An unclassified report published in August highlights al Qaeda's strategy for building a fully operational network in Libya.
The report ("Al Qaeda in Libya: A Profile") was prepared by the federal research division of the Library of Congress (LOC) under an agreement with the Defense Department's Combating Terrorism Technical Support Office
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| Chart by Long War Journal |
The chart shows that, according to the US military, al Qaeda's operatives in Libya have already completed many of the tasks set forth by AQSL.
"AQSL in Pakistan dispatched trusted senior operatives as emissaries and leaders who could supervise building a network," the report notes.
They have been successful in establishing "a core network in Libya," but they still act clandestinely and refrain from using the al Qaeda name.
The report finds that al Qaeda "will likely continue to mask its presence under the umbrella of the Libyan Salafist movement, with which it shares a radical ideology and a general intent to implement sharia in Libya and elsewhere."
The following al Qaeda operatives in Libya, as well as other suspected al Qaeda-affiliated individuals, are identified by name in the report:
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| Image of al-Libi from the FBI poster seeking information to help in his capture |
Abu Anas al Libi is described as the "builder of al Qaeda's network in Libya." Other names listed for him include 'Abd al Hamid al Ruqhay, Anas a Suba, and Nazih 'Abd al Hamid al Rughi.
Abu Anas was raised in Tripoli and moved to Afghanistan in the late 1980s, then followed al Qaeda to Sudan in the 1990s.
He is "believed to have met Osama bin Laden." In the late 1990s, Abu Anas "was granted asylum in Britain...but fled that country in 1999 to avoid arrest when he was convicted by an American court in relation to the 1998 terrorist attacks against US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es-Salaam."
He is an "al Qaeda-trained intelligence specialist" and "well trained in operational security."
Abu Anas is "most likely involved in al Qaeda strategic planning and coordination between AQSL and Libyan Islamist militias who adhere to al Qaeda's ideology."
Abu Anas and his fellow al Qaeda operatives "have been conducting consultations with AQSL in Afghanistan and Pakistan about announcing the presence of a branch of the organization that will be led by returnees from Iraq, Yemen, and Afghanistan, and by leading figures from the former LIFG."
(The LIFG refers to the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, an al Qaeda-linked jihadist group formed in Libya in the 1990s.)
The report says that "intense communications" from AQSL in Pakistan are passed through Abu Anas in Libya.
Senior al Qaeda figure 'living in Libyan capital'
A veteran al Qaeda operative indicted in connection with the bombings of two U.S. embassies in East Africa is alive and well in Libya, according to Western intelligence sources.
Just when al Libi returned home is unclear. According to one intelligence source, he appears to have arrived in Tripoli in the spring of last year, amid Libya's civil war. According to this source, a Western intelligence agency had placed al Libi under surveillance and had taken photographs of him. But back in December 2010, before the outbreak of unrest, Libyan authorities told the United Nations al Qaeda Sanctions Committee that al Libi had returned, even providing a Tripoli street address for him.
http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2012/09/27/exclusive-senior-al-qaeda-figure-living-in-libyan-capital/
Read also:
Abdel Hakim Belhadj is now the military governor of "liberated" Tripoli ->http://libyasos.blogspot.com/2011/11/abdel-hakim-belhadj-is-now-military.html
ABDELHAKIM BELHADJ, AKA HASIDI, AKA ABU ABDULLA AL-SADDIQ, AKA…عبد الحكيم بالحاج aka Abu Abdallah ->http://libyasos.blogspot.com/2011/09/abdelhakim-belhadj-aka-hasidi-aka-abu.html
Al Qaeda and Libyan Revolution -> http://libyasos.blogspot.com/2011/06/al-qeada-and-libyan-revolution.html
Al Qaeda in Libya -> http://libyasos.blogspot.com/2011/06/al-qaeda-in-libya.html
AL QAEDA RAISED ITS FLAG IN LIBYA ->http://libyasos.blogspot.com/2011/10/al-qaeda-raised-its-flag-in-libya.html