Al Qaeda commander Mokhtar Belmokhtar. Image from Sahara Media.

Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the leader of the al Qaeda-linked al Mua'qi'oon Biddam, or the Those Who Sign in Blood Brigade, said that its fighters participated in yesterday's double suicide attack in Niger along with the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO). The attack was launched to avenge the death of a senior al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb commander who was killed while fighting in Mali earlier this year, he claimed. The statement also put to rest rumors that Belmokhtar was killed in Mali by French and Chadian forces in early March.

Belmokhtar's statement was posted on jihadist forums on May 23; it was obtained and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group. The statement was signed by Khalid Abu al Abbas, which is one of Belmokhtar's aliases.

The May 23 suicide attacks, the first of their kind in Niger, targeted a military barracks in Agadez and a uranium mine in Arlit that supplies French reactors. The Agadez attack was executed by a five-man suicide assault team; 18 Nigerien soldiers and a civilian were killed. A MUJAO spokesman claimed credit for the attack.

Belmokhtar said the attacks in Niger were executed to avenge Abdel Hamid Abou Zeid, an AQIM commander who was killed by French and Chadian forces during a military operation to root out the terror group in northern Mali.

"We send to our dear Ummah a glad tiding of one of the epics of Islam that took place in the heart of the enemy land, and one of the invasions of al Mua'qi'oon Biddam under the name of the martyred commander, as we consider him, Abdel Hamid Abou Zeid," Belmokhtar stated.

Belmokhtar said that "a battalion from our commandos who gave a pledge of allegiance to die rose to retaliate for him [Abou Zeid], coming from different countries to sign with their blood inside the fortresses of an enemy whose army was one of the foundations of the Crusader campaign on our Muslim land."

The attack was also launched as "the first of our response to the statement of the President of Niger - from his masters in Paris - that he eliminated jihad and the mujahideen militarily."

Warning that "more operations" are being prepared, Belmokhtar said, "We will move the battle to the inside of his country [Niger] if he doesn't withdraw his mercenary army" from Mali. Belmokhtar also warned other countries who plan to provide "peacekeepers" in Mali that they will "taste the heat of death and wounds in [their] homelands and among [their] soldiers."

"The convoys of martyrdom-seekers and commandos are ready and waiting for their targets and permission," Belmokhtar concluded.

The al Mua'qi'oon Biddam fights throughout West Africa. In January, just after French forces invaded Mali to eject AQIM, MUJAO, and Ansar Dine from the north, Belmokhtar launched a large-scale suicide assault against the In Amenas gas facility in southeastern Algeria. More than 40 fighters carried out the attack. One of the assault teams was led by a Nigerien known as Abdul Rahman al Nigeri, who had led another assault on a military barracks in Mauritania in 2005. Belmokhtar claimed the attack in the name of al Qaeda.

Although Belmokhtar was reported to have been killed at the same time Abou Zeid was killed, the reports were never confirmed. The president of Chad and the military insisted that Belmokhtar was dead, but the French, who were adamant that Abu Zeid was killed, refused to speculate about the status of Belmokhtar. In early April, Hamad el Khairy, the head of MUJAO, claimed that Belmokhtar was alive.

Although Belmokhtar split with AQIM in December 2012, he still conducts joint operations with the group as well as with MUJAO. Belmokhtar reports directly to al Qaeda's central leadership, according to his spokesman. Al Qaeda central tightened its control over AQIM's hostage operations in late 2010.

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A pair of suicide bombers from the al Qaeda-linked Movement for Tawhid [Oneness or Unity] and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) killed 19 people, including 18 soldiers, in attacks that targeted a military barracks and a French-run uranium mine in Niger. The attacks are the first of their kind in the West African country, and signal that the jihadist insurgency that is raging in the neighboring countries of Mali, Nigeria, and Algeria is spreading.

The first attack was executed by a suicide assault team against a military barracks in the town of Agadez in northwestern Niger. Five suicide bombers carried out the attack in Agadez, which killed 18 soldiers and a civilian, according to the BBC. Gunfire between the attackers and Nigerien troops was reported after the initial explosion. Four members of the assault team were killed, while the fifth is said to be holding four Nigerien soldiers hostage.

The second attack took place at the Somaïr mine in Arlit, which is just north of Agadez. A suicide bomber who was dressed as a soldier detonated his explosives near a group of workers. AREVA, the French company that runs the uranium mine, said that "13 colleagues have been injured" and were "taken into the care by local emergency services."

In early February, France deployed special forces to beef up security at the Arlit and Imouraren mining sites, a month after launching an operation against an alliance of jihadist groups who had taken control of northern Mali. France derives about 20 percent of the raw material for its nuclear reactors from Niger.

MUJAO spokesman Abu Walid Sahraoui claimed credit for the attacks and said they were carried out to punish Niger for participating in operations in Mali.

"Thanks to Allah, we have carried out two operations against the enemies of Islam in Niger," Sahraoui told AFP. He accused the Nigerien government of action in "cooperation with France in the war against Sharia," or Islamic law. By the end of 2012, MUJAO, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, and Ansar Dine had seized northern Mali and were seeking to impose sharia in areas under their control.

Although today's bombings are the first suicide attacks recorded in Niger, MUJAO has targeted Nigerien forces at least once in neighboring Mali over the past month. On May 10, a MUJAO suicide bomber attacked Nigerien soldiers in the Malian town of Gao; no soldiers were killed in the attack. Nigerien forces are part of a multinational force attempting to secure northern Mali.

The US added MUJAO and two of its top leaders to the list of global terrorists and entities in December 2012. MUJAO was formed in late 2011 as an offshoot of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the al Qaeda affiliate in North Africa, for the purpose of waging jihad in western Africa. Although MUJAO leaders are said to have leadership differences with the Algerian-dominated AQIM, MUJAO conducts joint operations with AQIM in northern Mali and other areas. At the time of its formation, MUJAO expressed affinity to al Qaeda and its founder, Osama bin Laden, and Mullah Omar, the leader of the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Jihadists in West Africa have attacked energy production sites in the region in the past. In January, just after French forces invaded Mail, the al-Mua'qi'oon Biddam, or Those who sign with Blood Brigade, launched a deadly suicide assault on the In Amenas gas facility in southeastern Algeria. The group is led by Mokhtar Belmokhtar, who split off from AQIM to form his own unit. He claimed the In Amenas attack under al Qaeda's banner.

In addition to the Islamist insurgencies raging to the north and west of Niger, another is underway to the south, in Nigeria. There, the al Qaeda-linked Boko Haram has launched numerous deadly attacks and suicide bombings against the military, government officials, and Christian churches in the north. Last week, the Nigerian government declared martial law in the north and launched an offensive to root out Boko Haram after the terror group killed more than 200 people, including scores of security personnel, in attacks in the northeast near Lake Chad. Boko Haram is believed to use the porous borders to move between Nigeria, Niger, Chad, and Cameroon. On May 20, Nigeria formally requested Niger's military help in combating the Boko Haram insurgency.

US Attorney General Eric Holder said today that four Americans, including Jude Mohammed, who was rumored to have been killed in a drone strike two years ago, have died in US "counterterrorism operations" since 2009. Mohammed had been arrested in Pakistan for attempting to enter the tribal areas, but evaded a trial after skipping bail.

Holder noted that Anwar al Awlaki, Samir Khan, and Anwar's son Abdul Rahman were also killed. All three are known to have died in US drone strikes in 2010. But Anwar was the only one who was "specifically targeted," according to a letter that was sent to senior Congressmen today and obtained by ABC News.

"Since 2009, the United States, in the conduct of US counterterrorism operations against al Qaeda and its associated forces outside of areas of active hostilities, has specifically targeted and killed one US citizen, Anwar al Awlaki," Holder said, while not identifying the "associated forces."

"The United States is further aware of three other US citizens who have been killed in such US counterterrorism operations over that same time period: Samir Khan, 'Abd al-Rahman Anwar al Awlaki and Jude Kenan Mohammed. These individuals were not specifically targeted by the United States," Holder continued.

Anwar al Awlaki and Samir Khan were killed in a US drone strike in Yemen in September 2011. Anwar served as al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's external operations commander, recruiter, and a senior ideologue. Khan served as the editor of Inspire, AQAP's English-language magazine that incites Western Muslims to wage jihad and carry out operations on their own.

Abdul Rahman al Awlaki, Anwar's son, was killed in a drone strike just weeks after his father was killed. The strike that killed Abdul Rahman had targeted Ibrahim al Bana, AQAP's media emir. According to a Yemeni journalist who has spent time with AQAP, Abdul Rahman said just hours before he was killed that he hoped "to attain martyrdom as my father attained it."

Anwar, Khan, and Abdul Rahman were all operating in areas under direct AQAP control.

Mohammed is suspected of being a member of an eight-man cell of Muslims from North Carolina who conspired to wage jihad overseas. The seven others, who were led by Daniel Boyd, are believed to have taken a half dozen trips in an effort to engage in violent jihad abroad; each attempt ended in failure.

Mohammed was more successful in traveling overseas and joining other jihadists. He was arrested in 2008 while trying to illegally enter Pakistan's tribal areas. A Pakistani judge granted Mohammed bail, despite the fact that he was on the FBI's list of most wanted terrorists; the US Department of Justice said he sought "to engage in violent jihad." He promptly disappeared, never to be tried.

Friends of Mohammed said that he was last heard from in the fall of 2011. One friend told WRAL that Mohammed was killed in a drone strike in November 2011. His death was never confirmed, but he was never heard from again.

The date and location of the strike were not given. The US conducted two strikes in November 2011, according to data compiled by The Long War Journal. Both strikes took place in Miramshah, the main town in the Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan [see LWJ reports, US Predator strike kills 3 Haqqani Network fighters in North Waziristan and US Predators strike in Miramshah].

Miramshah is administered by the Haqqani Network, a Taliban subgroup that is based in North Waziristan and fights US and Afghan forces across the border in Afghanistan. The Haqqani Network has close ties to al Qaeda and is backed by Pakistan's military and Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate. Pakistan has rebuffed US pressure to launch an offensive against the Haqqani Network and the plethora of terror groups, including al Qaeda, that are based in North Waziristan. The US has resorted to using drones to target key terrorist operatives, commanders, and leaders, but has failed to dislodge these groups from North and neighboring South Waziristan.

On May 20, the Ibn Taymiyyah Media Center (ITMC), a jihadist media unit tied to the Gaza-based Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem (MSC), released a video from Abu Talha al Libi, the sharia official of the Muhajireen Brigade in the Levant, to jihadist forums and their Facebook and Tumblr pages.

In the video, titled "Fear Allah, O Hamas," al Libi slams Hamas' recent campaign against Salafi jihadists in the Gaza Strip, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which obtained and translated the video. Al Libi claims that Hamas has engaged in the torture and imprisonment of Salafi jihadists.

Al Libi asks what the purpose of the campaign is. "Is it service to your interests, or is it service to Islam and Muslims? By Allah, it is not service to Islam and Muslims by arresting the mujahideen and torturing them to protect the Israeli enemy," he says. He goes on to say that Hamas' current actions are "not the way" of Hamas founders Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and Abdul Aziz al Rantisi, both of whom were killed by Israel in 2004.

While al Libi laments that Hamas has "deviated from the way [of jihad]," he urges the group to "come back to your original path ... and don't abandon your rifles." Later in the video, al Libi calls on Hamas members to "[p]ut your hands in the hands of the mujahideen and become one hand against Israel."

The new video comes at an interesting moment, as public complaints from Salafi jihadists in the Gaza Strip against Hamas had appeared to dissipate to a certain extent over the past 10 days.

Earlier in May, Salafi jihadists were openly complaining about the Hamas-run Field Control Force, which has reportedly increased deployment in the Gaza Strip to prevent the firing of rockets into Israel from Gaza.

Tensions between Hamas and the Salafi jihadists in the Gaza Strip increased significantly after the targeted killing by Israel of Hithem Ziad Ibrahim Masshal, a well known jihadist, on April 30. On May 1, the ITMC released a statement to jihadist forums which seemed to suggest that the Salafi jihadists believe Masshal was set up by elements within Hamas. This matches the claim of an April 30 statement from a Facebook page for supporters of Salafi jihadists in Gaza suggesting that it appeared Masshal had been offered "on a golden platter" to Israel by Hamas.

On the same day as Masshal's death, Asharq al Awsat reported that Hamas was increasing its efforts to stop rocket fire from the Gaza Strip toward Israel. Members of Hamas' al Qassam Brigades have been "deployed in the border areas of the Gaza Strip replacing policemen with the aim of preventing the firing of rockets from Gaza," the report stated. In addition, al Qassam Brigades members have reportedly "set up fixed and mobile roadblocks" to search cars and find those firing the rockets. Another report from Al Ayyam similarly stated that Hamas has warned Salafi jihadist groups in the Gaza Strip that those who fire rockets at the current time will be arrested and that the firing rockets should not occur "without a general national consensus" on the issue.

On May 2, Hamas' Interior Ministry announced the arrest of six Salafists, four of whom were accused of stealing rockets from other terror groups in the Gaza Strip. The ITMC condemned the announcement and said those detained had been arrested only because of their beliefs. Five days later, the ITMC accused members of the Field Control Force of firing on and injuring at least one Salafi jihadist in the northern Gaza Strip.

The Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem (MSC) is a consolidation of a number of Salafi jihadist groups operating in the Gaza Strip including, but not limited to: Tawhid and Jihad Group in Jerusalem, and Ansar al Sunnah. Sheikh Anas Abdul Rahman, one of the group's leaders, has said that the group aims to "fight the Jews for the return of Islam's rule, not only in Palestine, but throughout the world."

Chechen jihadist holds leadership position in the Muhajireen Brigade

The Muhajireen Brigade, or Emigrants' Brigade, is a unit made up of foreign jihadists who fight in Syria, and is closely allied with the Al Nusrah Front, al Qaeda's affiliate in the country.

The Muhajireen Brigade is commanded by Abu Omar al Chechen, a jihadist from Russia's Caucasus region who is linked to the Islamic Caucasus Emirate. The group is known to fight alongside the Al Nusrah Front and has participated in overrunning several Syrian military bases.

The Muhajireen Brigade has succeeded in absorbing Syrian Islamist groups under its command. At the end of March, Abu Omar al Chechen announced that the Muhajireen Brigade had merged with several Syrian jihadist groups and formed the Muhajireen Army. Abu Omar al Chechen took command of the newly formed army.

The group has "more than 1,000 Mujahideen, Muslim volunteers from different countries, including the Caucasus Emirate," stated Kavkaz Center, a propaganda arm of the al Qaeda-linked Islamic Caucasus Emirate. Fighters from Europe are known to have been killed while serving with the Muhajireen Brigade.

US Marine CWO-5 Jim Roussell (L) and Captain Jason Brezler stand in the crater left by a chlorine truck bomb detonated in the village of Albu Aifan south of Fallujah on March 16, 2007. Photo courtesy of Jason Brezler.

The following excerpt from the new book 'Fallujah Awakens: Marines, Sheikhs and the Battle Against al Qaeda' by Bill Ardolino reconstructs the detonation of a suicide truck bomb packed with chlorine gas that was deployed by al Qaeda in Iraq against the village of Albu Aifan on March 16, 2007.

If you enjoy the material, please purchase a copy of the book. All author proceeds from the first edition benefit the Semper Fi Fund for injured service members.

Cpl. Steven Levasseur had to relieve himself before he left the patrol base. His squad, led by Sgt. Kendrick Doezema and accompanied by 1st Lt. Jerome Greco, had pushed out to "FOB Dark" earlier that day to support Weapons Platoon in the area south of Albu Aifan village. After conducting an hours-long foot patrol, capturing a detainee, and encountering a fierce firefight between Iraqi combatants, the Marines had returned to the large abandoned house and staged their vehicles to leave for home; warm meals and beds awaited them at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Black.

Levasseur was sitting in the front passenger seat of his Humvee, which also held the lance corporals Jacob Dennert, Robert Bishop, and on the turret, Matt Hough. The squad had been waiting in and around their vehicles for about ten minutes while Greco conferred with their replacements. As soon as the lieutenant was finished, they would move out. If Levasseur was going to go to the bathroom, he had to do it now, so he opened the front passenger door and stepped into the dusty courtyard. It was about 6: 00 p.m. on March 16, 2007. A pre-dusk gloom had started to settle over the peninsula, and the dry air had cooled to a relatively comfortable temperature. The corporal walked about ten paces to the inside wall of the courtyard.

He soon heard the low rumble of an approaching vehicle. Levasseur glanced to his right and back. A dump truck with a blue cab and yellow trailer was moving slowly down the street that ran alongside the patrol base. It was a little unusual to see a civilian on these roads around sunset, and the truck was crawling at an oddly slow ten miles per hour. "Could that be a truck bomb?" he thought. Vehicle-borne bombs were a constant threat, an omnipresent specter in the mind of every Marine when a nonmilitary vehicle approached his position. Levasseur held on to his opened trousers with his left hand and raised his M-16/ 203 with his right. He "chickenwinged" the rifle for support, sandwiching the butt against the medical pack attached to the side of his flak vest, and then steadied his finger over the trigger and tracked the driver with the weapon's muzzle.

The truck turned left at the corner of the base, moving north on the road that ran directly in front of him and the parked Humvees behind him. Its elevated cab drew within a few meters of Levasseur, and he got a clear look at the driver over the curved stone wall that separated them. An Arab with long black hair stiffly gripped an oversized steering wheel. The man's eyes were wide and the color had drained from underneath his dark brown complexion. He looked "scared shitless," recalled the young Marine, who suspected "something wasn't right." He knew that "if that guy has a bomb and turns into our compound ... we're fucked."

As the driver passed the Marine, he furtively glanced left at the wary American before returning his gaze to the road. The vehicle moved beyond the entrance to the patrol base and continued north. Relieved, Levasseur lowered his weapon and fixed his trousers. The Iraqi had driven slowly and acted strangely, but oddness itself wasn't necessarily odd around Fallujah. Harmless locals often acted nervously around Marines. Iraqis recycled well-worn tales of trigger-happy Americans, and some feared being shot for making any kind of potentially provocative move, especially while driving. And in this case, Levasseur had been pointing his weapon at the truck. The corporal climbed back into his team's idling Humvee. The tired Marines waited for Greco. They were "pissed" that they had been forced to conduct an unexpected mission that day, so the men sat in silence. A few minutes later, the ground shook with the rumble of a huge explosion.

Through the windshield, Levasseur saw a flash of light and a massive cloud of smoke shoot straight and high into the air less than a mile away. The column of dirt morphed into a multi-story mushroom cloud, a light gray stem with a dark cap. In a neighborhood sometimes rocked by several detonations a day, this one stood out as massive. Waiting in an adjacent Humvee, Doezema, the squad leader, marveled at the size of the blast. "That was ridiculous," he thought. The Iraqi detainee they had captured earlier that day was sitting in the vehicle with him. When the explosion shook the ground, the blindfolded, flex-cuffed prisoner began shaking in fear.

"Oh my God, did you see that shit?" yelled Lance Corporal Hough from his vantage in the turret of Levasseur's Humvee.

"Yes," replied Levasseur. "Get in the house, right now." Fearing they might be the target of an attack, the Marines poured from the staged vehicles and ran for the superior cover afforded by the fortified patrol base.

The loud explosion resembled the thunderous boom of 155-mm Marine artillery rather than a garden-variety roadside bomb. Some of the Marines suspected it was a 120-mm mortar lobbed at the patrol base and that more might be headed their way. Someone had heard a gunshot right before the explosion.

"It's an IED, someone hit an IED," was one assessment.

"No, no. That was not an IED," said Levasseur.

***

Tha'er Khalid Aifan al-Issawi commanded a team of militiamen at the southernmost checkpoint guarding an entrance to the village of Albu Aifan. The sun had begun to slip below the horizon, and the haunting, electric chant of the muezzins broadcast from speakers atop the area's mosques had called the faithful to prayer. As Tha'er manned the checkpoint, most of the eight militiamen under his command knelt in worship inside the courtyard of a house next to their roadblock, which consisted of a series of large stones set in the center of the dusty street. Though the way was partially blocked, the largest boulder was not in place; the militiamen had planned only on light traffic in the hours prior to sunset, and each movement of the heavy stone required the strained effort of four men.

In the distance, Tha'er saw a twinkling set of headlights approaching his checkpoint. He squinted toward the road in the gathering gloom. At first he thought it was the Americans, but he quickly discarded that idea. There was only one vehicle, and the Americans traveled in groups. The headlights floated several feet above the road, so he realized it had to be a truck. Only minutes before, civilian traffic had almost ceased; the prayer was under way, and the peninsula's widely enforced nighttime curfew was near. Tha'er gripped his rifle and jogged south, toward the oncoming headlights. Sa'ad Salah, his twenty-two-year-old nephew, scooped up his Kalashnikov and followed. Tha'er began to make out a large yellow dump truck. No one from his village or the villages of allied subtribes owned anything like it. He and his fellow militiamen usually prepared for an attack if they didn't recognize a vehicle.

The truck moved slowly but steadily forward, seemingly weighted down by heavy cargo. The militiamen continued on to meet the vehicle until it drew within a few dozen meters. Tha'er motioned and yelled at the truck to stop. The driver paid no heed to the militiaman's commands and signals. Instead of stopping, he hit the gas. As the truck strained to accelerate under its heavy load, Tha'er and Sa'ad barely had time to scramble off the road to avoid being hit. Tha'er glimpsed the driver's face in the fading light. He recalls dark features and a "hateful expression." Purpose replaced the militiaman's scrutiny. He now knew that it was a bomb, and "if it reached the center of the village it [was] going to kill a lot of my friends and family." He had to stop the attack.

Tha'er flipped the selector switch on his AK-47 downward to fully automatic, braced the rifle, and aimed at the back of the dump truck. The trailer was where the explosives would be, and it was the only clear shot he had. The militiaman pressed and held the trigger, ripping off a seven-to-ten-round burst at the vehicle, now only about ten meters from breaching the pervious roadblock. Sa'ad's rifle barked to life beside him. "The truck is so close, I am going to die when this explodes," he later recalled thinking. Suddenly, the clatter of the two Kalashnikovs was obliterated by a massive explosion. The truck disappeared in a soaring burst of flame, which itself was snuffed quickly and replaced by billowing clouds of dust. A wave of overpressure seemed to douse the fire as a column of smoke towered several stories into the darkening sky and began to mushroom.

Tha'er doesn't recall being knocked down. He examined himself for injuries, but his probing fingertips couldn't find any major wounds to his legs or torso. He then looked around for Sa'ad, who was lying several meters away. On unsteady legs, Tha'er slowly moved toward the young man. He saw a wash of blood covering his nephew's youthful face; a piece of shrapnel had left a small gash on the top of his head. He was in a great deal of pain. Tha'er pulled him farther from the truck's mangled ruins, until the strength drained from his limbs and he had to sit down to rest.

The light had faded, and a thick, chalky haze descended around him. The air smelled odd, vaguely like chemicals or building materials burning in a house fire. Tha'er couldn't see more than three or four meters in any direction. He began to cough. His lungs burned. A row of lights danced up and down through the darkness and smoke. There were no distinguishable sounds, as if his ears were packed with cotton. He began to make out the dim outlines of his tribesmen holding flashlights. They had run to the site of the explosion and were picking through the ashy metal wreckage of the dump truck looking for bodies.

For some reason, Tha'er recalls methodically running his hand along the side of his rifle, still slung around his neck, and conscientiously flipping the selector switch up to "safe." Someone spotted him, and about a half dozen men ran over with flashlights. He couldn't hear them although they were yelling questions at him. It was irritating. Tha'er's rescuers helped him back toward the village. The chemical odor became stronger and stranger. He had never smelled anything quite like it; he felt as if he might throw up. He looked back and saw that Sa'ad was in distress. An asthmatic, his bleeding nephew was panicking and choking as tribesmen helped him toward the village. The Iraqis' lungs were on fire, but they didn't know exactly why.

***

Fallujah Awakens, which has earned a "starred review" from Publisher's Weekly, is available now. The author proceeds from the first edition benefit the Semper Fi Fund, which helps injured service members.

The US launched its second drone strike in Yemen in four days, killing two members of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in an area in the central part of the country.

The remotely piloted Predators or the more deadly Reapers launched missiles at the two fighters "as they left a farm on a motorbike" in the Khobza area of Baydah province today, AFP reported.

Two members of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula were killed in the airstrike. The Yemeni military identified the fighters as Abd Rabbo Mokbal Mohammed Jarallah al Zouba and Abbad Mossad Abbad Khobzi.

Al Qaeda maintains a foothold in Baydah

AQAP has increased its presence in Baydah province over the past several years, and the US has pursued the terror group with drone strikes. On May 28, 2012, the US targeted Kaid al Dhahab, AQAP's emir in the province, and his brother Nabil, who is also a senior leader in the terror group, in a strike in the town of Rada'a.

Kaid took control of AQAP in Baydah after the death of his brother Tariq, who was the top AQAP leader in Baydah before he was killed in early 2012 in a feud with another brother, Hazam, a senior tribal leader in the town. Hazam was concerned that Tariq's affiliation with AQAP would incur the wrath of the Yemeni government. Before he was killed, Tariq had seized control of Baydah, raised al Qaeda's banner, sworn allegiance to Ayman al Zawahiri, and warned that "the Islamic Caliphate is coming."

Kaid and Nabil were tasked with regrouping AQAP's forces in Baydah after Tariq's death. The two leaders are also brothers-in-law of slain AQAP leader and ideologue Anwar al Awlaki, who was killed in a drone strike in the fall of 2011.

In January, US drones killed Mukbel Abbad, a senior AQAP leader in the province. Abbad was a brother-in-law of Tariq al Dhahab.

US expands drone strikes in Yemen

Since losing control of large areas of Abyan and Shabwa, AQAP has spread out into the provinces of Aden, Baydah, Al Jawf, Damar, Hadramout, Hodeida, Ibb, Marib, Saada, and Sana'a. Of the 30 drones strikes recorded by The Long War Journal over the past 11 months, 26 have taken place in the provinces of Aden, Baydah, Al Jawf, Damar, Hadramout, Hodeida, Ibb, Marib, Saada, and Sana'a.

The US has launched 10 drone strikes in Yemen so far this year. The last strike took place three days ago in the province of Abyan; four AQAP operatives were reported killed.

In 2012, the US launched 42 drone strikes in Yemen against AQAP and its political front, Ansar al Sharia. The previous year, the US launched 10 drone and air strikes against the al Qaeda affiliate.

Although five senior AQAP operatives were killed in strikes in Yemen in 2012, the group's top leadership cadre remains intact. In January, the Yemeni government claimed that Said al Shihri, the deputy emir of AQAP, died following an attack last fall; AQAP has not confirmed his death, however, and recently released a statement that hinted he may be alive.

The US has targeted both senior AQAP operatives who pose a direct threat to the US, and low-level fighters and local commanders who are battling the Yemeni government. This trend was first identified by The Long War Journal in the spring of 2012 [see LWJ report, US drone strike kills 8 AQAP fighters, from May 10, 2012]. Obama administration officials have claimed, however, that the drones are targeting only those AQAP leaders and operatives who pose a direct threat to the US homeland, and not those fighting AQAP's local insurgency against the Yemeni government.

For more information on the US airstrikes in Yemen, see LWJ report, Charting the data for US air strikes in Yemen, 2002 - 2013.

The Taliban have claimed credit for a suicide attack in northern Afghanistan that killed the head of the provincial council in Baghlan province.

The suicide bomber, who was dressed in a police uniform, attacked and killed Mohammad Rasol Mohseni as he was walking into his office today at a government compound in Pul-e-Khumri, the provincial capital. Also killed were 13 others, including his assistant, four bodyguards, and eight civilians.

The Taliban claimed credit for the attack in a statement that was emailed to reporters.

"Today at 11 am in front of the Baghlan provincial council office, we have carried out a suicide attack and killed the head of the council," the Taliban said in the statement, which was sent by spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid.

Today's bombing in Baghlan is the second major suicide attack in Afghanistan in the past five days. On May 16, a suicide bomber from the Hizb-i-Islami Gulbuddin killed six Americans and nine Afghans in an attack in Kabul. The Hizb-i-Islami Gulbuddin is a Taliban and al Qaeda-linked group that fights in Afghanistan.

The Taliban had said it would continue to target both NATO forces as well as Afghan security personnel and government officials when it announced its latest 'spring offensive' at the end of April.

In the announcement, the Taliban said it would continue to infiltrate Coalition and Afghan bases to conduct "martyrdom operations," or suicide attacks.

In the announcement of "Khalid bin Waleed spring operation," the Taliban also warned Afghans to "stay away from the bases of the invaders, their residential areas or working for them in order to avoid civilian losses." Additionally, the Taliban called on "all the officials and workers of the stooge Karzai regime to break away from this decaying administration."

The Taliban and its ally, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, have conducted numerous assassinations in the Afghan north over the past several years. Some of the more prominent assassinations include the killing 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. Both men were killed in suicide attacks.

In February 2012, Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security identified the existence of a Taliban cell that specialized in assassinations in the Afghan north. The cell is led by Qari Abdul Rahim, a Taliban commander who is based in Peshawar, Pakistan, and who is linked to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. Rahim's cell supports terrorist operations in Kunduz, Badakhshan, and Baghlan provinces.

US drones launched the first strike in Yemen in a month, killing four "militants" in an attack on a vehicle carrying explosives in a southern town plagued by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

The remotely piloted Predators or the more deadly Reapers launched several missiles at a truck "carrying grenades and explosive belts" in the Al Mahfad area in the southern province of Abyan on Friday night, AFP reported. Four suspected members of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula were killed in the airstrike.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters and leaders have regrouped in the Al Mahfad area after being driven from cities such as Zinjibar, Jaar, Lawdar, and Shaqra during a Yemeni military offensive that began in the spring of 2012 [see Threat Matrix report, AQAP regroups in Abyan province]. AQAP controlled the cities in Abyan, as well as other cities and towns in neighboring Shabwa province, after launching its own offensive in 2011.

Since losing control of large areas of Abyan and Shabwa, AQAP has spread out into the provinces of Aden, Al Baydah, Al Jawf, Damar, Hadramout, Hodeida, Ibb, Marib, Saada, and Sana'a. Of the 29 drones strikes recorded by The Long War Journal over the past 11 months, 25 have taken place in the provinces of Aden, Al Baydah, Al Jawf, Damar, Hadramout, Hodeida, Ibb, Marib, Saada, and Sana'a.

The US has launched nine drone strikes in Yemen so far this year. The last strike took place on April 21 in the Wadi Abida area of Marib province; two AQAP operatives were reported killed.

In 2012, the US launched 42 drone strikes in Yemen against AQAP and its political front, Ansar al Sharia. The previous year, the US launched 10 drone and air strikes against the al Qaeda affiliate.

Although five senior AQAP operatives were killed in strikes in Yemen in 2012, the group's top leadership cadre remains intact. In January, the Yemeni government claimed that Said al Shihri, the deputy emir of AQAP, died following an attack last fall; AQAP has not confirmed his death, however, and recently released a statement that hinted he may be alive.

The US has targeted both senior AQAP operatives who pose a direct threat to the US, and low-level fighters and local commanders who are battling the Yemeni government. This trend was first identified by The Long War Journal in the spring of 2012 [see LWJ report, US drone strike kills 8 AQAP fighters, from May 10, 2012]. Obama administration officials have claimed, however, that the drones are targeting only those AQAP leaders and operatives who pose a direct threat to the US homeland, and not those fighting AQAP's local insurgency against the Yemeni government.

For more information on the US airstrikes in Yemen, see LWJ report, Charting the data for US air strikes in Yemen, 2002 - 2013.

During a raid in Nuristan province on May 15, Afghan and Coalition special operations forces targeted a senior Taliban leader who is known to assist members of al Qaeda in Afghanistan, according to the International Security Assistance Force. The mention of al Qaeda by ISAF is the first since the end of January.

The ISAF report comes as members of Hizb-i-Islami Gulbuddin, a group with ties to al Qaeda, conducted a suicide attack that killed six Americans in Kabul. Security forces also arrested two insurgent leaders with ties to the al Qaeda-linked Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan earlier in the week.

The targeted leader is the "top military official" for the Taliban in Nuristan's Waygal district, according to ISAF. He is reported to be "responsible for facilitating the movement of al Qaeda terrorists" in the district. He is also known to erect and enforce "illegal checkpoints" and to kidnap Afghan officials, in addition to directing attacks against security forces.

One insurgent was wounded during the raid; ISAF told The Long War Journal that he was an Afghan national affiliated with the Taliban and al Qaeda. Furthermore, ISAF said there are indications that he is affiliated with Arab foreign fighters. These are also likely members of al Qaeda.

Yesterday's mention of al Qaeda by ISAF is the first in its press releases since Jan. 24, when the military command announced that Wali, an al Qaeda-associated Taliban leader who coordinated the two groups' operations in the province, was killed during an operation in Dangam district in Kunar province. The day before, on Jan. 23, ISAF announced that it targeted another al Qaeda-associated Taliban leader during an operation in Ghaziabad district in Kunar.

ISAF has not explained the lack of reporting on operations against al Qaeda, and has declined a request by The Long War Journal to discuss the terror group's operations in Afghanistan.

Curiously, when asked by The Long War Journal about three separate operations in Nuristan province in the beginning of May, ISAF began to reveal the existence of "Arab"-linked insurgents. In one of those operations, Saleh Abd al Aziz Hamad al Luhayb, a Saudi operative, was killed in a raid in Waygal district. Luhayb was listed by Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry as one of the 47 most wanted terrorists in 2011, a strong indication that he was a member of al Qaeda. ISAF refused to assocate Luhayb and the other "Arab"-linked fighters to al Qaeda, however.

Both Nuristan and neighboring Kunar province are known hotbeds for al Qaeda activity in Afghanistan. Their border with the tribal regions of Pakistan makes them strategically situated for funneling weapons and fighters into Afghanistan. Additionally, Coalition forces have largely withdrawn from Nuristan following deadly attacks on US Army positions in the province.

Waygal district has seen some of the most intense fighting in Afghanistan. In 2011, the Taliban overran the district and expelled the Afghan government. US troops withdrew from the district in the summer of 2008 after a deadly assault by a joint force of 200-400 fighters made up from the Taliban, Hizb-i-Islami Gulbuddin, and al Qaeda's Shadow Army assaulted a small combat outpost as it was being built. Based on a study by The Long War Journal, it appears that Afghan and Coalition forces have targeted al Qaeda-linked fighters twice in the district this year.

Raids against the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan

Also reported this week were two operations in Burkah district, Baghlan province in which members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, an al Qaeda-linked group, were arrested. Both targets, identified as Afghan nationals of Uzbek descent with ties to Uzbek foreign fighters, were detained on the same day. The first, an IMU leader, was an IED expert who constructed, distributed, and planned IED attacks, ISAF says. He also directed suicide bombing operations in the district.

The second target was identified as a "senior insurgent leader" with ties to both the Taliban and the IMU. He is reported to command a group of fighters responsible for "a wide range of insurgent activities" including kidnapping Afghan civilians for ransom, robbing local businesses, and collecting taxes to fund insurgent operations. He also facilitates the movement of weapons and suicide vests in the local area. One other insurgent was captured during the raid, but he was not identified.

Burkah district, like Waygal district in the east, has served as a stronghold for insurgents. So far this year, Afghan and Coalition special operations forces have launched 11 raids in Burkah targeting the IMU and insurgents with ties to the group. Last week, five operations were conducted against the IMU, including two in Burkah.

The IMU has been heavily targeted by Coalition and Afghan forces. So far in 2013, ISAF has reported 27 raids against the IMU's network in the Afghan north.

The Department of Justice arrested an Uzbek national living in Idaho today and charged him with supporting the al Qaeda-linked Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and possessing an "unregistered destructive device," or bomb. Fazliddin Kurbanov faces charges in both Idaho and Utah, and is accused of conspiring to train others to purchase components to assemble a bomb.

Kurbanov is "legally present in the United States" at the time of his arrest and is currently living in Boise, Idaho, the Justice Department said in the press release that announced his arrest. He has been charged with "conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization," the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, and "to terrorists," as well as "possessing an unregistered destructive device."

The Idaho indictment alleges that between August 2012 and May 2013, Kurbanov conspired with others, "both known and unknown," to provide funds and computer software to the IMU. These items were "to be used in preparation for and in carrying out an offense involving the use of a weapon of mass destruction."

Additionally, he "possessed a destructive device consisting of a combination of parts intended for use in converting any device into a destructive device could be readily assembled." Those parts included "a hollow hand grenade, hobby fuse, aluminum powder, potassium nitrate and sulfur."

The Utah indictment claims that Kurbanov trained others to "make explosive devices."

Kurbanov "showed internet videos, conducted instructional shopping trips, provided written recipes and gave verbal instructions on where to obtain the necessary components to construct and use improvised explosive devices." The Justice Dept. said that the bombs were intended to be used "at a place of public use, a public transportation system or infrastructure facility; or destroying a building in interstate commerce."

It is unclear if Kurbanov was in direct contact with the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan's network in Pakistan, Afghanistan, or in Central Asia.

The IMU has sought to conduct attacks in the West in the past. In 2009, a Mumbai-styled plot in Europe that was ordered by Osama bin Laden was foiled by Western Intelligence services after an IMU operative was captured in Afghanistan.

The US has heavily targeted the IMU in Afghanistan this year. So far, there have been 27 raids in 2013 against the IMU's network in the Afghan north. The IMU has integrated its operations with the Taliban in Afghanistan.

This morning in Kabul, a suicide bomber in an explosives-packed vehicle blew up a two-car American military convoy, killing at least 15 people. Six Americans died in the attack along with nine Afghan civilians, including two children. The attack also injured 42 others, of whom 39 were Afghan civilians.

The attack took place during morning rush hour near the diplomatic area of the Afghan capital, according to Dawn.

The International Security Assistance Force issued a press release which stated that "[t]wo International Security Assistance Force service members and four ISAF contracted civilians died following an improvised explosive device attack in Kabul, Afghanistan today." Afghan and ISAF officials confirmed that the ISAF members killed in the attack were American.

Today's attack, which damaged a number of residences and left some civilians so badly burnt they were unrecognizable, is the worst terror attack in Kabul since March, when a suicide bomber killed nine Afghans during a visit by US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel.

Pajhwok Afghan News reported that the powerful blast in a Kabul residential area destroyed dozens of houses and 30 vehicles, including two belonging to foreigners.

The National Directorate of Security, Afghanistan's intelligence agency, has stated that the NDS thwarts a large number of attacks on the capital every week, however.

The attack was claimed by the Hizb-i-Islami Gulbuddin, whose spokesman Haroon Zarghoun told Reuters that the group had targeted American military advisers. "We planned this attack for over a week," he said. He identified the suicide bomber as Qari Qudratullah from central Logar province, Pajhwok reported.

Hizb-i-Islami Gulbuddin (HIG) is a breakaway faction of the Hizb-i-Islami, which has joined the Afghan government. HIG is a radical Islamist group that is aligned with al Qaeda and the Taliban. It is led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who swore allegiance to Osama bin Laden in 2006 and is closely tied to Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency. In recent years, Hekmatyar has reached out to the Afghan government to conduct negotiations to end the fighting. [See LWJ report, Taliban, HIG infighting leads to split in Afghan insurgency in the North.]

Hizb-i-Islami, along with other terrorist groups, is known to have bases in the tribal regions of Pakistan and to support suicide bomber facilitation inside Afghanistan. On Sept. 18, 2012, a female HIG suicide bomber killed 12 people, mostly foreign workers, in an attack on a bus near Kabul International Airport. Like today's attack, that attack was claimed by Engineer Haroon Zarghoon, a spokesman for the Hizb-i-Islami Gulbuddin faction of the Hizb-i-Islami Afghanistan. [See LWJ report, Female suicide bomber from Hizb-i-Islami Gulbuddin strikes in Kabul.]

On Feb. 7, ISAF reported that its forces captured a senior Taliban leader who worked closely with the militant group Hizb-i-Islami Gulbuddin (HIG) during an operation by Afghan and Coalition forces in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province. The commander is believed to facilitate suicide operations and "manages the recruitment, training and movement of insurgents to conduct attacks." He is also accused of using his "village leadership position to recruit suicide bombers and insider attack facilitators" from the local high school.

Today's attack indicates that the Taliban are back to targeting ISAF soldiers. Since the April 28 start of the group's spring offensive, 18 ISAF troops have been killed. Announcing this year's offensive, the Taliban said the campaign would focus primarily on the "foreign invaders," or Coalition forces operating under the command of the International Security Assistance Force, and stressed that suicide and insider attacks would be used. [See LWJ report, Taliban promise suicide assaults, 'insider attacks' in this year's spring offensive.]

Banner of the Al Nusrah Front. Image from the SITE Intelligence Group.

The US State Department will add Sheikh Abu Muhammad al Julani, the emir of al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria, to the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists in a decision to be announced formally tomorrow. A statement in the Federal Register notes that Julani, also known as al Fatih, is designated pursuant to Executive Order 13324. The addition of al Julani to the US's list of global terrorists takes place just one month after he reaffirmed his allegiance to al Qaeda's emir, Ayman al Zawahiri, and confirmed that his group is part of the global terrorist network.

The US government added the Al Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in December 2012. Additionally, two senior Al Nusrah Front leaders, Maysar Ali Musa Abdallah al Juburi and Anas Hasan Khattab, were added to the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists the same day that the Al Nusrah Front was named as an FTO. Al Juburi and Khattab are both al Qaeda in Iraq operatives.

In the December 2012 designation of the Al Nusrah Front, the US said that the group is "a new alias" for al Qaeda in Iraq and is under operational control of AQI's emir, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi al Husseini al Qurshi, or Abu Dua.

Last month, a public dispute emerged between Abu Dua and al Julani after the former announced the merger of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Al Nusrah Front. The new entity, called the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, was to replace all previous brands used by al Qaeda's affiliates in Iraq and Syria.

One day after Abu Dua made the announcement, al Julani rejected the creation of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, and said he had not been consulted about the official merger. Al Julani indicated that the official announcement was premature, and said his group would continue to operate under the banner of the Al Nusrah Front.

But while he rejected the formation of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, al Julani noted that he was renewing both his and his fighters' allegiance to al Qaeda's emir.

"This is a pledge of allegiance from the sons of the al Nusrah Front and their supervisor general that we renew to the Sheikh of Jihad, Sheikh Ayman al Zawahiri, may Allah preserve him," al Julani said, according to a translation provided by the SITE Intelligence Group. "We give a pledge of allegiance for obedience in good and bad in emigration and jihad and not to dispute with our superiors unless we see clear disbelief about which we have proof from Allah."

Since the public dispute between Abu Dua and al Julani, the Al Nusrah Front has not released official propaganda. The disagreement between the two emirs is said to be being mediated by al Qaeda's central leadership council.

The Al Nusrah Front was created in late 2011, and immediately began to impact the fight against the government of President Bashir al Assad. Leveraging the expertise of al Qaeda in Iraq, the group has launched suicide bombings and assaults, IED attacks, and conventional and guerrilla operations against the Syrian military and government.

Earlier this year, the US government estimated that the Al Nusrah Front has more than 10,000 fighters under its command. Since that estimate was issued, more than 3,000 fighters from the supposedly secular Free Syrian Army are said to have joined the Al Nusrah Front.

The group has overrun several major military bases and is in control of vast areas of eastern Syria, including the provincial capital of Raqqah. The Al Nusrah Front is administering sharia law in areas under its control.

The Al Nusrah Front has claimed credit for 57 of the 70 suicide attacks that have been reported in Syria since December 2011, according to a tally by The Long War Journal (note that multiple suicide bombers deployed in a single operation are counted as part of a single attack). So far this year, 17 suicide attacks have been reported in Syria; Al Nusrah has claimed credit for 14 of them.

For more information on the Al Nusrah Front, see the following LWJ reports:

US adds Al Nusrah Front, 2 leaders to terrorism list
Al Qaeda in Iraq, Al Nusrah Front emerge as rebranded single entity
Al Nusrah Front leader renews allegiance to al Qaeda, rejects new name
Free Syrian Army fighters defecting to Al Nusrah Front
Free Syrian Army commander praises Al Nusrah Front as 'brothers'

Almost two months after Tunisia's prime minister and the head of Ansar al Sharia Tunisia, an al Qaeda-linked organization, traded barbs in the press and online, tensions have escalated once again. Tunisia Live reports that there were "clashes between Tunisian police and Ansar al Sharia" this past weekend.

This prompted a response from Seifullah Ben Hassine (a.k.a. Abu Iyad al Tunisi), the founder and head of Ansar al Sharia, on the group's Facebook page. Hassine's statement was translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.

"What you are passing through now is a test and a trial by which the honest will be distinguished from the liar, and the one who is truly steadfast from he who claims steadfastness," Hassine says, addressing "the youth." Hassine implores Ansar al Sharia's members to move forward and "not to back and let go of the gains that you achieved."

Ansar al Sharia Tunisia has been building up its ranks through countrywide proselytizing, but the Ennahda regime's recent actions have interfered in these events and threatened the group's designs.

In addition, Ansar al Sharia may not be permitted to hold its third annual congress, which would serve, as in the past, as its signature recruiting and propaganda event. "We haven't decided yet regarding the meeting of Ansar al Sharia," Minister of Interior Lotfi Ben Jeddou said on Friday, according to Tunisia Live.

In response, Hassine tells his followers to be "steadfast" and warns the Tunisian government.

"To those tyrants who are covered by Islam, and Islam has nothing to do with them, know that today you commit many foolish acts that speak about you expediting the battle," Hassine says, according to SITE's translation. "I say to you, by Allah, you
aren't fighting youth, but you are fighting a victorious religion helped by Allah and no force on Earth no matter how strong can defeat it."

Hassine connected Ansar al Sharia Tunisia's struggle to the work of Tunisian jihadists abroad. "I am just reminding you that our youth that exhibited heroic acts in defending Islam in Afghanistan, Chechnya, Bosnia, Iraq, Somalia and the Levant will never hesitate to sacrifice for their religion in Tunisia."

"America, the West, Algeria, Turkey and Qatar whose help you seek will never help you when the swords rattle, the arrows are ready, and sword edges strike other sword edges," Hassine adds.

Hassine's use of the word "tyrants" to describe the Ennahda government is especially inflammatory. As Ansar al Sharia Tunisia spokesman Seifeddine Rais explained during a radio interview earlier this week, "The term 'tyrants' is used to refer to those who are ruling without using Sharia (or Islamic law), which is the case of Tunisia. The government said they are not going to apply Sharia."

Another leading member of Ansar al Sharia, Sami Ben Khemais Essid, has also responded to the Ennahda government's recent interference in his group's activities. According to Magharebia, Essid criticized interior minister Ben Jeddou.

"He has declared war on Muslims in Tunisia," Essid said of Ben Jeddou. Essid vowed that Ansar al Sharia Tunisia's third annual congress will be held as planned on May 19. However, Essid said, the group's leader will not be in attendance.

"Abu Iyad (Hassine), a leader of Ansar al-Sharia who is wanted by the security forces, won't attend the third annual congress of the group," Essid said, according to Magharebia. "The only reason for that is that he loves Tunisia and doesn't want to confuse his supporters if he gets arrested by the security forces before them."

Essid is the former head of al Qaeda's operations in Italy and was arrested in early 2001 for plotting against the US Embassy in Rome, among other terrorist activities. [See LWJ report, From al Qaeda in Italy to Ansar al Sharia Tunisia.]

Essid was convicted of terrorism charges and imprisoned in Italy for several years. He was deported to Tunisia, where he was again imprisoned, only to be freed in the wake of the Arab Spring. The United Nations and US Government have designated both Hassine and Essid al Qaeda-affiliated terrorists.

Previous threat

The flare-up in tensions between the Tunisian government and Ansar al Sharia is hardly surprising. In late March, Tunisian prime minister Ali Larayedh harshly criticized Hassine's group in press interviews. Ali Larayedh accused Ansar al Sharia and Hassine, in particular, of spreading violence. "Abu Iyad is deeply involved in issues of violence and arms trafficking," Larayedh claimed.

Hassine responded with an "Urgent Letter to the Wise [Men] of Ennahda" on Ansar al Sharia's Facebook page and web site.

"To your wise men we say: Keep your sick [or diseased] ones from us, or we will direct our war against them until their downfall and their meeting with the dustbin of history," Hassine warned. "Know that we will not delay in saying that the answer is what you see, not what you hear... If you do not rectify your situation." [See LWJ report, War of words escalates in Tunisia.]

Nearly two months later, the threat of increased violence has not abated.

"Ali," the IMU suicide bomber who attacked a Pakistani police general in Quetta. Image from the SITE Intelligence Group.

The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan claimed credit for yesterday's suicide attack in Quetta that targeted the chief of police in the southern Pakistani city.

The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan took credit for the attack, in a statement that was released on a jihadist forum earlier today by Yahya Hikmatiy, the group's "formal spokesman." Hikmatiy confirmed that the target of the attack was Inspector General Mushtaq Ahmed Sukhera. The statement was obtained and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.

Eight Pakistanis were killed and nearly 100 more were wounded in yesterday's attack, which occurred in a high-security area in Quetta, the provincial capital of the southwestern province Baluchistan. The IMU suicide bomber targeted Sukhera's convoy as he was entering his quarters. The blast was so massive that power in the city was knocked out, and many nearby buildings were badly damaged. The IMU claimed that "2 tons" of explosives were used in the bomb.

The suicide attack in Quetta was "carried out as the answer to the helicopter attack of Pakistan Army against IMU's madrasa for young children, named after Abdullah ibn Zubair, 25 days ago," the IMU spokesman claimed. One IMU student, a 12-year-old boy, was killed and 10 people were wounded.

Hikmatiy said the attack was carried out by "Ali," who was described as "a member of IMU" and a "52 year-old mujahid brother." Hikmatiy added that Ali's daughter also carried out a suicide attack last year.

"In addition, we would like to remind you the istishhadiyyah [martyrdom-seeking] operation of shahida Ummu Usman, daughter of shahid brother Ali, against the murtad (apostate) Pakistan Government last year," Hikmatiy said.

Although Hikmatiy did not identify the suicide attack that Ali's daughter executed, there was only one such bombing reported to have been carried out by a female last year. The attack took place in Mohmand in November 2012, and targeted Qazi Hussain Ahmed, the former emir of the Jamaat-e-Islami. Ahmed is known to support the Taliban. No group claimed credit for the Mohmand suicide attack.

The al Qaeda-linked Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan is based in Pakistan's tribal areas, and has a strong presence in North Waziristan. In Afghanistan, the IMU has integrated its operations with the Taliban in the northern provinces, and is also known to operate in eastern Afghanistan.

Egypt's interior minister announced today the arrest of three members of an al Qaeda cell who were plotting to attack a Western embassy. "The interior ministry was able to direct a qualitative blow to a terrorist cell which was planning to carry out suicide attacks against vital, important and foreign establishments," Mohammed Ibrahim said at a press conference.

Ibrahim did not name the embassy that the trio was targeting, but he did say that they eyed targets in Cairo and Alexandria.

According to BBC News, Ibrahim "gave details about the discovery of 10kg (22lbs) of explosive material, a computer with files containing information on bomb-making and a flash memory with instructions on how to build rockets."

Ibrahim's surprise press conference was televised on Cairo's Channel 1 Television. Ibrahim named the suspects as Amr Muhammad Abu-al-Ila Aqidah, Muhammad Abd-al-Hamid Himidah Salih, and Muhammad Mustafa Muhammad Ibrahim Bayyumi.

One of the three had contacted al Qaeda in Algeria, and also traveled to Iran and Pakistan for "military" training, Ibrahim said. According to a summary of Ibrahim's television appearance obtained by The Long War Journal, Ibrahim added that the cell had online contacts with an al Qaeda member in Pakistan and a terrorist "responsible for receiving terrorists on Turkish borders." One of their al Qaeda contacts is named Al Kurdi Dawuud al Asadi, who may be the same individual.

Ties to Nasr City Cell

Ibrahim said the al Qaeda operatives had previously taken direction from the so-called Nasr City Cell, which has numerous ties to Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ) and al Qaeda.

According to Ibrahim, one of the cell's members was ordered to contact Muhammad Jamal al Kashef (a.k.a. Abu Ahmed) and Tariq Abul Azem, a former Egyptian Army officer. Both al Kashef and Azem have significant al Qaeda ties and were imprisoned by Hosni Mubarak's regime, only to be released in the wake of the Egyptian revolution.

Al Kashef and Azem were rearrested in Egypt late last year after authorities launched multiple raids against the Nasr City Cell. Egyptian authorities conducted their first raid against the cell in the Nasr City neighborhood of Cairo on Oct. 24, 2012.

According to multiple press accounts, al Kashef's trainees took part in the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya. Some of the Benghazi attackers were trained in al Kashef's camps in eastern Libya.

During the Nasr City Cell investigation, the Egyptian Interior Ministry discovered Al Kashef's correspondence with al Qaeda emir Ayman al Zawahiri. Some of al Kashef's letters to Zawahiri have been published by the Egyptian press. [See LWJ report, Communications with Ayman al Zawahiri highlighted in 'Nasr City cell' case.]

The first letter published by the press from al Kashef to Zawahiri was written in late 2011 and the second is dated Aug. 18, 2012.

Al Kashef is extremely deferential to Zawahiri in the letters, in which he requests further assistance for his operations and says he received funding from al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Al Kashef also writes that he served as part of Zawahiri's security detail in the 1990s and trained AQAP's top leaders.

Al Kashef's letters also read like a current status report, in which he summarizes his operations stretching from the Sinai to North Africa and Mali.

Ibrahim said that the al Qaeda cell now under arrest had contacted one of al Kashef's colleagues in the Sinai.

In his letters to Zawahiri, al Kashef outlines his efforts in the Sinai. Al Kashef explains that he has worked to "recruit elements who are not known in Egypt to form groups in Sinai, the next confrontation arena with the Jews and the Americans." Al Kashef also writes that he has "form[ed] groups for us inside Sinai."

Cairo's Al Yawm al Sabi, which published one al Kashef's letters to Zawahiri, reported that Egyptian authorities consider al Kashef an al Qaeda member who managed communications between al Qaeda's central leadership and the Nasr City Cell.