US airstrike hits Taliban camp in North Waziristan
The latest attack targeted a compound formerly used as a seminary. Ten Taliban fighters are thought to have been killed.
Monthly Archives: January 2010
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
Al Qaeda linked to rogue aviation network
United States
Aafia Siddiqui, the Pakistani neuroscientist detained in Afghanistan, will boycott her upcoming trial. US prosecutors will not attempt to link her to al Qaeda and will only use handwritten notes as evidence that she plotted to conduct attacks in the US.
Pakistan
The government is preparing to release two TNSM clerics. Security forces killed three Taliban fighters and detained nine more in Swat, and killed a Taliban commander and captured nine fighters in Hangu. Police arrested nine Taliban in Kohat. A child was killed in an explosion in Tank.
ACLU files FOIA request on Predator program
This is sure to make many people in Washington uncomfortable: In a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed today, the American Civil Liberties Union asked the government to disclose the legal basis for its use of predator drones to conduct “targeted killings” overseas. In particular, the ACLU seeks to find out when, where and […]
Russia
Insurgents bombed a main pipeline in Dagestan, leaving about 200,000 people without gas. Dagestan’s gas transport company said it would start reducing gas supplies. An explosion also ripped through a cargo train in Ingushetia, but it is not yet known whether it was a deliberate attack.
Al Qaeda
Study finds 3,000 Pakistanis were killed in™09 militant attacks
Afghanistan
US uses Predator drone to hit suspected insurgents in Afghanistan; 13 killed
Pakistan
Pak Army should keep up pressure on Taliban: Burgess
Iraq
Northern Iraq remains complex, general says
China
China nearly doubles security budget for western region
Egypt
Tense relations with Egypt threaten Hamas’s Gaza lifeline
Iraq
A suicide bomber killed seven Iraqis, including two policemen, in an attack in Saqlawiya in Anabar province. Insurgents killed a civilian in an IED attack in Abu Ghraib. Security forces detained 19 wanted men in Basrah, six suspected members of a car bomb cell in Khanaqin, and four insurgents in Babil.
United Kingdom
Defence cuts ‘will shrink UK armed forces’
Al Qaeda
Yemen al-Qaeda link to Guantanamo Bay prison
Yemen
Security forces killed the leader of an al Qaeda cell operating in Shabwa; four members of the cell were detained. Two soldiers were killed in a separate clash. The government denied that it offered al Qaeda operatives money if its members would leave the country.
Somalia
Ten Somalis were killed in mortar exchanges between government forces and Islamist fighters. A senior Hizbul Islam leader denied that he defected to Ahlu Sunna Waljama™a. Unidentified gunmen attacked a police station in Las Anod in Somaliland; three policemen were wounded.
Afghanistan
UN: Taliban cause Afghan civilian deaths to soar
Afghanistan
The Taliban killed two US soldiers and a British officer, and wounded 9 civilians and eight policemen in Kandahar and Ghazni. ISAF is investigating claims of civilian deaths during a protest in Helmand. Coalition and Afghan forces detained two Taliban facilitators in Logar and Zabul.
Iran
A US official released a statement denying involvement in the bombing that killed an Iranian physicist. Ayatollah Rafsanjani said Iran’s political crisis must be resolved. The ‘Iranian Cyber Army™ attacked a Chinese web site.
Al Qaeda
Suspect in Northwest Airlines bomb attack had round-trip ticket
United States
Google, citing cyber attack, threatens to exit China
India
US – Charges expected in terrorism probe
Is Obama’s TSA nominee soft on terrorism?
The controversy surrounding President Obama’s nomination of Erroll Southers to head TSA has been growing. The latest salvo in the attacks on Southers is that he is soft on terrorism. This charge originated with a post by Erick Erickson at RedState entitled “The Man Who Would Keep Us Safe From Terrorists Would Rather Focus on […]
Pakistan
The Taliban killed one soldier in an attack on a security checkpoint in Mohmand. General Pasha, the chief of the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), said Afghan soil was being used for attacks against Pakistan. The former chief of the ISI, Hamid Gul, said the government should end operations and negotiate with the Taliban.
Taliban claim ISAF is sandbagging soldiers’ deaths
A few interesting lines popped up in Taliban statements this week. In this one alleging 5 American casualties in Kandahar, there was this: Later on Monday, one of the brave Mujahids of the Islamic Emirate killed five U.S soldiers in Kandahar’s Shawali Kowt district …. However, a statement has been issued by the U.S militay […]
Somalia
The pro-government Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jamaa militia drove Shabaab from the village of Wabho; 16 people were reported killed. Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jamaa also battled Hizbul Islam in Beledweyn; 10 people were killed. Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jamaa claimed a top Hizbul Islam leader defected.
Iraq
Security forces detained 25 suspects behind a plot to conduct major attacks in Baghdad; more than 1,000 pounds of explosives were also seized. Iraq forces also detained two Special Groups leaders in Al Kut and an Awakening leader in Baqubah. Insurgents killed two civilians and two policemen in a bombing south of Khanaqin.
Afghanistan
Survey reveals growing optimism in Afghanistan
Integrating the Sons of Iraq
Click image to view slideshow of a night patrol through Shorja Market with the al Sadria Sons of Iraq in May 2008. Photos by Bill Ardolino. In a recent post noting continued stabilization of Iraq, I mentioned three versions of a statistic that remains troubling for the country’s future: the slow pace of integrating the […]