ISIS Militants Complain Of Saudi Favoritism In Suicide Missions: Saudi Friends, Family Members Favored On Suicide ‘Waiting Lists’

A pro-ISIS Dagestani preacher, Kamil Abu Sultan ad-Daghestani, has complained that Saudi ISIS bosses in Iraq are favoring their relatives and friends instead of the most deserving in the choice of who is next to die in a suicide truck or car bomb mission.

Dagestan is a region in Russia’s North Caucasus, one of the major sources of recruits for ISIS battalions in Iraq and Syria.

According to Radio Free Europe, Abu Sultan alleged that the nepotistic Saudi bureaucracy in ISIS discriminates against non-Saudi militants in Syria, by forcing them to stay much longer on “waiting lists” for those to become martyrs.

In the formal complaint titled “Corruption In Dawlah,” posted to the jihadi website Qonah, Abu Sultan alleged that nepotism in the management of suicide-bomber waiting lists was revealed to him by a senior Chechen militant, Akhmed Chatayev, also known as Akhmad al-Shishani, in charge of an ISIS battalion called the Yarmouk Battalion.

Abu Sultan said that his informant complained that due to favoritism, the waiting list for Syrian wannabe-suicide-bombers has grown unwieldy and many militants who volunteered to die in suicide missions ended up dying instead on the battle field – this being an undesirable thing because suicide missions are considered the most prestigious way for a jihadi to die as it earns superior reward in paradise.

Frustration over long waiting lists to the Muslim paradise has forced aspiring martyrs in Syria to go to Iraq to join much shorter waiting lists.

Abu Sultan wrote in the complaint, “Amir [Leader] Akhmed al-Shishani told me about a young lad who went to Iraq for a suicide mission, and he went there because in Sham [Syria] there is a veeeeery long queue [of several thousand people].”

But when the young man got to Iraq, he found that Saudi favoritism deprived him of the opportunity to be blown up. Those with the right Saudi family connections were being pushed ahead of him to the top of the waiting list. After three months of waiting, the young man gave up dreams to be blown up and returned to Syria in utter disappointment.

When the young man returned to Syria, he went to see Akhmed Chatayev and complained bitterly about Saudi nepotism in the choice of who is next to die as a suicide bomber. He alleged that only those with the right family connections were being chosen to die.

“Those Saudis have got things sewn up, they won’t let anyone in, they are letting their relatives go to the front of the line using blat.”

“Blat,” according to Radio Free Europe, is a slang derived from Russian, meaning “connections.”

Abu Sultan suggested that the best way to deal with the problem was to lodge complaint at the highest level of the ISIS hierarchy, which means reporting the matter to the ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

But it appears that the ISIS corruption goes all the way to the top: The son of al-Baghdadi’s second-in-command was recently allowed to go on a suicide bombing mission, apparently after being pushed over others on the waiting list. And recently, Baghdadi’s brother became a martyr.

It has been known for some time that ISIS militants have waiting lists for suicide bombers. Kabir Ahmed, a British militant from Derby, who was in Syria, once revealed on BBC’s Panorama program that he was on a waiting list to martyrdom. The 32-year-old, also known as Abu Sammyh Al Brittani, said he was having problems pushing his name to the top of the list.

Ahmed finally left Syria and went to Iraq to hasten his translation to paradise. In his case, he got what he wished for. He was martyred in Baiji, in a car suicide bombing in November, 2014, after possibly having bribed the Saudi lords to help facilitate his translation to glory.

Others who are known to have gone to Iraq in the quest for martyrdom include 18-year-old Australian jihadi Jake Bilardi, who went to Iraq in March where he joined 12 other lucky fellows on a privileged waiting list to die in Ramadi.

He reportedly wrote in a blog post, “waiting for my turn to stand before Allah,” adding that there is a “current waiting list of 12 martyrdom bombers, of which I am one.”

It is alleged that fighters from Western countries are favored probably due to the propaganda value of using them as suicide bombers.

Meanwhile, ISIS authorities have asked those aspiring to martyrdom to be patient. According to an official guide book for martyrs, aspirants need to first pass through a boot camp orientation and prove their worth on the battlefield.

[Images: Wikimedia Commons/Wikimedia Commons]