Friday, July 24, 2015

An Interview With A Top Islamic State Suicide Bomb Maker And Planner

Abu Abdullah sits in a high-security prison in Baghdad, the exact location of which cannot be revealed. For one and a half years, he was the head logistician for suicide bombings by Islamic State in Baghdad. Ali Arkady/VII/DER SPIEGEL

Christoph Reuter, Spiegel Online: 'I'm Not a Butcher': An Interview with Islamic State's Architect of Death

The heavy gate slowly opened, but only after the guards had called in to headquarters to confirm the identity of the SPIEGEL team and its 10 p.m. appointment. Inside was an obstacle course of four-meter-high (13 feet) concrete walls with Humvees, equipped with mounted machine guns, parked at two different corners. Only then did the actual prison gate appear.

The high-security facility is in Baghdad, but its name and exact location cannot be revealed. These were the conditions for an interview with its most prominent inmate: a gaunt man in his late 30s known by his nom de guerre, Abu Abdullah. For one and a half years, he was the head logistician for suicide attacks carried out by Islamic State in Baghdad. Abu Abdullah is one of the few Islamic State leaders to have been taken into custody alive. Most either blow themselves up or swallow the capsules of poison many of them carry so as to avoid capture. Or they die in a firefight. Being captured alive is not part of the terror group's plan.

WNU Editor: This is what the face of evil looks like.

No comments: