Warning

Warning: This site contains images and graphic descriptions of extreme violence and/or its effects. It's not as bad as it could be, but is meant to be shocking. Readers should be 18+ or a mature 17 or so. There is also some foul language occasionally, and potential for general upsetting of comforting conventional wisdom. Please view with discretion.

Monday, March 30, 2015

Libyan Terror Spreads in the Maghreb

March 30, 2015

Ever since Libya's government was destroyed, strangely enough the country has been something of a basket case, with unchecked Islamist terrorism spreading all across North Africa, besides into Syria and beyond. Mali, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt - AQIM, LIFG, Belhaj, Daesh/ISIS, etc. and fighting in Libya itself ... I myself don't have much to say yet, but commentator H dropped these links in comments elsewhere I'll use as a starter, and at least a place for more related comments.
 
21/03/2015 Yasmine Ryan Terrorists in museum raid trained in Libyan camp http://www.independent.ie/world-news/middle-east/terrorists-in-museum-raid-trained-in-libyan-camp-31083811.html
 
training battalion Uqba Qaminis Benghazi area April 2011
 
 
Saturday 28 March 2015
The Associated Press also reported that Libya and neighboring Egypt
last month urgently requested international aid, including the lifting of the embargo,

after a video of the beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians

announced the presence of Islamic State group supporters
in the oil-rich North African country. Saturday 28 March 2015
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/un-security-council-holds-libya-arms-embargo-place-43244801

The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution on Friday to step up the fight against Islamic militants in Libya but without lifting the arms embargo.
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/un-security-council-holds-libya-arms-embargo-place-43244801



16 feb. 2015 - Libya's air force commander, Saqr al-Joroushi,
told Egyptian state TV that the airstrikes were co-ordinated with the Libyan side
http://globalnews.ca/news/1832577/egypt-stages-2nd-wave-of-strikes-against-islamic-state-after-video-of-killings/

Egypt warplanes strike ISIS targets in Libya after killings of Christian hostages

The 21 – mainly young men from impoverished families – had travelled to Libya for work
and were kidnapped in two groups in December and January from the coastal city of Sirte.

The strikes hit four IS positions in the eastern Libyan city of Darna,
an extremist stronghold that was taken over by an Islamic State affiliate last year,

Monday 16 March 2015

Sirte Monday 16 March 2015 Yasmine Ryan

Islamist groups in the eastern city of Derna declared allegiance to the Iraqi leader of Isis,
Abu Bakr Baghdadi, in late 2014, some replacing existing  links to al-Qaeda.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/isis-in-libya-muammar-gaddafis-soldiers-are-back-in-the-country-and-fighting-under-the-black-flag-of-the-islamic-state-10111964.html

This “Islamic emirate” has recently been reinforced by 300 Libyan jihadists
that have returned home from Syria and Iraq,
where they were fighting alongside ISIL’s al Battar Brigade – first in Deir ez-Zor (Syria),
and then in Mosul (Iraq)
http://journal-neo.org/2015/02/18/rus-liviya-igil-vplotnuyu-podoshel-k-evrope/



Sunday, March 22, 2015
 http://www.themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=42081

While Brigade 166 from Misrata, assigned by the Tripoli-based chief-of-staff,
took positions on the outskirts of Sirte to contain ISIS expansion in the area in February,
a delegation from Misrata engaged a dialogue with the terrorists holed up in Sirte.

“We asked them to lay down their arms and hand over foreign fighters”,
one of the delegation’s members told The Media Line. “We offered the protection
of the Libyan fighters and also a safe return to their hometowns like Derna.”
11 Feb 2015

The Tunisian ambassador in Libya, who resigned recently , said that the (Libyan) Government is responsible for not arresting Abu Ayaz Ahmed Rouissi
who is involved in the assassination of Chokri Belaid

Reza Boukadi said that ignoring the extradition demanded
by the Tunisian official bodies was strange and suspicious
http://www.libyaakhbar.com/libya-news/61408.html


October 23, 2014
Zaoui also nominated Abu Ayaz, leader of Ansar al-Sharia (Tunisia), who is currently in Libya.

Abu Ayaz has strong links to Libyan terrorist groups and warlords,
and had helped them recruit fighters during the Libyan uprising
and at the start of the conflict in Syria.

Thursday, October 23, 2014 Abu Ayaz (Tunisia) Ansar al-Sharia helped them recruit fighters during the Libyan uprising and at the start of the conflict in Syria.

http://english.al-akhbar.com/node/22161

In Tunisia, the Uqba bin Nafi Brigade, led by Algerian terrorist Luqman Abu Sakhr,
declared allegiance to ISIS in a video posted on websites affiliated to extremists nearly a month ago

------------

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Terrorists came from Libya
http://networkedblogs.com/HiFB3

Algerian officials have been complaining for days now that the terrorists in Algeria slipped in from Libya. I noticed that US media did not report that probably because it embarrasses them to note that the terrorists were in fact recipients of Western largesse during the NATO war on Libya.

http://nsnbc.me/2013/01/22/the-al-qaeda-in-the-islamic-maghreb-whos-who-who-is-behind-the-terrorists/
More recently, reports confirm that AQIM has received weapons from the Libya Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG).

http://news.yahoo.com/algeria-state-news-agency-army-133836079.html
The BP gas field is 60 kilometers west of the Libyan border

Saturday 28 March 2015
The Associated Press also reported that Libya and neighboring Egypt
last month urgently requested international aid, including the lifting of the embargo,

after a video of the beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians

announced the presence of Islamic State group supporters
in the oil-rich North African country. Saturday 28 March 2015
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/un-security-council-holds-libya-arms-embargo-place-43244801

The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution on Friday to step up the fight against Islamic militants in Libya but without lifting the arms embargo.
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/un-security-council-holds-libya-arms-embargo-place-43244801


16 feb. 2015 - Libya's air force commander, Saqr al-Joroushi,
told Egyptian state TV that the airstrikes were co-ordinated with the Libyan side
http://globalnews.ca/news/1832577/egypt-stages-2nd-wave-of-strikes-against-islamic-state-after-video-of-killings/

Egypt warplanes strike ISIS targets in Libya after killings of Christian hostages

The 21 – mainly young men from impoverished families – had travelled to Libya for work
and were kidnapped in two groups in December and January from the coastal city of Sirte.

The strikes hit four IS positions in the eastern Libyan city of Darna,
an extremist stronghold that was taken over by an Islamic State affiliate last year,

Monday 16 March 2015

Sirte Monday 16 March 2015 Yasmine Ryan

Islamist groups in the eastern city of Derna declared allegiance to the Iraqi leader of Isis,
Abu Bakr Baghdadi, in late 2014, some replacing existing  links to al-Qaeda.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/isis-in-libya-muammar-gaddafis-soldiers-are-back-in-the-country-and-fighting-under-the-black-flag-of-the-islamic-state-10111964.html

This “Islamic emirate” has recently been reinforced by 300 Libyan jihadists
that have returned home from Syria and Iraq,
where they were fighting alongside ISIL’s al Battar Brigade – first in Deir ez-Zor (Syria),
and then in Mosul (Iraq)
http://journal-neo.org/2015/02/18/rus-liviya-igil-vplotnuyu-podoshel-k-evrope/



Sunday, March 22, 2015
 http://www.themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=42081

While Brigade 166 from Misrata, assigned by the Tripoli-based chief-of-staff,
took positions on the outskirts of Sirte to contain ISIS expansion in the area in February,
a delegation from Misrata engaged a dialogue with the terrorists holed up in Sirte.

“We asked them to lay down their arms and hand over foreign fighters”,
one of the delegation’s members told The Media Line. “We offered the protection
of the Libyan fighters and also a safe return to their hometowns like Derna.”
March 25, 2015

Forces loyal to the Tripoli government, sent to Sirte from the western city of Misrata,
have clashed several times with the militants and had set up checkpoints near the power station.

The region east of Sirte has been a battlefield since December
when a force loyal to Libya Dawn tried to seize Libya’s biggest oil ports,

Al Sider and Ras Lanuf, but both remain under the control of forces
loyal to the recognised Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni.

http://gulfnews.com/news/mena/libya/daesh-militants-kill-five-pro-tripoli-government-fighters-1.1478925

Militants loyal to Daesh, the group which controls much of Syria and Iraq,
have exploited the turmoil by expanding in eastern and central Libya in recent months.
They have taken over government offices, universities and a radio station in Sirte in the last few weeks.



25 march 2015 Operation Sunrise (Shorouq)
A suicide bomber has killed five members of Operation Sunrise (Shorouq) at a checkpoint
at the steam power station outside Sirte, according to a military source in the area.
The attack is said to have taken place late this morning.
So far there are no details, although IS is suspected.

Last week, it announced that there would be an onslaught of suicide and car bombings
against Libya Dawn and Misrata which it accused of being “enemies of God”.

Operation Sunrise, set up by Libya Dawn to take the eastern oil fields and terminals
has a large Misratan input.

Last December, 14 guards protecting the town’s Al-Khaleej (Gulf) Power Station,
which is still under construction, were murdered in an attack.

The perpetrators have never been discovered
although at the time Operation Sunrise forces were blamed.
The dead men were said to have been from the same tribe as General Khalifa Hafter.

http://www.libyaherald.com/2015/03/25/suicide-bomber-kills-5-operation-sunrise-members-in-sirte-power-station-attack-report/



March 22, 2015

Misrata forces have been literally trapped in Ben Jawad for the last month,
pinned down between the rival forces led by General Khalifa Haftar on one side
and ISIS on the other.

Last December, Misrata, allied with the Tripoli-based National Congress
which was reinstated after the Supreme Court invalidated the parliamentary elections

held in June as illegitimate, launched the Sharooq operation, “English sunset,”

to take control over the oil terminals controlled

by federalist forces and General Haftar,

lined up with the rival parliament sheltered in the far eastern town of Tubruq,
which considers the Supreme court’s verdict invalid because it was allegedly
handed down under duress.

“ISIS men have been grouping there for months, but that day they openly came out,”
a member of Misrata intelligence told The Media Line.

http://www.themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=42081

The followers of the caliphate had slowly infiltrated the hometown
of former Libyan strongman Muammar Qaddafi from the beginning of 2014,

when the head of the Salafi group Ansar Al Sharia, Attir Ahmed, was killed in battle.


Situation 21 march 2015 :

https://twitter.com/vtchakarova/status/579211411726942209

Sirte is under full IS control and the battles are in the outskirts of the city

https://twitter.com/generalshami472/status/579551921079513089
Around 500 Isis fighters are in Sirte.

Their identities are unknown because of the black masks they wear.

As well as the conference centre, they hold a hotel and the flour mill.
A few hundred metres away from the mill, Misrata forces take their coffee in a roadside café.

Misrata, Libya’s third-largest city located to the east of Tripoli, is the power base of the Libya Dawn faction
which seized power in Tripoli in August.

Ibrahim Ben Rajab, head of the Misrata Military Council, said that they had hoped other cities would contribute
more forces to Brigade 166, to avoid the risk that Misrata would be subjected to a retaliatory campaign by Isis.
http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9736245.ece/alternates/w1024/Abu-Musab-al-Zarqawi.jpg
http://www.alwasat.ly/ar/news/world/13321/
أبو مصعب الزرقاوي Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
Remarkably, among those transited from Jordan to Syria were especially
the followers of the leader of "Al-Qaeda" in Iraq,
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed in 2006.


Ajaj al-Saqr, a general who had served under Gaddafi and was loyal to him until the end, was among those injured. ( and never leaves an internet trace)
He had been living in exile in Egypt and is believed to have returned to Sirte recently.
https://twitter.com/FreeBenghazi/status/577633174080991232



Mohamed Sakr
http://isisstudygroup.com/?tag=mohamed-sakr
Bilal el-Berjawi

and Mohamed Sakr

were also associated with Mohammed Emwazi
while he lived in the UK


Remarkably ressemblance of uniforms of garbage/ kommama cleaners Sirte
https://www.facebook.com/SirteNews/photos/pcb.829047827180558/829047680513906/?type=1&theater

and : orange jumpsuits of Egyptian Christians kidnapped from Surt

A recent video depicting the beheadings of Egyptian Christians kidnapped from Surt appeared

to have been taped on the Libyan shoreline,
but it also featured
the parent group’s signature audiovisual sophistication, orange jumpsuits and ceremonial knives.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/16/world/middleeast/islamic-state-video-beheadings-of-21-egyptian-christians.html



Fighters under the banner of the Tripolitania Province of the Islamic State

announced last month that they were holding about 20 Egyptian Christians, or Copts.

A similar number of Egyptian Christians in Libya seeking work
had disappeared in the mid-coastal city of Surt.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/11/world/africa/isis-seizes-opportunity-in-libyas-turmoil.html?_r=0

The coalition that sent Mr. Hassan, which is known as Libya Dawn
and opposes General Hifter, includes some Islamic extremist groups
in the eastern cities of Benghazi, Darnah and possibly elsewhere.

Its supporters often try to argue that the Islamic State fighters in Surt are merely a front
for Qaddafi loyalists or supporters of General Hifter.
https://justpaste.it/j0rk

Asma Magariaf ‏@LibyanBentBladi
Isis in Libya: Gaddafi's soldiers are back in the country

https://twitter.com/LibyanBentBladi/status/577657483981901824

Yasmine Ryan reports from Sirte in a rare dispatch from jihadis’ other war
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/profile/yasmine-ryan.html

Many Misratans insist that the fighters now in Sirte are Gaddafi loyalists,


http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/isis-in-libya-muammar-gaddafis-soldiers-are-back-in-the-country-and-fighting-under-the-black-flag-of-the-islamic-state-10111964.html


https://www.facebook.com/210644359063747/photos/a.210789565715893.46321.210644359063747/655204434607735/?type=1

Al Daesh dead today in a lightning attack Battalion 166 Sirte
March 16
https://www.facebook.com/210644359063747/photos/a.210789565715893.46321.210644359063747/654069718054540/?type=1
This organization, headed by lt. col. Abdallah Sanussi al Migrahi, is divided between domestic and foreign security services. Sanussi heads external security,

with Abdul Salam Zadma as his deputy (external operations and fundamentalist movements).

Domestic security is headed by the justice and general security minister,
Mohamed Maumud al Hijazi.

Number two man is transport minister Ezzedin al Inchiri
and number three is Suleiman Ashiri, who is believed to have organized
the kidnapping of the ex foreign minister Mahmud Kikkhia in Cairo in December, 1994.
http://sijill.tripod.com/sec95.htm



Tuesday,17/March/2015
Mohammed Zadma of the military police in Sirte, Libya said : Quiet prevail in the city
and its suburbs since Tuesday morning.

He added that the Dawn forces organize their ranks to break
into Nofaliya area (oil areas 120 km east of Sirte and 70 km west of Bin Jawad, ),

" Where Pockets of hard-line elements loyal to the organization Daash resides."
http://www.vetogate.com/1530140

according to Zadma the 11 buried Daash elements are another than the 23 bodies
we found on the battlefield in Hroah area who were delivered to the Red Crescent
in the city of Misrata.
4 February 2015:
Fighting has continued today at Sidra between forces from Libya Dawn’s Operation Sunrise,
who are trying to seize the oil terminal, and the Central Petroleum Facilities Guard (PFG)
backed by Libyan National Army’s air power.

According to Misratan sources, five Misratans were killed today in the clashes.
https://www.facebook.com/Ofw.in.libya/posts/762259600525974


Fri Feb 6, 2015 6:33am EST Oil port battle highlights threat of Libya break-up
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/06/libya-security-port-idUSL6N0VF1ZM20150206
Both sides facing each other near the town of Ben Jawad across a front line
littered with tank shells and bomb craters are made up of former rebels who fought
together to oust Gaddafi but are now fighting each other
over who owns the 2011 uprising.

22 January, 2015
The forces of Libya Dawn, which are fighting in western Libya, and the forces of Operation Sunrise, fighting in the area of the oil ports and petroleum crescent in central Libya,
were one step ahead of Operation Dignity.
They announced a ceasefire only hours after the first round of talks in Geneva ad ended, according to a press statement by the official spokesman for the Libya Shield forces
in the central zone, Ahmed Hadiya.
Nevertheless, Libyan sources close to Libya Dawn told the Weekly that Hadiya is close
to one of the members of parliament who is boycotting the parliamentary sessions in Tobruk,

the business magnate Fathy Bashagha, and that Hadiya issued the statement to the press on the basis of instructions from Bashagha, without first referring to
the field commanders of the Libya Dawn and Operation Sunrise forces.

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/News/10231/20/High-stakes-for-Libya-in-Geneva.aspx

16 Jan 2015
Fajer Libya and al-shorouq announce the stop of their operation to secure the eastern oil ports

from pro-LNA Jathran forces

https://twitter.com/ghaithshennib/status/556124344381112320

4 Jan 2015
https://twitter.com/MarsadLibya/status/551764315364392961
 
Thursday 23 October 2014

http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/ansar-al-sharia-leader-almost-certainly-killed-libya-2105958401
Ansar al-Sharia leader Mohammed Al-Zahawi 'almost certainly' killed in Libya


16 November 2014:
The Presidency of the General Chief of Staff  has decided to establish a Military Operations Room for the Central region.It will be commanded by Brigadier Rajab Ali Salem Al-Hamad

and will have authority over an area stretching from 60 kilometres east of Ajdabiya
to 100 kilometres west of Sirte and south to the Jalu oasis.

Also part of the operation will be Colonel Abdullah Naji Adam, Colonel Masoud Idris Saleh Aldoas, Colonel Bashir Abdelkader Budafira, Colonel Yusef Abdul Qadir Zawawi, Airforce Colonel Yusef Ratib Khalifa Jazawi,

and retired Colonel Saeed Salem Awad Al-Jadhran.

http://www.libyaherald.com/2014/11/16/army-chief-of-staff-to-establish-operations-room-for-central-region/

11 April 2014
Sirte was the scene of armed clashes between militias
under the control of federalist leader Ibrahim Jadhran
and Central Libya Shield in March
when Jadhran’s Cyrenaica Defence Force entered the town
before being pushed back to the Red Valley

http://libyaherald.com/2014/04/11/central-libya-shield-forces-pull-out-from-sirte-airbase/

March 12, 2014
Shields Misrata militias burned base Salah Bohlaiqah battalion in Bohadi
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=633015016752910&set=a.422220817832332.113497.422219511165796&type=1&stream_ref=10

A Benghazi brigade, the Zawia Martyrs Brigade, which is attached to the Saiqa force,
was assigned to ensure stability in Sirte in early 2012

Tripoli, 6 December 2013: Colonel Salah Buhulaiga,
the commander of the Zawia Martyrs Brigade in Sirte,
was killed early this morning, apparently in a car crash.

http://www.libyaherald.com/2013/12/06/buhulaiga-killed-in-traffic-accident/#ixzz2mkrSwlua

The head of the SSC in Tripoli, Hashem Bishr, told the Libya Herald that intelligence contacts and members of the brigade in Sirte had confirmed to him
that the death was an accident.

July 30, 2013
in the area Nofaliya 150 cars Ansar al-Sharia and armor coming from Benghazi gathered ,

including forces led by Sam bin Humaid and a battalion February 17

and 3 battalions from Misratah in the area of ​​Zamzam 130 km west of Sirte,

battled today with the army led by Colonel Salah Abouhliqh/ Buhulaiga

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=514467795292664&set=a.472521182820659.1073741828.471546236251487&type=1

http://www.dianawest.net/Home/tabid/36/EntryId/2290/Meet-Wissam-bin-Hamid-Uncle-Sams-Jihadist-Security-Officer.aspx

http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/ansar-al-sharia-leader-almost-certainly-killed-libya-2105958401



22 june 2013
joint operations room military security in Sirte headed by Colonel Gamal Alzahawi
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=488795151205829&set=a.488795021205842.1073742366.310394959045850&type=1&theater
commander of the military police in the Central Region and the Katieb Martyrs Zawiya


4 June 2013
According to residents, the men who apply the punishment of flogging
without judicial rulings do belong to Ansar al-Sharia,

http://alrassedalliby.com/news/news.aspx?id=2165495

(more coming?)

2 comments:

  1. Dr. Moussa Ibrahim in response to the allegations "#Gaddafi supporters" were fighting for #ISIS terrorists in #Libya:

    https://twitter.com/Volksburo/status/586528188353933312

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. more direct link: https://www.facebook.com/Dr.Moussa.Ibrahim.Libya/photos/a.208386872581233.53093.189406597812594/791537290932852/?type=1
      In part, he says "... Libya is slowly but steadily being regained by its people and the free men and women of the Al-fateh revolution." I'd like to hear more about this, but this posts is about Islamic States and stuff.

      We do have mixed signals there in the past; the anti-extremism stance as always, but at the end Saif sayin maybe the greens would unite with the Islamists against the NATO-backed occupiers. These were al-Qaeda, he had been saying, so that always confused me.

      What the Independent has for evidence, not sure. WIll look later.

      Delete

Comments welcome. Stay civil and on or near-topic. If you're at all stumped about how to comment, please see this post.