Previously...
Note: The following post is a quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2170009/posts
Freed by U.S. (former Gitmo detainee), Saudi Becomes a Qaeda Chief
New York Times ^ | Jan. 22, 2009 | ROBERT F. WORTH
Posted on January 22, 2009 8:15:01 PM PST by FocusNexus
The emergence of a former Guantánamo Bay detainee as the deputy leader of Al Qaeda’s Yemeni branch has underscored the potential complications in carrying out the executive order President Obama signed Thursday that the detention center be shut down within a year.
The militant, Said Ali al-Shihri, is suspected of involvement in a deadly bombing of the United States Embassy in Yemen’s capital, Sana, in September. He was released to Saudi Arabia in 2007 and passed through a Saudi rehabilitation program for former jihadists before resurfacing with Al Qaeda in Yemen.
His status was announced in an Internet statement by the militant group and was confirmed by an American counterterrorism official.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Note: The following post is a quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2277183/posts
Senior Al Qaeda and Afghan Taliban leaders meet with Baitullah
LONG WAR JOURNAL.org ^ | June 21, 2009, 2:02 am | Bill Roggio
Posted on June 22, 2009 4:50:08 PM PDT by Cindy
Senior al Qaeda and Afghan Taliban leaders are reported to have met with Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud to advise him to move his group’s operations into Afghanistan and halt attacks against the Pakistani state.
Several meetings were said to have been held last week after an 11-man delegation of al Qaeda and Taliban heavy hitters arrived in Waziristan to deliver a request from Mullah Omar, the Amir al Mumineen, or the leader of the faithful in Pakistan and Afghanistan, according to a report in The Nation.
The Taliban dispatched Sirajuddin Haqqani, the powerful military commander of the Haqqani Network, and Abdul Hakeem Sharaee and Mir Ahmad Jan Hashemi, two senior deputies of Mullah Abdullah Zakir, the Taliban’s senior-most military commander in southern Afghanistan who was released from Guantanamo Bay.
Al Qaeda sent Abu Yahya Al Libi, one of al Qaeda’s senior ideologues and a representative of the religious committee, and Abdul Haq Turkistani, the leader of the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Party, an al Qaeda-linked group that is made up of Uighurs who fight the Chinese government. Abdul Haq serves on al Qaeda’s Shura Majlis, or executive council.
The joint Taliban and al Qaeda delegation reportedly advised Baitullah to halt the Pakistani Taliban’s attacks against the military and government and to focus his energy in Afghanistan. The leaders believe Baitullah’s terror attacks against the Pakistani state are putting undue pressure on the Taliban in both Pakistan and Afghanistan and threaten to damage the overall Taliban movement.
(Excerpt) Read more at longwarjournal.org ...
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previously...
Quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/zakir/index
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More info about Zakir...
Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2204857/posts
Ex-Guantanamo Prisoner ‘Now a Taliban Leader’
The Herald ^ | 3/12/09
Posted on March 11, 2009 11:47:16 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A FORMER Guantanamo detainee has become the Taleban’s operations officer in southern Afghanistan where he is launching attacks against British and American troops, it was reported last night.
Adbullah Ghulam Rasoul was handed over to the Afghan government in December 2007, which in turn released him. Intelligence officials said he is now known as Mullah Abdullah Zakir and is working as a senior commander.
British officials said they believed Rasoul was behind a rise in road-side bombings against British troops since spring 2008 when he was released from prison in Kabul.
A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Defence said she could not comment on “intelligence matters”.