New English-Language al-Qaeda Explosives Manual Released Online from SWJ Blog by Dave Dilegge

http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/2010/12/new-englishlanguage-alqaeda-ex/

Via the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR) and The Daily Telegraph: New English-Language al-Qaeda Explosives Manual Released Online. From ICSR:

In the last few days, English-language jihadist forums have released a significant new book entitled The Explosives Course. Published in 2010 by al-Qaeda’s Global Islamic Media Front (GIMF) and apparently compiled by former students of the now deceased al-Qaeda explosives expert Abu Khabab al-Misri (also known as Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar), it is among the most comprehensive and sophisticated manuals of its kind. The introduction claims that “this is the first book from a series of books aimed on this subject”, noting that further editions and updates will be forthcoming.

Targeting English-speaking audiences, it capitalises on the rise of ‘homegrown’ extremism in the US and Britain. This manual is widely available within online extremist networks and seeks to arm potential self-starters and ‘lone-wolves’ with the knowledge they often lack on creating viable explosive devices, in particular those living in the West who are motivated to act but unable to join terrorist training camps abroad. Following a recent rise in incidents of attempted attacks by US nationals on American soil, the US Attorney General Eric Holder claimed earlier this month that the threat of ‘homegrown’ terror “keeps me up at night”. He also warned that “the threat is real, the threat is different, the threat is constant.”

For ICSR's full analysis click here and for the front page of The Explosives Course here. Also see Al-Qaeda bomb manual published on internet at The Daily Telegraph.
The ICSR is a partnership which brings together four academic institutions: King's College London; the University of Pennsylvania; the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya (Israel); and the Jordan Institute of Diplomacy.