Islamic Jihad Union - al-Qaida´s key to the Turkic world

The Turkic peoples have assumed a relatively marginal role in global jihadism. The group Islamic Jihad Union (IJU) appears to have changed this. It broke off from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan in 2002, after the fall of the Taliban. The leadership and core fighters appear to be Uzbek, and the group’s ideology draws on traits from both sociorevolutionary Islamism and global jihadism. The group refers to Uzbekistan and Germany as enemies, but there is little evidence of following up the words with deeds. The bulk of IJU attacks have been against American, British and Afghan National Army soldiers in Afghanistan. One of the IJU’s most important communication outlets is a Turkish-language website called Şehadet Zamanı. It is uncertain whether the choice of language is deliberate or not, but it is likely to draw fame from the Turk and Kurd populations living in Turkey and Germany, as well as Turkic speakers in Central Asia. In September 2007 a terrorist cell associated with the IJU was arrested in Germany. The cell had planned to build three sizeable hydro peroxide bombs and attack the Uzbek and American consulates in Germany, along with the U.S. Ramstein Airbase. The group was led by a German convert and consisted mainly of Turks and German converts. Among the cell members were people who had spent time in Mir Ali in Waziristan, where the IJU is based. Persons with connections to the cell have also turned up in IJU propaganda videos, apparently receiving training from, and operating in, both Afghanistan and Pakistan. In March 2008, Germany got its first suicide bomber; the Bavarian Turk, Cüneyt Çiftçi, blew himself up when striking an American base in Afghanistan. The German convert Eric Breininger has also started featuring in IJU’s propaganda, where he has threatened Germany with terrorist attacks. The IJU appears closely connected to two groups in Mir Ali, where they have their base. They appear to cooperate closely with a group of Arab fighters which was led, until his death, by the alQaida-affiliated Abu Laith al-Libi. There has been speculation that he was the driving force behind the the IJU’s efforts to take the fight to the West. The other main IJU ally is the Taliban commander Jalaluddin Haqqani, and his son Sirajuddin. They want a more Afghanistan-centred fight, and prefer the jihadists to focus their efforts in Afghanistan. After Abu Laith’s death there have been few signs of global ambitions, but if someone with similar ambitions is capable of taking his place, the IJU is poised to create more cells in Germany. Such a development may also give al-Qaida a foothold among radicals of the Turkic peoples.