Inquiry & Analysis No. 894
Jihadi Discourse On EMP Weapons
By: R. Green*
Note to media and government: For a full copy of this report, send an email with the title of the report in the subject line to media@memri.org. Please include your name, title, and organization in your email.
The various jihadi forums contain sections titled Muntada al-'udda wal-i'dad ("[Military] Equipment and Preparation Forum"), devoted to discussions of a wide range of weapons and tactics. This includes discussions of electronic warfare, such as ways of combating drones, spy aircraft, and satellite surveillance, and ways of disrupting power systems, etc.
In addition to these topics, members have addressed electromagnetic pulse (EMP) technology as a means of causing severe damage to the enemy. Most of the threads involve a member posting an article he has found on the subject, and others responding.
It should be stressed that EMP technology is highly advanced, and it is unlikely that anyone except for the world superpowers possesses the resources and knowledge to develop it. However, the discussion of it on jihadi forums reflects the motivation of jihadi elements to explore and make use of every possible means in their war on the West.
This report reviews some of the discussions of EMP on the jihadi websites.
"The Biggest Threat To Mankind Today"
One thread was started on June 5, 2012 by an active member on the Shumoukh Al-Islam forum whose username is "3aasim" and who signs his posts "'Asim Al-Somali." 'Asim, whose shaky Arabic suggests that he is indeed a non-Arab, posted an article titled "The Electromagnetic Bomb – E-Bomb" that has been circulating on Arabic websites for several years. The article appears to draw some of its information from a 1996 paper by Australian scientist Carlo Kopp, titled "The Electromagnetic Bomb - a Weapon of Electrical Mass Destruction." It should be noted that Kopp's article describes the means by which a Western power could theoretically use EMP as a means to conduct Information Warfare against an enemy state or a rogue regime.
To view this report, you must be a paying member of the Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor Project (JTTM). For membership information, send an email tojttmsubs@memri.org with "Membership" in the subject line.
MEMRI offers an additional option for jihad and terrorism news – the Global Jihad News (GJN) website (http://www.memriglobaljihadnews.org/). Access is by annual subscription – now available at a special price of $260; to subscribe, visit the MEMRI E-Store and use the discount code FALL 2012 at checkout.
Special Dispatch No. 5037
Interviewed By Taliban Website, Defecting Afghan Soldier Describes August 10 Attack Killing Three U.S. Troops In Sangin District: 'I Was Motivated By My Faith, Islam'
Note to media and government: For a full copy of this report, send an email with the title of the report in the subject line to media@memri.org. Please include your name, title, and organization in your email.
A Taliban website recently released a video of an Afghan police defector who allegedly killed U.S. Special Forces soldiers on August 10, 2012 in the Sangin district of Helmand, the southern province of Afghanistan. Though the Afghan media had earlier reported that the defector had invited the U.S. troops to a meal, there is no mention of the invitation in the video interview.
The video is titled "Da Sangin Ghazi" (The Hero of Sangin). It was produced by the Al-Emarah Jihadi Studio of the Cultural Commission of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (the Taliban's shadow government in the country). It should be noted that the defecting Afghan policeman is identified as Abdul Razzaq, though Afghan authorities had earlier disclosed the name of the defector as Asadullah.[1]
Narrator Cites Koranic Verse: "And Fight Them Until There Is No More Unbelief And Polytheism, And The Religion Will All Be Of Allah Alone [In The Whole World]"
The video begins with a verse from the Koran's Chapter Al-Anfal: "And fight them until there is no more unbelief and polytheism, and the religion will all be of Allah Alone [in the whole world]."
The narrator continues: "O, the Mujahid nation of Afghanistan! As the most cruel and barbaric infidels invaded our motherland 10 years ago and have occupied our Islamic soil since then, we have a good opportunity to say yes to the highly valued order of Allah [to fight them]." The narrator says after the video refers to another Koranic verse from Chapter Taubah: "Fight them, [and] Allah will punish them at your hands and degrade them, and He will help you [to victory] over them and heal the [injured] chest of believers."
To view this report, you must be a paying member of the Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor Project (JTTM). For membership information, send an email tojttmsubs@memri.org with "Membership" in the subject line.
MEMRI offers an additional option for jihad and terrorism news – the Global Jihad News (GJN) website (http://www.memriglobaljihadnews.org/). Access is by annual subscription – now available at a special price of $260; to subscribe, visit the MEMRI E-Store and use the discount code FALL 2012 at checkout.
Special Dispatch No. 5036
Former Pakistani Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz: Attack On Malala Yousafzai 'May Be The Handiwork Of American Agents'; Urdu Daily Alleges American Conspiracy Behind Malala's Anti-Taliban Diaries Malala Yousafzai at hospital in the UK.
In a recent interview, former Pakistani interior minister Lt.-Gen. (retired) Hamid Nawaz argued that the October 9, 2012 Taliban attack on 14-year-old Pakistani education and women's rights activist Malala Yousafzai may have been carried out by American agents like Raymond Davis, the CIA agent who was held in Pakistan for killing two Pakistani nationals in Lahore and later released.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has claimed responsibility for the attack on Malala Yousafzai, accusing her of advancing Western interests in Pakistan after she opposed the Taliban's total ban on girls' education in early 2009 in a series of anonymous online diaries. The diaries, which she wrote for the BBC's Urdu language service and were published in early 2009, described how the Taliban was enforcing Islamic shari'a rule in Swat district. She is now recovering at a hospital in Britain.
Lt.-Gen. (retired) Hamid Nawaz's interview was published October 19, 2012 by the Urdu-language daily Roznama Ummat, in a report titled "American Agents Like Raymond Davis Could Be Involved In The Attack On Malala." In it, Hamid Nawaz also argues against a military operation on the Taliban and Al-Qaeda hideouts in Pakistan's North Waziristan district.
A few days earlier, on October 15, the newspaper published a conspiracy-theory report stating that the anonymous online diaries by Malala Yousafzai were part of a pre-conceived plan against Pakistan. The report, titled "Malala's Diaries Were Written By The BBC Reporter," also observed: "The aim was to create hatred against all the Taliban in the name of Swat fighters. After the popularity of the diaries, the [BBC] bureau chief was promoted to become news producer. In return for this 'mission,' Malala's father was said to be given lots of money from U.S. and British NGOs. Popularity was the bonus."
Excerpts from both reports are given below.
"American Agents Like Raymond Davis Could Be Involved In The Attack On Malala" –Roznama Ummat, Pakistan, October 19, 2012
"It May Be Uncovered Through Some WikiLeaks Revelation… [That The Attack On Malala Yousafzai] May Be The Handiwork Of American Agents Like Raymond Davis"
Question: "What do you think about the Malala incident? Is it an incident, or was it carried out under some plan, or was a U.S. agent like Raymond Davis used in this?
Hamid Nawaz: "Intelligence operations are very deep. The thing you are talking about carries much weight. Apparently, it [i.e. the attack on Malala Yousafzai] has been shown as a big atrocity. But it really they who have claimed that they are responsible for it? It has been greatly stressed, but what is the reality behind it?
"Perhaps many years later it will be uncovered through some WikiLeaks revelation... that [the attack] may be the handiwork of American agents like [CIA agent] Raymond Davis."
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