President Putin warned his security services of rising terrorist threats. Left-wing activists are being arrested for “causing disorder.” Putin claimed that in the past several months, “479 militants were detained, and 313 terrorists, who refused to surrender, were killed, including 43 leaders,” mainly in the north Caucasus region.
US pushes Afghans as security deteriorates
Pakistan – Intelligence agencies warn of suicide bombers
Pakistan – Operation in North Waziristan: PML-N fails govt move to get parliament’s approval
Last weekend’s suicide attack at an NDS headquarters in Kandahar that killed four Afghan intelligence operatives and two ISAF personnel was a green-on-blue attack. ISAF apologized for killing three civilians in an airstrike in Helmand on Oct. 14. The NDS killed a civilian during a raid in Kabul. ISAF captured a Taliban leader in Nangarhar […]
An al Qaeda suicide bomber killed six militiamen in an attack on a checkpoint in Mudya in Abyan province. A senior intelligence official was gunned down in Sana’a; an estimated 60 intelligence officials have been assassinated so far this year.
Egypt’s Islamist revival most evident at the grass roots
U.S. to Help Create Libyan Commando Force
Ansar Jerusalem has threatened to attack Israel in response to the killing of Abu al Walid al Maqdisi and Ashraf al Sabah.
New computer spying program linked to attacks on Arab states
An appeals court overturned a military court’s conviction of former bin Laden bodyguard and driver Salim Ahmed Hamdan, who was captured in Afghanistan in 2001 and detained at Guantanamo. Because providing material support for terrorism was not an international war crime at the time of his arrest, the court found the conviction a retroactive prosecution […]
Afghan Army’s High Turnover Clouds US Exit Plan
Rebel military commanders agreed to set up a joint leadership. Rebel civilian leaders planned to meet Nov. 4 for a unity conference in Qatar. Government forces continue to bombard a strategic town captured by rebels last week; the town overlooks a main road between Damascus and Aleppo.
Opposition groups staged a large protest against changes to election laws affecting upcoming parliamentary elections. Some protesters were arrested and several injured as police tried to break up the demonstration.
Approximately 120 inmates of Tripoli’s al-Judaida prison escaped in a mass jailbreak. The prisoners were of various nationalities, and the circumstances of the jailbreak are unclear. Some 60 inmates have been recaptured. Security services are on high alert.
Five masked men stormed into a 500-year-old Muslim shrine and set it on fire. The shrine had previously been threatened by religious conservatives. Human Rights Watch said Tunisia has failed to crack down on Islamist violence against secularists.
A uniformed employee of the National Directorate of Security detonated his suicide vest at a district office in Kandahar province, killing two Americans and four Afghans from a visiting NDS delegation.
The Danish agent, the Croatian blonde and the CIA plot to get al-Awlaki
Iraqi Shi’ite militants fight for Syria’s Assad
Boko Haram militants executed coordinated bomb attacks against military targets in Maiduguri, shot a traffic warden, and set a school and radio tower on fire. The army reported that three militants were killed, four arrested, and a police officer wounded; additional casualties are expected. Police detonated a bomb found near a cybercafe in Minna in […]
Swiss authorities are holding $1 billion in assets linked to deposed dictators in Egypt, Libya, Syria, and Tunisia. Swiss officials are working with judicial officers in Egypt and Tunisia to restore the blocked funds, but the process is expected to take “years.”
Philippines – Militants threaten Manila peace deal
Rachid Ghannouchi, the co-founder and leader of Ennahda, urged Salafists to be patient, build institutions, and “take your time to consolidate what you have gained.” He also met with Ansar al Sharia emir Seifallah ben Hassine.
The Taliban killed a Superintendent of Police and six policemen and Frontier Constabulary personnel in Peshawar. Interior Minister Malik said an operation in North Waziristan is not being planned.
A militia killed six Taliban fighters in Ghazni. Afghan officials said three civilians were killed in an airstrike in Helmand. Three health workers and their driver were kidnapped in Herat.
A court convicted seven men of forming an al Qaeda cell that attacked government forces and installations, as well and tourists and embassies, from 2009 to 2011. The men were given sentences of one to six years in prison.
Insurgents killed two policemen, two soldiers, and a civilian in bombings and a shooting in Kirkuk and Tuz Khormato. Insurgents also killed two Awakening members in Samarra and a military officer in Baghdad.
Germany Faces Logistical and Political Trouble in Afghanistan Drawdown
After protests, Myanmar bars OIC from opening office
NATO Says New Framework Assures Afghan Stability After 2014