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Captured Taliban commander killed in combat in Swat
Dawn reports on the death of a dangerous Taliban commander who was captured in Swat on Sept. 22 after being “seriously wounded.” According to the military, Abu Faraj, a deputy to Mullah Fazlullah and a commander notorious for training and plotting suicide attacks, was killed during a clash in Swat while accompanying troops: In Swat, 13 insurgents were killed in clashes with security forces on Thursday. According to Swat media centre, security personnel came under fire when they raided a Taliban hideout in Sigram area of Koza Bandai. During an exchange of fire, 10 militants and one soldier were killed.…
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Afghanistan
Marines give Afghan police the drill
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Afghanistan
Taliban says it won’t meddle in West if troops are withdrawn
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Afghanistan
US has ‘no intention’ of Afghanistan exit in 2011
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Lebanon
Lebanon’s hidden problem of domestic abuse
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Netherlands
Dutch navy arrests Somali pirates
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Pakistan
Blast in Peshawar kills three
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Pakistan
Pakistan opposes expanded US drone attacks
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Pakistan
Pakistan – US diplomat alleges some Al Qaeda leaders are in Quetta
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Marines fire opening salvo to retake Helmand
The operation to reclaim northern and central Helmand from the Taliban has begun as an additional 9,000 Marines are heading to Helmand.
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Pakistan
A suicide assault team killed 40 Pakistanis in an attack on a mosque in Rawalpindi; two generals, four other officers, and relatives of many senior officers were among those killed. The Taliban took credit for the attack. Security forces killed 13 Taliban fighters in Swat, seven in Arakzai, and seven more in Dir. The Taliban killed three civilians in Mohmand and a prisoner in Peshawar.
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Taliban take credit for Rawalpindi mosque assault
Pakistani soldiers stand guard outside the Rawalpindi mosque after the Taliban suicide assault. AFP photo. The Taliban didn’t blame today’s terror assault on Blackwater, but instead took credit. Here is the rationale, via Daily Times: Claiming responsibility for Friday’s attack, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) said the Parade Lane mosque was similar to Masjid-e-Zarrar built in Madina by the munafiqeen, and was “demolished on the orders of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)”. Talking to BBC, TTP chief Waliur Rehman Mehsud said his men attacked senior army officers. “Our militants attacked the military officers (our primary target) and we will continue to attack the…
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Pakistan
Take the war to Pakistan
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Pakistan
Pakistan: Mosque attack ‘a failure’ of military intelligence
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Pakistan
Massacre at Pakistan mosque shows Taliban strength
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Turkey
Frustrated with West, Turks revel in empire lost
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Afghanistan
Pakistani offensive pushes extremists, Petraeus says
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NATO
NATO talks leave commander ‘extremely confident™
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Iraq
One member of an IED cell was killed and another was wounded in a premature detonation near Mosul. Security forces detained three Mahdi Army fighters in Baghdad, a Special Groups operative in Amara, and a wanted man in Kirkuk. Insurgents wounded five Iraqis in a bombing in Baghdad.
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Somalia
A spokesman for Shabaab denied that the group was behind yesterday™s suicide bombing that killed at least 22 people, including three government ministers. The UN envoy to Somalia said it was “outrageous” to suggest anyone else was to blame. The African Union special representative for Somalia listed Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, America, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, and Sudan as countries where Shabaab has recruited.
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Down, not out
Al Qaeda in Iraq has suffered stunning losses over the past two years, but a core of the intractable wing of the insurgency persists. A tragic case in point from the Associated Press: BAGHDAD – He compared al-Qaida in Iraq to wolves, urging that the terrorist group be crushed since he believed its members would never reject violence. But the wolves got to the Iraqi counterterrorism officer first. Ahmed Subhi al-Fahal’s death in a suicide bombing in Tikrit could embolden al-Qaida loyalists to try to make a return to the area around Saddam Hussein’s hometown where he held sway. On…
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United States
Afghan immigrant likely to face more charges in alleged terror plot
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Afghanistan
Canadian troops discover grim results of Taliban rule
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Iran
Nuclear detector set up on Iran border
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United Kingdom
BBC obtains Pakistan’s charges against Mumbai accused
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Afghanistan
US Marines backed by Afghan troops killed four Taliban fighters and located 300 mines in an ongoing offensive in Naw Zad. Afghan and Coalition forces detained several Taliban fighters in Kandahar. The Taliban killed a tribal leader in Zabul. NATO pledged an additional 7,000 troops.
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Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
The three Spanish aid workers kidnapped by Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb have been reportedly transferred to AQIM operatives in northern Mali. Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the leader of AQIM™s smuggling and kidnapping operations in northern Mali and southern Algeria, is apparently in charge of the hostages.
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Low civilian casualties in US air campaign in Pakistan: US
Operatives behind the US’ not-so-covert air campaign against the Taliban and al Qaeda in Pakistan’s tribal areas claim that the number of civilian casualties is far lower than even Alex Mayer and I reported in our study from October [note: we’ll have a new one coming for the end of the year]. From The New York Times: The New America Foundation, a policy group in Washington, studied press reports and estimated that since 2006 at least 500 militants and 250 civilians had been killed in the drone strikes. A separate count, by The Long War Journal, found 885 militants’ deaths…
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China
UK – “Unreconstructed” cold war enemies launch a cyber attack every day
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Iran
Iran rejected the IAEA’s transparency demand on new atomic sites. Russian Premier Putin said he has no evidence that Iran is trying to develop a military nuclear program. President Ahmadinejad reiterated support for strong new ties with Brazil.
