Unmanned US drones struck in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan for the second time in 24 hours, killing four "militants."

The Predators or the more heavily armed Reapers fired a pair of missiles at a compound in Miramshah, the main town in North Waziristan today, according to AFP and Geo News.

The exact target of the strike has not been disclosed. No senior terrorist leaders or operatives were reported to have been killed in the attack.

The Haqqani Network, a Taliban group that operates in North Waziristan as well as in eastern Afghanistan, administers the area where today's attack took place. Al Qaeda leaders and operatives, who are closely allied with the Haqqani Network, shelter in the area, as do other terror groups.

The strike is the second in 24 hours. Earlier today, the CIA-operated drones killed 10 Haqqani Network and Central Asian fighters in an attack on a compound in the village of Tappi, just outside of Miramshah.

The US has carried out five strikes in North Waziristan since Jan. 11. All five strikes took place in and around Miramshah. The Jan. 11 strike was the first in 55 days. The program was put on hold following a clash between US forces and Pakistani Frontier Corps troops on the border of the Afghan province of Kunar and the Pakistani tribal area of Mohmand on Nov. 25-26. The 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 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].

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.]

Abu Zubaydah al Lubnani, a Lebanese al Qaeda operative who operates along the Afghan-Pakistani border, has said that while the drones have "delayed some operations or even stopped them," the terror group is still functioning in the region.

"I want here to confirm that Qaedat al-Jihad is still standing in Khorasan, solid and strong, despite what hit it, and it is still producing operations and it doesn't know the path of despair...," Lubnani said in statement that was recently released on jihadist forums. The statement was translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.

An al Qaeda operative based along the Afghan-Pakistani border claimed recently that although US drone strikes have had an impact on the terror group's operations, it is "still standing in Khorasan."

The statement was given by Abu Zubaydah al Lubnani, a Lebanese al Qaeda operative, in an interview published two days ago on jihadist web forums. Lubnani's interview was translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.

In the interview, Lubnani was asked: "We hear a lot about drones. Do their bombings have an effect on the jihadi work where you are?"

Lubnani responded that the strikes "for sure ... delayed some operations or even stopped them - some of them due to the martyrdom or the disappearance of those who would have carried them out - but that doesn't mean that these acts stop."

"I want here to confirm that Qaedat al-Jihad is still standing in Khorasan, solid and strong, despite what hit it, and it is still producing operations and it doesn't know the path of despair.... Everything is still fine, albeit with some slowness in some sectors in jihad."

Lubnani then said that al Qaeda and other terror groups have endured the strikes for years, and that time was on the side of the jihadists as the US and NATO are leaving Afghanistan.

"Everyone knows that the war is about to end with a great defeat to NATO; the black slave [Note: Referring to US President Barack Obama] announced their intention to completely withdraw from Afghanistan in 2014-1435," he said. "These planes [the drones] were introduced into duty actually in the war against the mujahideen in the past two years, and before that, during eight years, the mujahideen were able, praise be to Allah, to harm the Americans badly. They took the bait and lost the war, and now they are in the overtime and the time is in our favor, praise be to Allah..."

Al Qaeda and allied terror groups were given a reprieve from the strikes over the past two months. The US dramatically scaled back the CIA-operated drone program after a clash between US and Pakistani forces along the border resulted in the deaths of 24 Pakistani soldiers. Due to deteriorating relations between the two countries, there were zero drone strikes in Pakistan's tribal areas between Nov. 16, 2011 and Jan. 11, 2012.

So far this year, there have been only four strikes. All have taken place in the Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan. On Jan. 11, the US launched a strike that killed Aslan Awan, a senior aide to al Qaeda's operations chief. Two other strikes took place that month, on Jan. 12 and Jan. 23. No senior leaders or operatives were reported killed in either strike. And just today, the US launched another drone strike in the tribal agency.

Lubnani has emerged as a new spokesman for al Qaeda. In the last three months, he has released a statement announcing the death of an Omani jihadist who was killed in Afghanistan, and a martyrdom statement of a Jordanian fighter who was part of a cell of Middle Eastern terrorists involved in the December 2009 suicide attack at Combat Outpost Chapman in Khost province, Afghanistan, that killed seven CIA officials and contractors. In that attack, the suicide bomber, who was another Jordanian, had lured the CIA officials into relaxing security protocols by promising to provide them intelligence that would lead to Ayman al Zawahiri.

Unmanned US strike aircraft launched missiles at terrorists based in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan today, killing 10 "militants" in an area known to serve as an al Qaeda haven.

The Predators or Reapers, more commonly called drones, fired a pair of missiles at a compound in the town of Tappi near Miramshah, Pakistani officials told AFP. The Taliban have cordoned off the site of the strike and are conducting recovery operations. This is often a sign that a senior operative or leader was present.

"Eight militants were killed and two wounded," the Pakistani official told AFP. "Militants have surrounded the compound and are removing the dead bodies." The death toll was later raised to 10.

The exact target of the strike has not been disclosed, and the identity of those killed is not known. Those killed were later said to be Haqqani Network operatives and fighters from Central Asian countries.

Terrorists are known to have sheltered in the village of Tapi in the past. The US has struck at targets in the village five other times since the beginning of 2008, according to data on the strikes that has been compiled by The Long War Journal.

The Haqqani Network, a Taliban group that operates in North Waziristan as well as in eastern Afghanistan, administers the area where today's attack took place. Al Qaeda leaders and operatives, who are closely allied with the Haqqani Network, shelter in the area, as do other terror groups.

Today's strike is the first in Pakistan's tribal areas in 15 days, and just the fourth this year. All four strikes this year have taken place in or around Miramshah in North Waziristan, a stronghold of the Haqqani Network.

The first strike this year took place on Jan. 11; it 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 from the end of November to the second week in January, following a clash between US forces and Pakistani Frontier Corps troops on the border of the Afghan province of Kunar and the Pakistani tribal area of Mohmand on Nov. 25-26. The 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; the supply lines remain closed to this day. 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.

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. His death has not been confirmed, however, and the Pakistani Taliban have denied he was killed.

The second strike last month, which took place 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 third strike in January took place on the Jan. 23 and is said to have killed four terrorists from Turkmenistan. The Turkmen fighters may have been members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan or one of the smaller Central Asian terrorist groups, such as Jund al Khilafa, that operate in Pakistan's tribal areas.

Top left: Abu Laith al Libi; top center: Abdullah Saad al Libi; top right: Abu Abu Abdullah al Shami; bottom left: Abdul Khabir al Turkistani; bottom center: al Qaeda in the Khorasan fighters; bottom right: Soraqa al Kuwaiti. Images from the SITE Intelligence Group.

A jihadist media outlet has released "several previously-unreleased" photographs of senior al Qaeda military leaders and fighters who have been killed during fighting in Afghanistan or in US drone airstrikes in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agencies.

Pictures of Abu Laith al Libi and Abdullah Said al Libi, two top military commanders; Abu Abdullah al Shami, a leader who escaped from Bagram; and Soraqa
al Kuwaiti and Abdul Khabir al Turkistani, two jihadist fighters, were published on Feb. 4 by the Al Ibda' Foundation for Media Production. The photographs were published as part of a new series called "Pictures from Khorasan, 1," according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which provided a translation of the statement along with the photographs.

Abu Laith al Libi

Abu Laith al Libi was a top-tier al Qaeda leader and a revered military commander. He led al Qaeda's 055 Brigade (or 55th Brigade), the military formation that eventually grew into the Lashkar al Zil, or Shadow Army. Brigade 055 fought alongside the Taliban against the Northern Alliance in the 1990s up until the Sept. 11 2001 attacks on the US. The unit was decimated during the US attack on Taliban and al Qaeda forces in 2001-2002, and was disbanded. Laith reformed the unit, which later became one of six brigades of al Qaeda's Shadow Army, which operates in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

In addition, Abu Laith was the senior leader of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group and also served as a chief spokesman for al Qaeda. As leader of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, he announced the terror group's merger with al Qaeda in November 2007.

US Predators and Reapers killed Abu Laith in an airstrike in the Mir Ali area of North Waziristan on Jan. 29, 2008. Al Qaeda announced his death.

Abdullah Said al Libi

Abdullah Said al Libi was a Libyan national who is thought to have served in his country's military before joining al Qaeda. Once in al Qaeda, he rose in the ranks of the terror group's military, and eventually took command of the Lashkar al Zil.

In April 2009, Abdullah Said laid out the strategy for al Qaeda and the Taliban to retake control of the Khorasan, a region encompassing large areas of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Iran. In the statement, he is identified as the leader of the Qaidat al-Jihad fi Khorasan, or the Base of the Jihad in the Khorasan.

Abdullah Said was killed in a US drone strike sometime in late 2009 or early January 2010. Mustafa Abu Yazid, al Qaeda's former leader of Afghanistan, who was killed in a later drone strike, mentioned his name while noting the deaths of other top al Qaeda leaders. Yazid said the suicide attack on a CIA base in Khost, Afghanistan, which killed seven CIA operatives and employees along with a Jordanian intelligence official, was designed to "avenge" the deaths of Abdullah Said, former al Qaeda operations chief Saleh al Somali, and former Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud.

The Bagram Four: Abu Abdallah al Shami [upper left]; Abu Nasir al Qahtan [upper right]; Abu Yahya al Libi [lower left]; Omar al Farouq [lower right].

Abu Abdullah al Shami

Abu Abdallah al Shami was a Syrian national who served as a senior military commander in eastern Afghanistan. He was one of four senior al Qaeda operatives who escaped from Bagram prison on July 10, 2005. Al Qaeda said that al Shami was killed in a US airstrike in Afghanistan sometime in July 2008.

Al Shami escaped from Bagram with top al Qaeda leaders Abu Yahya al Libi, Abu Nasir al Qahtani, and Omar Farouq. Of the four, only Abu Yahya remains free. Yahya is now considered to be al Qaeda's second in command, following the death of Atiyah al Libi in a US airstrike in Pakistan last fall.

British special forces killed Omar Farouq in Basrah, Iraq, in September 2006 after he tried to be reassigned to facilitate the flow of money, weapons, and fighters for al Qaeda in Iraq. Prior to his capture by Indonesian security forces in 2002, Farouq was considered to be al Qaeda's point man in Southeast Asia. In 1994, he helped set up the first al Qaeda training camp in Southeast Asia, in Mindanao in the Philippines. Five years later, in 1999, he took credit for bombing both a mosque and the Philippine ambassador's house in Jakarta.

US forces recaptured Abu Nasir al Qahtani in Khost province in November 2006. Like Shami, Qahtani was a senior al Qaeda military commander in eastern Afghanistan. After his escape from Bagram, Qahtani fled to North Waziristan to continue attacks against NATO and Afghan forces inside Afghanistan. He joined forces with al Qaeda operative Abu Wafa, who operates from the North Waziristan tribal agency in Pakistan. Wafa and Qahtani were active in the Afghan provinces of Khost, Paktia, and Paktika. Qahtani also released propaganda and training videos for terrorists operating in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Qahtani's brother, Abu Dejana al Qahtani, was also killed in eastern Afghanistan in May 2008.

Abdul Khabir al Turkistani and Soraqa al Kuwaiti

Little is known about Abdul Khabir al Turkistani and Soraqa al Kuwaiti. Al Turkistani is pictured in a room filled with explosives and bomb-making materials. Al Kuwaiti is a "deceased fighter who appeared in the fifth episode of As Sahab's video series 'Diaries of a Mujahid,'" according to the SITE Intelligence Group. As Sahab is al Qaeda's official media production outlet.

Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security (NDS) captured three Taliban fighters who were part of an assassination cell that killed several high-level Afghan officials in the north. The three cell members, who report to a commander based in the Pakistani city of Peshawar, were detained while traveling to Pakistan.

The three cell members of the Taliban cell were identified as Qari Yaseen, Qari Hassan, and Qari Muhibullah, according to Pajhwok Afghan News. They were captured by NDS personnel In Parwan province while attempting to leave the country for Pakistan.

The captured Taliban fighters, who had all attended the Khwaja Mukhtar madrassa in Takhar City, reported to a Peshawar-based commander known as Qari Abdul Rahim.

"I got familiar with one of the Taliban members Qari Abdul Rahim in Shamshatu area of Pakistan," one the cell members said, according to TOLONews.

The NDS said that Rahim's network also was "helping other terrorist networks in Kunduz, Badakhshan and parts of Baghlan province."

Although not stated by the NDS, Rahim's cell is linked to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, which has integrated with the Taliban in the Afghan north, runs training camps and directs suicide attacks, and is closely allied with al Qaeda. [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.]

On Jan. 30, Afghan and Coalition troops killed an Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan leader known as Ilhom during a raid in Takhar. The International Security Assistance Force said that Ilhom "facilitated the training of suicide bombers for attacks throughout the area" 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. The NDS said today that Rahim's cell was also involved in the assassination of Baig.

In addition to killing Baig, Rahim's cell is implicated in two other high-profile targeted killings: the assassination of the top Afghan police commander in the north, General Daud Daud, and his former Shura-e-Nazar deputy, Shah Jahan Noori, on May, 28 2011; and the murder of Kunduz Governor Mohammad Omar in Tahkar on Oct. 8, 2010.

The Syrian government has freed a dangerous al Qaeda leader and strategist who was captured in Pakistan in 2005, released to the US, and then transferred to Syria in 2006, according to Internet jihadists at a prominent al Qaeda-linked forum.

A "prominent member of the jihadist forum community" claimed that earlier rumors of the release of Mustafa Setmariam Nasar, who is better known as Abu Musab al Suri, from a Syrian prison sometime last year are true, according to a translation of the message by the SITE Intelligence Group. The Internet jihadist's message was posted on the Shumukh al-Islam forum on Feb. 2, and was endorsed by the forum's administrators.

Al Suri's release has not been confirmed. US intelligence officials contacted by The Long War Journal would not comment on the reports of his release.

He was first reported to have been released by Syrian's security services along with his deputy, Abu Khalid, in late December 2011, by the Sooryoon Syrian news website. Internet Jihadists debated his release in mid-January. The reason for his release was not given.

Al Suri, a Syrian who is a Spanish citizen by marriage, is a longtime jihadist whose involvement in the global jihad has spanned four decades. He has extensive ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, the now-defunct Algerian Armed Islamic Group (GIA), the Taliban, al Qaeda, and other local and international terror groups.

In the early 1980s, he joined the Syrian Fighting Vanguards, an Islamist group involved in the uprising in Hama in 1982. He spent time in Europe after the failed uprising, then traveled to Peshawar and met Abdullah Azzam, Osama bin Laden's mentor and the co-founder of al Qaeda. Al Suri served as a military trainer for foreign fighters who battled the Soviet Union and the Communist regime in Afghanistan. In the mid-1990s, he served as an editor for a GIA-linked jihadist magazine along with Abu Qatada, the radical cleric who is considered to be al Qaeda's ambassador to the United Kingdom.

Al Suri returned to Afghanistan in 1997 and worked as a military trainer at al Qaeda's notorious Darunta camp, where the terror group experimented with chemical weapons. In 2000, he established the Al Ghuraba training camp near Kabul. The camp was established under the aegis of the Taliban's Ministry of Defense. In 2004, the US State Department issued a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture, and said that al Suri "trained terrorists in poisons and chemicals" at both Darunta and Al Ghuraba.

He was a prolific writer on strategy, and has been the main advocate of so-called "leaderless jihad," which urges Muslims to establish their own cells without linking up with al Qaeda's global network, in order to escape detection. Al Suri advocated that jihadists use the Internet and other methods to gather their information to conduct attacks.

Spain has sought al Suri for his connections to two terrorist attacks: the 1985 bombing at a cafe near Madrid that killed 18 people; and al Qaeda's March 11, 2004 bombings on trains and at stations in Madrid that killed 191 people.

Al Suri was captured in Quetta, Pakistan, in November 2005 and transferred to US custody shortly afterward. He is said to have been held at a CIA black site at the Diego Garcia military base in the Indian Ocean before being transferred to Syrian custody.

Pakistani officials identified an al Qaeda operative from Azerbaijan as one of the six "foreigners" killed during recent clashes in the Kurram tribal agency that have resulted in the deaths of 23 Pakistani troops and 60 terrorists. The Azeri national traveled through Iran to reach Pakistan on a visa issued by the Iranian consulate in Baku.

The Azeri national was identified as Aslanov Zaur, according to his passport and other documents that were obtained by Dawn. Pakistani officials also seized travel documents, "card readers and other devices" which contained photographs of other terrorists, and Sudanese and American currencies.

Zaur was described by Dawn as "a key commander" who "played an instrumental role in attacks on Pakistani security forces in the tribal areas."

Zaur was killed during a series of Pakistani airstrikes in the Jogi area of Kurram on Feb. 1. Five other "foreigners," a term used to describe members of al Qaeda and allied terror groups, and 14 Taliban fighters were said to be killed in the airstrike. Among those thought to have been killed in the strike was a Taliban commander known as Moheyuddin.

The Pakistani military has been battling the Taliban in Kurram since the end January, and has paid a heavy price. Twenty-three troops have been killed in the intense clashes. On Jan. 25, six Pakistani soldiers were killed in a Taliban ambush in Jogi; 17 Taliban were also killed in the fighting. On Jan. 31, 10 Pakistani soldiers and 25 Taliban fighters were killed during fighting in Jogi. And on Feb. 3, seven Pakistani soldiers and 18 Taliban fighters were killed after the Taliban attacked a military outpost in Shidano Dand. The Taliban said it captured four Pakistani troops during the fighting on Feb. 3.

Kurram is a stronghold of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan as well as the Haqqani Network. Both groups have strong links to al Qaeda, and are known to shelter al Qaeda leaders and fighters.

Zaur utilized al Qaeda's ratlines in Iran to join the jihad

According to the documents in Zaur's possession, he "was issued an Iranian visa by the Iranian embassy in Bakku for three months from March 2, 2009 to May 31, 2009," Dawn reported. He traveled to the Iranian city of Astar on March 26, 2009, "and since than had gone underground."

"He is suspected to have entered Afghanistan and then Pakistan through unfrequented routes," Dawn continued.

Zaur likely utilized a well-worn path used by jihadists to enter Afghanistan and Pakistan.

In July 2011, the US government accused Iran of having a "secret deal" with al Qaeda that allows terrorists to use the country as a transit point.

"Iran is the leading state sponsor of terrorism in the world today. By exposing Iran's secret deal with al Qaeda allowing it to funnel funds and operatives through its territory, we are illuminating yet another aspect of Iran's unmatched support for terrorism," Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David S. Cohen said in a State Department press release announcing the designation of Ezedin Abdel Aziz Khalil and five other al Qaeda operatives. Khali was described as "a prominent Iran-based al Qaeda facilitator." State described Iran as "a critical transit point for funding to support al Qaeda's activities in Afghanistan and Pakistan." [See LWJ report, Treasury targets Iran's 'secret deal' with al Qaeda.]

Iran is known to support al Qaeda and Taliban operations in Afghanistan. The Qods Force, the special operations branch of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, has tasked the Ansar Corps, a subcommand, with aiding the Taliban and other terror groups in Afghanistan. Based in Mashad in northeastern Iran, the Ansar Corps operates much like the Ramazan Corps, which supports and directs Shia terror groups in Iraq. [See LWJ report, Iran's Ramazan Corps and the ratlines into Iraq.] Al Qaeda additionally uses the eastern cities of Tayyebat and Zahedan to move its operatives into Afghanistan. [See LWJ report, Return to Jihad.]

The US government has sanctioned the Ansar Corps commander for aiding the Taliban. On Aug. 6, 2010, General Hossein Musavi, the commander of the Ansar Corps, was one of two Qods Force commanders added to the US Treasury's list of specially designated global terrorists, for directly providing support to the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan.

Wanted jihadists such as Mevlut Kar, an Islamic Jihad Union operative, are known to have aided terrorists with entering Afghanistan from Iran.

Iran is also known to have placed scores of al Qaeda leaders, operatives, and their families, into protective custody after many fled Afghanistan during the US invasion and the ouster of the Taliban in 2001-2002. While in Iranian custody, however, top al Qaeda leaders and operatives, including Saif al Adel, who is now al Qaeda's acting leader after Osama bin Laden's death, and Saad bin Laden, are known to have planned and executed attacks in the region.

And in recent years, Saif al Adel, Saad bin Laden, Hamza bin Laden, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, Mafouz Ould Walid (Abu Hafs al Mauritanian), and dozens of other al Qaeda leaders, operatives, and family members have been released from Iranian custody. [For more information on Iran's detention of al Qaeda leaders, see LWJ reports, Osama bin Laden's spokesman freed by Iran, and Analysis: Al Qaeda's interim emir and Iran.]

A Yemeni jihadist claimed that an al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula operative linked to the suicide attack against the USS Cole in Aden in late 2000 was killed by a US drone strike three days ago in southern Yemen.

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.

During a raid in the southern Afghan province of Helmand, Coalition and Afghan special operations forces captured a dual-hatted Taliban and Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan commander who directed operations in the northwest.

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 al Qaeda-linked Islamic Jihad Union (IJU) released a video that discusses the training of its fighters, shows cooperation with the Afghan Taliban and attacks in several provinces, and provides the names of operatives killed during fighting in Afghanistan.

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.

The Philippine Air Force force killed a senior Jemaah Islamiyah leader, a top Abu Sayyaf Group commander, and 13 others, including a wanted Singaporean terrorist, during an airstrike in Sulu province.

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.]

Eleven terrorists, including four local commanders, are reported to have been killed in a US drone airstrike in a southern Yemeni province where al Qaeda's affiliate controls significant ground.

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."

Afghan and Coalition special operations forces captured an al Qaeda facilitator during a raid in the eastern province of Paktia today.

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.