Zawahiri... Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as
the real brains of the outfit.Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area assuming he's not dead like Mullah Omar. He lost major face when he ordered the nascent Islamic State to cease and desist and merge with the orthodx al-Qaeda spring, al-Nusra...
on July 2, 2016.
In his address, Zawahiri urged Uyghur Islamists to "have patience" in dealing with "atheist Chinese invaders" in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in northwest China, and "strengthen the fire of jihad" against the Beijing authorities in "Dar al-Kufr" (land of disbelief, a term for lands where Islamic law is not applied). Dar al-Kufr for Uyghur Islamists means not only the Chinese state and the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, but also its neighboring Central Asian states, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.
There are about 10 million Uyghurs in Xinjiang, 250,000 in Kazakhstan, and more than 50,000 in Kyrgyzstan. Chinese authorities have carried out a deliberate policy of Uyghur assimilation primarily through mass migration of ethnic Han Chinese to Xinjiang. Uyghur nationalists oppose the demographic, ethnic and religious policies of the Chinese government. Periodically jihadists of the Turkestan Islamic Party organize terrorist attacks in the region.
On August 30, 2016 a suicide kaboom was carried out at the Chinese Embassy in Bishkek. The bomber rammed the gates of the embassy with a car, then detonated a bomb. The attack injured several members of the embassy staff and caused extensive damage to the embassy building and grounds. On September 7, 2016 the State Committee of National Security of Kyrgyzstan reported that some of the organizers of the attack were tossed into the calaboose while others were declared wanted.
According to intelligence agencies, members of Jabhat al-Nusra
...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli al-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ...
financed the attack on the Chinese Embassy in Bishkek through a local cell leader in Kyrgyzstan. The attacker, who carried a passport with the name Zoir Khalilov, was a 32-year-old ethnic Uyghur who was a member of the Turkestan Islamic Party.
Two weeks before the kaboom in Bishkek, The Diplomat published an article in which I discussed the revitalization of TIP’s propaganda schemes and terrorist activities. The Bishkek attack underscores these efforts. China and the governments of Central Asia should note that the TIP has become one of the key players in global Islamic jihad and can organize a terrorist act outside of China. In other words, the law enforcement agencies of Central Asia must keep their eyes open.
Kyrgyz authorities failed to prevent the attack, indicating a low level of intelligence work and lack of training. Instead of fighting the external enemy, jihadists in Central Asia and the Middle East, the Kyrgyz state is engaged in the persecution and repression of domestic political opposition. In May 2016 security forces tossed in the calaboose
Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up!
leaders of the National Opposition Movement of Kyrgyzstan Bektur Asanov and Kubanych Kadyrov, as well as opposition People’s Parliament leaders Bekbolot Talgarbekova, Marat Sultanov, and Torobay Kolubayev, accusing them of attempting a coup d’etat. The arrested opposition politicians had harshly criticized the government and demanded the resignation of President Almazbek Atambayev. The trial of the opposition leaders were held behind closed doors and they are all now kept in detention centers without being given proper legal protection.