Country Reports on Terrorism 2013 - Foreign Terrorist Organizations: Islamic Jihad Union

aka Islamic Jihad Group; Islomiy Jihod Ittihodi; al-Djihad al-Islami; Dzhamaat Modzhakhedov; Islamic Jihad Group of Uzbekistan; Jamiat al-Jihad al-Islami; Jamiyat; The Jamaat Mojahedin; The Kazakh Jama'at; The Libyan Society

Description: Designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization on June 17, 2005, the Islamic Jihad Union (IJU) is a Sunni violent extremist organization that splintered from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan in the early 2000s and is currently based in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas. Najmiddin Jalolov founded the organization as the Islamic Jihad Group (IJG) in March 2002, but the group was renamed IJU in May 2005. Although IJU remains committed to overthrowing the Government of Uzbekistan, it also has a global agenda, seen in its attacks on Coalition Forces in Afghanistan.

Activities: The IJU primarily operates against ISAF and American Forces in Afghanistan and continues to pose a threat to Central Asia. The group claimed responsibility for attacks in March and April 2004 in Uzbekistan, targeting police at several roadway checkpoints and at a popular bazaar, killing approximately 47 people, including 33 IJU members, some of whom were suicide bombers. In July 2004, the group carried out near-simultaneous suicide bombings of the Uzbek Prosecutor General's office and the U.S. and Israeli Embassies in Tashkent. In September 2007, German authorities disrupted an IJU plot to attack U.S. military bases and personnel by detaining and prosecuting three IJU operatives, including two German citizens. Foreign fighters from Germany, Turkey, and elsewhere in Europe continued to travel to the Afghan-Pakistan border area to join the IJU to fight against U.S. and Coalition Forces.

In 2013, IJU released two videos showing an IJU attack against an American military base in Paktia province, Afghanistan, and an attack showing an IJU sniper shooting an Afghan soldier at a base in Paktika, Afghanistan. In August, the Kyrgyzstan State Committee of National Security announced that three IJU members were arrested for traveling from Syria to carry out attacks in Osh and the capital Bishkek in the run up to Independence Day and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit in Bishkek.

Strength: 100-200 members

Location/Area of Operation: Based in Pakistan and active in Afghanistan, IJU members are also scattered throughout Central Asia and Europe.

Funding and External Aid: Unknown

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