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El Mudžahid
Active1992–95
Disbanded1995
Country Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina
BranchArmy of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina
TypeInfantry
Size500–6,000 (details)
EngagementsBosnian War

Bosnian mujahideen (Bosnian: Bosanski mudžahedini), also called El Mudžahid (from Arabic: مجاهد, mujāhid), were foreign Muslim volunteers who fought on the Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) side during the 1992–95 Bosnian War. These first arrived in central Bosnia in the second half of 1992 with the aim of fighting for Islam (as mujahideen), helping their Bosnian Muslim co-religionists to defend themselves from the Serb and Croat forces. Mostly they came from North Africa, the Near East and the Middle East. Estimates of their numbers vary from 500–6,000.

Background[edit]

See also: Breakup of Yugoslavia and Bosnian War

In the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991, Slovenia and Croatia declared independence, leading to the Ten-Day War in Slovenia and the Croatian War of Independence. Meanwhile, the 1992 Bosnian independence referendum led to a new Muslim-led government. In April, Bosnian Serbs rebelled against the new government.[1]

Abu Abdel Aziz, at that time leading mujahideen forces in the Afghan Civil War, travelled to Bosnia and Herzegovina to check if Arab-Afghan mujahideen could be established in the region. He concluded that "All Muslims should participate, either by contributing money, caring for orphans and widows, taking in refugees or fighting in the jihad."[2] Abdel Aziz was self-proclaimed Emir of all Arab-Afghan fighters in Bosnia and established the first mujahideen training camp at Mehurići, near the city of Travnik in Central Bosnia.[3][4]

TODO: Jamal al-Fadl, Enaam Arnaout (Benevolence International Foundation, Abu Zubayr al-Madani

TODO: Anwar Shaaban

TODO: Abdelkader Mokhtari

https://css.ethz.ch/en/services/digital-library/articles/article.html/92320

Size[edit]

Estimates of the mujahideen forces size vary from 500 to 6,000. In 2003, Charles R. Shrader reported that HVO general Tihomir Blaškić had estimated 3,000 to 4,000, but the actual figure would probably be closer to 2,000, based on testimonies given in the ICTY trial against Dario Kordić and Mario Čerkez [bs].[5] In 2004, Evan Kohlmann stated that "the deployment of Arab fighters in Bosnia who were generally loyal to the jihadi leadership in Afghanistan exploded in the mid-1990s into numbers sometimes estimated even to exceed 5,000".[6] Stephen Schwartz stated that "up to 6,000 “Arab Afghan” volunteers arrived in the country and enlisted in combat."[7] In 2011, Thomas Hegghammer estimated the number of foreign Muslim fighters in Bosnia to be 1,000–2,000.[8] In 2013, the International Crisis Group estimated that "between 2,000 and 5,000 fought in BiH."[9] In 2017, a Center for Strategic and International Studies report stated that "figures range from 500–5,000 with a preponderance of estimates in the 1,000–2,000 range", citing Hegghammer for the later estimate.[10]

Origin[edit]

After Bosnian War[edit]

Influence on Bosniak mujahideen abroad[edit]

  • Syria

Draft notes[edit]

Kohlmann, 2004[edit]

Background:

Start:

  • 1992 Bosnian independence referendum and Serb rebellion, Bosnian War.[1]
  • "early mujahideen joining Bosnian civil defense" [12]
  • After Government crackdown, some Afghan mujahideen flee to the Balkans.[12]
    • Involvement from Abdel Aziz al-Muqrin [13]
    • "The new Amir quickly established his first headquarters at the Mehurici training camp, near the central-Bosnian town of Travnik"[2]
  • Al Qaeda usage of Bosnia to establish a base against the US.[14]
  • Recruitment:
    • Islamic Cultural Institute[15]

Role of Islamic Charities:[16]

ICG, 2013[edit]

Background:

Start:

  • "Muslim foreign fighters were given an official status, when the El Mujahed unit was established as a part of the ABH 3rd Corps in 1993." [9]

Inspiration, spiritual leaders:

  • Nezim ef. Halilović[18]

ICTY accusations[9]

Size of force estimation: "Between 2,000 and 5,000 fought in BiH before the 1995 Dayton peace ac-cord, after which most were expelled under strong U.S. pressure." [9]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Kohlmann 2004, p. 15.
  2. ^ a b Kohlmann 2004, p. 18.
  3. ^ Kohlmann 2004, p. 18; Curtis 2010, p. 207; ICTY 2009, p. 6.
  4. ^ Hussein, Tam (31 July 2018). "The Bosnian Jihad: An interview with Abu Abdel Aziz Barbaros". Retrieved 12 April 2020. [self-published source]
  5. ^ Shrader 2003, p. 179.
  6. ^ Kohlmann 2004, p. xii.
  7. ^ Schwartz 2004.
  8. ^ Hegghammer 2011.
  9. ^ a b c d ICG 2013, p. 14.
  10. ^ Donnelly, Sanderson & Fellman 2017, p. 8.
  11. ^ Kohlmann 2004, pp. 3–12.
  12. ^ a b Kohlmann 2004, p. 16.
  13. ^ Kohlmann 2004, pp. 16–18.
  14. ^ Kohlmann 2004, p. 19.
  15. ^ Kohlmann 2004, p. 21.
  16. ^ Kohlmann 2004, pp. 35–52.
  17. ^ ICG 2013, p. 3.
  18. ^ ICG 2013, pp. 15–16.

Cited works[edit]

Main bibliography
Journals
ICTY documents
Press
Press (columns or potential due weight issues)
Just passages
Documentaries
Interesting primary sources
Other sources

Possible page move proposal[edit]

Still not sure...

  • El Mudžahid is the officially recognized detachment, but does not encompass all mujahideen in Bosnia since 1992 and after the war. It is used by the ICTY (example).
  • In previous discussions
  • Evan Kohlmann (2004) [1] used the term Bosnian mujahideen extensively in his book, but he also used El Mujahid extensively in his later text in 2006 ([2]).
  • Take with a grain of salt (WP:GOOGLEHITS): but "Bosnian mujahideen" returns 15,200 results in Google, "Mujahideen in Bosnia" returns "26,000" and "El Mudžahid" returns 34,400. Although the later is probably because it is used in pages in multiple languages, not just English.

Related articles[edit]

Mahmoud Mohamed Ahmed Bahaziq[edit]

Anwar Shaban[edit]

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