Category Archives: Today In …

Syria

SOHR claims that the regime killed 18 people, including three children, while shelling the town of Daraa in southern Syria.The US dropped graphic anti-jihadist leaflets over the Islamic State-held city of Raqqa. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons will investigate claims of a chemical weapons attack on the village of Sarmin that killed […]


Kenya

Shabaab gunned down a senior officer with Kenya’s counterterrorism police in Mombasa. Security forces are on high alert amidst reports that Shabaab operatives have snuck into the country to conduct attacks.


Somalia

A senior Shabaab commander was captured along with three others when security forces raided his hideout in Mogadishu, according to a senior intelligence officer. Amisom troops deserted the strategic towns of Awdeegle , Barrire and Sabiib in Lower Shebelle region, according to residents. Interim Jubbaland Forces and African Union troops are conducting an offensive against Shabaab […]


Egypt

A ten-year-old girl was killed when she picked up an improvised explosive device placed near her school in Fayoum province. A senior police official was killed in a shootout with unknown gunmen in Suez. The rise in terrorist attacks in Egypts is apparently failing to drive off investors. Egypt is ready to send troops into Yemen […]


Libya

Jihadists allied with the Islamic State clashed with both pro-government and rival Islamist militia forces in Sirte and Benghazi. A suicide bomber killed five security personnel working for a rival Islamist faction in Sirte, while a string of suicide bombing in Benghazi killed at least 12 individuals fighting for the internationally recognized government. Islamic State jihadists released […]


Tunisia

Newly released video shows the moment gunfire erupted during the jihadist attack on the Bardo museum in Tunis. Tataouine, the Tunisian town famous as the setting for the planet of Tattooine in the movie Star Wars, has reportedly become a waypoint for jihadists transiting to Libya.


Mali

Two bomb makers were killed when their explosives prematurely detonated, destroying a house in Gao.


Nigeria

Boko Haram kidnapped hundreds of civilians rounded up from primary schools as it fled from Damask earlier in March. The jihadist group is reportedly using the hostages as human shields. Nigeria has closed its borders ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections on Mar. 28.


Libya

The UN special envoy stated that the terrorist attack in neighboring Tunisia has added a “sense of urgency” to ongoing peace talks in Libya. Gen. Khalifa Haftar told the AP that the Islamic State will spread to Europe if Libya receives no foreign military aid. Libya’s foreign minister congratulated the rival Libya Dawn on fighting […]


Tunisia

The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack on a museum in Tunis that killed 23 people. The attackers targeted Westerners and reportedly received weapons training in Libya. Authorities say that up to 3,000 Tunisian citizens have traveled abroad to wage jihad.


Mali

Security personnel have arrested two men in connection with the small arms attack on a nightclub in Bamako that killed five people. Three Malians, a Frenchman and a Belgian were killed in the assault on Mar. 7.


Nigeria

Residents of Bama in Borno state claim that Boko Haram fighters “slaughtered their wives” before they retreated from a Nigerian Army offensive. Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan believes that the jihadist group could be pushed out of towns and villages it holds in about a month.


Nigeria

The Nigerian military retook the strategically important city of Bama in northeastern Nigeria. Troops from Chad, Niger and Nigeria have reclaimed more than 30 towns from the jihadist group in the past month, but have yet to clear Abadam, Gwoza and Askira.


Mali

A helicopter crash during a military exercise in northern Mali killed two Dutch peacekeepers. Tuareg-led rebels have agreed to another round of UN-brokered peace talks.


Algeria

A detachment of the People’s National Army killed “two terrorists” in Ain Defla, according to a release by the Ministry of National Defense. Algeria has become the largest importer of arms in Africa.


Tunisia

Gunmen attacked the country’s parliament around noon, resulting in “a number of casualties.” Security forces have surrounded two attackers who may hold hostages in the Bardo Museum, adjacent to the parliament building.


Libya

Ten soldiers were killed when the Islamic State and the Libyan Army fought by the town of Nofaliya, near the jihadst-held oil hub of Sirte. Brigade 166, a coalition of “both moderate and extremist Islamists” from Misurata, has launched a campaign to drive the Islamic State from Sirte. The jihadist group captured 20 foreign medical workers in Sirte, then […]


Syria

The SOHR claimed that the Assad regime conducted a poison gas attack in Idlib province that killed six people. Amnesty International accused the regime of bombing civilians in the Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa. The US-led coalition conducted five airstrikes in Syria on Mar. 16, striking targets near al Haskah and Kobani.


Somalia

Ethiopian troops invaded the Buhoodle district in northern Somalia in an attempt to arrest a Koran teacher who fled from the area. A military tribunal in Puntland sentenced three men to death after finding them guilty of working for Shabaab.


Egypt

An Egyptian court sentenced Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Badie and 13 others to death after they were found guilty of “planning attacks against the state.” Islamic State affiliated jihadists claimed to have captured the engine from an American-made tank after an ambush on Egyptian forces in the Sinai; an Egyptian military spokesman denied the claim.


Syria

Researchers estimate that 83% of access to electricity has been cut and average life expectancy has dropped by 20 years in Syria over the course of the war. More than 600 physicians have been killed and half of the country’s medical facilities have been badly damaged or destroyed, according the Lancet. SOHR claims that nearly […]


Somalia

A US drone strike on Mar. 12 reportedly killed Adan Garaar, a leader in Shabaab’s security service, the Amniyat. Suspected Islamists staged a complex attack on the government headquarters in Baidoa in southwest Somalia, “killing at least four government soldiers and two civilians.” Three of the attackers were also killed in the assault.


Egypt

A Coptic church was bombed in Kafr el-Dawar on Mar. 9, injuring two police guards. An Egyptian Army officer was killed by gunmen in Rafah, North Sinai on Mar. 11; two additional attacks in Al-Arish on Mar. 10 killed a civilian, a security officer and injured 45 people. Military airstrikes killed 11 suspected jihadists on […]


Libya

The elected parliament asked for a one-week postponement of UN peace talks in a bid to form a unity government. Libya shut down two eastern oilfields due to security concerns over recent jihadist attacks on the facilities. Libya Dawn conducted three airstrikes on the city of Zintan in northwest Libya on Mar. 11. The Islamist […]


Tunisia

Analysts warn of weapons smuggling to jihadist groups in Tunisia via the border with Libya. Ansar al Sharia has expanded its influence in post-revolutionary Tunisia.


Mali

Hundreds of people protested in Kidal against a UN-brokered peace proposal between Tuareg separatists and the government. Recent attacks by jihadists are said to be aimed at undermining any accord. French counterterrorism investigators arrived in Bamako to aid in the search for militants who attacked a nightclub popular with expatriates.


Nigeria

Nigerian troops cleared Boko Haram from the Lame/Burra forest in Bauchi state, according to an army spokesman. Soldiers also recaptured three towns and a village in Yobe state from the jihadist group on Mar. 10. A South African military contractor and five Nigerian troops were killed when their vehicle was attacked at a roadblock near […]


Syria

About 95 prisoners escaped from an Islamic State prison in al Bab near the border with Turkey but many have been recaptured, according to SOHR. The jihadist group beheaded eight men from al Bab on Mar. 9. Kurdish fighters are training a civilian defense force. The US-led coalition conducted 12 airstrikes in Syria from Mar. […]


Egypt

Egypt temporarily reopened the Rafah border crossing with Gaza for the first time in about two months. Several bombings killed one person and injured nine in Alexandria on March 8. A roadside bomb killed three Egyptian soldiers and seriously injured another in the Sinai. Egyptian airstrikes killed 25 suspected jihadists in the Sinai in the […]


Libya

Jihadists affiliated with the Islamic State attacked an oil field in al-Ghani, beheading eight guards and kidnapping nine foreign workers. Pro-government forces conducted airstrikes on the airport in Tripoli, which remains controlled by rival Islamist forces. General Khalifa Haftar was sworn in as the chief of Libya’s army.