Bilal Soughir Network (Jihadi Entity, Belgium)

• Local Name: N/a
• Transliteration: N/a
• Alternatives: N/a
• Status: 2004 – 2005 (Defeated)
• Conflicts: Islamist Militancy in Belgium

The Bilal Soughir Network [BSN] was a shadowy Belgian al-Qa’ida-affiliated jihadi entity. The network was based in the Brussels suburb of Sint-Joost-ten-Node and was primarily made up of members of the city’s North African immigrant communities.¹ The BSN’s associates usually met at sports facilities to avoid detection by the Belgian authorities.²

The network was headed by Bilal Soughir who also acted as its ideologue.³ Nabil Karmoun served as Soughir’s deputy.⁴ The BSN was linked to influential al-Qa’ida associate Malika el-Aroud.⁵ She reportedly provided guidance and financial support to Soughir and his companions. The BSN was also linked to Ahmed Bentaïeb and his associates in France.⁶ Bentaïeb gave logistical support to the Belgian jihadis. Operatives of the BSN were furthermore said to have been in contact with Belgian members of the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group [GICM; Groupe Islamique Combattant Marocain].⁷

The BSN’s objective was to assist al-Qa’ida’s operations in Iraq. It raised funds and recruited Belgian fighters to reinforce the ranks of the jihadis in Iraq.⁸ The network was in contact with a Turkey-based international operations chief of al-Qa’ida known only as Abu Mazen who apparently helped establish relations with affiliates in Iraq.⁹ Over time, Soughir and his associates set up direct communications with leaders of Ahmed al-Khalayleh’s Organization of the Jihadi Base in Mesopotamia [AQI; Tanzim Qa’idat al-Jihad fi-Bilad al-Rafidain].¹⁰

Soughir’s network began sending Belgian jihadis to Iraq in the spring of 2004. These militants traveled to Iraq via Turkey from where they passed through Syria to receive training.¹¹ Although less than a dozen members eventually made it to Iraq, their stay was nevertheless eventful.¹² One of the BSN’s associates fought against American troops in the infamous Battle of Falluja in late 2004.¹³ The network gained notoriety when a recruit became Europe’s first female suicide bomber. On Nov. 09, 2005, the Walloon convert detonated her explosives-laden car next to an American military convoy in Ba’quba, in the Diyala governorate.¹⁴ Five Iraqi policemen were killed in the attack. American troops eliminated her husband the next day when he tried to blow himself up as well.¹⁵

Shortly after the November 2005 incidents, Belgium’s authorities moved against the BSN.¹⁶ Police forces raided premises used by the network’s operatives in Brussels, Charleroi and the province of Limburg.¹⁷ Soughir, Karmoun and other key members of the BSN were arrested in the operation. The French authorities simultaneously apprehended Bentaïeb and three of his associates.¹⁸

In January 2008, a Belgian court handed Soughir a ten-year prison sentence for his role in the network’ jihadi activities. Other BSN operatives were also sentenced to prison.¹⁹ An appeals court acquitted several convicts and halved the prison terms of others in June 2008.²⁰