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Ayman al-Zawahiri |
Was last week's attack on the Danish Embassy in Pakistan carried out in response to a message from al-Qaida's No. 2 leader, signaling a shift in strategy from central-command leadership to "personal jihad," or freelance operations?
Since al-Qaida's Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, virtually every message released by the terrorist network's leadership has been carefully scrutinized for signs it might contain a "Go" signal for an attack, according to a report in Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.
Anti-terror analysts have assumed attacks have been centrally planned and carried out under the command and control of al-Qaida central leadership. Some messages, in fact, have been followed by attacks, while others have not.
But in the past few months, there has been a subtle shift in messages from al-Qaida's leadership team, especially from second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri, who apparently now is urging freelance attacks.
In the second part of his April "town hall" video, in which he responded to questioners, Zawahiri made the following statement:
We threatened Norway and any country which participated in aggression against Muslims to defend our creed, countries, ourselves and our sanctities. Denmark went too far in its aggression against Muslims by repeatedly slandering the prophet, Allah's peace and prayers be upon him. I urge and incite every Muslim who can harm Denmark to do so in support of the prophet, Allah's peace and prayers be upon him, and in defense of his honorable stature.
Later, in the same message, Zawahiri reiterates:
As for the states that have offended the prophet, Allah's peace and prayers be upon him. Every Muslim residing or not residing in them should do as much as he can to punish them and to harm them through jihad with hand, word, money and incitement. Everyone should do what he can in order to make them taste the evil consequences of their deeds.
Just over a month later, June 2, the Danish Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, was attacked with a car bomb. Al-Qaida quickly claimed responsibility for the attack, with a posting on various jihadist forums.
Zawahiri's comments appeared intended to spur freelance jihadists and freelance cells into action against Danish targets.
Elsewhere in the second part of the April video, Zawahiri also called for groups in the "Islamic Maghreb" – Algeria and Morocco – to step up their attacks. He did include a cautionary note that they should try to minimize Muslim casualties, perhaps a reaction to the beating he took from some of his questioners about actions causing the deaths of innocent Muslims.
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