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Lebanon
Rocket from Lebanon hits Israel; Israel fires back
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Taliban launch attacks in Kabul, kill UN workers
The Taliban took credit for an attack that killed upwards of seven people, including UN employees, at a guest house in Kabul. Reuters reported that four UN employees were killed in the attack (Geo News claimed three UN employees and four others were killed), which was carried out by a team of gunmen. The Taliban assault team stormed the compound and reportedly took some hostages. Afghan security forces battled the Taliban fighters inside the UN guest house. The Taliban also fired a rocket at the posh Serena Hotel (which was the scene of a similar armed assault in early 2008)…
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Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
The US government has again designated Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb as a terrorist organization. The re-designation of the terrorist organization is warranted by AQIM™s spread throughout the region and “the June 2009 murder of an American NGO worker in Nouakchott, and the May 2009 murder of a British hostage in northern Mali.”
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Pakistan
In South Waziristan, 42 Taliban fighters and one soldier were reported killed. Eleven Taliban fighters and two soldiers were killed in Mohmand. A brigadier general escaped an assassination attempt in Islamabad. Police detained the supposed mastermind of the attack on Army headquarters in Rawalpindi and seven other Taliban fighters.
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US jihadi: North Waziristan ‘bustling’ with ‘Foreign Mujahideen’
Here is an interesting tidbit of information from the charge sheet against David Coleman Headley, the US jihadi indicted for plotting attacks in Denmark. Headley traveled to North Waziristan and afterward offered his view on the number of al Qaeda and other foreign jihadis in the tribal agencies’ largest towns (in response to a think tank survey that said a significant number of people in the northwest approved of the Predator attacks against al Qaeda): This “survey” is the biggest crock of S … I was there on some business recently and I assure you this dude is not even…
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Pakistan
UN special rapporteur questions legality of US use of drones
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Philippines
An M72 grenade was fired by Abu Sayyaf outside the Roman Catholic Mt. Carmel cathedral in downtown Jolo, causing minor damage. The intended target was likely a Marine unit stationed outside the cathedral. Roman Catholic priest Michael Sinnot is alive and still being held captive by Abu Sayyaf, despite reports of worsening health.
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Kashmiri, Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives aided 2 Americans in foiled Danish terror plot
The senior al Qaeda military commander and two Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives aided two Americans as they plotted to strike at a Danish newspaper that published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.
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Kashmiri involved in Danish newspaper terror plot
Ilyas Kashmiri, the leader of the Harakat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami and al Qaeda’s Brigade 313. It has emerged that David Coleman Headley (also known as Daood Gilani), one of the two Chicago men charged with conspiracy to commit terrorist acts and providing material support to terrorists, had contact with al Qaeda field commander Ilyas Kashmiri and two Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives in Pakistan. Their intended target was the Danish newspaper Jylands-Posten, which printed cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. From Reuters : Headley allegedly reported and attempted to report on his overseas surveillance to other conspirators, according to the affidavits, including: — Ilyas Kashmiri, identified as…
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United States
The Justice Department and FBI have announced the arrests of two men earlier this month in Chicago for planning to commit terrorist attacks overseas. David Coleman Headley, an American, and Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a Canadian, were charged with conspiracy to commit terrorist acts and providing material support to terrorists. Their intended target was the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten.
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Iraq
The Islamic State of Iraq took credit for the Oct. 25 suicide attacks in Baghdad that killed more than 155 Iraqis. Security forces killed an al Qaeda operative and captured five more in Mosul; security forces also detained 15 wanted men in Basrah and three more in Wasit, two Mahdi Army cell members in Baghdad, and a suicide bomber in Tal Afar. Insurgents killed two civilians in Mosul.
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Afghanistan
The Taliban killed eight US soldiers and an Afghan civilian during a series of “complex” bomb attacks in southern Afghanistan and killed five policemen in Zabul; four Taliban were killed in the Zabul clash. Afghan and Coalition forces killed a Haqqani Network bomb maker and several associates in Paktia.
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Al Qaeda takes credit for Baghdad suicide bombings
Al Qaeda’s front, the Islamic State in Iraq, said the attacks were against “the rejectionist Shi’ite state.” The attacks are thought to have been executed from inside the International Zone.
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Afghanistan
Afghans hold rule of law conference
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Afghanistan
Italy – Bilateral agreement gives microcredit to Afghans
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Bombings, politics, and the long view in Iraq
AFP photo. In light of the recent terrible spasm of violence in Iraq, I recommend Tom Friedman’s latest column for its broad view. His metaphor for Iraqi politics is particularly appropriate: Six years after the U.S. invasion, Iraq continues to unnerve and tantalize. Watching Iraqi politics is like watching a tightrope artist crossing a dangerous cavern. At every step it looks as though he is going to fall into the abyss, and yet, somehow, he continues to wobble forward. Nothing is easy when trying to transform a country brutalized by three decades of cruel dictatorship. It is one step, one…
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Pakistan
Pakistan ‘key’ to UK terror plots
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Iran
Remarks by President Ahmadinejad hint at Iran’s hardened stance towards the IAEA on the nuclear program. Pakistan released 11 Iranian detainees in an act of good faith. Tehran welcomed Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan to the country.
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Iraq
Iraq renews call for UN probe after Baghdad bombings
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Pakistan
Forty-four Taliban fighters and 12 soldiers were killed during fighting in South Waziristan, Hangu, Abjaur, and Khyber. Security forces detained an aide to Mullah Fazlullah and 11 Taliban fighters in Swat. Border guards detained 12 Iranians, some who are thought to be Revolutionary Guards members, in Baluchistan.
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Taliban, Army clash throughout Pakistan’s northwest
Recent clashes in South Waziristan, Bajaur, and Hangu have reportedly killed 46 Taliban fighters and 12 soldiers. The Taliban are reinforcing in South Waziristan via North Waziristan despite the military’s peace agreement with Hafiz Gul Bahadar.
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France
French minister says ‘no burqa on street’, stirs row
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Pakistan
Iran: Foreign agents behind Iraq, Pakistan, Iran attacks
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United States
Hosam Maher Smadi, a 19-year-old Jordanian man living in the US, has pled not guilty to charges of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and bombing a public place. Smadi was arrested on Sept. 24 after undercover FBI agents, posing as al Qaeda members, supplied him with an inactive car bomb which he intended to use in the attack.
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Pakistan
Pakistan arrests Iranian guards
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Somalia
A Shabaab court in Jowhar sentenced several teenagers to be whipped for playing soccer. Shabaab said any attempts at reconciliation must be made through sharia law. A Puntland court sentenced 12 men to terms of up to eight years for committing acts of piracy.
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Iraq
Insurgents killed three Iraqis in a car bomb attack in Karbala and two more civilians in an armed attack in Mosul. Yesterday’s bombings in Baghdad killed 155 Iraqis. Security forces detained nine al Qaeda fighters south of Kirkuk, defused bombs in Mosul and Ramadi, and seized Katyusha rockets in Basrah.
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Afghanistan
Karzai questions US reliability as partner
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Afghanistan
Eleven US soldiers and three civilians were killed when three helicopters crashed in western Afghanistan. Afghan and Coalition forces killed five Haqqani Network fighters and detained two more in Khost. The governor of Nangarhar escaped an assassination attempt; security guards killed a suicide bomber and captured another. Twelve policemen were wounded during clashes with protesters in Kabul.
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Ilyas Kashmiri, then and now
Kashmiri terrorists in training. Image from Der Speigel. Ten years ago, Muhammad Amir Khakwani Zangar, a journalist for the Urdu-language Daily Express, made the trek to a jihadi camp to talk to Ilyas Kashmiri, the dangerous al Qaeda commander operating from North Waziristan. Even back then, Kashmiri, who narrowly missed being killed in a US airstrike this September, admitted his goal for jihad does not end with the liberation of Kashmir, and that his allegiance is to Mullah Omar. “We have absolute permission from him to go to any place and engage ourselves in jihadi activities,” Kashmiri said. This conflicts…
