Iraqi police detained two members of a previously unidentified Shia terror group called the Soldiers of Mercy. Security forces captured 11 wanted men in Baghdad, four gunmen in Jalawlaa, three gunmen and a suicide bomber in Kirkuk, and a woman who confessed to being behind 30 suicide bombings that occurred in Baghdad and Diyala.
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A vital bridge in the Jamrud region just east of the Torkham border crossing in the Khyber Pass was blown up by Taliban fighters under the command of Hakeemullah Mehsud.
The military claimed more than 70 Taliban fighters were killed during an operation to clear the Charbagh region in Swat. One soldier was killed and four were wounded in an IED attack on a convoy in South Waziristan. A former leader of the radical Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan was gunned down in Jangh.
Saudi Arabia issued a list of 83 wanted terrorists who “adopted the straying ideology,” and called on the men to turn themselves in to authorities and “return to a normal life.” Eighty-one Saudis and two Yemenis are on the list.
A suicide bomber wearing a police uniform killed 21 policemen after he detonated his vest in the middle of a reserve training center in Tarin Kot in Uruzgan province. NATO said it would not oppose its members using Iran for an alternate supply route.
One security personnel killed in South Waziristan blast
The month of January 2009 marked the lowest death toll in Iraq in the past five years. The Anbar Awakening leaders threatened the Iraqi Islamic Party with violence if the polls are found to have been rigged. Two Iraqis were killed and 10 were wounded in an attack on a US convoy in Mosul. Four […]
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Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal praised Iran for its assistance during the recent fighting in Gaza. The Israeli Air Force killed a member of a mortar cell team that launched a rocket into southern Israel. Israeli troops killed a gunman that attacked a checkpoint in the West Bank.
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A senior commander in al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb surrendered in the Tizi Ouzou region. Abu Touati, also known as Abu Tamime, surrendered after former GSPC leader Hassan Hattab appealed to jihadis to lay down their arms and end the fighting.
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Twenty-one policemen were killed when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives at a training center in Tarin Kot, Afghanistan. The attack is the latest targeting police and intelligence compounds in the south and east.
Forty-five civilians, 16 Taliban fighters, and four security personnel were killed during fighting in Swat. A senior UNHCR official was kidnapped and his driver was killed in Quetta. Movie theaters are closing in Peshawar due to the rising of the Taliban.
Heavy fighting results in at least 45 civilians, 16 Taliban fighters, and four security personnel killed.
President Sharif said Somali groups should “unify our ranks and confront those who commit violence.” The Islamic Courts Union welcomed the election of Sharif, their former leader. Shabaab’s branch in Kismayo rejected Sharif’s election. Ethiopian troops re-entered Somalia and took control of a crossroads in Hiran province.
An estimated 51 percent of eligible voters participated in provincial elections. The Dawa party is leading in the southern and central provinces. Bombs were detonated at the homes of politicians in Ninewa and Babil. Four al Qaeda operatives were detained in Diyala.
A suicide bomber attacked a French convoy on a main road in Kabul province; two civilians and one soldier were wounded. One civilian was killed and another was wounded in an escalation of force incident in Paktia province’s Orgun district.
Former Islamic Courts leader Sheikh Sharif Ahmed was elected president by the newly expanded parliament. Sharif led the Islamic Courts conquest of southern Somalia in 2006. The United States welcomed victory and “looks forward to cooperating with President Sharif.”
Nine Taliban fighters and eight civilians were killed during fighting in Swat. Police detained 15 Taliban fighters in Peshawar. Six civilians were wounded after the military shelled Taliban positions in Bajaur.
The Afghan “Awakening” program has begun. The US may add a fifth brigade to serve as Afghan Army trainers. A Canadian and a British soldier were killed in fighting in the South. The Bagram Air Base is shut down after a C-17 cargo plane crashed during landing.
Iraq successfully held provincial elections with few reports of violence. Five men were arrested for plotting to attack a polling center in Mandali. US troops killed two policemen after taking fire during a mission in Mosul. Iraqi forces detained a Shia “extremist” in Baghdad.