Iraq
Security forces detained 11 “terrorists” in Daqouq and Rashad near Kirkuk. Insurgents killed a policemen in Fallujah. The government declared a 10-day-long vacation in preparation for the Arab League summit.
Monthly Archives: March 2012
Syria
Syria’s opposition groups, meeting in Istanbul, tried to form a more united front. Turkey and the United States planned to provide “nonlethal” aid to Syrian rebel groups. Turkey closed its embassy, following similar closures by several other countries.
Turkey
Turkey’s former military chief of staff went on trial for “terrorism.” General Ilker Basbug was accused of being the leader behind a series of plots against the government of Prime Minister Erdogan.
Somalia
Shabaab forces abandoned El Bur, a town northeast of Mogadishu, as Ethiopian troops and fighters from a rival militia advanced. El Bur served as a major base for Shabaab.
Norway
Najmuddin Faraj Ahmad, a.k.a. Mullah Krekar, was sentenced to five years in prison for making death threats; he immediately appealed the sentence. Krekar founded Ansar al Islam in Iraq, but humanitarian reasons prevent Norway from deporting him there.
France
President Sarkozy will bar radical Islamist preachers, including Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi, from entering France for a conference of the Union of French Islamic Organizations, a group linked to the Muslim Brotherhood. Footage of Mohamed Merah’s killing spree was mailed to Al Jazeera the day police besieged his apartment.
United Kingdom
The government’s top counterterrorism lawyer said that 52 suspected terrorists were held under the controversial control order program between 2005 and 2011. Under a more lenient system introduced in 2012, nine of the 52 suspects are still subject to certain restrictions.
Afghanistan
Afghan Interior MInistry Concerned Over Foreign Support Extended To Insurgents
Afghan security forces kill 3 ISAF troops in south, east
Sixteen Coalition soldiers have been murdered by Afghan security personnel this year. ISAF said the overall number of attacks on its personnel by Afghan forces is “classified.”
Egypt
Muslim Brotherhood asserts its strength in Egypt with challenges to military
Boko Haram
In Nigeria, Boko Haram Targets Schools
Afghanistan
US negotiation efforts with Taliban have failed: Report
Pakistan
Pakistan – Pakistan wants civil nuclear technology: Gilani
Afghanistan
The Taliban killed seven Afghan soldiers and a translator, three ISAF soldiers, and two children in separate attacks. The US paid $860,000 to the families of those killed and wounded by a rogue US soldier in Kandahar.
Afghanistan
Delays Keep Omar Khadr at Guantánamo, Despite Plea Deal
Yemen
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has seized control of the coastal town of Radum in Shabwa province. AQAP assassinated an intelligence official in Lahj.
United Arab Emirates
The police chief of Dubai warned that the Muslim Brotherhood was plotting to take over the Persian Gulf states. The states of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE have been governed for centuries by ruling families.
Bahrain
Hundreds of riot police fought Shiite protestors in Sitra, a poor district southeast of Manama. Sitra has long been a battleground for Shiites who feel the government has marginalized them politically and economically.
AQAP takes control of another town in southern Yemen
A coastal town in Shabwa province is the latest to fall to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
Somalia
Shabaab withdrew from the town of Mahas in Hiran province. Shabaab fighters assassinated two civilians in Mogadishu. Kenyan warplanes killed two civilians in Gedo.
Afghanistan
Radio Azadi Names Hindia d’Afghanistan ‘Person Of The Year’
Morocco
An estimated 40,000 Moroccans participated in a pro-Palestinian march in the capital of Rabat. The march was staged by Al-Adl Wal Ihsan, an Islamist group.
France
France – Prisons to blame for extremist indoctrination?
India
India concerned over security of Pakistan’s nuclear programme
Afghanistan
Pakistani Taliban forcing Nuristan residents from homes
Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham
Insight: Iraq war over? Not where Qaeda rules through fear
Afghanistan
Taliban warn Pakistan lawmakers over NATO supplies
Taliban threaten Pakistani parliamentarians over possible reopening of NATO supply routes
NATO’s supply routes through Afghanistan have been closed for four months, and the Taliban want to keep it that way.
Nigeria
At least two Boko Haram fighters killed themselves while detonating their explsoives-packed car as security forces raided their home in Kano. Twelve women and children were present in the home when the car exploded.
France
Abdelkader Merah, a brother of Toulouse gunman Mohamed Merah, was charged with theft, conspiracy to prepare acts of terrorism, and complicity in the murders of seven people and attempted murder of two more. The French security alert has been lowered from its highest level.