Yearly Archives: 2012

Egypt

| May 25, 2012

Egypt’s ultraconservatives look to presidential vote as chance to plant seeds for Islamic path

Turkey

| May 25, 2012

A suicide car bomb exploded at a police checkpoint, killing at least one policeman. Kurdish rebels, fighting for autonomy in southeastern Turkey, are suspected.

Egypt

| May 25, 2012

Early returns from the presidential elections indicate the Muslim Brotherhood candidate and the former prime minister in the Mubarak administration received the most votes. Since neither received more that 50% of the votes, a runoff will decide the winner.

Al Qaeda

| May 25, 2012

Yemen praises State Department’s use of graphic anti-militant imagery

Yemen

| May 25, 2012

A suicide bomber killed 12 Shia in a bombing at a Houthi mosque in Al Hazm, the capital of Al Jawf province. Ansar al Sharia reportedly said the name of the Sana’a suicide bomber is a Yemeni soldier named Haitham Hamid Hussein Mufarih.

Somalia

| May 25, 2012

Three civilians were killed in a blast at a mosque in Galkayo. Shabaab arrested khat traders in Afmadow. Somali and African Union forces are just two miles outside of the Shabaab stronghold of Afgoye.

France

| May 25, 2012

President Hollande said France would pull 2,000 soldiers out of Afghanistan by the end of 2012, leaving 1,300 in country to help with equipment repatriation and training of Afghan troops. Defending France’s “sovereign decision” to withdraw from the NATO mission a year early, he said France would help Afghanistan in other ways, such as assisting […]

United States

| May 25, 2012

Pfc. Naser Jason Abdo, a Muslim convert, was convicted of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction, attempted murder, and weapons charges for plotting to bomb a restaurant packed with US soldiers in Killeen, Tex. The AWOL soldier said he planned the attack to seek “justice” for the people of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Al Qaeda

| May 24, 2012

US Senate docks Pakistan $1m for each year of Shakil Afridi’s sentence

Afghanistan

| May 24, 2012

Security forces killed 17 Taliban fighters and detained 54 more in Helmand, Zabul, Uruzgan, Logar, Ghazni, Khost, Kabul, Nangarhar, and Takhar. Special operations forces captured an IMU facilitator in Badakhshan. A suicide bomber killed two policemen in Helmand.

Iran

| May 24, 2012

Talks between Iran and the six powers over Iran’s nuclear program continued for a second day. No agreement was reached as Iran insisted on its right to continue uranium enrichment and Western nations refused to roll back sanctions. Further talks were scheduled for mid-June.

Yemen

| May 24, 2012

The Yemeni military claimed that 35 al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters were killed in Abyan and Lahj. A former minister called for the government to negotiate with AQAP and its political front, Ansar al Sharia.

Somalia

| May 24, 2012

The Kenya Defence Force said it would reach Kismayo next month. Gunmen killed a Turkish citizen and a Somali reporter for Shabelle in Mogadishu.

Turkey

| May 24, 2012

Turkey said Syria was allowing Kurdish rebels to set up bases on its territory. Turkish security forces foiled a Syrian plot to kidnap a Syrian rebel commander.

Egypt

| May 24, 2012

Presidential elections continued for a second day. An expert judged the elections were fair. The Muslim Brotherhood claimed an early lead.

Shabaab

| May 24, 2012

A photo of Omar Hammami, the American who has served as a commander, propagandist, and recruiter for Shabaab, has been released on the Internet. The photo shows Hammami with a copy of his autobiography, which was released last week.