Afghanistan
Obama focused on defeating al-Qaida in Afghanistan: White House
Obama focused on defeating al-Qaida in Afghanistan: White House
The Taliban killed two policemen in an IED attack in Herat. Afghan officials claimed that ISAF forces killed three women and children in a night raid in Faryab; ISAF said the civilians were used by the IMU as human shields.
Police claimed that Lashkar-e-Islam leader Mangal Bagh was killed in Khyber; Bagh’s spokesman denied the report. A tribal lashkar executed three Lashkar-e-Islam fighters in Khyber.
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Pakistani police claim Bagh was killed during an operation in the contested tribal agency. Bagh’s spokesman denied the report.
Syria’s conflict has significance far beyond its borders
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Heavy fighting broke out in Damascus. Clashes were reported in the affluent Mezze neighborhood, where embassies, security buildings, and homes of members of Assad’s inner circle are located. The government blamed Saudi Arabia and Qatar for bomb attacks in Damascus and Aleppo.
Rightsize military, World Bank asks Kabul
US Permanent Bases Not Part of US-Afghan Pact: Faizi
New Hezbollah arms, training jeopardize Israel’s aerial supremacy: report
What War and Militancy Left Behind: Swat Valley Struggles Back To Its Feet
A court freed Ayman al Zawahiri’s brother, Mohammed, and five others from prison. Mohammed, a member of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, has been convicted of involvement in the assassination of President Sadat and plotting against the state.
US accelerating cyberweapon research
Drones at Issue as Pakistan Tries to Mend US Ties
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has moved a female Swiss hostage from Hudiyah to their stronghold in Abyan province. AQAP is demanding a $1.2 million ransom to secure her release.
Shabaab killed six people in a mortar attack on the presidential palace in Mogadishu. Shabaab also claimed it killed several Kenyan troops in an ambush in the south. Shabaab is rumored to have arrested Omar Hammami.
Talks between the government and Boko Haram have stalled after details of the negotiations were leaked to the press. The head of the Supreme Council for Shariah in Nigeria, who served as the mediator between the two, has resigned and blamed the government for talking to the press.
Detachment 88 killed five “Islamic extremist terrorists” who were plotting to bomb a bar, a bank, and a jeweler’s shop in Bali. The five terrorists were gunned down at a hotel; police found weapons but did not discover explosives.
The trial began of Ahmad Wali Siddiqui, a German-Afghan citizen charged with membership in both al Qaeda and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. Statements by Siddiqui after his capture in Afghanistan in July 2010 led to the disruption of an al Qaeda plot to conduct Mumbai-type attacks in Britain, France, and Germany.
A gunman on a scooter shot “at least” four people outside a Jewish school in Toulouse, killing three children and an adult. Authorities believe the shootings are linked to the recent killings of three French soldiers nearby. President Sarkozy suspended his election campaign in reaction to the attacks.
A car bomb exploded near a security building in the northern city of Aleppo. The supply of black market weapons to rebels has been depleted. Iraq said it would not allow Iran to transit weapons to Syria.
The Yemeni Navy does not have the capacity to launch such a strike.
Pakistan – HRCP alarmed over deteriorating state of human rights
Sixteen al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters in Zinjibar were killed in a possible US airstrike. AQAP killed an American teacher in Taiz.
In June 2011, President Obama announced the withdrawal of US military forces from Afghanistan, with the goal of being substantially out of the country by the end 2014. The plan for getting there is becoming clearer.
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