[iwar] [fc:Profile.of.Al-Jihad.al-Islami]

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2001-09-22 18:49:37
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Subject: [iwar] [fc:Profile.of.Al-Jihad.al-Islami]
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Al-Jihad al-Islami
Name: Al-Jihad al-Islami, also known as Egyptian Islamic Jihad, al-Jihad,
Islamic Jihad, Jihad Group

Type: religious (fundamentalist)

Ideology: The group seeks to establish Islamic rule in Egypt by force
and targets any secular establishment that they believe to be heretical,
especially secular Arab governments.  Al-Jihad al-Islami's primary goal
is to "overthrow the Egyptian government and replace it with an Islamic
state," and to attack "U.S.  and Israeli interests in Egypt and
abroad."[1,2]

Description: The group has been called an "Egyptian Islamic extremist
group" active since the late 1970s, and a "close partner of Bin Laden's
Al-Qaida organization." Al-Jihad al-Islami is a large, loosely organized
militant group active since the late 1970s in Egypt.  Most of the
group's attacks have been against Egyptian and other government
officials.[1,2] Al-Jihad al-Islami is believed to pursue more
high-profile government targets than other Egyptian Islamist groups. 

Group Leader: unknown; spiritual leader Sheikh Omar Abd al-Rahman,
suspected leader Ayman al-Zawahiri

Leader Background: Sheikh Omar Abd al-Rahman, also closely affiliated
with Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya, was one of those arrested and convicted for
the 1981 assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.[5] He was
acquitted in 1984, after which he settled in the United States.  Rahman
was later arrested in connection with the 1993 World Trade Center
bombing, and is currently imprisoned in the United States.[4,6] Ayman
al-Zawahiri was also connected with Sadat's assassination and was
convicted in absentia by Egypt on 18 April 1999 on terrorism charges.[4]
He is a known close associate of Usama bin Laden and was a founding
member of the World Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders
(a loose grouping that includes Bin Laden's Al-Qaida).[4] Zawahiri
appeared in an undated video with Usama bin Laden in late 2000 and
threatened retaliation for al-Rahman's imprisonment.[1]

Group Ties: The group maintains a very close relationship with Al-Gama'a
al-Islamiyya, and sponsorship is unknown.  The Egyptian government
claims the group has received support from both Iran and Usama bin
Laden.  In August 1992, Deputy Egyptian Prime Minister Youssef Wali
claimed that weapons were being smuggled into Egypt to Al-Gama'a
al-Islamiyya from Iran and the Sudan.  Algerian authorities were also
concerned that training camps were being sponsored by Iran and Sudan for
Islamic fundamentalist militants.[5] The involvement of Pakistan and
Afghanistan has also been highlighted due to the numerous military
training camps that are located on the Afghan-Pakistani border.[5]
Pakistan has used the services of the Egyptian groups in its campaign
against India in Kashmir.  Control by the fundamentalist Taliban
movement in Afghanistan has further supplemented this growing concern. 
Furthermore, Usama bin Laden, who is believed to be located in
Afghanistan, has also developed close ties with members of Al-Jihad
al-Islami and Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya.  Bin Laden is a financier of the
Kunar and Khost training camps in Afghanistan where many of the recruits
from these groups were trained.[5] Both Ayman Zawahri and Refaei Ahmed
Taha, another leader of al-Gama'a, are believed to be living somewhere
near, or with, bin Laden in Afghanistan.[3]

Headquarters: Afghanistan; with branches in Egypt, Yemen, Afghanistan,
Pakistan, Sudan, Lebanon, and the United Kingdom.[1]

Total Members: Unknown; likely several hundred hard-core members.[1,2]

Incidents: Several of the group's leading members, also affiliated with
Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya, were implicated in the 1981 assassination of
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.  The group has conducted "armed attacks
against high-level Egyptian government personnel," and car bombings
against Egyptian and U.S.  facilities.  There have been no attacks
inside Egypt since 1993, the group has never targeted foreign tourists
in Egypt, but did plot an attack against the U.S.  embassy in Albania in
1998, which was thwarted. 

Sources:

[1] "Al-Jihad," <a
href="http://web.nps.navy.mil/~library/jihad.htm">http://web.nps.navy.mil/~library/jihad.htm>. 

[2] "Al-Jihad," State Department Patterns of Global Terrorism, 2000, <a
href="http://www.state.gov/s/ct/">http://www.state.gov/s/ct/> &lt;<a
href="http://www.state.gov/s/ct/">http://www.state.gov/s/ct/> . 

[3] "Al-Jihad," <a
href="http://www.ict.org.il/">http://www.ict.org.il/> &lt;<a
href="http://www.ict.org.il/">http://www.ict.org.il/> . 

[4] Yoram Schweitzer, "Osama bin Laden and the Egyptian Terrorist
Groups," http://www.ict.org.il/
&lt;http://www.ict.org.il/ ,. 

[5] P.B.  Sinha, "Threat of Islamic Terrorism," Institute for Defense
and Security Analysis, <a
href="http://www.ict.org.il/">http://www.ict.org.il/> &lt;<a
href="http://www.ict.org.il/">http://www.ict.org.il/> . 

[6] "The World Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders," The
Washington Post, in The Middle East and Islamic Studies Collection,
Cornell University, <a
href="http://www.library.cornell.edu/colldev/mideast/groups.htm">http://www.library.cornell.edu/colldev/mideast/groups.htm>
<a
href="http://www.library.cornell.edu/colldev/mideast/groups.htm">http://www.library.cornell.edu/colldev/mideast/groups.htm>
. 


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