Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades

Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades is a group which claims to be associated with the Islamic fundamentalist organisation al-Qaida.

The group is named after ex-policeman Mohammed Atif (Atef), aka Abu Hafs, of Egypt, who was a member of Ayman al-Zawahiri's al-Jihad al-Islami (Islamic Jihad). Al-Masri means "the Egyptian" in Arabic. Abu Hafs was said to have helped plan the shooting of dozens of Western tourists at Deir el-Bahri, Luxor, in Egypt, in 1997. He became a relative by marriage to Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaida leader, but was killed by U.S. airstrikes in Afghanistan in late 2001. It appears that he has been adopted by some person or persons as a "martyr" to the fundamentalist cause.

The London-based Arabic language newspaper Al-Quds al-Arabi has received letters from this group, in which it has claimed responsibility for:

• the blackout of August 14, 2003 in the northeastern United States and Canada;
• the attack on the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad on August 19, 2003;
• the bombing of two synagogues in Turkey on November 15, 2003 and the British consulate and HSBC bank in Istanbul on November 20;
• an hotel bombing in Jakarta, Indonesia in 2003;
• the 11 March 2004 Madrid attacks;
• a letter published July 2, 2004 endorsing the three months Al Qaeda ultimatum against Europe of April 14, 2004

At least some of these claims are regarded as being false. The August 2003 power failure in the US, which the group called Operation Quick Lightning in the Land of the Tyrant of This Generation has been shown to be caused by a large-scale technical failure rather than terrorist actions. Turkey claims that the Turkish Hizbullah was responsible for the Istanbul bombings while the UN headquarters in Baghdad was blamed on Baathists. The Jakarta bombing was carried out by Jemaah Islamiya, an Indonesian group, according to Indonesian and US officials.

The group's involvement with the March 11, 2004 attacks is also uncertain; Spain originally pointed the finger for the train bombings at the domestic terrorist group ETA, although it later transpired that Islamist militants were behind it.

According to the group's letter to Al-Quds, it calls the attacks "The Trains of Death Operation". It also claims that it has completed 90% of the preparation for a new attack on the US, which it calls Winds of Black Death. The name is speculated to come from Iraq's use of poison gas on Kurds – which Physicians for Human Rights has named the "Winds of Death" – and the black skin lesions on anthrax victims.

Some are skeptical if this group actually exists. The only hard evidence is through communiques, usually sent via the Internet, to the Al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper in the UK. Another previously unknown group calling itself the Lions of Al-Mufridun also has decided to claim credit for the Madrid attack, perhaps attempting to copy Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades.

All that can be said with any certainty at this stage is that someone is attempting to associate these attacks with al-Qaida. It should be noted that this is not necessarily inconsistent with al-Qaida's methods, as it is not so much a single organisation as a federation of allied Islamic terrorist groups operating under a common umbrella.

External links

• Abu Hafs Website Threatening Europe (http://www.hostinganime.com/abu-hafs)
• Abu Hafs Website (http://www.hostinganime.com/abuhafs)
• Al Qaeda, Anthrax and Ayman (http://www.anthraxandalqaeda.com/,)
• Juan Cole, professor at University of Michigan (http://www.juancole.com/2004_03_01_juancole_archive.html#107907667272416588,)
• guardian.co.uk (http://www.guardian.co.uk/alqaida/story/0,12469,1087672,00.html)
• smh.com.au (http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/11/17/1069027049283.html?from=storyrhs)
• USA Today – AHAMB claims responsibility for Istanbul bombings (http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2003-11-18-alqaeda-claims_x.htm,)
• Al Qaeda Claims Responsibility For Power Blackout in U.S.  (http://english.daralhayat.com/arab_news/08-2003/Article-20030818-14bdd659-c0a8-01ed-0079-6e1c903b7552/story.html,)
• Al Qaeda Claims Responsibility for the Easter Bunny (http://www.jeannepasero.com/easter6.html,)