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Istishad as an Ideological and Practical tool in the Hands of Al-Qaeda
video cassettes they left behind indicated that they probably planned suicide attack
if they hadn't been killed.
London In July, two waves of attacks were planned against transportation targets
in the British capital and one of them was actually perpetrated. During the first
wave, which took place on July 7, four suicide terrorists, 3 of them of British
nationality and Pakistani descent detonated explosive devices they were carrying in
bags on three trains and a bus killing 52 people. During the second wave, which
occurred exactly two weeks later, an attack was again attempted on transportation
targets. However, this time the explosive devices were smaller and, presumably
due to a technical mishap, no one was killed and only one person sustained minor
injuries. Although still early in the investigation, the London attacks appear to have
been carried out by a terrorist network based in Britain that relies on an
infrastructure located in various cities around the country (Leeds, and London). A
number of the suicide bombers communicated with elements outside of the
country. Some of the attackers recently visited Pakistan, where they underwent
training and apparently received guidance and instructions for their mission. This
attack seemed to be closely supervised by Al Qaeda's commanders. The attackers
in the July 21 st were mostly from African origin residing in the UK. But it seemed
it was an independent operation inspired by the first one. However; the connection
between the two attacks is still under investigation which wasn't made public
knowledge yet. In these two operations the social close affiliation (friendship, some
time kinship and discipleship) as the common traits among Al-Qaeda's affiliates
operating in around the world have also appeared to prevail in these cases too
(Sageman, 2004, p. 107).
In Russia Al-Qaeda’s Istishad perception inspired and influenced the Chechens
fighting the Russians in what their leaders declared to be part of the global Jihad.
The violent dispute in Chechnya served as a pretext for recruitments by Al Qaeda
and its affiliates utilizing video cassettes and CDs showing horrors from the battles
there to incite young Muslims and lure them to join the ranks of the global Jihad in
general and to Chechnya in particular.
Since June 2000, 103 men and women took part in the suicide campaign (See
Figure 5 10 ). This trend reached its peak in two of the most notorious incidents in
Moscow and in Beslan. The first incident took place in Moscow in October
2002.when about 40 Chechens among them 19 women wearing explosive belts
wearing took over a theatre in Moscow, taking hundreds of hostages. Following a
rescue operation, 129 of the hostages were killed. The second incident took place
from 1-3 September 2004 in northern Ossetia. 32 terrorists carrying large quantities
of explosives and weapons, including some explosive belt took hundreds of
hostages in a school in Beslan. The incident, which began as a barricade and
hostage situation ended as a mass casualty suicide attack, which claimed the lives
of took the lives of over 300 people.
129