Abdul Rahim Muslim Dost, who left the Islamic State late last year, claimed that Khorasan province became a tool of “regional intelligence agencies and started torturing innocent people.” He described the emir of Khorasan province as “illiterate” for approving attacks on civilians.
The State Department has added a former Guantanamo detainee, Ayrat Nasimovich Vakhitov, to the US government’s list of designated terrorists. According to press reports, Vakhitov was recently arrested in connection with the terrorist attack at Istanbul’s Ataturk airport. Also designated today is Aslan Avgazarovich Byutukaev, who leads the Islamic State’s forces in Chechnya.
Ugandan authorities have reportedly arrested Jamal Kiyemba, an ex-Guantanamo detainee, in connection with the assassination of a top counterterrorism prosecutor late last month.
Mullah Raouf Khadim, an ex-Guantanamo detainee, leads a contingent of fighters loyal to the Islamic State in Helmand, Afghanistan. Raouf and another top Taliban commander were previously forced out of their positions in the Taliban’s hierarchy. According to a leaked threat assessment, the jihadist had ties to at least two members of the so-called “Taliban Five.”
On Dec. 20, the Defense Department announced the transfer of four Afghans to their home country. Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) deemed all four to be “high” risks to the US, its interests and allies. All four are veteran insurgents, according to JTF-GTMO.
The State Department today added Ajnad Misr, an Egyptian jihadist group, and Ibrahim Rubaish, a senior al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) official, to the US government’s list of specially designated global terrorists.
Abdul Rahim Muslim Dost was once held at Guantanamo. Today, he is recruiting for the Islamic State in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Dost claims he had a vision at Guantanamo predicting the coming caliphate.
The Defense Department announced the transfer of five Guantanamo detainees yesterday. According to leaked threat assessments prepared by Joint Task Force Guantanamo, all five served al Qaeda. Four of the five were deemed either “high” or “medium to high” risks.
The Taliban claims that two recently captured Haqqani operatives had recently met with members of the “Taliban Five” in Qatar. The Taliban Five is a group of senior Taliban leaders who were exchanged for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl earlier this year.
A periodic review board has determined that Fayiz al Kandari, a Kuwaiti held at Guantanamo, should remain in US custody.
The five Taliban commanders exchanged for Sgt. Bergdahl were all deemed “high” risks to the US and its allies by Joint Task Force Guantanamo. All of them were closely allied with al Qaeda prior to their detention. Two of them have been wanted for war crimes by the UN.
A former Guantanamo detainee named Osama Abu Kabir has been arrested in Jordan. The charges have not been made public, but his arrest seems to be connected to Jordanian concerns about the jihad in Syria.
An ex-Guantanamo detainee, Ibrahim Sen, was arrested in Turkey on Jan. 14. Sen is accused of being an important al Qaeda facilitator and leader.
Sufyan ben Qumu was transferred from Guantanamo to Libya in 2007, and then freed in 2010. He leads a brigade in Ansar al Sharia and is a key al Qaeda operative in Libya, according to a Congressional report.
One of the Uighur detainees transferred to El Salvador was deemed a “high” risk by US officials because of his alleged ties to senior al Qaeda operatives.
An ex-Gitmo detainee phoned Saudi authorities with the ransom demands for a kidnapped Saudi diplomat. The Saudi official was kidnapped by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in southern Yemen.
According to the latest estimate released by the US intelligence community, 167 ex-Gitmo detainees are “confirmed” or “suspected” of reengaging in “terrorist or insurgent activities.”
An Algerian court sentenced Nadji Abdelaziz, a former Guantanamo detainee, to three years in prison on Monday. Abdelaziz served both Lashkar-e-Taiba and al Qaeda, according to memos prepared by Joint Task Force-Guantanamo.
The DC Circuit Court denied a Guantanamo detainee’s appeal yesterday. The detainee, Shawali Khan, was a facilitator for Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin prior to his capture in 2002. According to a leaked file, Khan’s cell in Kandahar received weapons and other support from Iran.
A former Guantanamo detainee named Sabar Lal Melma was shot by security forces in Afghanistan. According to ISAF, Melma was a “key affiliate of the al Qaeda network.” Melma was once a senior Afghan official in charge of border security in Kunar province. Leaked files allege that he allowed al Qaeda members to escape Afghanistan.
AQAP has released a biography commemorating former Guantanamo detainee Hani Abdo Shaalan. In the video, AQAP claims that Shaalan was killed in an American airstrike in December 2009. Previously, the Yemeni government claimed that Shaalan was killed during a shootout with government forces.
According to a leaked Joint Task Force Guantanamo threat assessment, a current detainee named Haji Wali Mohammed was al Qaeda’s “primary financial manager.” Haji Wali also allegedly worked for the Taliban, and purchased missiles for Osama bin Laden with support from Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency.
AQAP’s chief Mufti, Ibrahim Rubaish, has released a biography honoring ex-Gitmo detainee Fahd Saleh Suleiman al Jutayli. Rubaish, himself a former Gitmo detainee, denies that Jutayli was killed while fighting alongside the Houthis in Yemen.
The State Department designated former Gitmo detainee Othman al Ghamdi as a global terrorist today. Al Ghamdi is an “operational commander” in al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
Leaked Guantanamo threat assessments highlight Osama bin Laden’s influence over East Africa al Qaeda (EAAQ) and its leader, the recently slain Fazul Mohammed. The files also contain striking details about the ties between EAAQ and Somalia’s Islamic Courts Union, the predecessor of Shabaab.
Inayatullah, an Afghan detainee at Gitmo, died of an apparent suicide.
A leaked threat assessment prepared at Guantanamo describes one current detainee and his father as “Iranian agents.” The detainee, Haji Hamidullah, allegedly “murdered 71 people.” The leaked file connects several others to Iran, including two members of Hamid Karzai’s government.
Two of the Taliban’s most senior commanders successfully hid their leadership roles from interrogators and analysts at Guantanamo. Both were subsequently transferred to the custody of the Afghan government but were freed and rejoined the Taliban.
At a meeting that included representatives of the Pakistani government and the ISI, Omar “told attendees that they should not cooperate with the new infidel government (in Afghanistan) and should keep attacking coalition forces.”
Abdul Hafiz, a former Guantanamo detainee who quickly rejoined the Taliban after being transferred, had been deemed a “high risk” by US officials less than two years earlier. His insurgency group had been trained by Pakistani military officers to attack Westerners in Afghanistan and had killed an ICRC worker.