Yearly Archives: 2009


Pakistan

The military hit South Waziristan with air and artillery strikes; two tribal leaders are thought to have been killed. The Taliban claimed credit for the suicide attack in Shangla and vowed to conduct further attacks. Investigators said three Uzbeks may have been among the assault team that attacked Army GHQ.


Kidnapped priest seen three times in Philippines


Thailand extends emergency rule over southern provinces


Italy

Police arrested an Egyptian and a Libyan for suspected links to Mohammed Game, a Libyan who detonated a bomb hidden in a toolbox at an army barracks in Milan. One soldier was wounded in the bombing. The Libyan helped transport Game to the barracks and the Egyptian helped Game acquire explosives.


Saudi Arabia

Two suspected al Qaeda operatives were killed and another was detained in a shootout with police at a checkpoint in Jizan province on the southern border with Yemen. One policeman was also killed. The men were wearing burqas and had suicide vests, explosives, and weapons in their possession.


Iraq

A suicide bomber killed six Iraqis and wounded 10 more in an attack on a tribal leader in Baqubah. Insurgents killed two soldiers and wounded four more in an attack in Kirkuk. Security forces detained three wanted men in Amarah, two insurgents in Fallujah, and an al Qaeda leader in Diyala.


Iraq

Iraq: Maliki’s State of Law bloc to pay for campaign with member donations



Afghanistan

Forty Taliban fighters belonging to slain Taliban leader Ghulam Yahya Akbari surrendered and joined the government in Herat. Afghan police killed two Taliban commanders in Zabul and 15 fighters in Kandahar. Security forces detained two Taliban fighters in Takhar. A UAV crashed in eastern Afghanistan.


What’s wrong with Pakistan’s Army? A former officer’s perspective

Earlier, I noted that the Pakistani military’s lack of response to the assault on Army General Headquarters in Rawalpindi is going to have serious repercussions. A comment from a former Pakistani Army officer, passed along from my friend Ravi Rikhye at Orbat.com, drives the point home. The note below was written by Agha H. Amin, […]


Taliban take credit for Shangla and Army GHQ attacks

Aftermath of the Shangla suicide attack. AP photo. The Taliban have taken credit for the Shangla suicide attack against a military convoy as well as the assault on the Army General Headquarters in Rawalpindi. Dawn reports on the Taliban taking credit for the Shangla attack: A boy aged about 13 and wearing a suicide vest […]



Somalia

Shabaab has taken control of north Mogadishu after Hizbul Islam militias pulled out from the area. Twenty fighters with a battle wagon from Hizbul Islam defected to the government. Insurgents and government soldiers clashed in the Abdul Aziz and Shibis districts in Mogadishu. Hizbul Islam™s public services officer, Sheikh Sulayman Sahal Muuse Abu Hanifa, gave […]



France

A French physicist of Algerian decent who works at the CERN facility at the Franco-Swiss border has been charged in a French court. Anti-terrorism magistrates in Paris have filed preliminary charges against the 32-year-old man for various terrorist offenses, including contacting Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb operatives and interest in committing terrorist attacks.


Afghanistan

Rushed training ‘risks turning Afghan troops into cannon fodder’


Afghanistan

Number of US troops in Afghanistan overlooks thousands of support troops


When will a Waziristan operation be ‘suitable’?

Taliban fighters in South Waziristan. Reuters photo. With four large-scale Taliban attacks in Pakistan since Oct. 4, including the brazen assault on the Army General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, the Pakistani government and military are still talking about considering discussing the possibility of issuing orders to provide for a principled decision to launch an offensive against […]



Pakistan

Pakistan – Tehrik-i-Taliban claims responsibility for army HQ attack


Pakistan

A Taliban suicide bomber killed 41 civilians and soldiers in an attack on a convoy in Shangla. Security forces killed 15 Taliban fighters in Bajaur and five more in South Waziristan, and detained 28 suspects in Islamabad and Rawalpindi and five Harkat-ul Mujahideen fighters in Dera Ismail Khan. The Taliban bombed a school in Hangu.


Pakistan

Pakistan GHQ attackers demanded militant release: Army



Iraq

Police arrested Iyad Jalal Abdulwahid, Izzat Ibrahim al Douri’s senior aide and a financier of Ba’athist insurgents. Iraqi security forces detained 10 wanted men in Basrah, seven in Salahadin, and three more in Kirkuk. Also detained were five insurgents in Baghdad, four insurgents in northern Taji, including a car bomb cell leader behind attacks in […]


Pakistan

Pakistan – Soviet-era refugee camps are Taleban breeding ground




Indonesia

Police announced that forensic examination of the two men killed last week in a raid south of Jakarta will identify them as wanted terrorists Saifuddin Zuhri and his brother Mohammad Syahrir. The brothers are suspected of recruiting men for the July 17 bomb attack in Jakarta. Saifuddin was considered a successor to Noordin Mohammad Top, […]


Two men killed in police raid were Jakarta bombers