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CONCEPT – AL-QAEDA TERROR ORGANISATION
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- History - Osama bin Laden founded al-Qaeda during the latter stages of the Soviet-Afghan War with the goal of waging global jihad. Since its founding in 1988, al-Qaeda has played a role in innumerable terrorist attacks, and is most notoriously responsible for the multiple attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001.
- The 9/11 terror attacks : This were the deadliest ever on American soil and left nearly 3,000 people dead and provoked the United States to wage war against al-Qaeda in the group’s home bases in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and other sanctuaries worldwide. Since then, the group has established five major regional affiliates pledging their official allegiance to al-Qaeda: in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, East Africa, Syria, and the Indian subcontinent.
- Action by the US : Since the 9/11 attacks and the subsequent U.S.-led campaign against the organization’s base of operations, al-Qaeda spawned affiliate groups that have spread throughout North Africa and the Sahel, East Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and most recently, South Asia. Despite the affiliates’ dispersal over such a vast area, the commander of each branch has pledged allegiance to—and takes operational directions from—al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.
- Nature of Al-Qaeda : It is a jihadist network that seeks to establish a caliphate (global Muslim state) under sharia (Islamic law). In 1996, bin Laden issued a declaration of jihad against the United States and its allies, the contents of which continue to serve as the three cornerstones of al-Qaeda’s doctrine: to unite the world’s Muslim population under sharia; to liberate the “holy lands” from the “Zionist-Crusader” alliance, and to alleviate perceived economic and social injustices.
- Beliefs : Ultimately, al-Qaeda believes that it is fighting a “defensive jihad” against the United States and its allies, defending Muslim lands from the “new crusade led by America against the Islamic nations…” In his 1996 declaration of jihad against the United States, Osama bin Laden justified the use of force by citing 13th century Islamic scholar Ibn Taymiyyah: “To fight in defence of religion and Belief is a collective duty; there is no other duty after Belief than fighting the enemy who is corrupting the life and the religion. There [are] no preconditions for this duty and the enemy should be fought with [one’s] best abilities.”
- Violent activities :
- December 1992: Bombs explode at a hotel in Aden, Yemen where U.S. troops had stayed before traveling to Somalia. Two Austrian tourists die in the attack.
- February 1993: Khalid Sheik Mohamed’s nephew Ramzi Yousef masterminds the first attack on the World Trade Center, which kills six and wounds 1,500.
- April-June 1993: FBI stops a plot to bomb several targets in New York, including the Lincoln and Holland tunnels, the George Washington Bridge, the Statue of Liberty, the United Nations, the Federal Building, and one location in the Diamond District.
- October 1993: An al-Qaeda cell in Somalia allegedly shoots down a U.S. black hawk helicopter in Mogadishu. 18 U.S. servicemen died in the operation.
- March 1994: Ramzi Yousef and a militant cell in Bangkok hijacks a delivery truck and attempt to deliver a one-ton bomb to the Israeli embassy. The plot fails when the truck crashes and the militants are forced to abandon it.
- November 1994: Bin Laden’s associates in Manila conduct surveillance of President Bill Clinton and his Secret Service detail during a state visit, in preparation for an assassination attempt during Clinton’s planned trip to the APEC summit in November 1996. Surveillance tapes, maps, and notes were passed to Bin Laden in Sudan.
- June 1995: Members of Egyptian Islamic Jihad attack former President Hosni Mubarak’s motorcade during his visit to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to attend the Organization of African Unity summit. Egyptian officials believed that Bin Laden planned the attack.
- August 1998: Simultaneous suicide bombings at the U.S. embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya kill 258 people and wound more than 5,000. In retaliation, the Clinton administration launches cruise missile attacks on suspected al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan and on the Al Shifa pharmaceutical plant in Khartoum.
- October 12, 2000: Suicide bombers driving an inflatable raft packed with explosives ram into the USS Cole as it was mooring a U.S. Navy destroyer to a buoy in the Port of Aden, killing 17 U.S. servicemen and injuring at least 40. Both bombers were Yemenis, and six men were arrested in connection with the plot, including Saudi national Abdel Rahim al-Nashiri, who was reportedly al-Qaeda’s chief of naval operations in the Persian Gulf.
- September 11, 2001: Nineteen al-Qaeda operatives hijack U.S. commercial airliners and flew them into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, DC. A fourth hijacked airplane, whose target may have been the U.S. Capitol building, crashes in a field in rural Pennsylvania. More than 3,000 civilians are killed and thousands more injured. The U.S. launched military operations against al-Qaeda’s suspected safe havens in Afghanistan six weeks later.
- December 23, 2001: British citizen Richard Reid is arrested after he tries to detonate explosives hidden in his shoes on an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami. Nicknamed the “Shoebomber,” Reid pledged his allegiance to bin Laden during trial.
- January-February 2002: Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl is kidnapped and beheaded in Pakistan while on assignment to interview a militant leader about his ties to Richard Reid.
- April 11, 2002: Al-Qaeda claims responsibility for a synagogue bombing in Djerba, Tunisia, that killed 19 and injured 22.
- October 2002: Al-Qaeda reportedly carries out attacks on a French oil tanker in Yemen on October 6, killing 1. On October 8, the group claims responsibility for attacking and killing two U.S. Marines on Faylaka Island in Kuwait. Then on October 12, the group claims responsibility for bombing the Kuta Beach nightclub district of Bali, Indonesia, killing 202 and wounding hundreds more.
- November 28, 2002: Al-Qaeda bombs a hotel in Mombasa, Kenya, that was owned and frequented by Israelis, killing 15 and wounding 40. Meanwhile, the group also tries but fails to shoot down an Israeli airliner with a surface-to-air missile as it took off from the airport in Mombasa.
- May 2003: On May 12, al-Qaeda militants in Saudi Arabia attack three Western housing compounds in Riyadh, killing 34 people. Four days later, on May 16, 14 suicide bombers from al-Qaeda affiliate al-Salafiyyah al-Jihadiyah detonate 5 bombs in Casablanca, Morocco. The attacks killed 44 people, including 12 of the assailants, and wounded nearly 60.
- November 2003: On November 8, Suicide bombers driving vehicles disguised as police cars attack another residential compound in Riyadh, killing 17 and injuring 122. On November 15, two synagogues in Istanbul, Turkey are bombed simultaneously by the al-Qaeda affiliated Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades. The bombings kill at least 29 people and wound dozens more. Five days later, 32 people are killed when suicide bombers from the Great Eastern Islamic Raiders’ Front detonate trucks packed with explosives outside of HSBC bank and the British consulate in Istanbul. The Saudi militant cell called itself al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
- March 11, 2004: Four rush-hour commuter trains in Madrid are bombed simultaneously, killing 191 and wounding more than 1,800. Police discover that the bombs were hidden in backpacks and detonated remotely with mobile phones. Al-Qaeda claims that the attacks were in retaliation for Spain’s troop presence in Iraq and Afghanistan. Spain indicts 29 people in the attacks, including 15 Moroccans, 9 Spaniards, 2 Syrians, one Egyptian, one Algerian, and one Lebanese.
- May 17, 2004: A suicide bomber with suspected ties to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi detonates himself near the U.S.-led coalition headquarters in Baghdad, killing the acting president of the Iraqi Governing Council, Ezzedine Salim. Salim’s death comes 45 days before the occupation forces were set to transfer limited political control back to the Iraqis.
- December 2004: On December 6, al-Qaeda launches an attack against the U.S. Consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, killing 5 non-American employees. Then on December 29, militants attack Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Interior in Riyadh. Saudi forces killed seven of the assailants.
- July 7, 2005: Suicide bombers attack the London Underground railway and a civilian bus, killing 56 people in the worst terrorist attack in UK history. All four bombers were British nationals. On July 21, four British nationals attempted to blow up three trains and a bus in London but the bombs did not detonate.
- February 22, 2006: Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) bomb the Shiite Al Askari Mosque in Samarra, Iraq, one of the four major Shiite shrines in Iraq and the burial place for two of the 12 revered Shiite Imams. Reportedly, “a group of men dressed like Iraqi police commandos” walked into the shrine and set off the explosions. The mosque attack set off a wave of intensified Shiite-Sunni attacks across Iraq.
- August 16, 2007: Suicide bombers from AQI simultaneously detonate five fuel trucks in the Yazidi Kurdish villages of al-Qataniyah and al-Adnaniyah, killing more than 300 Iraqis, injuring several hundred, and destroying dozens of homes. It is considered the worst terrorist attack in Iraq during the post-Saddam era.
- September 2007: Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) detonate a car bomb in the northern town of Dellys, killing 28 coast guard officers. Just days before, AQIM set off an explosion in a crowd that was waiting to greet Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
- September 2009: Afghan native Najibullah Zazi, who spent time in an al-Qaeda training camp in Pakistan’s Waziristan region, is arrested for allegedly planning to detonate homemade explosives in New York City’s subway system to mark the anniversary of 9/11. Zazi pleads guilty in February 2010 to three charges: conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction, conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country, and providing material support to a terrorist organization.
- December 25, 2009: Nigerian citizen Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab attempts to detonate explosives hidden in his underwear aboard a Northwest Airlines flight travelling from Amsterdam to Detroit, but was subdued by passengers after setting his pants on fire. Abdulmutallab allegedly received training and explosives from AQAP in Yemen.
- November 2010: Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula attempts to mail bombs loaded in printer cartridges via UPS and FedEx to Jewish community centers in Chicago. The bombs made their way from Yemen to Britain and Dubai before a last minute tip from Saudi intelligence alerted officials in each country to the cargo and foiled the plot.
- May 2012: The Central Intelligence Agency and foreign intelligence services foil an attempt by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to send a suicide bomber carrying an “experimental bomb aboard an airliner” travelling to the U.S.
- September 11, 2012: Al-Qaeda affiliate Ansar al-Sharia in Libya attack the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, killing U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans at the Consulate.
- January 23, 2013: Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb seize control of a natural gas plant in eastern Algeria, tying up dozens of Western workers and planting explosives throughout the facility. After four days of negotiations failed, Algerian forces storm the facility, killing and driving out the militant. However, at least 37 hostages die in the hostage crisis and ensuing assault.
- September 21, 2013: Reportedly, gunmen from Al-Shabaab open fire on bystanders at the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, killing more than 60 people during an 80-hour siege of the mall by Kenyan security forces.
- January-February 2014: Militants from Boko Haram in Nigeria stage numerous attacks on colleges and villages in Nigeria during the first two months of 2014, shooting and burning male students alive. According to estimates, the group murder more than 200 students during a four-week span.
- April 24, 2014: Two al-Qaeda gunmen try and fail to kidnap U.S. embassy staff in Sanaa, Yemen.
- September 17, 2014: Al-Qaeda’s new wing in South Asia hijacks a Pakistani naval ship, and tries to use it to launch rockets towards U.S. vessels.
- October 20, 2014: Al-Qaeda suicide bombings and gun attacks kill at least 33 people in Yemen.
- January 7, 2015: The perpetrators of the Paris attacks on the offices of satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket claim that they received funding from AQAP. One of the two Kouachi brothers had previously trained with al-Qaeda in Yemen.
- January 14, 2015: AQAP officially claims responsibility for the Charlie Hebdo attack.
- February 12, 2015: AQAP militants seize a large army base in southern Yemen, just hours after the U.N. warns that the country is on the brink of civil war.
- February 13, 2015: Al-Qaeda fighters attack a Yemeni prison, freeing six al-Qaeda militants.
- February 25, 2015: The Guardian reports that Russian intelligence fears al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) is planning attacks against European targets in the Mediterranean from North Africa with a “kamikaze” marine unit.
- March 3, 2015: Five people are killed in an AQAP suicide attack on a Houthi outpost in central Yemen.
- November 20, 2015: Al-Mourabitoun claims responsibility for a deadly gun and hostage attack on the Radisson Blu Hotel in Bamako, Mali, allegedly as part of a joint attack with al-Qaeda affiliate, AQIM. According to U.N. spokesman Olivier Salgado, 21 people were killed in the attack when gunmen stormed the hotel using counterfeit diplomatic license plates.
- January 16, 2016: Al-Qaeda affiliate AQIM storms a hotel and nearby cafe in Ougadougou, Burkina Faso, killing 28 and wounding dozens.
- March 13, 2016: AQIM gunmen open fire at a beach resort in Grand-Bassam, a coastal town located 25 miles east of Abidjan. The attack—the first al-Qaeda attack in the country—leaves 19 people dead, including 16 civilians and three Ivorian soldiers. Among the killed are foreign citizens from France, Germany, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Cameroon.
- October 14, 2017: Al-Qaeda affiliate al-Shabab is suspected of detonating a suicide bomb in Mogadishu, killing more than 500 people. While al-Shabab is an al-Qaeda affiliate, more than 200 fighters have defected since 2015 and declared allegiance to ISIS.
- January 12, 2018: Al-Qaeda prison inmate Christian Ganczarski injures three guards in a knife attack at the French prison where he is being held. Ganczarski was linked to the 2002 Tunisian synagogue bombing that killed 21.
- January 21, 2018: The al-Qaeda affiliated Haqqani Network kills 22 people including several U.S. citizens in a 12-hour attack on a hotel in Kabul, Afghanistan.
- January 27, 2018: Al-Qaeda fighters attack and briefly seize control of a Malian army base near Soumpi, Timbuktu, killing 14 and wounding 18.
- March 25, 2018: Al-Qaeda affiliate al-Shabab detonates three car bombs over four days in Mogadishu, Somalia, killing nearly 20 people.
- July 7, 2018: An al-Shabab suicide bombing in Mogadishu kills at least nine.
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