Islamist fighters in northern Mali
By Jim Kouri -- (February 26, 2013)
French intelligence officials reported on Monday that they translated a document discovered after French Foreign Legionnaires battled members of al-Qaeda, according to an intelligence official on Monday.
The document reveals that Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) sought to create an Islamist state in northern Mali but not mention the operation on al-Qaeda and Islamist Internet web sites, said Jacob Balaban, a former U.S. police intelligence officer now running a private security firm.
AQIM, a violent extremist group based in Algeria and northern Mali, formerly known as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), merged with al-Qaeda in September 2006. GSPC was one of 15 entities originally listed in the United Nations? Consolidated List of individuals and entities associated with Osama Bin Laden, al-Qaeda, and the Taliban in October 2001. AQIM has raised tens of millions of dollars through kidnapping for ransom and used the proceeds to help fund the full range of its activities, including acquiring weapons, staging attacks, and establishing its control over large areas of northern Mali, according to the U.S. Treasury Department.
The document, which was discovered in Timbuktu after the French and Mali forces drove out the terrorists, is said to have been signed by the AQIM?s leader, Abdul Malik Drukalah.
The handwritten document dates back to July 2012 and describes a course of action formulated by the AQIM?s leader: To found a radical Islamic nation in the northern section of Mali; and to do so with a minimal amount of fanfare or boasting, according to French news agency Algerie 1.
The document reportedly contains information regarding terrorist operations in northern Mali and the assignments given to AQIM terrorist commanders.
In the document, which reads like a diary of sorts, Drukalah displays anger over some AQMI fighters who used extreme methods against Muslims who don?t adhere to strict Shariah precepts, according to Algerie 1.
Drukalah wrote of establishing an independent Islamic government that will apply Shariah (Islamic law) with the help of two other Islamist groups ? Azawad Liberation Movement and Ansar al-Din Movement.
Drukalah also cautioned AQIM fighters to avoid creating conflict with the secular rebels, the National Movement for the Liberation Azawad (NMLA).
?Alliances are of paramount importance. It gives us three advantages. If we are attacked, we will not be alone. Also, the international community does not focus its pressure solely on us, but also on our allies. Finally, we will not only take responsibility for any failure,? Drukalah wrote in his diary.
?This AQIM document is part battle plan and part political strategy and it reveals the pragmatism that is beginning to take root in Islamist strategy. But as with any corrupt political movement, AQIM believes the ends justify the means. And the ends in the Mali war are Islamic oppression of a nation?s population,? said Balaban.
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