15,000 Fighters, 1,000 Assasinations & 4,000 IEDs: How Isis Publishes Annual Report Detailing Its Reign Of Terror Across The Middle East

The Islamist militant group Isis publishes annual reports detailing its reign of terror across the Middle East, it has been revealed. 

In 2013 alone, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIS, says it has carried out nearly 10,000 operations in Iraq, 1,000 assassinations, planted 4,000 improvised explosion devices and freed hundreds of radical prisoners. 

Isis also claims to have turned hundreds of 'apostates', or people with no previous allegiance, and says it now has at least 15,000 fighters in its ranks.

Details of the report emerged as new information about the way Isis is funded and attracts recruits came to light, with reports suggesting widespread support in South East Asia, particularly Indonesia - the country with the world’s biggest Muslim population.

 

Details: The Isis report uses computer-generated graphics to detail the group's reign of terror in the Middle East. This chart shows the number of explosive devices the group detonated in 2012 and 2013

The reports for 2012 and 2013 have been analysed by the U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War. 

It is believed Isis compiled the reports to attract potential donors and to paint a picture of a well organised military group with a clear political strategy. 

Nigel Inkster, former assistant chief of UK intelligence service MI6, told the Financial Times: 'They
produce [the reports] almost like a company, with details of martyrdom operations and targets. You have a clear overlay of structure, planning and strategy to the organisation.' 

The documents also clearly mark out that Isis' long-term intention is to control the Sunni-populated areas of Iraq.

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Numbers: Another set of graphics in the report shows the weaponry Isis now has in its possession

Isis claims in the 2013 report to have 15,000 fighters who have carried out 1,000 assassinations

Financially, it is believed the group had already been extorting taxes from businesses in Mosul before
the Isis takeover and netting about £8million.

Out of the 15,000 fighters Isis has at its disposal, 12,000 of them are believed to be from outside Iraq and Syria - the majority of these from neighbouring Middle Eastern countries.

However an estimated 2,000 are believed to have arrived from European countries, including Britain, with a growing number of arrivals from countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia.

It is from this South East Asia connection that Isis now attracts much of its funding, according to a report in Time.

The claim is that, as jihadist movements in Malaysia and Indonesia weaken thanks to arrests of high-profile Islamists in the wake of the 2002 Bali bombings, extremists in South East Asia are now looking towards the conflicts in Iraq and Syria as an outlet for their anger and finances.

Over the past week, fierce fighting has erupted in the northern approaches to Baghdad as pro-government Shiite militiamen desperately clung on to the last town before the capital in the face of a lightning-quick assault by Sunni Arab militants.

Meanwhile, in the west, Isis claimed it has taken control of the key border areas near Tal Afar and is rounding up Iraqi soldiers after a battle at an undisclosed location near the Syrian/Iraq border.

It is part of their stated aim to mark out the frontiers of a new Islamic state, merging the Iraqi areas they now control with rebel areas in Syria to form a Caliphate.

Social media like this Twitter feed has played a huge role in recruiting members of Isis especially from overseas

The road to Baghdad: Fierce fighting is currently taking place at Baqubah, the last major city before the capital, as ISIS militants seize control of vast swathes of northern Iraq

Washington has deployed some 275 military personnel to protect its embassy in Baghdad, the first time it has sent troops to Iraq since it withdrew its forces at the end of 2011 after a bloody and costly
intervention launched in 2003.

The jihadists have killed scores of Iraqi soldiers as they pushed their advance, including
in a 'horrifying' massacre in Salaheddin province that has drawn international condemnation.

Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has called for volunteers to join the battle against the
militants and thousands have signed up.

More have returned home from neighbouring Syria, where they had been fighting alongside government forces against mainly Sunni rebels, a monitoring group said.

However, social media has been at the forefront of the ISIS campaign. Images from the group's
stronghold in the north of the country are appearing on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. 

It is also one of the reasons why the group has attracted fighters from foreign countries, including 2,000 from Europe. 

The Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) grew out of Al Qaeda In Iraq, a militant group that emerged in the chaos engulfing the country after the 2003 invasion.

They rebranded themselves after the Syrian uprising, attracting foreign fighters and controlling areas with extreme brutality, such as beheadings and crucifixions.

Iraq has been spiralling back into chaos this year after Isis first captured Fallujah then fought for control of Samarra and organised prison breaks.

Yet, the world was caught by surprise last Tuesday when the fanatics seized Mosul, Iraq’s second city.

Then they took Saddam Hussein’s birthplace of Tikrit and drove south towards the capital Baghdad.

Culled from DailyMail