From an experienced electrical
engineer at a British company to a Turkish Nato officer and a Norwegian
helicopter pilot, leaked “CVs” of some of Isil’s most elite fighters reveal
just how experienced the group’s foreign command are.
The files contain the names of 368 Islamic State fighters enrolled at a training
camp for senior leaders near Raqqa in Syria.
The documents entitled “Camp
Database” and dated June 2014 - around the time Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared
the “caliphate” in Syria and Iraq - reveal an extraordinarily organised group
from the moment of its inception.
They show how rather than being a
ragtag army like many of its rival opposition groups, Isil had a large
number of educated, highly skilled and militarily competent jihadists, which
they trained together in an attempt to combine their expertise.
A 62-year-old British jihadist using
the assumed name Abu Ismail al-Indonesi said he worked as an electronic
engineer in a “leading” British company where one of his tasks was monitoring
communications.
According to the files, which were leaked along with thousands of others to the
Syrian opposition newspaper Zaman al-Wasl, dissatisfied with his
life in the UK he left to join Isil in early 2014.
Also selected for training at the
camp was Abu Musa al-Kanadi, a Canadian, who had been working as a chemical
engineer in the city of Toronto. Another who had been living in Canada said he
had a degree in electro-mechanical engineering and had trained as an airplane
mechanic for 11 months.
A Norwegian calling himself Abu Amir
al-Russi wrote that he was a competent helicopter pilot, and under language
skills put English, Russian, Norwegian and “some Arabic”.
Abu Huthaf al-Azari served in the
Saudi army for 10 years, while Chechen fighter Saleemeh al-Chechani gained
military experience in Russia’s naval artillery force, where he served for two
years.
One of the most alarming is a
Turkish jihadist using only the name Abu Bakr who had gained his fighting
experience by “serving in the ranks of Nato as an officer for 18 months”.
More than 30 per cent of the
jihadists listed in the documents had military knowledge which most of them
gained by serving in their countries’ armies, including Russia, Turkey, China,
Algeria and Saudi Arabia.
Some showed off their sporting
prowess, including the German who said he was a professional kickboxer and a
fighter from the Tatarstan republic in Russia who said he holds the title of
karate champion.
It is estimated that nearly 30,000
foreigners have travelled to the region since fighting broke out in Syria in
2011 - more than the total who travelled to Afghanistan during its 10-year war.
While the most senior positions
within Isil are usually held Syrians and Iraqis, trusted foreign fighters with
expertise move up the ranks.
For example, British jihadist
Mohammed Emwazi or “Jihadi John”, who studied computer programming at
Westminster University, became the group’s posterboy and appeared in may of
their propaganda videos.
The files reveal that roughly a
third finished sixth form and a quarter had a university education - a level of
education higher than the average for many of the countries the men came from.
Brian Dodwell, deputy director of
the Combating Terrorism Centre at West Point, said: “Those who listed their educations
had Ph.D.s, master's degrees, MBAs.
"They are perhaps more educated
than we would expect and come from all walks of life.
Sources: The Telegraph
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