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US helos crash in Afghanistan, 14 killed
US Army paratroopers prepare to load into a CH-47 Chinook helicopter during an air-assault mission to detain a known militant in the Bermel district of Paktika province, Afghanistan. The paratroopers are assigned to the 25th Infantry Division’s Company B, 3rd Battalion, 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team. US Army photo by Private First Class Andrya Hill. The US military had a tough day in Afghanistan, with 11 soldiers and three civilians killed and three helicopters lost. In the largest incident, a CH-47 Chinook crashed as it was departing a firefight in Baghlan province (this very likely was a…
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Iran
The IAEA has started inspections at the Qom nuclear site. An Iranian member of parliament warned the nation to beware of America’s efforts to “cheat” the Islamic Republic. Turkish President Erdogen said that the West is treating Iran “unfairly” in nuclear negotiations.
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Pakistan
Pakistan attack kills four troops
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Afghanistan
US: 14 Americans killed in 2 helicopter crashes
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Iraq
Baghdad bombings death toll rises to 155
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Pakistan
Pakistani Taliban’s chief warns of more attacks unless military stops assaults
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Details on the latest North Waziristan ‘peace agreement’
A Pakistani general exchanges a Koran with a tribal leader during a prior peace deal in Waziristan. Photo from The Associated Press. It has been known for some time that the government brokered an agreement with North Waziristan Taliban leader Hafiz Gul Bahadar just prior to the operation that was launched against the Mehsud branch of the Taliban in South Waziristan in mid-October. The military needs to have Bahadar as well as South Waziristan commander Mullah Nazir on the sidelines so the military’s convoys don’t have to fight their way through to reach the Mehsud regions from the North and…
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Pakistan
Security forces killed 15 Taliban fighters in South Waziristan and eight in Bajaur and Khyber, and detained 11 in Swat. Gunmen killed the education minister for Baluchistan province in Quetta and a police inspector in Khuzdar.
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MILF and Phillippine military to launch respective rescue attempts to free abducted priest
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Eight killed over three days in Thailand’s south
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Somalia
The Islamist regime in Merka executed two men accused of spying for the Transitional Federal Government. Hizbul Islam threatened Somali journalists and accused them of backing the government. Djibouti’s foreign minister accused Eritrea of backing rebels in the country as well as Shabaab in Somalia.
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Iraq
Baghdad bombing follows trend in violence in Iraq
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Iraq
Suicide bombers driving trucks packed with explosives detonated outside the Ministry of Justice and the Baghdad provincial administration, killing 132 Iraqis and wounding more than 500. Security forces detained eight wanted men in Basrah and a Special Groups operative in Diwaniyah.
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Afghanistan
Police arrested 25 Taliban fighters in Baghlan province. ISAF and Afghan forces killed a Taliban commander and four fighters in Fara province, and killed and detained “several” more during raids in Khost, Kandahar, and Wardak provinces. Afghan commandos seized 40 heavy weapons in Parwan province.
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Suicide bombers target Iraqi ministries, kill 132
A pair of suicide bombers detonated simultaneously outside of Iraqi government buildings in the heart of Baghdad, killing more than 130 Iraqis in one of the worst attacks in the capital in years.
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Algeria
Five dead bodies of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb have been discovered during military sweeps in the forest of Bougaten in the Bordj Bou Arreridj region. The region, 220 km east of Algiers, is widely considered an AQIM stronghold and serves as a transit area for Islamists operating throughout the region.
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Pakistan
Jihad™s dirt-track
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Afghanistan
Some troops in Iraq look longingly to Afghanistan
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Al Qaeda
Al Qaeda and the Taliban: Knowing your enemy
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Bajaur strike hit Taliban, al Qaeda strategy meeting
Bajaur Taliban leader Faqir Mohammed. Some interesting news has emerged from Bajaur, where unmanned US aircraft pounded a Taliban and al Qaeda planning session, killing 27 Taliban and al Qaeda operatives. Eleven “foreigners” were reported killed. Some of developments from the Bajaur strike from The News: 1) One of Faqir Mohammed’s nephews (Zahid) and a son-in-law (unnamed) were killed in the strike. 2) Taliban and al Qaeda are at odds on how to deploy forces . Faqir and the Taliban want to reinforce South Waziristan, while al Qaeda commanders advocate following up on successes across the border in the Afghan…
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Pakistan
A US airstrike in Bajaur killed 17 Taliban and 11 foreign fighters. The Army retook the town of Kotkai in South Waziristan; 21 Taliban fighters and three soldiers were killed. Taliban suicide bombers killed a police chief on a highway. Three Frontier Corps troops were killed in a helicopter crash in Bajaur. Security forces detained 50 suspected terrorists in Lahore.
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Somalia
Shabaab launched an attack on an African Union base in Mogadishu and has ordered its followers to grow beards. Somalia’s prime minister said newly trained forces are prepared to retake Mogadishu and the South. Burundi’s Army chief said threats by Shabaab are to be taken seriously.
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Iraq
A suicide bomber killed one person in an attack in Tikrit. Insurgents killed an Iraqi Army officer and a soldier in Mosul, and wounded two soldiers in Baghdad. Security forces detained 16 wanted men in Basrah and four more in Wasit.
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Khost province in Taliban’s grip
As seen through a night-vision device, Coalition forces and Afghan commandos cordon and search a compound during Operation Raven for an improvised explosive device cell operating in the area east of Khost City, Afghanistan, Aug. 31, 2009. US Army photo by Specialist Matthew Freire. The Wall Street Journal has a good article on the situation in Afghanistan’s Khost province. This tracks with much of what I’ve heard about the deteriorating security situation in Khost. On the Haqqani Network’s relationship with Mullah Omar. An American military official who recently served in eastern Afghanistan said the U.S. had intercepted communications suggesting the…
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Afghanistan
Afghanistan: In one province, Taliban revive
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Afghanistan
Afghanistan troop-boost plan gains backing
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Hizb ut-Tahrir
Bangladesh has banned the Hizb ut-Tahrir. “The government has decided to ban Hizb-ut Tahrir because they are against the interest of law and pose a threat to public security,” Home Secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikdar said.
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Thailand
Two men, one Muslim and one Buddhist, were killed by Islamic terrorists in separate attacks in Pattani province. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva held talks with Sri Lankan leader Ratnasiri Wickremanayake regarding successful counterinsurgency approaches used against Tamil Tiger rebels. The Thai government is considering using similar methods against Muslim insurgents in the southern provinces.
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Pakistan
Pakistan: The new face of Talibanisation
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Shabaab threatens to attack Burundi and Uganda
Sheikh Ali Mohamed Hussein (right), during a prior press conference in Mogadishu. One day after a vicious exchange of mortar fire in Mogadishu that killed more than 30 people, Shabaab threatened to carry the fight to the capitals of Burundi and Uganda, two countries that have provided the bulk of the African Union peacekeepers in the Somali capital. Sheikh Ali Mohamed Hussein, the leader of Shabaab in Mogadishu, made the threat during the press conference in Mogadishu. From Shabelle: “When every they, (the mercenary infidels) are often killed or inflicted casualties, they [take] revenge [on] the Somali people. If the…
