Van'a Kamoni

Van'a Kamoni
A surveillance picture of Kamoni in Northwest Vulkaria in 2018.
Supreme Commandant Malvarian Liberation Front
Personal details
Born	January 14th, 1969 Amstelveen, Vulkaria
Died	March 1st, 2020 (Age:51) Monza, Vulkaria
Nationality	Vulkarian
Height	6 ft 2 in (188 cm)
Spouse(s)	Multiple spouses
Children	Erik, Timothy, Deve, at least 20 others
Military service
Battles/wars	First War in Vulkaria Second War in Vulkaria 2017-19 insurgency 2020 War in Vulkaria

Van'a Kamoni was the leader of the Malvarian Liberation Front, an international terrorist organization operating from Vulkaria. He was widely regarded as one of the most dangerous and wanted individuals in the International Democratic Union, specifically for his roles in attacks on Zamastanian troops during the Second War in Vulkaria, and sponsoring terrorist attacks on several nations in the IDU including Zamastan, Cadair, Laeral, and Legionas. He became the leader of the M.L.F. following the assassination of the group's founder, Samuel Kannit, on May 9th, 2006. His leadership role was not discovered until 2014, before which time he was thought only to be a mafia boss. He is the father of two other prolific terrorists: Erik "the Butcher" Kamoni and Timothy Kamoni. He was killed in a raid on March 1st, 2020, by Zamastanian commandos.

In 2016, President Zacharias Castovia said "Kamoni is public enemy number one, and we can't wait for the day that the prick is captured or killed." Following the 1/2/20 Terror Attacks, Kamoni became a household name across the IDU. President Foley Sakzi announced "Terror has no place in our world. Terror should not be allowed to continue, here or abroad. We will hunt down those responsible and bring them to justice." The Zamastanian Intelligence Service offered a Z$35 Million award for information or intelligence leading to Kamoni's capture, and he was the principle wanted figurehead in the coalition operations in Vulkaria until his death.

Personal Life

Not much is known publicly about Van'a Kamoni's life. Some sources in the Zamastanian intelligence community claim that at age 17 in 1986, Kamoni married his first wife. Kamoni had five wives, and some sources also list a sixth wife, name unknown. Kamoni fathered between 20 and 26 children with his wives. Many of Kamoni's children fled to Zerphique and Zamastan following the Second War in Vulkaria and as of 2010, those nation's authorities reportedly continue to control their movements. Several of Kamoni's children operated in the M.L.F. alongside their father, including Erik Kamoni and Timothy Kamoni.

Bryn Matteo, who was Kamoni's personal bodyguard from 1997–2008, details some of Kamoni's personal life in his memoir which was obtained by Zamastanian forces following Matteo's killing on January 4th, 2020. He described him as a frugal man and strict father, who enjoyed taking his large family on shooting trips and picnics in the forests of Northwest Vulkaria.

The Z.I.S. described Kamoni as an adult as tall and slightly overweight, between 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) and 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) in height and weighing about 97 kilograms (215 lb). Kamoni has an olive complexion and is left-handed. He was known for wearing silver lined sunglasses, black suits, and fedoras, possibly inspired by a reported interest in 1920's Zamastanian gangster movies. Kamoni has been described as soft-spoken and mild-mannered in demeanor in person, although his video releases have portrayed him as aggressive and tempered.

A 2017 image of Erik Kamoni (left) and his father, Van'a, during the 2017 insurgency

Beliefs and Ideology

Kamoni, and subsequently the Malvarian Liberation Front sought to overthrow the Vulkarian government, which largely follows strict capitalism, and wants to replace it with a Marxist system of government. The M.L.F. specifically follows a radicalized form of Marxism-Leninism, which is a political philosophy and self-proclaimed science that seeks to establish a socialist state and then develop it further into socialism and eventually communism, a classless social system with common ownership of the means of production and with full social and economic equality of all members of society.

Kamoni, however, attributed violence to the grandiose need to change Vulkaria from the inside-out as the only way to accomplish its goal. He believes and teaches members of the M.L.F. that violence is the best way to sway public opinion. Zamastanian and Legionite intelligence suggests that recruits are offered promises of wealth and adventure, as well as a freedom from socialist rules imposed by the capitalist governments, in return for carrying out commands. Accounts from captured M.L.F. fighters share how these promises were so tantalizing and seemingly realistic that most members would fall in line, and that those who did not specifically believe in Marxism were mostly fighting for the adventure aspects. It is believed that their effective propaganda and brain-washing leads to their viciousness on the battlefield.

Kamoni issued many video releases where he verbally attacks nations that he has targeted. Following the 1/2/20 Attacks, his released statement included the words “bring justice and death to the corrupt nations that uphold the Vulkarian government and their falsified deities of poverty and partitions”.

Militant Career

Kamoni pictured in 2002 during the Second War in Vulkaria

Before being outed as the leader of the M.L.F. in 2014 by the Z.I.S., Kamoni was believed to have been a mafia boss working in Vulkaria's and the greater IDU's criminal underground. However, it is believed that in 1985 at the age of 16 he joined the M.L.F. to fight alongside insurgents and against Zamastanian and Vulkarian forces in the First War in Vulkaria. By the end of the war in 1991, he had established himself as a commander within the group and captured the attention of the group's leader, Samuel Kannit. Kannit eventually made Kamoni the second-in-command of the M.L.F. (most likely in 1992), which saw Kamoni's first foreign terror attack.

On December 29, 1992, an attack was carried out in Providence, Zamastan known as the 1992 Giron Hotel Bombings. That evening, a bomb went off at the Giron hotel, where Zamastanian troops had been staying while en route to the Gladysynthian border, though the troops had already left when the bomb exploded. The bombers targeted a second hotel, the Nira, where they believed troops might also be staying. That bomb detonated prematurely in the hotel car park, around the same time as the other bomb explosion, killing an Laeralian tourist and a two Zamastanian citizens. Samuel Kannit claimed responsibility for the attack in 1998, but intelligence believes that Kamoni directly planned and ordered the attack.

International terror attacks and plots

Kamoni is believed to have planned and ordered at least 72 terror attacks since his ascension to second-in-command within the Malvarian Liberation Front. Some of the most notable attacks are listed below:

1995-2016

• On November 13, 1995, a car bomb exploded at a facility in Bayview, Legionas where the Zamastanian military was training alongside Legionas troops. Five Zamastanians and two Legionites were killed and 60 people were wounded. The attack has been credited to M.L.F. by the governments of Zamastan and Legionas, although Samuel Kannit never took credit for the bombing.

• In late 1999 and 2000, M.L.F. planned attacks to coincide with the millennium by attacking several significant sites across the IDU, specifically in nations friendly to Vulkaria or a part of the Coalition forces. A terrorist attempted to detonate a suicide vest at a Minjian temple in Laeral on December 4th, 1999, but was stopped by security and arrested. On December 15th, a terrorist opened fire on a cafe in Emerald, Pahl, Zamastan, killing two people and injuring 5.

• As the Second War in Vulkaria intensified, the M.L.F. sent several operatives to nations involved in the Coalition. On April 3rd, 2001, 2 suicide bombers attacked the city of Königsberg in Legionas, killing 20 and injuring around 100 people. On April 4th, a bomb detonated in Cardiff, Cadair, killing 3 people and injuring over 30.

• The 2002 ZNGS Fig bombing occurred on 6 October 2002. The Fig was carrying 397,000 barrels (63,100 m3) of crude oil from Vulkaria to Zamastan, and was in the Elkjob Bay off Zerphique to pick up another load of oil. It was registered under a Zerphique-flag and had been chartered by a Zamastanian petrol firm. While it was some distance offshore, an explosives-laden dinghy rammed the starboard side of the tanker and detonated. The vessel caught on fire and approximately 90,000 barrels (14,000 m3) of oil leaked into the ocean. Although Zamastanian officials initially claimed that the explosion was caused by an accident, later investigations found traces of TNT on the damaged ship. One crew member, a 38-year-old Zerphique citizen, was killed, and 12 other crew members were injured.

• On December 13, 2014, a suicide-bomber attacked a shopping center in Seahaven on Butterfly Island, Lauchenoiria, killing five people and injuring 11.

2017 Tofino Terror Attacks

On 18th October 2017, M.L.F. terrorists launched their deadliest ever foreign attack, targeting several sites in Tofino, Zamastan and the city's northern suburb, Tirzah. Beginning at 21:16, five suicide bombers struck the Tofino metro subway line. This was followed by several mass shootings and a suicide bombing, at cafés and restaurants.

The attackers killed 438 people, including 298 in the subway systems. Another 690+ people were injured, almost 400 seriously. Seven of the attackers also died while the authorities continued to search for accomplices. The attacks were the deadliest in Zamastan since the Alanis Pride Parade Bombing. Zamastan had not been on high alert since the end of the Second War in Vulkaria, during which 2 lone-wolf attacks took place at an office complex and a supermarket in Tofino and Jade Harbor that killed 8 people and wounded 22, including civilians and police officers.

The Malvarian Liberation Front claimed responsibility for the attacks, saying that it was retaliation for the support of the Vulkarian government in continued fights against their insurgency. The President of Zamastan, Zacharias Castovia, said the attacks were an act of war by M.L.F.. The attacks were planned in Vulkaria and organised by a terrorist cell based in Gladysynthia, aided by the insurgent group Gladys Popular Freedom Fighters. Most of the Tofino attackers had Zamastanian, Vulkarian or Gladysynthian citizenship, two were Cadairian, and some had fought in Vulkaria. Some of them had entered Zamastan among the flow of migrants and refugees.

In response to the attacks, a three-month state of emergency was declared across the country to help fight terrorism, which involved the banning of public demonstrations, and allowing the police to carry out searches without a warrant, put anyone under house arrest without trial and block websites that encouraged acts of terrorism. On 21 October, Zamastan launched the biggest airstrike of Operation Vulkar Rain, its contribution to the anti-M.L.F. bombing campaign, striking M.L.F. targets in Vulkaria. On 22 October, the suspected lead operative of the attacks, Ezra Po'Mannuk, was killed in a police raid in Arinals, along with two others.

• On August 16, 2019, two people were killed and over 40 injured after a pressure cooker bomb went off at a cafe in the Kingston neighborhood of Tofino, Zamastan[1].

• On August 28, 2019, 11 people died and 42 were injured after an attack by M.L.F. aligned Solas terrorists in Cardiff, Cadair. The terrorists stabbed multiple civilians who were attending the unveiling of a government office building.

2019 Amstelveen Bombing

On December 26th, a suicide bomber killed 48 people and injured hundreds at a political rally for President Farhen Brooks in downtown Amstelveen, Vulkaria. Two days later, eight Zamastanian and three Legionite soldiers were killed in an ambush in NW Vulkaria.

Role in the 1/2/20 Terror Attacks

Kamoni released a video statement following the devastating attacks of January 2nd, 2020, which killed more than 1,500 people across the IDU. In the video, he claimed responsibility for the attacks and also claimed there would be more to come. Z.I.S., Legionas, and Laeralian intelligence say that Kamoni either had contributed partially or completely in the planning of the attacks, and had hand-selected at least 50 of the terrorists who traveled abroad to commit the acts. In the video, he stated that the attacks were meant to “bring justice and death to the corrupt nations that uphold the Vulkarian government and their falsified deities of poverty and partitions”. Since the attacks, he has been the principle figurehead target of the Coalition's military operations in Vulkaria as the most wanted enemy individual.

Death

Kamoni was killed in a raid on his mansion compound on March 1st, 2020, by Zamastanian commandos in the city of Monza. His death was met with widespread celebration in nations affected by Kamoni's terror network.

Criminal Charges

In 2015, the Zamastanian government charged Kamoni with crimes against humanity and charges of "conspiracy to attack defense utilities of Zamastan" and prosecutors further charged that Kamoni was the head of the terrorist organization called the Malvarian Liberation Front, and that he was a major financial backer of terrorist and radical fighters worldwide.

The government of Legionas has also charged Kamoni with charges of conspiracy following a string of bombings in the first years of the Second War in Vulkaria.