Islamic State kills dozens of its own in hunt for spies

[webfact]

Islamic State kills dozens of its own in hunt for spies
By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA and BASSEM MROUE

BAGHDAD (AP) — In March, a senior commander with the Islamic State group was driving through northern Syria on orders to lead militants in the fighting there when a drone blasted his vehicle to oblivion.

The killing of Abu Hayjaa al-Tunsi, a Tunisian jihadi, sparked a panicked hunt within the group's ranks for spies who could have tipped off the U.S-led coalition about his closely guarded movements. By the time it was over, the group would kill 38 of its own members on suspicion of acting as informants.

They were among dozens of IS members killed by their own leadership in recent months in a vicious purge after a string of airstrikes killed prominent figures. Others have disappeared into prisons and still more have fled, fearing they could be next as the jihadi group turns on itself in the hunt for moles, according to Syrian opposition activists, Kurdish militia commanders, several Iraqi intelligence officials and an informant for the Iraqi government who worked within IS ranks.

The fear of informants has fueled paranoia among the militants' ranks. A mobile phone or internet connection can raise suspicions. As a warning to others, IS has displayed the bodies of some suspected spies in public — or used particularly gruesome methods, including reportedly dropping some into a vat of acid.

IS "commanders don't dare come from Iraq to Syria because they are being liquidated" by airstrikes, said Bebars al-Talawy, an opposition activist in Syria who monitors the jihadi group.

Over the past months, American officials have said that the U.S. has killed a string of top commanders from the group, including its "minister of war" Omar al-Shishani, feared Iraqi militant Shaker Wuhayeb, also known as Abu Wahib, as well as a top finance official known by several names, including Haji Iman, Abu Alaa al-Afari or Abu Ali Al-Anbari.

In the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, the biggest city held by IS across its "caliphate" stretching across Syria and Iraq, a succession of militants who held the post of "wali," or governor, in the province have died in airstrikes. As a result, those appointed to governor posts have asked not to be identified and they limit their movements, the Iraqi informant told The Associated Press. Iraqi intelligence officials allowed the AP to speak by phone with the informant, who spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing for his life.

The purge comes at a time when IS has lost ground in both Syria and Iraq. An Iraqi government offensive recaptured the western city of Ramadi from IS earlier this year, and another mission is underway to retake the nearby city of Fallujah.

Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said some IS fighters began feeding information to the coalition about targets and movements of the group's officials because they needed money after the extremist group sharply reduced salaries in the wake of coalition and Russian airstrikes on IS-held oil facilities earlier this year. The damage and the loss of important IS-held supply routes into Turkey have reportedly hurt the group's financing.

"They have executed dozens of fighters on charges of giving information to the coalition or putting (GPS) chips in order for the aircraft to strike at a specific area," said Abdurrahman, referring to IS in Syria.

The militants have responded with methods of their own for rooting out spies, said the informant. For example, they have fed false information to a suspect member about the movements of IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and if an airstrike follows on the alleged location, they know the suspect is a spy, he said. They stop fighters in the street and inspect their mobile phones, sometimes making the fighter call any unusual numbers in front of them to see who they are.

After the killing of al-Anbari, seven or eight IS officials in Mosul were taken into custody and have since disappeared, their fates unknown, said the informant.

"Daesh is now concentrating on how to find informers because they have lost commanders that are hard to replace," said a senior Iraqi intelligence official in Baghdad, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group. "Now any IS commander has the right to kill a person whom they suspect is an informer for the coalition."

Another Iraqi intelligence official said at least 10 IS fighters and security officials in Mosul were killed by the group in April on suspicion of giving information to the coalition because of various strikes in the city.

Mosul also saw one of the most brutal killings of suspected informants last month, when about a dozen fighters and civilians were drowned in a vat filled with acid, one senior Iraqi intelligence official said.

In the western province of Anbar, the Iraqi militant Wuhayeb was killed in a May 6 airstrike in the town of Rutba. Wuhayeb was a militant veteran, serving first in al-Qaida in Iraq before it became the Islamic State group. He first came to prominence in 2013, when a video showed him and his fighters stopping a group of Syrian truck drivers crossing Anbar. Wuhayeb asks each if he is Sunni or Shiite, and when they say Sunni, he quizzes them on how many times one bows during prayer. When they get it wrong, three of them admit to being Alawites, a Shiite offshoot sect, and Wuhayeb and his men lay the three drivers in the dirt and shoot them to death.

After Wuhayeb's killing, IS killed several dozen of its own members in Anbar, including some mid-level officials, on suspicion of informing on his location, and other members fled to Turkey, the two intelligence officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press.

Some of the suspects were shot dead in front of other IS fighters as a lesson, the Iraqi officials said.

After the Tunisian militant Abu Hayjaa was killed on the road outside Raqqa on March 30, IS leadership in Iraq sent Iraqi and Chechen security officials to investigate, according to Abdurrahman and al-Talawy, the Syria-based activist. Suspects were rounded up, taken to military bases around Raqqa, and the purge ensued. Within days, 21 IS fighters were killed, including a senior commander from North Africa, Abdurrahman said.

Dozens more were taken back to Iraq for further questioning. Of those, 17 were killed and 32 were expelled from the group but allowed to live, Abdurrahman and al-Talawy said, both citing their contacts in the militant group. Among those brought to Iraq was the group's top security official for its Badiya "province," covering a part of central and eastern Syria. His fate remains unknown.

Non-IS members are also often caught up in the hunt for spies. In the Tabqa, near Raqqa, IS fighters brought a civilian, Abdul-Hadi Issa, into the main square before dozens of onlookers and announced he was accused of spying. A masked militant then stabbed him in the heart and, with the knife still stuck in the man's chest, the fighter shot him in the head with a pistol.

Issa's body was hanged in the square with a large piece of paper on his chest proclaiming the crime and the punishment. IS circulated photos of the killing on social media.

According to al-Talawy, several other IS members were killed in the town of Sukhna near the central Syrian city of Palmyra on charges of giving information to the coalition about IS bases in the area as well as trying to locate places where al-Baghdadi might be.

Sherfan Darwish, of the U.S.-backed Syria Democratic Forces, which has been spearheading the fight against IS in Syria, said there is panic in IS-held areas where the extremists have killed people simply for having telecommunications devices in their homes.

"There is chaos. Some members and commanders are trying to flee," Darwish said.

The U.S. -led coalition has sought to use its successes in targeting IS leaders to intimidate others. In late May, warplanes dropped leaflets over IS-held parts of Syria with the pictures of two senior militants killed previously in airstrikes. "What do these Daesh commanders have in common?" the leaflet read. "They were killed at the hands of the coalition."

The jihadis have responded with their own propaganda.

"America, do you think that victory comes by killing a commander or more?" IS spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani said in a May 21 audio message. "We will not be deterred by your campaigns and you will not be victorious."

___

Mroue reported from Beirut.


-- (c) Associated Press 2016-06-06

[NovaBlue05]

Tough company to work for

[ezzra]

When your narrative is to install fear, mayhem and paranoia in people, don't be surprise when some of it will turn against you, you reap what you saw, and when you live by the sward, expect to die by the sward, and the more the better......

[BigBadGeordie]

So the snake begins to devour itself.

[xerostar]

Why don't the CIA start cold-calling all known middle eastern mobile telephone numbers ? That should ensure a rapid implosion of the ISIS ranks.

[klauskunkel]

"America, do you think that victory comes by killing a commander or more?" IS spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani

"Yes, it does...and guess what, you are the next Muhahamamed on the list."

[DoctorG]

good news week

[Berty100]

Islamic State kills dozens of its own in hunt for spies

Keep going guys, don't give up yet there are thousands more to go, and might start to like you one day.

[smew]

... Great news.. Keep at it daesh-isil ...few more thousands to go ... We will help you

[pitrevie]

Once a ruling faction starts killings its own then it's on a downward spiral as the Nazis discovered.

[boomerangutang]

Let's get some names and addresses, and send 'get well soon' or 'happy Ramadan!' Hallmark cards to as many IS vermin as possible. Added points if you send them from a US address. Oh, and go ahead and include a $5 bill with a note, "thanks for the tip" 5 5 5 5 5 5 55 5

[Andaman Al]

At long last, some news worthy of joy and celebration.

[sawadeeken]

When your narrative is to install fear, mayhem and paranoia in people, don't be surprise when some of it

will turn against you, you reap what you saw, and when you live by the sward, expect to die by the sward,

and the more the better......

Something like trying to stop a fan by peeing into it.............

[oxo1947]

Well that's it then..........we seem to have that all wrapped up.....everyone should be home for Christmas. Or as someone said nearly 14 years ago........

Mission Accomplished...............

If there's one day in particular Bush could choose to rewrite, it might be May 1, 2003.

It was a sunny day off the coast of San Diego. Congress had authorized what would become the Iraq war a few months earlier, in October 2002. The Invasion had begun in March 2003. On May 1, President Bush had landed on the USS Abraham Lincoln in the co-pilot's seat of a Navy fighter jet.

After landing, Bush changed out of his combat suit and stepped up to the podium, surrounded by a crowd as receptive as the one in Dallas last week.

Bush called Operation Iraqi Freedom "a job well done."...................

"Major combat operations in Iraq have ended," Bush said, the infamous "Mission Accomplished" banner hovering over him. "In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed."

http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/press-past/2013/05/01/the-other-symbol-of-george-w-bushs-legacy

Edited June 6, 2016 by oxo1947

[halloween]

"There is chaos. Some members and commanders are trying to flee,"

To where? Do these morons think they are going to get a friendly reception because their murderous mates no longer trust them?

[Dexlowe]

Message to Abu al-Fill Thee: I don't want you to get paranoid, Abu old friend, but that bloke standing behind you with the AK47, he's .... nah, it's ok.

I think ...

Ummmmm ... Abu, matey .... RUNNNNNN!!! Fast. Don't stop until you reach Heidelberg.

[boomerangutang]

"There is chaos. Some members and commanders are trying to flee,"

To where? Do these morons think they are going to get a friendly reception because their murderous mates no longer trust them?

....to any Arab village. They just show up dressed in civilian clothes. If anyone realizes they are/were ISIS, they just say 'Allah Akbar, I am no longer ISIS. Accept me as a brother. Allah Akbar.' .....and the fellow Arab will say something like, "You sure you've quit? Ok, well because I'm Muslim, I'm obligated to always take in a fellow Muslim. So welcome."

And/or, the defecting sleazebag can always go to his family home. His father will give him a stern look and say something like, "Son, I am not happy with what you've been doing for the past months." the mother will rush and embrace her son, "Oh darling son, I knew you'd come back. Don't listen to your stern father. We all love you. We knew you were a good boy all along. Welcome back dear sweet son, we all missed you so......"

[boomerangutang]

Meanwhile, Obama haters keep saying how Obama and Kerry are doing all the wrong things. This is proof Trump fans are wrong. Talk about success: kill one ISIS leader and his driver, and 38 more bad guys get wasted. Talk about bonus kills!

It reminds me of the Brit sniper who took out an ISIS leader. The ISIS guy was welcoming a bunch of new recruits. He was talking to the group when POW!!! all of a sudden his head explodes. The body kept standing for two or 3 seconds. After a stunned few added seconds, all the recruits scatter into the sand dunes. A lot accomplished by that one bullet!

[MockingJay]

Looks like this rotten carcass is ready to implode...

[Rancid]

In other news ISIS locked up a bunch of Kurdish women in cages and burnt them alive, seems they didn't want to be willing sex slaves.

It must do so many of our leaders feel good to know that destroying Iraq and Libya allowed this bunch of animals to form. Then they were trained, financed and armed by US, Saudi and Turkey to unleash on Syria, how many dead or dispossessed there now?

Makes me proud as a westerner to own the moral high ground. In more news the US has asked Russia not to bomb Al-Qaeda factions in Syria, seems 9-11 is all forgiven and they are besties now.

Also neutral polling in Syria suggests Assad would still win a fair election, not an outcome that will be allowed of course. Also seems oddly most Syrians blame the US for what happened to their country.

Never mind, bringing freedom and democracy will continue, after the middle east is a smoking pile there is still Russia and China.

[JulesMad]

Absolutely perfect

ISIS killing their own, THE best solution I hope they work fast!!

[NovaBlue05]

Great recruiting tool !

[boomerangutang]

In other news ISIS locked up a bunch of Kurdish women in cages and burnt them alive, seems they didn't want to be willing sex slaves.

It must do so many of our leaders feel good to know that destroying Iraq and Libya allowed this bunch of animals to form. Then they were trained, financed and armed by US, Saudi and Turkey to unleash on Syria, how many dead or dispossessed there now?

Makes me proud as a westerner to own the moral high ground. In more news the US has asked Russia not to bomb Al-Qaeda factions in Syria, seems 9-11 is all forgiven and they are besties now.

Also neutral polling in Syria suggests Assad would still win a fair election, not an outcome that will be allowed of course. Also seems oddly most Syrians blame the US for what happened to their country.

Never mind, bringing freedom and democracy will continue, after the middle east is a smoking pile there is still Russia and China.

Try as you might, you can't blame ISIS on the US. In case you hadn't noticed, the Middle East is screwed at the best of times. Bad things are going to happen no matter what. You and I don't know if the M.East would have become a lot worse off if Obama and his aides had done nothing in Libya.

You're like someone at an American football game who keeps squirming and complaining out loud every time a body bumps into another body. Read up on some history of that region. Get informed. Get some idea of the cesspool that the M.East has become. Then you'll see there are no perfect solutions. The choices are usually: Do such 'n such and the situation is screwed. Don't do such 'n such and the situation is doubly screwed. It gives deeper meaning to: 'damned if you do, damned if you don't.'

[coma]

Nothing like a bit of in-house cleaning to help get rid of the scum. Like when Thaksin declared war on drugs. All the drug dealers were whacking each other, worried they would be fingered by the competition. BIB just sat back and let em' go for it.

[coma]

Looks like this rotten carcass is ready to implode...

Far from it I am afraid. But a stage of metamorphosis is happening. Just as Al Qaeda. Which was claimed to be all but destroyed. When in fact it wasn't. It just evolved into another form of the same thing under a different banner. The global Jihad is an ideology. It isn't an identity. It isn't going to implode, explode or go away by some other manner. It will just continue to change with the times. ISIS is going through that stage now. Just as the "Mujahadeen" and Al Qaeda did before it.

[coma]

In other news ISIS locked up a bunch of Kurdish women in cages and burnt them alive, seems they didn't want to be willing sex slaves.

It must do so many of our leaders feel good to know that destroying Iraq and Libya allowed this bunch of animals to form. Then they were trained, financed and armed by US, Saudi and Turkey to unleash on Syria, how many dead or dispossessed there now?

Makes me proud as a westerner to own the moral high ground. In more news the US has asked Russia not to bomb Al-Qaeda factions in Syria, seems 9-11 is all forgiven and they are besties now.

Also neutral polling in Syria suggests Assad would still win a fair election, not an outcome that will be allowed of course. Also seems oddly most Syrians blame the US for what happened to their country.

Never mind, bringing freedom and democracy will continue, after the middle east is a smoking pile there is still Russia and China.

Try as you might, you can't blame ISIS on the US.

I disagree. The US supported the Mujahadeen in the Afghan which basically became Al Qaeda, which basically in return became ISIS. They are all one in the same. All fighting for the same Jihad. And the US war in Iraq left a vacuum and the perfect environment for such terrorism.

[boomerangutang]

Nothing like a bit of in-house cleaning to help get rid of the scum. Like when Thaksin declared war on drugs. All the drug dealers were whacking each other, worried they would be fingered by the competition. BIB just sat back and let em' go for it.

Quite a bit different than ISIS whacking its own. How can you be sure that Thaksin's green light to kill indiscriminately, didn't kill many innocents? Thaksin demanded quotas: the more populace in the province, the more killings he required. An entrepreneural cop could go up to a guy on the street and say, "give me a million baht or I kill you." What's the guy on the street going to say in response?

I disagree. The US supported the Mujahadeen in the Afghan which basically became Al Qaeda, which basically in return became ISIS. They are all one in the same. All fighting for the same Jihad. And the US war in Iraq left a vacuum and the perfect environment for such terrorism.

Are you saying the mess in the M.East wouldn't be as bad as it is now, if the US had not become involved? That's a tough line to justify.

Iraq would own Kuwait and possibly parts of Saudi Arabia. there may have been another war between Iraq and Iran. Millions more Arabs might have been killed/tortured/jailed by Hussein and his sadist sons. .....it again proves my point: the Middle East is a violent mess in the best of times. Whether or not the US is involved, there will be grave problems all over.

I guess we're back to square 1, not agreeing whether US and allied involvement makes for better or worse scenarios there. How do you feel about drone bombing of bad guys? I'm in favor of it. Do you favor stopping all bombing of ISIS?

[coma]

Nothing like a bit of in-house cleaning to help get rid of the scum. Like when Thaksin declared war on drugs. All the drug dealers were whacking each other, worried they would be fingered by the competition. BIB just sat back and let em' go for it.

Quite a bit different than ISIS whacking its own. How can you be sure that Thaksin's green light to kill indiscriminately, didn't kill many innocents? Thaksin demanded quotas: the more populace in the province, the more killings he required. An entrepreneural cop could go up to a guy on the street and say, "give me a million baht or I kill you." What's the guy on the street going to say in response?

I disagree. The US supported the Mujahadeen in the Afghan which basically became Al Qaeda, which basically in return became ISIS. They are all one in the same. All fighting for the same Jihad. And the US war in Iraq left a vacuum and the perfect environment for such terrorism.

Are you saying the mess in the M.East wouldn't be as bad as it is now, if the US had not become involved? That's a tough line to justify.

Iraq would own Kuwait and possibly parts of Saudi Arabia. there may have been another war between Iraq and Iran. Millions more Arabs might have been killed/tortured/jailed by Hussein and his sadist sons. .....it again proves my point: the Middle East is a violent mess in the best of times. Whether or not the US is involved, there will be grave problems all over.

I guess we're back to square 1, not agreeing whether US and allied involvement makes for better or worse scenarios there. How do you feel about drone bombing of bad guys? I'm in favor of it. Do you favor stopping all bombing of ISIS?

I could have been a little more specific. Gulf war one was needed. Albeit it should have been the Arabs that defended Kuwait. Not the West. But I agree with you there. And I do agree 100+% that the Middle East is a violent place full of violent people. That is why people like Hussein and his sons, Gadaffi and Assad are needed to keep these people in line. If not, when taken away or having their hands tied, their violent subjects rise up and create even more violence with even more innocent civilians dying n the process. As I said in another thread. It sounds a little brutal considering that some civilians will get hurt under these regimes, but sorry for your bad luck at being born there. Better luck next time.

With regards to bombing ISIS. ISIS, Al-Qaeda etc etc are all one in the same. Jihadis. This is how I would deal with it. TOTAL western withdrawal from the Middle East with the exception of HUMINT. Which would multiply in personnel and resources ten fold. Then, if they continue with their current mindset of attacking western civilians, then I would be using things much bigger and a lot more powerful than piss arse drone bombing to sort them out. And yes, there will be collateral damage. More like a "gloves off" approach. We lose all these wars cause we fight too frequently and too softly. We should fight the fights that must be fought, ONLY. And fight them with all our might so people think twice about screwing with us again. As it stands, these Jihadis see as as week and not willing to go the whole nine yards.

[mopar71]

Well that's it then..........we seem to have that all wrapped up.....everyone should be home for Christmas. Or as someone said nearly 14 years ago........

Mission Accomplished...............

If there's one day in particular Bush could choose to rewrite, it might be May 1, 2003.

It was a sunny day off the coast of San Diego. Congress had authorized what would become the Iraq war a few months earlier, in October 2002. The Invasion had begun in March 2003. On May 1, President Bush had landed on the USS Abraham Lincoln in the co-pilot's seat of a Navy fighter jet.

After landing, Bush changed out of his combat suit and stepped up to the podium, surrounded by a crowd as receptive as the one in Dallas last week.

Bush called Operation Iraqi Freedom "a job well done."...................

"Major combat operations in Iraq have ended," Bush said, the infamous "Mission Accomplished" banner hovering over him. "In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed."

http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/press-past/2013/05/01/the-other-symbol-of-george-w-bushs-legacy

Whoa, getting really dizzy...need...to...stop...the...spin....

"Although Bush stated at the time "Our mission continues" and "We have difficult work to do in Iraq," he also stated that it was the end to major combat operations in Iraq. A banner stating "Mission Accomplished" was used as a backdrop to the speech yet it was requested by the crew and referred specifically to the aircraft carrier's 10-month deployment and not the war itself. "

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_Accomplished_speech

A better example might be basically claiming mission accomplished over al Qaeda days before Benghazi. Or that ISIS was a JV (junior varsity) team before they conquered large pieces of Syria and Iraq.

[Travel2003]

Once a ruling faction starts killings its own then it's on a downward spiral as the Nazis discovered.

The Nazis were overcome because their opponents in the end had more troops and a bigger arsenal.

Not within.

The danger with this ISIS action can be a Stalin or Pol Pot twist.

Where people, in order to protect themselves go totally overboard with killing innocent and reporting innocents, so they can be looked upon as a faithful follower of the regime.

Edited June 7, 2016 by Travel2003