Swedish jihadist killed in Syria while fighting for the Muhajireen Brigade

Abu Kamal (photo from SITE)

By Bill Roggio - March 20, 2013 - LWJ

A Swedish Muslim who entered Syria to wage jihad against President Bashir al Assad's regime was killed while fighting alongside the Muhajireen Brigade (Emigrants Brigade), a group of foreign fighters who are linked to al Qaeda's affiliate in the country.


The Swede, who was identified by his nom de guerre, Abu Kamal As Swedee, was reported killed in a English-language video martyrdom statement that was posted on jihadist-run Facebook and Twitter pages on March 13. The video was discovered by France 24.




Like many foreign jihadists, Abu Kamal traveled to Turkey before entering Syria. Abu Kamal "joined Jaysh Al Hur [Free Army] known as the Free Syrian Army," the supposedly secular group that is known to fight alongside al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria, the Al Nusrah Front. But he became disenchanted with the group as "most of them didn't pray, listened to music, and smoked cigarettes," and returned to Turkey to "meet his old friend Abu Sulayman whom he grew up with [sic]."

Abu Kamal and his friend "met some brothers from the Muhajireen Brigade," includng a "Chechnyan [sic]," or a fighter from the Russian republic of Chechnya, and was convinced that he "felt right at home with the group that consisted of brothers who came to fight for the sake of Allah from around the world."

The Muhajireen Brigade is commanded by a jihadist from the Russian Caucasus who is known as Abu Omar al Chechen. The Chechen commander was praised by the Islamic Caucasus Emirate, a jhadist group that is allied with al Qaeda. Chechen fighters are thought to play a significant role in the Muhajireen Brigade, which has conducted joint operations with the Al Nusrah Front.

Continue & Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2013/03/swedish_jihadist_kil.php#ixzz2OAIHj4OL

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Russia troops kill 49 militants in North Caucasus sweep

North Caucasus regions within the Russian Federation (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

MOSCOW: Russian troops on Sunday reported killing 49 militants in a massive security sweep that followed angry comments from President Vladimir Putin about raging violence in the troubled North Caucasus.

The National Anti-Terror Committee said the operation was conducted across several republics of the volatile Muslim region and resulted the removal of some of the most “odious” guerrilla commanders and their followers.

“The coordinated action helped terminate the activities of several odious gang leaders, gang members and their associates, substantially damaging the system under which the bandits operate,” Interfax quoted a committee statement as saying.

The committee said the “large-scale and massive” raids involved both local and federal troops and that 90 militia bases had been destroyed.

However, gave no details about the timeframe for the operation or when it started.

Putin held a meeting on Friday on the North Caucasus in which he berated officials for failing to do enough to bring the region under full control after it witnessed two post-Soviet wars for the independence of rebel Chechnya.

from DAWN

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Militants kill 4 Russian soldiers in Caucasus

North Caucasus regions within the Russian Federation (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

(Reuters) - Militants attacked a convoy of Russian interior ministry troops in the violence-plagued North Caucasus province of Ingushetia on Wednesday, killing four soldiers, Russian news agencies said.

The attackers set off explosions as the convoy was passing and then opened fire with guns and grenade-launchers, state-run RIA reported, citing regional security officials. At least four other soldiers were wounded.

Russia is battling a persistent insurgency in the North Caucasus more than a decade after federal forces ousted a separatist government in Chechnya, adjacent to Ingushetia, in the second of two devastating post-Soviet wars there.

Rebels target police and security forces as well as government officials and mainstream Muslim leaders in frequent attacks in the region along Russia's southern edge.


from REUTERS
MOSCOW | Wed Sep 5, 2012 6:39am EDT
(Writing by Steve Gutterman; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

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At least 13 dead, scores injured in blasts in Dagestan

A police officer guards the site of a powerful explosion on the outskirts of Makhachkala, southern Russia, Friday, May 4, 2012. – Photo by AP

MAKHACHKALA (DAWN.com): At least 13 people have been killed and scores more injured in two powerful explosions in Russia’s restive North Caucasus.
Emergency ministry chief physician in Dagestan, Kazanfar Kurbanov, said on Friday that more than 120 people were injured and 15 of them are in critical condition. Authorities are treating the blasts on Thursday night as an attack by insurgents.

Dagestan is plagued by frequent attacks on police and civilians by Islamist insurgence.

The insurgency spread to the region from neighboring Chechnya where Russian federal forces have fought two wars with separatists since 1994.

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Suicide bomber kills five police in Russia’s Dagestan

MOSCOW: A female suicide bomber has killed at least five policemen by blowing herself up at a traffic police post in the restive Dagestan region of southern Russia.

The woman detonated her bomb late on Tuesday outside Karabudakhkent, a village 40 km south of the provincial capital Makhachkala, Russia’s RIA news agency quoted local police as saying.

Dagestan faces almost daily shootings and bomb attacks as part of an insurgency across the mainly Muslim North Caucasus following two separatist wars in Chechnya.

“The female terrorist approached the (traffic police) enclosure and blew herself up,” the police official said.

A serviceman directs a pedestrian away from the scene of a suicide bomb attack in Russia.—Reuters Photo

Dagestan faces almost daily shootings and bomb attacks as part of an insurgency across the mainly Muslim North Caucasus following two separatist wars in Chechnya.

An unofficial website, www.kavkazcenter.com. said up to 10 policemen had been killed in the attack and that it was carried out by a woman suicide bomber supported by insurgents who executed policemen wounded during the blast.

The rebels want to create an Islamic state ruled by sharia in the region, which is close Sochi, where Russia will host the winter Olympics in 2014.

The insurgents said they carried out a suicide bombing at Moscow’s Domodedovo airport that killed 37 people in January 2011, and twin bombings that killed 40 people on Moscow’s metro in 2010.

from DAWN

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Russian troops clash with Chechen militants, 8 killed

Image via Wikipedia

MOSCOW, RUSSIA (BNO NEWS) -- Eight people were killed on Sunday and more than a dozen others were injured when troops clashed with militants in Russia's North Caucasus republic of Chechnya, officials said on Monday.

The violence occurred on Sunday morning in the Vedensky district of Chechnya when Russian troops and police officers clashed with local militants. The shootout left four soldiers and four militants killed, while sixteen soldiers were injured.

Describing the scene, Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov said the security forces were in the middle of deep snow and thick fog while facing an armed group consisting of 10 to 15 people, including several senior militants. However, police sources told RIA Novosti that the militants had been 'blocked' in the area's forest while additional troops were gathering at the site.

Violent clashes are not uncommon in the region, where Russia has been battling Islamist insurgency in the North Caucasus, which saw two violent wars against separatists in Chechnya during the past 20 years. Ingushetia, along with the neighboring republic of Dagestan, has been experiencing increased violence from both street brawls and terrorism in the recent years.

Read more:

• Russian troops clash with Chechen militants, 8 killed (newstro.com)

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