Al-Qaeda in Azerbaijan: Haspel and Sargsyan’s testimonies - Mediamax.am

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Al-Qaeda in Azerbaijan: Haspel and Sargsyan’s testimonies


Gina Haspel, Serzh Sargsyan
Gina Haspel, Serzh Sargsyan

Photo: NBC News/REUTERS


Yerevan /Mediamax/. The U.S. Senate’s confirmation hearing of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director nominee Gina Haspel on May 9 has revealed that she worked in Azerbaijan 20 years ago.

“On Aug. 7, 1998, while she was serving as chief of the CIA’s station in Baku, Azerbaijan, Haspel’s career took a turn. Al-Qaeda launched simultaneous bombings against U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing 224 people, including 12 Americans. A few days later, Haspel received a middle-of-the-night call summoning her to the office, where she learned that two senior al-Qaeda associates linked to the bombings were heading to the former Soviet republic. Working with Azerbaijan’s KGB-trained intelligence service, Haspel organized an operation to intercept the men. Haspel won a CIA award for her work,” reports The Washington Post.

 

Azerbajan, Al Qaeda and others

It is worth mentioning that in January 2002 then Armenian Defense Minister Serzh Sargsyan addressed the NATO ministerial meeting and said that mujahideens were fighting for Azerbaijan during the Karabakh war.

 

Serzh Sargsyan noted that after the cease-fire was established in 1994, some mujahideens stayed in Azerbaijan. “Ibrahim Eiduras, later arrested for participation in the 1998 Embassy bombings, led the Azeri branch of al-Qaeda between 1995 and 1997,” stated Sargsyan.

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