A Study of "Martyrs in a Time of Alienation"
Part II
In January 2008, Al-Fajr Media Center, an al-Qaida affiliated media group, released an extensive issue in its series, "Biographies of the Martyrs in the Land of Khorasan." The book -- in the summary translation used here -- consists of 120 brief biographies of men who died in the insurgency against Coalition forces and regional governments. The following is a brief analysis (in green) of the book's content based on a summary translation available through WNC (Dialog), see the "Introduction" post for record information.
Part I included the first four of the 120 names and pseudonyms. In Part II the list of names and pseudonyms continues:
Ahmad al−Hasan Dawur from Waziristan: He died shortly after he joined Abu−Al−Layth al−Libi camp in an air raid by the Pakistani military.
The bio only hints at the fact that this camp probably existed or exists on the Pakistani side of the border.
Idris al−Turkistani (nickname) from Aqsu in the region of Eastern Turkistan in China: He arrived in Afghanistan where he received military training. He was assigned to fight against the "northern alliance" in northern Afghanistan where he was captured shortly afterward after the US invasion of Afghanistan. He moved to Waziristan after his release where he died in a raid by Pakistani forces.
AQ always refers to Xinjiang Province as "East Turkistan." It's China's most Western province, and the dominant culture is Turkic and Muslim (Uyghur), not Chinese. The local population has been resisting Chinese rule for decades. And though the dominant Islam of the region reflects a sort of Central Asian Sufism, the radical Salafist-Jihadists have had some success at dawah. Ayman al-Zawahiri often mentions "East Turkistan" in his speeches to the ummah. It's a sign, I suspect, of the close relationship between AQ leadership and the Uyghur contingent among the foreign fighters along Afghan/Pak border region. The extent of the unrest in Western China is not fully known, nor is it clear whether the Chinese government knows of and/or somehow permits the transit of these men into Pakistan and Afghanistan.
It's interesting to note that Idris was captured and released in Afghanistan, only to return to the front.
Usamah al−Hamawi (nickname): His name is Ridwan Bin Abd−al−Rahman al−Sharif from Syria. He fought against the northern alliance until the US invasion of Afghanistan when he was forced to flee to the tribal areas where he continued to train and fight until he was killed in a missile attack.
Al-Hamawi's death was announced in an AQ video released last July. His biography, hinted at here, follows a pattern of pre-9-11 AQ members, including fighting with the Taliban against Ahmad Shah Massoud's forces. Being Syrian, it's possible he was associated with Abu Mus'ab al-Suri, and somehow supported al-Suri's work with the Taliban. Regardless, he was obviously senior enough within the group that the video includes formal statements from UBL and Abu Layth al-Libbi, though neither talks specifically about al-Hamawi.
Abu−Usamah al−Sharqi (nickname): His name is Muhammad al−Rashid from Al−Khubar, Saudi Arabia. He went to Afghanistan soon after the September 11 attacks in the US. Soon after he finished his military training, he was assigned to train new recruits from the tribal areas in Jalalabad. He was killed in a raid in Zabul.
Al-Sharqi's bio provides a good example of the power of the September 11th attacks to motivate young men to join the group. Another example would be the rise in reports of American losses in Iraq during 2005-06. It shows the vital strategic importance of controlling the message of loss and victory.
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