Al-Qaeda 'intensifying efforts to establish new base in Libya'

Πηγή: The Telegraph
By Con Coughlin
Dec 3 2012

The leaders of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the North African offshoot of the mainstream organisation, are making a concerted effort to link up with Ansar al-Sharia.

The CIA believes Ansar al-Sharia was behind the September 11 attack on the US consulate in which four people died, including US Ambassador Christopher Stevens.

AQIM leaders are also attempting to establish ties with other Libyan Islamist groups in the hope of establishing an al-Qaeda fiefdom there similar to the one it has created in nearby Mali.

Intelligence officials say that leaders of the AQIM movement have been travelling regularly to the desert town of Ghat in south-western Libya, close to the border with Niger.

Their aim is to establish a foothold in Libya from which to launch attacks against Western targets, as well as gaining access to the large stockpiles of weapons – including Russian-made anti-aircraft missiles – that were looted by Libyan rebels during the fall of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's regime at the end of last year.

"Al-Qaeda regards post-Gaddafi Libya as a wonderful opportunity to expand its terrorist franchise," said a senior intelligence official. "The organisation will become a lot more powerful if it can form an alliance with Libyan Islamist groups."

There is particular concern that al-Qaeda could use anti-aircraft missiles such as the Russian-made SA-24 and SA-7 to shoot down civilian aircraft and attack shipping in the Mediterranean.

Reports that al-Qaeda is attempting to establish a new base in Libya follows recent claims that the organisation's network in East Africa is regrouping and rearming in northern Somalia following its recent expulsion from the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

There are around 1,700 armed groups currently operating in Libya, and many of them profess strong Islamist credentials.

The Libyan authorities recently launched an operation to remove Islamist groups from the eastern city of Benghazi in the wake of the attack on the US consulate, but intelligence officials fear Islamist terrorist groups have simply moved the operations to other ungoverned areas of the country.

Apart from Ansar al-Sharia, AQIM is trying to forge alliances with Libyan Islamist groups such as the Abu Salim Martyr's Brigade, named after the notorious Abu Salim prison where many Islamist militants died during Gaddafi's dictatorship.

The organisation, which was formed by a group of former prison inmates, has recently taken control of the Libyan town of Darna, about 150 miles to the east of Benghazi, and is actively seeking to link up with other Islamist groups in the Arab world, particularly in Syria.

Intelligence officials say that large numbers of Libyan fighters, some of whom previously fought against coalition forces in Iraq following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, have made their way to Syria to support opposition efforts to overthrow the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

Intelligence officials say the only obstacle to AQIM's successful link-up with Libyan Islamist groups concerns allegations of corruption that have been made against Abdulhamid Abou-Zeid, the Algerian-born leader of an AQIM terror cell, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in absentia by an Algerian court earlier this year for his role in creating AQIM.

While Abu Zeid denies the allegations, other members of the AQIM leadership have accused him of embezzling funds, and are urging him to relocate to central Africa so that they can concentrate on extending their influence in Libya.