Turkish troops and aircraft continued their offensive for a second day against Kurdistan Workers Party militants near the border with Iraq and Syria. Eighteen militants and one soldier have been killed in the operation. Turkish aircraft also bombed areas in the Kurdistan region inside Iraq.
After pressure from Congress, the State Department finally added the group, which has links to the Taliban, al Qaeda, and the Pakistani military and intelligence services, to the US list of foreign terror organizations.
Insider attacks: How US and Afghan troops see the mission now
Killing of Rebel With Qaeda Links Opens Debate on Syrian Opposition
Third of Children in Afghan South Acutely Malnourished
Calling Iran the biggest threat to global security, Canada closed its embassy in Tehran and gave Iranian diplomats five days to leave Canada. Canada designated Iran a state sponsor of terrorism for giving material support to terrorist groups, and also cited Iran’s growing aid to the Assad regime, its disregard for both human rights and […]
The jihadist media outlet is likely linked to the Haqqani Network, and may cater to foreign fighters.
Worries intensify over Syrian chemical weapons
White House Backs Blacklisting Militant Organization
Oil depots in Mumbai put on terror alert
Pakistan – USAID to help repair NATO-damaged road network, NA told
Denmark – Minister cancels appearance at anti-radicalism conference
Muhammad A. Salah, of Bridgeview, Ill., sued the Treasury Department to remove sanctions that designated him in 1995 as a terrorist. He was convicted in 2007 of lying in a civil case about his connections to Hamas. The judge in the military court case of Ft. Hood shooter Major Nidal Hassan ordered that his beard […]
ISAF killed an an al Qaeda leader and three operatives in an airstrike in Kunar; the leader and two fighters were Pakistanis, another was a Saudi. Two former Taliban leaders and three Pakistanis were detained in Nuristan. The Afghan military took control of security in five districts in Baghlan.
Three foreign al Qaeda fighters were reportedly killed in yesterday’s drone strike in Hadramout province. The identities and home countries of those thought to have been killed was not disclosed.
Insight: In Aleppo, jets vs. rifles, as civilians despair
Government forces captured a rebel-held town near the Jordanian border, closing off a refugee route. A battle of attrition continued in the city of Aleppo as neither side made substantial gains. France started providing direct aid to rebels.
In Gaza, six Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes. The airstrikes followed several days of rocket attacks on Israel. Hamas carried out a campaign of arrests against Salafist Jihadist groups.
Militants used a “homemade” bomb to ambush a military convoy near Datykh in the Sunzha district of Ingushetia. The militants, said to number about 10, attacked the police with guns and grenade launchers before fleeing into the forest. Six policemen were killed in the attack, and one was wounded.
Foreign forces asked to quit Kunar
Kunar Province Vows Jihad if Cross-Border Shelling Continues
Afghanistan – New Intelligence Teams to Probe Insider Attacks
Afghans use culture guides to cut insider attacks
Pakistan expels Save the Children’s foreign staff
Hillary Clinton, top Chinese officials air differences
Shabaab claimed it killed seven Ugandan troops in two IED attacks in the Daynille district in Mogadishu. Gunmen killed two people in an attack on a bus in Burhakaba. Security forces detained 323 people while searching for Shabaab fighters in Mogadishu.
Suspected Boko Haram militants destroyed at least 24 mobile phone masts in the northern Nigerian cities of Kano, Maiduguri, Gombe, and Bauchi, the first such attacks by the group. Boko Haram gunmen also killed 16 people, including a Yobe state government official in Damaturu.
President Obama claims that the Taliban’s “momentum” has been broken in Afghanistan. Other officials have made similar claims. The Long War Journal has examined several sources that measure the insurgency’s capacity for violence and finds that the Taliban’s momentum has not been broken. The overall level of violence in Afghanistan today remains worse than prior to the surge.
Abu Saif, a Pakistani national, served as a cross-border facilitator and a conduit between senior al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and was involved in media operations. Two other Pakistanis and a Saudi were also killed.
A British businessman is seeking to prosecute Babar Ahmad, who has been in British custody since his 2004 arrest and is fighting extradition to the US. Ahmad ran a London-based website hosted in the US that supported the Taliban and other Islamist militants.