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International News Title: Revealed: al-Qaeda's 22 tips for dodging drones 7:20PM GMT 21 Feb 2013 Read the list in full here The document includes advice such as "hide under thick trees" (believed to be bin Laden's contribution), and instructions for setting up a "fake gathering" using dolls to "mislead the enemy". Found by the Associated Press in a building in Timbuktu, the ancient city occupied by Islamists last year, the document is believed to have been abandoned as extremists fled a French military intervention last month. It is a Xeroxed copy of a tipsheet authored by a Yemeni extremist that has been published on some jihadi forums, but that has made little appearance in English. The list reflects how al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghbreb anticipated a military intervention that would make use of drones, as the war on terror shifts from the ground to the air. The document also shows the coordination between al-Qaeda chapters, which security experts have called a source of increasing concern. Related Articles Drone-dodging tips: the list in full 21 Feb 2013 Mali: Telegraph finds al-Qaeda plan in Timbuktu 13 Feb 2013 Analysis: al-Qaeda goes full circle with attempt at political hijack of the Sahara 13 Feb 2013 Why al-Qaeda’s Sahara 'princes’ are on the run 14 Feb 2013 'In that second, I shot Osama bin Laden' 11 Feb 2013 "This new document... shows we are no longer dealing with an isolated local problem, but with an enemy which is reaching across continents to share advice," said Bruce Riedel, a 30-year veteran of the CIA, now the director of the Intelligence Project at the Brookings Institute. While some of the tips are outdated or far-fetched, taken together, they suggest the Islamists in Mali are responding to the threat of drones with sound, common-sense advice that may help them to melt into the desert in between attacks, leaving barely a trace. "These are not dumb techniques. It shows that they are acting pretty astutely," said Col Cedric Leighton, a 26-year-veteran of the United States Air Force, who helped set up the Predator drone program, which later tracked Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan. "What it does is, it buys them a little bit more time - and in this conflict, time is key. And they will use it to move away from an area, from a bombing raid, and do it very quickly," he said. The success of some of the tips will depend on the circumstances and the model of drones used, Col Leighton said. For example, from the air, where perceptions of depth become obfuscated, an imagery sensor would interpret a mat stretched over the top of a car as one lying on the ground, concealing the vehicle. New models of drones, such as the Harfung used by the French or the MQ-9 "Reaper," sometimes have infrared sensors that can pick up the heat signature of a car whose engine has just been shut off. However, even an infrared sensor would have trouble detecting a car left under a mat tent overnight, so that its temperature is the same as on the surrounding ground, Col Leighton said. Unarmed drones are already being used by the French in Mali to collect intelligence on al-Qaeda groups, and US officials have said plans are underway to establish a new drone base in northwestern Africa. The US recently signed a "status of forces agreement" with Niger, one of the nations bordering Mali, suggesting the drone base may be situated there and would be primarily used to gather intelligence to help the French. The author of the tipsheet found in Timbuktu is Abdallah bin Muhammad, the nom de guerre for a senior commander of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the Yemen-based branch of the terror network. The document was first published in Arabic on an extremist website on June 2, 2011, a month after bin Laden's death, according to Mathieu Guidere, a professor at the University of Toulouse. Prof Guidere runs a database of statements by extremist groups, including al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, and he reviewed and authenticated the document found by the AP. The tipsheet is still little known, if at all, in English, though it has been republished at least three times in Arabic on other jihadist forums after drone strikes took out US-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen in September 2011 and al-Qaeda second-in-command Abu Yahya al-Libi in Pakistan in June 2012. It was most recently issued two weeks ago on another extremist website after plans for the possible US drone base in Niger began surfacing, Prof Guidere said. "This document supports the fact that they knew there are secret US bases for drones, and were preparing themselves," he said. "They were thinking about this issue for a long time." The idea of hiding under trees to avoid drones, which is tip No 10, appears to be coming from the highest levels of the terror network. In a letter written by bin Laden and first published by the US Center for Combating Terrorism, the terror mastermind instructs his followers to deliver a message to Abdelmalek Droukdel, the head of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, whose fighters have been active in Mali for at least a decade. "I want the brothers in the Islamic Maghreb to know that planting trees helps the mujahedeen and gives them cover," bin Laden writes in the missive. "Trees will give the mujahedeen the freedom to move around especially if the enemy sends spying aircrafts to the area." Hiding under trees is exactly what the al-Qaeda fighters did in Mali, according to residents in Diabaly, the last town they took before the French stemmed their advance last month. Just after French warplanes incinerated rebel cars that had been left outside, the fighters began to commandeer houses with large mango trees and park their four-by-fours in the shade of their rubbery leaves. Hamidou Sissouma, a schoolteacher, said the Islamists chose his house because of its generous trees, and rammed their trucks through his earthen wall to drive right into his courtyard. Another resident showed the gash the occupiers had made in his mango tree by parking their pickup too close to the trunk. In Timbuktu also, fighters hid their cars under trees, and disembarked from them in a hurry when they were being chased, in accordance with tip No 13. Moustapha al-Housseini, an appliance repairman, was outside his shop fixing a client's broken radio on the day the aerial bombardments began. He said he heard the sound of the planes and saw the Islamists at almost the same moment. Abou Zeid, the senior al-Qaeda emir in the region, rushed to jam his car under a pair of tamarind trees outside the store. "He and his men got out of the car and dove under the awning," said Mr al-Housseini. "As for what I did? Me and my employees? We also ran. As fast as we could." Along with the grass mats, the al-Qaeda men in Mali made creative use of another natural resource to hide their cars: Mud. Asse Ag Imahalit, a gardener at a building in Timbuktu, said he was at first puzzled to see that the fighters sleeping inside the compound sent for large bags of sugar every day. Then, he said, he observed them mixing the sugar with dirt, adding water and using the sticky mixture to "paint" their cars. Residents said the cars of the al-Qaeda fighters are permanently covered in mud. The drone tipsheet, discovered in the regional tax department occupied by Abou Zeid, shows how familiar al-Qaeda has become with drone attacks, which have allowed the US to take out senior leaders in the terrorist group without a messy ground battle. The preface and epilogue of the tipsheet make it clear that al-Qaeda well realizes the advantages of drones: They are relatively cheap in terms of money and lives, alleviating "the pressure of American public opinion." Ironically, the first drone attack on an al-Qaeda figure in 2002 took out the head of the branch in Yemen - the same branch that authoured the document found in Mali, according to Riedel. Drones began to be used in Iraq in 2006 and in Pakistan in 2007, but it wasn't until 2009 that they became a hallmark of the war on terror, he said. "Since we do not want to put boots on the ground in places like Mali, they are certain to be the way of the future," he said. "They are already the future."
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#1. To: calcon (#0)
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Could come in handy when BigSis' DHS drones attack. www.telegraph.co.uk/news/...cks-the-list-in-full.html 2. Using devices that broadcast frequencies or pack of frequencies to disconnect the contacts and confuse the frequencies used to control the drone. The Mujahideen have had successful experiments using the Russian-made “Racal.” 3. Spreading the reflective pieces of glass on a car or on the roof of the building. 4. Placing a group of skilled snipers to hunt the drone, especially the reconnaissance ones because they fly low, about six kilometres or less. 5. Jamming of and confusing of electronic communication using the ordinary water-lifting dynamo fitted with a 30-metre copper pole. 6. Jamming of and confusing of electronic communication using old equipment and keeping them 24-hour running because of their strong frequencies and it is possible using simple ideas of deception of equipment to attract the electronic waves devices similar to that used by the Yugoslav army when they used the microwave (oven) in attracting and confusing the Nato missiles fitted with electromagnetic searching devices. 7. Using general confusion methods and not to use permanent headquarters. 8. Discovering the presence of a drone through well-placed reconnaissance networks and to warn all the formations to halt any movement in the area. 9. To hide from being directly or indirectly spotted, especially at night. 10. To hide under thick trees because they are the best cover against the planes. 11. To stay in places unlit by the sun such as the shadows of the buildings or the trees. 12. Maintain complete silence of all wireless contacts. 13. Disembark of vehicles and keep away from them especially when being chased or during combat. 14. To deceive the drone by entering places of multiple entrances and exits. 15. Using underground shelters because the missiles fired by these planes are usually of the fragmented anti-personnel and not anti-buildings type. 16. To avoid gathering in open areas and in urgent cases, use building of multiple doors or exits. 17. Forming anti-spies groups to look for spies and agents. 18. Formation of fake gatherings such as using dolls and statutes to be placed outside false ditches to mislead the enemy. 19. When discovering that a drone is after a car, leave the car immediately and everyone should go in different direction because the planes are unable to get after everyone. 20. Using natural barricades like forests and caves when there is an urgent need for training or gathering. 21. In frequently targeted areas, use smoke as cover by burning tires. 22. As for the leaders or those sought after, they should not use communications equipment because the enemy usually keeps a voice tag through which they can identify the speaking person and then locate him.
I knew you'd be interested, was going to ping you but got side tracked.
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