![]() But the wound continued to bleed, and in fact increasingly bled, until your last letter arrived, ending any hope of stanching the wound and healing it." "We refrained from wading into this battle in the past out of a hope that the crooked could be straightened by the easiest and softest means. contained some amount of backbiting, name-calling and sneering," they write. The letter, signed by the group's 14-member Shura Council, or governing body, describes its relationship with Belmoktar as "a bleeding wound," and criticizes his proposal to resign and start his own group. The letter recovered in Timbuktu, one of thousands of pages of internal documents in Arabic found by the AP earlier this year, shows he stayed loyal to al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, until last year, and traces the history of their difficult relationship. Over the years, there have been numerous reports of Belmoktar being sidelined or expelled by al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. He claims he lost an eye in battle and trained in al Qaeda's camps, forging ties that would allow him two decades later to split off from its regional chapter. You can talk to me directly.' And in these attacks, he drew a lot of attention to himself," says Atallah, who recently testified before Congress on Belmoktar's tactics.īorn in northern Algeria, the 40-something Belmoktar, who is known in Pentagon circles by his initials MBM, traveled to Afghanistan at the age of 19, according to his online biography. I deserve to be separate from you.' And he's also sending a message to al Qaeda, saying, 'See, those bozos in the north are incompetent. "He's sending a message directly north to his former bosses in Algeria saying, 'I'm a jihadi. 3, said it helps explain what happened in Algeria and Niger, both attacks that Belmoktar claimed credit for on jihadist forums. Rudolph Atallah, the former head of counterterrorism for Africa at the Pentagon and one of three experts who authenticated the 10-page letter dated Oct. And it foreshadows a terrorism landscape where charismatic jihadists can carry out attacks directly in al Qaeda's name, regardless of whether they are under its command. It's a glimpse into both the inner workings of a highly structured terrorist organization that requires its commanders to file monthly expense reports, and the internal dissent that led to his rise. ![]() The al Qaeda letter, found by The Associated Press inside a building formerly occupied by their fighters in Mali, is an intimate window into the ascent of an extremely ambitious terrorist leader, who split off from regional command because he wanted to be directly in touch with al Qaeda central. The employee, international terrorist Moktar Belmoktar, responded the way talented employees with bruised egos have in corporations the world over: He quit and formed his own competing group.Īnd within months, he carried out two lethal operations that killed 101 people in all: one of the largest hostage-takings in history at the In Amenas gas plant in Algeria in January, and simultaneous bombings at a military base and a French uranium mine in Niger just last week. ![]() Most of all, they claimed he had failed to carry out a single spectacular operation, despite the resources at his disposal. ![]() In page after scathing page, they described how he didn't answer his phone when they called, failed to turn in his expense reports, ignored meetings and refused time and again to carry out orders. ![]() DAKAR, Senegal - After years of trying to discipline him, the leaders of al Qaeda's North African branch sent one final letter to their most difficult employee. ![]()
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