Man who claimed to be Guyanese listed among Al Qaeda’s remaining leaders
ADNAN Gulshair el Shukrijumah, a 36 year-old man who claimed he was born in Guyana and who has been on the FBI’s terror watch list for years, is being listed as one of the remaining leaders of the Al Qaeda network with the reported death of Osama bin Laden, who was killed in Pakistan in a fire fight with US forces on Sunday.
According to the website ‘Terroristplanet.com’, el Shukrijumah, a trained nuclear technician and accomplished pilot, was born in either Guyana or Saudi Arabia on Aug. 4, 1975 – the first born of Gulshair el-Shukrijumah, a 44-year-old radical Muslim cleric, and his 16-year-old wife.
Since 2003, el Shukrijumah has been on a ‘Be on the Lookout’ list of terror suspects issued by various US Government agencies. According to a news report from the BBC, the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) had, in August 2010, confirmed that el Shukrijumah had taken over as chief of al-Qaeda’s ‘external operations council.’
Having lived for more than 15 years in the United States, it is the first time that a leader “intimately familiar with American society” has been placed in charge of planning attacks for the group outside Afghanistan, the BBC article pointed out.
“Such a position – once held by the alleged mastermind of 9/11, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed – necessitates regular contact with al-Qaeda’s senior leadership and military commanders…,” the article said.
The article said that in the late 1990s, el Shukrijumah became convinced that he had to participate in jihad in places like Chechnya, and left for training camps in Afghanistan.
According to the FBI, Shukrijumah was named in a US federal indictment as a conspirator in the case against three men accused of plotting suicide bomb attacks on New York’s subway system in 2009. He is also suspected of having played a role in plotting al-Qaeda attacks in Panama, Norway and the UK, the BBC article said.
The FBI on its website said el Shukrijumah, who has earned himself a bounty of up to US$5 million, is wanted for the following crimes: Conspiracy to Use Weapons of Mass Destruction; Providing Material Support to a Foreign Terrorist Organisation; Conspiracy to Provide Material Support to a Foreign Terrorist Organisation; Receiving Military-Type Training from a Foreign Terrorist Organisation; Conspiracy to Commit an Act of Terrorism Transcending National Boundaries; Attempt to Commit an Act of Terrorism Transcending National Boundaries; and Use of Destructive Device.
According to the FBI, his aliases are Adnan G. El Shukri Jumah, Abu Arif, Ja’far Al-Tayar, Jaffar Al-Tayyar, Jafar Tayar, Jaafar Al-Tayyar, and Hamad.
HONDURAS ON ALERT
Up to late April 2011, Honduran authorities were on the alert in an effort to track down two alleged members of the al-Qaeda international terrorist network after they received warnings from U.S. Embassy officials in the capital Tegucigalpa. One of these persons was el Shukrijumah, the article said.
“Shukrijumah was alleged to have entered Honduras illegally from Nicaragua or Panama but wasn’t heard of again. Saudi Arabia denies Shukrijumah is a Saudi citizen, though security agencies say he has travelled on Saudi, Canadian and Trinidadian passports,” the UPI article said. It added that analysts believe the gang wars and bitter infighting among Honduran politicians “could offer al-Qaida opportunities to secure a foothold in the area.”
According to UPI.com, Honduras became visible in news headlines as a possible sanctuary for al-Qaida activists “more than six years ago but then little was heard of the reported infiltration as anti-terrorist operations moved to the Middle East and North Africa and anti-narcotics operations took precedence in Central and South America.”
The UPI article said that in recent months al-Qaida reappeared in news reports and security agencies’ briefs “as suspects were reported active in several South American countries.”
