Concern Grows Over Jihadist Numbers in Eastern Libya (May 2012, all we needed to know)

Assyrian International News Agency ^ | May 15, 2012 | AINA

[barryobi]

Diplomats and other observers in Libya say that with elections one month away, the National Transitional Council is struggling to exert control over various militia prominent in the uprising against Moammar Gadhafi.

One source briefed by Western intelligence officials said that of particular concern is the city of Derna on the Mediterranean coast some 160 miles (260 kilometers) west of the Egyptian border.

The source told CNN that hundreds of Islamist militants are in and around the town, and there are camps where weapons and physical training are provided to militants. He said one official had described the area as "a disaster zone."

Tensions have grown between local people and the militants. Last month, a number of Derna residents went to a camp on the outskirts of the city, according to the source, and forced militants to leave.

There have also been a number of car bomb explosions in Derna in recent months, apparently as rival Islamist factions compete for supremacy in the area. One is said to have targeted Abdel Hakim al Hasadi, a former member of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group who spent time in Afghanistan in the 1990s.

He told reporters last year he had been handed over to the Americans and sent back to Libya, where he was jailed for six years. The LIFG formally repudiated al Qaeda in 2009 and disbanded shortly afterward.

The source said that groups sympathetic to al Qaeda as well as former members of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group had converged on Derna, and the presence of one man was especially worrying: senior al Qaeda operative Abdul Basit Azuz. He had been sent to the area last spring by al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri and had some 300 men under his command, the source said.

[barryobi]

If all this is not enough, this information from back in 2011....."Al-Qaeda has established an emirate in Derna led by Abdelkarim al-Hasadi, a former Guantanamo detainee," Khaled Khaim said. "They have an FM radio station and have begun to impose the burqa" (head-to-toe covering for women) and have "executed people who refuse to cooperate with them." Khaim said Hasadi has a lieutenant, "also a member of al-Qaeda and named Kheirallah Baraassi" in al-Baida.

[barryobi]

May 2012, Ayman Al-Zawahri identified as trying to set up an Al Qaeda base less than 70 miles from Benghazi..
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&newwindow=1&q=derna+libya&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x14802038a50d54cd:0x64edb1a12fdfa66b,Derna,+Libya&gl=us&sa=X&ei=ETpRUJXpB4aB0AH07YDYAQ&ved=0CJYBELYD

From CNN tonight, we find out that a bomb was detonated outside the consulate in Banghazi less than THREE months ago and a Red Cross building there attacked as well.The group suspected to be behind the assault — the Imprisoned Omar Abdul Rahman Brigades — first surfaced in May, when it claimed responsibility for an attack on the International Red Cross office in Benghazi. The following month the group claimed responsibility for detonating an explosive device outside the U.S. Consulate, and later released a video of that attack.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/12/world/africa/libya-attack-jihadists/index.html

[Admin Moderator]

Moved to news.

Nice find, and welcome to FR.

[piasa]

ping

[bravo whiskey]

pity the helo wasn’t “escorted” by a pair of fully bombed up B-2s.

[SunkenCiv]

• Obama: "I want to make sure we end before the call to prayer"
• Iran Deploys Troops, Ballistic Missiles To Eritrea [2008]

[SunkenCiv]

Obama to unveil new Africa strategy
AFP | June 13, 2012 | Stephen Collinson
Posted on 06/13/2012 8:19:22 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2895071/posts

[SunkenCiv]

A map of the Sahel region showing where Al Qaeda operates (AFP/Graphic)

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks barryobi. Not to mention the one in the White House.

[Cindy]

Thank you for this post barryobi.
Updates always appreciated, too.

[Cindy]

Thank you for the ping Piasa.