Turkey
Turkey scrambled F-16 fighters jets as Syrian helicopters approached its border. The action came after Prime Minister Erdogan had warned that any Syrian military approaching the border would be treated as a threat.
Yearly Archives: 2012
Yemen
Security forces killed an al Qaeda leader and detained nine more in Dhale province. The government said that 13 AQAP plots to attack embassies in Sana’a were foiled. Seven soldiers were poisoned at a checkpoint in Sana’a.
Somalia
Seven people were killed during fighting between Shabaab fighters and Kenyan and Somali troops in Qogani. Shabaab fighters killed two Somali troops in Gedo. The governor of Hiran province survived an assassination attempt.
Syria
Failure of Syria peace plan ‘risks wider regional conflict’
15 Christians killed in attacks on churches in northern Kenya
The Muslim Youth Center, Shabaab’s affiliate in Kenya, has vowed to wage jihad in Kenya.
Kenya
Suspected Shabaab militants attacked two churches in Garissa, about 90 miles from the Somali border. The attackers threw grenades and shot worshipers, killing 15 people and wounding about 40. The gunmen all escaped.
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
Mukhtar Belmukhtar, one of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb’s top military commanders, threatened to act “with firmness and determination” against locals in northern Mali who support foreign forces. He was rumored to have been killed during fighting in northern Mali last week.
Mali
The Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa threatened to attack any country that sends troops to northern Mali. “The MUJAO is committed to providing all kinds of material and military support for young Muslims determined to raise the banner of Islam,” the group also said. Islamist attacks on Sufi shrines continued.
US drones strike again in the Shawal Valley
Eight “militants,” including members of the Turkistan Islamic Party, were killed in the latest airstrike in a Taliban and al Qaeda hub in Pakistan’s tribal agency of North Waziristan.
Al Qaeda
Al-Qaeda plotting to bomb US plane: report
United States
The US indicted Minh Quang Pham for assisting al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Pham, who had traveled from the UK to Yemen to help with AQAP’s online propaganda and worked with an American there in 2011, is currently being held in the UK and will be extradited soon.
Afghanistan
ISAF killed the Lashkar-e-Taiba’s leader in Kunar and several insurgents in an airstrike in the province. The Taliban killed four civilians and two policemen in bombings in Helmand and Paktia, and poisoned 53 schoolgirls in Sar-i-Pul.
Saudi Arabia
The United Nations Security Council will remove Saad al Faqih from the al Qaeda sanctions list tomorrow evening if none of the nations on the council object. Faqih was added to the US’s list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists in 2004 for ties to top al Qaeda leaders.
Pakistan
Labour lifts Lord Ahmed’s suspension
→
Iran Braces For Full Force Of EU Oil Embargo
Afghanistan
Afghan Phaseout of Security Firms Draws Concerns
Kenya
The four aid workers who were kidnapped yesterday in the Dadaab refuge camp in northern Kenya include two Canadians, a Norwegian, and a Filipino. Shabaab is suspected of moving the foreign aid workers to Somalia.
Nigeria
The military is planning on deploying troops to Kano as Boko Haram attacks rise. Police detonated two bombs in the city of Jos.
US Treasury targets money exchanges, owners, for funding Taliban
The Haji Khairullah Haji Sattar Money Exchange and the Roshan Money Exchange (RMX), and the Pakistan-based co-owners of HKHS have been funneling cash to the Taliban.
Afghanistan
Russia Allows NATO to Use Airbase
Afghanistan
US targets informal banks for alleged aid to Taliban
Lebanon
Syria crisis: Lebanon sucked into Syria crisis
ISAF kills Lashkar-e-Taiba’s leader for Kunar in airstrike
Khatab Shafiq, a Pakistani citizen, was the Lashkar-e-Taiba’s senior leader in Kunar province, where he established training camps, taught weapons classes, and funded operations.
Mali
Fighters from the al Qaeda-linked Islamist group Ansar Dine attacked ancient Sufi shrines with shovels and pickaxes in Timbuktu. An Ansar Dine spokesman said all of the shrines in the UNESCO-designated city would be destroyed. UNESCO is concerned about damage to world heritage sites in Timbuktu and Gao, which also is under Islamist control.
Afghanistan
Pakistan bombing hints at free rein for radicals in Quetta
Pakistan
The condemned: A special report on Ahmadi persecution – coming soon
Afghanistan
An estimated 20 Taliban fighters, 15 policemen, and four civilians were killed after the Taliban attacked two villages in Nuristan province. Three policemen and three Taliban fighters were killed in Kunar. The Taliban killed a district police chief, his wife, and daughter in Jawzjan.
Egyptian president wants ‘Blind Sheikh’ freed
During a speech in Tahrir Square, the new Egyptian president, Mohamed Morsi, called for Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman to be freed. Rahman is a longtime ally of al Qaeda and was convicted by a US court for his involvement in terrorist plots.
Key Mumbai plotter arrested in Saudi Arabia
Saudi authorities arrested Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari, a key operative in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, earlier this month. Ansari has reportedly implicated Pakistani officials in the attacks.
Iraq
Insurgents killed Iraqis in a series of bombings in Balad. To hedge against a possible Iranian attack on shipping in the Persian Gulf, Saudi Arabia reopened a pipeline built by Iraq in the 1980s.