Ilyas Kashmiri | |
|---|---|
 Ilyas Kashmiri | |
| Born | (1964-02-10)10 February 1964 |
| Died | 3 June 2011(2011-06-03) (aged 47) North Waziristan, Federally Administered Tribal Areas, Pakistan |
| Cause of death | Drone attack |
| Occupation | PakistaniSSGturned militant[1] |
| Organization(s) | Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami Harkat-ul-Mujahideen Jaish-e-Mohammad 313 Brigade[1] |
| Known for | Beheading of Bhausaheb Maruti Talekar |
| Movement | Founder of313 Brigade |
Ilyas Kashmiri, also referred to asMaulana Ilyas Kashmiri,[2]Mufti Ilyas Kashmiri[3] andMuhammad Ilyas Kashmiri[4] (10 February 1964[5]– 3 June 2011[6][7]), was aPakistani ex-Special ForcesIslamist turned militant who fought against Indian troops inKashmir.
NBC News said that United States officials had mentioned him as a possible successor toOsama bin Laden as head ofAl-Qaeda. Prior to his death, a CNN News headline called him the "most dangerous man on Earth",[8] and the journalistSyed Saleem Shahzad said "he is invariably described by the world intelligence agencies as the most effective, dangerous, and successful guerrilla leader in the world."[9]
Physically described by the US Department of State as "approximately six feet tall" and weighting "about 200 pounds",[10] Kashmiri was born on 10 February 1964 inBhimber, in theSamahni Valley ofAzad Kashmir,Pakistan.[9][3]
Kashmiri was reported by some media sources as having served in thePakistan Army's elite Special Services Group (SSG),[11][12][13] however he denied this in an interview with journalistSyed Saleem Shahzad.[5]
His schoolteacher described the young Kashmiri as "an obedient student, a good athlete and an excellent debater."[14] Kashmiri later spent a year studying communications at theAllama Iqbal University.[5] He also studied for some time inKarachi'sJamia Uloom-ul-Islamia, amadrasa known to produce Islamist militants, where he'd form, with two follow students, the nucleus of what would become the firstjihadist outfit of the country,Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI).[15]
He would later himself build amadrasa as well amosque in his home village Thathi in theBhimber District, with his wife and four children living next to these buildings.[14]
In theSoviet war in Afghanistan, he trained the Afghan mujahideen in mine warfare inMiranshah on behalf of Pakistan.[1] During the fighting he lost an eye and an index finger.[1][16] He continued his militant activities inKashmir after the war as a member ofHarkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI), though disagreements with leaderQari Saifullah Akhtar several years after initially joining in 1991 led Kashmiri to establish his own new unit within HuJI known as the313 Brigade.[1][17]
During the mid-1990s, Kashmiri and Nasrullah Mansoor Langrial were nearPoonch when they were seized by theIndian Army and sent to prison, where he would spend the next two years before escaping and returning to Pakistan.[1] Upon his return Kashmiri continued to conduct operations against India. He was reportedly being rewarded personally withRs 100,000 (about US$1,164.24) by then Army Chief GeneralPervez Musharraf for presenting the severed head ofBhausaheb Maruti Talekar, anIndian Army Soldier to him.[1][18] Pictures of Kashmiri with the head of the soldier in his hands were published in some Pakistani newspapers.[18]
Kashmiri rejected orders to serve underMaulana Masood Azhar in the newly foundedjihadist organisationJaish-e-Mohammed and was once even targeted by the group.[1] Falling out of favour with the Pakistani military, he was taken into custody and tortured in late 2003 in the wake of an attempt toassassinate President Musharraf.[1] From his release in February 2004[4] until the 2007Siege of Lal Masjid he apparently did little, but later returned to the 313 Brigade in the terrorist organisation Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HUJI), which is closely tied toal-Qaeda. Kashmiri rebuilt its strength while collaborating with theTaliban. This was part of a broader movement of Kashmir militants moving toWaziristan,[19] and Kashmiri reportedly moved personnel from his Kotli (Kashmir) training camp to a new one inRazmak (North Waziristan).[20] A U.S. indictment of Kashmiri stated that he "was in regular contact withal Qaeda [their italics] and in particular withMustafa Abu al Yazid..."[21]
He has been associated with a number of attacks, including the2008 Mumbai attacks, the2010 Pune bombing, the assassination ofBenazir Bhutto and the killing ofAmeer Faisal Alavi.[1][22][23]Syed Saleem Shahzad wrote that Kashmiri proposed the Mumbai attacks to al-Qaeda leaders as a way to create a war that would bring operations against al-Qaeda to a halt. The plan was approved and given to former LeT commander MajorHaroon Ashik.
According toAsia Times Online, Kashmiri was behind a 2008 plan to assassinateChief of Army Staff GeneralAshfaq Parvez Kayani as he stepped out of his car during daily visits to a gym; however, the al-Qaeda leadership rejected the plan on strategic grounds.[24] According toThe News International, Kashmiri is accused of organising the December 2009Camp Chapman attack against theCIA and the United States was seeking his arrest and extradition.[25]
In early 2010, Kashmiri was reported to be the new leader of al-Qaeda'sLashkar al Zil, or Shadow Army, following the death of its former leaderAbdullah Said al Libi by an American drone.[26] According to journalistAmir Mir, citing Pakistani security sources, Kashmiri was subsequently assigned the role of organising attacks against Western targets after the regional command was taken bySaif Al-Adel, a former Egyptian army colonel newly released from Iran.[27]
Before his death, bin Laden had asked Kashmiri to plan an attack on Barack Obama, according to a column by David Ignaitius published on theWashington Post web site. Ignaitius stated that his column was based on documents seized from the raid on bin Laden's compound.[28] In the wake of thekilling of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden on 2 May 2011 during an American operation inAbbottabad, Pakistan, terrorism analysts put forth Kashmiri's name as one of several possible successors to lead the organisation.[29][30][31]
On 27 October 2009, a press release from theU.S. Department of Justice named Kashmiri as a conspirator to whom an American citizen from Chicago,David Headley, arrested on terrorism related charges, "allegedly reported and attempted to report". The statement also noted that Kashimiri "issued a statement this month that he was alive and working with al Qaeda".[32] A report on details of the investigation stated that Kashmiri "was in regular contact with Headley for some time and their communications suggested that they were in the process of plotting fresh attacks in India."[33] Headley was reportedly distraught at news of Kashmiri's death, but after receiving confirmation that he was still alive, set off for Pakistan, at which time he was arrested by theFBI.[34]
Kashmiri was officially indicted on two counts, for "conspiracy to murder and maim in Denmark" (against the newspaperJyllands-Posten) and "conspiracy toprovide material support to terrorism in Denmark".[21]
During court testimony on 31 May 2011, Headley indicated that he had conducted preliminary research for Kashmiri in a plot targetingRobert J. Stevens, the CEO ofLockheed-Martin, the defence contractor.[35]
On 6 August 2010, the United States labelled Kashmiri a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist" while the United Nations added him and his group HuJI to its blacklist established underUN Security Council Resolution 1267. The label allows the United States to freeze any of his assets in US jurisdiction and to "prohibit US persons from engaging in any transactions with him." The UN resolution requiresUN member states to freeze assets, ban travel andban the sale of arms to Kashmiri and HuJI.[36][37]
Kashmiri was reported killed along with Hanifullah Janikhel and Kaleemullah inMachikhel,North Waziristan on 7 September 2009 when they were hit by a missile fired from aU.S. drone.[38] At the time he was reportedly one of the top 10 most wanted militant commanders in Pakistan.[20] However, in mid-October Kashmiri was reported to have survived the airstrike and granted an interview toAsia Times Online's Syed Saleem Shahzad.[39][40] A senior American official was later quoted byThe Washington Times as saying "While there were preliminary indications that Kashmiri may have been dead, there is now reason to believe that he could be alive".[41] One rumour among militants asserted that Kashmiri had been outside urinating when the house he was staying at was hit.[42]
On 3 June 2011, a US drone attack targeted a compound in the Ghwakhwa area ofSouth Waziristan, a Taliban stronghold. Nine militants, including Kashmiri, were reportedly killed in the missile strike.[6][7][43] Three other militants were badly injured in the attack.[7] Local officials reported that the militants in the compound were all members of the PunjabiTaliban.[7] Kashmiri had moved toWana fromKhyber Pakhtunkhwa 10 days earlier.[7]
Lala Wazir, a spokesman forMullah Nazir, a Taliban commander associated with the owner of the compound which was attacked, confirmed his death.[6][44] Qari Muhammad Idress, a close aide to Kashmiri and a senior HUJI commander, also claimed he was killed in the drone strike.[45] Al Qaeda also eulogised Kashmiri in the August issue of the Nawai Afghan Jihad magazine.[46] On 7 July 2011,CNN reported that an unnamed US Intelligence official said US officials were 99 percent certain Kashmiri was killed but he added "the folks that make that determination aren't ready to say so definitively."[47] The US State Department's Rewards for Justice Program, which at one at point designated Kashmiri as a wanted terrorist and offered a $5,000,000 bounty for information leading to his capture,[48] removed him from the list after he was killed.[49] On 31 August 2011,Asia Times Online reported that a well known Taliban commander named Shah Sahib had replaced Kashmiri as commander of the Brigade 313.[50]
However, doubts remained of his death. A spokesman for theTehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) stated in June 2011 that Kashmiri was alive and well.[6] In mid-July 2011,Dawn reported that Kashmiri was still alive and active in the border areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan.[51][52][53] On 30 July 2011, the Indian government listed him as one of the nation's five most wanted fugitives, indicating that Indian authorities think Kashmiri might still be alive.[54] In March 2012, theDaily Times reported that "reliable sources" had recently seen Kashmiri meeting with TTP headHakimullah Mehsud in North Waziristan, but that journalists were unable to access thetribal regions in northern Pakistan to verify the report.[55][56]
Shortly after his death, thePakistan Ministry of Interior alleged that Kashmiri's group had organised the assassination ofMinister of Minority AffairsShahbaz Bhatti[57] andThe Telegraph reported based on unnamed Pakistani officials that Kashmiri was organising a death squad to avengeOsama Bin Laden's death.[58] On 16 March 2012, Ustad Ahmad Farooq, Al Qaeda's lead spokesman in Pakistan, confirmed Kashmiri's death in an audiotape and eulogised him along with other pro-Al Qaeda militant leaders that were killed by US airstrikes in the tribal region.[59] On 10 May 2012, the United Nations Security Council officially labeled Kashmiri as "reportedly deceased" on the Al Qaeda Sanctions list and made it clear that they would treat him as dead until it could be proven otherwise.[60]
The U.S. Department of Justice indictment that was unsealed on 14 January 2009 names... Ilyas Kashmiri, a former commando with Pakistan's elite Special Services Group, and now leader of the Harakat-ul-Jihadi-Islami, as the operational commander behind the Mumbai attacks.
Kashmiri is also a longtime asset of Pakistan's military and intelligence services. He served as a commando in the elite Special Services Group (SSG), thespecial operations command trained by theUS Army'sSpecial Forces (SF). In the early 1990s, Kashmiri was ordered by the military to join the Harkat-ul Jihad Islami, and later he was urged to join the Jaish-e-Mohammed, which he refused to do.
A dramatic six-page report by the Pakistan Ministry of Interior based on the findings of the Joint Investigation Team JIT probing the assassination of former Federal Minister for Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti has revealed that the Ilyas Kashmiri group had crafted the plan to assassinate Minister Shahbaz Bhatti, that, Bhatti, report, Investigation, Shahbaz
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