4 Threat Matrix: ISAF targets IMU suicide bomb maker in Kunduz

Written by Bill Roggio on July 7, 2012 9:59 AM to 4 Threat Matrix

Available online at: http://www.longwarjournal.org/threat-matrix/archives/2012/07/isaf_targets_imu_suicide_bomb.php

During a raid today in the northern Afghan province of Kunduz, Coalition and Afghan special operations forces targeted a leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan who makes suicide bombs and IEDs. From the ISAF press release:

An Afghan and coalition security force detained several suspected insurgents during an operation to arrest an Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan leader in Kunduz district, Kunduz province, today. The IMU leader is an explosives expert who specializes in making suicide and improvised explosive devices for use in attacks against Afghan and coalition forces in Kunduz.

This spring, ISAF killed the two previous IMU leaders for Afghanistan, in raids just a few weeks apart in Faryab province. [See LWJ report, Special operations forces kill newly appointed IMU leader for Afghanistan, for more information.]

Special operations forces have now conducted 22 raids this year against the IMU, in Badakhshan, Baghlan, Faryab, Logar, Helmand, Kunduz, Takhar, and Wardak, or eight of Afghanistan's 34 provinces, according to ISAF press releases compiled by The Long War Journal.

The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan is a key ally of al Qaeda and the Taliban, and supports operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as plots attacks in Europe. The IMU is known to fight alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan and has integrated into the Taliban's shadow government in the north. [For more information on the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, see LWJ report, IMU cleric urges Pakistanis to continue sheltering jihadis in Waziristan.]