Belmokhtar's unit participated in Niger suicide attacks

May 24, 2013
By Bill Roggio

Mokhtar Belmokhtar is alive, and announced that his al Mua'qi'oon Biddam, or Those Who Sign in Blood Brigade, carried out the suicide assaults in Niger in conjunction with MUJAO.

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MUJAO suicide bombers hit uranium mine, barracks in Niger

May 23, 2013
By Bill Roggio

The al Qaeda-linked Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa said the suicide attacks were intended to punish Niger for "cooperation with France in the war against Sharia" in Mali.

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American killed in US drone strike, US Attorney General says

May 22, 2013
By Bill Roggio

Jude Kenan Mohammed was the eighth member of Daniel Boyd's terror cell in North Carolina. He traveled to Pakistan in 2008, was arrested, skipped bail, and is thought to have traveled to Pakistan's tribal areas. He may have been killed in a strike in 2011 that occurred in an area controlled by the Haqqani Network.

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Muhajireen Brigade official calls on Hamas to end campaign against Salafi jihadists

May 22, 2013
By David Barnett & Bill Roggio

The top sharia official from the Muhajireen Brigade, an al Qaeda-linked jihadist group in Syria, slammed Hamas' recent crackdown against Salafi jihadists in the Gaza Strip. The official also called on Hamas to join hands with the Salafi jihadists in Gaza to fight Israel.

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Book excerpt: Chemical attack in Iraq

May 21, 2013
By The LWJ Editors

From 'Fallujah Awakens': a chlorine truck bomb deployed by insurgents against the village of Albu Aifan on March 16, 2007.

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US drones strike again in Yemen, kill 2 AQAP fighters

May 20, 2013
By Bill Roggio

Two al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters were killed while driving a motorcycle in the central province of Baydah. The strike is the second reported in Yemen in four days.

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Taliban suicide bomber assassinates senior politician in Afghan north

May 20, 2013
By Bill Roggio

The head of the provincial council in Baghlan province and 13 others were killed by a Taliban suicide bomber who was dressed as a policeman.

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US drones kill 4 'militants' in first strike in Yemen in a month

May 18, 2013
By Bill Roggio

Four al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters who were reportedly transporting suicide vests and explosives were killed in a strike in the terrorist haven of Al Mahfad in Abyan province.

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ISAF targets al Qaeda facilitator in eastern Afghanistan

May 17, 2013
By Patrick Megahan & Bill Roggio

The International Security Assistance Force has balked at mentioning al Qaeda in press releases since the end of January.

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Uzbek national in Idaho arrested, charged with supporting the IMU

May 16, 2013
By Bill Roggio

Fazliddin Kurbanov is charged with supporting the al Qaeda-linked Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, training others to purchase and assemble components of a bomb, and possessing an "unregistered destructive device."

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Hizb-i-Islami Gulbuddin suicide bomber in Kabul kills 6 Americans, 9 Afghans

May 16, 2013
By Lisa Lundquist

The Taliban's spring offensive promised a renewed focus on suicide attacks targeting ISAF forces. Today's suicide bombing in a residential area also injured 39 Afghan civilians.

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Al Nusrah Front's emir to be added to US terrorism list

May 16, 2013
By Bill Roggio

Sheikh Abu Muhammad al Julani, the emir of al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria, swore allegiance to al Qaeda's leader just over one month ago.

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Tensions continue to escalate in Tunisia

May 15, 2013
By Thomas Joscelyn

The Tunisian government has interfered in Ansar al Sharia Tunisia's events and may refuse to grant the group permission to hold its third annual congress. Ansar al Sharia's leaders have responded with statements condemning the Ennahda regime.

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IMU suicide bomber targeted top police commander in Quetta

May 13, 2013
By Bill Roggio

The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan said yesterday's attack, which killed eight people, was executed by a man whose daughter carried out a suicide bombing last year.

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Egyptian interior minister: Al Qaeda cell plotted suicide attack against Western embassy

May 11, 2013
By Thomas Joscelyn

Egypt's interior minister said that three members of an al Qaeda cell that was plotting to attack a Western embassy have been arrested. The cell received training in Iran and Pakistan and contacted al Qaeda in Algeria. The cell also has ties to the so-called Nasr City Cell.

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Panjwai district chief of police: 'Pakistan has been trying to bring Afghanistan under its control'

May 11, 2013
By Bill Ardolino

District Chief of Police Lieutenant Colonel Sultan Mohammad discusses the roots of the insurgency, the Kandahar massacre, poppy eradication, and Panjwai's improvement in security.

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A Taliban suicide assault team targeted a UN-linked NGO compound in Kabul; five Taliban fighters, a Nepalese guard, and an Afghan policemen were killed during the fighting, which lasted for seven hours. The Taliban killed four policemen in an attack in Helmand.

A government official claimed that 12 Shabaab fighters were killed after clashing with a group of nomads in Beledweyne. Three Ethiopian soldiers were seriously wounded in an IED attack in Beledweyne.

Mokhtar Belmokhtar said that his Those Who Sign in Blood Brigade carried out yesterday's suicide attacks in Niger along with the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa. Belmokhtar also promised more attacks in Niger if the government does not withdraw its military from Mali.

Three women were killed by at least 10 men in an honor killing near Luxor. Authorities shut down five smuggling tunnels between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. Security sources alleged that President Morsi was informed of plans to kidnap soldiers in the Sinai a week before seven security personnel were abducted.

President Obama set out a new approach to the war on terror, arguing that since al Qaeda's core was "on the path to defeat," the US should narrow its operations to focus only on those "specific networks of violent extremists that threaten America." Renewing his commitment to closing Guantanamo, he announced the removal of a moratorium on sending detainees to Yemen. He issued a new directive on drone strikes, narrowing the circumstances to those targets who cannot be captured and who present "a continuing and imminent threat to the United States," and he expressed a preference for the military rather than the CIA to conduct the strikes. He said the scale of the terrorist threat now "closely resembles the types of attacks we faced before 9/11."

A suicide bomber killed seven people in an attack that targeted a local militia commander in Ghazni. Security forces killed 11 Taliban fighters in Kandahar and Herat, and two Haqqani Network commanders and three fighters in Paktia. ISAF claimed that the Afghan Air Force can conduct independent air operations.

A new report from the UN's atomic energy agency said Iran is significantly expanding its nuclear program, and has started work on an alternative approach to developing a nuclear weapon. Advanced equipment for the enrichment of uranium is being installed at an accelerating pace at the Natanz plant, and work is progressing at other sites as well. The US State Dept. called the report an "unfortunate milestone."

Authorities arrested four suspected jihadists near Alexandria. The government decided to withdraw its annual funding for the country's Jewish community. President Morsi said he hopes to see the kidnappers of the seven security personnel, who were recently freed, arrested. Authorities seized a variety of weaponry including rockets destined for the Gaza Strip.

Two Palestinians in Gaza were sentenced to death for allegedly collaborating with Israel. The Palestinian leadership is reportedly putting little faith in the US effort to restart peace talks with Israel. President Abbas met with Secretary of State Kerry to discuss the peace process with Israel; some Palestinians protested the meeting in Ramallah.

Ten people were killed during fighting between Shabaab and Ethiopian forces in Beledweyne. A Puntland court sentenced seven men to death for the murder of a prominent cleric. An AMISOM spokesman denied a UN claim that more than 3,000 soldiers were killed while battling Shabaab.

A group of armed assailants from "outside the area" attacked the Mellitah oil and gas complex west of Tripoli on May 20; the attackers wounded at least two guards, stole weapons, and made off with 20 vehicles. Guards at the Elephant oil facility in southwest Libya, one of the largest in the country, plan to strike in protest against alleged nonpayment of salaries; they are also demanding vehicles and equipment.

Algerian AQIM leader Ahmed Abu Abdul-Elah Al-Jigli warned the government that the group was "still committed to the directives of our Sheikh and Emir Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri...to co-operate with [post-revolution governments] in applying sharia," and threatened "fatal consequences" for "injustice." The terror group recently pledged its support for Ansar al Sharia Tunisia. Foreign Affairs Minister Noureddine Khadmi said that a hundred mosques in Tunisia are controlled by radical groups and out of the government's control.