/ Stars that died in 2023: Ilyas Kashmiri, Pakistani leader of Harkatul Jihad al-Islami, drone strike died he was , 47.

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Ilyas Kashmiri, Pakistani leader of Harkatul Jihad al-Islami, drone strike died he was , 47.

Ilyas Kashmiri, also referred to as Maulana Ilyas Kashmiri and Muhammad Ilyas Kashmiri, was a senior al-Qaeda member connected with the Soviet-Afghan war, the Kashmir conflict and attacks against India, Pakistan and the United States  died he was , 47.. In August 2010, the US and the United Nations designated him a terrorist. NBC News reported that United States officials had mentioned him as a possible successor to Osama bin Laden as head of al-Qaeda.

(10 February 1964 – 3 June 2011)





Military career and militant activities

Kashmiri hailed from the Mirpur District[3] of Azad Kashmir in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. According to several sources, he became a member of the elite Pakistani Special Service Group,[6][10][11] although in an interview he denied this.[3] Kashmiri also spent a year studying communications at the Allama Iqbal Open University.[3]
He was an active participant in the 1980s Soviet-Afghan War, training the Afghan mujahideen in mine warfare in Miranshah on behalf of Pakistan.[6] During the fighting he lost an eye and an index finger.[6][12] He continued his militant activities in Kashmir after the war as a member of Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI), though disagreements with leader Qari Saifullah Akhtar several years after initially joining in 1991 led Kashmiri to establish his own new unit within HuJI known as the 313 Brigade.[6][13]
During the mid-1990s, Kashmiri and Nasrullah Mansoor Langrial were near Poonch when they were seized by the Indian Army and sent to prison, where he would spend the next two years before escaping and returning to Pakistan.[6] Upon his return Kashmiri continued to conduct operations against India, once reportedly being rewarded personally with Rs. 1,00,000 (US$1,164.24) by then Army Chief General Pervez Musharraf for presenting the decapitated head of an Indian army soldier to him.[6][14] Pictures of Kashmiri with the head of the soldier in his hands were published in some Pakistani newspapers.[14]

Post-Kashmir activities

Kashmiri rejected orders to serve under Maulana Masood Azhar in the newly founded mujahideen organization Jaish-e-Mohammed and was once even targeted by the group.[6] Falling out of favor with the Pakistani military, he was even taken into custody and tortured in late 2003 in the wake of an attempt to assassinate President Musharraf.[6] From his release in February 2004[2] until the 2007 Siege of Lal Masjid he apparently did little, but later returned to the 313 Brigade in the terrorist organization Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HUJI), which is closely tied to Al-Qaeda. Kashmiri rebuilt its strength while collaborating with the Taliban. This was part of a broader movement of Kashmir militants moving to Waziristan,[15] and Kashmiri reportedly moved personnel from his Kotli (Kashmir) training camp to a new one in Razmak (North Waziristan).[16] A U.S. indictment of Kashmiri states that he "was in regular contact with al Qaeda [their italics] and in particular with Mustafa Abu al Yazid..."[17]
He has been associated with a number of attacks, including the killing of Ameer Faisal Alavi.[6] According to Asia Times Online, Kashmiri was behind a 2008 plan to assassinate Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq 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.[18] According to The News International, Kashmiri is accused of organizing the December 2009 Camp Chapman attack against the CIA and the United States was seeking his arrest and extradition.[19]
In early 2010, Kashmiri was reported to be the new leader of al-Qaeda's Lashkar al Zil, or Shadow Army, following the apparent death of its former leader Abdullah Said al Libi by an American drone.[20] Kashmiri was also said to have replaced al-Qaeda military chief for Afghanistan and Pakistan Mustafa Abu al-Yazid after al-Yazid was killed in a drone strike on 21 May 2010. According to journalist Amir Mir, citing Pakistani security sources, Kashmiri was subsequently assigned the role of organizing attacks against Western targets after the regional command was taken by Saif Al-Adel, a former Egyptian army colonel newly released from Iran.[21]
In the wake of the killing of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden on 2 May 2011 during an American operation in Abbottabad, Pakistan, terrorism analysts put forth Kashmiri's name as one of several possible successors to lead the organization.[22][23][24]

U.S. indictment

On 27 October 2009, a press release from the U.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".[25] 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."[26] 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 the FBI.[27]
Kashmiri was officially indicted on two counts, for "conspiracy to murder and maim in Denmark" (against the newspaper Jyllands-Posten) and "conspiracy to provide material support to terrorism in Denmark".[17]
During court testimony on 31 May 2011, Headley indicated that he had conducted preliminary research for Kashmiri in a plot targeting Robert J. Stevens, the CEO of Lockheed-Martin, the defense contractor.[28]

Blacklisted as a terrorist by US and UN

On 6 August 2010 the United States labeled Kashmiri a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist" while the United Nations added him and his group HuJI to its blacklist established under UN 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 requires UN member states to freeze assets, ban travel and ban the sale of arms to Kashmiri and HuJI.[7][8]

Assassination attempt and reported death in 2009

Kashmiri was reported killed along with Hanifullah Janikhel and Kaleemullah in Machikhel, North Waziristan on 7 September 2009 when they were hit by a missile fired from a U.S. drone.[29] At the time he was reportedly one of the top 10 most wanted militant commanders in Pakistan.[16] However, in mid-October Kashmiri was reported to have survived the airstrike and granted an interview to Asia Times Online's Syed Saleem Shahzad.[30] A senior American official was later quoted by The 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".[31] One rumor among militants asserted that Kashmiri had been outside urinating when the house he was staying at was hit.[32]

[edit] Death

On 3 June 2011, a US drone attack targeted a compound in the Ghwakhwa area of South Waziristan, a Taliban stronghold. Nine militants, including Kashmiri, were reportedly killed in the missile strike.[4][5][33] Three other militants were badly injured in the attack.[5] Local officials reported that the militants in the compound were all members of the Punjabi Taliban.[5] Kashmiri had moved to Wana from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 10 days earlier.[5] A spokesman for the Tehrik-i-Taliban stated that Kashmiri was alive and well.[4] However, Lala Wazir, a spokesman for Mullah Nazir, a Taliban commander associated with the owner of the compound which was attacked, confirmed his death.[4][34] Kashmiri's death was also confirmed by an e-mail from Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami and by an anonymous Pakistani security official.[35] On July 7, 2011, CNN reported that an unnamed US Intelligence officials said they were 99% certain Kashmiri was killed but he added "the folks that make that determination aren't ready to say so definitively.".[36] Shortly after his death, it was reported that it is alleged that Kashmiri's group had organised the assassination of Christian Pakistan Minister Shahbaz Bhatti[37] and The Telegraph reported based on unnamed Pakistani officials that Kashmiri was organizing a death squad to avenge Osama Bin Laden's death.[38]

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