Al-Qaeda in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Al-Qaeda in Bosnia and Herzegovina was present since the Bosnian War in 1992, where they organised a volunteer jihadist detachment El Mudžahid of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. They were operating through the Saudi High Commission (SHC), and carried out the terrorist attack in Mostar in 1997.

History

After the Bosnian War, Al-Qaeda reestablished its connections in Bosnia and Herzegovina through Saudi High Commission (SHC) and its charity organisation.[1] The SHC was founded in 1993 by Saudi prince Salman bin Abdul-Aziz. The organisation 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 boy of the Saudi government.

Durign the Bosnian War, a British worker Paul Goodall was killed in Bosnia and Herzegovina with several bullets in his back. An employer of the SHC, Abdul Hadi al-Gatani was arrested for murder, after which he admitted that gun used in the killing was his. However, Bosnian-Herzegovinian authorities released him without trial. Al-Gatani was later killed fighting along with al-Qaeda and the Talibans in Afghanistan.[2]

The next year, after the war ended, the Ministry of Finance of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a federal unit 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".[3] The sam 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.[4]

In 1996, the National Security Agency (NSA) found out through wiretapping devices that prince Salaman financed Islamist militants through charity organisations. 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 organisation".[5]

A terrorist attack occurred in Mostar in 1997, and the executor was Handala and his two associates, also linked with the SHC. They managed to escape, but Handala was arrested after the September 11 attacks and detained in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.[6] 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.[7] Even after this, the Bosnian-Herzegovinian authorities refused to close the SHC offices.

See also

References

Citation
  1. ↑ Jacquard 2002, p. 69.
  2. ↑ Schindler 2007, p. 143-144.
  3. ↑ Bur & Collins 2006, p. 145.
  4. ↑ Schindler 2007, p. 263-264.
  5. ↑ Jacquard 2002, p. 67-71.
  6. ↑ Schindler 2007, p. 266.
  7. ↑ Schindler 2007, p. 129, 184.
Bibliography
  • 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.
  • Schindler, John R. (2007). Unholy Terror: Bosnia, Al-Qa'ida, and the Rise of Global Jihad. New York City: Zenith Press. ISBN 9780760330036.