Know Thy Enemy: Global Terrorist Groups

We teach a false theology of victory and no theology of failure. Lollipop spirituality will not produce valiant men and women to respond shrewdly and innocently with a cunning enemy.

-Anna Hampton

We didn't know until after 9/11 that where we were living, Peshawar, Pakistan was a major base of operations for the Taliban. I love the Pakistani bazaar in Peshawar, but had no idea how dangerous the foreign Taliban element was in that town.

We had very little situational awareness even though we lived there!

In chapter 1 of Facing Fear, I showed the growth of terrorism and jihadist groups overlaps and parallels ALMOST DIRECTLY the areas of most persecution and Unreached People Groups (UPG).

There is copycat terrorism, copycat jihadism, and also “gangerster jihadism” all over the world, and terrorists and extremists have grown adept at the use of social media and continue to gain power from splinter groups all over the world.

Gangster Jihadism refers to the most powerful groups wielding their power over less powerful groups in the name of Islam.

The definition of terrorism is not universally agreed upon. The United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime says this:

“Since at least 2005, a definition of "transnational terrorism" has existed within customary international law:

As we shall see, a number of treaties, UN resolutions, and the legislative and judicial practice of States evince the formation of a general opinio juris in the international community, accompanied by a practice consistent with such opinio, to the effect that a customary rule of international law regarding the international crime of terrorism, at least in time of peace, has indeed emerged. This customary rule requires the following three key elements: (i) the perpetration of a criminal act (such as murder, kidnapping, hostage-taking, arson, and so on), or threatening such an act; (ii) the intent to spread fear among the population (which would generally entail the creation of public danger) or directly or indirectly coerce a national or international authority to take some action, or to refrain from taking it; (iii) when the act involves a transnational element. ( Interlocutory Decision, 2011, para. 85).”

It is stewardship and moral and ethical duty of care for mission organizations to develop knowledge and situational awareness of the terror groups in the places where they are sending Gospel workers and prepare them accordingly.

Some questions to consider:

1. What security training do staff in a specific area need? (See the Global Risk Resources List). 

2. What kinds of terrorists events have already happened and when? 

3. What are the current threats? 

4. How credible are these threats? 

5. What is the motivation behind the threats? 

As far as leaders, here are some questions to work through: 

1. How may we give a cup of cold water to violent jihadist cells? 

2. How can we respond with Christ's sacrificial love? 

3. How do we understand and embrace the pain bearing leadership when we send folks to these violent areas? 

General Websites to Scan: 

Counter Extremism

Jihad Watch

Tracking Terrorism

Terror Trends Bulletin

Background of History of Al-Qaeda

List of Terror Groups (2022 -CIA)

List of Terror Groups (UN)

Religion of Peace

Crisis Group

Duty of Care when sending Gospel workers to any of the top 50 most hostile nations requires cultivating situational awareness of the actors operating in that region.

Organizations sending global workers to any of these countries where these groups are known to operate would be well-advised to track the broad country movements of terror groups, and keep a timeline of locations and dates of when terror attacks occurred. Also, keep track of new developments of new groups and names of terrorists operating.

Keep track of major dates of when terror occurred, but also holidays celebrating independence, etc.  Muslim terrorists are increasingly aware of both Western holidays but also Christian holy days. The Global Terrorism Index website is one good source for tracking terror events, but there are others.

(Both spelling and names are much more "loose" than the way we think in the West. It's always a good idea to try to find out what the locals call the nearby terror group.  There are also political reasons why people call a group by one name and not the other. So find out what the political reasoning is before using any name of a terror group, so that you are not inadvertently taking a side without knowing it.) 

Using Open Doors 2024 Top Ten Most Hostile Countries to Christianity, below is a list of terror groups:

NORTH KOREA

• More info at Global Conflict Tracker

SOMALIA

• Al Shabaab

• Islamic State in Somalia (ISS)

LIBYA

• Ansar al Sharia Libya (ASL) - Benghazi

• Ansar al Sharia Libya (ASL) - Dema

• Wilayat Barqa (Cyrenaica Province; Majlis shura Shabab al Islam

• Wilayat Fezzan (Fezzan Province)

• Wilayat Tarabulus (Tripoli Province)

ERITREA

YEMEN

NIGERIA

• Boko Haram

• Islamic State West Africa (Wilayat Gharb Afriqiyah)

PAKISTAN

SUDAN

IRAN

AFGHANISTAN

1. See this 2022 report on terror groups:

   • Al Qaeda Core

   • Haqqani Network

   • Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP)

   • Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS)

   • Islamic State – Khorasan Province (ISKP)

   • Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU)

   • Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM)

   More Terror Groups:

SOUTHEAST ASIA (SEA) -Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar and West Malaysia. Maritime Southeast Asia, also known historically as Nusantara, the East Indies and Malay Archipelago, comprises the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India, Indonesia, East Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, East Timor, Brunei, Christmas Island, and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands.

See The 2021 Soufan Report that describes the trends of family suicide bombers.

Indonesian Archipelago (Nusantara)
Five new Islamic extremist organisations are active in the Malaysian states of Perak and Selangor and are only referred to by their acronyms:

• BKAWBAJDIMziaADI - a group of 30 splinter groups, although only Tracking Terrorism has any reference on the web. Very little info available.

• Katibah Nusantara

• Darul Islam Sabah. 

The listed groups share a similar objective, namely the establishment of an Islamic Caliphate in an area that covers Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, southern Thailand as well as southern Philippines. The Caliphate will be called Daulah Islamiah Nusantara. The groups function independently of each other, but subscribe to a similar Salafi jihadist ideology to that of al Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS – previously known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham – ISIS). The groups also reject the democratic system applied by Malaysia.Centre of OperationsThe groups are primarily active in the Malaysian states of Perak and Selangor.

INDONESIA - Updated description of groups at Counter Terrorism

• Gaos Taurfik - See this book: Why Terrorists Quit: The Disengagement of Indonesian Jihadists, by Julie Chernov Hwang

• Kamil Al Nafi

• Ali AT

• Riang Banten

• Angkatan Mujahidin Daral Islam

• Anglutan Mujahidin Islam Nusatara

• Liga Muslim Indonesia

• Abdul Fatah Wiranagapati

• Haji Ismail Pronoto 

• Ajengan Masduki 

• Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia (MIT)

• Abu Toto or Panji Gumilang

• Tahmid Rahmad Shafi 

PHILIPPINES - Read a paper analyzing Filipino terror groups

• Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) 

• The Jemaah Islamiyah (JI). 

• The New People’s Army (NPA)

AFRICA - AfricaCenter.org

-see the Top 10 list above for Nigeria, Sudan, Libya

ALGERIA

• Al Qaeda in the Islamic Meghreb (AQIM)

MALI & BURKINO FASO

• Ansaroul Islam

• Jama'at Nusrat al Islam wal Muslimin

• The Sahara Emirate branch of AQIM

• al Mourabitoun

• Ansar Dine

• Macina Liberation Front (FLM)

• Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO)

• Islamic State in the Greater Sahara

MOROCCO

• The Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group, known by the French acronym GICM (Groupe Islamique Combattant Marocain), is a Salafi jihadist terrorist organisation affiliated with Al-Qaeda. The GICM is one of several North African terrorist franchises spawned in Afghanistan during the tenure of the Taliban. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moroccan_Islamic_Combatant_Group)

TUNISIA

• Okbh ibn Nafaa Brigade

• Shabab al Tawhid (Ansar al Sharia Tunisia - AST)

• Soldiers of the Caliphate (Jund al Khilafah)

EGYPT

• Ansar Beit al Maqdis (ABM); Wilayat Sinai

KENYA

• Al Hijra (Muslim Youth Center)

• Al Muhajiroun (Emigrants of East Africa)

• Jahba East Africa

CENTRAL ASIA (2016 info)

• The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU)

• Islamic Jihad Union - (IJU or UIJ - Union of Islamic Jihad) split from IMU and joined forces with Taliban in 2001

• Islamic movement of Uzbekistan’ operates in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan;

• Hizb of Ut-Tahrir al-Islami’ (‘Party of Islamic Release’) operates in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan;

• Muslim Brotherhood’ (JAMA' AT/HARAKAT IKHWAN al - MUSLIMEEN) – groups of this organization represent a network of the autonomous cells operating under various names. The following presents interests according to the CAR: ‘Society of social reforms’ (OCP - JAMIAT AL - ISLAH AL - IJTIMAI) has offices in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan; ‘The committee of an Islamic appeal’ (-DAWAA AL - ISLAMIYA) works with LAJNAT AL under the auspices of OCP; ‘DaavaIslamiyya’ is a radical wing of OCP.

• The committee of Muslims of Asia’ functions with ‘Labban Faundeyshn's’ support;

• The center of Islamic development’ operates in Osh, Kyrgyzstan;

• Akromids’ is the religious Islamic trend of Uzbekistan operating in Fergana Valley;

• Adolatyushmasi’ (‘Adolat Association’) is the religious and extremist organization operating in Namangan, Uzbekistan;

• Islom lashkarlari’ (‘Soldiers of Islam’) operates in Uzbekistan;

• Towba ("Repentance") has supporters and activists in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan;

• Movement of East Turkestan’ operates in Xinjiang, China; It has committed a number of acts of terrorism in the CAR states;  

• The national revolutionary front of East Turkestan’ is the extremist organization pursuing the aim of creation of Uyghur state in the territory of Central Asia states;

• Organization of liberation of Turkmenistan

• East Turkestani Islamic party

The main aim of these organizations is in the promotion of ideas of separatism and radical fundamentalism. The connection of terrorist activity of many organizations with the international drug industry makes a significant importance.

• The Islamic Party of Turkestan (IPT) which was known earlier as the Islamic Movement of East Turkestan (IMET);

• Dzhund al Caliphate (Soldiers of the caliphate);

• HizbUt-Tahrir (Liberation party).

CHECHNYA

• Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (CRI) is the self-proclaimed state and ultimate authority over all Chechen rebels. CRI State Defence Council, CRI Armed Forces (CRI AF), and Shariah Court of CRI are governmental bodies. CRI armed Forces are further divided by regions. However, this official structure has no complete control over all Chechen rebel groups or terrorist groups, although those groups recognize or respect the authority of CRI. These subgroups operate independently under the command of its leader, and free of the structure of CRI.VideoVideo: 2010 Amir of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, Khusayn Gakaev, with his rebellion group.

PAKISTAN

• For a very long listing, go here.