BjÞrn StÊrk is following the fortunes of Mullah Krekar, the Norwegian Kurd who's head of Ansar al-Islam. A certain Mullah Krekar, who in the 90's led a state funded Islamic congregation in Oslo with 350 members, is now reportedly in Kurdish Iraq, fighting for the good cause with his followers in Ansar al-Islam and his friends in al-Qaeda. As reported in Aftenposten:Ansar is not just the product of infighting among local Kurdish Islamist groups. The ideological and material influence of al-Qaida has been there since its inception. Its leader is the elusive figure of Mullah Krekar, a charismatic 46-year-old Kurd whose links with Afghanistan, like many of his followers, date back to the jihad against the Soviet invasion. In Pakistan in the 1980s, Krekar studied Islamic jurisprudence under the Palestinian ideologue Abdullah Azzam, the founder of al-Qaida and mentor of Osama bin Laden. And then Norwegian teevee managed to get an interview with him. (He doesn't... ummm... y'know... uh... look Norwegian, does he?) |