The Islamic State has brutally executed four men who belonged to the Iraqi and Iranian-backed Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF). The executions are a response to the PMF’s own slayings of Sunnis, the Islamic State says.
The jihadist group has reacted similarly to the designation of Haqqani Network leaders in the past. Additionally, the Taliban disputed the claim that Abdul Aziz Haqqani is “a senior member of the Haqqani Network,” as State said.
In an interview published on the Taliban’s official English-language website, Zabihullah Mujahid admits that Mullah Omar’s family and other senior Taliban officials hid Omar’s death. The text of the interview implies that Omar died in 2013.
The Islamic State claimed credit for killing Major General Abdel Rahman Abu Raghif, the deputy commander for the Anbar Operations command, and Brigadier Safin Abdel Majid, the commander of the 10th Iraqi Army Division, in a six-man suicide assault on a military headquarters near Ramadi.
Hundreds of Taliban fighters gathered in the open in Kunduz to witness Mullah Abdul Salam, the Taliban’s shadow governor, and other senior commanders swear allegiance to Mullah Mansour.
The insider or green-on-blue attack, where a member of the Afghan security forces or a Taliban infiltrator kills Coalition personnel, is the third of its kind recorded this year.
The fall of Musa Qala puts the Taliban in effective control of northern Helmand, and will allow it to threaten the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah.
The destruction of Baalshamin is yet another ancient structure destroyed by the Islamic State.
Al Qaeda-linked Twitter feeds, including one attributed to a senior al Qaeda leader, are claiming that Idris al Balushi was killed during a counterterrorism raid by Pakistani forces. Balushi is purportedly the nephew of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. His death has not been confirmed.
Siraj Haqqani’s brother, Abdul Aziz, is a key military commander who directs operations for the Haqqani Network and also is a member of the Kabul Attack Network. He is the 14th Haqqani network leader added to the US list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists since 2008. All have ties to al Qaeda.
Hazrat, who is also known as Abu Hazefa, was killed in Kunduz, where a number of jihadist groups are fighting Afghan forces. He served as a Taliban military commander and also was a member of al Qaeda.
Earlier this month, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan officially swore allegiance to the Islamic State’s emir, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi. On August 20, fighters from the Islamic Jihad Union followed in al Qaeda’s footsteps and pledged loyalty to Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour, the newly appointed leader of the Taliban.
The Islamic State’s supporters in Libya have added Mokhtar Belmokhtar to their “wanted dead” campaign. The Islamic State’s loyalists have released dozens of online posters targeting their pro-al Qaeda opposition in North Africa. Some of the men have been killed. The campaign was launched as a response to the Islamic State’s losses in Derna, Libya. The poster for Belmokhtar was quickly disavowed by some Islamic State social media accounts.
The White House announced today that Fadhil Ahmad al Hayali (a.k.a. Hajji Mutazz), the deputy leader of the Islamic State, was killed in an airstrike on June 18. US military officials previously reported that he had been killed in December 2014. Al Hayali was one of the most senior leaders in the “caliphate,” and had wide-ranging responsibilities.
The attack near Fallujah coincided with the release of a video by the Islamic State shows the corpses of more than 30 Iraqi troops in Saqlawiyah in 2014. The jihadist group also seized a number of armored vehicles.
The Islamic State’s so-called Sinai “province” has claimed responsibility for a car bombing outside of a Cairo courthouse and an Egyptian national security building earlier today.
In his third media appearance this month,the al Qaeda emir discusses the Battle of Tora Bora and the value of a united jihadist media. The video is the seventh installment in Zawahiri’s “Days with the Imam” series, in which he recounts episodes from Osama bin Laden’s life. The first video in the series was released in November 2011.
This makes at least two Americans used as suicide bombers for the Islamic State. Both detonated in the central Iraqi province of Salahadin.
New US sanctions on two Qatari citizens expose Doha’s uneven response.
The Islamic State’s supporters in Libya have released dozens of “wanted dead” posters online. The images are part of a campaign targeting the “caliphate’s” jihadist and Islamist opposition in Derna and elsewhere in Libya. If the information in the graphics is accurate, then the Islamic State is offering up valuable intelligence on its pro-al Qaeda adversaries in North Africa.
The statement comes just days after a different statement was released by the group in which it confirmed Mokhtar Belmokhtar, who is openly loyal to al Qaeda, as its emir.
During the last months of his life, Osama bin Laden worried about the fate of his son, Hamzah. In a newly-released audio message, Hamzah picks up his father’s banner.
Jamaat-ul-Ahrar’s spokesman said that the Punjab home minister was killed in “revenge for the martyrdom” of Malik Ishaq, the head of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi who was killed by Pakistani police in late July.
The Taliban’s new emir, Mullah Mansour, has publicly accepted Ayman al Zawahiri’s oath of allegiance. The public acceptance of Zawahiri’s pledge demonstrates that Mansour has no intention of breaking with al Qaeda.
The full text of Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour’s statement, entitled “New Amir of Islamic Emirate thanks and accepts all who pledged allegiance.”
A statement released online today confirms that Mokhtar Belmokhtar is now the emir of Al Murabitoon, which calls itself “Al Qaeda in West Africa.” Another Al Murabitoon emerged in Egypt last month and it is also loyal to al Qaeda.
In an audio message released today, Ayman al Zawahiri pledges allegiance to the new emir of the Taliban, Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour.
Islamic State forces are pressing an offensive in the central Iraqi city. Iraq’s defense minister claimed that Baiji was liberated just two weeks ago.
The Islamic State said that Tomislav Salopek was killed after the deadline given to Egypt to comply with its demands expired.
The US continues to target al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s network in the eastern city of Mukallah. The city fell to AQAP in April.