• Iraq

    Security forces detained four members of IED cells in Kirkuk, Baghdad, and Mosul; three al Qaeda cell members in Baghdad and Salahadin; an Islamic State of Iraq leader in Mosul; a senior al Qaeda leader in Ninewa; and an escaped al Qaeda prisoner in Kirkuk. One civilian was killed and three more were wounded in a bombing in Baghdad.

    Iraq
  • Afghanistan

    Afghan and Coalition forces killed 22 Taliban fighters in Zabul province. Afghan troops killed a Taliban commander and detained three more in Takhar province. Police freed four health workers who were held hostage in Sar-i-Pul province. Australia will not send additional forces to Afghanistan.

    Afghanistan
  • Italy

    US and NATO officials claimed that Italian intelligence bribed Taliban commanders in Afghanistan’s Kapisa province to not attack their forces, but did not inform NATO allies. The Taliban then attacked French forces in Sarobi after the French took control of the sector in 2008. Italy’s prime minister and defense minister denied the charges.

    Italy
  • Iran

    China’s premier hailed his nation’s cooperation with Iran. Russia’s premier said it is “too early” to speak of more sanctions. The US House passed legislation allowing state and local governments to divest from companies doing business in Iran.

    Iran
  • Pakistan

    Al Qaeda publicly cements ties to the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan

    Pakistan
  • Libya

    Libya freed 45 members of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group and 43 members of other Jihadist groups as part of a deal under which the fighters and the groups denounce violence. The release was made possible through the efforts of a charity run by Saif al Islam, the son of and successor to Muammar Gaddafi.

    Libya
  • Mauritania

    Six of seven suspected Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb members arrested by the Mauritanian army were released from custody. The suspects were arrested while traveling armed in trucks in the Sahara desert in the eastern portion of the country. The remaining suspect in custody is a Mauritanian businessman.

    Mauritania
  • Who is Colonel Imam?

    Colonel Imam. Photo from the Irish Times. Pakistan’s The News provides a [likely unintentional] humorous rebuttal to Hamid Mir’s report that Ilyas Kashmiri was a member of the Special Services Group, Pakistan’s elite commandos. This is with reference to Hamid Mir’s report (Sept 20) titled “How an ex-commando became a terrorist”. It is total disinformation — Ilyas Kashmiri neither had any association with the SSG nor did he serve in the army as a soldier. Being an ex-commando officer, I know that the SSG never indulges in such heinous crimes. It’s a superior professional force of the army composed of…

    Who is Colonel Imam?
  • Terrorists assault three police centers in Lahore

    The Pakistani Taliban assault teams attacked the Federal Investigation Agency building, the Manawan police training centre, and the Elite Force Headquarters.

    Terrorists assault three police centers in Lahore
  • Suicide bomber strikes police station in Pakistan’s northwest

    The Taliban have struck again, this time at a police station in Kohat. Ten policemen and civilians have been reported killed in the deadly attack.

    Suicide bomber strikes police station in Pakistan’s northwest
  • Pakistan

    A US airstrike killed four members of the Haqqani Network in North Waziristan. The Pakistani military killed 17 Taliban fighters and an unknown number of civilians during air and artillery strikes in South Waziristan. Pakistani troops and a tribal lashkar drove the Taliban from a region in Bajaur.

    Pakistan
  • United States

    Mustafa Abu Yazid, the chief of al Qaeda in Afghanistan, reportedly had been in contact with Najibullah Zazi, the Afghan who has been arrested for plotting to conduct backpack bomb attacks in the United States. The two communicated through an intermediary. Zazi was recruited by al Qaeda and trained in Pakistan’s tribal areas.

    United States
  • The Taliban

    Hakeemullah Mehsud, the new leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, said his fighters would array against India if operations in the tribal areas ended. “We are fighting the Pakistan army, police and the frontier corps, because they are following American orders. If they stop following their orders, we will stop fighting them … We want an Islamic state. If we get that, then we will go to the borders and help fight the Indians.”

    The Taliban
  • Al Qaeda

    In a videotape released on the Internet, Ayman al Zawahiri said that Pakistan’s Army serves the US and NATO and is attempting to stave off their defeat in Afghanistan. Zawahiri said the Pakistani Army “has completely become a tool for the crusaders against its own public, neighbouring countries and the Islamic world.”

    Al Qaeda
  • US kills 4 in strike on Haqqani Network in North Waziristan

    Four Haqqani Network fighters have been reported killed in an airstrike in Danda Darpa Khel, the base of the Haqqani Network. The town has been hit four times since Aug. 20.

    US kills 4 in strike on Haqqani Network in North Waziristan
  • Italy

    Italy: Muslim intellectual urges integration

    Italy
  • Philippines

    The Philippine military has set up cordons on Mindanao island and dispatched four naval vessels to the surrounding waters to search for the Abu Sayyaf kidnappers of Father Michael Sinnot. Father Sinnot, an Irish priest, has been serving the people of the Philippines for over 40 years until he was abducted on Sunday.

    Philippines
  • Iraq

    Seven Iraqis were killed and 14 were wounded in an armed attack in Baghdad. Two Iraqis were killed and 42 were wounded in bombings in Karbala. Security forces detained three insurgents in Sinjar. Six soldiers were released from duty for failure to prevent an armed robbery.

    Iraq
  • Somalia

    Somali pirates controlled by syndicates: Interpol

    Somalia
  • 68 Taliban surrender after commander killed in Herat

    The fighters were loyal to Ghulam Yahya Akbari, who was killed in a strike last week. Akbari’s successor is said to be close to al Qaeda.

    68 Taliban surrender after commander killed in Herat
  • Germany

    Two men of Afghani and Turkish descent have been sentenced in a Frankfurt state court to serve time in prison for supporting a terrorist group. The two men were found guilty of financially supporting Islamic Jihad Union, an offshoot of the Jihadist Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. Their funding was linked to Adern Yilmaz, whose plans were foiled to conduct an attack in Germany in 2007.

    Germany
  • Afghanistan

    US Afghan commander wants 80,000 more troops

    Afghanistan
  • Afghanistan

    Sixty-eight Taliban fighters surrendered to the government in Herat. US and Afghan troops killed 11 Taliban fighters in Ghazni and a commander in Zabul. Taliban fighters chopped off a man’s hand and foot in Herat. Afghan police seized 860 Iranian-made landmines during raids in the North. Britain will send an additional 500 troops.

    Afghanistan
  • Asia Times interviews al Qaeda commander Ilyas Kashmiri

    Ilyas Kashmiri, the leader of the Harakat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami and al Qaeda’s Brigade 313. The Asia Times‘ Syed Saleem Shahzad has published his interview with Ilyas Kashmiri, a senior al Qaeda leader and longtime Pakistani jihadi with strong ties to Pakistan’s military and intelligence services who was thought to have been killed in a US airstrike in mid-September. As the operations chief of Brigade 313, one of six brigades in the Lashkar al Zil, al Qaeda’s “Shadow Army,” Kashmiri is suspected of planning and leading some of the terror group’s most sophisticated assaults in the Afghan-Pakistan theater. Kashmiri is described by Shahzad…

    <em>Asia Times</em> interviews al Qaeda commander Ilyas Kashmiri
  • Iran

    The US called for Chinese support on curbing Iran’s nuclear program. The Russian foreign minister said that the threat of new sanctions on Iran will not work. A senior Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps commander said that the Iran is “invincible.”

    Iran
  • Iran

    ‘Embarrassing’ incident in Gulf of Suez: German ship transporting arms for Iran

    Iran
  • Al Qaeda

    Tales from the Bin Laden clan

    Al Qaeda
  • Albanian Imam charged with inciting jihad

  • Afghanistan

    Taliban kidnap 16 people in Afghanistan’s north

    Afghanistan
  • Iran

    US wants bunker-buster fast, denies Iran is reason

    Iran