Irish jihadi operates in Swat and Rawalpindi

The Sunday Times has an interesting and disturbing story of an Irishman who converted to Islam while in a Saudi jail and has left the UK to become a jihadi. Khalid Kelly, as he is now known, is of course training in Pakistan. Interestingly enough, he’s in the Swat Valley:

After a period underground, Kelly has now re-emerged in Pakistan’s Swat valley, where the army recently drove out the Taliban in a three-month military operation. He travels frequently to Rawalpindi, a garrison city next to the nation’s capital Islamabad, to meet contacts and spread his radical jihadist message.

In a meeting in one of the city’s parks last month he told The Sunday Times that he had a “divine calling” to kill. “I would feel good because you are killing for God. I have practised enough mentally to know that when my time comes I’ll be ready. I pray every night for bravery,” he said.

Kelly said he moved to Pakistan to join the “best of the best” in the jihadist struggle and to work towards replacing the civilian government with an Islamic one. As Islamabad vows to take on Islamic militants, Kelly harbours a dark hope that Pakistan will become like Iraq with “beheadings and kidnappings”.

The fact that an Irishman like Kelly feels comfortable enough to surface in the Swat Valley speaks volumes about the security situation there. The military has claimed the Taliban have been defeated in Swat, even though clashes with the Taliban occur there regularly. And the fact Kelly freely travels to and openly operates in Rawalpindi shows that the spread of radical Islam is going on unchecked in the home of Pakistan’s military.

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal.

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12 Comments

  • Bing says:

    “The fact that an Irishman like Kelly feels comfortable enough to return to the Swat Valley speaks volumes about the security situation there”
    Bill, how so? He seems to be a lone crazy who will most likely end up being killed by the real jihadists or the Pak military before he gets to do anything worth remembering.

  • Tathagata Mukherjee says:

    He was converted and brainwashed in Saudi Jail.
    Saudi Arabia and Pak are mother of all islamic terrorism.

  • Tathagata Mukherjee says:

    He was converted and brainwashed in Saudi Jail.
    Saudi Arabia and Pak are mother of all islamic terrorism.

  • Cerberus says:

    had a “divine calling”

  • kp says:

    Bing … I think you forget the provisional IRA and even more so the psychopaths in the INLA.
    THere are plenty of folks out there looking to link their psychopathic mental state to an ideology or “cause”. I guess those aren’t available in Ireland any more.
    Though his outing in Swat has reduced his ability to return to Europe and carry out missions for them. He’s rather less useful than he was.

  • Cass says:

    Was this guy part of the IRA? They used to train in Libya and certainly haven’t given up, although I find it odd he converted to Islam.

  • Xavier says:

    OBL has claimed “divine calling to kill”. Kalid is doing so. And many of the suicide bombers seem to claim that and so are their masters.
    There have been numerous claim so has anyone wondered if their claims have some truth?.

  • T Ruth says:

    Bill thx for the video…btw can you pls date it?
    Kelly is an ex nurse for chris’sake. He’s nothing but a propped up propagandist stooge who’s been bought out with saudi/isi money and the lure of an oriental woman. A loser basically. He’s better named Twitchy Kelly.
    Its the other racist pak-brit Creep in the video, choudhary whose trap should be shut off forever with the key thrown away so he can pray 24 hrs a day. Its extraordinary that he is allowed to live in civil society.

  • Ali says:

    The story here isn’t this person, but that he can operate publicly from Swat and Rawalpindi. It’ll be an important test of Pakistani claims of control in the region to see whether they can neutralize him quickly.

  • T Ruth says:

    Ali, you obviously missed a rather more subtle point oh the story, not that he can operate publicly, but that he has the gall to do so!
    And pray tell us about the status of the neutralization of the breadth and depth of the Swat Taliban.And what is the Pak style of neutralization (check ’em in and out of jail for a week or two? jail tourism?).
    Btw its not a coincidence that Bill posted the video on Twitchy Kelly at around the same time. Its part of the story!
    So we know who his UK sponsors were at the time. What about now, who is his present sponsor in Pak that he can operate freely? The ISI? LeT? A pak army brig/general? Good Taliban? Bad Taliban? AQ? Has he been underground in S Waz all this time and just surfaced in Swat?
    I don’t want to knock you off your linear wagon but in case you haven’t noticed there are wheels within wheels within wheels in your terrain.He’s just one pathetic little mercenary cog.

  • Ali says:

    And your point is?

  • Varun says:

    You guys are real insensitive.
    Clearly this poor gentleman is suffering from the common affliction of lead deficiency.
    If you people had any morality or compassion, you would urge any soldier or policeman who comes across this unfortunate soul to rectify and alleviate his suffering and offer him the correct medication.
    The correct dosage is about 5.56mm in the center of the forehead. 7.62mm will also do, but may be excessive.

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