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Denmark
Saudi Arabia links Dane’s shooting to Islamic State, arrests 3
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Iraq
A Force to Fight ISIS Has Manpower, but Little Firepower
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Indonesia
The new head of Indonesia’s counterterrorism agency warned that the number of Indonesians joining the Islamic State has more than tripled since June, and said the total number of Indonesians who have joined the group in Iraq and Syria is about 514. The Jakarta Post’s chief editor was named a suspect in a blasphemy case because the newspaper published an article critical of the Islamic State that carried an allegedly offensive cartoon; the action against the editor came several days after the newspaper had apologized and withdrawn the cartoon.
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Revolutionary Command Council
Is the Islamic State’s next target Daraa or Ghouta?
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Taliban kill 6 Afghan soldiers, foreigner in pair of suicide attacks in Kabul
Taliban suicide bombers struck a military bus and at a high school in the Afghan capital.
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French troops kill MUJAO founder during raid in Mali
In a midnight raid in the Gao region of Mali, the French military killed Ahmed el Tilemsi. He had a long history of al Qaeda ties, and was wanted by the United States.
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Germany
Investigations into jihadi returners pushing German courts to their limits
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Boko Haram
Boko Haram: The Other Islamic State
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Kenya
Shabaab in Kenya’s slums
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France
The Foreign Ministry said several people were killed in Kabul, Afghanistan by a suicide bombing at a French school in the city. The French military announced that Ahmed el Tilemsi, a top commander in the al Qaeda-linked al Mourabitoun, was killed by French forces in Mali. A French media report claimed that Toulouse shooter Mohamed Merah and two accomplices robbed a jewelry store in Toulouse during the week in which he conducted three attacks.
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China
China Uighurs: Xinjiang city of Urumqi to ban Islamic veil
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United Kingdom
Runa Khan, a 35-year-old mother of six from Luton, was sentenced to five years and three months in jail for promoting terrorism on social media. Khan, who had advocated sending jihadists to Syria, had pled guilty in July to charges of disseminating terrorist literature.
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AQAP claims shelling of American section of airbase in Yemen
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has claimed credit for a rocket attack on the US division of the al Annad airbase in Yemen’s Lahj province.
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Despite government advances, Boko Haram continues to plague Nigeria
While the Nigerian military appears to be finally gaining ground against Boko Haram, it is unclear if it can sustain these battlefield successes.
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Islamic State overruns Badr Brigade position near Samarra
The jihadist group also launched suicide attacks and assaults in towns around the central Iraqi city.
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United States
CENTCOM reported that since Dec. 8, the US has conducted seven airstrikes in Syria against the Islamic State and the US and partners carried out 13 airstrikes against the group in Iraq. The US also released video of recent airstrikes in Syria. ISAF formally ended its Afghan mission on Dec. 8, and began preparing for NATO’s Resolute Support training mission, which starts on Jan. 1. The US released the last three detainees from US custody at Parwan prison in Afghanistan. The CIA reacted to fallout from the release of a Senate report harshly criticizing the agency for its interrogation tactics…
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Islamic State
Kerry seeks authority to target Islamic State affiliates anywhere
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Islamic State
ISIS executes its top Mosul official: Kurdish sources
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Islamic State
Kazakh Government Analyst: Blocking Extremist Sites Justified Amid IS Threat
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Syria
Three opposition journalists were killed in Deraa when their car was hit by a missile. Israeli airstrikes in Dimas on Dec. 7 are reported to have targeted Iranian weapons intended for Hezbollah. Rebel commanders in northern Syria claim the US has stopped paying them. Twenty-eight countries have pledged to take in 100,000 Syrian refugees, doubling previous intake levels. The UN has resumed food aid to refugees after donations compensated for a budgetary shortfall. The foreign ministers of Iran, Iraq and the Syrian regime met in Tehran and pledged cooperation against the Islamic State. On Dec. 9, the Islamic State beheaded…
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Somalia
A soldier avenged Shabaab’s murder of his wife and a female soldier by killing five female relatives of jihadists. The UN plans to repatriate 10,000 Somalian refugees from Kenya.
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Egypt
Egypt has reduced the security curfew in portions of North Sinai from 14 hours to 11 hours, “to help people in Sinai earn a living,” according to President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi. Sisi’s government faces criticism of recent measures implemented to counter terrorism and diminish the influence of Islamist parties.
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Libya
The UN is expanding peace talks in Libya to include the rival government based in Tripoli, in addition to the internationally recognized government currently in Tobruk. General Khalifa Hafter has stipulated eight conditions for participation in the talks, including the recognition of the Tobruk government as the sole representative of the Libyan people. Ansar al Sharia released a propaganda video showing the destruction of one of Hafter’s tanks, while the Libyan Air Force claimed to have destroyed a training camp run by the Egyptian Brothers group in Sirte.
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Georgia
Zelimkhan Chatiashvili, 21, from the Pankisi Gorge, is said to have been killed in Syria while fighting for the Islamic State, and is reportedly the eighth Georgian to have been killed in this way. A member of the Pankisi elders council called the area a “slowly ticking time bomb.” An estimated 50 to 100 Georgians from Pankisi are fighting in Syria, including Omar al Shishani a.k.a. Tarkhan Batirashvili, the Islamic State’s military commander in Syria, who was added to the US’ terrorist blacklist in September.
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Russia
Residents of Yandi in Chechnya reported that masked men, presumably government forces, torched several homes on Dec. 8. After the deadly militant attack in Grozny on Dec. 6, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov had vowed to raze the homes of relatives of those responsible for the killings.
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France
Serge Lazarevic, a Frenchman held hostage by al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb since 2011, arrived back in France. Lazarevic was reportedly freed in exchange for the release of AQIM members Heiba Ag Acherif and Mohammed Ali Ag Wadossene; the French government did not disclose whether a ransom was paid. President Hollande thanked the presidents of Mali and Niger for their help in freeing Lazarevic, and said no more French hostages are being held anywhere. The mother of a teenage French boy who is now allegedly fighting for the Al Nusrah Front in Syria has sued the French government for…
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United Kingdom
Counterterrorism police arrested a man in Luton who is suspected of terrorist fundraising and incitement. Prime Minister Cameron claimed that the UK and Turkey are working closely to stop the movement of British jihadists through Turkey.
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Afghanistan
Ex-CIA Directors: Interrogations Saved Lives
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Al Qaeda
Senate Panel Faults CIA Over Brutality and Deceit in Interrogations
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New Zealand
New Zealand approves new anti-terror laws
