Mullah Hayatullah, the Taliban commander in Farah province. He runs suicide training camps in the western province.

Taliban suicide bombers struck for the second day straight throughout Afghanistan.

Today a suicide bomber driving a motorcycle detonated his explosives in a market in Farah City, killing 17 people and wounding 29. A second suicide bomber killed five bodyguards of a member of parliament in an attack north of Kabul.

Provincial officials in Farah said a senior police official, who was killed in the explosion, was the target of the suicide attack. Two of the senior police official's bodyguards were also killed in the attack.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf denied responsibility in a phone call to Reuters.

But the governor of Farah province said the Taliban back down from taking responsibility for suicide attacks when large numbers of civilians are killed.

"Whenever there are civilian casualties, the Taliban deny responsibility," Governor Rohul Amin told Reuters. "This attack was definitely carried out by the Taliban."

In July of this year, the Taliban issued a rulebook with guidelines that said suicide attacks must be carried out only against military and government targets, and civilian casualties must be avoided.

Mullah Hayatullah is the Taliban commander in Farah province. He run suicide training camps and also serves as a spokesman for the group.

The second suicide attack took place in the Paghman district north of Kabul. A suicide bomber targeted Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, a former mujahideen leader and now a member of parliament. Five of Sayyaf's bodyguards were killed in the strike,but Sayyaf survived the attack unharmed. Sayyaf, a Pashtun warlord, backed the Northern Alliance during the civil war with the Taliban from 1996 to 2001.

Just yesterday, the Taliban carried out another suicide attack in nearby Uruzgan province. The suicide bomber was targeting a Coalition convoy as it moved through a crowded area in the southern province. Before he could reach the convoy, the bomber detonated, killing 10 civilians and wounding 13 more.

Also, yesterday in Zabul province, a Taliban suicide bomber killed two US soldiers during an attack just outside of a US outpost in the Shah Joy district. Two US soldiers were also wounded in the attack.

Today the US aircraft hit a Taliban training camp in the village of Palooseen near Mir Ali.

"At least eight people were killed in the drone attack," a Pakistani intelligence official told AFP. "A compound used by militants was targeted."

Three "foreigners," a term used to describe al Qaeda operatives, were among those killed. No senior leaders have been reported killed.

The town of Mir Ali is a known stronghold of al Qaeda leader Abu Kasha al Iraqi, an Iraqi national who is also known as Abu Akash. He has close links to the Taliban and the Haqqani Network. The Haqqani Network and Hafiz Gul Bahadar also have influence in the Mir Ali region.

Abu Kasha serves as the key link between al Qaeda's Shura Majlis, or executive council, and the Taliban. His responsibilities have expanded to assisting in facilitating al Qaeda's external operations against the West.

Over the past three months, the US strikes in Pakistan have tapered off. Today’s attack is only the third this month, and the eleventh since the beginning of September. Ten of the 11 airstrikes have taken place in North Waziristan; five have targeted Abu Kasha’s territories, and six have targeted the Haqqani Network.

Yesterday, US aircraft hit a Taliban compound just outside of Miramshah, a stronghold of the Haqqani Network. Four Taliban fighters were reported killed.

Today's strike is only the fourth since the Pakistani military launched the offensive against Hakeemullah Mehsud’s faction of the Taliban in South Waziristan on Oct. 17. Just prior to the offensive, the Pakistani Army cut a deal with Taliban leaders Hafiz Gul Bahadar in North Waziristan and Mullah Nazir in South Waziristan. The military agreed to halt attacks against those Taliban factions and allow them to use the roads, in exchange for a Taliban promise to maintain neutrality while the fighting is ongoing and to permit the passage of military convoys.

In an effort to preserve its peace agreement with Nazir and Bahadar, the Pakistani government has denied that US strikes have occurred in the tribal areas. Instead, Pakistani officials have claimed that explosions at bomb factories were the cause of the deaths.

So far this year, the US has carried out 47 airstrikes inside Pakistan. In all of 2008, 36 strikes were carried out. Since the US ramped up cross-border attacks in 2008, 14 al Qaeda and Taliban leaders have been killed [see LWJ report, "US airstrikes alone cannot defeat al Qaeda"].

The suicide bomber detonated outside the main gate of the complex, which contains the provincial criminal and civil courts and administration buildings.

"The bomber was on foot and tried to get into the Judicial Complex through its main entry gate," an official told Dawn. "He blew himself up, when he was stopped."

Police reportedly had intelligence that the complex was to be targeted by the Taliban.

Peshawar has become the eye of the storm for the Taliban's terror counteroffensive against the Pakistani state. Ten of the 26 major attacks in Pakistan have taken place in or near the capital of the Northwest Frontier Province.

Suicide attacks have targeted the headquarters of the Inter-Services Intelligence Agency, police stations and checkpoints, markets, and anti-Taliban leaders in Peshawar.

The Taliban have also attacked the Army General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, police centers in Lahore, UN offices in Islamabad, and police, military, and civilian targets throughout the northwest. Anti-Taliban tribal leaders who have raised militias have also become the target of attacks.

The Taliban launched the terror campaign on Oct. 5, two weeks before the military began the ground phase of the operation in South Waziristan. Major General Athar Abbas, the military's top spokesman, said the Taliban has been "defeated" in South Waziristan.

Major Taliban attacks in Pakistan since Oct. 5:

Nov. 19, 2009: A suicide bomber killed 19 people in an attack outside of the provincial judicial complex in Peshawar.

Nov. 16, 2009: A suicide bomber killed four people in an attack on a police station in Peshawar.

Nov. 15, 2009: The Taliban killed a tribal leader in Bajaur and targeted a mayor in Peshawar.

Nov. 13, 2009: A suicide bomber killed 10 people in an attack on a police checkpoint in Peshawar.

Nov. 13, 2009: A suicide bomber killed 10 people in an attack on the headquarters of the Inter-Services Intelligence agency in Peshawar.

Nov. 13, 2009: A suicide bomber wounded 10 people in an attack on a police station in Bannu.

Nov. 10, 2009: A suicide bomber killed 24 people in a market in Charsadda.

Nov. 9, 2009: A suicide bomber killed four people during an attack at a police checkpoint outside Peshawar.

Nov. 8, 2009: A suicide bomber killed an anti-Taliban leader and 12 others in an attack at a market in the town of Matni near Peshawar.

Nov. 5, 2009: An Army brigadier and a soldier were wounded in an ambush in Islamabad.

Nov. 2, 2009: A Taliban suicide bomber killed 34 Pakistanis and wounded scores more in an attack in Rawalpindi.

Nov. 2, 2009: A pair of suicide bombers killed one policeman and wounded 25 security officers and civilians after the pair detonated their vests at a security checkpoint.

Oct. 28, 2009: A Taliban suicide bomber killed 119 Pakistanis and wounded hundreds more in an attack on a bazaar in Peshawar.

Oct. 27, 2009: A brigadier general who served as the director of defense services guards at the Army General Headquarters escaped an assassination attempt in Islamabad.

Oct. 23, 2009: The Taliban detonated an anti-tank mine and hit a bus transporting a wedding party in Mohmand. The explosion killed 15 of the passengers and wounded six more.

Oct. 23, 2009: The Taliban detonated a car bomb outside a popular restaurant in the residential Hayatabad area in Peshawar. The attack wounded 13 civilians; nine are said to be in critical condition.

Oct. 23, 2009: A Taliban suicide bomber killed seven people during an attack at a security checkpoint near the Kamra Air Weapon Complex in the district of Attock in Punjab province.

Oct. 21, 2009: The Taliban assassinated a brigadier general and his driver during an ambush in Islamabad.

Oct. 20, 2009: A pair of suicide bombers detonated their vests at Islamabad's International Islamic University, killing five.

Oct. 16, 2009: A pair of suicide bombers, including a female, attacked a police station and a building housing an intelligence service in Peshawar, killing 11.

Oct. 15, 2009: Terrorist assault teams attacked the Federal Investigation Agency building, the Manawan police training center, and the Elite Force Headquarters in Lahore. Twenty-six people, including nine terrorists and 12 policemen, were killed.

Oct. 15, 2009: A suicide bomber rammed a car into a police station in Kohat, killing 11 people, including policemen and children.

Oct. 12, 2009: A suicide bomber detonated a car packed with explosives as a military convoy passed through a checkpoint in a market in Alpuri in Shangla. The attack killed 41 people, including six security personnel.

Oct. 10, 2009: An assault team attacked the Army General Headquarters and took 42 security personnel captive. Eleven soldiers were killed, including a brigadier general and a lieutenant colonel, along with nine members of the assault team; and 39 hostages were freed.

Oct. 9, 2009: A suicide bomber detonated a car packed with explosives in a bazaar in Peshawar, killing 49 civilians.

Oct. 5, 2009: A suicide bomber entered the World Food Program office in Islamabad and detonated his vest, killing five UN workers, including an Iraqi.

Unmanned aircraft, likely remotely piloted Predator or Reaper drones, hit a Taliban compound in the village of Shanakhora, which lies six miles west of Miramshah in North Waziristan, with two Hellfire missiles.

“It was a US drone attack which targeted a militant compound killing four militants and wounding five others,” a senior Pakistani security official in the region told AFP.

“The compound was being used by Taliban militants, however it is not clear whether there were any foreign militants or high-value targets,” another Pakistani official told the news service.

The region is a stronghold of the Haqqani Network. The Haqqani family is led by Jalaluddin and his son Siraj, who serves as the military commander. The network is based in both Pakistan and Afghanistan, and has the backing of both Pakistan’s military and its intelligence service.

Over the past three months, the US strikes in Pakistan have tapered off. Today’s attack is only the second this month, and the tenth since the beginning of September. Nine of the ten have taken place in North Waziristan; four have targeted Abu Kasha’s territories, and six have targeted the Haqqani Network.

The last strike, on Nov. 4, killed four Taliban fighters in the Mir Ali region in North Waziristan.

Today's strike is only the third since the Pakistani military launched the offensive against Hakeemullah Mehsud’s faction of the Taliban in South Waziristan on Oct. 17. Just prior to the offensive, the Pakistani Army cut a deal with Taliban leaders Hafiz Gul Bahadar in North Waziristan and Mullah Nazir in South Waziristan. The military agreed to halt attacks against those Taliban factions and allow them to use the roads, in exchange for a Taliban promise to maintain neutrality while the fighting is ongoing and to permit the passage of military convoys.

In an effort to preserve its peace agreement with Nazir and Bahadar, the Pakistani government has denied that US strikes have occurred in the tribal areas. Instead, Pakistani officials have claimed that explosions at bomb factories were the cause of the deaths.

So far this year, the US has carried out 46 airstrikes inside Pakistan. In all of 2008, 36 strikes were carried out. Since the US ramped up cross-border attacks in 2008, 14 al Qaeda and Taliban leaders have been killed [see LWJ report, "US airstrikes alone cannot defeat al Qaeda"].

Click to view slide show of the Haqqani Network. Pictured is a composite image of Siraj Haqqani.

Afghan troops killed 23 Haqqani Network and foreign fighters during a clash in Afghanistan's eastern province of Paktika.

The battle took place in Paktika's Barmal district along the border with Pakistan. Arab and Pakistani fighters were among those reported killed during the clash, the Afghan military said.

Today's clash followed a raid on Nov. 15, where six Haqqani Network fighters were killed in the Sarobi district. A "group commander" was reported to be among those killed. Also, two suicide bombers were killed during a premature detonation of their explosives in the Yaya Khil district.

Both the Barmal and Sarobi districts are Taliban strongholds in Paktika province. Paktika province is run by Mullah Sangeen Zadran, who is the shadow governor. Mullah Sangeen is a senior lieutenant to Siraj Haqqani, the military commander of the Haqqani Network.

The battles took place as the Pakistani military is on the offensive against Hakeemullah Mehsud's Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan just across the border in South Waziristan. The military claims it has driven the Taliban out of the major towns and villages in the Mehsud tribal areas, and the top military spokesman described the Taliban as "defeated."

But the Taliban have regrouped in Arakzai, Khyber, North Waziristan, and in Mullah Nazir's tribal areas in South Waziristan, and are continuing to conduct a terror campaign against the state.

Background on major raids against the Haqqani Network in eastern Afghanistan

The US and Afghan military have conducted multiple raids against al Qaeda and Taliban camps deep in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan this year.

Since late May, the joint forces have taken out four large base camps operated by the Haqqani Network in Paktika, Paktia, and Khost provinces. The Haqqani Network, led by Jalaluddin Haqqani and his son Siraj, has close ties to al Qaeda, Mullah Omar, the Pakistani Taliban, and Pakistan's military and intelligence services.

On May 28, US and Afghan forces assaulted a heavily defended fort in the mountains in the Wor Mamay district in the eastern province of Paktika, near the Pakistani border. During that raid, 29 Haqqani Network fighters, including six failed suicide bombers, were killed. Mullah Sangeen Zadran, the senior Haqqani Network commander who was the target of the raid, escaped.

The next raid took place on July 17, when US and Afghan forces took out an "enemy encampment" situated in the remote reaches of Paktia province. The US military said a large number of Haqqani Network fighters were killed in the assault.

The US carried out the Paktia raid the same day Sangeen threatened to kill a US soldier unless Coalition forces ended operations in two districts in Paktika and Ghazni provinces in eastern Afghanistan. The soldier was captured June 30 after walking away from his combat outpost in Paktika province, and has not been heard from since mid-July, when the Haqqanis released a staged videotape "interview."

US and Afghan forces struck at two Haqqani encampments in late August.

The first attack took place on Aug. 28 when a joint US and Afghan force assaulted a fortified Haqqani Network base located in the mountains of the Urgun District in Paktika province along the Pakistani border. The US military said "a large number of hostile militants" were killed during a daylong assault on what the US military described as a "logistics base and safe haven for foreign fighters." The base had sophisticated fortifications, and a massive amount of light and heavy weapons were found.

The second attack took place late at night on Aug. 29 in the Sapera district in Khost province. The joint US and Afghan force killed 35 Haqqani Network fighters during the assault on a hideout in the district. Security forces also found weapons and food caches at the hideout.

The proliferation of large enemy hideouts and training camps used by the Taliban, al Qaeda, and the Haqqani Network has concerned US military officers and intelligence officials.

Background on the Haqqani Network

The Haqqani Network is active in the Afghan provinces of Khost, Paktia, Paktika, Ghazni, Logar, Wardak, and Kabul, and provides support to Taliban networks in Kunar, Nangarhar, Helmand, and Kandahar provinces.

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 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, the US Department of State put out a $5 million bounty for information leading to the capture of Siraj.

Hakeemullah Mehsud, left. AFP photo.

The Pakistani military pounded Taliban strongholds in the tribal agency of Arakzai, a region where Taliban leaders from South Waziristan have regrouped. Pakistani Air Force fighter-bombers, Army attack helicopters, and artillery batteries struck enemy hideouts and supply depots in the Taliban-controlled tribal agency on Saturday and Sunday, killing 30 Taliban fighters.

On Saturday, Pakistani Air Force fighter-bombers hit Taliban ammunition and supply depots that were established in the homes of Sikhs who had been forced to leave the tribal agency. This bombardment reportedly killed 12 Taliban fighters. In December 2008, the Taliban imposed sharia, or Islamic law, in Arakzai and forced the Sikhs to pay jizya, a tax enforced on non-Muslims. Many Sikhs fled their homes, which were subsequently taken over by the Taliban.

On Sunday, fighter bombers, attack helicopters, and artillery batteries hit Taliban bunkers, supply depots, and safe houses in Ghiljo, Dabori, and Mamozai in Arakzai. These attacks reportedly killed 18 Taliban fighters. A "large seminary" in Dabori was also "razed" in the operation, Dawn reported.

Taliban leaders have relocated to Arakzai in order to escape the Army offensive against the group's main base in South Waziristan, US military and intelligence officials told The Long War Journal.

"The [Pakistani] Army telegraphed this offensive and gave the Taliban enough time to relocate its command and control from South Waziristan to alternate hubs in the tribal areas," a military intelligence official said.

Taliban leaders and fighters have also relocated to regions in North and South Waziristan as well as to Jamrud in the Khyber tribal agency. The Army has a peace agreement with the Taliban leaders in North and South Waziristan. One of the conditions of the agreement requires Taliban leaders Hafiz Gul Bahadar and Mullah Nazir not to provide shelter to fleeing members of the Mehsud branch of the Taliban. But Nazir and Bahadar have violated the agreement and allowed the Mehsuds safe haven in their tribal areas.

The Taliban have left a significant rearguard of fighters behind in South Waziristan to slow the Army advance and "buy time for its forces to reestablish command and control in the alternate locations," the military official said.

"The Taliban are using these alternate hubs to launch its terror offensive against Pakistan's major cities, particularly Peshawar, the provincial capital," the official continued. The Taliban have pounded Peshawar with suicide attacks against police, the military, and civilians. One such attack leveled the headquarters of the Inter-Services Intelligence agency.

Arakzai has become a main hub for the Taliban. Hakeemullah Mehsud, the leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, was the commander of Taliban forces in Arakzai prior to taking control of the terror alliance after the death of its former leader, Baitullah Mehsud, in August. Hakeemulah is known to have an operations center in Ghiljo in Arakzai.

Some of the most deadly Taliban groups operate from Arakzai, and many of the suicide and military attacks carried out in Pakistan have originated from this tribal agency [see list below]. The Taliban terror alliance in Arakzai has taken credit for some of the most lethal terror attacks inside Pakistan, including suicide attacks in Islamabad and terror-military assaults in Lahore and Peshawar. These groups often cooperate in attacks, and leaders and members may be affiliated with several groups.

Major Taliban groups based in Arakzai

Fedayeen-e-Islam: Led by Hakeemullah Mehsud, the Fedayeen-e-Islam has taken credit for multiple terror assaults and suicide attacks throughout Pakistan. The group is made up members of the Pakistani Taliban, the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, Jaish-e-Mohammed, and other Islamist terrorists from Pakistan. It is based in Arakzai and South Waziristan. Senior leaders of the Fedayeen-e-Islam include Qari Hussain Mehsud, a former senior deputy to Baitullah who trains child suicide bombers; Qari Mohammed Zafar, the operational commander of the September 2008 attack on the Islamabad Marriott; Asmatullah Moaviya, another senior aide to Baitullah who was reportedly arrested in Mianwali in Punjab province; and Rana Afzal.

Lashkar-i-Jhangvi: An anti-Shia terror group that has integrated with al Qaeda and the Taliban in Pakistan's tribal areas. The Lashkar-i-Jhangvi has an extensive network in Pakistan and serves as the muscle for terror attacks.

Commander Tariq Group: This group is considered the most powerful outfit in Arakzai. Led by Commander Tariq Afridi and based in Darra Adam Khel, the group conducts attacks on Pakistani security forces in Arakzai, Kohat, Peshawar, and Hangu. The Commander Tariq Group took credit for murdering Polish geologist Piotr Stanczak earlier this year.

Omar Group: Another major Taliban group based in Darra Adam Khel. It has conducted attacks in the regions around Peshawar.

Ghazi Force: This group is named after Ghazi Abdul Rasheed, the brother of former Red Mosque leader Maulana Abdullah Aziz. Ghazi was killed when Pakistani troops assaulted the Red Mosque in July 2007. The Ghazi force runs a terror training camp in Guljo in Hangu and has conducted suicide attacks in Islamabad.

Abdullah Azzam Brigade: This shadowy group appears to be made up of Taliban members from the Commander Tariq Group who merged with some Arakzai-based elements of Ayman al Zawahiri's Egyptian Islamic Jihad. A spokesman named Amir Muawiya, who is also a leader in the Commander Tariq Group, said the Abdullah Azzam Brigade was behind a terror assault in Peshawar.

One child was among those killed, while 26 Pakistanis, including women and children, were wounded.

The Taliban have made Peshawar a focal point of their terror offensive, which began on Oct. 5. Peshawar has been hit with five suicide attacks in the past week. Eight of the 22 major attacks in Pakistan have taken place in or near the capital of the Northwest Frontier Province.

Suicide attacks have targeted the headquarters of the Inter-Services Intelligence Agency, police stations and checkpoints, markets, and anti-Taliban leaders in Peshawar.

In the neighboring district of Nowshera, the Taliban assassinated another political leader. Gunmen shot Malik Yaqoob, a political leader in the Awami National Party, the ruling, secular Pashtun party in the Northwest Frontier Province which opposes the Taliban.

Yaqoob is the third anti-Taliban political leader to be killed in the northwest since Nov. 8. A few days ago, the Taliban assassinated anti-extremist leaders in Peshawar and Bajaur, and just yesterday failed in an assassination attempt on another leader in Peshawar.

A security guard stands near the bodies of three Taliban fighters, who were shot dead while attempting to assassinate the mayor of the Bazid Khel area of Peshawar on Nov. 15, 2009. Reuters photo.

The Taliban continue their campaign to remove tribal opposition leaders in the Northwest. A leader who agreed to fight the Taliban in Bajaur was killed, while another anti-Taliban leader escaped an assassination attempt in Peshawar.

In Bajaur, the Taliban killed Malik Shir Zaman, a tribal leader who signed an agreement with the government. Zaman had agreed to raise a lashkar, or tribal militia, to oppose the Taliban. The Taliban stormed Zaman's home and destroyed part of it. Zaman was killed in a gunfight.

Zaman was from the Mamond tribal area, a region that serves as a 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.

Al Qaeda is also known to shelter in Momand. In January 2006, the US targeted a meeting of senior al Qaeda leaders in the town of Damadola in Momand. Ayman al Zawahiri, Abu Khabab al Masri, and several other senior al Qaeda leaders were thought to be meeting there.

The Taliban have successfully targeted tribal opposition in Mamond in the recent past. On Oct. 3, the Taliban assassinated Malik Abdul Majeed as he traveled to to meet with government officials to discuss efforts to beat back the Taliban in the Mamond areas.

Guards repel assassination attempt of tribal leader in Peshawar

In Peshawar, Taliban fighters disguised as women in burkas attacked the home of Mohammad Fahim Khan, the mayor of Bazid Khel in Peshawar. Khan opposes the Taliban and raised a tribal militia to keep the Islmaist fighters out of his town.

Khan's bodyguards detected the attack and repelled it. Three Taliban fighters were killed in the battle; the rest eventually retreated.

This is not the first attempt at Khan's life; he has been targeted in several previous assassination attempts.

"Militants have exploded three bombs near my house, killing innocent people, and they have opened fire on me several times but have failed so far," Khan told Dawn. "These attacks will not weaken my resolve against militants."

Last week, the Taliban managed to kill another mayor near Peshawar who opposed the group. On Nov. 8, a suicide bomber killed Abdul Malik and 11 others in an attack at a market in Matni.

The Taliban have responded viciously to efforts by tribal leaders to oppose the spread of extremism in the tribal areas. Tribal opposition has been violently attacked and defeated in Bannu, Peshawar, Arakzai, Khyber, North and South Waziristan, and previously in Swat and Dir. Suicide bombers have struck at tribal meetings held at mosques, schools, hotels, and homes.

The Taliban often have a numerical advantage over the tribes, and Taliban fighters are better trained after battling government forces in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. In addition, the tribes have often been hesitant to work with the Pakistani government and military.

Lashkars are having some limited success in Dir and Swat, however, after the military took on the Taliban in these two districts beginning in late April. Thousands of lashkar fighters have been raised in Swat, and hundreds of Taliban fighters have turned up dead. Both the lashkars and the military are being blamed for the executions.

The attack comes one day after a suicide bomber killed 10 people in an attack on the headquarters of the Inter-Services Intelligence agency in Peshawar. The building was leveled.

Peshawar has borne the brunt of the Taliban terror offensive, which began on Oct. 5. Seven of the 22 major attacks in Pakistan have taken place in or near the capital of the Northwest Frontier Province.

The Taliban and allied jihadi groups have launched military assaults against the Army's General Headquarters in Rawalpindi and against police centers in Lahore. In addition, suicide bombers have struck in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Peshawar, Kohat, Swat, Charsadda, Bannu, and Shangla. More than 310 Pakistanis, mostly civilians, have been killed in the Taliban strikes [see list below].

The Taliban and al Qaeda have blamed Pakistan’s intelligence agencies and a US contracting firm for conducting the attack that have killed civilians. Some Pakistanis refuse to believe that the Taliban would kill fellow Muslims, while the government continues to implicate India and other “foreign powers” for backing the Taliban.

Pakistani troops battle the Taliban throughout the northwest

Pakistani troops and the Taliban battled throughout the northwest over the past 24 hours.

In South Waziristan, the military said 35 Taliban fighters and 17 soldiers were killed in fighting since Nov. 12. Fifteen of the soldiers were killed outside of the town of Kanigoram, a region known to shelter Uzbek and central Asian fighters from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and the Islamic Jihad Group.

In the Arakzai tribal agency, Pakistani Air Force fighter-bombers struck Taliban ammunition and supply depots that were established in the homes of Sikhs who were forced to leave the tribal agency. The Taliban imposed sharia, or Islamic law, in Arakzai last December and forced the Sikhs to pay jizya, a tax enforced on non-Muslims. Many Sikhs fled their homes, which were subsequently taken over by the Taliban. The military said seven Taliban were killed and five more were wounded in the strikes.

In the northern district of Swat, the military said 13 Taliban fighters were killed in two separate clashes. Seven of the Taliban fighters were killed after ambushing a military convoy, while eight more were killed during a sweep in a mountainous region of the district. The Taliban have re-launched a low-scale guerrilla war in Swat after a major military operation to retake the district from Taliban control began in April.

In Bajaur, the military said it detained 40 Taliban fighters in the Khar region, while the Army pounded the Mamood area with artillery strikes after Taliban fighters attacked police checkpoints. The Army had claimed in April that the Taliban were defeated and driven from Bajaur.

Major Taliban attacks in Pakistan since Oct. 5:

Nov. 13, 2009: A suicide bomber killed 10 people in an attack on a police checkpoint in Peshawar.

Nov. 13, 2009: A suicide bomber killed 10 people in an attack on the headquarters of the Inter-Services Intelligence agency in Peshawar.

Nov. 13, 2009: A suicide bomber wounded 10 people in an attack on a police station in Bannu.

Nov. 10, 2009: A suicide bomber killed 24 people in a market in Charsadda.

Nov. 9, 2009: A suicide bomber killed four people during an attack at a police checkpoint outside Peshawar.

Nov. 8, 2009: A suicide bomber killed an anti-Taliban leader and 12 others in an attack at a market in the town of Matni near Peshawar.

Nov. 5, 2009: An Army brigadier and a soldier were wounded in an ambush in Islamabad.

Nov. 2, 2009: A Taliban suicide bomber killed 34 Pakistanis and wounded scores more in an attack in Rawalpindi.

Nov. 2, 2009: A pair of suicide bombers killed one policeman and wounded 25 security officers and civilians after the pair detonated their vests at a security checkpoint.

Oct. 28, 2009: A Taliban suicide bomber killed 119 Pakistanis and wounded hundreds more in an attack on a bazaar in Peshawar.

Oct. 27, 2009: A brigadier general who served as the director of defense services guards at the Army General Headquarters escaped an assassination attempt in Islamabad.

Oct. 23, 2009: The Taliban detonated an anti-tank mine and hit a bus transporting a wedding party in Mohmand. The explosion killed 15 of the passengers and wounded six more.

Oct. 23, 2009: The Taliban detonated a car bomb outside a popular restaurant in the residential Hayatabad area in Peshawar. The attack wounded 13 civilians; nine are said to be in critical condition.

Oct. 23, 2009: A Taliban suicide bomber killed seven people during an attack at a security checkpoint near the Kamra Air Weapon Complex in the district of Attock in Punjab province.

Oct. 21, 2009: The Taliban assassinated a brigadier general and his driver during an ambush in Islamabad.

Oct. 20, 2009: A pair of suicide bombers detonated their vests at Islamabad's International Islamic University, killing five.

Oct. 16, 2009: A pair of suicide bombers, including a female, attacked a police station and a building housing an intelligence service in Peshawar, killing 11.

Oct. 15, 2009: Terrorist assault teams attacked the Federal Investigation Agency building, the Manawan police training center, and the Elite Force Headquarters in Lahore. Twenty-six people, including nine terrorists and 12 policemen, were killed.

Oct. 15, 2009: A suicide bomber rammed a car into a police station in Kohat, killing 11 people, including policemen and children.

Oct. 12, 2009: A suicide bomber detonated a car packed with explosives as a military convoy passed through a checkpoint in a market in Alpuri in Shangla. The attack killed 41 people, including six security personnel.

Oct. 10, 2009: An assault team attacked the Army General Headquarters and took 42 security personnel captive. Eleven soldiers were killed, including a brigadier general and a lieutenant colonel, along with nine members of the assault team; and 39 hostages were freed.

Oct. 9, 2009: A suicide bomber detonated a car packed with explosives in a bazaar in Peshawar, killing 49 civilians.

Oct. 5, 2009: A suicide bomber entered the World Food Program office in Islamabad and detonated his vest, killing five UN workers, including an Iraqi.

Doku Umarov, the leader of the Caucasus Emirate.

The leader of the al Qaeda-linked terror group responsible for reigniting the violence in Chechnya and the small Russian Republics in the Caucasus region may have been killed during a counterterrorism raid.

The raid started when Russian attack helicopters launched a rocket strike against a safehouse in the village of Shalazhi in Chechnya's Achkhoi-Martan district. Ground forces, including Chechen police, Russian special forces, and Russian Interior Ministry troops from the Federal Security Service followed up the airstrike and assaulted the safehouse lodged in the wooded, mountainous region.

More than 20 terrorists from the Caucasus Emirate are reported to have been killed. Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov said that Doku Umarov, the leader of the Caucasus Emirate, may be among those killed, as three senior aides of Umarov were positively identified.

"The bodies of three of them have been identified," Kadyrov told Interfax. "They are Islam Uspakhadzhiyev, Umarov's closest associate, Rustam Akuyev and Alkhazur Bashayev. Uspakhadzhiyev was Umarov's closest associate - they were moving around together and were holding negotiations by radio. For this reason we can't rule out that Doku Umarov may be among those killed."

Identifying those killed in the raid will be difficult as the bodies were mutilated, Kadyrov said.

Doku Umarov and al Qaeda

Doku Umarov is 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.

This spring, Umarov reignited the insurgency by launching a wave of suicide attacks in the Caucasus. In April, Umarov revived the Riyad-us-Saliheen martyr brigade, which has spearheaded the assault. The group's most successful operation was the wounding of Republic of Ingushetia's president in June.

In the past, Umarov denied having connections with al Qaeda and rejected terrorist attacks against civilians. But in 2006, Abu Hafs al Urduni, al Qaeda's former leader in Chechnya, stated the Chechen jihad was being reorganized under the command of Doku Umarov after the deaths of Shamil Basayev and a large contingent of the Chechen leadership.

Al Qaeda lionized Basayev after his death with a video tribute. Basayev took credit for the Beslan school massacre in Ingushetia, in which 344 civilians were killed, 186 of them children.

Despite the Russians' brutal tactics and human rights violations, the Chechen jihad was largely defeated when the leadership was decapitated and the rank and file lost its direction.

After Russian security services killed Basayev and most of his senior staff, large numbers of Chechen fighters took advantage of an amnesty program. Over 350 Chechen fighters surrendered after the amnesty was announced during the summer of 2006. In November 2006, 35 of Umarov's cadres, including some holding “high-ranking positions,” gave up the fight, and another 28 surrendered soon after. Umarov's brother surrendered to Russian authorities in August 2006.

Russian and Chechen security forces thought they had Umarov in their sights in November 2006. Umarov was wounded after Russian forces conducted an assault on his hideout, but he escaped the assault. Just days later, Abu Hafs, al Qaeda's Emir of Chechnya, was killed by Russian security services. Russian intelligence believed Abu Hafs was preparing to leave Chechnya "given the lack of prospects for jihad in the North Caucasus.”

Members of al Qaeda in Yemen announce the merger with al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Center-left is Abu Hareth Muhammad al Awfi; far right is Said Ali al Shihri.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has opened a new training camp in the South. The new camp highlights Yemen's value to al Qaeda in waging its global terror campaign.

The camp is based in the Al Jaza area in the district of Mudiyah in the southern province of Abyan. The camp is said to house more than 400 local and foreign fighters. Yemenis, Saudis, and Somalis make up the vast majority of the fighters.

The camp was established with the approval of the central government, according to a report in Saru Hamyir, an Arabic-language Yemeni news website. The existence of the camp was confirmed by US military and intelligence officials familiar with the region.

The weak Yemeni government is known to support al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula while targeting jihadi groups that do not adhere to a peace agreement signed in January.

The government supports the group in exchange for trained fighters to battle the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Sa'dah in the North. The government is currently battling the Houthi rebels in a fight that dragged in the Saudis when the Houthis attacked and took control of a border checkpoint.

This is the second known camp in operation in Abyan. In the spring, al Qaeda opened a camp in the Ahboosh mountains, north of the city of Ja’ar.

Earlier this week, the government claimed to have detained Sami Dayan, al Qaeda's leader in Abyan province, along with six other al Qaeda operatives. Dayan was captured at the border with Saudi Arabia while attempting to flee Yemen, The Yemen Post reported.

The military launched a major operation in Abyan in the spring under the guise of restoring its writ in the province, but targeted only the groups that deviated from the January peace agreement.

Yemen has become one of al Qaeda's most secure bases as well as a hub for activities on the Arabian Peninsula and on the Horn of Africa.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is based in Yemen and carries out its attacks against the Saudi government from there. The group is also known to operate terror camps in Aden, and in the Alehimp and Sanhan regions in Sana'a. It has conducted attacks on oil facilities, tourists, Yemeni security forces, and the US embassy in Sana'a.

The terror group has also been instrumental in supporting al Qaeda's operation in Somalia, US intelligence officials told The Long War Journal. Yemen serves as a command and control center, a logistics hub, a transit point from Asia and the Peninsula, and a source of weapons and munitions for the al Qaeda-backed Shabaab and Hizbul Islam.

"Yemen is Pakistan in the heart of the Arab world," one official said. "You have military and government collusion with al Qaeda, peace agreements, budding terror camps, and the export of jihad to neighboring countries."

So far, 10 Pakistanis have been reported killed and more than 35 have been wounded in the massive blast. A suicide bomber rammed his car into the main gate of the ISI headquarters building and detonated the bomb. The explosion is said to have heavily damaged the ISI headquarters and several other buildings in the surrounding high-security area.

In the nearby district of Bannu, a Taliban suicide bomber killed seven people, including five policemen, and wounded 25 more in an attack on a police station. The police station is reported to have been leveled in the attack. The attack took place in the Baka Khel region, one of two areas known to harbor al Qaeda operatives. The neighboring region of Jani Khel is known to have hosted al Qaeda's central treasury and has served as the meeting place for al Qaeda's executive council.

The two attacks are the latest in the Taliban's terror offensive, which began on Oct. 5. The Taliban and allied jihadi groups have launched military assaults against the Army's General Headquarters in Rawalpindi and against police centers in Lahore. In addition, suicide bombers have struck in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Peshawar, Kohat, Swat, Charsadda, Bannu, and Shangla.

More than 300 Pakistanis, mostly civilians, have been killed in the Taliban strikes [see list below]. Peshawar has been hard hit in the Taliban offensive, which has also included military strikes in the tribal areas of Bajaur, Mohmand, Arakzai, and Bannu. Just yesterday the Taliban killed 10 soldiers and captured eight more in an IED strike and an ambush in Mohmand.

The military is currently on the offensive against Hakeemullah Mehsud's faction of the Taliban in South Waziristan. The military said 22 Taliban fighters and five soldiers were killed in South Waziristan in the past 24 hours. The military has reported that 524 Taliban fighters and only 53 soldiers have been killed since the operation was launched on Oct. 17. No senior Taliban or al Qaeda leaders, operatives, or military commanders have been killed or captured during the operation, however.

Al Qaeda blames 'Blackwater'

Both the Taliban and al Qaeda have denied conducting the suicide attacks that have killed civilians in markets. Just today, Mustafa Abu Yazid, al Qaeda's commander in Afghanistan, said the "mujahideen only target the army, security forces of the apostate state [Pakistan], and intelligence [agencies] that are responsible for shedding the blood of the weak in Swat, Waziristan, Bajaur, Mohmand, Khyber, Arakzai, and elsewhere."

Instead, Yazid blamed "Blackwater and other criminal groups" for conducting the attacks as "part of the dirty war that they practice," according to a translation of Yazid's statements obtained by The Long War Journal. Blackwater renamed itself Xe in October 2007.

"Today, everyone knows that Blackwater and other criminal groups have violated Pakistan with support from this corrupt and criminal government [Pakistan] and its security agencies," Yazid said in an audio statement released on the Internet. "They commit these ugly actions and blame them on the mujahideen through their media outlets in order to tarnish the image of the mujahideen and Muslims."

The Pakistani state has helped feed such conspiracy theories by blaming India and other "foreign powers" for backing the Taliban. Some Pakistanis refuse to believe the Taliban would conduct such attacks on their own countrymen and fellow Muslims.

Major Taliban attacks in Pakistan since Oct. 5:

Nov. 13, 2009: A suicide bomber killed 10 people in an attack on the headquarters of the Inter-Services Intelligence agency in Peshawar.

Nov. 13, 2009: A suicide bomber wounded 10 people in an attack on a police station in Bannu.

Nov. 10, 2009: A suicide bomber killed 24 people in a market in Charsadda.

Nov. 9, 2009: A suicide bomber killed four people during an attack at a police checkpoint outside Peshawar.

Nov. 8, 2009: A suicide bomber killed an anti-Taliban leader and 12 others in an attack at a market in the town of Matni near Peshawar.

Nov. 5, 2009: An Army brigadier and a soldier were wounded in an ambush in Islamabad.

Nov. 2, 2009: A Taliban suicide bomber killed 34 Pakistanis and wounded scores more in an attack in Rawalpindi.

Nov. 2, 2009: A pair of suicide bombers killed one policeman and wounded 25 security officers and civilians after the pair detonated their vests at a security checkpoint.

Oct. 28, 2009: A Taliban suicide bomber killed 119 Pakistanis and wounded hundreds more in an attack on a bazaar in Peshawar.

Oct. 27, 2009: A brigadier general who served as the director of defense services guards at the Army General Headquarters escaped an assassination attempt in Islamabad.

Oct. 23, 2009: The Taliban detonated an anti-tank mine and hit a bus transporting a wedding party in Mohmand. The explosion killed 15 of the passengers and wounded six more.

Oct. 23, 2009: The Taliban detonated a car bomb outside a popular restaurant in the residential Hayatabad area in Peshawar. The attack wounded 13 civilians; nine are said to be in critical condition.

Oct. 23, 2009: A Taliban suicide bomber killed seven people during an attack at a security checkpoint near the Kamra Air Weapon Complex in the district of Attock in Punjab province.

Oct. 21, 2009: The Taliban assassinated a brigadier general and his driver during an ambush in Islamabad.

Oct. 20, 2009: A pair of suicide bombers detonated their vests at Islamabad's International Islamic University, killing five.

Oct. 16, 2009: A pair of suicide bombers, including a female, attacked a police station and a building housing an intelligence service in Peshawar, killing 11.

Oct. 15, 2009: Terrorist assault teams attacked the Federal Investigation Agency building, the Manawan police training center, and the Elite Force Headquarters in Lahore. Twenty-six people, including nine terrorists and 12 policemen, were killed.

Oct. 15, 2009: A suicide bomber rammed a car into a police station in Kohat, killing 11 people, including policemen and children.

Oct. 12, 2009: A suicide bomber detonated a car packed with explosives as a military convoy passed through a checkpoint in a market in Alpuri in Shangla. The attack killed 41 people, including six security personnel.

Oct. 10, 2009: An assault team attacked the Army General Headquarters and took 42 security personnel captive. Eleven soldiers were killed, including a brigadier general and a lieutenant colonel, along with nine members of the assault team; and 39 hostages were freed.

Oct. 9, 2009: A suicide bomber detonated a car packed with explosives in a bazaar in Peshawar, killing 49 civilians.

Oct. 5, 2009: A suicide bomber entered the World Food Program office in Islamabad and detonated his vest, killing five UN workers, including an Iraqi.

Dost Mohammed, the Taliban's shadow governor for Nuristan province, is interviewed on Al Jazeera.

One month after US forces abandoned outposts in the Kamdesh district in Afghanistan's eastern province of Nuristan, the Taliban are operating in the open, without fear of retaliation.

The Taliban and their commander Dost Mohammed recently flaunted their control of the district to Al Jazeera. Dost, who some had claimed was killed during US and Afghan raids in Nuristan, granted an interview with the news organization from Kamdesh. Coalition forces attacked the Taliban in mid-October after the battle of Combat Outpost Keating and the subsequent US withdrawal. Mullah Abdul Rahman Mostaghni, a district-level Taliban commander, was thought to have been killed in the raid.

The Taliban have created "administrative units and the officials have been appointed," an unnamed commander told Al Jazeera.

"We also established the judiciary department and the commission for the promotion of virtue and the prevention of vice section," the commander told the news agency. "We are working on providing people's basic needs."

The promotion of virtue and the prevention of vice section will enforce the Taliban's strict, repressive brand of sharia, or Islamic law.

The Taliban also hold "scores" of Afghan police and soldiers who have been captured since the fall of Kamdesh, and claim to have seized large quantities of US munitions left at Keating [see video below].

Local Afghans acknowledge the Taliban's control and say they do not believe the government will return.

"The area is currently under the control of Taliban, who walk freely in the Kamdesh District," a local resident told Al Jazeera. "I do not think that the government plans to regain control over it. The local authorities, especially the security ones, are very weak and cannot do anything."

Last month, the US military withdrew from Camp Keating, Camp Fritsche, and several small, remote outposts in Kamdesh just four days after a major battle that pitted more than 350 Taliban fighters backed by al Qaeda and members of the Hezb-i-Islami Gulbuddin against platoon-sized forces of US soldiers and Afghan police. More than 100 Taliban fighters, eight US soldiers, and seven Afghan police were killed during the fighting.

The Taliban entered the perimeter of Camp Keating's defenses, and damaged three Apache helicopter gunships, according to ABC News. Several Apache pilots were said to have been shocked by the scale of the Taliban assault. Most of Keating was destroyed during the battle.

The US military shrugged off Taliban claims of victory and said the closure of the outposts was part of a planned withdrawal.

"In line with the counterinsurgency guidance of Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, ISAF commander, ISAF leaders decided last month to reposition forces to population centers within the region," the US military said in a statement released in October.

"Despite Taliban claims, the movement of troops and equipment from the outposts are a part of a previously scheduled transfer," the military continued. "The remote outposts were established as part of a previous security strategy to stop or prevent the flow of militants into the region."

Northeastern Afghanistan and Northwestern Pakistan. Map from the Asia Times; click to view.

The Taliban mocked the US after the withdrawal from Kamdesh.

"This means they are not coming back,” Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in October. "This is another victory for Taliban. We have control of another district in eastern Afghanistan."

Clearly, the abandonment of Keating and other outposts has ceded territory to the Taliban.

"Make no mistake, this is a setback," a senior US military intelligence official told The Long War Journal. "Somehow, some day, we are going to have to fix this. Until then, the Taliban has an uncontested safe haven in Nuristan."

Al Qaeda and Taliban commanders operating in Pakistan's tribal agencies of Bajaur and Mohmand, and in the Swat Valley, have described developments in Nuristan as positive. The US withdrawal has allowed Taliban commander Qari Ziaur Rahman to reorient forces across the border in Pakistan and open new fronts while the Pakistani Army is focused on South Waziristan.

Al Jazeera video of the Taliban at COP Keating

The Taliban provide footage from what was formerly known as Combat Outpost Keating in the Kamdesh district in Nuristan province. The Taliban now are in full control of the district and claim to have recovered US munitions at the site.

The troops were killed in two separate incidents. In the larger attack, the Taliban struck a military convoy with a roadside bomb, killing eight soldiers and wounding two more.

"The soldiers were on a routine patrol" near the town of Safi near the Afghan border, Major Fazal ur-Rehman, a spokesman for the Frontier Corps, told AFP. "The landmine was buried by militants. The explosion damaged the pick-up."

The second attack took place near the town of Ghanam Shah. Taliban forces ambushed a Frontier Corps column and killed two troops. Eight more of the paramilitary troopers are missing.

The military also reported that 10 Taliban fighters were killed in Mohmand after Army attack helicopters struck at enemy positions.

Military claimed Mohmand was cleared in March

The recent fighting in Mohmand belies the Pakistani military's claim earlier this year that the tribal agency has been cleared of the Taliban. On March 1, a senior Pakistani officer said the Taliban had been defeated during a series of security operations in Mohmand. Colonel Saif Ullah claimed that the region is "under the control of law enforcement agencies" and that the Taliban had been ejected from Mohmand.

In the months following the military's declaration of victory, there have been several major battles in Mohmand. The Taliban have carried out several large-scale ambushes and attacks on military outposts, while the military has responded with airstrikes and artillery attacks.

Mohmand under command of able Taliban leader

Omar Khalid, the Taliban commander of Mohmand agency.

The Mohmand Taliban are commanded by Omar Khalid, who is a deputy of Hakeemullah Mehsud's Taliban movement. Khalid is considered one of the most effective and powerful leaders in the tribal areas.

Khalid gained prominence in Mohmand during the summer of 2007 after taking over a famous shrine and renaming it the Red Mosque, after the radical mosque in Islamabad whose followers had attempted to impose sharia in the capital.

The Mohmand Taliban took control of the tribal agency after the Pakistani government negotiated a peace agreement with the extremists at the end of May 2008. The deal required the Taliban to renounce attacks on the Pakistani government and security forces. The Taliban said they would maintain a ban on the activities of nongovernment organizations in the region but agreed not to attack women in the workplace as long as they wore veils. Both sides exchanged prisoners.

The Taliban promptly established a parallel government in Mohmand. Sharia courts were formed and orders were given for women to wear the veil in public. "Criminals" were rounded up and judged in sharia courts. Women were ordered to have a male escort at all times and prevented from working on farms. The Taliban also kidnapped members of a polio vaccination team.

In July 2008, Khalid became the dominant Taliban commander in Mohmand after defeating the Shah Sahib group, a rival pro-Taliban terror group with ties to the Lashkar-e-Taiba. The military claimed it killed Khalid in January of this year, but the Taliban denied the report and he has since surfaced.

The Pakistani government has placed a $123,000 bounty on Khalid's head.

Fazul Abdullah Mohammed.

An al Qaeda leader wanted by the US for a string of deadly attacks has been named the new leader of terror group's network in East Africa.

Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, one of several al Qaeda leaders charged with carrying out the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, was appointed the leader of al Qaeda in the Horn of Africa.

Fazul was "inaugurated" during an open ceremony in the southern city of Kismayo, according to a translation received by The Long War Journal of an article posted Waaga Cusub, a website operated by the Hawiye clan, which supports the Somali insurgency. He "delivered his longest speech delivered his longest speech [sic]," the website reported.

During his speech, Fazul said he was appointed by Osama bin Laden and praised his predecessor, Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, who was killed during a US special operations raid in southern Somalia in mid-September.

"Saleh was a very careful person, he was a hero and a creative man," Fazul said. "He was an expert of Information Technology and politics. I am a military man, and was in charge of the forces. I will honestly perform my duties following my appointment to this new big position by Sheikh Osama bin Ladin (Allah save him)."

Fazul admitted to carrying out the 1998 suicide bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which killed more than 200 people and wounded thousands more. He received sanctuary from Aden Hashi Ayro, the former military commander of Shabaab who was killed by the US in a strike in May 2008, and Sheikh Mukhtar Abu Zubayr, the spiritual leader of Shbaab.

"I came to Somalia after we carried out the explosions of American imperialist in 1998," Fazul said. "I was welcomed by the late Moalim Adan Ayrow [Ayro], my brother Ahmad Godane [Zubayr] joined us later."

Fazul also said that al Qaeda and Shabaab would take the fight to neighboring countries.

"Praise be to Allah," Fazul said. "After Somalia we will proceed to Djibouti, Kenya, and Ethiopia."

Zubayr, Shabaab's leader, also spoke at Fazul's appointment ceremony and praised Fazul's skill in training Somali jihadis.

Background on Fazul Abdullah Mohammed

Fazul, a 19-year veteran of al Qaeda, is considered one of the terror group's top commanders in eastern Africa. A senior US intelligence official described Fazul as one of al Qaeda's "most dangerous and most capable leaders."

"He has been at the top of our list for some time," the official told The Long War Journal.

Fazul joined al Qaeda after traveling to Pakistan in 1990. He was a member of the al Qaeda team that participated in the Battle of Mogadishu in October 1993. Two US Black Hawk helicopters were shot down and 18 US soldiers were killed during the heavy street fighting.

Fazul went on to serve as the operations chief for al Qaeda in East Africa. He was responsible for planning the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, as well as the 2002 car bombing attack in Kenya and missile attack on an Israeli airliner. He also served as the intelligence chief for the Islamic Courts during its reign in 2006.

The US Navy targeted Fazul in a naval battle off the coast of Puntland in June 2007. A large group of Yemenis, Afghans, Central Asians, Arabs, and Somalis were reported to be accompanying Fazul.

In August 2008, Fazul narrowly escaped a raid in Kenya.

A suicide car bomb was detonated in a market in the district of Charsadda, killing 24 Pakistanis, including many women and children. According to a report, 55 people were wounded; six of them are said to be in critical condition.

Today's suicide attack follows similar Taliban bombings near Peshawar, the provincial capital. On Nov. 9, a suicide bomber detonated at a police checkpoint on the Ring Road just outside the city, killing four. On Nov. 8, a suicide bomber killed an anti-Taliban militia leader and 12 others at a market in Matni south of Peshawar.

The military has also prevented several suicide attacks. A police sniper killed a suicide bomber in Islamabad on Nov. 8, and two suspected suicide bombers were killed in Mansehra on Nov. 7.

Today's suicide attack is the latest strike in the Taliban's terror offensive, which began on Oct. 5. The Taliban have launched suicide attacks and terror assaults in Pakistan's major cities and throughout the northwest.

The Taliban and allied jihadi groups have launched military assaults against the Army's General Headquarters in Rawalpindi and against police centers in Lahore. In addition, suicide bombers have struck in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Peshawar, Kohat, Swat, Charsadda, and Shangla.

The military is currently on the offensive against Hakeemullah Mehsud's faction of the Taliban in South Waziristan. The military claimed 17 Taliban fighters and four soldiers have been killed over the past two days, and that more than 520 Taliban fighters and only 44 soldiers have been killed since the operation was launched on Oct. 17.

The Taliban maintain they have conducted a "tactical retreat" and will wage a guerrilla campaign over the next several months. So far, no senior Taliban leaders or military commanders have been killed or captured during the offensive.

Qari Hussain Mehsud, the notorious trainer of child suicide bombers, is thought to be behind the current Taliban terror campaign in Pakistan.

Some Pakistanis refuse to believe, however, that the Taliban would conduct such attacks against civilians, according to reports in The New York Times and The Washington Post. Some Pakistanis blame the US, India, and Israel for the attacks, claiming their Muslim brothers in the Taliban would never conduct such un-Islamic attacks. The government and the military have done little to counter this perception, and have presented flimsy evidence of Indian support of the Taliban in South Waziristan.

Major attacks in Pakistan since Oct. 5:

Nov. 10, 2009: A suicide bomber killed 24 people in a market in Charsadda.

Nov. 9, 2009: A suicide bomber killed four people during an attack at a police checkpoint outside Peshawar.

Nov. 8, 2009: A suicide bomber killed an anti-Taliban leader and 12 others in an attack at a market in the town of Matni near Peshawar.

Nov. 5, 2009: An Army brigadier and a soldier were wounded in an ambush in Islamabad.

Nov. 2, 2009: A Taliban suicide bomber killed 34 Pakistanis and wounded scores more in an attack in Rawalpindi.

Nov. 2, 2009: A pair of suicide bombers killed one policeman and wounded 25 security officers and civilians after the pair detonated their vests at a security checkpoint.

Oct. 28, 2009: A Taliban suicide bomber killed 119 Pakistanis and wounded hundreds more in an attack on a bazaar in Peshawar.

Oct. 27, 2009: A brigadier general who served as the director of defense services guards at the Army General Headquarters escaped an assassination attempt in Islamabad.

Oct. 23, 2009: The Taliban detonated an anti-tank mine and hit a bus transporting a wedding party in Mohmand. The explosion killed 15 of the passengers and wounded six more.

Oct. 23, 2009: The Taliban detonated a car bomb outside a popular restaurant in the residential Hayatabad area in Peshawar. The attack wounded 13 civilians; nine are said to be in critical condition.

Oct. 23, 2009: A Taliban suicide bomber killed seven people during an attack at a security checkpoint near the Kamra Air Weapon Complex in the district of Attock in Punjab province.

Oct. 21, 2009: The Taliban assassinated a brigadier general and his driver during an ambush in Islamabad.

Oct. 20, 2009: A pair of suicide bombers detonated their vests at Islamabad's International Islamic University, killing five.

Oct. 16, 2009: A pair of suicide bombers, including a female, attacked a police station and a building housing an intelligence service in Peshawar, killing 11.

Oct. 15, 2009: Terrorist assault teams attacked the Federal Investigation Agency building, the Manawan police training centre, and the Elite Force Headquarters in Lahore. Twenty-six people, including nine terrorists and 12 policemen, were killed.

Oct. 15, 2009: A suicide bomber rammed a car into a police station in Kohat, killing 11 people, including policemen and children.

Oct. 12, 2009: A suicide bomber detonated a car packed with explosives as a military convoy passed through a checkpoint in a market in Alpuri in Shangla. The attack killed 41 people, including six security personnel.

Oct. 10, 2009: An assault team attacked the Army General Headquarters and took 42 security personnel captive. Eleven soldiers were killed, including a brigadier general and a lieutenant colonel, along with nine members of the assault team; and 39 hostages were freed.

Oct. 9, 2009: A suicide bomber detonated a car packed with explosives in a bazaar in Peshawar, killing 49 civilians.

Oct. 5, 2009: A suicide bomber entered the World Food Program office in Islamabad and detonated his vest, killing five UN workers, including an Iraqi.

The operation took place in the district of Chahara Dara, one of several districts contested by or under the control of the Taliban.

More than 700 Afghan security forces backed by 50 NATO soldiers carried out the five-day-long operation that cleared the Taliban from a number of villages, the US military reported in a press release. The provincial governor said 133 Taliban fighters were killed during the operation.

Over the past two years, the situation in Kunduz province has rapidly deteriorated, and Kunduz has become a Taliban hot spot in the once-quiet Afghan North.

Attacks in Kunduz have spiked over the past three months as the Taliban have tried to disrupt NATO's new supply line from Tajikistan to the north. NATO sought the new supply route after the Taliban began to effectively interdict supply columns passing through Pakistan's Taliban insurgency-infested Northwest Frontier Province.

The Taliban, backed by Central Asian fighters from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and its offshoot Islamic Jihad Group, have established a safe haven in the Afghan North. Of the seven districts in Kunduz province, only two are considered to be under government control; the rest of the districts - Chahara Dara, Dashti Archi, Ali Abab, Khan Abad, and Iman Sahib - are considered contested or under Taliban control, according to a map produced by Afghanistan's Interior Ministry. Two districts in neighboring Baghlan province - Baghlan-i-Jadid and Burka - are under the control of the Taliban [see LWJ report, "Afghan forces and Taliban clash in Kunduz", and Threat Matrix report, "Afghanistan’s wild-wild north"].

Afghan forces, backed by German forces in the North, have continued to fight it out with the Taliban despite a series of operations launched in the spring and summer to drive out the Taliban.

The Taliban have conducted assaults against police checkpoints, killed senior political and military leaders, and kidnapped civilians who were sending their daughters to school. The Taliban and the IMU and IJU are attempting to wage a suicide bombing campaign in Kunduz and Baghlan. Several suicide bombers have been killed by police or died from the premature detonation of their explosives.

Earlier this fall, Kunduz was the scene of a controversial airstrike on two Taliban-hijacked fuel tankers. Sixty-nine Taliban fighters and 30 civilians were killed after a German commander called in US F-15s to strike the tankers, which were stuck in a river bed. The German commander feared the tankers would be used in a suicide attack against their base nearby.

Unlike airstrikes in other areas, the attacks drew little controversy inside Afghanistan.

"If we do three more operations like was done the other night, stability will come to Kunduz," Ahmadullah Wardak, the head of a local council, told General Stanley McChrystal when the general attempted to apologize for the strike.

The Taliban suicide bomber detonated his vest at a market in the town of Matni. Pakistanis were shopping to prepare for the festival of Eid al Adha. That attack also wounded 36 others, nine of whom are reported to be in critical condition.

The attack appears to be a targeted assassination. Among those killed in the blast was Abdul Malik, the mayor of Adizai. Malik had raised a tribal lashkar, or militia, that stood up against the Taliban.

"Malik had survived several attacks on his life in the recent past, since he turned against the militants," a senior official in Peshawar told Geo News. "But today the militants have finally killed him."

Local Pakistani tribal leaders have raised lashkars to oppose the spread of the Taliban throughout the northwest. The Taliban have countered by ruthlessly attacking tribal meetings and killing senior leaders.

Today's suicide attack is the latest strike in the Taliban's terror offensive, which began on Oct. 5. The Taliban have launched suicide attacks and terror assaults in Pakistan's major cities and throughout the northwest.

The Taliban and allied jihadi groups have launched military assaults against the Army's General Headquarters in Rawalpindi and police centers in Lahore. Suicide bombers have struck in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Peshawar, Kohat, Swat, and Shangla.

The military is currently on the offensive against Hakeemullah Mehsud's faction of the Taliban in South Waziristan. The military claimed 32 Taliban fighters have been killed over the past two days, and that more than 500 Taliban fighters and only 40 soldiers have been killed since the operation was launched on Oct. 17.

The Taliban maintain they have conducted a "tactical retreat" and will wage a guerrilla campaign over the next several months. No senior Taliban leaders or military commanders have been killed or captured during the offensive.

Major attacks in Pakistan since Oct. 5:

Nov. 8, 2009: A suicide bomber killed an anti-Taliban leader and 12 others in an attack at a market in the town of Matni near Peshawar.

Nov. 2, 2009: A Taliban suicide bomber killed 34 Pakistanis and wounded scores more in an attack in Rawalpindi.

Nov. 2, 2009: A pair of suicide bombers killed one policeman and wounded 25 security officers and civilians after the pair detonated their vests at a security checkpoint.

Oct. 28, 2009: A Taliban suicide bomber killed 119 Pakistanis and wounded hundreds more in an attack on a bazaar in Peshawar.

Oct. 27, 2009: A brigadier general who served as the director of defense services guards at the Army General Headquarters escaped an assassination attempt in Islamabad.

Oct. 23, 2009: The Taliban detonated an anti-tank mine and hit a bus transporting a wedding party in Mohmand. The explosion killed 15 of the passengers and wounded six more.

Oct. 23, 2009: The Taliban detonated a car bomb outside a popular restaurant in the residential Hayatabad area in Peshawar. The attack wounded 13 civilians; nine are said to be in critical condition.

Oct. 23, 2009: A Taliban suicide bomber killed seven people during an attack at a security checkpoint near the Kamra Air Weapon Complex in the district of Attock in Punjab province.

Oct. 21, 2009: The Taliban assassinated a brigadier general and his driver during an ambush in Islamabad.

Oct. 20, 2009: A pair of suicide bombers detonated their vests at Islamabad's International Islamic University, killing five.

Oct. 16, 2009: A pair of suicide bombers, including a female, attacked a police station and a building housing an intelligence service in Peshawar, killing 11.

Oct. 15, 2009: Terrorist assault teams attacked the Federal Investigation Agency building, the Manawan police training centre, and the Elite Force Headquarters in Lahore. Twenty-six people, including nine terrorists and 12 policemen, were killed.

Oct. 15, 2009: A suicide bomber rammed a car into a police station in Kohat, killing 11 people, including policemen and children.

Oct. 12, 2009: A suicide bomber detonated a car packed with explosives as a military convoy passed through a checkpoint in a market in Alpuri in Shangla. The attack killed 41 people, including six security personnel.

Oct. 10, 2009: An assault team attacked the Army General Headquarters and took 42 security personnel captive. Eleven soldiers were killed, including a brigadier general and a lieutenant colonel, along with nine members of the assault team; and 39 hostages were freed.

Oct. 9, 2009: A suicide bomber detonated a car packed with explosives in a bazaar in Peshawar, killing 49 civilians.

Oct. 5, 2009: A suicide bomber entered the World Food Program office in Islamabad and detonated his vest, killing five UN workers, including an Iraqi.

A US military map of Iran's operations inside southern Iraq. This 2007 map formed the basis of The Ramazan Corps and the ratlines into Iraq. Click to view full size.

Iraqi officials in Al Kut are seeking four suspected Iranian Qods Force operatives behind attacks on security forces. In an effort to detain the men, members of the Iraqi security forces have put up wanted posters in the streets with photos of the Iranian operatives.

The Qods Force agents are wanted for "armed operations against Iraqi security personnel and civilians," an Iraqi security official told Voices of Iraq. "The security authorities in Kut appealed to local residents to report these dangerous persons who are wanted on charges of involvement in terrorist operations in Iraq."

The campaign was announced the same day that Iraqi security forces detained four Special Groups operatives in Al Kut and three members of the Mahdi Army offshoot Promise Day Brigade in Baghdad.

Al Kut has been a major hub for Qods Force operations in central Iraq. The city was one of five that served as "distribution centers" for Iranian-supplied weapons, according to the US military.

Qods Force-backed Shia militias, including the Asaib al Haq ("the League of the Righteous"), the Mahdi Army, and the Promise Day Brigade, have cells in Al Kut. In April, the US military broke up a Promise Day Brigade cell in Al Kut.

Iraqi security forces have stepped up operations against Qods Force and their Shia-backed militias over the past month. In October, Iraqi forces detained a Qods Force operative in Basrah and a Hezbollah Brigades leader in Baghdad's Sadr City.

US eases pressure on Iranian surrogates

As the Iraqi security forces continue to search for Qods Force agents, the US is releasing captive Qods Force officers and members of the Asaib al Haq.

More than 100 members of the League of the Righteous have been released since last week. According to a spokesman for the group, talks are underway with the US to release Qais Qazali, the former leader of the League of the Righteous, who is currently in US custody. The US is planning to release all members of the group, even though the group is known to still hold a British hostage.

The US has also released several senior Qods Force officers, including Mahmud Farhadi, the leader of the Zafr Command, one of three units subordinate to the Qods Force's Ramazan Corps. Farhadi was among five Iranians turned over to the Iraqi government and then subsequently turned over to the Iranians in July.

Background on Iranian activity in Iraq

Both the Iraqi government and the US military have accused Iran of backing 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 or 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 ("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 is a splinter group that broke away from Muqtada al Sadr's Mahdi Army after Sadr announced he would disband the Mahdi Army and formed a small, secretive military arm to fight Coalition forces in June. The new group, called the Brigade of the Promised Day, has not been linked to any attacks since its formation last summer.

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. Earlier this year 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 Hezbollah Brigades, or Kata'ib Hezbollah, has been active in and around Baghdad for more than a year. 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, 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.

The soldiers are storming the town of Makeen, where former Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud lived. "The house of Baitullah Mehsud has been raised [sic] to ground," according to a press release published by the Inter Service Public Relations, the Army's public affairs office.

Twenty-one Taliban fighters are reported to have been killed during the first day of fighting in Makeen. "Terrorists are fleeing leaving behind their weapons and ammunition," the statement read. The military also said it seized control of two important intersections.

Makeen is one of five major Taliban towns in South Waziristan. The military has already taken control of Kotkai and Kanigoram, is currently clearing Sararogha and Ladha.

The military has claimed that more than 440 Taliban fighters and only 40 soldiers have been killed since the Army launched an operation against the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan on Oct. 17.

The military is close to completing its goal of ejecting the Taliban from the main towns and villages in South Waziristan before the winter snows set in later this month.

The Taliban have denied taking heavy casualties and claimed their forces are conducting a tactical defeat in order to lure the Army into a trap and wage an insurgency. Taliban leader Hakeemullah Mehsud purportedly was heard on the radio imploring his followers to fight to the death if ordered.