Heli-News
10th Aug 2013, 16:37
The Islamic Jihad Union (IJU), an al Qaeda-allied jihadist group, has released a video of attacks against a US base in Paktia province, and claimed to have deployed an "anti-helicopter fragmentation mine" in an effort to take out a US Army Apache.
The IJU video "was uploaded on YouTube on July 15, 2013, and promoted on jihadist forums on July 22," according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which obtained and translated the 48-minute Russian-language video.
The video features IJU fighters "Abu Osama" and "Zubeir," a Kazakh national. The IJU fighters are shown setting up several rocket attacks on a US base in Paktia, and are fired on by US Apache attack helicopters.
"We are taking positions, and we will hit the American infidels, Allah willing," Zubeir says at one point in the video while setting up an attack. "Kazakh and Pashtu brothers all in the same place on the path of Allah, praise be to Allah," another fighter says, stressing the international nature of the IJU rocket team.
In one scene, the IJU fighters are shown carrying what SITE described as "the prototype for an anti-helicopter fragmentation mine."
"The mine can hit a target at a distance of 300 meters," SITE continued. The cameraman describes the anti-helicopter fragmentation mine as an "unpleasant surprise" for the US helicopter crews. The IJU narrator indicates, however, that the mine was not fired.
Islamic Jihad Union fighters attack US base, plant 'anti-helicopter' mine - The Long War Journal (http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2013/08/islamic_jihad_union_1.php)
The IJU video "was uploaded on YouTube on July 15, 2013, and promoted on jihadist forums on July 22," according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which obtained and translated the 48-minute Russian-language video.
The video features IJU fighters "Abu Osama" and "Zubeir," a Kazakh national. The IJU fighters are shown setting up several rocket attacks on a US base in Paktia, and are fired on by US Apache attack helicopters.
"We are taking positions, and we will hit the American infidels, Allah willing," Zubeir says at one point in the video while setting up an attack. "Kazakh and Pashtu brothers all in the same place on the path of Allah, praise be to Allah," another fighter says, stressing the international nature of the IJU rocket team.
In one scene, the IJU fighters are shown carrying what SITE described as "the prototype for an anti-helicopter fragmentation mine."
"The mine can hit a target at a distance of 300 meters," SITE continued. The cameraman describes the anti-helicopter fragmentation mine as an "unpleasant surprise" for the US helicopter crews. The IJU narrator indicates, however, that the mine was not fired.
Islamic Jihad Union fighters attack US base, plant 'anti-helicopter' mine - The Long War Journal (http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2013/08/islamic_jihad_union_1.php)