by Conrad Jones
The disguised police van exploded at exactly 3pm, as did the Semtex in the bell tower of the Anglican cathedral. The cathedral bell tower, weakened by the blast had disintegrated beneath the massive weight of the bells. Huge sandstone blocks weighing tons, had tumbled into the cavernous building crushing six-members of the Terrorist Bomb Squad that had not had time to escape. The skyline of Liverpool had changed forever.
Tank was blown across the street with Mustapha when the police van exploded. The two men were stunned into unconsciousness by the power of the shockwave.
Tank had woken up in intensive care at The Royal Liverpool Hospital 48-hours later. He had woken just long enough to ask Grace, who was waiting by his bedside what had happened. Then he passed out again and didn’t come round for another three days. The swelling to Tank’s brain caused by the concussion wave had nearly killed him. The surgeons had drilled a hole into his skull to relieve the pressure from the bleeding, and that saved his life.
Seven Terrorist Task Force members lost their lives at the Cathedral blast along with the nine football fans, near the stadium.
Mustapha had never arrived at the hospital at all. Witnesses said that he was seen being helped away from the scene by an Asian man, who looked like he was related to him.
Tank and his team returned to duty as normal, once all the scars had healed. The Terrorist Task Force tracked the alleged movements of the ghost like Yasser Ahmed across the planet. Several reports of him were received from the Philippines and Afghanistan over the following six months, but nothing concrete ever surfaced.
Eventually a report came in from an American Black operations team that specialised in rendition. These people don’t officially exist of course but they specialise in counter terrorism and interrogation under torture. This process is usually carried out on foreign soil. The American people are not made aware of such procedures being utilised by their government. Countries with a broader moral outlook are used to extract information. Western populations cannot prove the use of torture if there are no western witnesses to tell the tale.
The black operations team reportedly captured Yasser Ahmed in Iraq. They interrogated him for two months in a prison in Chechnya. His heart had finally given in after eight weeks of intense torture and malnutrition. When Tank saw the autopsy pictures he recognised the bite mark on the cheek of the corpse. It wasn’t Yasser that they had captured and tortured. Mustapha had denied being Yasser Ahmed right up to the point where his heart stopped beating. The wrong brother was captured and killed. Tank felt responsible.
Chapter 39
Yasser Ahmed / Mustapha (Escaping Britain)
Eighteen months ago when Yasser had watched the bogus police van explode, he had jumped at the opportunity to grab his concussed sibling. The big skinhead policeman was stunned by the blast, and people were running in all directions away from the bomb. Yasser grabbed his brother off the street where he lay and carried him away from the scene. He had a camper van parked a half mile away from the football stadium, and some kind hearted people who heard about the terrorist explosions had helped him to carry Mustapha to the camper and lay him down on the bed. Mustapha remained unconscious for two days, drifting into consciousness for only seconds at a time. Yasser had driven north from Liverpool to the east coast port of Hull. He had used his network of sympathisers, and had arranged for the camper to be craned onto a container boat, which had an Islamic crew from the Yemen, and was headed for the Middle East. By the time Mustapha awoke, the ship was in the middle of the North Sea, and he really didn’t have the heart to struggle against his older brother. Yasser was a very persuasive personality, and by the time they reached their destination Mustapha was resigned to returning home to his beloved Iraq.
They were welcomed into their family’s homes at first, especially Mustapha, who was a small boy when he was smuggled abroad for his own safety. Following the deposal of Saddam, Iraq had turned into a boiling pot of racial, tribal unrest. Law enforcement was nonexistent and life hung in the balance. Suspicion and betrayal were insipid in the indigenous population, as Sunni and Shia Muslims struggled against each other for political power. Rumours became rife that legendary Mujahideen leader Yasser Ahmed had returned home. Some saw it as a sign from God that they would be delivered from allied occupation, while others saw his presence as a powerful threat to their authority, and a financially lucrative opportunity. The allies would pay handsomely to know the whereabouts of Yasser Ahmed. Yasser began to plot again and at least a dozen roadside bomb attacks against the invading forces were attributed to him. Informants had passed on information to the Americans and they began to scour the local townships for him.
Yasser became concerned for his family’s safety and he left to join the Islamic struggles in Afghanistan and Chechnya. When the allies eventually got wind of his operations in Iraq he was already long gone. Weeks after Yasser’s departure a neighbour of different Muslim extraction mistakenly identified Mustapha to an American black ops team, as Yasser Ahmed. He was paid the equivalent of fifteen British pounds for the information. Mustapha was snatched later the same day, and his family was taken into custody with him. They were taken to a temporary airfield where they were briefly questioned. American secret services had sent the only picture they possessed of Yasser Ahmed to the black ops team, and they were in no doubt that they had the right man.
Mustapha and his family were placed inside a huge twin bladed Chinook helicopter, which was unmarked and had a crew of foreign extraction. Once over the desert the side doors were opened and Mustapha’s uncle was dragged toward the opening. The wind from the twin blades howled through the huge machine and the frightened family huddled together. The uncle was thrown from the door two thousand feet up. The foreign soldiers wore no identifying insignia on their uniforms. Mustapha pleaded with them when his Auntie was taken to the door and asked to identify Mustapha as Yasser; she refused to confirm that he was Yasser and followed her husband to her death. The process was repeated until only Mustapha was left in the helicopter sobbing for the loss of his innocent family. The memories of the screams of terror remained with him until the day he died under interrogation. Each family member denied that Mustapha was Yasser. Even though they had watched their kin thrown to their deaths they did not betray him.
Chapter 40
Chechnya/ Yasser Ahmed
In the 16th century the powerful Islamic Ottoman Empire controlled what are now the Middle East, North Africa and Asia. Under its control the small region of Chechnya was converted to the Sunni Muslim faith. Its conversion to Islam began a long religious struggle against its Jewish and Christian neighbours, which has lasted for centuries. It is the 76th largest federal subject of Russia, located in the Northern Caucasus Mountains. It borders Stavropol Krai to the North West, the republic of Dagestan to the east and north east, Georgia to the south and the republics of Ingushetia and North Ossetia to the west. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 it declared itself a republic separate from Russia, and despite numerous Soviet invasions it remains a rogue Islamic state. The only government to recognise the existence of the republic of Chechnya is the Afghan Taliban Council, who themselves are no longer a recognised government. Hundreds of thousands of Arab Mujahideen answered the call to arms to fight against the invading Russian Christian, Zionist aggressors in both Afghanistan and Chechnya.
The Muslim defenders see the invasion of Chechnya as another attempt by the West’s Christian-Jewish alliance to control Islamic oil fields. Although a relatively small country it is a major hub in the oil infrastructure of the Russian federation, and would hurt the Soviet economy if it were allowed its independence. The armed struggle by Islamic insurgents has cost the Russian armed forces over seventeen and a half thousand deaths since 1991, despite their overwhelming manpower, weaponry and air support. According to Chechen rebel leaders the Russian army has slaughtered over thirty-five thousand civilians since 1994.
Yasser Ahmed was an influential leader and inspiration to m
illions of would be Mujahideen fighters. He was the number one most wanted Islamic terrorist on the planet, and because of this he had travelled to the remote regions of Afghanistan, then Dagestan and Chechnya to fight the Kufur. Yasser became a religious hero within months as his exploits attacking targets in the US and UK became well known across the Soviet region. Upon his arrival Yasser began to organise the ragbag groups into effective fighting units, and advised and trained the Islamic guerrilla fighters how to manufacture ‘improvised explosive devices’ or roadside bombs that could penetrate Russian tank armour. From Moscow the Chechen mafia donated millions of dollars from its illegal operations across Russia, into Yasser’s hidden bank accounts to finance weapons and munitions to aid the struggle for Islamic independence. Modern explosives are expensive so Yasser taught them how to use discarded ordinance or unexploded shells to manufacture ‘improvised explosive devices’. They were easily made by attaching conventional military explosives, such as an artillery round, attached to a detonating mechanism. Once fabricated the devices could be customised to incorporate destructive, lethal, noxious, pyrotechnic or chemical substances to destroy or incapacitate personnel or vehicles.
Yasser also financed the purchase of four thousand RPG anti-tank weapons from Libya, which they had employed with devastating effect against low flying Soviet helicopter gunships. Rocket Propelled Grenades have been used by the Afghan Mujahideen for years in an anti-aircraft role. Helicopters are typically ambushed as they land or hover. Yasser taught the rebels to modify the grenade launchers for use against flying helicopters by adding a curved pipe to the rear of the launch tube. This addition diverted the exhaust gasses away from the user, allowing the weapon to be fired upwards at an aircraft from a prone position. This made the operator less visible prior to firing, and decreased the risk of injury from dangerous back-blast. Yasser was a veteran of Afghanistan and Iraq and he knew every guerrilla tactic in the book. The arrival of Yasser Ahmed turned the tide against the invading Soviet forces.
There was an interesting phenomenon, which became apparent during the Islamic struggle in Chechnya, the emergence of determined female suicide bombers known as the Chechen ‘Black Widows’. The use of suicide belts or, ‘Shaheed belts’, has been a tactic adopted by various terrorist organisations since its conception in 1991. The first documented use of this weapon was by the Tamil Tiger group in Sri Lanka who sent Thenmuli Rajaratnam, a 25-year old widow, to a government rally. She approached Rajiv Gandhi and detonated her device killing the target and herself. The suicide belts usually consist of several metal cylinders filled with explosive. The explosive is surrounded by a fragmentation jacket that produces the shrapnel, which causes most of the collateral damage. The jacket becomes a crude body-worn claymore mine. Once the vest is detonated, the explosion becomes similar to an Omni-directional shotgun blast. The most dangerous and most widely used shrapnel are steel ball bearings but many cheaper materials such as screws, nuts, bolts and barbed wire are often substituted. The bravery of the Muslim women was used as a devastating weapon to attack Russian targets, and Yasser planned to harness their uncanny determination in a new campaign of terror, both here and in the West.
On October 5th, 2003 a Chechen Islamic separatist leader conspired with the Russian invaders to organise democratic elections within Chechnya. His cooperation with the Christian, Zionist invaders was seen as treason and a direct insult to the Muslim population. Many separatist organisations boycotted the elections, and the Muslim militia groups started a campaign of fear, threatening people to vote against the traitor. The elections were monitored by an international inspection team, who reported incidents of ballot stuffing and voter intimidation by Russian soldiers. Several separatist parties were completely excluded from entering the elections by Russian officials.
Once the votes were counted Akmad Kadyrov was entrusted as the Soviet sponsored leader despite the allegations of corruption and vote rigging. He was the wealthiest and most powerful man in the republic and he surrounded himself with mercenary bodyguards to protect him from Islamic extremists. On May 9th, 2004 at his official inauguration, he was seated on a stage inside the Grozny football stadium watching a parade go past in his honour. A Chechen woman dressed in black clothing and wearing an Islamic headscarf or ‘hijab’ approached the new president carrying a bouquet of flowers. Her name was Medna Bayrakova and she was a 26-year old resident of Grozny. She was married to her childhood sweetheart at the age of 15, which is the customary age in that region. Medna and her husband lived by strict Shari’ a law, but they were soul mates and very happy. They had survived two Russian invasions since 1991, but had lost most of their families during the conflicts. Their only regret was that they had never conceived a child, and in a poor country like Chechnya medical assistance was non-existent. Her husband had naively expressed his anger in public at the cooperation that Kadyrov had given to the Russians, and he had called it religious betrayal. Several days later he was snatched from the small blacksmith shop where he had worked since he was a child. Like thousands of others he never returned home, and had likely been tortured to death by the mercenaries. Medna was broken hearted and left destitute, because losing your husband also meant losing your livelihood. She couldn’t pay her rent and was evicted within weeks of her husband’s disappearance. Medna was living rough on the streets and surviving on what scraps she could beg or steal. One morning she was awoken by a Mullah from the local mosque and given hot sweet tea to drink. He fed her and gave her clean clothing and began the process of grooming her to become a Martyr. In just three days she was convinced that she could leave this life of grief and turmoil behind her, and go to a much happier place with her God, and her beloved husband. She saw the opportunity to extract revenge against Kadyrov as her ticket to heaven. The thought of eternity in heaven next to her beloved husband was far more attractive than a life of lonely destitution and poverty. Being hungry everyday soon takes its toll on the will to live.
She slipped through the passing parade and headed for the stage were her nemesis was seated. As she stepped on to the stage and approached the president she tripped. Bodyguards stopped the woman, but the president waved her through flattered by the sight of the flowers she carried as a gift. As she handed the flowers to him, she triggered a remote detonator on her Shaheed vest, and blew herself and the Muslim traitor to pieces.
Chapter 41
Yasser/ Chechen Black Widows
Yasser sat on a boulder next to the camp fire and stared at the flames as they flickered and danced. He and several hundred Mujahideen fighters were taking cover in a network of natural caves situated high in the mountains of Chechnya. As he watched the fire glow he thought about his dead sister Yasmine and how beautiful she was, and about his younger brother Mustapha, who had looked like his twin. Word had reached his mountain hideaway two months earlier that his family’s home in Iraq was deserted. Neighbours had told his spies that ‘ninja’ soldiers dressed head to foot in black uniforms had taken them away in the dead of night, and that they had never been seen or heard from again. He knew that the soldiers were looking for him. Mustapha and his family would have been imprisoned and interrogated, at least that’s what he hoped, but in his heart he knew that no one returned when the ‘Ninja’ soldiers came. The soldiers dressed in black were Special Operations men sent to assassinate him. They would have killed his family instead of him, trying to make them divulge his whereabouts.
Footsteps and hushed voices disturbed his thoughts as a group of Mujahideen fighters returned from their evening mission. The men were skinny from lack of food, and dirty from the wind borne dust that covered the mountains. They had their weapons and ammunition slung around their shoulders and the flames from the fire reflected on the dull metal. There were men sleeping around the cave floor and they sat up and moved to make space for the returning fighters. The nights were becoming cold enough for frost to form on the grey rocks. The returning Mujahideen gathered around the fire to report their mission to Yasser.
Earlier that day they had encountered a Russian patrol and become involved in a fire fight. Two of their men were taken prisoner, and several others killed and wounded. The number of wounded was increasing every day. Most of them didn’t talk much, exhausted from their journey. One of the younger men cleaned and checked a captured light machinegun while the others ate the remnants of a thin chicken stew that was cooked several hours earlier. Yasser was still well funded despite Western governments freezing the assets they could find, but the Russians monitored food sales looking for purchases that could be used to feed large groups of enemy soldiers. They had to purchase supplies from all over the country in small batches, and bring it to the mountains where only a handful of people knew where they would be hiding on any given day. Some days supplies didn’t arrive and rations were meagre. It was 3am and everyone knew that the bombing would start in about four hours, so it was time to get some sleep. The Russians knew that Yasser and his men were somewhere in this region of the mountains above Grozny, and they targeted a section every day for carpet bombing. At seven o’clock that morning the distinctive triple contrails caused by Russian bombers appeared on the horizon leaving straight white lines against the blue sky. Minutes later huge plumes of rock, flames and smoke would explode along distant ridges. Seconds after that, the noise and blast wave would reach them, tugging at their clothes. The blast would cause small dust devils to form and swirl around the caves. While the men slept Yasser stared into the flames and watched his plans taking shape. He stroked the matted beard that he had grown since arriving in the mountains, because it still felt alien to him. There was no running water here to shave or bathe.
