Afghan killer of six Americans was trusted police officer

Nuclear fuel memos expose wary dance With Pakistan

A suicide bomber killed a policeman and five civilians in Bannu. Three Taliban fighters blew themselves up after being surrounded by police in Buner. Police arrested four Taliban fighters in Karachi. A Jaish-e-Mohammed member was killed in Karachi.

Coalition and Afghan forces killed and captured scores of Taliban and Haqqani Network commanders and fighters in Helmand, Kunar, Khost, Paktika, and Paktia. The Taliban killed an ISAF soldier in the east and captured nine security guards in Kabul. President Karzai has been pardoning hundreds of Taliban leaders and fighters.

Insurgents killed a soldier and two civilians in attacks in Mosul, Baghdad, and Balad. Security forces detained 10 wanted men and discovered a bomb factory in Mosul.

Fifteen more people were killed during clashes between Shabaab fighters and Somali and African Union forces in Mogadishu. Puntland blamed Shabaab for the assassination of a court official in Bosaso. A US court sentenced a Somali pirate to 30 years in prison.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters wounded two soldiers in an IED attack in Lauder. Houthi rebels established checkpoints to find AQAP fighters in the north. A court adjourned the trial of a journalist accused of working with AQAP.

Suspected Islamist insurgents injured five policemen in a bombing at a market in Songkhla province. Insurgents planted the remotely detonated bomb under a bench in the rarely violence-stricken province. A janitor was murdered by insurgents as he was traveling home from the school he worked at in Pattani province.

Gunmen kidnapped 12 villagers in Basilan island who were returning from a fishing trip. No group has claimed responsibility but weapons and a ransom have been demanded for their release. Clan rivalry is the suspected reason for the kidnappings, although Abu Sayyaf has been active in the area.

All US-bound airlines to get info for watch lists

Afghan prison guards ‘fully trained,’ commander says

Two suspected Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb Islamist fighters were killed and others were wounded in clashes with Algerian authorities. Three soldiers were also injured during the clashes in the Tiffellat region, 200 kilometers from Algiers. AQIM denied that 28 members of the terror organization defected to Mauritanian authorities.

Pakistani woman publicly lashed by Taliban seeks justice

9 Afghan guards kidnapped in Kabul province

Anticorruption group claims harassment in Pakistan

Police arrests Taliban planning Karachi attacks

The cost of security for Americans who stay in Iraq when troops leave will be high

US military unveils ‘smart gun’

US rethinks access to data

Hoping to avoid bombs and win Afghan minds

Mixed portraits of Oregon terrorism suspect

Displaced Pakistanis prepare for risky return to South Waziristan

Al-Qaeda’s Yemen affiliate spreading its reach for recruits, targets

North Korea details expanded nuclear program

The Taliban threatened to kill Hamid Saeed Kazmi, Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Religious Affairs, if he didn’t resign. Kazmi was the target of a suicide attack in September 2009. The Taliban kidnapped four truckers and torched three trucks in Mohmand.

ISAF continues to target what is clearly a major al Qaeda and Qods Force-linked Taliban cell that operates in Farah province in western Afghanistan. From the latest ISAF press release: Afghan and coalition forces in Farah province detained several suspected insurgents as they targeted a Taliban leader during a joint security operation yesterday. The forces detained the suspects in the Bakwah district as they targeted an Iran-based foreign-fighter and weapons facilitator. Farah province is well off the beaten path, yet ISAF and Afghan special operations teams have been active in the district since early October. There have been five reported…

Security forces detained a senior Ansar al Sunnah leader in Kirkuk and 50 wanted men in Amarah. Insurgents killed two civilians in Baqubah and a railway employee in Anbar.

A policeman killed six ISAF troops in the east. The Taliban killed two children in an IED attack in Kandahar. Security forces killed and captured several Taliban commanders and fighters in Kandahar, Farah, Khost, Paktia, Logar, and Wardak. Admiral Mullen said the US drawdown will begin in July 2011.

Ayman al Zawahiri. The Associated Press reports on three US attempts to kill or capture Ayman al Zawahiri, al Qaeda’s second-in-command. All three near-misses took place in northwestern Pakistan: the first in the city of Peshawar in 2003, the second in the tribal agencies of South Waziristan in 2004, and the third in Bajaur in 2006. Note that there hasn’t been a report of a near-miss since January 2006. Here are the details from the AP report on the raids: Peshawar: The CIA had its first chance on Feb. 28, 2003. Former intelligence officials say al-Zawahiri met that day in…
