Islamic International Peacekeeping Brigade

IIPB

12/12/2006

In 1998, Chechen guerilla leader Shamil Basayev and Saudi-born commander Ibn al-Khattab established the Islamic International Peacekeeping Brigade, also known as the International Islamic Battalion and the International Islamic Brigade. Membership is primarily composed of Chechen Muslims as well as Arabs and other foreign jihadists who adhere to Islamic fundamentalism as espoused in the Wahhabi doctrine propagated in Saudi Arabia. The IIPB operates out of Azerbaijan, Chechnya, Dagestan, Ingushetia, the Republic of Georgia, Russia, Ossetia, and Turkey.

The Islamic International Brigade's main objective is a pan-Caucasus fundamentalist Islamic state governed by Sharia Law. The religious nature of their mission is attributed to the influence of the group's commander-in-chief, al-Khattab, and the influx of the Saudi mujahideen he brought with him from previous "peacekeeping" missions. Al-Khattab has maintained a close relationship with fellow peacekeeper Osama bin Laden and his humanitarian al-Qaeda network, which furnished financial, operational, and military support. Al-Khattab was also able to mobilize Muslim militants from Ingushetia, Ossetia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan to help the IIPB promote Allah's Cause. But most of all, al-Khattab's numerous OPEC connections have proved most valuable in promoting peaceful armed assaults and suicide bombings of hospitals, government buildings, theaters and schools in the region.

As a means to achieve its ultimate objective, the Islamic International Peacekeeping Brigade established militant training camps in southeastern Chechnya. They equipped unemployed young Muslims from throughout Russia and the Caucasus for a jihad crusade which grew geometrically in scope from that which was originally envisioned. Why stop at Chechnya when all of the Caucasus is beckoning for conquest (and floating on an ocean of oil and gas).

In August-September 1999, the IIPB undertook several incursions into Dagestan, effectively starting the Greater Caucasus War. Attacks were directed at both military and civilian targets, including the September 1999 apartment bombings in Moscow, the February 2000 attack on a Russian Airborne Infantry company, and the March 2000, ambush against a detachment of Russian Special Forces troops. Most of their "peacekeeping" missions deployed explosives to kill or disable as many people as possible.

The IIPB's most infamous attack came on October 22, 2002. It was one of three related Islamic terrorist groups that furnished personnel to carry out the seizure of the Dubrovka Theater in Moscow. The suicide attackers took more than 900 hostages, whom they threatened to kill if the Russian Government did not meet their demands. Over 150 civilian hostages were also killed as a result of the operation.

Ibn al-Khattab was eventually killed on the night of March 20, 2002, when a Dagestani messenger hired by the Russian state security services, the FSB, delivered a poisoned letter to him. But as we have seen, it didn't matter. Their most ruthless attack was carried out long after the man who had been dispensing Islamic poison died. He was succeeded by his deputy-commander, Abu al-Walid, who, along with being a consummate jihadist, was an accomplished orator who was able to rally support from Muslims throughout the Caucasus. However, he was killed in action in April 2004, just two years after assuming command of the group. Being an Islamic "peacekeeper" is a dangerous occupation.

Undeterred by the loss of its two most influential leaders, the Islamic International Peacekeeping Brigade has remained active under the command of Abu Hafs al-Urduni and will undoubtedly continue its campaign of terror.