Abdul Haq al Turkistani currently operates from Kabul while directing his fighters in Syria. Haq’s presence in Afghanistan directly contradicts the Taliban’s claims that no foreign fighters operate or are based in the country and that Afghanistan isn’t a headquarters for terrorist groups.
The Turkistan Islamic Party is an Al Qaeda branch that fights under the banner of Hayat Tahrir al Sham, the Salafist jihadist terror group that led the overthrow of the Assad regime and is forming a new Syrian government.
The presence of Abdul Haq al Turkistani, a veteran Al Qaeda leader, in Afghanistan contradicts the Taliban’s claims that there are no foreign fighters based in the country.
The video shows TIP’s men with captured Afghan military equipment, as well as recruits undergoing training.
The Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP), an al Qaeda-affiliated group, has released a series of images showing a large number of fighters preparing for battle in Syria. The TIP has been a key jihadist group within the insurgency for years.
In March, the leader of the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) called on various al Qaeda figures to offer more rhetorical support for the group’s cause. Al Qaeda’s general command responded earlier this month with a statement declaring its solidarity with the TIP and Muslims oppressed by the Chinese government.
The head of the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP), Abdul Haq al-Turkistani, has called on jihadist “scholars” to do more to address the plight of Uighurs. Al-Turkistani addresses his message to Taliban leader Haibatullah Akhunzada, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and a number of al Qaeda ideologues.
The Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) in Afghanistan and Syria has long operated as part of the Taliban-al Qaeda axis. Earlier this year, however, the TIP’s Syrian branch sided with Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) during its battles with other rebel groups. This infighting and related events have complicated the picture with respect to the TIP in Syria. One TIP-affiliated outlet claimed earlier this year that the group’s senior management had sent new leadership from Afghanistan to Syria.
The foreign fighters include one Canadian and three French-speaking militants. The latter bunch likely belong to Omar Diaby’s Firqatul Ghuraba, a French jihadist outfit in Syria.
Turkistan Islamic Party fighters, alongside the Afghan Taliban, released a video showing the combined forces overrunning remote Afghan military outposts in mountainous terrain.
The footage of the convoy is undated, but it offers a good look into the Turkistan Islamic Party’s strength, size, and importance on the battlefield.
The suicide bombings show the Turkistan Islamic Party’s close battlefield integration with al Qaeda’s forces in Syria, as well as further highlighting its position within the overall al Qaeda network.
This marks at least the second time a French fighter has been killed alongside the Turkistan Islamic Party in Syria.
The Turkistan Islamic Party, a Uighur jihadist group connected to al Qaeda, continues its long tradition of showing children trained for jihad.
The Turkistan Islamic Party released an audio message from its leader, Abdul Haq, on May 30. The message is the latest indication that Abdul Haq survived a US drone strike in 2010. The man identified as Haq blasts the Islamic State’s so-called caliphate and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), which swore allegiance to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi in 2015. Haq claims the IMU has “disappeared” since.
The Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) has released a series of photos documenting its “spoils” from a new round of fighting in Syria’s Aleppo province. Jaysh al Fath, an alliance of several groups, launched the offensive against Bashar al Assad’s regime and its allies earlier this week. The TIP is fighting alongside Al Nusrah Front, which is al Qaeda’s official branch in Syria, and Jund al Aqsa, an al Qaeda front group.
While the Islamic State gets most of the attention for its training of children, several other jihadist groups in Syria, many of which foreign al Qaeda groups, also do the same.
If confirmed, the Turkistan Islamic Party is not the only jihadist group to have used the US-made anti-tank missiles. The Islamic State, Al Nusrah Front, and the Caucasus Emirate in Syria have all released propaganda showing its forces using the TOW missiles.
The Uighur group continues to fight alongside Al Nusrah Front, an official branch of al Qaeda, in northwestern Syria.
The Uighur jihadist group plays a role in assisting Al Qaeda in northwestern Syria.
The Uighur jihadist group, with its longstanding ties to al Qaeda, continues to play a pivotal role assisting Al Nusrah Front in northwestern Syria.
The jihadist group continues to have a significant role in the Jaysh al Fatah coalition and the wider Idlib offensive.
The Uighur jihadist group based in South Asia sent a message to the “honorable Mujahideen in Somalia” thanking them for the recent attack on the Jazeera hotel in Mogadishu.
The suicide bombers mean at least four have been used by the al Qaeda-affiliated Uighur jihadist group in Syria.
US intelligence agencies thought that Abdul Haq al Turkistani, a member of al Qaeda’s executive council, was killed in a drone strike in February 2010. But according to a jihadist media outlet, he was badly wounded but recovered and assumed command of the Turkistan Islamic Party in 2014.
The new video shows the group’s role in the recent fighting at Jisr al Shughur. The Turkistan Islamic Party has long fought in Syria alongside the Al Nusrah Front, al Qaeda’s official branch in Syria.
The Turkistan Islamic Party, an al Qaeda-affiliated group that also operates in Afghanistan, Pakistan and China, operates in Syria under the moniker “Katibat Turkistani.”
The al Qaeda-affiliated Turkistan Islamic Party has released images showing its fighters capturing an American-made Humvee in Afghanistan.
A popular jihadist figure in Syria has posted a picture of fighters allegedly from the Turkistan Islamic Party, an al Qaeda-affiliated group that operates in China and in Central and South Asia.
The military launched a limited raid that targeted TIP fighters in a village just outside of Miramshah.