Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has released a video with an audio voice-over by the kidnapped French national, Michel Germaneau. In the video, Germaneau’s picture and identification card are visible and he verbally authenticates AQIM’s abduction. AQIM is demanding a prisoner swap for the release of the Frenchman.
US ‘will not destroy Kandahar to save it from Taliban’
Father calls son™s arrest in Chile a trap
Security forces killed 10 Lashkar-e-Islam fighters in Khyber and detained a suspect in the failed Times Square bomb attack. An anti-terrorism court acquitted nine suspects accused of killing a senior Army general and seven others in a suicide attack in Rawalpindi.
Two Iraqi soldiers were killed while defusing an IED in Baghdad. Security forces detained 18 wanted men in Basrah, four al Qaeda operatives south of Baghdad, and a suspected Iranian operative in Khanaqin.
It’s Pak-Pak not Af-Pak stupid!
Al Qaeda still in Iran
Top soldier in southern Afghanistan warns against Taliban ‘impunity’
Five fronts in the war in Afghanistan
Ten people were killed in clashes between Hizbul Islam and government forces in Mogadishu. A former mayor of Mogadishu escaped an assassination attempt in the capital. Hizbul Islam is establishing an administration in the Mudug region in central Somali.
Clinton to Afghan women: ‘We will not abandon you’
Police killed three men suspected of providing assistance to the Moscow Metro suicide attacks on March 29 that killed 41 civilians. Police did not disclose where the three men were killed.
Police killed five terror suspects and detained one more on May 12 during a raid in in Cawang in East Jakarta. Police arrested three terror suspects during a raid on a safe house in Sukoharjo district in Central Java.
Afghan and US security forces killed 41 Taliban fighters in Kunduz and 14 more in Ghazni, and detained 40 Taliban fighters in Helmand. Police killed a suicide bomber in Laghman.
Joint Afghan and US special operations teams captured a Taliban commander during raids in Kunduz province.
Two men were arrested on immigration violations after warrants were executed in Boston, New York, and New Jersey. The raids may be related to the financial network that supported Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzaz.
Russian security forces kill three Metro bomb suspects
Indonesia steps up pressure on Islamist militants
North Korea arms plane ‘bound for Hezbollah™
Afghanistan opium poppies hit by mysterious disease
An al Qaeda group calling itself the Brigade of Sheikh Abu Omar al Baghdadi has claimed the failed suicide attack that targeted Britain’s Ambassador to Yemen in Sana’a on April 26. The suicide bomber was identified as Othman Nouman al Salawi.
The FBI has executed search warrants in connection with the failed Times Square bombing in locations in the Northeast. Homes and a gas station have been searched, reportedly for cash connections to the plot. Two have been taken into custody for immigration violations.
Somalia – Middlemen negotiate pirate ransoms
Terrorists ambushed a communications tower repair crew in the Sergokalinsk region in Dagestan, killing eight people. The police-escorted convoy was hit by an IED and then fired upon. The communications tower was bombed the night before.
US intelligence officials believe Iran is allowing al Qaeda operatives based in the country to move freely into neighboring countries. Members of al Qaeda’s top leadership circles based in Iran, including Saif al Adel, al Qaeda’s top strategist, are thought to be free to travel to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
French antiterror effort: Action, not defense
Are Sadr militias rearming in Iraq’s south?
Europe’s antiterrorism agencies favor human intelligence over technology
Military response to cyber attack possible: Pentagon
Distrust of Afghan leaders threatens US war strategy