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.

Members of the Iraqi security forces put up wanted posters with photos of the Iranian operates on the streets in an effort to detain the men.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Iranian-backed Shia terror groups in Iraq

The League of the Righteous 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 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.

The two soldiers, whose names and home countries initially were not announced, have been missing for two days, ISAF, the umbrella command for NATO and allied forces operating in Afghanistan, reported today. The two soldiers were later identified as US paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division.

The Taliban claimed they have found the bodies of two paratroopers.

The soldiers went missing during "a routine resupply mission in western Afghanistan," ISAF said in a press release. ISAF and Afghan troops have launched "exhaustive search and rescue operations" in an effort to find the missing soldiers.

Twenty-five Coalition and Afghan security forces have been wounded during the search operation to recover the soldiers, the US military said. Afghan officials have said that the troops were wounded during a friendly fire incident involving Coalition strike aircraft.

US, Italian, Spanish, and Lithuanian soldiers are currently operating in Regional Command - West, an area that encompasses Herat, Farah, Ghor, and Badghis provinces.

The Taliban insurgency has grown in Farah, Herat, and Badghis over the past two years. The Taliban control districts in each of the three provinces, while violence against ISAF and Afghan forces and civilians has increased.

The Taliban captured one US soldier earlier this year. The soldier was captured by the Haqqani Network in late June after leaving his post and wandering off of a combat outpost in Paktika province. The Taliban released a videotape of the soldier, then news of the captive soldier dried up.

Major Nidal Malik Hasan.

An Army major behind the murders of 13 US soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas, expressed sympathy for suicide bombers and support for terrorists waging war against US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Police shot and wounded Major Nidal Malik Hasan, a psychiatrist, after he went on a killing spree outside a readiness center for troops preparing to deploy to Iraq. Hasan, a Muslim American, opened fire with handguns on soldiers at the center.

Eleven US soldiers were killed and 31 more were wounded before Hasan was shot by members of a SWAT team and detained by police.

Initial reports indicated that Hasan had support from other soldiers. Two soldiers were detained by police but have subsequently been released.

The shooting spree caused a lockdown at Fort Hood, the home of the 1st Cavalry Division and the largest base in the US. Residents were instructed to lock their doors and turn off air conditioning units in case of a terrorist attack. The lockdown was lifted later in the evening after police ensured the situation was safe.

Major Hasan has made several controversial statements over the past several years that indicate he is sympathetic to suicide bombers and supportive of Islamist terrorists.

Six months ago, the FBI investigated Hasan for statements purportedly made by him on the Scribd website that equated suicide bombers with a US soldier who sacrificed himself to save his fellow soldiers:

"He inentionally [sic] took his life (suicide) for a noble cause i.e. saving the lives of his soldier. To say that this soldier committed suicide is inappropriate. Its [sic] more appropriate to say he is a brave hero that sacrificed his life for a more noble cause. Scholars have paralled [sic] this to suicide bombers whose intention, by sacrificing their lives, is to help save Muslims by killing enemy soldiers. If one suicide bomber can kill 100 enemy soldiers because they were caught off guard that would be considered a strategic victory. Their intention is not to die because of some despair. The same can be said for the Kamikazees [sic] in Japan. They died (via crashing their planes into ships) to kill the enemies for the homeland. You can call them crazy i [sic] you want but their act was not one of suicide that is despised by Islam.

Hasan also was vocal in his opposition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and praised Muslims who attacked US troops in the US, according to Colonel Terry Lee (Retired), a former coworker who served with Hasan at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC.

"'We shouldn't be over there,'" Hasan told other officers, Lee said during an interview with FOX News. "'Muslims should stand up and fight against the aggressors,'" Hasan would continue, according to Lee, referring to US forces.

Hasan also praised the murder of two US soldiers who were killed outside of a recruitment center in Little Rock, Arkansas.

"'This is what Muslims should do, stand up to the aggressors,'" Hasan said, according to Lee. "'Maybe we should have more of these, people should strap bombs on themselves and go into Times Square.'"

According to Lee, Hasan "made his views well known." This sparked acrimony with other officers, who called him derogatory names during arguments.

Nader Hasan, Major Hasan's cousin, claimed the Army officer was being harassed by his fellow officers for his beliefs and sought a way out of the military after trying to get out of a deployment overseas.

"He was mortified by the idea of having to deploy," Nader Hasan told The New York Times. "He had people telling him on a daily basis the horrors they saw over there."

The Pakistani military said it has retaken control of the Ladha Fort in South Waziristan after heavy fighting in the region.

The Ladha Fort, which has been under Taliban control since August 2008, was retaken today, the military said. Back in July 2008, the Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force responsible for security in Pakistan's tribal areas, abandoned the Ladha Fort and all of the outposts in the Saam region in South Waziristan. The Frontier Corps claimed the Ladha Fort was vacated at the wishes of local tribal leaders and would be converted into a hospital, but local reports indicated the Taliban had strangled the supply lines in the region. The Frontier Corps also abandoned other forts in the area, including one at Sararogha.

Ladha 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 has surrounded Makeen.

Twenty-eight Taliban fighters and five Pakistani soldiers were killed during fighting over the past day. In all, the military has claimed that more than 420 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 Taliban have denied taking such heavy casualties, and its spokesman, Tariq Azam, said only 11 of their fighters have been killed while their forces have inflicted scores of casualties on the Pakistani military. The claims from either side cannot be confirmed as the military has barred all reporters from the combat zone, save for closely scripted tours.

The Taliban have claimed that their forces have been withdrawn, save for a small rearguard to bleed Pakistani forces during the advance. Tariq Azam said Taliban forces are luring the Army into a trap and will wage a bitter guerrilla campaign against troops and security forces left behind. According to a report at the BBC, the Taliban leadership cadre, including Hakeemullah Mehsud, have fled to a region on the border with North Waziristan to wait out the military offensive. No senior Taliban leaders have been reported killed or captured during the fighting.

The Pakistani military claims it has achieved great success in the operation by taking the high ground in the Mehsud tribal lands, then cutting off the Taliban before advancing into the towns and villages. The military hopes to complete the operation before the winter snows set in and travel is restricted.

Unmanned aircraft, likely remotely piloted Predator or Reaper aircraft, struck in Norak near the main town of Mir Ali in North Waziristan. The aircraft struck the home of Musharraf Gul, a local tribesman who shelters the Taliban.

Four people were reported killed and another four were reported wounded in the strike, but no senior commanders have been identified as being the targets.

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.

Today’s attack is only the first this month, and the ninth since the beginning of September. Eight of the nine strikes have taken place in North Waziristan; four have targeted Abu Kasha’s territories, and four have targeted the Haqqani Network.

The last strike, on Oct. 21, is thought to have killed Abu Musa al Masri, a senior bomb maker who has links with al Qaeda's external network.

The attack takes place as the Pakistani military is on the offensive against Hakeemullah Mehsud’s faction of the Taliban in South Waziristan. The Pakistani Army cut a deal with 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 allow military convoys to pass and maintain neutrality while the fighting is ongoing.

Today's strike is also the second since the Pakistani military launched the offensive against Hakeemullah's forces on Oct. 17.

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

Background on US strikes against al Qaeda and Taliban networks in northwestern Pakistan

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

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

There were 36 recorded cross-border attacks and attempts in Pakistan during 2008, according to numbers compiled by The Long War Journal. Twenty-nine of those attacks took place after Aug. 31. From 2004 through 2007, there were only 10 recorded strikes.

US attacks inside Pakistan during 2009:

• US kills 4 in North Waziristan airstrike
Nov. 4, 2009
• US airstrike targets al Qaeda in North Waziristan
Oct. 21, 2009
• US kills 4 in strike on Haqqani Network in North Waziristan
Oct. 14, 2009
• US strike kills Haqqani Network and foreign fighters in North Waziristan
Sept. 30, 2009
• US aircraft strike in North and South Waziristan
Sept. 29, 2009
• US airstrike targets Haqqani Network in North Waziristan
Sept. 24, 2009
• Two al Qaeda leaders reported killed in North Waziristan strike
Sept. 14, 2009
• 12 killed in second US strike in North Waziristan
Sept. 8, 2009
• Senior al Qaeda leaders reported killed in North Waziristan strike
Sept. 7, 2009
• US strikes Taliban compound in South Waziristan, 8 killed
Aug. 27, 2009
• US Predators target the Haqqanis in North Waziristan
Aug. 20, 2009
• US kills 14 in strike on Taliban training camp in South Waziristan
Aug. 11, 2009
• Baitullah Mehsud's wife killed in Predator attack
Aug. 5, 2009
• US Predator strikes in North Waziristan, kills 5
July 17, 2009
• US strikes Taliban communications center in South Waziristan
July 10, 2009
• US kills 25 Taliban in second Predator strike in South Waziristan
July 8, 2009
• US Predator strike on Taliban camp kills 8 in South Waziristan
July 8, 2009
• US Predator strike kills 14 Taliban in South Waziristan
July 7, 2009
• 13 Taliban fighters killed in US airstrikes in Pakistan
July 3, 2009
• Scores of Taliban killed in second US strike in South Waziristan
June 23, 2009
• Six killed in US Predator attack in South Waziristan
June 23, 2009
• US strikes target Mullah Nazir in South Waziristan
June 18, 2009
• US kills 5 in South Waziristan strike
June 14, 2009
• US strikes Taliban, al Qaeda in North Waziristan
May 16, 2009
• US strikes again in South Waziristan
May 12, 2009
• US strike targets Baitullah Mehsud territory in South Waziristan
May 9, 2009
• US strike kills 10 Taliban in South Waziristan
April 29, 2009
• US airstrike targets Taliban training camp in South Waziristan
April 19, 2009
• US Predator kills four in South Waziristan strike
April 8, 2009
• US strikes Haqqani Network in North Waziristan
April 4, 2009
• US launches first strike in Arakzai tribal agency
April 1, 2009
• Latest US strike targets al Qaeda safe house in North Waziristan
March 26, 2009
• US airstrike kills 8 in Baitullah Mehsud's hometown
March 25, 2009
• US launches second strike outside of Pakistan's tribal areas
March 15, 2009
• US missile strike in Kurram agency kills 14
March 12, 2009
• US airstrike kills 8 in South Waziristan
March 1, 2009
• US airstrike in Pakistan's Kurram tribal agency kills 30
Feb. 16, 2009
• US Predator strike in South Waziristan kills 25
Feb. 14, 2009
• US strikes al Qaeda in North and South Waziristan
Jan. 23, 2009
• US hits South Waziristan in second strike
Jan. 2, 2009
• US kills 4 al Qaeda operatives in South Waziristan strike
Jan. 1, 2009

For a summary of US strikes inside Pakistan in 2008, see "US strikes in 2 villages in South Waziristan".

Pakistani troops have entered another Taliban center in the war-torn tribal agency of South Waziristan. The Army said it has encountered "heavy clashes and street to street fighting" as its troops have entered the town of Ladha, which it described as a "stronghold of terrorists." The military reported that 10 Taliban fighters were killed in the town.

Ladha 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 has surrounded Makeen. The military also reported that 16 Taliban fighters were killed during fighting in Sararogha.

The Pakistani military said 30 Taliban fighters have been killed during operations over the past 24 hours. No soldiers were reported killed, but eight were reported wounded. The military now claims that nearly 380 Taliban fighters and 35 soldiers have been killed since the operation to defeat the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan was launched on Oct. 15.

Yesterday, the Taliban denied that their forces have suffered heavy losses, and claimed to have conducted a tactical retreat in order to lure the Army into a trap. The Taliban are preparing to fight "a long war," Taliban spokesman Tariq Khan told the Associated Press.

Skirmishes in Hangu, suicide bombers killed in Kohat

In the nearby district of Hangu, Pakistani troops killed four Taliban fighters after they attacked a security outpost on the border with the tribal agency of Kurram. Pakistani troops and the Taliban have clashed in Kurram and Arakzai over the past week.

In Kohat, two suicide bombers were killed after one of the bombers accidentally detonated his vest. The bomber triggered the explosion when the motorcycle he was driving on hit a bump in the road. The bombers were driving on road near a Pakistani Air Force base.

Pakistani soldiers in an undisclosed location in South Waziristan. APP photo.

The Pakistani Army has captured two more Taliban strongholds in South Waziristan and is close to taking another, while a Taliban spokesman claimed the group has conducted tactical withdrawals and is prepared to fight "a long war" in the tribal agency.

The military has killed 33 Taliban fighters and lost only one soldier during two days of fighting, according to the Inter Service Public Relations, or ISPR, the public affairs office of the Pakistani military.

Pakistani troops are now in full control of Kanigoram, a town that served as a stronghold for Uzbek and other central Asian fighters. "Hundred percent of the town has been cleared and secured," the ISPR reported.

The Army has also secured the village of China, which is just outside the town of Makeen, one of the Taliban's largest bases in South Waziristan. The military disabled 20 roadside bombs in China.

Pakistani soldiers have also begun to clear the town of Sararogha, where South Waziristan Taliban leader Waliur Rehman Mehsud is said to be directing operations. Two days ago, the military said Sararohga and Makeen were surrounded.

The military has claimed that more than 330 Taliban fighters and 35 soldiers have been killed since the operation began on Oct. 17. But no senior Taliban commanders have been killed or captured during the current offensive. And in stark contrast to the military's reports, the Taliban claim that only 11 of their fighters have been killed so far in the operation.

The Taliban are refuting the military's claims of success and said Taliban forces "are drawing government soldiers into a trap," according to a report in the Associated Press.

"We are prepared for a long war," Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq told the Associated Press. "The areas we are withdrawing from, and the ones the army is claiming to have won, are being vacated by us as part of a strategy. The strategy is to let the army get in a trap, and then fight a long war."

The real story in South Waziristan is difficult to discern, as the Pakistani Army has closed off communications from the region and has denied journalists the ability to report from the battle zone. Journalists are taken on closely orchestrated battlefield tours and are given a glimpse of what the Army wants them to see.

The military is evidently taking and holding ground in South Waziristan, but the Taliban clearly are not putting up a serious fight against the Army. During past operations, the Taliban have put up stiff resistance to military incursions.

At the outset of the South Waziristan operation, US intelligence officials told The Long War Journal that all indications were that the main body of the Taliban force and its commanders have left the region while a rearguard force was left behind to harass the Army [see LWJ report, "Pakistan launches South Waziristan operation"].

"The Taliban appear to want to deny the military a decisive victory so they have pulled up some units and key leaders," a US intelligence official said on Oct. 17. "A substantial rearguard unit will be left to bleed the Army."

The suicide bomber rode a motorcycle laden with explosives into the middle of a high security district of the city. "Major hotels, including the Pearl Continental, as well as other important government and army installations are located in the area where the blast occurred," Dawn reported.

The blast occurred near a bank where people were lining up to cash checks, Geo News reported. Military personnel are among those killed. More than 45 people have been wounded during the attack.

In Lahore a pair of suicide bombers killed one policeman and wounded 25 security officers and civilians after detonating their vests at a security checkpoint. The pair of bombers were attempting to enter the city and detonated their vests after being stopped by police.

The blasts are the latest 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 last major attack took place in Peshawar on Oct. 28, when a car bomb detonated in a bazaar in Peshawar. More than 120 people were killed in the blast. The Taliban disowned the attack and blamed Blackwater, the US contracting firm now known as Xe, and Pakistani intelligence agencies.

The Taliban have promised to continue the attacks as long as the military remains on the offensive in Pakistanis northwest. The Army has surrounded two key towns in the Taliban stronghold of South Waziristan. The military said Makeen and Sararogha have been cordoned, while the town of Kanigoram is being cleared.

The government has offered $600,000 cash rewards for information leading to the death or capture of Taliban commanders Hakeemullah Mehsud, Waliur Rehman, and Qari Hussain Mehsud. Eleven other commanders have $240,000 bounties on their heads.

Major attacks in Pakistan since Oct. 5:

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 detonating 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 Pakistani Army has surrounded two major Taliban strongholds in South Waziristan and is clearing a third.

Nine Taliban fighters and two soldiers have been killed during fighting over the past 24 hours, according to a statement released by the Pakistani military's Inter Services Public Relations.

The military said the towns of Makeen and Sararogha have been surrounded and forces are consolidating positions on the outskirts.

Makeen is the hometown of Baitullah Mehsud, the former leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan who was killed by US strike aircraft on Aug. 5. Baitullah was replaced by Hakeemullah Mehsud, while Waliur Rehman Mehsud took control of South Waziristan.

Waliur Rehman is thought to be directing operations from Sararogha. In January 2008, the Taliban ejected the Frontier Corps from a fort in Sararogha.

Meanwhile, Pakistani troops have entered Kanigoram in strength and are reported to have cleared half the town. The military said heavy fighting has taken place in the town, which is a stronghold of al Qaeda-allied Uzbek fighters from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and the Islamic Jihad Union.

The Pakistani military claimed it controls the major roads in the battle zone in South Waziristan. According to Pakistani intelligence, "intercepts have revealed that terrorists are in great disarray and disorganized," and Taliban fighters are beginning to desert.

But no senior Taliban commanders have been killed or captured since the operation began on Oct. 17.

The military is claiming success in South Waziristan and believes the operation will be completed by early December.

The operation has been focused on one branch of the Pakistani Taliban in South Waziristan. The military signed peace agreements with South Waziristan's Mullah Nazir and North Waziristan's Hafiz Gul Bahadar. The Haqqani family is also being left untouched. These Taliban commanders shelter al Qaeda leaders and host training camps for the terrorists.

Luqman Ameen Abdullah. Photo from the Council on American-Islamic Relations and Fox News.

In recent months, the US has experienced an alarming rise in jihadist activity. In the last two months alone, five terror plots have been foiled by the FBI, and there have been dozens of other arrests for various related crimes, such as providing material support for terrorists. The plots have been directed at targets at home and abroad, both civilian and military. The arrests clearly demonstrate the potential for al Qaeda and other extremist groups to recruit and carry out attacks in the US.

The extent of influence by al Qaeda and allied groups is evident in their ability to convince potential terrorists in other countries to come to the US with the intention of carrying out attacks; it is also shown by the capacity of these groups to indoctrinate US citizens and nationals. The case of Najibullah Zazi, the Afghan national accused of plotting attacks in the US, stands out in what has been described as the biggest plot against America since 9/11. Listed below are the incidents that have occurred so far in 2009.

Feb. 20, 2009: An Afghan national was arrested for his ties to terrorist groups and for trying to obtain a US passport by fraudulent means. Ahmadullah Sais Niazi was indicted on charges of perjury, naturalization fraud, misuse of a passport obtained fraudulently, and making false statements to authorities. After a 2004 trip to Pakistan, Niazi denied any association to terrorist organizations. One one occasion, Niazi reportedly met with Dr. Amin al-Haq, commander of the Black Guard, which is Osama bin Laden’s security unit. Authorities later discovered that Niazi had ties not only with the Taliban but also with al Qaeda and Hezb-i-Islami.

March 20, 2009: After at least 20 Minneapolis-based Somali-American men had traveled back to the war-torn county, only “several” have returned to the United States. The remaining men are reported to be currently fighting, or have been killed fighting, on behalf of the al Qaeda-linked, Somali-based terror group known as al-Shabaab. Counterterrorism officials do not believe the men have returned to conduct attacks on the US. During the investigation, Osama bin Laden urged Somalis to fight against the government and “the international crusade.” In April, federal agents raided money transfer businesses that served the Somali community, in an effort to halt the flow of money from the US to terror groups abroad. In July, authorities indicted three Somali-Americans for recruiting the 20 men to fight abroad, including one who carried out a suicide attack against the Somali government.

May 21, 2009: Four men were arrested shortly after planting inactive explosives outside two New York City synagogues. James Cromite, David Williams, Onta Williams, and Laguerre Payen are reported to have been “disappointed that the World Trade Center wasn’t still around to attack,” and often vowed to wage jihad. The men, three Americans and a Haitian, also plotted to shoot down a military plane with surface-to-air missiles. A confidential informant, whom the men thought belonged to the group Jaish-e-Mohammed, provided the men with the decoy explosives and missile that led to their arrest after an investigation of almost a year. The charges against the men include conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction within the US and conspiracy to acquire and use anti-aircraft missiles.

July 28, 2009: Daniel Boyd, an American, and six other North Carolina men were arrested for plotting terrorist attacks in Israel and Pakistan. They are believed to have taken a half dozen trips in which they intended to engage in violent jihad abroad; each attempt ended in failure. An eighth man, Jude Mohammed, a Raleigh resident whom investigators believe is a member of the North Carolina terror cell, was arrested for trying to illegally enter Pakistan’s tribal region and is believed to be still in Pakistan after he failed to make a courtroom appearance. Prosecutors played tapes in early August at Daniel Boyd’s trial that indicated his intent on engaging in jihad. "I love jihad. I love to stand there and fight for the sake of Allah," Boyd had said.

Sept. 14, 2009: The FBI, along with local law enforcement, raided several residences in Queens, New York City. The men had aroused suspicion by what authorities described as “espousing militant ideology” and had apparent ties to al Qaeda. No arrests were made at the time, but this raid was the first in what would become a string of arrests and foiled plots over the following two months.

Sept. 22, 2009: A federal judge ordered Najibullah Zazi to be held without bail. Zazi’s actions roused suspicion after law enforcement officials discovered bomb-making documents on his computer. After being interrogated by officials, Zazi admitted he had received weapons and explosives training in Pakistan. It was later discovered that his ties to al Qaeda went all the way to Mustafa Abu Yazid, the head of al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Two other men, including Zazi’s father and Ahmad Wais Afzali, were detained in connection with the case. The three are being prosecuted for lying to investigators about a conspiracy to detonate improvised explosives within the US.

Sept. 24, 2009: A 19-year-old Jordanian man was arrested after attempting to detonate what he thought was a car bomb, in the garage of a Dallas skyscraper. Hosam Maher Husein Smadi caught the attention of authorities after they discovered him on an extremist website. FBI agents say Smadi “stood out based on his vehement intention to actually conduct terror attacks.” Three undercover agents, posing as al Qaeda sleeper cell members, had been in communication with Smadi for several months during which they discussed potential targets within the US. The undercover agents provided the potential terrorist with an inert car bomb, which he parked under the skyscraper. Smadi pled not guilty to the charges of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and bombing a public place on Oct. 26, 2009.

Sept. 24, 2009: An Illinois man, Michael Finton or Talib Islam, was arrested for attempting to detonate a car bomb at a federal courthouse in Springfield. Finton raised suspicion after letters were discovered by authorities that indicated his sympathy for al Qaeda and his intention to engage in jihad. Undercover agents posing as al Qaeda operatives befriended Finton back in February; he later discussed with them making specific attacks on the US. In August, Finton recorded a video, which he thought would be delivered to Osama bin Laden, that sought to justify the attacks on government targets. On Sept. 24, Finton, along with an undercover agent, parked the car that he believed contained nearly a ton of explosives in front of the federal building. With the undercover agent, Finton drove a few blocks away where he twice used a cell phone to remotely detonate the "bomb." He was immediately arrested and faces charges of attempted murder of federal employees and attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction.

Oct. 3, 2009: Two Chicago men were arrested for planning to carry out attacks on overseas targets. David Coleman Headley, a Pakistan-born US citizen who changed his name from Daood Gilani in 2006, was detained while attempting to board a flight to Philadelphia.The flight would have eventually taken him to Pakistan to meet with Ilyas Kashmiri, the operational leader of al Qaeda's Brigade 313. The other man arrested in the case was Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a Pakistani national from Canada. The two allegedly plotted to attack Jyllands-Posten, a Danish newspaper whose publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed caused outrage in the Muslim world. In January, Headley had traveled to Denmark to conduct reconnaissance on the building and commenced planning for an assault similar to the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

Oct. 21, 2009: Tarek Mehanna was arrested in Boston for conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists and has been indicted for plotting terrorist attacks at home and abroad. Mehanna, along with Ahmad Abousamra, plotted to kill US civilians, soldiers serving in Iraq, and two members of the US executive branch. Abousamra traveled to Pakistan twice, and both men later traveled to Yemen, with the intent of joining a terrorist training camp. In each instance the men were turned down for their inexperience. Upon returning home, the men then began to plan attacks in the US that included using automatic weapons on civilians in shopping malls. Mehanna had previously been arrested last year for lying to authorities when questioned about Daniel Maldonado, who pled guilty to undergoing terrorist training in Somalia.

Oct. 28, 2009: Patrick Nayyar, an Indian national living illegally in Queens, and Stanisclaus Mulholland were indicted on four counts of attempting to provide material support to Hezbollah. Since June, the pair had agreed to provide the Lebanese-based terror group with weapons, ammunition, vehicles, bulletproof vests, and night vision goggles. A confidential informant posing as a Hezbollah operative, working for the FBI, had met Nayyar and Mulholland on several occasions to discuss how the items could be delivered to support the group. Although Nayyar has been taken into custody, Mulholland has yet to be arrested. Prosecutors believe that Mulholland is currently in Britain.

Oct. 28, 2009: Luqman Ameen Abdullah, the leader of a mosque who also headed the Islamic movement in Detroit called the Ummah, was killed after opening fire on FBI agents. The agents raided two locations and apprehended 10 other men on connection with the case. Three men, including Abdullah’s son Mujahid Carswell, were on the run following the raids. Carswell was apprehended the next day, but the two other men remain on the loose. The Ummah, or "Brotherhood," is a movement with the goal of establishing a separate state within the US, governed by sharia law and whose national leader is currently serving a life sentence for the murder of two police officers in Georgia. The Ummah is said to preach violence against the US, and its members receive weapons training.

The attack, which killed five foreign UN workers and three Afghans, was launched by three terrorists who were dressed as policemen and were armed with grenades, assault rifles, and suicide belts. The terror assault team jumped the walls of the compound and began hunting foreigners in the Kabul compound.

Residents of the guesthouse bolted themselves in rooms and escaped to the rooftop during the two-hour gun battle, which ended when Afghan police and soldiers began clearing the building. The attack has forced the UN to evacuate non-essential personnel just one week ahead of the runoff presidential election.

Afghan intelligence claimed the attack was carried out by three Pakistanis from the Swat Valley, which was under the sway of the Taliban until this spring. The information was obtained from eight suspects who served as the support cell for the UN compound attackers, Amrullah Saleh, an Afghan intelligence official told The New York Times.

The attack was a joint operation carried out by al Qaeda and the Pakistan-based Haqqani Network, Saleh told reporters. An al Qaeda commander named Ajmal and Siraj Haqqani directed the operation, according to Saleh.

Ajmal is "a major player in Lashkar al Zil," a senior US military intelligence official told The Long War Journal.

The Lashkar al Zil, or the Shadow Army, is al Qaeda's military organization that operates along the Afghan-Pakistani border. The Shadow Army is the successor to al Qaeda’s notorious Brigade 055, the military formation that fought alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan.

During the reign of the Taliban in Afghanistan prior to the US invasion in 2001, the 055 Brigade served as "the shock troops of the Taliban and functioned as an integral part of the latter's military apparatus," al Qaeda expert Rohan Gunaratna wrote in Inside al Qaeda. At its peak in 2001, the 055 Brigade had an estimated 2,000 soldiers and officers in the ranks. The brigade was comprised of Arabs, Central Asians, and South Asians, as well as Chechens, Bosnians, and Uighurs from Western China.

The Shadow Army has been expanded to six brigades, and has an estimated 8,000 to 12,000 fighters. In addition to dispatching small teams of embedded trainers to Taliban units, the Shadow Army fights in military formations along the Afghan and Pakistani border region.

The Shadow Army occasional fights alongside the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban, Hezb-i-Islami, and the Haqqani Network, in formations ranging from squad to company level. Evidence of this was seen recently in Swat and Bajaur in Pakistan, where the Pakistani Army met stiff resistance in some battles, as well as in North and South Waziristan in 2007 and 2008.

The Shadow Army also played a role in the recent assaults on joint US and Afghan outposts in Nuristan province, as well as in a series of attacks last year on outposts in the Afghan provinces of Paktika, Paktia, Khost, Kunar, and Nuristan. The most publicized attack took place in July 2008 in Wanat in Nuristan, when nine US soldiers were killed and the base was nearly overrun.

The US has targeted the leaders of the Shadow Army during its air campaign in Pakistan’s northwest. The US killed Khalid Habib, the former leader of the Shadow Army, during an airstrike in South Waziristan in Pakistan last November. Habib was replaced by Abdullah Sa'id al Libi.

Siraj Haqqani, a son of Jalaluddin, has risen in prominence over the past year. 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.

The Haqqanis have extensive links with al Qaeda and with Pakistan’s military intelligence agency, the Inter-Service 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.

South Waziristan

The military said 21 Taliban fighters and two soldiers have been killed during fighting in South Waziristan. The military claimed its forces are just two miles outside the town of Sararogha, where South Waziristan Taliban chieftain Waliur Rehman Mehsud is said to be directing operations. Pakistani troops are advancing on Sararogha from Jandola in the southeast.

Pakistani troops are also close to taking the South Waziristan town of Kanigoram, a large town between Shakai and the Taliban stronghold of Ladha. Two days ago, the military said troops had surrounded the town from three directions, but reports from the region have dried up. Uzbek fighters from the Islamic Jihad Union and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan are known to be based in Kanigoram. The military is advancing on Kanigoram and Ladha from the southwest.

In the North, the military appears to have made little progress in its advance on Makeen. The military is pushing toward Makeen from Ramzak, which is just six miles away. But the Army must pass through difficult mountainous terrain to reach Makeen.

The military has claimed that more than 300 Taliban fighters and just 34 soldiers have been killed in the battle to eject the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan from South Waziristan. The Taliban have denied taking such high casualties, and claimed to have killed 45 Pakistani soldiers in a single engagement during the battle at Kotkai, a Taliban stronghold that switched sides twice before the Army took control last weekend.

Arakzai and Kurram

The military launched a series of air and artillery strikes in the Taliban-controlled tribal agency of Arakzai. Pakistani Army artillery and Air Force jets pounded "13 hideouts and training camps" and a sharia court in Mamozai in Arakzai, killing 12 Taliban fighters, Dawn reported.

In Kurram, the military launched air and artillery strikes after detecting a Taliban force moving "towards the mountains of Tora Bora." No casualties were mentioned, but reports indicate that 11 Taliban camps and safe houses were destroyed.

Khyber

In Khyber, seven Frontier Corps troops were killed and 10 more were wounded after the Taliban detonated an IED on a military convoy in the Bara region. The attack took place just nine miles from Peshawar, Dawn reported.

Last summer, the military launched an operation against the Lashkar-i-Islam in Khyber and claimed to have killed more than 200 of the pro-Taliban extremists. The Lashkar-i-Islam and the Taliban have been attacking NATO's supply columns that pass through Peshawar and Khyber on the way to Kabul, Afghanistan. Since security was stepped up in the region, attacks on the convoys have abated. But the Taliban continues to launch massive suicide attacks and small-scale paramilitary operations in the city of Peshawar, the provincial capital.

Eleven Taliban fighters and one soldier were reported killed during the fighting over the past 24 hours. The military claims more than 260 Taliban fighters and 31 soldiers have been killed since the operation was launched against the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan on Oct 17.

The military is advancing on the town of Kanigorum from Shakai in the southwest, and said it has surrounded it from three directions. The goal is to seal off the exits before launching the final assault. The battle for Kanigoram is expected to be fierce, as fighters belonging to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan are known to use the region as a base.

The US has conducted two covert strikes in Kanigoram this year. An attack on Aug. 27 killed eight Taliban fighters and Uzbek fighters. Waliur Rehman Mehsud, the Taliban commander for South Waziristan, was the target of the attack. An April 29 strike on a safe house and a vehicle killed 10 Taliban fighters.

The Pakistani Army is also reported to be about three miles from the town of Sararogha. The military is advancing on Sararogha from Jandola in the southeast. Troops have advanced toward Sararogha after taking control of Kotkai. Waliur Rehman is thought to be directing Taliban operations from Sararogha.

The Pakistani Army also announced that it had seized control of an al Qaeda training camp when it took control of the village of Sherwangi on Oct. 25. Among the items found at the Sherwangi camp was a passport belonging to Said Bahaji, one of the al Qaeda operatives who participated in the 9/11 attacks on the US.

Bahaji was close to Mohammed Atta, the tactical commander of the 9/11 attacks. He was also an aide to Ramzi Binalshibh, who served as the link between 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Atta. Bahaji is known to have traveled to Karachi from Hamburg on Sept. 3, 2001, just eight days before the attack.

Also recovered at the Sherwangi camp was a passport belonging to Raquel Gacia Burgos, the wife of Amer Azizi, a senior al Qaeda operative who played a role in the train bombings in Madrid, Spain, in March 2004. The deadly attack killed 191 people. Azizi is known to be a senior leader of al Qaeda in Europe and has connections to al Qaeda affiliates in North Africa.

A street is ablaze in the aftermath of the blast in Peshawar. AFP photo.

A Taliban car bomb killed 89 Pakistanis and wounded hundreds more at a bazaar in the provincial capital of Peshawar. The attack is the latest in the Taliban's terror campaign and took place hours after the US Secretary of State touched down for a diplomatic visit in Islamabad.

The blast took place at the crowded Meena Bazaar, sowing panic and destruction. The nearby Umme Habiba mosque was leveled and the facades of buildings crumbled from the blast's shock wave.

"It was a car bomb," bomb disposal official Shafqat Malik told AFP. "Some people are still trapped in a building. We are trying to rescue them."

So far, 89 people have been reported killed and 213 have been wounded, but the numbers are expected to rise with victims still trapped in the rubble, and dozens of wounded are reported to be in critical condition.

The attack is the latest in a string of suicide strikes and military assaults by the Taliban against Pakistan's security forces, the government, and civilians. The military is on the offensive in South Waziristan, and has claimed to have killed more than 250 Taliban fighters since the operation began on Oct. 15. The Taliban have announced they are at war with the state so long as South Waziristan remains under military siege.

Peshawar has suffered four major attacks during the Taliban offensive, which began on Oct. 5, one day after Taliban leader Hakeemullah Mehsud announced he would avenge the death of his predecessor, Baitullah Mehsud, and insisted that the military halt attacks in the tribal agencies. There have been 16 major attacks throughout Pakistan in 18 days (see list below).

Taliban targets the UN in Afghanistan

Across the border in Afghanistan, the Taliban killed six UN staff members in an armed assault on a guest house in the capital of Kabul. Several Taliban fighters wearing police uniforms and suicide bombs stormed the compound. Three of the bombers detonated their vests.

Afghan security forces cleared the compound and discovered six foreign UN workers were killed in the attack.

The Taliban took credit for the attack and said it was part of a campaign to disrupt the run-off presidential election scheduled for Nov. 7.

"We have said that we would attack anyone engaged in the process and today's attack is just a start," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters.

The Haqqani Network, an al Qaeda ally based in Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan, has conducted similar attacks in Kabul and the East.

Major attacks in Pakistan since Oct. 5:

Oct. 28, 2009: A Taliban suicide bomber killed 89 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. Forty-one people, including six security personnel, were killed in the attack.

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.

Ilyas Kashmiri, the leader of the Harkat-ul Jihad Islami and al Qaeda's Brigade 313.

Two American citizens who have been indicted for plotting terror attacks overseas have direct connections to a senior al Qaeda commander and two Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives.

Chicago natives David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana have been charged in federal court with plotting to conduct attacks against a newspaper in Denmark, according to a criminal complaint that was unsealed today at the US District Court in Chicago. Headley was in contact with al Qaeda commander Ilyas Kashmiri and two unnamed Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives.

Headley, who changed his name from Daood Gilani in 2006, was detained on Oct. 3 after he attempted to travel to Pakistan. Headley has been charged with "one count of conspiracy to commit terrorist acts involving murder and maiming outside the United States and one count of conspiracy to provide material support to that overseas terrorism conspiracy," according to a press release written by the US Department of Justice.

Rana, a Canadian citizen from Pakistan, was detained on Oct. 18. Rana was was charged with "one count of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorism conspiracy that involved Headley and at least three other specific individuals in Pakistan."

Both Headley and Rana have been plotting to attack "facilities and employees of Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten," the Danish newspaper that published controversial cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in 2005. The publication of the cartoons sparked violence and protest. The Taliban in Afghanistan have vowed to conduct retaliatory attacks in Denmark and Europe after the publication of the cartoons.

The operation was called the "Mickey Mouse Project," and, according to a senior US intelligence official contacted by The Long War Journal, the plot involved "assault teams" assigned to attack the headquarters of Jyllands-Posten and kill the staff. Further arrests in Denmark related to the plot are expected.

The attacks were to be "modeled" on the November 2008 assault in Mumbai and the attacks on police centers in Lahore and the Pakistani Army General Headquarters in Rawalpindi this month, the official said. Kashmiri is known to have played a role in these attacks; he was a commando in Pakistan's army and for years has trained jihadi groups from Kashmir and other allied groups to conduct military operations.

Headley communicated with Ilyas Kashmiri and Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives

Headley began plotting the attack against Jyllands-Posten in October 2008 after posting a message expressing his desire to avenge the perceived slight against Islam and Mohammed. "I feel disposed towards violence for the offending parties," Headley wrote at "abdalians" forum, an internet group for graduates of a Pakistani military school.

By late 2008, Headley was in touch with a Lashkar-e-Taiba operative "who has substantial influence and responsibility within the organization and whose identity is known to the government" and another operative with close connections to Kashmiri. The first Lashkar operative was detained by Pakistan during the summer of 2009, and released later.

Headley traveled to Pakistan as well as Copenhagen and other locations in Europe several times, using Rana's business as a cover. He even visited Miramshah in South Waziristan, the headquarters of the notorious Haqqani Network, al Qaeda's biggest ally among the Taliban, where he claimed he met Kashmiri. He remained in contact with the Lashkar operatives and received direction to focus on the Denmark attack. Headley's contact with Kashmiri was directed through one of the Lashkar operatives.

The reported death of Kashmiri in mid-September put Headley in a panic, according to the criminal complaint. Kashmiri was thought to have been killed in a US airstrike in North Waziristan on Sept. 14. On Sept. 21, Headley found out Kashmiri was alive, and made arrangements to meet him and the Lashkar operative during his planned trip to Pakistan in October.

Arrests highlight the extent of al Qaeda and allied movements' reach

US intelligence officials contacted by The Long War Journal said that the detention of Headley and Rana show how al Qaeda and allied jihadist movements cooperate to achieve the same goals.

"This case shows you how al Qaeda is operating in Pakistan," a senior military intelligence official said. "You have the HuJI chief [Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami leader Kashmiri] working with Lashkar-e-Taiba commanders while based in North Waziristan allocating resources for an attack in Denmark that is being facilitated through the US."

"This is why we call it AQAM," the abbreviation for al Qaeda and allied movements, a term used in US military and intelligence circles. "At times their planning, allocation of resources, and operations are indistinguishable. Their goals are identical; they want to hit us here as well as carve out their caliphate there."

Kashmiri was brought into the "Mickey Mouse" plot to "impart his military knowledge" on the team that was to carry out the assault, an official said.

Some officials believe that al Qaeda got too fancy for the Denmark plot by working through US operatives.

"They [al Qaeda] want to show they can use the US as a base to attack other countries," the official said. "They were too clever by half."

Background on Ilyas Kashmiri

Ilyas Kashmiri is considered by US intelligence to be one of al Qaeda's most dangerous commanders. He served as the operational chief of the Harkat-ul Jihad Islami, an al Qaeda-linked terror group that operates in Pakistan, Kashmir, India, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh. Kashmiri was recently listed as the fourth most wanted terrorist by Pakistan's Interior Ministry.

Kashmiri is now serving as the "acting chairman of the military committee as Saif al Adel has moved up the ranks," a senior official told The Long War Journal.

Kashmiri is thought to have played a major role in the multi-pronged suicide attack against government and security installations in the eastern Afghan province of Khost in May, the military intelligence official said.

Last year, Kashmiri reportedly drafted a plan to assassinate General Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani, Pakistan's top military officer, but the plan was canceled by al Qaeda's senior leadership, according to a report in the Asia Times.

Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, Laskhar-e-Jhangvi, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, and several other Pakistani terror groups have merged with al Qaeda in Pakistan, and operate under the name of Brigade 313. This group is interlinked with Pakistan's Taliban and also recruits senior members of Pakistan's military and intelligence services, a senior US official told The Long War Journal.

Brigade 313 has been behind many of the high-profile attacks and bombings inside Pakistan, including multiple assassination attempts against former President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Gilani. Brigade 313 is one of the six known units in the Lashkar al Zil, al Qaeda's paramilitary Shadow Army.

Kashmiri is also a longtime asset of Pakistan's military and intelligence services. He served as a commando in the elite Special Services Group (SSG), Pakistan's special operations unit trained by Britain's Special Air Service. In the early 1990s, Kashmiri was ordered by the military to join the Harkat-ul Jihad Islami, and later he was urged to join the Jaish-e-Mohammed, which he refused to do.

Kashmiri reportedly dropped out of favor with the military after refusing the military's suggestion to join Jaish-e-Mohammed. In 2003 he was arrested after being accused of involvement in the assassination attempts against then-President Musharraf, and was later released. After the 2007 Pakistani Army assault on the radical Lal Masjid in Islamabad, he set up camp in Ramzak in North Waziristan, and was joined by several Pakistani Army military officers. Kashmiri is widely thought to have maintained his links with the radical elements in Pakistan's military and intelligence services throughout his time operating with jihadi groups.

Kashmiri was behind the assassination of Major General Faisal Alvi, the retired commander of the SSG, in Rawalpindi in late 2008. Alvi was killed just months after sending a letter to General Kiyani. In the letter, Alvi accused two generals of forcing his retirement. According to The Times Online, Alvi said he was forced to retire after threatening to expose the two generals' involvement with the Taliban.

Kashmiri is on the record as swearing allegiance to Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar as far back as 1999.

"[W]e folks have taken oath from Mullah Omar and we consider him as Ameerul Momineen [the leader of the faithful]," Kashmiri told a Pakistani reporter a decade ago. "We have absolute permission from him to go to any place and engage ourselves in jihadi activities."

Banner of the Islamic State of Iraq. Click to view.

The Islamic State of Iraq, al Qaeda's affiliate, took credit for last weekend's deadly dual suicide attacks in Baghdad that killed more than 155 people.

The statement was released on the Internet on Oct. 26, just one day after the suicide bombers detonated minivans laden with explosives outside the Justice Ministry and the Baghdad provincial administration building.

"Suicide bombers targeted the dens of infidelity and pillars of the rejectionist Shi'ite state in the land of the caliphate," the statement said, according to a translation provided by Reuters.

"Among the chosen targets were the ministry of oppression known as the ministry of justice and the Baghdad provincial assembly .... The enemies only understand the language of force," the statement continued.

In the fall of 2006, Al Qaeda formed the Islamic State of Iraq in an attempt to put a local face on its efforts to lead the insurgency. Islamist terror groups, tribes, and some elements of Iraqi insurgent groups joined the Islamic State of Iraq. Nonetheless, the creation of the Islamic State of Iraq caused divisions among insurgent groups.

The Oct. 25 suicide bombings constituted the worst attack in two years, and took place as the US is accelerating its drawdown of forces in the country.

The Iraqi government is blaming "neighboring countries," and said the same group behind the deadly Aug. 19 suicide bombings in Baghdad was also the perpetrator of last weekend's attacks. Iraqi has blamed Syria for harboring al Qaeda and Ba'athist operatives involved in the recent attacks.

Iraqi officials believe that the bombs used in the Oct. 25 suicide attacks were built inside the International Zone (or "Green Zone"), which was why the bombers' vehicles were not detected at the checkpoints in the high security area.

"The two vehicles that exploded yesterday in the al-Salihiya area of Baghdad were made in a location right next to the blasts," Iraq's deputy interior minister Ahmad al-Khafaji told Adnkronos International.

"This is why the devices were not detected at the police checkpoints," he added.

US surveillance balloons confirmed that minivans were used in the attack and were driven from nearby locations before striking, Reuters reported.

Iraqi forces detained eight suspected members of the bombing cell during an Oct. 26 raid in western Baghdad. The leader of the cell is thought to have been behind the Aug. 19 bombings as well.

In South Waziristan, where the Army has launched an offensive against the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan in the Mehsud tribal areas, the military claimed success over the weekend after retaking the town of Kotkai. The town is the birthplace of Taliban commander Hakeemullah Mehsud and the hometown of suicide bomber trainer Qari Hussain Mehsud.

The Army first took Kotkai on Oct. 19 but lost it the next day in a Taliban counteroffensive. The Taliban claimed to have killed upwards of 45 soldiers in the battle, but the Army denied the report.

The military now says it has advanced a mile past Kotkai in its push toward the town of Sararogha, one of the main strongholds of the Taliban. Thirty-four Taliban fighters and six soldiers have been reported killed during fighting since Sunday.

The military is advancing on three fronts to reach the towns of Makeen, Ladha, and Sararogha. More than 30,000 Pakistani soldiers are battling an estimated 10,000 Taliban and 1,500 allied jihadis for control of South Waziristan.

Hangu

In Hangu, the military claimed 16 Taliban fighters were killed in the Tora Warai region. "Hundreds of militants of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan [Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan] from Arakzai Agency and no-go areas of Hangu took part in the attack" on a security outpost, Dawn reported. One security official was killed in the assault.

The military also said that in addition to the Taliban killed, 23 Taliban were wounded and 54 more were captured during a counterattack.

The Taliban use the Tora Warai region in Hangu to move into neighboring North Waziristan, Dawn reported. Last weekend, the military destroyed a road in the region in an attempt to halt the flow of Taliban fighters from Arakzai through Hangu into North Waziristan.

Before commencing the present operation, the military signed an agreement with North Waziristan Taliban commander Hafiz Gul Bahadar to keep his forces from attacking military convoys and to not allow the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan to transit through the region. The move by the government to destroy the road indicates, however, that the Taliban are still transiting through North Waziristan to fight in South Waziristan.

Bajaur

In Bajaur, the Taliban struck back against the military, which has been conducting an operation in the region. Four soldiers were killed in an ambush in the Mataak area yesterday. The military claimed six Taliban fighters were killed in retaliatory artillery strikes. On Saturday, the military lost three more soldiers after a helicopter transporting supplies crashed in Bajaur.

The blasts set nearby cars ablaze and blew out windows in nearby buildings, adding to the casualties. The facade of the Ministry of Justice was smashed, and the building flooded after water pipes burst during the explosion.

Blast walls around the government buildings, which could have prevented some of the devastation, had recently been removed by the government.

The attacks are similar to the Aug. 19 bombings in Baghdad earlier this year. On that day, suicide bombers detonated their explosive-laded vehicles outside the Foreign Ministry and near the Finance Ministry and the Baghdad provincial government building, killing more than 100. The government had ordered the blast walls to be removed outside the buildings just weeks before the attacks, citing the improved security situation.

The Iraqi government has said unnamed neighboring countries are responsible for allowing the attacks to occur.

"The neighboring and distant countries should immediately refrain, forever, from harboring, financing and facilitating forces that openly proclaim their hostility to the Iraqi state," President Jalal Talabani said in a statement released by his office.

"It is the same black hands who are covered in the blood of the Iraqi people," Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki said in a statement. "They want to cause chaos in the nation, hinder the political process and prevent the parliamentary election."

The Iraqi government has blamed Syria for allowing al Qaeda and Ba'athists to plan, organize, and train terrorists on Syrian soil to conduct strikes in Iraq.

In late August, the Iraqi government aired the confession of Mohammed Hassan al Shemari, a Saudi al Qaeda member who claims to be the leader of the terror group's forces in Diyala province. Sherari said Syrian intelligence, or the Mukhabarat, actively supports al Qaeda in Iraq. Senior al Qaeda leaders Abu Khalaf and now Sheikh Issa al Masri direct al Qaeda's operations in Syria.

The Iraqi government also pointed a finger at two senior Ba'athist operatives for involvement in the Aug. 19 attacks, while a Turkish newspaper claimed that the US has provided Iraq with satellite imagery that shows Ba'athist training camps for Iraqi insurgents. Lebanese intelligence officials claimed Syrian intelligence aided wanted Ba'athists who were behind the deadly Aug. 19 bombings in Baghdad to enter Lebanon.

Bajaur Taliban leader Faqir Mohammed.

Unmanned aircraft operated by the US attacked a meeting of the Bajaur Taliban, killing 27 Islamist extremists. The attack came close to killing one of the senior-most Taliban commanders in Pakistan.

The strikes, likely carried out by Predators or Reapers, struck underground bunkers in Damadola in the Mamond region in the northern tribal agency of Bajaur. The Taliban were holding a regional shura, or council, with members from Dir, Swat, and Mohmand in attendance. Al Qaeda members were also present.

The attack killed 17 Taliban members and 11 "foreigners," according to The Nation. At this time, no senior al Qaeda or Taliban leaders have been reported killed.

Faqir Mohammed, the leader of the Taliban in Bajaur and the deputy leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, was at the meeting but left 10 minutes prior to the strike, according to a report at Dawn. Two of Faqir's relatives are thought to have been killed in the strike. A US intelligence official involved in the covert program confirmed Faqir's presence at the meeting.

The official, who wished to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the program, said that he believes Faqir was tipped off about the strike, just minutes before it was executed, by pro-jihadi elements within Pakistan's Inter-Service Intelligence agency.

"We've seen Taliban and al Qaeda leaders leave meetings minutes before the hit far too often for this to be a coincidence," the official said.

Damadola and the Mamond region are known Taliban strongholds in Bajaur. Al Qaeda is known to have operated a command and control center in Bajaur for directing operations in northeastern Afghanistan.

Since January 2006, the US has struck four times in Bajaur; all of the attacks have hit targets in the Mamond region. Two of the attacks targeted Ayman al Zawahiri, al Qaeda's second in command. Zawahiri is known to be close to Faqir.

Today's attack takes place as the Pakistani military is conducting operations against the Taliban in the Mamond region in Bajaur. Earlier this year, the military claimed the Taliban were "defeated" in Bajaur and in the neighboring Mohmand tribal agency during operations in the area that ended in March, but the Taliban have remained entrenched.

Bajaur airstrike is first outside Waziristan in six months

The US airstrike in Bajaur is the first outside the Waziristan tribal agencies since the April 1 attack that targeted a high-level meeting at a compound in Arakzai run by Hakeemullah Mehsud. Among the 12 extremists killed in the strike was Abdullah Hamas al Filistini, a senior al Qaeda trainer.

Since April, the US has focused much of its efforts on the networks run by Baitullah Mehsud and Mullah Nazir in South Waziristan and the Haqqani Network and Abu Kasha al Iraqi in North Waziristan. The US succeeded in killing Baitullah, the former leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, in an early August strike in South Waziristan.

Today’s attack is the third this month, and the ninth since the beginning of September. Seven of the nine strikes have taken place in North Waziristan.

The US has carried out 45 airstrikes inside Pakistan so far this year. In all of 2008, 36 strikes were carried out. Since the US ramped up cross-border attacks in 2008, 15 al Qaeda and Taliban leaders have been killed [see LWJ report, "US airstrikes alone cannot defeat al Qaeda"].

The US is considering switching from a counterinsurgency-centric strategy aimed at defeating the Taliban in Afghanistan to a counterterrorism strategy targeting al Qaeda's network in Pakistan using unmanned airstrikes and covert operations by special operations commandos [see LWJ report, "Counterterrorism at the expense of counterinsurgency will doom Afghanistan and Pakistan: US officials"].

Background on US strikes against al Qaeda and Taliban networks in northwestern Pakistan

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

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

There were 36 recorded cross-border attacks and attempts in Pakistan during 2008, according to numbers compiled by The Long War Journal. Twenty-nine of those attacks took place after Aug. 31. From 2004 through 2007, there were only 10 recorded strikes.

US attacks inside Pakistan during 2009:

• US strikes in Bajaur tribal areas, kills 22 Taliban, al Qaeda
Oct. 24, 2009
• US airstrike targets al Qaeda in North Waziristan
Oct. 21, 2009
• US kills 4 in strike on Haqqani Network in North Waziristan
Oct. 14, 2009
• US strike kills Haqqani Network and foreign fighters in North Waziristan
Sept. 30, 2009
• US aircraft strike in North and South Waziristan
Sept. 29, 2009
• US airstrike targets Haqqani Network in North Waziristan
Sept. 24, 2009
• Two al Qaeda leaders reported killed in North Waziristan strike
Sept. 14, 2009
• 12 killed in second US strike in North Waziristan
Sept. 8, 2009
• Senior al Qaeda leaders reported killed in North Waziristan strike
Sept. 7, 2009
• US strikes Taliban compound in South Waziristan, 8 killed
Aug. 27, 2009
• US Predators target the Haqqanis in North Waziristan
Aug. 20, 2009
• US kills 14 in strike on Taliban training camp in South Waziristan
Aug. 11, 2009
• Baitullah Mehsud's wife killed in Predator attack
Aug. 5, 2009
• US Predator strikes in North Waziristan, kills 5
July 17, 2009
• US strikes Taliban communications center in South Waziristan
July 10, 2009
• US kills 25 Taliban in second Predator strike in South Waziristan
July 8, 2009
• US Predator strike on Taliban camp kills 8 in South Waziristan
July 8, 2009
• US Predator strike kills 14 Taliban in South Waziristan
July 7, 2009
• 13 Taliban fighters killed in US airstrikes in Pakistan
July 3, 2009
• Scores of Taliban killed in second US strike in South Waziristan
June 23, 2009
• Six killed in US Predator attack in South Waziristan
June 23, 2009
• US strikes target Mullah Nazir in South Waziristan
June 18, 2009
• US kills 5 in South Waziristan strike
June 14, 2009
• US strikes Taliban, al Qaeda in North Waziristan
May 16, 2009
• US strikes again in South Waziristan
May 12, 2009
• US strike targets Baitullah Mehsud territory in South Waziristan
May 9, 2009
• US strike kills 10 Taliban in South Waziristan
April 29, 2009
• US airstrike targets Taliban training camp in South Waziristan
April 19, 2009
• US Predator kills four in South Waziristan strike
April 8, 2009
• US strikes Haqqani Network in North Waziristan
April 4, 2009
• US launches first strike in Arakzai tribal agency
April 1, 2009
• Latest US strike targets al Qaeda safe house in North Waziristan
March 26, 2009
• US airstrike kills 8 in Baitullah Mehsud's hometown
March 25, 2009
• US launches second strike outside of Pakistan's tribal areas
March 15, 2009
• US missile strike in Kurram agency kills 14
March 12, 2009
• US airstrike kills 8 in South Waziristan
March 1, 2009
• US airstrike in Pakistan's Kurram tribal agency kills 30
Feb. 16, 2009
• US Predator strike in South Waziristan kills 25
Feb. 14, 2009
• US strikes al Qaeda in North and South Waziristan
Jan. 23, 2009
• US hits South Waziristan in second strike
Jan. 2, 2009
• US kills 4 al Qaeda operatives in South Waziristan strike
Jan. 1, 2009

For a summary of US strikes inside Pakistan in 2008, see "US strikes in 2 villages in South Waziristan."