Thread: 1) #ISIS & prison breaks: In the latest issue of its weekly paper al-Naba, ISIS highlights how the goal of freeing male and female prisoners linked to the group is “at the top of its list of priorities”, urging its militants to totally focus on this goal
2) IS dedicated a lengthy editorial to the subject and separately in the publication shared details of its 2-3 Aug attack on a central prison in the Afghan city of Jalalabad, in which IS said it freed “hundreds” of Muslims, including members of the group
3) In al-Naba, IS repeated its earlier claim that 11 militants had taken part in the attack, but this time revealed that 4 were Indian, 4 Tajik and 3 were Afghan, according to their noms de guerre. (an earlier recording attributed to IS "Khorasan" official gave similar info)
4) In its editorial, IS openly admitted, for the first time I think, that it does “secret” prisoner swaps to free its members. It added that some of its raids are in fact designed to capture people, esp high-profile figures, in order to later trade them with “Muslim” prisoners
Back in 2018 I wrote something about IS's clear change in hostage strategy: monitoring.bbc.co.uk/product/c200c8…
5) In addition to seeking to free prisoners, IS said it tries to “ease the pressure on prisoners” by targeting or terrorising jailers and investigators to intimidate them and prevent them from delivering lengthy sentences against jihadists or harassing them in prisons
6) This week IS claimed to have killed an investigator and a jailer in eastern Syria, citing their alleged role in persecuting Muslim prisoners
7) Following the “success” of its Jalalabad prison attack, IS likely has its sights on prisons & detention camps in E. Syria where thousands of IS members & families are held
8) The presence of IS-linked women in these camps continues to be a source of embarrassment for the group, which is why it needs to be seen as doing something to "rescue" them
9) Another interesting angle to look at and which may have prompted IS's renewed focus on prisoners, is that the #Taliban is making IS look bad, given the former's successful efforts in securing the release of hundreds of its imprisoned members through political deals
In that sense and in the context of the rivalry between the two, the Taliban is seen as a group that looks after its members and doesn't abandon them
Correction: tweet number 3, there were apparently 3 Indian attackers and one Pakistani, according to the noms de guerre given by IS. I mistakenly took the kunya "al-Punjabi" to mean he was Indian. Thanks to @kashmirosint for bringing to my attention
