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'''Bosnian Mujahideen''' (also referred to as '''El Mujaheed''' or '''El Mujahid''') is the term often used for the [[Muslim]] volunteers to fight on the Bosnian government side during the 1992-1995 [[Bosnian War]]. It is estimated that the number of volunteers numbered about 4,000<ref>,[http://www.nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime-l-0110/msg00060.html LA Times], Bosnia Seen as Hospitable Base and Sanctuary for Terrorists, 8 October 2001</ref> with the majority coming from countries such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, Egypt, Algeria and Saudi Arabia. In addition to the Mujahideen volunteers, there were also several hundred [[Iranian Revolutionary Guards]] supporting the Bosnian government during the war. <ref>[http://www.usip.org/pubs/specialreports/early/dayton_imp/train_equip.html United States Institute of Peace], Dayton Implementation: The Train and Equip Program, September 1997 | Special Report No. 25</ref> Many of the Bosnian Mujahideen were supported financially from Saudi Arabia.

==Bosnian War==

{{main|Bosnian War}}

Foreign mujahideen arrived in central Bosnia in the second half of 1992 with the aim of helping their Bosnian [[Muslim]] ([[Bosniak]]) coreligionists in the war against Bosnian [[Serb]] and Bosnian [[Croat]] forces. Mostly they came from [[North Africa]], the [[Near East]] and the [[Middle East]]. On 13 August 1993, the Bosnian government officially organized foreign volunteers into the detachment known as ''El Mudžahid'' in order to impose control and order.<ref>[http://www.un.org/icty/hadzihas/trialc/judgement/060315/hadz-sum060315.htm ICTY], Summary of the Judgmenet for Enver Hadzihasanovic and Amir Kubura, 15 March 2006</ref>
Initially, the foreign Mujahideen gave food and other basic necessities to the local Muslim population, deprived many necessities by the Serb forces. Once hostilities broke out between the Bosnian government (ABiH) and the Croat forces (HVO), the Mujahideen also participated in battles against the HVO alongside ABiH units.<ref>[http://www.un.org/icty/hadzihas/trialc/judgement/060315/hadz-sum060315.htm ICTY], Summary of the Judgmenet for Enver Hadzihasanovic and Amir Kubura, 15 March 2006</ref>

The foreign mujahideen actively recruited young local men, offering them military training, uniforms and weapons. As a result, some local Bosniaks joined the foreign mujahideen and in the process became local Mujahideen.<ref>[http://www.un.org/icty/hadzihas/trialc/judgement/060315/hadz-sum060315.htm ICTY], Summary of the Judgmenet for Enver Hadzihasanovic and Amir Kubura, 15 March 2006</ref> They imitated the foreigners in both the way they dressed and behaved, to such an extent that it was sometimes, according to the ICTY documentation in subsequent war crimes trials, "difficult to distinguish between the two groups. For that reason, the ICTY has used the term "Mujahideen" (which they spell Mujahedin) to designate foreigners from [[Arab]] countries, but also local Muslims (ie [[Bosniaks]]) who joined the Mujahideen units.<ref name=ICTY-Antonetti>[http://www.un.org/icty/hadzihas/trialc/judgement/060315/hadz-sum060315.htm ICTY], Summary of the Judgmenet for Enver Hadzihasanovic and Amir Kubura, [[15 March]] 2006. See section "VI. The Mujahedin"</ref>

The first mujahideen training camp was located in [[Poljanice]] next to the village of Mehurici, in the Bila valley, in [[Travnik]] municipality. The mujahideen group established there included mujahideen from Arab countries as well as some Bosniaks. The Mujahideen from Poljanice camp were also established in the towns of [[Zenica]] and Travnik and, from the second half of 1993 onwards, in the village of [[Orasac]], also located in the Bila valley.<ref>[http://www.un.org/icty/hadzihas/trialc/judgement/060315/hadz-sum060315.htm ICTY], Summary of the Judgmenet for Enver Hadzihasanovic and Amir Kubura, 15 March 2006</ref><ref>[http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?id=6540 Spero News], Bosnia: Muslims upset by Wahhabi leaders, Adrian Morgan, 13 November 2006</ref>

The military effectiveness of the mujahideen is disputed. However, former US Balkans peace negotiator [[Richard Holbrooke]] said in an interview that "I think the Muslims wouldn't have survived without this" help. At the time a U.N. arms embargo diminished the Bosnian government's fighting capabilities. Holbrooke called the arrival of the mujahideen "a pact with the devil" from which Bosnia still is recovering.<ref>,[http://www.nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime-l-0110/msg00060.html LA Times], Bosnia Seen as Hospitable Base and Sanctuary for Terrorists, 8 October 2001</ref>

===Relationship to the Bosnian government army (ABiH) ===

The extent to which the Bosnian Mujahideen were part of the regular Bosnian government army (ABiH) is contentious. The issue has formed part of two [[ICTY]] [[war crimes]] trials.

In its judgement in the case of ICTY v. [[Enver Hadzihasanovic]] and [[Amir Kubura]] the ICTY found that <blockquote>"there are significant indicia of a subordinate relationship between the Mujahedin and the Accused prior to 13 August 1993. Testimony heard by the Trial Chamber and, in the main, documents tendered into evidence demonstrate that the ABiH maintained a close relationship with the foreign Mujahedin as soon as these arrived in central Bosnia in 1992. Joint combat operations are one illustration of that. In Karaula and Visoko in 1992, at Mount Zmajevac around mid-April 1993 and in the Bila valley in June 1993, the Mujahedin fought alongside AbiH units against Bosnian Serb and Bosnian Croat forces." <ref>http://www.un.org/icty/hadzihas/trialc/judgement/060315/hadz-sum060315.htm ICTY], Summary of the Judgmenet for Enver Hadzihasanovic and Amir Kubura, 15 March 2006</ref></blockquote>

According to testimony and evidence presented at the [[ICTY]] trial of Bosnian government General [[Rasim Delic]], which began in July 2007, the Bosnian Mujahideen operated under the control of the Bosnian army (ABiH) though with their own commanders. <ref>[http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&storyid=2007-09-07T164805Z_01_L07470729_RTRUKOC_0_US-BOSNIA-WARCRIMES-TRIAL.xml Reuters], Muslim fighter begins testimony in Bosnia trial, 7 September 2007</ref> <ref>[http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL14581486 Reuters], Tape suggests Bosnian general lied about mujahideen, 14 September 2007</ref>

===ICTY indictment of Bosnian general Rasim Delic===

At the trial of [[Rasim Delic]] witnesses for the ICTY have described how Bosnian mujahideen fighters, under Bosnian government army control, committed war crimes against captured Bosnian Serb soldiers and civilians. According to the indictment, on 21 June 1995, two soldiers from the Bosnian Serb forces (VRS) were captured and subsequently beheaded by members of the Bosnian army and Mujahideen fighers. Other soldiers, taken prisoner on the same day, were said to have been severely beaten over several days and then taken to the Kamenica camp. A third soldier was reported to have been decapitated there on 24 July 1995. The other prisoners were said to have been given the order to kiss the head, which was then put on display in the room where they were being held. The prisoners in the Kamenica camp were reportedly beaten and tortured, on occasion by means of electroshocks. According to the indictment, on 11 September 1995, around 60 soldiers from the VRS were taken prisoner by the Bosnian army, at the same time as several civilians amongst which were three women. This group was transferred to the camp in Kamenica.<ref>[http://www.trial-ch.org/en/trial-watch/profile/db/facts/rasim_delic_273.html Trial Watch: Rasim Delic]</ref> The 60 soldiers taken prisoner disappeared thereafter and are presumed to be dead. As for the three women the indictment states that they were subjected to acts of violence, in particular to rape. They were released on 15 November 1995. Another group of 10 soldiers from the VRS was also taken to the Kamenica camp on 10 September 1995. They were all subjected to cruel treatment during a period of about 12 days.<ref>[http://www.trial-ch.org/en/trial-watch/profile/db/facts/rasim_delic_273.html Trial Watch: Rasim Delic]</ref>

According to the indictment, Rasim Delic was aware that the Mujahideen members of the Bosnian army had a distinct tendency to commit crimes especially against captured enemy combatants and civilians and that the Kamenica camp was being used as a place in which these crimes could be perpetrated. Reportedly, however, he took no measures whatsoever to stop these acts taking place.<ref>[http://www.trial-ch.org/en/trial-watch/profile/db/facts/rasim_delic_273.html Trial Watch: Rasim Delic]</ref>

== After the war ==

The foreign mujahideen units were supposed to be disbanded and required to leave the Balkans under the terms of the 1995 Dayton peace accord, but many stayed. Although the US State Department report suggested that the number could be higher, a senior [[SFOR]] official said allied military intelligence estimated that no more than 200 foreign-born militants actually live in Bosnia, of which closer to 30 represent a hard-core group with direct links to terrorism.<ref> [http://www.nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime-l-0110/msg00060.html LA Times], Bosnia Seen as Hospitable Base and Sanctuary for Terrorists, 8 October 2001</ref><ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/840241.stm BBC, Mujahideen fight Bosnia evictions, 18 July 2000]</ref> In September 2007, 50 of these individuals had their citizenship status revoked. Since then 100 more individuals have been prevented from claiming citizenship rights. 250 more were under investigation, while the body which is charged to reconsider the citizenship status of the foreign volunteers in the Bosnian war, including Christian fighters from Russia and Western Europe, states that 1,500 cases will eventually be examined.

== Links to Al Qaeda and Islamic terrorism==

Following the end of the Bosnian War and, especially, after the [[11 September attacks]] on the World Trade Center, the links between the Bosnian Mujahideen, Al Qaeda and the radicalization of some European Muslims has become more widely discussed. In an interview with US journalist [[Jim Lehrer]] former US peace envoy to Bosnia [[Richard Holbrooke]] states:

<blockquote>There were over 1,000 people in the country who belonged to what we then called Mujahideen freedom fighters.

We now know that that was [[al-Qaida]]. I'd never heard the word before, but we knew who they were. And if you look at the 9/11 hijackers, several of those hijackers were trained or fought in Bosnia. We cleaned them out, and they had to move much further east into Afghanistan. So if it hadn't been for Dayton, we would have been fighting the terrorists deep in the ravines and caves of Central Bosnia in the heart of Europe. <ref>[http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/bosnia/july-dec05/holbrooke_11-22.html PBS Newshour with Jim Jim Lehrer], A New Constitution for Bosnia, 22 November 2005</ref></blockquote>

In 1996, in a book titled "Offensive In the Balkans", Dr. [[Yossef Bodansky]], Director of the Congressional Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare of the [[United States House of Representatives|US House of Representatives]] from 1988 to 2004, wrote as follows on the "Bosnian Jehad":

<blockquote>"...The build-up of new Islamist units was completed in Bosnia- Herzegovina in the Spring of 1995. These forces are closely associated with the Armed Islamist Movement (AIM) and Islamist international terrorismsuicide terrorists), both veteran Arabs and newly trained Bosnians. <ref>[http://www.saag.org/papers4/paper306.html South Asia Analysis Group], Bosnia & Hyderabad, by B.Raman, 3 September 2001</ref></blockquote>

London's ''[[The Spectator]]'' has noted, "If Western intervention in Afghanistan created the mujahedin, Western intervention in Bosnia appears to have globalised it." Several current and former top al-Qaeda militants and financiers reportedly participated in the Bosnian civil war with the full support of the United States. It was for the Bosnian jihad that the 9/11 'paymaster', [[Omar Sheikh]], was reportedly recruited to fight by the CIA and MI6. Al-Qada, in addition to his reported financing of the Bosnian jihad, has been identified as one of [[Osama bin Laden]]'s "chief money launderers". <ref>[http://www.theamericanmonitor.com/scratching.html The American Monitor], Scratching the Surface, by Devlin Buckley, 16 November 2006</ref> In his paper on the connection between Bosnian mujahideen and 'home grown' terrorists in Europe, terrorism expert Evan F. Kohlmann writes that:
<blockquote>Indeed, some of the most important factors behind the contemporary radicalization of European Muslim youth can be found in Bosnia-Herzegovina, where the cream of the Arab mujahideen from Afghanistan tested their battle skills in the post-Soviet era and mobilized a new generation of pan-Islamic revolutionaries. <ref>[http://www.fhs.se/upload/Webbadmin/Organisation/CATS/Kohlmann.doc The Afghan-Bosnian Mujahideen Network in Europe], by Evan F. Kohlmann</ref></blockquote>

== Further reading ==
*[http://www.slobodnaevropa.org/specials/al_kaida/index.htm Radio Free Europe - Al-Qaeda In Bosnia-Herzegovina: Myth Or Present Danger], Vlado Azinovic's research about the alleged presence of Al-Qaeda in Bosnia and the role of Arab fighters in the Bosnian War
*[http://www.fhs.se/upload/Webbadmin/Organisation/CATS/Kohlmann.doc The Afghan-Bosnian Mujahideen Network in Europe], by, Evan F. Kohlmann. The paper was presented at a conference held by the Swedish National Defence College's Center for Asymmetric Threat Studies (CATS) in Stockholm in May 2006 at the request of Dr. Magnus Ranstorp - former director of the St. Andrews University Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence - and now Chief Scientist at CATS). It is also the title of a [http://www.amazon.com/dp/1859738079 book] by the same author.

== See also ==

*[[Bosnian War]]
*[[Mujahideen]]
*[[Alija Izetbegovic]]
*[[Revolutionary Guards]]
*[[Jihad]]
*[[7th Muslim Brigade]]
*[[Al Qaeda]]

== External links ==
*[http://www.sense-agency.com/en/stream.php?sta=3&pid=11174&kat=3 ICTY - FINAL JUDGMENT FOR HADZIHASANOVIC AND KUBURA]
*[http://www.sense-agency.com/en/stream.php?kat=3 SENSE Tribunal - ICTY trials]
*[http://www.un.org/icty/indictment/english/del-ii050317e.pdf ICTY indictment] against Rasim Delic
*[http://www.slobodnaevropa.org/specials/al_kaida/index.htm Radio Free Europe - Al-Qaeda In Bosnia-Herzegovina: Myth Or Present Danger] {{bs icon}}
*[http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2007/06/d6b723a8-5eef-4807-8aba-dcb57d100af8.html Radio Free Europe - Bosnia-Herzegovina: New Book Investigates Presence Of Al-Qaeda]
*[http://www1.economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/displaystory.cfm?subjectid=348882&story_id=9483606 The Economist], Balkan extremists, 12 July 2007
*[http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/1yr_arc_articles.asp?Article=193129&Sn=BNEW&IssueID=30171&date=9-7-2007 Gulf Daily News], Bahraini key witness in Hague atrocity trial, 7 September 2007
*[http://www.bim.ba/en/79/10/4113/ Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN)], CTY: BiH Army Knew About Mujahedin Crimes, 8 September 2007
*[http://www.trial-ch.org/en/trial-watch/profile/db/facts/rasim_delic_273.html Trial], profile of Rasim Delic, former Chief of Staff of the Army of Bosnian Muslims responsible for the Bosnian Mujahideen

== References and notes ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Yugoslav wars}}

[[Category:Bosniaks]]
[[Category:History of Bosnia and Herzegovina]]
[[Category:War crimes in former Yugoslavia]]
[[Category:History of the Balkans]]
[[Category:Bosnian War 1995]]