Monthly Archives: December 2012




Kenya

Three people were killed in an explosion near a shopping center in the Eastleigh neighborhood of Nairobi. Eastleigh is a Somali neighborhood and has a strong Shabaab presence.


Movement for Tawhid and Jihad in West Africa

The US and UN have added the Movement for Tawhid and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) to the list of terrorist entities. Additionally, Hamad el Khairy, a senior leader, and Ahmed el Tilemsi, the military emir, were designated as global terrorists.


United Kingdom

The Foreign Office said it would seek to offer practical support to the Syrian rebels in the form of training and non-lethal equipment. The Syrian National Coalition’s appointment of a UK envoy was hailed as “a sign of progress.” The Home Secretary got permission to appeal an immigration court ruling prohibiting the deportation of radical […]


United States

The US Navy deployed two guided missile destroyers to monitor the anticipated launch of a long-range missile by North Korea later this month. Abu Khalid Abdul-Latif (a.k.a. Joseph Anthony Davis) pled guilty to plotting to attack a south Seattle military recruitment center and faces a 17 to 19-year prison sentence; a co-defendant pled guilty to […]


Romania

Pakistani citizens Ramzan Muhammad and Adeel Muhammad were declared personae non gratae after their arrest on suspicion of plotting a terrorist attack in Romania over the winter holidays. The two al Qaeda-linked men are being held in custody until they can be extradited.





Afghanistan

A Taliban suicide bomber wounded the Afghan intelligence chief and two others in an assassination attempt in Kabul. A Taliban leader named Akhbar and several other insurgents were killed in an operation in Dara-e Pech district in Kunar province. The government ordered an investigation into the shooting of a schoolgirl in Kapisa.



Syria

US officials reported that Syrian government forces were preparing to use chemical weapons. Top US, Russian, and UN diplomats held an emergency meeting to discuss the situation. The US and European nations rushed to fund the newly-formed Syrian opposition coalition. Fighting intensified around Damascus.



Lebanon

Fighting continued in Tripoli between groups loyal to the opposing sides in the Syrian civil war. At least 10 people have been killed in the last three days.


Egypt

A night of widespread street fighting between supporters and opponents of President Morsi left six dead and hundreds wounded. The Army was brought in to separate the groups. Morsi said he would stand by his decree.


Libya

Judiciary police facilitated the escape of some 200 detainees at Sebha prison on Tuesday in Libya’s volatile south. The region suffers from gangs, armed criminal outfits, smuggling rings, and most recently, a large influx of non-Libyan illegal immigrants as well as the presence of al Qaeda-linked fighters.


Mali

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa threatened to kill Algerian and French hostages. Former AQIM emir Mokhtar Belmokhtar (a.k.a. Laaouar) created a suicide bomber brigade that includes foreign jihadists, and threatened attacks against any country that intervenes in Mali.


Bosnia-Herzegovina

A Bosnian court convicted Mevlid Jasarevic, a Wahhabist Muslim, of terrorism charges relating to a shooting at the US Embassy in October 2011. Jasarevic was sentenced to 18 years in prison; two accomplices, Emrah Fojnica and Munib Ahmetspahic, were acquitted. The government plans to appeal the acquittals.



United Kingdom

Jubayer Chowdhury and British trainee doctor Shajul Islam, who were arrested at Heathrow Airport by counterterrorism police, will be tried for their roles in the kidnapping and imprisonment of two Western journalists in Syria by Islamic extremists. Ruksana Begum, the sister of two men jailed this summer for a plot to blow up the London […]







Syria

Syria loads chemical weapons into bombs; military awaits Assad’s order