Even as the Pakistani-American jihadist David Headley resumes his testimony before a jury in Chicago on Tuesday, the commander he worked for has emerged as the central figure in a war that threatens to tear Pakistan apart.
Last week, Hillary Clinton, the United States Secretary of State, was in Islamabad to demand action against five top al-Qaeda figures — among them, Muhammad Ilyas Kashmiri, the jihadist leader Headley turned to for backing after the Lashkar-e-Taiba withdrew support for his plan to stage an attack in Denmark.
Brigade 313, the group Kashmiri commands, has trained ever-growing numbers of cadre for strikes against the West — but is also thought to have carried out the recent strike on a Pakistani naval base in Karachi, as well as string of other strikes in the country.
Pakistani media have reported that the country's military is considering strikes against his bases in troubled North Waziristan — a prospect it has long resisted, fearing an escalation of attacks.
The country's intelligence services are said to be increasingly concerned by extensive networks within Pakistan's armed forces which are sympathetic to Brigade 313 — a claim that gains credence from the fact that Abdur Rahman Hashim, who liaised between Headley and the Brigade 313 commander was a former military officer.
Back in November 2008, when a 10-member Lashkar assault squad attacked Mumbai, guided by footage gathered by Headley during months of covert surveillance operations for the organisation, Kashmiri was little known outside the Pakistani jihadist movement.
In the time since, Kashmiri's Brigade 313 — an al-Qaeda affiliated unit that draws its name from the numbers of soldiers who fought alongside the Prophet Muhammad to defeat the numerically-superior armies of pagan Mecca — has emerged as the vanguard of the global jihadist movement.
Last summer, Kashmiri was at the centre of a Europe-wide terror alert after intelligence services warned that he was training several western operatives for Mumbai-style attacks on the region's capitals. The intelligence was based on testimony from Ahmad Siddiqi, a German national arrested by United States forces in Afghanistan.
German nationals Shabab Dasti and E Bünyamnin, along with their French counterpart Naamen Meziche — all recruited from an Islamist-controlled Hamburg mosque once used by the 9/11 hijackers — were killed in a September 2010 drone strike on a facility run by Kashmiri.
British national Ahmad Jabbar, another of those reported to have been in training for the attacks, was also killed in a strike on a similar training camp —much like those which Headley trained at.
Last week, Hillary Clinton, the United States Secretary of State, was in Islamabad to demand action against five top al-Qaeda figures — among them, Muhammad Ilyas Kashmiri, the jihadist leader Headley turned to for backing after the Lashkar-e-Taiba withdrew support for his plan to stage an attack in Denmark.
Brigade 313, the group Kashmiri commands, has trained ever-growing numbers of cadre for strikes against the West — but is also thought to have carried out the recent strike on a Pakistani naval base in Karachi, as well as string of other strikes in the country.
Pakistani media have reported that the country's military is considering strikes against his bases in troubled North Waziristan — a prospect it has long resisted, fearing an escalation of attacks.
The country's intelligence services are said to be increasingly concerned by extensive networks within Pakistan's armed forces which are sympathetic to Brigade 313 — a claim that gains credence from the fact that Abdur Rahman Hashim, who liaised between Headley and the Brigade 313 commander was a former military officer.
Back in November 2008, when a 10-member Lashkar assault squad attacked Mumbai, guided by footage gathered by Headley during months of covert surveillance operations for the organisation, Kashmiri was little known outside the Pakistani jihadist movement.
In the time since, Kashmiri's Brigade 313 — an al-Qaeda affiliated unit that draws its name from the numbers of soldiers who fought alongside the Prophet Muhammad to defeat the numerically-superior armies of pagan Mecca — has emerged as the vanguard of the global jihadist movement.
Last summer, Kashmiri was at the centre of a Europe-wide terror alert after intelligence services warned that he was training several western operatives for Mumbai-style attacks on the region's capitals. The intelligence was based on testimony from Ahmad Siddiqi, a German national arrested by United States forces in Afghanistan.
German nationals Shabab Dasti and E Bünyamnin, along with their French counterpart Naamen Meziche — all recruited from an Islamist-controlled Hamburg mosque once used by the 9/11 hijackers — were killed in a September 2010 drone strike on a facility run by Kashmiri.
British national Ahmad Jabbar, another of those reported to have been in training for the attacks, was also killed in a strike on a similar training camp —much like those which Headley trained at.
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