride, died of her wounds while in a coma yesterday. Her death brought to 62 the number of people killed in the attacks on November 9.
“This is Zarqawi marking out his new territory,” an Arab intelligence source said. “I believe there’s a leadership struggle under way in al-Qaeda and he wants to establish himself as the new supremo.”
The evidence suggests that the 38-year-old, who grew up in the depressed Jordanian town of Zarqa, may already be well on his way to achieving his goal.
This year the Americans released a letter that they had intercepted from Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda’s No 2, to al-Zarqawi on their common goal of establishing an Islamic caliphate in the Arab world.
In the 6,000-word missive, al-Zawahiri told al-Zarqawi that after US forces were driven from Iraq the jihad must be waged against “secular countries neighbouring Iraq”. The attacks in Jordan suggest that such a phase may already be under way, as foreign fighters begin to return to their home countries.
The two most recent al- Qaeda commanders in Saudi Arabia, who were killed by security forces, had both seen action in Iraq alongside al-Zarqawi. Militants were also intercepted in Kuwait in June trying to smuggle explosives into the emirate from Iraq and two gun battles in Syria in the past six months involved militants with links to Iraq.
“This phenomenon hasn’t really started happening yet, but it’s something that everyone is expecting,” said a British counter-terrorism official in the Gulf. “If it gets to the point where it’s more difficult to fight in Iraq than to fight somewhere else, they’ll fight somewhere else.”
Detectives have gone to Sarajevo to talk to security chiefs about their arrest of Mishad Becktasivic, a Bosnian-born extremist alleged to have been in Iraq with al-Zarqawi and to have run one of his websites.
Becktasivic has a Swedish passport and was travelling with a Turkish man. Police say that they found explosives, bomb-making materials and a suicide vest in their apartment in the Bosnian capital and believe that the plan was to attack a Western embassy.
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