Armed men believed to be members of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb attacked a newly built military barracks in northeastern Mali and destroyed part of the complex. A leading Touareg separatist group in northern Mali is willing to join the fight against AQIM.
A deadly Turkish air raid in northern Iraq that killed over 31 Kurdish civilians is the latest attack in a winter offensive against members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Pakistani authorities arrested six TTP terrorists during raids outside Islamabad. Four wanted terror suspects, including a leader of Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, have been captured. In two separate shootings in the Peshawar area on Tuesday, an intelligence official and a policeman were killed.
US forces completely evacuated their bases in northern Panjshir province. An Afghan soldier shot and killed two French troops in Kapisa. Ten Afghan Local Police were killed in a roadside bombing in the Nad-e-Ali district of Helmand. US forces seized 12,000 pounds of homemade explosives in Kandahar.
Turkey’s air force attacked what it thought were Kurdish rebel targets near the country’s border with Iraq, killing 35 people, but officials later admitted that those killed were probably smugglers mistaken for guerrillas. Turkish officials called the incident an “unfortunate operational accident.”
A Chechen man and his sister were imprisoned after a Russian court convicted them of recruiting would-be suicide bombers to carry out a terrorist attack in Moscow in 2009. Security forces destroyed an insurgent bomb cache in Dagestan earlier this week.
Prime Minister Najib Mikati said there was no evidence that al Qaeda militants were operating in Lebanon. A blast ripped through a restaurant frequented by tourists and UN peacekeepers in Tyre, drawing wide condemnation from officials and prompting some restaurants in the city to cancel New Year’s Eve events.
Mauritania issued an international warrant for the arrest of Moustapha Ould Limam Chavi, an opponent of President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, for supporting terror groups in the Sahel region. Three other Mauritanian nationals, Hamada Ould Mohamed Kheirou, Elhacen Ould Khlil, and Vawaz Ould Ahmed, believed to be influential members of Al Qaeda in the Islamic […]
Heavy clashes between Shabaab and AMISOM peacekeepers erupted in Mogadishu, resulting in casualties to both sides. A disgruntled former employee shot at least two international workers from the aid group Doctors Without Borders in Mogadishu. Somali pirates are steering the hijacked Italian vessel Enrico Levoli toward the Somali coast.
A district council chief and his son were shot dead in Helmand’s Musa Qala district. Coalition forces killed Mullah Abdul Rahim, a top Taliban commander in Helmand’s Nowzad district. Afghanistan signed its first major oil extraction contract with China.
Labor strikes spread through Yemen as workers demanded reforms and dismissal of managers over alleged corruption linked to the country’s outgoing president. Two soldiers and three al Qaeda fighters died when government forces clashed with al Qaeda suspects in Zinjibar.
Three security contractors, two of them US veterans and one from Fiji, were freed almost three weeks after being detained by the Iraqi Army. Militants fired a Katyusha rocket at a camp housing several thousand Iranian exiles in northeastern Iraq. Baghdad has not extended the end-of-year deadline to expel the terrorist Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) […]
About 90,000 people have been displaced in clashes between militant Islamists and security forces in Damaturu city. Assailants threw a bomb into an Arabic school, injuring seven people. Another UN staff member has died from the Aug. 26 car bombing of its Nigeria headquarters, bringing the death toll to 25.
Iran’s navy chief threatened again that his country can easily close the Strait of Hormuz. The US warned Iran that it will not tolerate any disruption of maritime traffic through the Strait. Iran held the first trial session of Amir Mirza Hekmati, who was recently arrested on a charge of spying for the CIA.
At least 10 Shabaab fighters were killed by Somali and Kenyan forces during a clash in the Burgabo village of Lower Jubba province. Somali officials said cutting off remittance flows could further destabilize the country. Somali pirates have hijacked an Italian cargo ship and its 18 employees and are holding them for ransom.
Abu Sayyaf kidnappers demanded a ransom of A$22,600 for the release of Warren Rodwell, an Australian. The military and police searched for more bombs in Mindanao after two explosions injured five people last week in a terrorist campaign by an explosives expert with links to al Qaeda, Jemaah Islamiyah, and Abu Sayyaf.
The US Congress urged Twitter to shut down the official Taliban Twitter accounts. The Afghan government has agreed to the presence of a Taliban office in Qatar. Afghan forces are now responsible for Daikundi and Samangan provinces. Six insurgents were killed and six were arrested during operations in several provinces.
Al Qaeda’s Islamic State of Iraq claimed responsibility for the wave of attacks across Baghdad last week that killed 69 people. An al Qaeda group based in the Kurdistan region has threatened attacks against the US, Pakistan, and Afghanistan in revenge for the killing of its fighters in a US drone attack in the Pakistani […]
Lebanon will not send observers to Syria as part of an Arab League mission, in order to avoid “negative repercussions” in Lebanon from the Syrian crisis. The head of the Maronite Catholic Church has called upon all non-government forces, including Hezbollah, to disarm.
A request by Yemen’s former president to enter the US for medical treatment is still in flux. Foes and backers of a plan to ease him out of power fought each other with stones and clubs and injured at least 20 people in the capital of Sana’a.
Shabaab has aggressively recruited children as young as eight in southern Somalia to fight government and African Union forces. A member of parliament, Hassan Ali Adan, was shot in Mogadishu. The Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jama’a militia has rejected a power-sharing agreement with Somalia’s political leaders.
Nigerian authorities arrested two suspects in connection with the deadly Christmas Day bombings of Catholic churches. Christianin the north said they feared that a spate of deadly bombings by Boko Haram could lead to a religious war in the country.
The assassination of Alhaj Mutalib Baig in Takhar province marks the latest victim in a string of attacks against former United Islamic Front commanders in northern Afghanistan. Members of the Taliban and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan are blamed for the attack.
A suicide bomber struck a funeral gathering in northern Afghanistan, killing 20 people, including a member of parliament. The Taliban killed an ISAF solider in the east. Afghan soldiers killed a top Taliban leader, Mullah Tayeb, and four of his men in Farah province. The Ministry of the Interior said 30 militants have been killed […]
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb’s “Al Vourghan” brigade is believed to be responsible for kidnapping a Mauritanian gendarme earlier this week in Adel Bagrou. Some analysts believe the attack was led by the al Qaeda splinter group “Jamat Tawhid Wal Jihad Fi Garbi Afriqqiya” (Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa), which recently […]
Gunmen shot dead an intelligence chief in the port of Aden in south Yemen. Police officials blamed the attack on al Qaeda. Yemen’s acting leader urged foes and loyalists of President Ali Abdullah to call a truce.
Somali authorities arrested the suspected gunman who killed local journalist Abdisalan Sheik Hassan on Dec. 18. A prominent Shabaab leader known as Sheikh Muktar Abdirahman has vowed “not to give up” in the attempt to implement Sharia law in Somalia.
The Sudanese army killed Khalil Ibrahim, the leader of the main Darfur rebel group, touting his death as a key victory against a powerful rebel force that once threatened Sudan’s capital. Khalil Ibrahim led the Darfur-based Justice and Equality Movement, or JEM, the most organized and effective military force in Darfur.
An explosion ripped through a Catholic church during Christmas Mass near Nigeria’s capital, killing at least 25 people. Boko Haram claimed the attack and another bombing near a church in the restive city of Jos, as other explosions also struck the nation’s northeast.
AN ISAF helicopter was forced to land in Nahr-e-Saraj after taking small arms fire. Four Taliban fighters were killed and two were detained in Kandahar. Nine Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan fighters surrendered to the government in Kunar.