The Chechen Angle

There are indications that Arab nationals of Chechen origin belonging to the Al Qaeda were probablyresponsible for the four explosions in Iraq recently -- three in Baghdad and one at Najaf. The explosions inBaghdad were directed at the Jordanian Embassy,  a building housing the offices of the United Nations andits allied organisations and the police headquarters.

The explosion  at Najaf, the deadliest of the four, outside the Imam Ali shrine killed about 120 Shiaworshippers coming out of the shrine, including Ayatollah Mohammad Baqr Al Hakim, who returned to Iraq afterit was occupied by the troops of the US and the UK from his over 20-year exile in Iran. He was viewed by thefollowers of the deposed President Saddam Hussein and the Al Qaeda as an American surrogate.

According to sources in Pakistan, which are well-informed on the activities of the Osama bin Laden-ledInternational Islamic Front (IIF), about 50 Arab nationals of Chechen origin, who are members of the Al Qaedaor closely associated with it, have infiltrated into Iraq from the Waziristan area of Pakistan, Saudi Arabiaand Jordan. They were responsible not only for the attacks on American soldiers in many incidents, but alsofor the four explosions. They reportedly got the explosives and other materials for the explosions from theordnance stocks of the disbanded Army of Saddam Hussein.  It is said that the explosions, using vehicles,closely resembled those which had taken place in Chechnya in the past.

Elements close to the IIF in Pakistan have been saying that the US is in its most vulnerable position inIraq and that if the jihadis missed this opportunity to humiliate it, they would not get another like this forsome time. They also say that by teaching the US a lesson in Iraq, which it will not forget, they couldprotect other Islamic countries from similar intervention by the US in future and weaken its credibility as asuper power.

They have been recalling the Beirut car bomb attack against the US Marines in the early 1980s, whichresulted in the death of over 200 Marines following which Ronald Reagan, the then US President, ordered a withdrawal of the US troops from the Lebanon. It is reported  that they are planning a similar massiveexplosion against the US troops in Iraq, designed to cause a large number of casualties,  possiblycoinciding with the second anniversary of 9/11.

Many Chechens, whose ancestors had left the Caucasus during the 1817-1864 Caucasian war, now live inJordan, Saudi Arabia, the Lebanon, Turkey, Syria, Egypt and the Persian-Gulf countries and have acquired thelocal nationality.  A large number  of them  had joined the 6,000 plus jihadi mercenary forceraised by the CIA through   Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in the 1980s for fightingagainst the Soviet troops and had fought in Afghanistan under Osama bin Laden.  They maintained theirlinks with bin Laden after the withdrawal of the Soviet troops from Afghanistan in 1988.

Some of them were taken by bin Laden into his Al Qaeda and IIF and they used to work as instructors in thetraining camps in Afghan territory. They were also used by the ISI for  training the Taliban militiaafter 1994 and for assisting the Taliban in its fight against the Northern Alliance.  Many others weresent to Chechnya by bin Laden after 1994 to assist the indigenous Chechen groups in their jihad against Moscow for an Islamic Caliphate. 

B. Raman is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, and, presently, Director,Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and, Convenor, Advisory Committee, Observer Research Foundation (ORF),Chennai Chapter.