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Al-Qaeda Victims Mostly Muslims: US Study
CAIRO – Muslims living in Muslim countries make up the predominant majority of victims from Al-Qaeda attacks, according to a study by the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, an academic institution at the US Military Academy.
"The fact is that the vast majority of Al-Qaeda's victims are Muslims," said the "Deadly Vanguards: A Study of Al Qaeda's Violence Against Muslims" report cited by The Washington Times on Thursday, January 14.

The researchers studied Al-Qaeda-claimed attacks from 2004 to 2008 and found that some 85 percent of the 3,010 fatalities were Muslims.

"The figures….show that the Muslims they claim to protect are much more likely to be the targets of Al- Qaeda violence than the Western powers they claim to fight."

The study found that victims came largely from Muslim countries, mainly Iraq, Algeria and Pakistan.

"Only 15 percent of the fatalities resulting from Al-Qaeda attacks between 2004 and 2008 were Westerners."

The percentage of Muslim victims skyrocketed during the last two years of the study to 98 percent, and only 2 percent were from the West.

"During this period, a person of non-Western origin was 54 times more likely to die in an Al-Qaeda attack than an individual from the West."

Analysts have often remarked that Muslims are "the real victims" of terrorism, but never before has that assertion been supported by hard data.

The findings of the American researchers refute claims made in 2007 by Al-Qaeda's second-in-command, Ayman al Zawahiri.

In response to questions posted on an online forum, Zawahiri claimed Al-Qaeda has not killed innocent Muslims and downplayed any "incidental" Muslim fatalities.

Anti-Qaeda Muslims

The study asserted that Al-Qaeda is losing sympathy in the broad Muslim world over discomfort about the association of Islam with violence and the indiscriminate civilian killings.

It noted that many scholars, even those considered by some as conservative, are increasingly questioning the use of violence and the targeting of innocents.

"One of the most referenced actors in the movement, Abu Muhammad Al-Maqdisi, condemned Al-Qaeda for indiscriminate killing," said the study.

"Sheikh Hamed bin Abdullah al‐Ali, former Secretary General of the Salafi Movement of Kuwait, counseled jihadis to recognize the sanctity of Muslim blood."

It is not the first time researches point at Muslims’ growing rejection of Al-Qaeda ideology.

A recent study by the Pew Research Center's Global Attitude Project documented a waning confidence in Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden among Muslim communities.

A report by the prestigious British think-tank Chatham House said Al-Qaeda was losing sympathy in the broad Muslim world over discomfort about the association of Islam with violence and the indiscriminate civilian killings.

American officials verified the findings of the news study.

"Many victims of Al-Qaeda and its affiliates have been Muslim, and people in the Muslim world know that," a US counterterrorism official told The Washington Times.

"This explains why many Muslims deplore Al-Qaeda and why you see more Muslim voices these days expressing strong opposition to Al-Qaeda and the ideology it espouses."
Posted by Admin on Thursday 14 January 2010 | Read/Post Comment: 31 |email to someone printer friendly create pdf of this news item
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