Boko Haram leaders were among participants in an extensive
“conference call” organised by Al Qaeda to plan massive terrorist
attacks.
This fact was reported on August 7, 2013, when more details of the interception by the U.S. intelligence became available.
The data obtained from the ‘conference’ triggered the closure of 20
American embassies, including four from sub-Saharan Africa countries,
namely, Rwanda, Burundi, Mauritius, and Madagascar.
Officials, according to initial media reports, said the decision was
taken after communications between al Qaeda leader, Egyptian-born, Ayman
Zawahiri, and the group’s leader in Yemen, Nasser al-Wuhayshi, were
intercepted last week. From other sources it has been gathered that the
discussion between the two al Qaeda leaders was in a conference call
that included the leaders or representatives of al Qaeda and its
affiliates, who called through a presumably secure network, from
different locations.
Three anonymous American operatives reported of more than 20 al Qaeda operatives were on the call.
“Al Qaeda members included representatives or leaders from Nigeria’s
Boko Haram, the Pakistani Taliban, al Qaeda in Iraq, al Qaeda in the
Islamic Maghreb, and more obscure al Qaeda affiliates such as the
Uzbekistan branch,” the report said. “Also on the call were
representatives of aspiring al Qaeda affiliates such as al Qaeda in the
Sinai Peninsula, according to a U.S. intelligence official.” “This was
like a meeting of the Legion of Doom,” another intelligence officer
concluded.
The report, widely sourced by other U.S. media on Wednesday,
reflected the global reaches of Boko Haram as the Nigerian government
struggles back home to contain the deadly group that has massacred
thousands of civilians.
Again, while Boko Haram appears on the U.S. list, the notorious
Somali terror group, Al Shabaab, which operates on the horn of Africa,
was not mentioned, potentially, a measure of Boko Haram’s strategic
importance in the global terror network.
Also during the meeting, the various al Qaeda leaders discussed in
vague terms plans for a pending attack and mentioned that a team or
teams were already in place for such an attack. For some leading members
of Congress, the revelation that al Qaeda’s leadership in Pakistan is
actively managing and directing the operations of several affiliates
directly refutes the Obama administration’s repeated assertion that the
leadership of the core of the group has been decimated by American drone
strikes and special operations forces while the affiliate groups have
been strengthened.
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