This morning’s key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com
- Fears grow of a next-generation ‘underwear bomber’
- AQAP may be planning attack for Wednesday
- Pakistan accused over terrorist attack on Indian Consulate in Afghanistan
Fears grow of a next-generation ‘underwear bomber’
Underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab serving life sentence
With a number of American embassies closed because of feared al-Qaedaattacks, there are unconfirmed reports that the feared attack coulduse the next generation of the underwear bomb that was used in thefailed Christmas day bombing in 2009. This and other technologies arethought to be developed by Ibrahim al-Asiri, a senior terrorist inAl-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the original developer ofthe underwear bomb. One technology is a new liquid explosive thatabsorbed into ordinary clothing that becomes explosive once the liquiddries. Another is a surgically implanted body bomb. It’s not thoughtthat current Transportation Security Administration (TSA) measures candetect either of these kinds of bombs, though a TSA official says, “Asalways, our security posture, which at all times includes a number ofmeasures both seen and unseen, will continue to respond appropriatelyto protect the American people from an ever evolving threat picture.”ABC News
AQAP may be planning attack for Wednesday
There are several reasons why Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)may be planning a spectacular attack on Wednesday, August 7:
- The last day of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, a period that has historically seen an increase in terrorist attacks, is expected to be August 7.
- August 7 marks the 15-year anniversary of the East Africa embassy bombings in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The simultaneous attacks raised al Qaeda’s profile to the international level.
- It also marks the 23-year anniversary of the launch of Operation Desert Shield. Osama bin Laden, who had returned to Saudi Arabia, repeatedly and publicly denounced Saudi Arabia’s dependence on the United States military for protection, which led to his exile in 1992. Bin Laden would issue a fatwa in 1996 calling for American troops to leave Saudi Arabia.
Pakistan accused over terrorist attack on Indian Consulate in Afghanistan
On Saturday, a suicide bomber attack in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, blueup a marketplace, killed 8 children, killing and wounding dozens ofother Afghans. However, this was actually a foiled terrorist attackon the Indian Consulate in Jalalabad. According to an Indiananalysis, a range of Indian interests in Afghanistan are beingsystematically targeted by Pakistan-based terror groups, suchLashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and the Haqqani Network, and Pakistan’sInter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is directly involved. Afghanofficials are openly blaming Pakistan for attacks on Indian targets.Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmai Rassoul stated:
“[Those responsible for the Jalalabad assault] andtheir financial, ideological and logistical sponsors must realizethat they cannot shake the close and strong bond of friendship andpartnership between Afghanistan and India through terrorism.Afghanistan will leave no stone unturned to ensure the safety ofIndian diplomatic personnel and the Afghan Government isdetermined to counter the efforts of those inimical to India’sfriendship with Afghanistan.”
India is strengthening its age-old relations with Afghanistan, whichis significantly shaking the Pakistan government, where the hope wasthat Afghanistan could be annexed as a vassal state after the 2014U.S. withdrawal. From the point of view of Generational Dynamics, asI’ve written many times over the past several years, Afghanistan isheaded for a proxy war between India and Pakistan as part of a majorre-fighting of the genocidal war between Sunni Muslims versus Hindusand Shia Muslims that followed Partition, the 1947 partitioning of theIndian subcontinent into Pakistan and India. South Asia Terrorism Portal
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