The Pakistani military is claiming success in one of the Taliban's strongholds in the tribal agency of Bajaur.

The military is advancing through the Mamond region in Bajaur, an area that has served as the headquarters for Faqir Mohammed, the leader of the Taliban in Bajaur and the deputy leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan. Mamond has also served as a safe haven for al Qaeda and the Swat chapter of the Taliban. Two of the three recorded Predator airstrikes in carried out by the US in Bajaur targeted senior al Qaeda leaders, including Ayman al Zawahiri, in Damadola in Mamond.

The military has relied heavily on air and artillery strikes to root out the Taliban. According to press reports from Pakistan, 139 Taliban fighters and only two soldiers have been killed since the fighting began in late January in the tribal agency.

The military recently claimed that 90 percent of Bajaur has been cleared of a Taliban presence, while the town of Damadola, Faqir's seat of power in Mamond, and the Taliban center of Sewai are under its control. The military has established checkpoints in the region.

The military began the latest offensive in Bajaur on Jan. 25, after the Mamond tribe refused to abide by a peace agreement signed in March 2009. The 28-point agreement called for the tribe to hand over Faqir and other Taliban leaders, expel al Qaeda fighters, and end opposition to government rule.

The military has claimed success in Bajaur in the past, but has failed to quell the Taliban insurgency. In March 2009, the military claimed that the Taliban had "lost" in Bajaur and the neighboring tribal agency of Mohmand after a bloody, six-month-long operation.

"They have lost," Major General Tariq Khan, the head of the Frontier Corps who commanded the operation in 2008-2009, told reporters on March 1, 2009. "Their resistance has broken down. We think we have secured this agency. The Taliban have lost their cohesion."

But the Taliban persisted and reestablished control over much of the agency throughout the summer of 2009. In Bajaur, as elsewhere in the tribal areas and greater northwest, the Taliban have attacked pro-government tribal leaders. In particular, the Taliban have targeted tribal leaders who have raised lashkars, or militias, to fight alongside the military. Since Jan. 1 this year, in Bajaur alone, the Taliban have killed eight pro-government tribal leaders and have kidnapped two others. Between October and December 2009, the Taliban killed six pro-government tribal leaders in Bajaur.

The government has relied on the tribal militias to keep the Taliban out of areas cleared in operations, but has provided little financial or military support to these tribes. In some cases, as with a tribe in Swat, the military stood by while tribal leaders were brutally murdered.

The declaration of jihad against Kenya came from Sheikh Hussein Abdi Gedi, the deputy leader of Shabaab in the strategic southern port city of Kismayo. During an interview on Al Andalus Radio, Shabaab's radio station, Gedi accused Kenya of arming and training Somali's disorganized military.

"Kenya has prepared troops that comprise of Kenyans and Somalis, who are trained to attack and take over the regions," Gedi said, according to Garowe. "They are planning to attack us on the land, sea and air. We are urging people to be ready and defend our land."

Gedi's statement comes just days after the Ras Kamboni Brigade, formerly one of the four groups in the Hizbul Islam alliance, broke ties to the group and joined Shabaab. Both Shabaab and the Ras Kamboni Brigade pledged support for al Qaeda and the international jihad.

Kenya has trained more than 2,500 troops to fight against Shabaab and other anti-government Islamist terror groups such as Hizbul Islam, according to a Feb. 6 report in Garowe. The troops "are expected to complete the trainings in the coming days," a Kenya military official involved in the training told the newspaper.

The Somali government has promised that it will launch yet another offensive in Mogadishu in an attempt to eject Shabaab and Hizbul Islam from the capital. Previous offensives have failed to dislodge the Islamist groups.

The weak Transitional Federal Government, backed by thousands of African Union peacekeepers, controls only small enclaves within the capital of Mogadishu, and little else. The South is firmly in the hands of Shabaab and Hizbul Islam, although Shabaab has gained the upper hand since the merger with the Ras Kamboni Brigade.

A pro-government Sufi Islamist militia called Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jama’a controls some regions in central Somalia, however, and often clashes with Shabaab and Hizbul Islam.

Issa T. Salomi, a US civilian contractor, behind a flag that reads “League of the Righteous, Imam Ali Regiment.” Associated Press photo.

An Iranian-backed Shia terror group that claims it seeks reconciliation with the Iraqi government has kidnapped a US civilian in Baghdad. The US recently released the top leader of the group under the guise of a reconciliation program, but the release actually was related to a hostage exchange.

The Asaib al Haq, or the League of the Righteous, kidnapped Issa T. Salomi, a US civilian contractor, in Baghdad in late January. Salomi went missing in Baghdad sometime after Jan. 23, the US Department of Defense noted in a press release on Friday.

The League of the Righteous issued a videotape of Salomi, who is pictured in US Army digital fatigues in front of a banner that reads “League of the Righteous, Imam Ali Regiment.”

The League of the Righteous has demanded that the Iraqi government release all members of the League and “bring the proper justice and the proper punishment to those members of Blackwater company that have committed unjustifiable crimes against innocent Iraqi civilians,” according to a partial translation provided by The Associated Press.

The kidnapping of the US contractor comes just a little more than a month after the US military released Qaiz Qazali, the leader of the League of the Righteous. Qazali was behind the kidnapping and murder of five US soldiers in Karbala in January 2007 and numerous other acts of terrorism before he was captured in March 2007.

Qazali was released in late December 2009, purportedly as part of a reconciliation process, which the League has suspended this week as it claims the Iraqi government will not free all of its members.

But Qazali was released at the same time that a British contractor, who had been captured by the League of the Righteous in May of 2007, was turned over to the British. The Shia terror group previously executed four other British contractors who had also been held hostage.

The release of Qazali and his brother Laith, who was freed in July 2009 along with more than 100 other members of the group, has angered US military and intelligence officials contacted by The Long War Journal. At the time of Qazali’s release, US military and intelligence officials said that the reconciliation program was an excuse to conduct a hostage exchange and warned that the group would return to terrorism.

“The official line is the release of Qazali is about reconciliation, but in reality this was a prisoner swap,” a military intelligence official said after Qazali’s release in December. Another military officer described Qazali’s release as “a deal signed and sealed in British and American blood,”

The kidnapping of the US contractor is seen as evidence the League of the Righteous has no intentions of reconciling as claimed and will continue to use violence to achieve their ends.

“We’ve been had,” a senior military officer told The Long War Journal. “Anyone who closely followed the League of the Righteous should have known this was inevitable.”

Background on Qais Qazali

Qais Qazali was the commander of the League of the Righteous before US forces detained him and several other Shia terrorists in 2007. Qais commanded a large Mahdi Army faction and served as a spokesman and senior aide to Muqtada al Sadr. The terror group, which was part of the Mahdi Army until the spring of 2008, has received extensive financial and military support from Iran's Qods Force, the external division that backs Hezbollah and is tasked with supporting the Khomeinist Islamist revolution.

The League of the Righteous was directly implicated by General David Petraeus as being behind the January 2007 attack on the Provincial Joint Coordination Center in Karbala as well as other high-profile terror attacks in Iraq. Five US soldiers were killed during the Karbala attack and subsequent kidnapping attempt. The US soldiers were executed after US and Iraqi security forces closed in on the assault team.

The attack on the Karbala Provincial Joint Coordination Center was a complex, sophisticated operation. The assault team, led by tactical commander Azhar al Dulaimi, was trained in a mock-up of the center that was built in Iran. The unit had excellent intelligence and received equipment that made them appear to be US soldiers. Some of the members of the assault team are said to have spoken English.

The US military caught a break when it detained Laith and Qais and several other members of the network during a raid in Basrah in March 2007. Also detained during the raid was Ali Mussa Daqduq, a senior Hezbollah operative who was tasked by Iran to organize the Special Groups and "rogue" Mahdi Army cells along the lines of Lebanese Hezbollah. Daqduq is a 24-year veteran of Hezbollah, and he commanded both a Hezbollah special operations unit and the security detail of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Azhar al Dulaimi, the leader of the January 2007 Karbala assault team, was killed in a raid in Baghdad in May 2007.

Background on Iranian activity in Iraq

Both the Iraqi government and the US military have stated that Iran has backed various Shia terror groups inside Iraq, including elements of the Mahdi Army. While the Iranian government has denied the charges, Iraqi and US forces have detained dozens of Iranian Qods Force officers and operatives, captured numerous Shia terrorist leaders under Iranian command, and found ample documentation as well as Iranian-made and Iranian-supplied weapons.

Since late 2006, US and Iraqi forces have captured and killed several high-level Qods Force officers inside Iraq. Among those captured were Mahmud Farhadi, one of the three Iranian regional commanders in the Ramazan Corps; Ali Mussa Daqduq, a senior Lebanese Hezbollah operative; and Qais Qazali, the leader of the Qazali Network, which is better known as the Asaib al Haq or the League of the Righteous. Azhar al Dulaimi, one of Qazali's senior tactical commanders, was killed in Iraq in early 2007.

Since mid-October 2008, Iraqi and US forces have killed one Qods Force operative and captured 17 during raids throughout southern and central Iraq.

Qods Force, the special operations branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, has supported various Shia militias and terror groups inside Iraq, including the Mahdi Army. Qods Force helped to build the Mahdi Army along the same lines as Lebanese Hezbollah. Iran denies the charges, but captive Shia terrorists admit to having been recruited by Iranian agents and then transported into Iran for training.

Immediately after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, Iran established the Ramazan Corps to direct operations inside Iraq. The US military says that Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah have helped establish, fund, train, arm, and provide operational support for Shia terror groups such as the Hezbollah Brigades and the League of the Righteous. The US military refers to these groups along with the Iranian-backed elements of the Mahdi Army as the "Special Groups." These groups train in camps inside Iran.

US military officers believe that Iran has been ramping up its operations inside Iraq since its surrogates suffered a major defeat at the hands of the Iraqi military during the spring and summer of 2008. Iraqi troops went on the offensive against the Mahdi Army and other Iranian-backed terror groups in Baghdad, Basrah, and central and southern Iraq.

More than 2,000 Mahdi Army members were killed and thousands more were wounded. The operation forced Muqtada al Sadr to agree to a cease-fire, disband the Mahdi Army, and pull the Sadrist political party out of the provincial elections. Sadr's moves caused shock waves in the Mahdi Army, as some of the militia's leaders wished to continue the fight against US forces in Baghdad and in southern and central Iraq.

Iranian-backed Shia terror groups in Iraq

The League of the Righteous was a faction of Muqtada al Sadr's Mahdi Army that splintered after Sadr announced in June 2008 that he would disband the Mahdi Army and formed a small, secretive military arm to fight Coalition forces. The new group, called the Brigade of the Promised Day, has not been linked to any attacks since its formation in the summer of 2008.

Sadr loyalist Qais Qazali was commander of the League of the Righteous up until his capture in 2007. The group is now said to be under the command of Akram al Kabi, a former Sadr loyalist.

The League of the Righteous receives funding, training, weapons, and direction from the Qods Force. The League of the Righteous conducts attacks with the deadly armor-piercing explosively formed projectiles known as EFPs, as well as with the more conventional roadside bombs.

The size of the League of the Righteous is unknown, but hundreds of members of the group were killed, captured, or fled to Iran during the Iraqi government offensive against the Mahdi Army from March to July of 2008, according to the US military.

Sadr is looking to pull the rank and file of the League back into the fold of the Sadr political movement. Back in late 2008, Sadr issued a message rejecting the US-Iraqi security agreement and said he "extends his hand to the mujahideen in the so-called Asaib but not their leaderships who have been distracted by politics and mortal life from the [two late] Sadrs and the interests of Iraq and Iraqis."

The Promised Day Brigade, the newest of the Iranian-backed groups, was formed by anti-American Shia leader Muqtada al Sadr during the summer of 2008 after he announced he would disband the Mahdi Army and formed a small, secretive military arm to fight Coalition forces in June. The group actively receives support from Iran, the US military told The Long War Journal.

"According to US and Iraqi intelligence sources, the Promised Day Brigades (PDB) terrorist organization is an Iranian-sponsored group actively targeting US Forces in attempt to disrupt security operations and further destabilize the nationalization process in Iraq," Lieutenant Todd Spitler, a Press Desk Officer at Multinational Forces Iraq, said.

The Hezbollah Brigades, or Kata'ib Hezbollah, has been active in and around Baghdad since 2007. The terror group has increased its profile by conducting attacks against US and Iraqi forces, using the deadly explosively-formed penetrator land mines and improvised rocket-assisted mortars, which have been described as flying improvised explosive devices. The Hezbollah Brigades has posted videos of these attacks on the Internet.

The terror group is an offshoot of the Iranian-trained Special Groups, the US military said last summer. Hezbollah Brigades receives funding, training, logistics, guidance, and material support from the Qods Force.

Both the US military and the Iraqi military believe that the Special Groups are preparing to reinitiate fighting as their leaders and operatives are beginning to filter back into Iraq from Iran. On Feb. 4, 2009, Lieutenant General Lloyd Austin, the deputy commander of Multinational Forces Iraq, said that Iran continues to arm, fund, and train the Special Groups, and that munitions traced back to Iran continue to be uncovered in Iraq. Recent intelligence and the finds of new Iranian caches "lead us to believe that Iranian support activity is still ongoing," Austin warned.

In July 2009, General David Petraeus, the commanding officer of US Central Command, said during an interview at the World Affairs Council Global Leadership Series that Iran continues to back the Special Groups.

"There is no question that Iran continues to fund, train, equip, and direct to varying degrees some of the groups still active in Iraq," Petraeus said.

The mode of the attack is still unclear. Some reports indicate that two car bombs were detonated outside one of three entrances to the city, but the governor of Karbala province claimed that a mortar struck a crowd of Iraqis outside the city.

"A mortar round was launched from fields northeast of the city," Governor Amalheddin al Hir told AFP. "I accuse al Qaeda who are being supported by the Baath party."

Another 144 Iraqis were wounded in the blasts, including 60 women and four children, according to Voices of Iraq.

Today's strike is the fourth major terrorist attack in Iraq this week and the seventh since Jan. 25. Three of the bombings have occurred in Baghdad, and four in Karbala. The last four attacks have targeted Shia pilgrims traveling to Karbala.

The attacks have taken place since US and Iraqi security forces killed al Qaeda's top suicide bomber facilitator in Iraq during a raid in Mosul on Jan. 22. Abu Khalaf, who managed al Qaeda's facilitation network from Syria, entered Iraq sometime last fall to direct al Qaeda's suicide bombing campaign.

Al Qaeda has targeted Shia religious processions in Iraq over the past three years in an effort to reignite sectarian tensions that nearly led to a civil war in 2006 and 2007.

The Iraqi government and the US military have said that the face of al Qaeda in Iraq has changed as the group has incorporated more Iraqis into its leadership ranks.

Major attacks in Baghdad and Karbala since Jan. 25, 2010:

Feb. 5, 2010: Thirty-one Iraqi pilgrims were killed in bombings in Karbala.
Feb. 3, 2010: Twenty-three Iraqi pilgrims were killed in a bombing in Karbala.
Feb. 2, 2010: A suicide bomber killed six Iraqis in an attack east of Karbala.
Feb. 1, 2010: A female suicide bomber killed 54 Shia pilgrims in Baghdad.
Jan. 26, 2010: A suicide bomber killed 18 Iraqis in an attack on a police forensics lab in Baghdad.
Jan. 25, 2010: Thirty-six Iraqis were killed in three suicide attacks that targeted hotels in Baghdad.

The three US soldiers, who have been described variously as Special Operations Forces and civil affairs troops training Pakistan's paramilitary Frontier Corps, were killed when a suicide bomber driving a car rammed into their convoy as it traveled to the opening of a girls' school in the district of Lower Dir.

The three soldiers were among nine people killed in the attack; three Pakistani girls, a Pakistani Frontier Corps soldier, and two civilians were also reported killed, and more than 130 Pakistanis, most of them girls at a high school near the attack, and two more US soldiers, were wounded.

The attack indicates that the Taliban received intelligence on the convoy's movements and knew exactly which car to hit. The suicide bomber stalked the convoy and appeared to know which car was carrying the American soldiers.

"As soon as the convoy appeared it rushed to that place and exploded," a resident of the village of Shahi Koto who witnessed the attack told The Associated Press.

The US soldiers were traveling in an armored vehicle that "was equipped with electronic jammers sufficient to block remotely controlled devices and mines," and was in the middle of a convoy of vehicles from the Frontier Corps, The New York Times reported.

US military and intelligence officials contacted by The Long War Journal suspect that the Taliban were given specific intelligence to carry out the attack, but these sources do not yet have concrete evidence to back up the claim. Nor would they speculate on who may have provided the intelligence to the Taliban.

"This attack was too perfect, they laid in wait for the convoy to pass and knew exactly which vehicle to hit," a US military officer familiar with the details of the attack observed.

"Suicide attacks in Dir are not that common," a US intelligence official familiar with the Taliban insurgency in Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province said. "I don't believe they got that lucky and by chance struck gold with their first suicide attack [in Dir] in almost two months."

"The very rare suicide attacks in Dir have followed a pattern," the intelligence official continued. "In the past, they [The Taliban] have used suicide attacks to intimidate the tribes who sought to eject the Taliban."

The last suicide attack in Dir took place on Dec. 18, when the Taliban blew up a mosque frequented by police and security officials.

Dir is a district in the Northwest Frontier Province that borders the Taliban-controlled tribal agency of Bajaur, under the command of Faqir Mohammed. Dir also borders the district of Swat, where the military has been waging a counterinsurgency against the Taliban under the command of Mullah Nazir. The Taliban use Dir as a transit point to cross into Afghanistan and wage attacks against Coalition Forces in the northeast.

Sufi Mohammed, the leader of the banned pro-Taliban Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammed [TNSM, or the Movement for the Enforcement of Mohammed's Law], is from Lower Dir. Sufi, who is in Pakistani custody, engineered the Taliban official takeover of Swat and neighboring districts in February 2009. During the preceding two years, the Taliban unofficially controlled Swat and neighboring Shangla. The overt Taliban takeover of Swat invited international condemnation and forced the Pakistani Army to move into the district in force in April 2009.

Russia's Federal Security Service killed Mokhmad Mohamad Shabban, who is better known as Saif Islam or the Sword of Islam, and an associate during a raid yesterday in a mountainous region in the Republic of Dagestan.

"On February 2, the FSB [Federal Security Service] carried out a special operation in the district center of Botlikh, Dagestan. One of the founders of the Al Qaeda network in the North Caucasus Mokhmad Mohamad Shabban, 49, also known as "Saif Islam," and a gunman accompanying him were neutralized as they offered armed resistance," according to a statement published at Itar-Tass.

Shabban helped establish al Qaeda in the Caucasus, along with Ibn al Khattab. "In 1992, he [Shabban] arrived in Chechnya to take part in operations against federal forces," a Federal Security Service spokesman told RIA Novosti .

Russian security forces killed Khattab in 2002. Khattab served as the commander of the International Islamic Battalion in Chechnya, al Qaeda’s combat unit in the Caucasus.

The Federal Security Service has accused Shabban of plotting attacks against government and security personnel, and infrastructure throughout the Caucasus, at the behest of Georgian intelligence.

"He masterminded acts of sabotage to blast railway tracks, transmission lines, and gas and oil pipelines at instructions by Georgian secret services" the FSB stated. The FSB also accused Shabban of masterminding the Jan. 6 suicide attack that killed seven policemen on the outskirts of Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan.

Background on Russia's struggle against al Qaeda and allied groups in the Caucasus

Russia often accuses rival Georgia of backing al Qaeda and Chechen rebels. Russia and Georgia went to war in August of 2008 over the breakaway Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The war ended after a week of fighting that led to the rout of Georgian forces.

Since the early 1990s, terror groups have operated from camps in Georgia's Pansiki Gorge, and used the region as a safe haven to attack inside Chechnya and the greater Caucasus. In 2002, more than 200 US Special Forces troops deployed to Georgia to train four battalions of light infantry to operate in Pansiki. The Georgian battalions also were equipped with weapons, vehicles, and communications gear. The US mission ended in 2007.

Over the past two decades, al Qaeda has fought alongside Chechen rebels during two brutal wars against the Russians that are thought to have resulted in the deaths of more than 100,000 civilians and thousands of Russian soldiers and Chechen fighters. The bulk of the Chechen resistance was smashed after the Second Chechen War, but al Qaeda continued to operate, and managed to radicalize many of the remaining nationalist rebels.

Russian security forces, backed by local forces in the Caucasus, have had success in decapitating the top leadership of al Qaeda and radical Chechen forces. After killing Khattab in 2002, security forces eliminated his successors; Abu Walid al Ghamdi was killed in 2004, and Abu Hafs al Urdani was killed in 2006.

Russian security forces also killed Saif al Islam al Masri, a member of al Qaeda's shura and a chief financier, in 2002; and Muhammad bin Abdullah bin Saif al Tamimi (also known as Abu Omar Saif) in 2005. Tamimi served as second in command to Shamil Basayev, the military commander for the Islamic Army in the Caucasus. Basayev and much of his leadership cadre were killed by Russian security forces in 2006.

After Basayev's death in 2006, the Chechen and Caucasus jihadists united under the command of Doku Umarov, one of the last remaining original leaders of the Chechen rebellion and a close associate of al Qaeda. In November 2007, Umarov declared an Islamic emirate in the greater Caucasus region and named himself the emir, or leader.

In the spring of 2009, Umarov reignited the insurgency by launching a wave of suicide attacks in the Caucasus. In April 2009, Umarov revived the Riyad-us-Saliheen martyr brigade, which has spearheaded the assault.

"Riyad [the Riyad-us-Saliheen martyr brigade] is believed to be descended from two other Chechen terrorist organizations led by Basayev, the Special Purpose Islamic Regiment (SPIR) and the International Islamic Brigade (IIB)," according to the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism datatbase. "It has even been suggested that Riyad is simply the result of the marriage of these two groups."

The group's most recent successful operation was the wounding of the president of the Republic of Ingushetia in June of 2009.

In the past, Umarov denied having connections with al Qaeda and rejected terrorist attacks against civilians. But in 2006, Abu Hafs al Urduni stated that the Chechen jihad was being reorganized under the command of Doku Umarov after the death Basayev.

Russian security forces thought Umarov was killed during a raid in November 2009 that killed several of his close aides, but Umarov has since resurfaced.

A massive bomb was detonated by the Taliban as the US soldiers traveled to attend the opening of a girls' school in the village of Koto in Lower Dir, a settled district that borders Swat. Three children, two civilians, and a Frontier Corps official were also killed in the blast, while another 65 people, including many young girls and two US soldiers, were wounded in the attack, Geo News reported. A school was also damaged.

The US Embassy in Islamabad confirmed the attack, which it described as a "vicious terrorist bombing."

"The Americans were U.S. military personnel in Pakistan to conduct training at the invitation of the Pakistan Frontier Corps," the Islamabad embassy statement read. "They were in Lower Dir to attend the inauguration ceremony of a school for girls that had recently been renovated with U.S. humanitarian assistance."

The US Central Command, or CENTCOM, the military command responsible for operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan, also confirmed that three US soldiers were killed, and said they were in Paksitan at the request of the government.

"The service members were assigned to the Office of the Defense Representative, Pakistan to conduct civil affairs-related training at the invitation of the Government of Pakistan," the CENTCOM statement said.

The Taliban immediately called in after the blast to take credit. According to Dawn, Tariq Azam, the top spokesman for the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, said by telephone from an undisclosed location: "We claim responsibility for the blast." He also attempted to link the dead US soldiers to the security company formerly called Blackwater, alleging that the soldiers were members of the company and that the company was "responsible for bomb blasts in Peshawar and other Pakistani cities."

"We have warned we will take revenge and today we have avenged the deaths of innocent people," Azam continued.

According to a Pakistani journalist traveling in the convoy, the US soldiers were dressed in civilian clothes and "Pakistani military guides referred to the foreigners traveling with them as journalists," The Associated Press reported.

The US military has deployed Special Forces and other soldiers to serve as trainers to the Frontier Corps, the locally raised paramilitary organization that is on the front lines against the Taliban. The deployment of US soldiers in Pakistan has been a controversial issue, and the soldiers are not supposed to conduct military operations alongside the Frontier Corps units.

Last year, the Pakistani Army and the Frontier Corps carried out a military operation in Dir and neighboring Swat to dislodge the Taliban. The operation began in May 2009. In the fall, the Pakistani military claimed to have defeated the Taliban in Swat and Dir, but the military is still conducting sweeps in the region.

Five unmanned US strike aircraft, likely the Predators and Reapers, are reported to have fired 18 missiles at a camp and vehicles in the village of Datta Khel, a known al Qaeda and Taliban stronghold. This is the largest recorded US airstrike in Pakistan, indicating a top al Qaeda, Taliban, or Haqqani Network leader, or leaders, may have been present.

Seventeen terrorists are reported to have been killed in the missile attack. At this time, no senior al Qaeda or Taliban commanders have been reported killed.

The US has ramped up the attacks in Pakistan since the beginning of December, after a lull in strikes in October and November of 2009, when only four airstrikes were launched. There were eight strikes in December 2009, and 11 in January of this year. Today's strike is the 12th this year. [For up-to-date charts on the US air campaign in Pakistan, see: Charting the data for US airstrikes in Pakistan, 2004 - 2010.]

Today's airstrike is the 13th since Dec. 30, 2009, when a Jordanian al Qaeda operative and double agent carried out a suicide attack at Combat Outpost Chapman in Afghanistan's Khost province. The bomber killed seven CIA officials, including the station chief, and a Jordanian intelligence officer.

Since the Dec. 30 suicide attack, the US has been hunting Hakeemullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban. Hakeemullah appeared with the Jordanian suicide bomber on a martyrdom tape that was released shortly after the attack.

Hakeemullah was rumored to have been killed in a strike on Jan. 14, but the Taliban later released a tape to confirm he is alive. Rumors of his death have since resurfaced, as unnamed tribal elders claimed Hakeemullah died from wounds received in the strike and was buried in the Arakzai tribal agency.

Pakistani Taliban leaders have since denied the rumors and claimed that Hakeemullah would release another tape to prove he is alive. But today, Azam Tariq, Hakeemullah's spokesman, backtracked on previous statements and said there is no need to release a tape, fueling suspicion the Taliban leader may have been killed.

"We don't feel any need presently to release a video, but whenever we feel a need, we will do so," Tariq told The Associated Press. "We are not going to fall prey to this trap and make our leader vulnerable to the spy network, and secondly, the leadership council has restricted the leader from speaking to the media for certain reasons."

Datta Khel is a hub of al Qaeda activity

The Datta Khel region is a known hub of Taliban, Haqqani Network, and al Qaeda activity. Hafiz Gul Bahadar, the Taliban commander for North Waziristan, administers the region, but the Haqqani Network, al Qaeda, and allied Central Asian jihadi groups are also based in the area. The Lashkar al Zil, or al Qaeda's Shadow Army, is known to have a command center in Datta Khel.

The Datta Khel region has been hit hard by the US, especially in the past several weeks. The US has conducted nine airstrikes in the Datta Khel region since June 2007, and six of those nine strikes have taken place since Dec. 17, 2009.

A strike on Dec. 17, 2009, targeted Sheikh Saeed al Saudi, Osama bin Laden's brother-in-law and a member of al Qaeda's Shura Majlis, or executive council. Al Saudi is thought to have survived the strike, but Abdullah Said al Libi, the commander of the Shadow Army or Lashkar al Zil, and Zuhaib al Zahibi, a general in the Shadow Army, were both killed in the attack.

Datta Khel borders the Jani Khel region in the settled district of Bannu. The Jani Khel region has long been a strategic meeting place and safe haven for al Qaeda and the Taliban. Jani Khel was identified as the headquarters for al Qaeda's Shura Majlis back in 2007. Ayman al Zawahiri, al Qaeda's second in command, has operated in the Jani Khel region. The US has struck al Qaeda safe houses in Jani Khel twice since last year. These strikes are the only two Predator attacks that have occurred outside of Pakistan's tribal areas since the US airstrikes began in 2004.

The town of Jani Khel is a known haven for al Qaeda leaders and fighters. Senior al Qaeda operative Abdullah Azzam al Saudi was killed in a Predator strike in Jani Khel on Nov. 19, 2008. Azzam served as a liaison between al Qaeda and the Taliban operating in Pakistan's northwest.

In addition, Al Qaeda is known to have deposited its donations received from Europe into the Bayt al Mal, or Bank of Money, in Jani Khel, according to a report at the NEFA Foundation. The Bayt al Mal served as al Qaeda's treasury.

Background on the recent strikes in Pakistan

US intelligence believes that al Qaeda has reconstituted its external operations network in Pakistan's lawless, Taliban-controlled tribal areas. This network is tasked with hitting targets in the West, India, and elsewhere. The US has struck at these external cells using unmanned Predator aircraft and other means in an effort to disrupt al Qaeda's external network and decapitate the leadership. The US also has targeted al Qaeda-linked Taliban fighters operating in Afghanistan, particularly the notorious Haqqani Network.

As of the summer of 2008, al Qaeda and the Taliban operated 157 known training camps in the tribal areas and the Northwest Frontier Province. Al Qaeda has been training terrorists holding Western passports to conduct attacks, US intelligence officials have told The Long War Journal. Some of the camps are devoted to training the Taliban's military arm; some train suicide bombers for attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan; some focus on training the various Kashmiri terror groups; some train al Qaeda operatives for attacks in the West; some train the Lashkar al Zil, al Qaeda's Shadow Army; and one serves as a training ground for the Black Guard, the elite bodyguard unit for Osama bin Laden, Ayman al Zawahiri, and other senior al Qaeda leaders.

The air campaign has had success over the past two months. Since Dec. 8, 2009, the air campaign in Pakistan has killed two senior al Qaeda leaders, a senior Taliban commander, two senior al Qaeda operatives, and a wanted Palestinian terrorist who was allied with al Qaeda. The status of Hakeemullah Mehsud is still unknown.

Already this year, the US has killed Mansur al Shami, an al Qaeda ideologue and aide to al Qaeda’s leader in Afghanistan, Mustafa Abu Yazid; and Haji Omar Khan, a senior Taliban leader in North Waziristan. Jamal Saeed Abdul Rahim, the Abu Nidal Organization operative who participated in killing 22 hostages during the 1986 hijacking of Pan Am flight 73, is thought to have been killed in the Jan. 9 airstrike. And Abdul Basit Usman, an Abu Sayyaf operative with a $1 million US bounty for information leading to his capture, is rumored to have been killed in a strike on Jan. 14, although a Philippine military spokesman said Usman is likely still alive and in the Philippines.

In December 2009, the US killed Abdullah Said al Libi, the top commander of the Shadow Army; Zuhaib al Zahib, a senior commander in theShadow Army; and Saleh al Somali, the leader of al Qaeda's external network [see LWJ report, “Senior al Qaeda and Taliban leaders killed in US airstrikes in Pakistan, 2004 – 2010” for the full list].

US strikes in Pakistan in 2010:

• Predators pound terrorist camp in North Waziristan
Feb. 2, 2010
• US airstrike targets Haqqani Network in North Waziristan
Jan. 29, 2010
• US airstrike in North Waziristan kills 6
Jan. 19, 2010
• Latest US airstrike in Pakistan kills 20
Jan. 17, 2010
• US strikes kill 11 in North Waziristan
Jan. 15, 2010
• US airstrike hits Taliban camp in North Waziristan
Jan. 14, 2010
• US airstrike kills 4 Taliban fighters in North Waziristan
Jan. 9, 2010
• US airstrike kills 5 in North Waziristan
Jan. 8, 2010
• US kills 17 in latest North Waziristan strike
Jan. 6, 2010
• US airstrike kills 2 Taliban fighters in Mir Ali in Pakistan
Jan. 3, 2010
• US kills 3 Taliban in second strike in North Waziristan
Jan. 1, 2010

A female suicide bomber detonated her vest in a crowd of women and children in the northern Shia neighborhood of Shaab in Northern Baghdad. The Iraqis were joining a march to the city of Karbala to commemorate the death of Imam Hussein, a revered Shia religious figure.

"The bomber set off the blast as she lined up with other women to be searched by female security guards at a security checkpoint just inside a rest tent," The Associated Press reported.

Eighteen women and 12 children were among the 54 Iraqis killed in the blast. Another 117 Iraqis were wounded, some seriously. Today's attack follows three bombings yesterday that targeted Shia worshippers in Baghdad; eight Iraqis were wounded in those three attacks.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the bombings, but the suicide attacks bear the hallmark of an al Qaeda or allied Ansar al Sunnah strike. These two groups have specialized in using female suicide bombers in Baghdad and Diyala province.

Al Qaeda has targeted Shia religious processions over the past three years in an effort to reignite sectarian tensions that nearly led to a civil war in 2006 and 2007.

Today's suicide attack follows two mass-casualty bombings in Baghdad last week. Thirty-six Iraqis were killed in three suicide attacks that targeted hotels on Jan. 25. The next day, a suicide bomber killed 18 Iraqis in an attack on a police forensics lab in the capital.

The suicide attacks took place after US and Iraqi security forces killed al Qaeda's top suicide bomber facilitator during a raid in Mosul on Jan. 22. Abu Khalaf, who managed al Qaeda's facilitation network in Syria, entered Iraq sometime last fall to direct al Qaeda's suicide bombing campaign.

The Ras Kamboni Brigade released a statement last Friday announcing that it has merged with al Qaeda's affiliate in Somalia and joined "the international jihad of al Qaeda." The statement was signed by Sheikh Hassan Turki, the founder and leader of the Ras Kamboni Brigade, and Ahmed Abdi Godane, the spiritual leader of Shabaab.

"We have agreed to join the international jihad of al Qaeda," the two groups announced in the joint statement, a portion of which was published by Reuters. "We have also agreed to unite al Shabaab and Kamboni mujahideen to liberate the Eastern and Horn of Africa community who are under the feet of minority Christians."

"We have united to revive the military strength, economy and politics of our mujahideen to stop the war created by the colonizers, and to prevent the attacks of the Christians who invaded our country."

The Ras Kamboni Brigade was founded by Turki, a former senior leader in the Islamic Courts and its predecessor, al Itihaad al Islamiyah. The Ras Kamboni Brigade is estimated to have between 500 and 1,000 fighters in its ranks, US intelligence officials familiar with the security situation in Somalia told The Long War Journal.

Turki operates terrorist training camps in southern Somalia and was likely the target of a US airstrike in March 2008. He is known to train suicide bombers in camps that are dotted along the southern border with Kenya.

The Ras Kamboni Brigade's defection from the Hizbul Islam alliance is a blow to the latter group. Hizbul Islam is a radical Islamist group which is led by Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, who is wanted by the US for his ties to al Qaeda. Aweys co-led the Islamic Courts in 2006 until the group was ousted from power during the Ethiopian invasion in December 2006. Last September, Aweys advocated for more suicide attacks in the country, just days after suicide bombers struck an African Union base in Mogadishu.

Hizbul Islam was created in January 2009 with the merger of four separate Islamic groups: Aweys’ Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia-Eritrea; the Ras Kamboni Brigade; Jabhatul Islamiya (the Islamic Front); and Anole.

Although Shabaab and Hizbul Islam sought to merge forces last summer, the alliance was frayed by local disputes between factions of the two organizations. Relations between Shabaab and Hizbul Islam worsened after the groups began to battle in Kismayo over control of the southern port city.

Clashes between Shabaab and Hizbul Islam have persisted in southern Somalia, but Shabaab has had the upper hand. Despite the intra-Islamist fighting, the weak Transitional Federal Government, backed by thousands of African Union peacekeepers, controls only small enclaves within the capital of Mogadishu, and little else. A pro-government Sufi Islamist militia called Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jama’a controls some regions in central Somalia and often clashes with Shabaab and Hizbul Islam.

Taliban commander Hakeemullah Mehsud in 2008.

Rumors that the leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan has been killed in a US airstrike have resurfaced in the Pakistani press. But the Taliban have denied the reports and the Pakistani Army and US intelligence officials have no indication that he was killed.

On Sunday, Pakistan TV broadcast reports that Taliban leader Hakeemullah Mehsud died of wounds suffered in a US airstrike on Jan. 14 in a region along the North and South Waziristan border. The strike, which targeted Hakeemullah, killed 15 terrorists, including two Arabs and several Uzbeks. Hakeemullah has been buried in a graveyard in the Mamondzai region in the Arakzai tribal agency, according to the report.

The Taliban have denied that Hakeemullah was killed. "Hakeemullah is alive and safe," Azam Tariq, Hakeemullah's spokesman said. "The purpose of stories regarding his death is to create differences among Taliban ranks, but such people will never succeed. People who are saying that Hakeemullah has died should provide proof of it -- we have already proved that he is alive and we have provided two audio tapes of him to all the media."

Azam is referring to the two audiotapes of Hakeemullah that were released within two days after the Jan. 14 Predator strike. On one tape, Hakeemullah provided a specific date to confirm he was alive.

"Today, on the 16th of January, I am saying it again -- I am alive, I am OK, I am not injured... when the drone strike took place, I was not present in the area at that time," Hakeemullah Mehsud, the leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, said in a recorded statement that was played for reporters. Hakeemullah provided a specific date to confirm he was alive.

Qari Hussain Mehsud, one of Hakeemullah's top commanders, also contacted Pakistani television stations to deny that Hakeemullah was killed.

US intelligence officials contacted by The Long War Journal said there is no indication that Hakeemullah was killed either during or after the Jan. 14 airstrike.

"We've seen no evidence he was killed, nor do we hear chatter of a leadership crisis in the Taliban ranks," a senior official said.

The Pakistani military, which has reported Hakeemullah killed multiple times in the past, is hesitant to confirm the current report of Hakeemullah's death.

"I don't have the confirmation, my sources have not confirmed it, whether he is dead or alive," Major General Athar Abbas, the military's top spokesman told reporters.

Last summer, the Pakistani government insisted that Hakeemullah was killed during a clash with South Waziristan Taliban leader Waliur Rehman Mehsud. The government claimed the two killed each other during an argument over who would replace Baitullah Mehsud, who was killed in a US airstrike in South Waziristan on Aug. 5. The Taliban denied that the clash ever took place. Both leaders later appeared together in several tapes, but the government insisted that a body double was standing in for Hakeemullah.

The Pakistani Army were also quick to claim Hakeemullah was killed after the Jan. 14 strike, but backed off the assertions after Hakeemullah released the Jan. 16 tape.

Hakeemullah is considered an able and dangerous leader. He has orchestrated the Taliban's attacks on NATO's supply columns moving through Khyber in 2007 and 2008, the Taliban suicide campaign in Pakistan in the fall of 2009, and the tactical retreat from the military's operation in South Waziristan, also in the fall of 2009. He has vowed to continue attacks until the military withdraws from the northwest.

It is unclear who would replace Hakeemullah if he was killed in the strike. Waliur Rehman was the other front-runner to lead the Taliban after Baitullah's death, but he has been ejected from his stronghold in South Waziristan.

The US air campaign in Pakistan has had success over the past two months. Since Dec. 8, 2009, the air campaign in Pakistan has killed two senior al Qaeda leaders, a senior Taliban commander, two senior al Qaeda operatives, a wanted Palestinian terrorist who was allied with al Qaeda, and a wanted Abu Sayyaf operative.

Already this year, the US has killed Mansur al Shami, an al Qaeda ideologue and aide to al Qaeda’s leader in Afghanistan, Mustafa Abu Yazid; and Haji Omar Khan, a senior Taliban leader in North Waziristan. Jamal Saeed Abdul Rahim, the Abu Nidal Organization operative who participated in killing 22 hostages during the 1986 hijacking of Pan Am flight 73, is thought to have been killed in the Jan. 9 airstrike. And Abdul Basit Usman, an Abu Sayyaf operative with a $1 million US bounty for information leading to his capture, was killed in a strike on Jan. 14.

In December 2009, the US killed Abdullah Said al Libi, the top commander of the Lashkar al Zil, al Qaeda's Shadow Army; Zuhaib al Zahib, a senior commander in the Lashkar al Zil; and Saleh al Somali, the leader of al Qaeda's external network [see LWJ report, “Senior al Qaeda and Taliban leaders killed in US airstrikes in Pakistan, 2004 – 2010” for the full list].

Bajaur Taliban leader Faqir Mohammed (pictured) is rumored to have been replaced by Maulana Mohammad Jamal.

A suicide bomber killed 17 Pakistanis during an attack on a checkpoint in the Taliban-controlled tribal agency of Bajaur.

The attack took place at a bazaar in the agency's main town of Khar. The suicide bomber detonated his vest as paramilitary soldiers confronted him at the checkpoint. Three soldiers and 14 civilians were killed in the blast, and more than 40 Pakistanis were wounded. Several buildings were destroyed.

The suicide attack occurred as the Pakistani military has been attacking the Taliban in Bajaur. Pakistani Air Force fighter-bombers and Army attack helicopters have targeted Taliban strongholds in the Mamond region in Bajaur since Wednesday. The military claimed that more than 50 Taliban fighters and two soldiers have been killed in the strikes, including seven today.

The Mamond region in Bajaur is a notorious stronghold for the Taliban and Faqir Mohammed, the chief of the Bajaur Taliban. Although the military has conducted several operations there, it has failed to eject the Taliban. In March 2009, the military claimed the Taliban had "lost" in Bajaur and the neighboring tribal agency of Mohmand after a six-month-long operation.

In Bajaur, as elsewhere in the tribal areas and greater northwest, the Taliban have attacked pro-government leaders and government facilities. In particular, the Taliban have targeted tribal leaders who have raised lashkars, or militias, to fight alongside the military. Since Jan. 1 this year, the Taliban have killed eight pro-government tribal leaders and have kidnapped two others. Between October and December 2009, the Taliban killed six pro-government tribal leaders. The Taliban have also bombed four schools and a medical clinic since Jan. 1.

The recent clashes in Bajaur occur as there are reports of a leadership struggle within the Taliban ranks. According to Dawn, Faqir Mohammad, the leader of the Bajaur Taliban and the deputy leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, has been replaced by Maulana Mohammad Jamal.

"Sources said that the local Taliban shura had asked Faqir Mohammad to resign but he refused to do so," Dawn reported. "The shura held a meeting on Wednesday and appointed Maulana Jamal as the new chief and Burhanuddin his deputy."

The Taliban were reportedly upset after Faqir ordered his forces not to oppose a military advance into Mamond, against the wishes of the shura. Faqir's followers denied he was replaced, while Jamal's followers say Faqir stepped down.

Al Qaeda is active in the Bajaur tribal agency. The terror group is also known to shelter in the Mamond region there. In January 2006, the US targeted a meeting of senior al Qaeda leaders in the town of Damadola in Mamond. Ayman al Zawahiri, Abu Khabab al Masri, and several other senior al Qaeda leaders were thought to be meeting there.

The Mamond region in Bajaur has also served as a safe haven for the Swat chapter of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan. Shah Doran, the deputy to notorious Swat Taliban commander Mullah Fazlullah, recently died of died of complications from cancer in the Mamond region. The Pakistani military had previously claimed that Doran was killed in June during the military operation in Swat.

The strike took place in the Datta Khel region in North Waziristan. Al Qaeda's Shadow Army is based in Datta Khel.

The unmanned aircraft, likely Predators or their more dangerous cousins the Reapers, fired three missiles at a compound run by the Haqqani Network. "Foreign fighters," a term used to describe Arab al Qaeda members, are also known to use the compound, AFP reported.

At this time, no senior Haqqani Network, al Qaeda, or Taliban commanders have been reported killed. US intelligence officials contacted by The Long War Journal would not comment on the target of the strike.

Today's strike is the first in 10 days and breaks a lull in US attacks after a flurry from Dec. 31, 2009, to Jan. 19. There were 11 airstrikes in that timeframe, and all of them took place in North Waziristan.

The US has launched more airstrikes in January 2010 than in any other month since the program began in 2004. Prior to this month, October 2008 saw the most attacks, with 10 recorded.

The Taliban have claimed to have shot down two Predators over the past week in North Waziristan. The Taliban reportedly rewarded the tribesman who shot down a drone, giving him a car.

Background on the Haqqani Network

The Haqqani Network is based in North Waziristan and across the border in Paktia, Paktika, and Khost provinces in eastern Afghanistan. The network is also active in the Afghan provinces of Ghazni, Logar, Wardak, Kabul, Kunar, Nangarhar, Helmand, and Kandahar.

The Haqqanis have extensive links with al Qaeda and with Pakistan’s military intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI. These relationships have allowed the Haqqani Network to survive and thrive in North Waziristan. The Haqqanis control large swaths of North Waziristan, and run a parallel administration with courts, recruiting centers, tax offices, and security forces.

Siraj Haqqani, a son of family patriarch Jalaluddin, has risen in prominence over the past few years. He is believed to be the mastermind of the most deadly attacks inside Afghanistan and to be the senior military commander in eastern Afghanistan. The US military has described Siraj as the primary threat to security in eastern Afghanistan.

Siraj is considered dangerous not only for his ties with the Afghan Taliban, but also because of his connections with al Qaeda's central leadership, which extend all the way to Osama bin Laden. On March 25, 2009, the US Department of State put out a $5 million bounty for information leading to the capture of Siraj.

Al Qaeda has promoted Siraj to serve on the military shura, or council, a senior US military intelligence official told The Long War Journal. Siraj is known to mediate disputes between Taliban groups in Pakistan and is also credited with the group's virtual control of the eastern Afghan provinces of Khost, Paktika, and Paktia.

Background on the recent strikes in Pakistan

The US air campaign in Pakistan's tribal areas has been stepped up since Hakeemullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, aided the Dec. 30, 2009, suicide attack by a Jordanian al Qaeda operative at Combat Outpost Chapman in Afghanistan's Khost province. The bomber killed seven CIA officials, including the station chief, and a Jordanian intelligence officer. Hakeemullah appeared on a martyrdom tape with the suicide bomber that was released shortly after the attack.

The US is actively hunting Hakeemullah, intelligence officials told The Long War Journal.

The air campaign has had success over the past two months. Since Dec. 8, 2009, the air campaign in Pakistan has killed two senior al Qaeda leaders, a senior Taliban commander, two senior al Qaeda operatives, and a wanted Palestinian terrorist who was allied with al Qaeda.

Already this year, the US has killed Mansur al Shami, an al Qaeda ideologue and aide to al Qaeda’s leader in Afghanistan, Mustafa Abu Yazid; and Haji Omar Khan, a senior Taliban leader in North Waziristan. Jamal Saeed Abdul Rahim, the Abu Nidal Organization operative who participated in killing 22 hostages during the 1986 hijacking of Pan Am flight 73, is thought to have been killed in the Jan. 9 airstrike. And Abdul Basit Usman, an Abu Sayyaf operative with a $1 million US bounty for information leading to his capture, was killed in a strike on Jan. 14.

In December 2009, the US killed Abdullah Said al Libi, the top commander of the Lashkar al Zil, al Qaeda's Shadow Army; Zuhaib al Zahib, a senior commander in the Lashkar al Zil; and Saleh al Somali, the leader of al Qaeda's external network [see LWJ report, “Senior al Qaeda and Taliban leaders killed in US airstrikes in Pakistan, 2004 – 2010” for the full list].

US strikes in Pakistan in 2010:

• US airstrike targets Haqqani Network in North Waziristan
Jan. 29, 2010
• US airstrike in North Waziristan kills 6
Jan. 19, 2010
• Latest US airstrike in Pakistan kills 20
Jan. 17, 2010
• US strikes kill 11 in North Waziristan
Jan. 15, 2010
• US airstrike hits Taliban camp in North Waziristan
Jan. 14, 2010
• US airstrike kills 4 Taliban fighters in North Waziristan
Jan. 9, 2010
• US airstrike kills 5 in North Waziristan
Jan. 8, 2010
• US kills 17 in latest North Waziristan strike
Jan. 6, 2010
• US airstrike kills 2 Taliban fighters in Mir Ali in Pakistan
Jan. 3, 2010
• US kills 3 Taliban in second strike in North Waziristan
Jan. 1, 2010

Like the audiotape released on Jan. 24, bin Laden's latest tape was released directly to Al Jazeera and not through As Sahab, al Qaeda's propaganda outlet.

Bin Laden said that climate change is a "fact" and was caused by "industrial countries."

"Talking about climate change is not intellectual luxury; it is an actual fact," bin Laden said. "All the industrial countries, particularly the great ones, are responsible for global warming. The majority of them, however, signed the Kyoto Protocol and agreed to end the emission of harmful gases. Bush Junior, however, and the Congress before him, rejected this pact to appease the giant corporations."

Bin Laden then blamed the "giant corporations" for the financial crisis and said world leaders support their actions.

"They themselves are standing behind speculations, monopoly, and the soaring living costs for people," bin Laden said. "They are also behind globalization and its tragic repercussions. Whenever the perpetrators fall due to their evils deeds, the heads of states rush to rescue them using public funds."

Bin Laden cited leftist intellectual Noam Chomsky, who he said "was correct when he indicated a resemblance between the American policies and those of the mafia gangs. Those are the real terrorists."

Bin Laden mentioned Chomsky in a previous audiotape released in September 2009, where he praised the author and recommended his book.

Finally, bin Laden suggested that the world should renounce the dollar to ""liberate humanity from slavery and dependence on America and its corporations," despite the "grave repercussions and huge impact" of doing so. "Regardless of what will be said about the repercussions of this decision, the repercussions of remaining their slaves are far greater and more dangerous."

Al Qaeda often attempts to latch onto populist causes to use them to attack the United States and the West. In his last tape, bin Laden again embraced the Palestinians' fight against Israel as al Qaeda's struggle, a message that is often repeated by Ayman al Zawahiri. Bin Laden previously mentioned global warming in the September 2009 audiotape.

The joint US and Iraqi special operations team killed Abu Khalaf, al Qaeda in Iraq's seniormost foreign fighter facilitator, during an operation on Jan. 22. Khalaf was killed after he "attacked a security-team member participating in a warranted operation," a US Forces- Iraq press release stated.

The US military said Khalaf's identity was confirmed using "multiple sources, including fingerprint matches."

Khalaf, whose real name is Sa'ad Uwayyid 'Ubayd Mu'jil al Shammari, was placed on the US Treasury Department's terrorist sanctions list in May 2009 and was identified as al Qaeda in Iraq's top facilitator, who operated from Syria.

Khalaf and a cadre of his aides entered Mosul sometime last fall to lead al Qaeda's terror operations, a senior US intelligence official told The Long War Journal.

"Khalaf was responsible for coordinating recent suicide attacks in Baghdad and Anbar," the official said. There have been five mass-casualty suicide attacks in Baghdad since August 2009, including two attacks this week, as well as several suicide attacks in Ramadi.

"Khalaf was perhaps the most dangerous AQI [Al Qaeda in Iraq] facilitator in Iraq," the official said. His death "leaves a void in AQI hierarchy."

US and Iraqi intelligence began to draw a bead on Khalaf's location after Iraqi forces broke up a major suicide bombing operation on Jan. 12. Four suicide bombers and hundreds of pounds of explosives were seized during the raid, as well as information that pointed to Khalaf's location.

More intelligence on Khalaf was gathered after Iraqi security forces detained Ali Hussein Alwan al Azawi, a senior al Qaeda in Iraq operative who was involved in the first major suicide attack in the capital in the summer of 2003, the official said. That suicide attack killed 22 United Nations employees, including special representative Sergio Vieira de Mello. The attack led to the United Nations' withdrawal from Iraq.

Khalaf is the second major al Qaeda leader killed in Mosul this month. On Jan. 5, US forces killed Abu Na’im al Afri, the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq's northern operations. Like Khalaf, Afri also was killed during a joint US and Iraqi raid. In that raid, the joint forces also detained Al Qaeda in Iraq’s administrative emir, the advisor to the sharia emir, and the detainee affairs emir.

Abu Khalaf and al Qaeda's operations in Syria

Khalaf was an Iraqi member of al Qaeda who operated from inside Syria. He was known to recruit suicide bombers from North Africa and aid in setting up their travel arrangements into Syria and ultimately Iraq.

Khalaf also helped al Qaeda suicide bombers based in the Persian Gulf region travel the Levant to conduct suicide attacks. The Levant consists of the countries that border the Mediterranean Sea and includes Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Egypt. Before his death, US intelligence indicated that Khalaf operated in Tal Hamis in Syria, and in Tal Wardan and the 'Awinat village in the Rabiah district in northwestern Iraq.

Syria has long supported or looked the other way as al Qaeda and Sunni insurgents used the country as a transit point and safe haven for fighters entering western Iraq. More than 90 percent of the suicide bombers who have entered Iraq since the insurgency began in 2003 have entered Iraq via Syria.

Al Qaeda’s Syrian network is thought to have suffered a setback as the US implemented a counterinsurgency program in 2007, and a covert operation in Syria 2008 targeted and killed a senior member of al Qaeda facilitation network. An estimated 120-plus foreign fighters per month are thought to have entered Iraq from Syria at the peak of the foreign-fighter influx, in 2007. The number is now estimated to be in the single digits.

In October 2008, the US sent a strong message to Syria when it launched the first recorded cross-border strike inside Syria since the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Nine terrorists were reported killed after US commandos dropped from helicopters conducted a raid in eastern Syria. The target was Abu Ghadiya, Khalaf's predecessor and a senior al Qaeda leader who had been in charge of the Syrian facilitation network since 2005. Ghadiya and his staff were killed in the attack.

But there is concern that al Qaeda's Syrian network is being rejuvenated. US intelligence officials fear that eastern Syria is becoming a terrorist haven.

Al Qaeda has refocused its efforts to build an infrastructure in eastern Syria after its network in Iraq was decimated by Iraqi and US security forces from 2007 to 2009, and now the organization is partnering with former Ba’athists from Saddam Hussein’s regime.

Last summer, al Qaeda's central leadership reportedly sent Sheikh Issa al Masri to lead al Qaeda's efforts in Syria. Sheikh Issa is a senior Egyptian cleric and ideologue who has helped the terror group gain a foothold in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agencies of North and South Waziristan over the past decade.

Mullah Mohammad Omar, the Taliban's "Leader of the Faithful."

The Taliban have once again rejected overtures by the Afghan government and international community to negotiate a peace settlement to the Afghan war and reconcile with the government.

The Taliban's leadership council dismissed the reconciliation efforts and the upcoming London Conference in a statement just released on its English-language website, The Voice of Jihad.

Avoiding any discussion of compromise, the Taliban leadership council called for "the full withdrawal of the invading forces," the release of all prisoners from Afghan, Pakistani, and US jails, and the removal of all names from the United Nations terrorist sanctions list.

The Taliban said they had no intentions of negotiating with the Afghan government, which they described as "traffickers of intoxications items, human rights violators, corrupt persons, national traitors and usurpers of people private properties." Instead, Mullah Omar, the Taliban's leader, seeks to reinstall the Islamic Emirate.

"It is worth mentioning that the leader of the faithful Mullah Mohammad Omar (May Allah protect him) has clearly said that we want an Islamic rule in our country," the statement read.

The Taliban reiterated a claim made last year that they have no intention of attacking neighboring countries and will not permit attacks on foreign countries from their soil.

The Taliban released the statement as the international community and the Afghan government are holding talks on reconciliation at the London Conference. The Afghan government is seeking international support, including $1 billion in donations, to fund reconciliation and reintegration of local Taliban fighters, and to support high-level talks with the Taliban leadership.

But the Taliban statement dismissed these efforts as "ploys and stratagems" to divide the Taliban, and said the Taliban are not fighting for money:

Some time, they announce that they will provide money, employment and opportunity to have a comfortable life abroad, for those Mujahideen who agree to part ways with Jihad. They think that Mujahideen have taken up arms to gain money or grab power or were compelled to turn to arms. This is baseless and futile. Had the aim of the Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate been obtainment of material goals, they would accept dominance of the invaders in the first place and would have supported them. Every thing was in their hand, comfortable life, money and power."

Over the past three years, the Taliban leadership have repeatedly rejected calls for negotiations and reconciliation with the Afghan government [see LWJ reports "Taliban mock West for calling Afghanistan unwinnable" and "Taliban deny reports of negotiations with Afghan government"). Instead, the Taliban have turned the calls for talks into propaganda and claimed the talks are a sign of weakness.

The Taliban have denied conducting negotiations with the Afghan government and the West, and have denounced those who claimed to be negotiating in their names. The most prominent name that always comes up in these so-called negotiations is Wakil Ahmad Mutawakil, the former Taliban foreign minister who broke ranks after Omar refused to hand over Osama bin Laden after the Sept. 11 attacks. In 2002 he claimed he sent an aide to warn the US of the Sept. 11 attacks but was ignored.

Mutawakil surrendered to the US in February 2002 without seeking approval from the senior Taliban leadership. He was detained by the US and then placed under house arrest in Kabul. The Taliban ejected Mutawakil from the movement in 2003, saying he "does not represent our will." Mutawakil contested the elections in 2005.

Mutawakil has been behind numerous failed attempts to promote reconciliation between the Afghan government and the Taliban. "He is probably sincere but just completely powerless," a US intelligence official told The Long War Journal.

Just today, the United Nations removed Mutawakil and four other former Taliban leaders who had reconciled with the Afghan government long ago from the sanctions list. Also removed with Mutawakil was Abdul Hakim Munib, who is the current governor of Uruzgan province. Munib was one of several 'Taliban leaders' who went to the Maldives last weekend to conduct secret negotiations with the Afghan government.

The son of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar was also reported to have been at the Maldives meeting. Hekmatyar leads a faction of the Hezb-e-Islami that fights the Afghan government and the West and has allied with the Taliban and al Qaeda. Since 2002, the US and Afghan governments have sought to draw Hekmatyar away from the insurgency, without success.

The suicide bomber detonated his vest while waiting in line to enter the Halane medical clinic at the Mogadishu airport, the headquarters for the African Union Mission in Somalia.

Shabaab, al Qaeda's affiliate in Somalia, took credit for the suicide attack, claiming African Union doctors and soldiers were among those killed.

"We killed some of the senior medical officers and soldiers in the mercenary base," Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Ali Mahamoud Rage told reporters. "It is part of our retaliation attack against the occupiers’ massacre of our people."

An African Union spokesman said that only Somalis were killed in the suicide attack. Eleven people, including three African Union soldiers, were wounded in the attack.

The last suicide attack carried out by Shabaab also targeted medical personnel. On Dec. 3, 2009, a suicide bomber, who was disguised as a woman, detonated his vest in the midst of a graduation ceremony for Somali medical students from Banadir University. The ministers of health, education, and higher education, along with two reporters from Shabelle and Al Arabia, nine medical students, and a well-known doctor, were killed in the blast. Scores more were wounded, including the sports minister.

Shabaab has vowed to continue to attack African Union forces and the weak Somali government, which controls only small enclaves in the Somali capital.

Shabaab and its predecessor organization, the Islamic Courts, have conducted 20 suicide attacks since September 2006, when the first suicide attack was recorded in Somalia [see list below]. The latest four attacks have focused on senior leaders in the government and the African Union.

One of the most deadly suicide attacks took place on Sept. 17, 2009, when two suicide bombers penetrated security at an African Union base in Mogadishu and killed 21 people, including the deputy African Union commander and 16 other peacekeepers. One of the suicide bombers was later confirmed to be an American citizen recruited by Shabaab in Minneapolis. State Minister for Defense Sheikh Yusuf Mohammad Siad, who is better known as Indha'adde, sold intelligence to Shabaab that allowed the terror group to conduct the attack.

Suicide attacks in Somalia since September 2006:

Dec. 3, 2009: A Shabaab suicide bomber detonated his vest at a medical clinic at an African Union base in Mogadishu and killed seven people.

Dec. 3, 2009: A Shabaab suicide bomber dressed as a woman detonated his vest at a graduation ceremony for medical students at a hotel in Mogadishu and killed 19 people, including the ministers of health, education, and higher education, and two reporters.

Sept. 17, 2009: Shabaab suicide bombers penetrated security at an African Union base in Mogadishu and killed 21 people, including the deputy African Union commander and 16 other peacekeepers.

June 18, 2009: A Shabaab suicide bomber killed the security minister and a former ambassador during an attack outside a hotel in Beletwein that killed more than 35 people.

May 24, 2009: A Shabaab suicide bomber killed six policemen and a civilian in an attack on a police station in Mogadishu.

Feb. 22, 2009: Shabaab claimed to have conducted a dual suicide attack on Burundi troops in Mogadishu; the African Union claimed the attack was a mortar strike.

Oct. 29, 2008: Five suicide bombers struck four compounds in the semi-autonomous regions of Somaliland and Puntland, killing 28 and wounding scores more. Three suicide car bombers struck the presidential palace, the UN Development Program compound, and the Ethiopian Consulate in the city of Hargeisa in Somaliland. Two bombers targeted an intelligence facility in the city of Bosasso in Puntland.

April 8, 2008: A Shabaab suicide bomber rammed a car into the gate of the complex that housed peacekeepers from Burundi; one soldier was killed.

Oct. 11, 2007: A suicide bomber killed three Ethiopian soldiers near a base in Baidoa where the Prime Minister was visiting.

June 4, 2007: A suicide car bomber attacked the Somali Prime Minister's home; seven were killed. Another suicide car bomb was detonated near an Ethiopian Army base.

April 25, 2007: A suicide bomber killed 11 during an attack on a hotel south of Mogadishu.

April 20, 2007: A suicide car bomber attacked an Ethiopian army base in the capital.

Nov. 30, 2006: A suicide bomber killed eight in an attack in Baidoa.

Sept. 18, 2006: In the first recorded suicide attack in Somalia, one or two suicide bombers attacked the convoy of the president of the Transitional Federal Government as he was heading to speak to parliament in Baidoa; six Somalis were killed.

A car packed with explosives was rammed into a building operated by the Baghdad Police College, a school in the Karada district that is run by the Ministry of the Interior. The suicide bomber attempted to run a checkpoint and detonated the bomb outside the Criminal Evidence Department.

Eighteen Iraqis were killed and more than 80 were wounded in the blast, which leveled the building and damaged nearby homes and shops. Most of those killed worked at the forensics lab, Iraqi officials said.

The Baghdad forensics lab has been the target of two other suicide attacks. The lab is used to gather and catalog evidence on insurgent attacks, including "DNA analysis, advanced firearms microscopy, fingerprint analysis and document analysis," according to a US military press release from November 2009. The evidence is then used to prosecute captured members of bombing and terror cells.

Today's strike is the latest in a series of coordinated, mass-casualty attacks that have targeted Iraq's police, military, judicial, and other government institutions. Yesterday's attacks, which targeted three hotels primarily used by journalists and killed 36 people, were the exception.

There was an attack on Aug. 19, 2009, outside Iraqi government buildings, that killed more than 120 Iraqis. It was followed by an attack on Oct. 25, 2009, on foreign and finance ministry buildings, that killed more than 130. And on Dec. 8, 2009, strikes killed more than 120 Iraqis at a court complex, a neighborhood near the Interior Ministry, a mosque, and a market.

Al Qaeda in Iraq took credit for the three suicide attacks in 2009. No group has claimed responsibility for yesterday's attacks, but given that suicide bombers were used and the attacks were coordinated, al Qaeda in Iraq is the prime suspect.

The Iraqi government has blamed al Qaeda in Iraq and former Baathists based in Syria for the previous attacks. Iraqi and US officials say that Al Qaeda in Iraq and Baathists are trying to disrupt the upcoming parliamentary elections on March 7 and are seeking to discredit Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki's government.

Last year, the top US military commander in Iraq said that al Qaeda's affiliate has "transformed significantly" and has begun to work more closely with former Baathist groups that are still fighting the Iraqi government and US forces.

The bombs were detonated outside the Sheraton, Al Hamraa, and Babylon hotels in central Baghdad in explosions ten minutes apart. Two of the hotels, the Sheraton and Al Hamraa, are used by foreign journalists. Thirty-six Iraqis were killed and 71 more were wounded.

It is unclear if the car bombs were detonated remotely or by suicide bombers. Reuters reported the attack as suicide bombings but The New York Times did not mention suicide bombers.

The attack bears the hallmarks of al Qaeda in Iraq, which has taken credit for three similar attacks since August 2009: the Aug. 19 attack outside Iraqi government buildings that killed more than 120 Iraqis; the Oct. 25 attack on foreign and finance ministry buildings that killed more than 130; and the Dec. 8 strikes that killed more than 120 Iraqis at a court complex, a neighborhood near the Interior Ministry, a mosque, and a market.

While the attacks have been deadly, Al Qaeda in Iraq has not been able to carry out large-scale strikes in the capital less than six weeks apart.

Iraqi authorities have been working to avert the next major strike. On Jan. 12, Iraqi security forces detained four suicide bombers and seized hundreds of pounds of explosives and bomb-making materials during raids throughout Baghdad. Security officials claimed the bombers were en route to attack government ministries and that the bombings would be followed by a wave of political assassinations.

Days later, the Iraqi government announced the arrest of Ali Hussein Alwan al Azawi, who is also known as Abu Imad. Azawi is a top Al Qaeda in Iraq commander who was involved in the first major suicide attack in the capital. The suicide bomber killed 22 United Nations employees, including special representative Sergio Vieira de Mello. The attack led to the United Nations' withdrawal from Iraq.

The Iraqi government has blamed al Qaeda in Iraq and former Baathists based in Syria for the previous attacks. Iraqi and US officials say that Al Qaeda in Iraq and Baathists are seeking to disrupt the upcoming parliamentary elections on March 7 and are seeking to discredit Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki's government.

Last year, the top US military commander in Iraq said that al Qaeda's affiliate has "transformed significantly" and has begun to work more closely with former Baathist groups that are still fighting the Iraqi government and US forces.

"Al Qaeda in Iraq has transformed significantly in the last two years," General Raymond Odierno said in early December. "What once was dominated by foreign individuals has now become more and more dominated by Iraqi citizens."

Al Qaeda in Iraq is thought to be carving out a haven in eastern Syria. Earlier this year, the group's central leadership in Pakistan dispatched Sheikh Issa al Masri to Syria to help Abu Khalaf to reorganize the network and conduct strikes against US and Iraqi forces.

The leader of al Qaeda has released an audiotape praising the Christmas Eve bomber and threatening more attacks against the US if its support for Israel continues.

Osama bin Laden released a one-minute-long audiotape entitled "From Osama to Obama." The tape, which displayed an old image of Osama, was given to Al Jazeera. US intelligence officials contact by The Long War Journal believe that the tape is authentic.

On the tape, Osama takes credit for the Christmas Eve bombing attempt over Detroit that was carried out by Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab.

"If our messages to you could be carried by words we wouldn't have done that by planes," Osama says. "The message I want to convey to you through the plane of the hero, mujahid Umar al Farouk [Abdulmutallab] reaffirms a previous message that the heroes of 9/11 conveyed to you and was repeated frequently."

Osama says al Qaeda will continue to attack the United States as it fails to understand that its support for Israel is intolerable.

"The message is that America will never dream of peace unless we live it in Palestine," Osama continued. "It is unfair that you should a safe life while our brothers in Gaza are suffer greatly therefore with God's will our attacks on you will continue to (as long as you support) Israel."

Al Qaeda often attempts to latch onto the Palestinian cause to garner support in the Arab and Muslim world. Ayman al Zawahiri, Osama's deputy, frequently brings up the issue of the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Zawahiri often levels criticism at Hamas for participating in elections, carrying out negotiations with Israel and the West, and failing to take part in the global jihad.

Al Qaeda-linked groups have a small presence in the Gaza strip, the small region ruled by Hamas. In August 2009, Hamas attacked the Jund Ansar Allah, an al Qaeda-linked terror group, and killed its leader, its military commander, and scores of followers.

Osama bin Laden's latest tape is the first released since September 2009. In that audiotape, Osama urged the Europeans to abandon Afghanistan and end their support for the US.

Text of Osama bin Laden's statement:

In the name of God the most passionate the most merciful. From Osama to Obama.

"May peace be on those who follow the light of guidance. If our messages to you could be carried by words we wouldn't have done that by planes. The message I want to convey to you through the plane of the hero, mujahid Umar al Farouk [Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab] reaffirms a previous message that the heroes of 9/11 conveyed to you and was repeated frequently. The message is that America will never dream of peace unless we live it in Palestine. It is unfair that you should a safe life while our brothers in Gaza are suffer greatly therefore with God's will our attacks on you will continue to (as long as you support) Israel. Peace be on those who follow the light of guidance."