B-H: Al-Qa'ida Member Recounts Experiences

Source:  OSC Feature - Eldin Hadzovic Dani 08 Feb 08

"Elhamdulillah [Thank you, God], I can still sleep peacefully, like a baby, despite all that has happened.  My beard is spluttered with blood, but I just wash it off and say to myself: Elhamdulillah.  Make me a resident of jennet [paradise]!" 

This is how Nihad Cosic, who is also known as Abdul Rahman -- apparently not the only nom de guerre that he uses -- described his feelings after, as he claimed, he cut the throat of a captured Australian soldier.  Cosic claims that he killed the captured Australian in Afghanistan during the battle for Musa Qala in the north of Afghanistan 's southern province of Helmand .  According to him, he took the Australian solider prisoner during a battle between the Taliban on the one hand, and joint Canadian-British-US-Australian troops on the other.  When we told him that there had been no reports of Australian troops being killed during the period he mentioned (late fall 2005), Cosic said: "This is understandable.  All the reports you receive are from the Americans.  For instance, it was reported recently that about 4,000 US troops had been killed in Iraq so far, but I know from reliable sources that this figure is for last year alone, and that their casualties since the occupation of Iraq are three times that number!"

An official report cited by CNN claims that since the occupation in 2003 up until 1 February of this year 4,249 coalition troops had been killed, while the true figures are as follows: 3,943 Americans, two Australians, 174 British troops, 13 Bulgarians, one Czech, seven Danes, two Dutch soldiers, two Estonians, one from Fiji, one Hungarian, 33 Italians, one from Kazakhstan, one Korean, three Latvians, 22 Poles, three Romanians, five Salvadorians, four Slovaks, 11 Spaniards, two Thai soldiers, and 18 Ukrainians.

Even though we had reservations about the veracity of his story about killing "unbelievers" in the deserts of Afghanistan , we were nevertheless surprised at the calm with which he explained and admitted to this morbid murder.  "I caught one of them, I think he was an Australian, and I asked him in English why he had come to Afghanistan .  You have insulted Muslim honor, I told him.  He pleads with me, he begs, and he cries, but with no avail.  You should have thought about it earlier, I told him.  There is no scope for repentance here, he is a kufaar (unbeliever), and there is no hope for him.  The same would happen if I had been captured.  He knows that death is inevitable, and is prepared to tell everything to save himself.  But he cannot be saved.  Once he told us all he knew -- Allah knows what should happen to him.  Only Allah knows how many people I have killed.  I know how many throats I had slit.  I will not tell you the exact number, but let me tell you that it is more than I could count on the fingers of both hands.  I will always be prepared to kill.  I killed Serbs, Americans, Russians, English, thank be to dear Allah."

While speaking, Nihad plays with his key ring and nonchalantly looks around the room in which we are sitting.  He refuses to agree with me that what he is telling me is gruesome, repugnant, and simply inhumane.  "You do not understand, but it is not repugnant to me.  This is Sunnah (the ways of the prophet Muhammad), don't you understand?  Well, the prophet used to behead people.  You can slit one's throat below it, but that kind of death is easy, the victim loses conscience immediately.  But if you cut his throat at the upper end, he feels death coming, and feels real pain until his spine cord is cut.  [Prophet] Muhammad's ashab [companion] Ali regularly beheaded his enemies.  Am I better than him?  I am only following him.  The ashabs are my role models and I am proud of it.  This is where you and I differ.  Allah said: 'Strike at their throats,' and we all know where the jugular is."  While I shake my head in disbelief, Nihad assures me: "I approve of jihad, and I will support war along Allah's path for as long as I live.  He who rejects battle will be humiliated by Allah."

Path of Jihad

I cannot say that Nihad Cosic has no evidence to corroborate his story.  Dani received a confirmation from the Bosnia-Herzegovina Foreign Affairs Ministry [MVP] that in January 2007, the Embassy of Bosnia-Herzegovina in Islamabad "was contacted by telephone by an individual who introduced himself as Nihad Cosic and who was seeking information about obtaining travel papers because, as he claimed, he had lost his passport."  After that call this person made no further contacts with the embassy and did not visit it, Fahrudin Dosljak of the MVP Public Relations Office told us.  Cosic himself confirmed that he was in Pakistan at that time.  BHRT [Bosnia-Herzegovina Radio TV] also reported claims by the Bosnia-Herzegovina Ministry of Defense that Cosic had lost his passport during an illegal trip to Pakistan .  Precisely one year ago, the world and especially German media became excited over the fact that shortly after he had contacted the Bosnia-Herzegovina Embassy, Cosic was arrested on suspicion of links with the terrorist network Al-Qa'ida.  According to the German magazine Der Spiegel, Nihad Cosic was detained on suspicion that he had visited or planned to visit terrorist training camps.  An additional reason for suspicion was provided by the fact, also confirmed by Cosic, that his passport was subsequently found in the Al-Qa'ida camp near the town of Zamzola .

However, the reports on Cosic's arrest in Pakistan differ from one another, and also from Cosic's own account.  The media here cited agency reports that the Pakistani intelligence service had captured Cosic on 30 January in southern Waziristan (on the Pakistani-Afghan border), but he claims that he was captured by CIA operatives in Rawalpindi , a suburb of Islamabad , on 17 January.  However, according to Washington Post, whose correspondent was quoting Pakistan 's Major General Shaukat Sultan, Pakistan 's regular armed forces attacked a Taliban camp near the town of Zamzola and on that occasion killed 25-30 militants.  It is significant that the air raid was carried out early morning on Tuesday 16 January 2007 or only one day before Cosic was captured by the CIA.  "Our camp was four kilometres away; I retreated inland, and was captured the following day.  We were attacked first by six Pakistani helicopter and then three Apache helicopters, contrary to the American claim that they did no take part in the raid.  The ones I pulled from the rubble were not militants but civilians."

Some media also reported a statement by Bosnia-Herzegovina Ambassador to Pakistan Damir Dzanko who said that Cosic was issued temporary travel documents by the embassy, but when we contacted the MVP to confirm this, they denied that Ambassador Dzanko had ever issued such a statement.  The report on the alleged statement was carried by San, and on 22 January Cosic marched into the newsroom of this Sarajevo daily, threatening to blow everyone to pieces.  Recounting the incident, San journalists said they were frightened to death.  San's Editor in Chief Mensur Osmovic told us that the story of the incident was true, adding that he "believed that the person was confused." "He threatened that next time he came he would bring explosives, and said that even the Americans could do nothing to him.  I duly reported everything to the police," Osmovic told us.  In the mean time Cosic had arranged to meet Dani journalists, and a frantic chase ensued to find him.  He was arrested by the Sarajevo Canton MUP [Ministry of Internal Affairs] and it was then discovered that he was also sought by the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton police for aggravated theft!  However, Cosic was transferred to Mostar but was immediately released.  "That person was handed over to us, but we had in the mean time established that he was no longer on our wanted list.  We let him go and as far as we are concerned he is a free man," Srecko Bosnjak, the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton MUP spokesman, told us.

On hearing the account of the incident, one would immediately think that Cosic had burst into San's newsroom because they had followed his case and had linked him with Al-Qa'ida in their articles.  However, he revealed his real motives to Dani: "I am an Al-Qa'ida member and I am not upset if they call me a terrorist.  Allah told us to terrorize his enemies, and that is what I am doing and am proud of it.  If that is the case, then I am a terrorist on the path of Allah unlike the bearded ones who roam this country portraying themselves as true Muslims.  San wrote that my iman (the strength of faith) had weakened and that I had plotted with kufaars against my brothers.  That is a slur against my name and honor and that is why I threatened them.  But the story does not end here -- one day I will trace the journalist who wrote the article," he said in a threatening voice.

The diplomatic source cited by San claimed the opposite.  It said that Cosic had infiltrated the Al-Qa'ida training camp in Afghanistan on orders from the German intelligence service and that he was shown two photographs, one of Abu Muhammed, known as Ismail Jerba, and Abu Abdullah, known as Farad.  They are claimed to be the Al-Qa'ida instructors who trained two Germany-based Libyan students in how to make explosive devices from highly inflammable chemical substances.  According to the same source, the German intelligence service BND arrested the two students following a terrorist attack on London Underground in July 2005.  Cosic was instructed to locate the two instructors and try to lure them to the Afghan-Pakistani border where they would be captured by anti terrorist teams from the CIA, the BND, and the Pakistani intelligence service ISI.

Hell in Afghanistan , Bombs in Madrid

Cosic claims quite the opposite.  He says that he is in fact one of Al-Qa'ida's training instructors in how to make explosive devices!  "I have behind me 12 years of experience in waging jihad -- in Bosnia , Chechnya , Afghanistan and Pakistan .  I did everything to die as a true mujahedin on Allah's path, and Allah willing, it will happen one day!"  He also claims that he is still in contact with the "brothers" in Afghanistan, and that he is occasionally sent money, instructions, and if necessary, fatwas [opinion, advice] to help me face a difficult religious issue.  He seems to be very keen to stress that he has not betrayed the Taleban, and makes clear that: "I was a member of an Al-Qa'ida unit.  I agreed to speak to the media, so that you can write, if you dare, about what I have to say against America , which so far no one has wanted to hear."

According to information obtained by Dani from the Bosnia-Herzegovina Security Ministry, Nihad Cosic was born in Muhlacker in Germany on 6 November 1977.  He was issued his first CIPS [Citizens' Identification Protection System] document by the Sarajevo Canton MUP in Hadzici on 2 November 2007.  His presence in this country did not pass unnoticed.  Our reliable Security Ministry sources told us that at one stage Cosic was under close surveillance by the Anti Terrorism Department, but that he dropped "very low on the list of priorities," after it was ascertained that "he is no longer a security risk for Bosnia-Herzegovina."

"Of course, I am not a risk for Bosnia-Herzegovina," Cosic says, "but, over there," he reminisced, his eyes glaring with a manifest desire to show the strength of his faith which, as he claims, commands him to terrorize unbelievers.  "My expertise is in making anti tank explosive devices.  I was offered to work on Dresden , to attack the new railway station there.  But I prefer to be where real battles take place.  Beside, I am known in Europe and would be arrested immediately," he explains.  "I am an emir (leader) in charge of explosive handling.  I worked with groups of four to five trainees.  One of my tasks involved delivering money and plans from time to time because I moved around with ease.  I had a plan to kill, in the name of Allah, the kufaar [Pervez] Musharraf [president of Pakistan ], but was arrested in the mean time because Allah would not let me execute this plan at that time!  I would not like to talk about the details of my plan because as far as I know that plan could be activated one day."

Cosic is convinced that his superiors, who he claims are hiding in the mountains along the Afghan-Pakistani border (Waziristan) will face no problems because of his media appearances, and that he will continue to "receive help from them" since he is not giving away anything about the method "which they have successfully used over the last 20 years."  Cynics would probably be tempted to say that Al-Qa'ida sounds like a restaurant chain (Chez Osama would be a good name!) and not a criminal terrorist organization.

When one listens to this man who claims to be an explosive expert, making lethal devices sounds like a peace o cake, great fun.  "Pure C-4 [plastic explosive] is hard to get hold of and hydrogen peroxide is used instead to enhance its potency.  The latter can be obtained very easily if you know someone who works in chemical industry.  About 250 kilograms of C-4 can be made from 750 kilograms of hydrogen peroxide.  It was delivered to us in blue drums, and when I am in Afghanistan I simply call the shaykh and tell him what substances I need, and they have to get hold of them immediately.  Until the chemistry expert in the base has mixed all the necessary ingredients, I cannot do my job.  When I am given all the substances, I try to enhance the potency of the explosive, especially if it is TNT, because it is the weakest of all the explosives.  And since I make anti tank mines, let me tell you what happens.  When I am tipped off that a tank is expected to pass, since a tank weighs about 40 tons, I always use two 155-ce shells which I fill with explosive substance.  About two kilograms of explosive is enough for a tank.  Explosive devices are planted where we know that the tank will pass.  It is placed in a hole in the ground and detonating device is attached to it.  This device is connected to a cell phone.  It is important to find a marker, a big rock or a shrub, so that I can decide from the distance when to detonate the explosive device.  All I have to do when the tank appears is to wait for it to be in line with the marker.  I then count, one, two, three, bismillah [in the name of Allah...Everyone in the tank is practically cooked, their eyes pop out of their heads."

Cosic claims that the same device that he apparently often used, was also used in the terrorist attack on a Madrid railway station in which 191 people were killed and 1,755 wounded.

"I do not want you to think that I was in any way involved in the attacks on the Madrid railway system, but I had met the brothers who did it.  They even asked me for advice about which device to use.  And I gave them that advice.  But I know no further details, and even if I did, I would not divulge them.  I know that the money for the Madrid operation came from Germany .  As far as I know, the center was in Hamburg , but the preparations took place in Hanover .  It was in Hanover that the details of the operation were worked out.  The preparations involved four or five emirs [leaders] and as many associates in Madrid .  The people who were arrested on charges of preparing the Madrid operation will be convicted although they have nothing to do with it."

God willing, there will be jihad...

Cosic proceeded to unveil his closer links with the Madrid bombers claiming even that he himself should have taken part in that massacre.  "The Madrid bombing mastermind is still alive, may Allah protect him, and I do not believe that he will ever be captured.  I should have been part of the group who carried out the bombing, but they knew that I was working closely with the brothers in Afghanistan and could not take on the Madrid job because of some priorities in Afghanistan .  In any case, they did not need any help since there were enough of them for the Madrid operation.  They asked me which detonation device to use, clockwork or remote control, and I told them that remote control linked to a mobile telephone was better.  Vibrations from the cell phone activate the mechanism triggering an explosion.  I have met many worthy brothers -- I met Al-Muhajir who is suspected of the 11 September attack.  I met Abdurahman Punjabi who masterminded the attack in London on 7 July 2005 and through him I met the people who prepared the attack in Madrid ."

Having heard Cosic calmly talking about the deaths of hundreds of civilians or captured soldiers one cannot but ask the obvious question: Why is this man still at large?  We can only speculate that either there is not enough evidence against him, or his claims about his links with the German intelligence services are true.  Or perhaps his story, so hard to corroborate, sounds so surreal that the relevant services consider it not worthy their effort?

Still, it seems that there is nothing to stop him from living freely and normally with, as he claims, two wives!  "I do not respect local laws here and only obey Allah's law which allows me to have four wives, and I have no problem with it!"  Furthermore, he claims that Bosnia-Herzegovina is not threatened by any terrorist attacks at the moment, at least not from him personally since he has been "given no instruction to that end."  And if he was? "Killing people, even Bosnians -- that is a different matter.  If the emir orders me to kill someone, I first ask for reasons and evidence.  If he can prove that the person to be killed is a kufaar [unbeliever], I will comply with his order.  The emir's will has to be obeyed.

"I was also instructed, in the name of Allah, to do hijra (move elsewhere) and go to fight where Muslims need me.  Perhaps Allah will grant us jihad in Bosnia , and I pray to Allah every day that it happens.  But, Allah has opened door for jihad in other parts of the world -- Somalia , Nigeria , Algeria , Chechnya -- the choice is big.  I cannot bear this; I want to die on Allah's path, as a shehid [martyr]."

Money, or No Money, for Interview

Nihad Cosic contacted Dani one day after he had burst into the San newsroom.  He introduced himself as an Al-Qa'ida member and offered to tell us his story.  He mentioned some articles published by San, but did not tell us that he had also "visited" their newsroom.  He also asked how much Dani was prepared to pay for his exclusive story.  Nothing, he was told.  He boasted that he had a meeting scheduled with Amarildo Gutic to see "how much BHRT is prepared to pay."  As we have learned, Gutic met Cosic, but refused to pay anything for an interview.

In the mean time Cosic disappeared, and we learnt subsequently from the Sarajevo Canton MUP that he had been arrested over the incident in the San newsroom, and was handed over to the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton MUP.  It later came to light that Cosic's car was used for an aggravated burglary, but the Mostar police failed to link him with this crime since Cosic was abroad at the time the crime was committed.

Dani have contacted Cosic to ask him if it was true that he had threatened to bomb San.  In reply, he said: "Allah is my witness that I did not threaten to blow them up."  He again refused to give Dani an interview with the explanation that: "There is a problem.  Dnevni Avaz has offered me 500 KM [convertible marks -- Bosnian currency] for an interview providing I do not talk to anyone else before them.  Comrade, you will have to wait a bit."  However, after several questions about some details that had already been published about him, he agreed.  "Well, I am not really after money.  Thank God, I have as much as I need.  Some foreign media contacted me before and they offered money straight away.  I thought it was the same here."

Journey To Al-Qa'ida Camp

Shortly before the end of 2005, Nihad Cosic left Germany with the intention of reaching Afghanistan .  A diplomatic source, cited by the local press, claimed that on his journey Cosic was joined by a German convert to Islam, but Cosic maintains that no German accompanied him, and that he set off for Afghanistan on his own.  The source and Cosic agree over his point of departure and his destination, but differ about the details of his itinerary.  For instance, San says that Cosic took a train to Milan , then a bus to Ancona where he caught a ferry to a small town in Greece (he said he cannot remember its name), travel to Athens by taxi , and from there flew to Istanbul .

To our remark that, according to a report, it was in Athens that he made a telephone call, he said: "You see how kufaar [unbelievers] lie.  I did not telephone from Athens , but from Istanbul ."  So, according to the report and his own claims, Cosic contacted Ibrahim Turki, a former Al-Qa'ida combatant whose name became familiar after he was arrested by US troops in Afghanistan in 2002.  "Yes, that is true.  I met up with him.  He was instructed to meet me," Cosic explained.  It is interesting that Turki's name was already on the list of the Guantanamo detainees at the time when he was supposed to have met Cosic in Istanbul .  Cosic's task was to help three "brothers" reach their destinations in Afghanistan .

As we talk about his itinerary, we put a map of the region in front of Cosic.  With confidence of someone who either knows the terrain extremely well, or has learnt a great deal about the geography of Afghanistan and Pakistan , he points to unmarked locations mentioning their names and giving us an account of the means of transport he had to use to reach his destination and how long it took him.  According to him, the three novice mujahedin -- Abu Nur, Abu Talat, and Abu Zaar -- who were all Turks, left Istanbul by bus because they did not have enough money while Cosic flew to Tehran .  They agreed to meet in Mashhad , a town not far from the Iran-Pakistan border from where they were to continue their journey.  "I flew to Tehran , took a bus to Mashhad where I met the three Turks again.  We parted in Vanna around 3 December 2005."  He also mentioned that the Turks took 36 hours to reach Mashhad from Istanbul .  "We stayed in Mashhad for five or six days," he said, adding: "They got it right about Abu Bakr Uzbeki.  He did take us to Zahidan where we were met by two guides, Ali Akbar Al-Tajiki and Dadrjan Tajiki."  Mujahedin surnames often refer to the country from which they come (Uzbeki, Tajiki, Jazairi, Turki...).  These same surnames appear in the account given to San by their unnamed diplomatic source, albeit in slightly different forms: Ali Akbar Uzbeki and Dadar Jan Tafiki.  "They have no clue.  They must be joking.  They wrote that we reached Taftan on foot.  Do they know how far that is?  It is almost 70 kilometers.  We travelled by car driven by an Iranian.  His name was Abu Haji and he was paid for it."

From Iran they travelled through Pakistan , he explained, pointing his finger at various locations along the border, until they reached Quetta where he joined a training camp together with 50 others, mainly Turks.  The training was run by the well known mujahedin Abu Umar Al Turki.  Afterward, he went to Degan where he met Sallem Al Jaziri, former member of Al Mujahid brigade, who was linked with a terrorist attack in Mostar in 1997.  Cosic's account of what happened in the training camp to some extent differs from the intelligence report.  He, for instance, claims that he ran a course in handling explosives, while the intelligence report says it was Suleyman Al Jaziri and his deputy Abu Bashir from Kuwait .  Cosic refers to them as "my colleagues," explaining that: "As his name says, Al Jaziri comes from Algeria and not from Afghanistan .  Beside, the Abu Wafa Al Saudi mentioned in the report, was not our logistics expert, but was responsible for delivering food and other necessities to the families of the mujahedin during their absence."

"I never said that Abu Muhammed and Abu Abdullah were in Iran or elsewhere, as reported.  I am still in contact with them, and they are now somewhere else.  I did not flee to Bam after the attack on Zamzola.  What, to flee and leave my brothers!?  I was instructed to withdraw.  It is true, I passed through Bam -- the kufaar were obviously very good in monitoring my movement -- but I was on my way to Rawalpindi where I was eventually captured."