From the dusty Sahara to the jungles of Indonesia and in the cauldron of unrest that is US-occupied Iraq, a new generation of terrorists is emerging to take the place of elders who have been killed, captured or forced deep underground.
Young, violent and energized by a deep hatred for the US, its Western allies and Muslim governments seen as kowtowing to Washington's will, the new class has been writing a new history of terror in blood -- from Istanbul to Madrid to Yanbu, Saudi Arabia.
"These are the men that are the new, 21st-century terrorists," said Evan Kohlmann, a US-based terror expert. He said it is "very literally, a group of second-generation Osama bin Ladens."
ILLUSTRATION MOUNTAIN PEOPLE
At the fore of the next generation is 38-year-old Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a former commander for bin Laden who has links to terror groups from North Africa to the Caucuses. He has allegedly maintained ties to al-Qaeda and is believed to be leading resistance to the US occupation of Iraq.
The CIA says Zarqawi was the black-clad militant who pulled a long knife from his tunic and decapitated American Nicholas Berg in a gruesome video released by his killers in May.
He is also believed to have had a hand in the March 11 bombings in Madrid, Spain, countless strikes inside Iraq and a failed chemical attack in his native Jordan. US authorities are offering a US$10 million reward for his capture, setting him apart from the other new guard.
"Zarqawi's background in jihadi activities is as extensive, in many ways, as that of Osama bin Laden," said Richard Evans, the editor at Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Center in London. "He is a jihadi fixer, with access both to funds from Gulf Arab backers and a loose network of jihadi groups around the globe."
Zarqawi may be the villain of the day, but he is by no means alone among the new faces taking up senior positions in the world's most feared terror groups.
In Indonesia, Zulkarnaen, a former biology student who is one of the few militants from the region to have trained in Afghanistan, stepped in late last year as operations chief for the al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah, replacing Hambali after his August arrest. Zulkarnaen, whose real name is Aris Sumarson, is believed to be about 40.
Another top new Jemaah Islamiyah figure is 33-year-old Dulmatin, a Malaysian electronics expert nicknamed "Genius," who is believed to have designed the bomb used in the 2002 Bali attack that killed more than 200 people. Dulmatin was reportedly a used car salesman before turning to terrorism.
making connections
In Spain, a 36-year-old Moroccan named Amer Azizi is believed to have supervised the bombings in Madrid, acting as a link between al-Zarqawi and a cell of mostly Moroccan al-Qaeda members. Azizi is thought to be the leader of the al-Qaeda-affiliated Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group.
Azizi also was recently indicted in Spain for allegedly helping plan the Sept. 11 attacks in the US.
"It is Azizi, obviously. He is the one that makes the connections, not only with all the arrested people and other suspects, but with the external groups that could have helped mastermind these bombings," said Charles Brisard, a French private investigator who works for lawyers of Sept. 11 victims.
In Turkey, authorities say they are looking for a man in his thirties named Habib Akdas, who was little known before he allegedly orchestrated bombings in Istanbul last November that killed more than 60 people.
Akdas is believed to have met bin Laden in Afghanistan in 2001 and received military and explosives training there. Little else is known about him.
Some of the most virulent new guard aren't waiting for the capture or killing of their predecessors to move to the fore.
Last year, Nabil Sahraoui, an Algerian in his mid- to late-30s, with a reputation for ruthlessness, ousted the leader of the North African Salafist Group for Call and Combat and quickly pledged allegiance to bin Laden. The terror organization, which wants to create an Islamic state in Algeria, had dwindled to a force of only a few hundred men hiding in the Sahara, but has had a resurgence since Sahraoui took over, analysts say.
Another man experts say will likely be heard from again in the form of new acts of savagery is Abdulaziz Issa Abdul-Mohsin al-Moqrin, a 30-year-old dropout trained in Afghanistan who is believed involved in attacks in May and November of last year in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia that killed 51 people. He has not been linked to the May 1 attack in Yanbu that killed five Westerners and a Saudi, but he issued a statement praising the work of the killers.
"The Yanbu Cell that implemented the heroic successful operation this month is one of the best examples of what is required," al-Moqrin said.
Al-Moqrin, a Saudi, took command of al-Qaeda's Saudi cell when his predecessor was killed in a shootout in May of last year.
Men like bin Laden and his right-hand man, Egyptian surgeon Ayman al-Zawahri, all met in the CIA-funded Afghan war against the Soviet Union in the 1980s. Their focus on international terrorism moved into high gear following the first Persian Gulf War in 1990-91, and the US decision to permanently keep military bases in Saudi Arabia.
Largely ignored by the outside world, they found a home in the chaos of 1990s Afghanistan, which was destroyed by war and ultimately fell under the sway of a young, impoverished Islamic student movement known as the Taliban.
Today's terrorists have a new incubator: Iraq. The top US commander in the Persian Gulf area, General John Abizaid, acknowledged in March that foreign terrorists have "gotten themselves established" in Iraq. Officials believe Zarqawi is leading them, though some analysts warn there may be other figures in the background.
Mohammed Salah, an Egyptian journalist who has focused on al-Qaeda and other extremist groups, said men like Zarqawi and other terror "stars" are not the end of the story, and are probably not behind every attack they are blamed for.
"It is important to note that it could be in al-Qaeda's interest to propagate certain names while others work in the shadows," he said.
"Also, governments sometimes have the tendency to blame any attacks on the known fugitives because they need to blame someone," he said.
Hundreds of foreign fighters are believed to have flocked to Iraq. That is still far fewer than the 15,000 to 20,000 men believed to have passed through terror training camps in Afghanistan since 1996. The presence of more than 130,000 US soldiers in Iraq means extremist fighters can't settle in for extensive training, but there are nonetheless troubling signs that militants may be using the country as a terrorist testing ground.
On May 17, attackers rigged an artillery shell packed with the deadly nerve agent sarin for detonation. US officials said they are not sure if the assailants knew the 155-mm shell had chemicals in it, but the incident has raised fears that insurgents may have more -- and will learn how to use them to greater effect.
Washington has long warned that al-Qaeda might be trying to launch a chemical or biological attack -- in the US or elsewhere.
US officials say al-Zarqawi likely has been involved in three major terrorist-style bombings in Iraq since the war began last year: the Aug. 19 truck bombing of UN headquarters in Baghdad that killed 22 people; the Aug. 29 car bombing outside a mosque in Najaf that killed more than 85; and the Nov. 12 suicide truck bombing outside Italy's paramilitary police headquarters in Nasiriyah, in which more than 30 people died.
african angle
Iraq is by far the most troubling spot on the globe, but many analysts and intelligence officials point to Africa as another area of concern. Across that continent, terrorists have taken advantage of weak, ill-equipped governments and vast, ungoverned spaces.
While most African Muslims are moderates, poverty and discontent have combined to inspire a significant number of young men to join terrorist ranks.
Sahraoui's Algerian Salafist group was blamed for the kidnapping of 32 European tourists last year. Algerian commandos freed 14 of the captives, while Germany paid a ransom for the remaining 17, who had been taken to neighboring Mali. One hostage died of heat stroke.
The Algerian group also has connections with similar groups in Libya and Morocco, and many of the leaders trace their beginnings to Afghanistan.
Azizi, the leader of the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group who has connections to al-Zarqawi and the Madrid bombing, trained in Bosnia and Afghanistan and has also spent time in Iran.
In a rare interview with the French newspaper Le Figaro, the director of Moroccan National Security explained the connection between the North African groups and al-Qaeda.
"In 2002, the Moroccan jihadists asked bin Laden to give them financial help," General Hamidou Laanigiri said. "Zarqawi, who believed in them, pulled a few strings."
Two other men appear to be leading Moroccan operations -- Abdelkrim Mejjati and Saad Houssaini. Both men are wanted for last year's attacks in Casablanca and in the Madrid train bombings on March 11.
Mejjati, 36, attended the French school in Casablanca and comes from a privileged background, a contrast to most Islamic militants, but consistent with some of the most hard-core. US authorities have issued a warrant for his arrest in connection with terrorist threats.
In 1996, Houssaini visited suspected al-Qaeda member Salaheddin Benyaich in Valencia, Spain, according to Spanish authorities. Spain has indicted Benyaich and his brother for their alleged involvement in al-Qaeda.
Many of these groups have taken advantage of Europe's geographic proximity and political openness to plan, hide and recruit. Sahraoui's group has cells in Italy, Spain and France, where they tend to focus on recruitment, officials in those countries said.
Erminio Amelio, a top anti-terrorism prosecutor in Italy, said most of the cells in his country are connected to the Algerian group.
In East Africa, a Comorian named Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, 30, has been identified as the leader of that region's terror cell. Fazul was on the list of seven people that the US Justice Department said last Wednesday are wanted for questioning in the midst of a fresh terror scare. Authorities said they had received a stream of credible intelligence reports pointing to an attack of Sept. 11 proportions in the US this summer.
The slight, baby-faced computer expert's ethnic ambiguity and skill with languages allows him to pass as an Arab, East African or Somali. He has even impersonated a Jamaican.
A US District Court in New York has indicted Fazul for his alleged planning of the 1998 attacks on the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Kenyan police have also accused him of planning the 2002 bombing of a Kenyan hotel and an attempt to shoot down an Israeli airliner.
Despite a US$25 million bounty offered by the US government for his capture, Fazul was able to escape from police custody in July 2002 and carry out the hotel bombing that killed 15 people the following November.
Fazul's apparent No. 2 aide is a Kenyan named Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, who Kenyan police say built the bomb used at the hotel and fired the missile at the airliner. Kenyan and Western officials believe both Nabhan and Fazul fled to Somalia following the attacks, but were seen visiting Kenya last year.
In the Philippines, Khadaffy Janjalani, thought to be in his twenties, is apparently trying to bring the main faction of the al-Qaeda-linked extremist Abu Sayyaf group back to its religious moorings.
Janjalani is reviving the group under its little-used alternative name: Al Harakatul Al-Islamiyah -- the Islamic Movement. Recruits are trained by foreign and Filipino insurgents in guerrilla warfare and urban bombings, say ex-hostages, captured guerrillas and security officials.
With a 13-year history of kidnappings-for-ransom and beheadings, Abu Sayyaf appears to be trying to shed its image as a band of criminals and focus more on bold attacks facilitated by radical Islamic converts. More than two and one-half years after the Sept. 11 attacks, bin Laden and al-Zawahri are still out there, probably ensconced in one of the endless mountain folds along the forbidding Pakistan-Afghanistan frontier.
Followers say that by simply staying alive in the face of the largest manhunt in history, they are winning the battle with the US. Today's new guard doesn't have that luxury and they are far more exposed, experts say. Men like Zarqawi are on the front lines, and they are only important while they are successful in striking out.
The increased risk means the life expectancy of today's generation of terrorists will likely be short, and turnover at the top of terror networks will be great.
"But these guys don't care," said Evans, of Jane's.
"They consider themselves to be the first members of the new Islamic vanguard. There will be plenty more Zarqawis bubbling up to the surface over the coming months or years," he said.
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