Islamic Army for the Liberation of Holy Places

Possibly based in Germany, the Islamic Army for the Liberation of Holy Places (or Holy Sites) is a mysterious terrorist group that has claimed responsibility for bombings later proven to be the work of al Qaeda operatives; it is sometimes called al Qaeda's military wing.

The group was unknown until the U.S. embassy bombings in East Africa in 1998. On August 7, 1998, car bombs exploded nearly simultaneously at the U.S. embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya. The blasts killed 224 people and destroyed both embassies. The Islamic Army for the Liberation of Holy Places subsequently sent statements to Arab news organizations claiming responsibility for the attacks. Many experts cautioned that the Islamic Army could be a new group trying to make a name for itself by taking responsibility for an action in which it had no part.

U.S. investigators soon declared that Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network was responsible for the [Page 308]attacks and indicted 26 people. al Qaeda, an Arabic word meaning “the base,” is an international network that employs violence to attempt to drive the United States from Saudi Arabia and other Islamic countries. The group uses a long list of pseudonyms in addition to Islamic Army for the Liberation of Holy Places, including Islamic Salvation Foundation, The Group for the Preservation of the Holy Sites, The World Islamic Front for Jihad against Jews and Crusaders, Osama bin Laden Network, and Osama bin Laden Organization.

The name Islamic Army for the Liberation of Holy Places surfaced again in April 2002, when a truck carrying natural gas crashed into a synagogue on a Tunisian resort island. The crash killed 17 people at the Ghriba Synagogue on the island of Djerba, a Jewish pilgrimage site and popular tourist destination.

The synagogue president and Tunisian officials at first called the crash an accident. However, the Islamic Army for the Liberation of Holy Places soon claimed responsibility, faxing a statement with corroborating details to two Arabic newspapers in London. The statement said that attack was in retaliation for Israeli crimes against Palestinians. The synagogue bombing is said to have been the first al Qaeda attack outside of Afghanistan since the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The Tunisian blast, like the Tanzanian embassy attack, used a truck filled with butane gas. Tunisian officials later said that the 24-year-old truck driver, Nizar Newar, had links to Islamic militant cells around the world.