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Taliban and AQAM ‘plug and play’
At the Christian Science Monitor, Ben Arnoldy has a must-read article on Saturday’s attack by the Taliban on two joint US-Afghan outposts in Nuristan province. While Ben did interview me for this article and I am quoted in the piece, that isn’t my reason for pointing it out. Ben has a masterful, simple description of how the Taliban and allied groups operate in the lead paragraph [emphasis mine]: The major ground assault by militants that killed eight US soldiers in Afghanistan this weekend illustrates nimble cooperation between the Taliban and smaller groups, according to NATO and regional security analysts. The…
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Iran
US cutoff of funding to Iran human rights cause signals shift
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Afghanistan
UK: Plan to send 500 more troops for Afghanistan amid Dannatt row with No 10
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Three al Qaeda trainers killed in western Afghanistan
US and Afghan troops killed the embedded al Qaeda trainers in the western province of Herat.
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Somalia
The leader of Hizbul Islam, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, called on Shabaab insurgents to agree to a ceasefire and end days of clashes around the southern port of Kismayo. “I am asking our brothers to stop the fighting, which is only useful to the enemy,” Aweys said. The death toll from yesterday™s battle in Jana Abdala village west of Kismayo rose to 17. Hizbul gunmen captured a Ugandan and a Kenyan national during fighting with Shabaab.
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Iran
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei claimed that Iran’s military advancement is not a threat to foreign nations. Iran’s atomic energy chief announced a new generation of faster centrifuges for enriching uranium at the Qom site. Iran’s central bank claimed success in selling oil for currencies other than the US dollar and hinted at secret talks to introduce a currency basket for the oil market.
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Afghanistan
The US military said that more than 100 Taliban fighters were killed in the Oct. 3 battle in Nuristan. Afghan troops killed more than 40 Taliban fighters and three foreign fighters in Nuristan, and three al Qaeda trainers and three Taliban fighters in Herat. The Taliban killed ten killed Afghan soldiers in an IED attack in Helmand province and wounded three US soldiers in Wardak.
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Pakistan
Pakistani Taliban claim responsibility for WFP bombing
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‘More than 100’ enemy killed during Nuristan battle: US military
The US military also backed away from claims that a “Nuristani tribal militia” conducted the attack and said it was a collaborative effort by multiple extremist groups.
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Algeria
Algerian security forces killed eight suspected Islamist fighters over the weekend. Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb claims to have conducted 29 separate attacks and bombings from early August to late September that are responsible for more than 80 casualties and injuries among Algerian security forces.
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Philippines
Abu Sayyaf gunmen attacked military engineers who were repairing a bridge, killing one marine and wounding another in Sulu province. In Cotabato City, insurgents detonated a bomb made from a mortar shell along the side of the highway, causing little damage.
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Afghanistan
Taliban under attack in area where US soldiers killed
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Pakistan
Four Pakistanis and an Iraqi were killed in a suicide attack at the World Food Program compound in Islamabad. Security forces killed eight Taliban fighters in Malakand and detained 30 Afghan imams in Mardan. The Lashkar-i-Islam wounded five Frontier Corps troops in Khyber. Ten TNSM members surrendered in Dir.
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Iran
Comment: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is running rings around the West
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Egypt
Egypt purges niqab from schools and colleges
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Yemen
Yemeni cleric blames Iran for war
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Iraq
A suicide bomber killed six people and wounded 15 more in an attack at a funeral in Haditha. Insurgents killed a civilian in a bombing in Fallujah, and wounded 10 Kurdish security personnel in a car bomb explosion west of Duhuk. Insurgents also wounded three policemen and seven civilians in attacks in Mosul, Fallujah, and Baghdad. Security forces detained a policeman and three insurgents in Al Dourand an al Qaeda cell leader in Ninewa.
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Afghanistan
British troops call for reinforcement in Helmand
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Afghanistan
Sharp division inside White House on Afghanistan, analyst says
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Pakistan
Pakistan – Militants melting into settled areas
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Afghanistan
Afghan troops killed 13 Taliban fighters and captured 20 more in Paktika. Four Taliban fighters were killed during a premature detonation in Farah. The Taliban killed two US soldiers in separate attacks in southern Afghanistan and kidnapped five Afghans in Herat. Kidnappers killed a businessman and two bodyguards in Kabul.
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Somalia
At least eight people were killed yesterday after Shabaab attacked Hizbul Islam in Jana Abdala, a Hizbul-controlled village west of Kismayo. Somali insurgents attacked AU peacekeepers in the Jalle Siad base and on Makka al Mukarama road in Mogadishu. Foreign warplanes have been seen flying low over the southern Mogadishu districts of Heliwa and Dayniile, where Shabaab has military bases and training camps.
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Five killed in suicide attack at UN office in Islamabad
An explosion rocked the offices of the World Food Program in a secured region in Pakistan’s capital. The Taliban have warned they would relaunch attacks nationwide if operations in the tribal areas are not halted.
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Iran
Tehran will allow the IAEA to inspect the Qom nuclear site on Oct. 25. US lawmakers are pushing for tougher sanctions following the IAEA’s newest report. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei issued a decree replacing top members of the Revolutionary Guard Corps.
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Hakeemullah is alive
Hakeemullah Mehsud (left), the new leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, is photographed with Waliur Rehman, the new leader of the Taliban in South Waziristan (right), during their meeting with the media in Sararogha in South Waziristan. AP photo. Hakemullah Mehsud, the newly appointed leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, has spoken to the media, shooting down recent reports by US intelligence officials who speculated he had been killed during a bout of internal fighting. From the Associated Press: Mehsud, flanked by other Taliban commanders in a show of unity, spoke to a small…
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Pakistan
Al Qaeda’s diminished role stirs Afghan troop debate
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Tahir Yuldashev confirmed killed in US strike in South Waziristan
A Taliban commander said Yuldashev, the leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, was killed in the Aug. 27 strike in Kanigoram. The prospect of dying in a US strike “worried him a lot.”
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Pakistan
A Taliban leader said Tahir Yuldashev was killed in a Predator airstrike in late August. Security forces killed three Taliban commanders and six fighters in Swat. The military said the peace agreement with Mullah Nazir is still in place. Maulana Fazulur Rehman offered to mediate between the government and the Taliban.
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MILF seeks a suspension of Philippine military action in Sulu
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Police officer and civilian killed in Thai South
