Abdul Mun'im Salim al-Fatahani (or Abdel-Monem al-Fathani), was killed in the Jan. 31 Predator airstrike near the city of Lawder in Abyan province, according to a statement posted yesterday on two prominent jihadist Internet forums. He was reportedly killed the same day the strike took place, but his death was not confirmed by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

Nasir al Wuhayshi, the emir or leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, "broke down in tears before noon today on the road between 'Azzan in Shabwa and Mudiyah in Abyan province, upon seeing the body of the leader Abdul Mun'im Salim Amqidah al Fatahani," according to the statement, which was translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.

"Fatahani had died in [an] Azzan hospital after getting hit in the neck with shrapnel, which resulted from an American airstrike against two cars belonging to Ansar al Shariah last night in the area of al Khadirah," the statement continued. Ansar al Shariah is al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's political front.

According the statement, Fatahani was buried in the "Tha'obah cemetery, in northern Mudiyah," a town in Abyan province, where he was born. Mudiyah is known to host a large training camp for the terror group. [See LWJ report, Al Qaeda opens new training camp in Yemen.]

Fatahani is said have been involved in the October 2000 suicide attack on the USS Cole in the port of Aden that killed 17 US sailors and put the warship out of commission for months before it was repaired. The Yemeni jihadist also said that Fatahani was involved in the bombing that damaged the Limburg, an oil tanker, in 2002.

The Jan. 31 strike near Lawdar is the first reported attack by the US since Dec. 22, 2011, when US drones are said to have targeted Abdul Rahman al Wuhayshi, the brother of Nasir al Wuhayshi, the emir of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Abdul Rahman was targeted in Dofas near Zinjibar. He is rumored to have been killed, but his death was never confirmed. AQAP did not announce his death.

Last fall, the US killed Anwar al Awlaki, the ideologue and operational commander of the terror group, and his son, Abdul Rahman, in separate strikes in southern Yemen. [For more information on the US airstrikes in Yemen, see LWJ report, US drone strike kills 11 AQAP leaders, fighters: report.]

From left to right: Khamzat, the commander of the Riyad-us-Saliheen Martyr Brigade; Doku Umarov, the leader of the Caucasus Emirate; and Saifullah, the suicide bomber of the deadly Jan. 24, 2011 suicide attack at Domodedovo International Airport in Moscow that killed 35 people.

Doku Umarov, the leader of the al Qaeda-linked Caucasus Emirate, has ordered an end to attacks that deliberately target Russian civilians. The move is a shift in strategy after his suicide bombers deliberately attacked civilians inside Russia over the past two years, including in the capital of Moscow.

Umarov "gave order to avoid attacks on civilian targets due to a process of civil protest that began in Russia, and the fact that people no longer accept Putin's policy," according to a report by Kavkaz Center, a propaganda outlet of the Caucasus Emirate. The statement is referring to recent protests against Vladimir Putin, the current Prime Minister of Russia, who is seeking a third term.

"This [the protests] may mean that the citizens of Russia - among other things - no longer support the barbarous methods of war used in the Caucasus Emirate and authorized by Putin and his clique," Kavkaz Center stated. "In this case, the civilian population of Russia stays outside the category of aggressor."

The "moratorium does not apply to military and political structures of the belligerent state," Kavkaz continued. "Likewise, this moratorium does not apply to the belligerent state itself, which will not be safe from attacks of the Mujahideen until a truce."

Caucasus Emirate fighters may continue to target "law enforcement structures, the military, intelligence services and political leadership of Russia."

The "truce" is "binding for all subdivisions of Mujahideen forces, including special-operation groups operating inside Russia." The "special-operation groups" likely include the Riyad-us-Saliheen Martyr Brigade, the suicide teams that have targeted civilians in the past.

The Caucasus Emirate has intentionally targeted civilians in recent years. Two of the most deadly attacks claimed by Umarov have occurred in Moscow. Umarov took credit for the Jan. 24, 2011 suicide attack at Domodedovo International Airport in Moscow that killed 35 people and wounded scores more. Umarov also claimed responsibility for the March 29, 2010 suicide attack by two female bombers that killed 39 people in the Moscow metro.

In the past, Umarov has repeatedly vowed to continue attacks inside of Russia. In May 2011,Umarov said in an interview with Kavkaz Center that he considers "the Caucasus Emirate and Russia as a single theater of war."

"Today, the battlefield is not just Chechnya and the Caucasus Emirate, but also the whole Russia," he said last May. "The situation is visible to everybody who has eyes. The Jihad is spreading, steadily and inevitably, everywhere. I've already mentioned that all those artificial borders, administrative divisions, which the Taghut [false leader or liar] drew, mean nothing to us. The days when we wanted to secede and dreamed of building a small Chechen Kuwait in the Caucasus are over."

The Islamic Caucasus Emirate has close ties to al Qaeda. Some members of the group have fought in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Meanwhile, the International Islamic Battalion, the unit comprised of Arab and other foreign fighters that fights in the Caucasus, has been led by senior al Qaeda leaders. The top leaders of the International Islamic Battalion have included al Qaeda commander Ibn al Khattab (killed in 2002); Abu al Walid (killed in 2004); Abu Hafs al Urduni (killed in 2006); and Muhannad (killed in April 2011).

The US added the Caucasus Emirate to its list of Specially Designated Global Terrorist entities in May 2011. Umarov was added the the US's list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists in June 2010.

For more information on the Islamic Caucasus Emirate and its war with Russia, see LWJ report, 35 killed in suicide attack at Moscow airport.

The commander, who was not named, was captured today by a combined Afghan and Coalition special operations team in the Nahr-e-Saraj district in Helmand.

The International Security Assistance Force described him as "a Taliban-appointed deputy and head of the insurgent group's military commission in Badghis province" in northwestern Afghanistan. He "arranged large-scale attacks, distributed weapons and collected taxes."

Additionally, he "represented both the Taliban and Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan groups and was responsible for coordinating insurgent activities in Badghis and Faryab province."

The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan is an al Qaeda-linked terror group that operates primarily in northern and eastern Afghanistan, as well as in Pakistan's tribal areas. It is closely allied to the Taliban and the Haqqani Network. In the north, IMU leaders have integrated into the Taliban's shadow government. [For more information on the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and its activities in Afghanistan and Pakistan, see LWJ report, IMU cleric urges Pakistanis to continue sheltering jihadis in Waziristan.]

The unnamed Taliban and Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan commander is the second senior IMU leader killed or captured in the past six days. On Jan. 29, ISAF and Afghan forces killed Ilhom, an IMU commander who "facilitated the training of suicide bombers for attacks" in Takhar province and was responsible for last year's Christmas Day suicide attack at a funeral in Taloqan that killed 20 Afghans, including Abdul Mutalib Baig, a member of parliament.

For a seven-week period prior to its report of Ilhom's death, ISAF Joint Command (IJC) had stopped reporting on raids that targeted IMU and al Qaeda leaders and fighters. [See LWJ report, Afghan, ISAF troops kill IMU leader in north, for more details.] The day following the report of Illhom's death, IJC reported that an al Qaeda facilitator had been captured.

IJC would not explain the reason for its lack of press reports on the targeting of al Qaeda or IMU leaders in the period from Dec. 9, 2011 to Jan. 28, 2012, but told The Long War Journal that the gap in reporting should not be interpreted "as lack of operational rigor against those entities."

Nor would IJC would answer The Long War Journal's inquiries that asked if ISAF forces conducted any unreported operations against al Qaeda or the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan during the period from Dec. 9, 2011 to Jan. 28, 2012.

The video, titled "The Path to Paradise, Part 6," was released to jihadist websites in early December 2011 by Badr al-Tawhid, "the media arm of the Islamic Jihad Union," according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which translated the video.

"The first part of the video shows new fighters receiving training in firearms, explosives, and heavy weapons at an IJU camp in 2009-2010, while the second shows the fighters applying this training to clashes and strikes against NATO-led ISAF forces and Afghan soldiers in Khost, Kunduz, and Paktia provinces," a summary provided by SITE stated.

The "mujahideen of the Khorasan" fighters are trained in light and heavy weapons, and the narrator claimed the group is employing snipers in greater numbers after "(o)bserving that the tactic is very useful inside and outside the city areas of Iraq."

"Some [of the IJU fighters] are interested in chemical explosives, and others work on creating new remote-controlled explosives," the narrator continued.

"Their training and their experience during the jihadi activities in Afghanistan and Pakistan will someday certainly help a lot when it is time to help their brothers and sisters in Central Asia," the narrator of the Islamic Jihad Union propaganda tape said.

The narrator explained that IJU members fight and train with local Taliban groups in the Afghan north and east, and named specific provinces where IJU fighters are deployed.

"In this jihadi season of the year, the emigrants will fight shoulder to shoulder with the poor mujahideen against the Crusaders and their local henchmen in several areas of Afghanistan," he said. "During the time when the lists of the names of those who will be sent to the jihadi fields are being formed, every mujahid goes to his commander to request that his name be on the list. The chosen mujahideen are sent to various jihadi battlefields such as [the Afghan provinces of] Paktika, Ghazni, Kandahar, Paktia, Helmand, Nuristan, Badakhshan, Kunduz, and Mazar-e-Sharif, according to their skills."

"The mujahideen do not only stay in the southern provinces but they also help the Taliban in northern Afghanistan and provide them with military consultation," the IJU narrator continued. "Neighboring Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, northern Afghanistan is strategically a very important region for the Muslims of Central Asia."

The IJU narrator also said that "the emigrant mujahideen, with the cooperation with Taliban, invite the local people. They also train the local Uzbek, Tajik and Pashto mujahideen and teach them the best tactics of doing jihad. Thus, the emigrant mujahideen are sent to the region during all seasons. Compared to the previous years, this year more mujahideen were sent to the provinces of Mazar-e-Sharif and Kunduz."

The IJU's list of provinces in which they claim to fight closely matches with the International Security Assistance Force's reports on raids against the terror group. Since 2008, ISAF has reported on 19 raids against the IJU, in the provinces of Paktia, Paktia, Khost, Kunduz, and Balkh (Mazar-e-Sharif is the main city in this province).

At the end of the videotape, the IJU listed the names of fighters killed. The names indicate that the fighters came from Turkey, Turkistan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Pakistan.

Background on the Islamic Jihad Union

The Islamic Jihad Union (also known as the Islamic Jihad Group) is a splinter faction of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, another al Qaeda-linked terror group that operates along the Afghan-Pakistani border. The IJU is based out of the Mir Ali region and maintains close ties with al Qaeda leader Abu Kasha al Iraqi, and with North Waziristan Taliban commander Hafiz Gul Bahadar, who controls the Datta Khel region. It is a Specially Designated Global Terrorist organization.

Central Asians, Turks, and Germans make up a significant portion of the IJU. The German fighters are often referred to as German Taliban, and they carry out attacks in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. In 2009, the Islamic Jihad IJU released video of 'German Taliban villages' in Waziristan. Its fighters were seen training at camps and conducting military operations.

German members of the Islamic Jihad Union have been killed in combat inside Pakistan. Eric Breininger, a German man who converted to Islam, was killed while assaulting a Pakistani military outpost in North Waziristan on April 28, 2010. Three Uzbek fighters were also killed in the attack. Breininger was wanted for plotting attacks against US military bases and personnel in Germany.

Americans have also joined the Islamic Jihad Union. In recent years, two American jihadists, Abu Ibrahim al Amriki and Sayfullah al Amriki, have been featured in propaganda released by the Islamic Jihad Group (another name for the IJU).

The Islamic Jihad Union has been the target of several US airstrikes in Pakistan's tribal areas. The US killed Najmuddin Jalolov, the leader of the Islamic Jihad Union, in a Predator airstrike in North Waziristan on Sept. 14, 2009. Turkish members of the IJU were reported killed along with an al Qaeda commander in a US Predator strike in North Waziristan on June 19, 2010. And on Sept. 8, 2010, US drones killed Qureshi, an IJU commander who trained Germans to conduct attacks in their home country.

Earlier this month, the US added Mevlut Kar, a dual German and Turkish citizen who is also known as Mevlut Zikara, to the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists. Kar was a member of the IJU cell that attempted to attack US military personnel and civilians in Germany in 2007. The targets of the attack included Ramstein Air Base and Frankfurt International Airport. Three members of the cell were arrested before the plot was executed.

Zulkifli bin Hir, one of the most wanted leaders of the al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah; Umbra Jumdail, a senior Abu Sayyaf commander, and his son Teng; and Muhamad Ali, another wanted JI operative, were all killed in the early morning today in an airstrike, according to the country's top military commander.

Chief of Staff General Jessie Dellosa said the 3 a.m. airstrike targeted a camp in the village of Duyan Kabaw in Parang in the southern province of Sulu. Dellosa expressed certainty that the terrorist leaders had been killed even though the military was not in possession of the dead bodies.

"I am sure because I will not easily issue a statement here," he said, according to Inquirer News. "We have intelligence people and locals in the area."

A military spokesman said the strike, which was carried out by two OV-10 Broncos, light military attack aircraft used in counterinsurgency operations, was the result of months of intelligence gathering. Several 500-pound bombs were dropped on the terrorists' camp. No civilians were reported to have been killed in the strike.

The operation was "based on a thorough, well-executed plan and months of continuous monitoring and surveillance of JI and ASG personalities," Colonel Arnulfo Marcelo Burgos Jr., a military spokesman, said during a briefing, Inquirer News reported. In early January, a senior general disclosed that the military was engaged in operations in Sulu hunting for Hir; Muhamad Ali; Qayim and Sa'ad, two Indonesians; and Amin Baco, who is thought to be a Malaysian national.

Although no US involvement in the strike has been reported, US Special Forces are based in the Philippines to aid the government and military in their fight against the al Qaeda-linked groups and to assist in humanitarian efforts. The Philippine constitution prohibits US troops from engaging in combat operations in the country.

Zulkifli bin Hir, a Malaysian national known as "Marwan," is wanted by the US government, which has a $5 million reward out for information leading to his capture. Hir is "an engineer trained in the United States" and "is believed to be the head of the Kumpulun Mujahidin Malaysia (KMM) terrorist organization and a member of Jemaah Islamiyah's central command," according to the US State Department's Rewards for Justice website. He is believed to have been sheltering in the Philippines since 2003 and has served as a bomb maker for the Abu Sayyaf Group.

Umbra Jumdail, a senior Abu Sayyaf Group commander who is also known as Doc Abu, is wanted by both the US government, which has offered a $140,000 reward for information leading to his capture, and the Philippine government. He has been involved in numerous kidnappings and assassinations.

Muhamad Ali, a Singaporean national also known as Mauwiya Anjala, is a Jemaah Islamiyah leader who is also wanted by the US, which has offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to his capture.

Jemaah Islamiyah is an Islamist terrorist group that seeks to establish a pan-Islamic state across Southeast Asia. Jemaah Islamiyah is most active in Indonesia and the Philippines, but also conducts operations in Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia. The terror group is al Qaeda's regional affiliate in Southeast Asia and its operatives have been responsible for devastating attacks in the region, including the 2002 and 2005 Bali bombings, the 2004 suicide car bombing outside the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, the August 2003 car bombing of the JW Marriott hotel in Jakarta, and a series of bombings in Manila.

The terror group has suffered major setbacks inside Indonesia, with many of its top leaders killed or captured over the past several years. Among them are Dulmatin, a top leader and military commander (killed in 2010); and Noordin Mohammed Top, a senior leader, recruiter, strategist, and fundraiser (killed in 2009). Umar Patek, a top JI leader, was captured in March 2010 in Abbottabad, Pakistan, just months before al Qaeda emir Osama bin Laden was killed in the same city in a US special operations raid. Abu Bakir Bashir, the terror group's founder, is currently in prison for founding, financing, and supporting al Qaeda in Aceh.

The Abu Sayyaf Group is a Philippines-based terrorist and criminal gang formed by fighters who returned from the Afghan jihad against the Soviet Union. The group was funded and financed by Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, one of Osama bin Laden's brother-in-laws, according to Khaddafy Janjalani, the leader of Abu Sayyaf before he was killed in 2006. Khalifa, an al Qaeda financier and facilitator, was killed by US special operations forces in Madagascar in 2006.

An unedited segment of the video showing the Pakistani Taliban executing 15 Frontier Constabulary personnel who were captured in the district of Tank at the end of December has emerged on the Internet.

The video, which was published on the LiveLeak video-sharing website, shows the 15 paramilitary men blindfolded and lined up along a hillside; some are handcuffed together. Taliban fighters then take turns gunning down the Pakistani troops, one at a time, with AK-47 assault rifles.

The graphic video shows the slain Pakistani security personnel falling to the ground as those still living remain standing. The Taliban are heard chanting, "We will cross all limits to avenge your blood."

The 15 Pakistani personnel were captured on Dec. 22, 2011 during a Taliban assault on a fort in the settled district of Tank, which borders South Waziristan. One soldier was killed during the assault. The next day, seven Frontier Corps troopers were killed in a suicide attack in the settled district of Bannu [see LWJ report, Taliban suicide bomber kills 7 Pakistani troops].

Ihsanullah Ihsan, a Taliban spokesman, said the Dec. 22 and 23 attacks were carried out to avenge the death of Taj Gul Mehsud, a senior deputy to Hakeemullah Mehsud, the emir of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan. Taj Gul was killed along with 12 other fighters in a US airstrike in South Waziristan on Oct. 26 [see LWJ report, Taliban avenge death of commander killed in October drone strike].

The execution video does not show the statement made by the Taliban leader, who described why the Pakistani troops were being slaughtered. Reuters provided a translation of that portion of the video.

"Twelve of our comrades were besieged and mercilessly martyred in the Khyber [tribal] agency (area)," the commander said. "Our pious women were also targeted. To avenge those comrades, we will kill these men. We warn the government of Pakistan that if the killing of our friends is not halted, this will be the fate of you all."

One of the Frontier Constabulary personnel described the Taliban raid that resulted in their capture.

"They attacked us with rockets, killed a sentry. One ran away. The Taliban entered the fort and captured us with our weapons," he said. "They tied our hands, put us in a Datsun and took us away."

The Taliban have released similar videos of the executions of captured Pakistani security personnel in the past. In July 2011, a video emerged of the brutal execution of 16 Pakistani policemen who were captured in Dir. [See LWJ report, Video of brutal Taliban execution of Pakistani policemen emerges.]

Remotely piloted Predators or the more heavily armed Reapers fired missiles at two vehicles traveling near the city of Lawder in Abyan province, Yemeni tribesmen told Reuters and the Daily Mail.

Abdel-Monem al-Fathani, an al Qaeda operative involved in the October 2000 suicide attack on the USS Cole in the port of Aden that killed 17 US sailor, is said to have been killed in the strike, according to The Associated Press. No civilians were killed or wounded in the strike.

The US has stepped up its targeting of AQAP operatives perceived to be a direct threat to the US homeland after the terror group attempted several attacks, including the failed Christmas Day airline bombing over Detroit in 2009.

AQAP has seized large areas of southern Yemen. The terror group took control of Zinjibar, the provincial capital of Abyan, in May 2011, and has battled government forces to a standstill. Three Yemeni Army brigades - one infantry, one mechanized, and one armored - are involved in the fighting in Zinjibar, but have been unable to dislodge AQAP from the city.

The cities of Al Koud, Ja'ar, Shaqra, and Rawdah in Abyan are currently run by AQAP. The terror group also controls Azzan in Shabwa province.

Several weeks ago, AQAP forces under the command of Anwar al Awlaki's brother-in-law took control of the city of Rada'a in Baydah province. Two weeks later, the terror group quit Rada'a after negotiations that resulted in the imposition of sharia law and the release of 15 AQAP prisoners from Yemeni jails.

Background on known US strikes in Yemen

The strike near Lawdar is the first reported attack by the US since Dec. 22, 2011, when US drones are said to have targeted Abdul Rahman al Wuhayshi, the brother of Nasir al Wuhayshi, the emir of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Abdul Rahman was targeted in Dofas near Zinjibar. He is rumored to have been killed but his death was never confirmed. AQAP did not announce his death.

The previous strike, on Oct. 14, 2011 in Azzan in Shabwa province, killed Abdul Rahman al Awlaki, the son of AQAP ideologue Anwar al Awalki, who had been killed in a drone strike two weeks earlier. The Oct. 14 strike targeted an Egyptian named Ibrahim al Bana who served as AQAP's media emir. Al Bana was not killed in the strike.

Just hours before he was killed, Abdul Rahman al Awlaki had said he wanted "to attain martyrdom as my father attained it," according to a Yemeni journalist who supports AQAP. [See LWJ report, Anwar al Awlaki's son hoped 'to attain martyrdom as my father attained it.']

Anwar al Awlaki was killed in a US Predator drone airstrike on Sept. 30, 2011 in Yemen's Al Jawf province, where al Qaeda is known to operate training camps. In addition to serving as a recruiter and ideologue for AQAP, Anwar is known to have played a role in directing terror attacks against the US. [See LWJ report, Awlaki's emails to terror plotter show operational role, for more information.]

The US is thought to have carried out at least 17 air and missile strikes inside Yemen since December 2009. Other recent airstrikes are believed to have been carried out by the US also, but little evidence has emerged to directly link the attacks to the US. [For more information on the US airstrikes in Yemen, see LWJ report, Charting the data for US air strikes in Yemen, 2002 - 2011.]

The CIA has taken control of the strikes against AQAP in Yemen from the US military, which had been operating the program. The CIA wants to use the unmanned Predator and Reaper strike aircraft, which the US employs for strikes against terrorist groups based in Pakistan's tribal areas. Previously, the US military has targeted AQAP in Yemen using cruise missiles and fixed-wing strike aircraft, although Predators are known to have been used in two of the strikes.

Since the beginning of May 2011, the US is known to have carried out 11 airstrikes in Yemen, counting today's strike.

One strike, on June 3, targeted several senior AQAP operatives. AQAP later confirmed that Ali Abdullah Naji al Harithi and Ammar Abadah Nasser al Wa'eli were killed in the attack.

The US strikes have been controversial, as civilians have been killed in the attacks. One strike, a Tomahawk cruise missile attack on Dec. 17, 2009, hit what was thought to be a training camp run by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in the town of Ma'jalah in the province Abyan. The attack reportedly killed 14 al Qaeda fighters, along with 41 civilians.

Since December 2009, some of the top leaders of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula have been targeted in airstrikes, including Nasir al Wuhayshi, the group's leader; Said Ali al Shihri, the second in command; Abu Hurayrah Qasim al Raymi, the military commander; Ibrahim Suleiman al Rubaish, the top ideologue; and Anwar al Awlaki. Although Yemen had claimed that the AQAP leaders were killed in the various strikes, they all resurfaced later to deny the reports. Awlaki's death in October 2011 came after several targeting attempts and false claims of his demise [for more information, see LWJ report, Yemen claims AQAP cleric Anwar al Awlaki 'killed' in airstrike].

Yemen has become one of al Qaeda's most secure bases and a hub for its activities on the Arabian Peninsula and on the Horn of Africa. AQAP maintains safe havens in various parts of the country and is also known to operate terror camps in Aden, Marib, and Abyan, and in the Alehimp and Sanhan regions in Sana'a. The terror group has conducted attacks on oil facilities, tourists, the US embassy in Sana'a, and Yemeni security forces.

AQAP's base in 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 in Somalia.

AQAP has also used its Yemeni base as a hub for attacks against the West. The 2009 Fort Hood shootings and the Christmas Day airline plot, as well as an airline parcel bomb plot in 2010, have all been traced back to Yemen.

"Yemen is Pakistan in the heart of the Arab world," a US intelligence official told The Long War Journal in 2009. "You have military and government collusion with al Qaeda, peace agreements, budding terror camps, and the export of jihad to neighboring countries."

The al Qaeda facilitator "coordinated insurgent activity throughout the area and provided reports to senior al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan," the International Security Assistance Force stated in a press release. The name and country of origin of the al Qaeda facilitator was not disclosed by ISAF.

This the first ISAF press release noting the capture or death of an al Qaeda operative since Nov. 29, 2011, when another facilitator was detained during a raid in the eastern province of Nangarhar.

Similarly, there has been a gap in recent ISAF reporting on operations against the al Qaeda-affiliated Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), which has a strong presence in the Afghan east; no such operations were reported between Dec. 8, 2011, and Jan. 29. Just yesterday, however, ISAF reported on the killing of an IMU leader who directed suicide attacks in Takhar province.

In response to The Long War Journal's inquiries, ISAF Joint Command's press desk told LWJ that the lack of reporting on raids against al Qaeda and the IMU "should not be misinterpreted as lack of operational rigor against those entities," but would not disclose whether any raids against those groups had occurred between Dec. 8, 2011, and Jan. 29.

"ISAF continues to conduct combat operations against the spectrum of insurgent forces through-out Afghanistan year-round," IJC stated. [See LWJ report, Afghan, ISAF troops kill IMU leader in north, for more details.]

Paktia an al Qaeda haven

Paktia province is a stronghold of the Haqqani Network, a Taliban subgroup with close ties to al Qaeda. Six senior Haqqani leaders, including Sirajuddin Haqqani, the group's operational commander, have been designated as terrorists by the US government for their ties to al Qaeda. The Haqqanis are based in Miramshah in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan.

Al Qaeda and allied groups maintain a presence in Paktika province, according to an investigation by The Long War Journal. US military press releases document the presence of al Qaeda, Islamic Jihad Union, and "foreign fighter" cells in the districts of Gardez, Jani Khel, Zadran, and Zurmat; or four of Paktia's 11 districts.

Al Qaeda fighters are known to have been killed while fighting in Paktia. Last week, al Qaeda announced the death of a Saudi fighter who was killed in early 2009. The Saudi, who was known as Abdullah bin Muhsin al Shahri and as Abu Rawada, described an al Qaeda cell that operated under the command of Sheikh Abu Salamain in Gardez, Paktia's capital city.

The IMU leader, who was identified as Ilhom, was killed along with an associate during a combined Afghan and Coalition raid in Taloqan district in Takhar. Ilhom was killed after he "engaged the security force with fragmentation grenades," the International Security Assistance Force press release stated.

Ilhom "facilitated the training of suicide bombers for attacks throughout the area" and was responsible for the last year's Christmas Day suicide attack at a funeral in Taloqan that killed 20 Afghans, including Abdul Mutalib Baig, a member of parliament.

The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan is an al Qaeda-linked terror group that operates primarily in northern and eastern Afghanistan, as well as in Pakistan's tribal areas. It is closely allied to the Taliban and the Haqqani Network. In the north, IMU leaders have integrated into the Taliban's shadow government. [For more information on the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and its activities in Afghanistan and Pakistan, see LWJ report, IMU cleric urges Pakistanis to continue sheltering jihadis in Waziristan.]

A drop in ISAF reports on raids against the IMU and al Qaeda

Today's report on the death of Ilhom is the first by ISAF to identify the targeting of an Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan operative since Dec. 8, when an IMU suicide facilitator was targeted in Chahar Darah district, Kunduz province. The last time an al Qaeda operative was reported to have been targeted was on Nov. 29, 2011. Prior to the Dec. 8 raid, ISAF routinely reported on raids that killed or captured members of the two radical Islamist terror groups.

In answer to a recent inquiry by The Long War Journal to the International Security Assistance Force Joint Command (IJC) requesting an explanation for the lack of reporting on the raids against the two terror groups, IJC said that raids may be occurring even if they are not being reported.

"ISAF continues to conduct combat operations against the spectrum of insurgent forces through-out Afghanistan year-round," IJC stated. "Lack of perceived specificity within operational press releases should not be misinterpreted as lack of operational rigor against those entities."

However IJC would not answer The Long War Journal's inquiries that asked if ISAF forces conducted any unreported operations against al Qaeda or the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan from Dec. 9, 2011, to Jan. 28, 2012.

The inquiries were prompted by a Jan. 27 press release by ISAF reporting on a raid that targeted "insurgent suicide bombers" in Chahar Darah district in Kunduz. "The security force detained several suspected suicide bombers during the operation," the ISAF press release stated.

The Long War Journal had requested information identifying the group to which the "insurgent suicide bombers" belonged. The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan has a strong presence in the district and is known to run training camps in the province. Al Qaeda also operates in Kunduz.

IJC would not provide the identity of the insurgent group, citing "operational security" restrictions.

"The operation you are questioning has not been completed; therefore, for operational security purposes, no additional information will be released," IJC stated.

Operational security was cited despite the facts that the press release not only described the date and location of the raid but also noted the detention of several suicide bombers and the seizure of weapons and explosives. Yet in a similar operation - the Dec. 8, 2011 raid in the same district - the name of the terror group was identified even though the suicide facilitator who was targeted was not captured.

Aboud al Zomor, who served as the first emir of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad and was later imprisoned for his role in President Anwar Sadat's assassination, said that he welcomes Ayman al Zawahiri's return to Egypt and that he would be given safe haven, according to a report published yesterday in Al-Sharq Al-Awsat. The report was translated from Arabic by the Foundation For Defense of Democracies.

"When asked if he saw any danger in al Zawahiri's return, al Zomor said that 'he was not a threat to Egypt, the likes of al Zawahiri differed with the previous regime and they were only a danger for this regime and not for Egypt, and now he is liberating Afghanistan and Iraq...'" the report stated. Zomor also lamented that the US would be opposed to Zawahiri's return to Egypt.

Zomor denied having direct contact with members of al Qaeda, and claims to have renounced violence.

"I've distanced myself from that currently because I took the political line and closed the page on the past, as a result of which doors to peaceful action opened for us," he told Al-Sharq Al-Awsat.

Zomor is one of the primary founders of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, the terrorist group that merged with al Qaeda. Zawahiri succeeded Zomor as the group's emir and presided over its merger with bin Laden's terror group in the 1990s.

Zomor, who was freed along with his brother Tarek from prison in 2011 after serving more than 20 years for their role in assassinating Sadat, now leads the Building and Development Party, a Salafi Islamist political party that won 16 seats in Egypt's recent parliamentary elections. His party is allied with Al Nour; together they make up the Islamist Bloc, which won 127 of the 498 seats. Both Zomor's party and Al Nour call for sharia, or Islamic law. The Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, which also calls for Islamic law, won 235 of the seats in parliament, giving Islamist parties 362 total seats. The newly elected parliament will appoint the committee to craft Egypt's new constitution.

Yesterday the al Qaeda-linked al-Fida' forum posted the video of Abdullah bin Muhsin al Shahri, a Saudi from Riyadh who is also known as Abu Rawaha. He does not appear to be on the list of Saudi Arabia's most-wanted terrorists. The video was translated by the SITE Intelligence Group, and was also part of al Qaeda's Diary of a Mujahid series, which is produced by As Sahab, al Qaeda's media outlet.

According to al Qaeda, Abu Rawaha traveled to "the land of jihad and garrison" - or the Afghan-Pakistani border - sometime between September and October of 2007. He was killed "in Waziristan" in January or February of 2009. It is unclear if he died in a US drone strike or while fighting Pakistani security forces.

Al Qaeda described Abu Rawaha as a "poet," and the video features him reciting his poetry. In one poem, he discussed "the brothers" who were killed "in Gardez," an eastern Afghan city which is the capital of Paktia province. Abu Rawaha said that the cell leader, who he identified as Sheikh Abu Salama, was killed with five fighters after being "bombed."

In Afghanistan, al Qaeda is known to embed small teams of trainers with Taliban and other terrorist groups, and in the east is known to fight on the battlefield in small units. [See LWJ reports, Al Qaeda's paramilitary 'Shadow Army' and 'Foreign trainers' active in southeastern Afghan province, for more information on al Qaeda's role in Afghanistan.] Abu Rawaha appears to be describing one such unit in the video.

Saudis continue to play a significant role in al Qaeda, from its leaders to its fighters, despite the death of Osama bin Laden, himself a Saudi, at the hands of US special operations forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in May 2011.

Abdur Rehman al Saudi was involved in the recent negotiations to create the Shura-e-Murakeba, an alliance of Taliban groups, including the Haqqani Network, along the Afghan-Pakistani border. Abdur Rehman conducted the negotiations along with Abu Yahya al Libi, one of al Qaeda's top leaders.

Other senior Saudis who operate in the region are Mohammad Abul Khair and Osama bin Laden's son, Sa'ad. Both are also known to operate from within Iran.

The US has killed several Saudi leaders and fighters in airstrikes along the Afghan-Pakistani border over the past several years. Among them are Abu Hafs al Shahri, al Qaeda's operations chief for Pakistan (killed September 2011); Abu Hafs al Najdi, al Qaeda's operations chief for Kunar province (killed April 2011); Sa'ad Mohammad al Shahri, a longtime jihadist and the son of a retired Saudi colonel (killed October 2010); and Abdallah Umar al Qurayshi, al Qaeda's third-in-command in Afghanistan, who also maintained extensive contacts with facilitators throughout the Middle East (killed September 2010).

The two Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) operatives added to the terrorist list are Yassin Chouka and Mounir Chouka, two brothers from Germany. The Islamic Jihad Union (IJU) operative added to the list is Mevlut Kar. The Chouka brothers and Kar have "links to al Qaeda," according to the State Dept. press release announcing their designations.

Abu Adam (AKA Mounir Chouka), a German citizen who fights with the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. Photo from the SITE Intelligence Group.

The Chouka brothers

The State Dept. described Mounir, who is also known as Abu Adam, and Yassin, also known as Abu Ibrahim, as "fighters, recruiters, facilitators and propagandists for the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan," a terror group in Central Asia that is on the list of designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations.

The two brothers "carry out operations as members of the IMU along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border" and "are also senior members of Jundallah Media, the IMU's media production arm."

As senior leaders in Jundallah Media, the Chouka brothers have released numerous propaganda and martyrdom statements. According to State, Monir said the IMU was behind the deadly Oct. 29, 2011 suicide attack that targeted an armored bus in Kabul. Five Americans, a Canadian, eight ISAF civilian employees, three Afghan civilians, and a policeman were killed in the attack.

Mounir also said that the IMU was involved in the May 19, 2010 suicide assault on Bagram Air Base. One US soldier was killed in the attack. According to the IMU propaganda tape, the Bagram assault was launched "in coordination and cooperation with other jihadi groups" and the assault team included "Turks, Tajiks, Arabs, Pashtuns, and Afghans." Bekkay Harrach, a German national who operated along the Afghan-Pakistani border with the IMU, is thought to have been killed while leading the assault on Bagram. Harrach led a team of 20 fighters made up from the ranks of al Qaeda, the Pakistani Taliban, and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, according to a previous statement released by the IMU. The various terrorist groups carry out military operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan under the aegis of the Lashkar al Zil, or the Shadow Army [for more information, see LWJ report, Al Qaeda's paramilitary 'Shadow Army'].

Abu Ibrahim al Almani, from an Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan propaganda tape.

Yassin, Mounir's brother, has also released propaganda for the IMU. In February 2011, Yassin published a report that described his travels from Europe to Pakistan, which included a stop in Yemen and several meetings with Anwar al Awlaki, the wanted American-born terrorist who served as a senior ideologue and operational commander for al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula before he was killed in a Predator strike.

In June 2011, Yassin announced the death of "Abdullah from Essen," a German citizen from Afghanistan who was known as Miqdad. The German was killed while fighting US forces in northern Afghanistan, according to Yassin.

One of the brothers was rumored to have been wounded in a US drone strike. In August 2011, the Victorious Sect, a terror group with ties to the IMU, issued a statement that Mounir may have been wounded in a US Predator airstrike along the Afghan-Pakistani border. The report was never confirmed.

Mevlut Kar

The State Dept. described Kar as "a facilitator and recruiter for the Islamic Jihad Union," which is also listed as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. Kar has "provided more than 20 detonators to members of the IJU," according to State.

Kar, who is both a German and Turkish citizen, is also known as Mevlut Zikara, Mulfit Kar Iiyas, Abdullah the Turk, and Abu Obaidah al Turki. He was a member of the IJU cell that attempted to attack US military personnel and civilians in Germany in 2007. The targets of the attack included Ramstein Air Base and Frankfurt International Airport. Three members of the cell were arrested before the plot was executed.

In 2003 a Lebanese court convicted Kar in absentia to 15 years in prison "for attempting to establish an al Qaeda cell in Lebanon," the State Dept. designation notes.

"Following 9/11, Zikara allegedly helped members of al Qaeda living in Arab countries to reach Afghanistan via Iran, to fight with Taliban," according to The Australian.

Mullah Abdul Bari was captured by ISAF and Afghan special operations forces during a raid in Helmand's Kajaki district on Jan. 9, according to a report in Khaama Press and other Afghan news outlets. US military intelligence officials confirmed Bari's capture to The Long War Journal. ISAF and ISAF Joint Command (IJC) would neither confirm nor deny Bari's capture, however, and referred all inquiries to the Afghan government.

Bari served as the Taliban's shadow governor for the districts of Nad Ali, Musa Qala, Baghran, and Kajaki in northern Helmand province. According to Afghan Islamic Press, he was appointed to lead operations in the four districts by the Quetta Shura, the Taliban's top leadership council.

Prior to his capture, Bari served directly under Mullah Adbul Zakir, who is the overall military commander for the Taliban and also the leader of the Gerdi Jangal Regional Military Shura, which directs Taliban operations in Helmand and Nimroz provinces. Zakir was a detainee at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility before he was released to the Afghan government, which quickly set him free in early 2008. Zakir soon returned to the Taliban, taking control of the Mullah Dadullah Mahaz, which is closely tied to al Qaeda.

Bari is considered to be an important Taliban leader who was assigned to fight US Marines battling the Taliban in Kajaki as part of Operation Eastern Storm. Kajaki is one of the few remaining Taliban strongholds in Helmand province.

"His seniority and importance cannot be understated, especially in terms of his leadership over some of the most effective and dangerous IED cells in northern Helmand," a US official who closely tracks the Taliban told The Long War Journal.

"Although his network was strongest in Musa Qala, he increasingly focused his efforts on Kajaki and Baghran to help reshape and rebuild the insurgency following the blows received during Operation Eastern Storm, an operation targeting the Taliban military infrastructure in Kajaki and Baghran districts," the official continued.

Ansar al Jihad in the Sinai Peninsula made the announcement yesterday in a statement that was signed by "Your soldiers in Ansar al Jihad in the Sinai Peninsula." The statement was released on the Sinam al Islam jihadist web forum and has been translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.

"To our beloved emir and honorable sheikh, Abu Muhammad Ayman al Zawahiri ... from your soldiers in the beloved Sinai in the Land of the Quiver [Egypt], we give you allegiance for obedience in good and bad, in difficulty and ease, and altruism," the statement said. "So, throw us wherever you wish.... We will never quit or surrender until the last drop of our blood [is spilled] in the Cause of Allah and until Islam rules by the help of Allah the Almighty."

Ansar al Jihad called Zawahiri their "beloved Mujahid Sheikh" and asked "Allah to preserve you with His protection and preserve the commanders of jihad everywhere...."

Ansar al Jihad announced its formation on Dec. 20, 2011. In that statement, also translated by SITE, the terror group vowed to "to fulfill the oath of the martyr of the Ummah, our Sheikh Osama bin Laden."

Ansar al Jihad is the military arm of al Qaeda in the Sinai Peninsula, a newly formed terror group that operates in Egypt. Al Qaeda in the Sinai Peninsula has been establishing ties with the Gaza-based Salafist groups and is seeking to coordinate operations, a US intelligence official told The Long War Journal in late December.

Security in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula has deteriorated since the popular uprising last winter that resulted in former President Mubarak's ouster. Hundreds of Islamists, many from Ayman al Zawahiri's Egyptian Islamic Group, have been freed from prisons, and some are thought to have returned to support terror groups.

Al Qaeda in the Sinai is also thought to have been involved in a series of attacks in August near the Israeli resort town of Eliat that killed eight Israelis, as well as bombings against a natural gas pipeline between Israel and Egypt.

Many analysts predicted that al Qaeda would be weakened after the death of Osama bin Laden, as Zawahiri is perceived to be unpopular in many jihadist circles. All of al Qaeda's affiilates, however, including al Qaeda in Iraq, Shabaab, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, and al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, have sworn allegiance to Zawahiri. Furthermore, there have been no reports of major disagreements within the jihadist leadership or the rank and file over Zawahiri's succession to bin Laden's role as emir.

The attack took place in the city of Beledweyne near the border of Ethiopia. Shabaab said the suicide bomber from the "Martyrdom Brigade" targeted "a building known as the Regional Headquarters which housed the Ethiopian army," and claimed more than 200 Ethiopian troops and their officers were stationed there, according to a statement provided by the SITE Intelligence Group.

A local security official told the BBC that Ethiopian soldiers shot and killed the suicide bomber at the gate of the compound. The blast was sufficiently large enough to cause most of the building to collapse, however.

Ethiopian officials have not disclosed the number of casualties. African countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, and Burundi, which have forces in Somalia, often underreport their casualties.

Shabaab claimed that "33 Ethiopian soldiers, including 4 senior commanders" were killed "and up to 72 injured and the number is steadily increasing." The figures provided by Shabaab could not be confirmed, and the terror group is known to exaggerate the results of its operations.

Shabaab said that today's suicide attack "is part of the new strategy adopted by the Mujahideen as a bold response to the increasingly hostile enemies that have invaded Somalia." Shabaab withdrew from Beledweyne weeks ago after Ethiopian forces reentered Somalia in force. Shabaab has also withdrawn from most of the capital of Mogadishu after African Union forces went on the offensive last summer. Shabaab has launched suicide attacks, and conducted ambushes and assassinations in the capital.

Today's suicide attack in Somalia is the second in the war-torn country in the past week. On Jan. 19, a suicide bomber killed six people at a refugee camp in Mogadishu.

Shabaab, which has close ties to al Qaeda and serves as its affiliate in East Africa, and its predecessor, the Islamic Courts Union, have carried out more than 30 suicide attacks in Somalia since they sought to control the country in 2006. At least two of those suicide attacks were carried out by American citizens.

The US has been targeting senior al Qaeda and Shabaab leaders in drone strikes and special operations raids. Just last weekend, US drones killed Bilal al Berjawi, a senior al Qaeda leader who also served as a top commander for Shabaab, in a strike near Mogadishu.

African Union forces have launched offensives against Shabaab on three fronts over the past year, but Shabaab still holds much of central and southern Somalia [see map from BBC]. Ugandan and Burundian troops control of much of Mogadishu after battling Shabaab forces starting last summer. In the fall, Kenyan troops invaded southern Somalia, and took over some border areas. Later in 2011, Ethiopian troops entered Somalia and seized Beledweyne and the surrounding areas.

For more information on Americans and foreigners who are fighting for Shabaab, see LWJ report, American Shabaab fighter and commander pictured together. For more information on Shabaab's links to al Qaeda, see LWJ reports, Somalia's Shabaab vows allegiance to new al Qaeda emir Zawahiri, and Al Qaeda leaders play significant role in Shabaab.

Sources:

Somalia's al-Shabab attack Ethiopian base in Beledweyne, BBC
Somalia: Suicide blast targets Ethiopian military base in Belet-weyn town, Mareeg Online
Truck bomb explodes at Ethiopian base in Somalia, AP

The Pakistani military issued a formal report today that attempts to rebut the investigation conducted by Brigadier General Stephen Clark, which was released on Dec. 22, 2011. Clark was assigned to determine the cause of the clash that resulted in the deaths 24 Pakistani officers and soldiers during airstrikes in the Mohmand tribal agency on the night of Nov. 25-26. Pakistan refused to cooperate with Clark's investigation.

The US report said that Pakistani troops first opened fire with mortar and machine-gun fire, provoking a US response. A series of mistakes by both ISAF and Pakistani troops as well as mutual distrust between the parties led to the deadly firefight, Clark's investigation concluded.

The Pakistani military's response, which was released today at the military's public relations website, called Clark's report "factually not correct" and accused the US military of intentionally killing Pakistani troops in an "unprovoked attack."

"It is highly improbable that such a large number of mistakes (as acknowledged in the US Investigation Report) could have been coincidental," the Pakistani military said in one of its conclusions.

The Pakistani military said the US investigation into the "unprovoked attack" was an attempt to "contort the facts and confuse the issue."

"Not only was the response, not in self defence, it was disproportionate, excessive and sustained which resulted in death of 24 soldiers while 13 sustained injuries," the Pakistani report stated. "The unprovoked engagement thus left behind 7 widows and 16 orphans."

"Sustained aggression which continued for as long as '90 minutes' despite US / ISAF being informed about the incident at multiple levels by Pakistan Military within minutes of initiation of US / ISAF fire, belies the 'self defence' and 'proportional use of force' contention," another of the report's conclusions stated.

Additionally the Pakistani military accused Clark's report of intentionally manufacturing evidence of Pakistani military uniforms that were found during the raid on the Afghan village where the clash took place.

"To justify the grave US / ISAF excesses committed on the night of 25/26 November, the Investigation Report tries to contort the facts and confuse the issue," the Pakistani report said.

"Moreover, reports of discovery of Pakistani Law Enforcement Agencies uniforms from Maya Village after the end of Operation SAYAQA is an unconvincing attempt to cover the US / ISAF attacks by giving a misleading impression that Pakistani soldiers on Volcano and Boulder posts may well have been mistaken by US / ISAF to be anyone else," the report stated later.

The Pakistani military also denied one of the key assertions made by the US - that Pakistani forces first opened fire on US and Afghan troops inside Afghanistan. Instead, the Pakistani military claimed the Pakistani troops "were defending against an unprovoked attack."

"In an effort to provide justification for US / ISAF actions, the Investigation Report has gone to extreme lengths to construct the whole incident as an act of 'self defence' and the force used by US / ISAF / NATO as legal and proportionate," the Pakistani report stated. "At no stage did the Pakistani Posts fire on, or in the direction of the Helicopter Landing Zone or the route from Helicopter Landing Zone to Maya Village."

In the final conclusion, Pakistan refused to accept any responsibility for what happened in Mohmand, and instead said the US and ISAF are fully to blame.

"There have clearly been several failures on the part of US / ISAF / NATO (as acknowledged in the US Investigation Report)," the report concluded. "Trying to affix partial responsibility of the incident on Pakistan is, therefore, unjustified and unacceptable."

The Pakistani report is sure to further sour US/Pakistan relations, which are at an all-time low since the Mohmand clash. Pakistan closed down NATO's supply routes for Afghanistan; ejected the US from the Shamsi Air Base, where drone strikes against al Qaeda were staged; and has said it is reevaluating its cooperation with the US in the War on Terror. The US placed the drone program on hold for 55 days before targeting al Qaeda on Jan. 11. There have been two other strikes since.

The Predators or Reapers, more commonly called drones, fired a pair of missiles at a vehicle traveling in the town of Degan near Miramshah, according to AFP.

"The vehicle burst into flames after the missiles hit. Militants have cordoned the area and (are) taking out the bodies," a local Pakistani official told AFP. The operatives are said to be from Turkmenistan.

The exact target of the strike has not been disclosed, and the identity of those killed is not known. The Turkmen fighters may be members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan or one of the smaller Central Asian terrorists groups, such as Jund al Khilafa, that operate in Pakistan's tribal areas.

Today's strike is the third in Pakistan's tribal areas in 13 days; all three strikes have taken place in or around Miramshah in North Waziristan, a stronghold of the Haqqani Network, which shelters al Qaeda and other foreign terrorist groups.

The Jan. 11 strike was the first by the US in Pakistan in 55 days. The previous strike took place on Nov. 16, 2011. The pause was the longest since the program was ramped up at the end of July 2008 [see LWJ report, US drone strikes in Pakistan on longest pause since 2008, from Dec. 19, 2011].

The program was put on hold after US and Pakistan Frontier Corps troops clashed in the Afghan province of Kunar and the Pakistani tribal area of Mohmand on Nov. 25-26. US troops struck in Pakistan after taking mortar and machine gun fire on the Afghan side of the border from Pakistani troops. Twenty-four Pakistani Frontier Corps troops were killed.

The clash led to Pakistan's closure of the border crossings in Chaman and Khyber to NATO supply columns destined for Afghanistan. In the aftermath of the Mohmand incident, Pakistan also threatened to shoot down US drones flying in Pakistani airspace and ejected US drones and personnel from the Shamsi Airbase in Baluchistan.

The three strikes over the past two weeks signal that the moratorium on the drone program in Pakistan has now been lifted.

US officials told The Long War Journal on Dec. 12, 2011 that the program had been put "on hold" due to tensions over the Mohmand incident, but that the drones would strike again if a high value terrorist target that could not be ignored was spotted.

The Jan. 11 strike killed Aslam Awan, a deputy to the leader of al Qaeda's external operations network. Awan was a Pakistani citizen from Abbottabad, the same town where Osama bin Laden was killed by US forces in a cross-border raid in May 2011. Awan is the most senior al Qaeda leader killed in a drone strike since mid-October, when Abu Miqdad al Masri, a member of al Qaeda's Shura Majlis who also was involved in al Qaeda's external operations, was killed. [For a list of senior terrorist leaders and operatives killed in drone strikes, see LWJ report, Senior al Qaeda and Taliban leaders killed in US airstrikes in Pakistan, 2004 - 2012.]

Hakeemullah Mehsud, the leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, was also rumored to have been killed in the Jan. 11 strike. However this has not been confirmed, and the Pakistani Taliban have denied he was killed.

The second strike this month, on Jan. 12, killed six "militants," including several "foreigners," according to reports. No senior terrorist leaders or operatives have been reported killed in the Jan. 12 strike.

The British citizen, who was identified as Bilal al Berjawi, was "of a Lebanese origin," according to a statement released today by Shabaab's media arm, Al Kata'ib Foundation for Media Production. The statement, which was published on jihadist forums, was translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.

Berjawi, who is also known as Abu Hafsa, "was second-in-command" to slain al Qaeda leader Fazul Mohammed, a US intelligence official who closely tracks al Qaeda in the Middle East and beyond told The Long War Journal. Fazul was the leader of al Qaeda in East Africa and a senior Shabaab commander. He was killed by Somali troops at a checkpoint on the outskirts of Mogadishu in June 2011.

Shabaab said that Berjawi was killed today, on "Saturday 28 Safar 1433H," and that he had fought in Somalia before the Islamic Courts Union, the predecessor of Shabaab, was formed.

"The martyr, may Allah have mercy on him, was from the early people who came to jihad in Somalia, where he participated in fighting with the warlords and participated in the war against the Courts and in fighting the African Crusaders," the statement said.

"The martyr received what he wished for and what he went out for ... when, in the afternoon today, brother Bilal al-Berjawi was exposed to bombing in an outskirt of Mogadishu from a drone that is believed to be American," the statement continued.

The report did not indicate where Berjawi was killed. US officials told The Associated Press that he was killed in a drone airstrike. Kenyan and Ethiopian aircraft have been conducting airstrikes in Somalia.

Although US attack aircraft and drones conduct operations over Somalia, reports of strikes are difficult to confirm. The last confirmed US strike took place on June 25, 2011, when Predators attacked a training camp outside of Kismayo. Ibrahim al Afghani, a senior Shabaab commander who fought in Afghanistan and has close ties with al Qaeda, is rumored to have been killed in the attack, but the report was never confirmed. Shabaab did not release a statement announcing his death. Berjawi was rumored to have been wounded in that strike.

The US military's Joint Special Operations Command and the CIA are known to operate the armed Predators and Reapers from bases in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa, Arba Minch in Ethiopia, the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean, and a base in an unnamed country on the Arabian Peninsula. The bases are to be used to attack al Qaeda affiliates Shabaab, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

Tariq al Dhabab. Image from the SITE Intelligence Group.

The al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula commander who took control of a town in central Yemen late last week has released a short videotape urging Muslims "to unite and be patient" as "the Islamic Caliphate is coming."

Tariq al Dhahab, the leader of the al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula forces that seized the town of Rada'a in Baydah province last weekend, made the statement in a 54-second-long video on YouTube that was released on Jan. 18. The statement was translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.

"So, be patient, perseverant, and stationed," Dhahab told the "Muslim Ummah," or community. "The Islamic Caliphate is coming, with permission from Allah, and it will be established, even if we sacrifice our own skulls, money, children and homes."

Dhabab's forces seized control of Rada'a last weekend after more than 200 of his fighters stormed the city, took over government buildings and a historic fort, and freed more than 250 prisoners, including many al Qaeda fighters, from a jail. Dhahab's fighters raised the black banner of jihad over the fort and swore allegiance to al Qaeda emir Ayman al Zawahiri.

Two policemen were killed during the brief assault. Some residents of Rada'a said the government put up little resistance. Others, including Dhabab's own brother, Sheikh Khalid al Dhahab, accused the Yemeni government of supporting AQAP's takeover of the town.

Baydah province is the home of Nasir al Wuhayshi, who was Osama bin Laden's personal secretary and was instrumental in founding al Qaeda's branch in the Arabian Peninsula.

On Jan. 18, tribal leaders in Rada'a and Baydah province gave AQAP 24 hours to leave the town and threatened to use force if their demands were not met. But Dhahab ignored their demands and instead said his forces would quit the town if the government frees more than 400 al Qaeda prisoners currently being held in Sanaa and imposes sharia law in Rada'a.

Tariq al Dhahab is a brother-in-law of Anwar al Awlaki, the American citizen who served as a senior cleric and operational commander for AQAP before he was killed in a US drone strike in August 2011. Dahab was recently transferred to Yemen from Syria, which had captured him while he was attempting to enter Iraq, according to Reuters. It is unclear if Yemeni authorities released him or if he escaped from a Yemeni prison.

For more information on AQAP's expansion in Yemen, see LWJ report, AQAP fighters seize control of Yemeni town, swear allegiance to Zawahiri.

Aslam Awan, a deputy to the leader of al Qaeda's external operations network, was killed in the Jan. 11 airstrike in Miramshah, the main town in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan, US officials told Reuters. The external operations network is a branch of al Qaeda's military council that is tasked with striking in the US, Europe, and areas outside of South Asia.

Awan is a Pakistani citizen who is also known as Abdullah Khorasani, US officials told Reuters. He is from Abbottabad, the same Pakistani city where Osama bin Laden was killed in May 2011 by US special operations forces. US officials did not disclose why they believe Awan was killed, and al Qaeda has not released a statement confirming his death.

The Jan. 11 strike targeted a compound on the outskirts of Miramshah; four "militants," including three "Arabs," were said to have been killed in the strike. The identity of the Arabs has not been disclosed. That strike ended a 55-day-long pause, the longest lull in strikes since the US ramped up attacks in Pakistan's tribal areas in August 2008.

The drone strikes had been put on hold after a clash between US and Pakistani forces along the Afghan border resulted in the deaths of 24 Pakistani troops. US officials told The Long War Journal on Dec. 12, however, that they would strike if a top-level al Qaeda leader was spotted.

The Jan. 11 strike was followed by another on Jan. 12, also near Miramshah, in which six more "militants," including "foreigners," a term used to describe Arab members of al Qaeda and Central Asian terrorists, were thought to have been killed. Pakistani intelligence officials said that Hakeemullah Mehsud, the leader of Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, was killed in that strike, but offered little evidence to back up the claim. The Taliban have denied the reports.

Reuters said Awan was "a significant figure" in what US officials described as "the remaining core leadership of al Qaeda" based in Pakistan's tribal areas. Awan's boss, the external operations chief, has not been named but is said to be known by the CIA.

US officials have previously claimed that only two significant al Qaeda leaders - Ayman al Zawahiri, the emir, and Abu Yahya al Libi, a top leader - remain in Pakistan. But US intelligence officials who have spoken to The Long War Journal have said this analysis is deeply flawed, as al Qaeda has leveraged members of allied terror groups to fill leadership positions, and the terror group operates throughout Pakistan, not just in the tribal areas of North and South Waziristan where the drones are active.