Monthly Archives: September 2013

Nigeria

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau released a video yesterday claiming last week’s attacks in Benisheikh and a similar recent attack in Monguno Town in Borno state. In August, Nigerian authorities had said Shekau was killed in a shootout with soldiers. Suspected Boko Haram gunmen shot and killed a pastor and his two children, then set […]



Shabaab

Somalis in Minn. say youths still enticed to join terror group





Mali

The National Movement for the Liberation of the Azawad, a Tuareg separatist group, said it and two other groups are withdrawing from the peace agreement reached with the Malian government in June. Founding MNLA member Mossa Ag Acharatoumane accused the government of not living up to its end of the deal, which was to include […]


Belgium

Belgian police in Vilvoorde arrested Ismail Abdelatif Al Lal, a top financier for an al Qaeda-linked network based in Spain that sent Spanish and Moroccan jihadists to Syria. The head of the recruiting network was arrested on Sept. 16 in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, and eight other members were arrested in Ceuta in June.


Canada

Ali Mohamed Dirie, 30, a convicted terrorist, has been killed while fighting in Syria. He is said to have left Canada for Syria in 2011 after serving prison time for plotting with an Islamist cell to kill the prime minister, take hostages, and bomb targets in the Toronto area. He had reportedly joined an extremist […]


United States

Authorities acknowledged that the theft of US military equipment from a US Special Forces base in Libya is more serious than previously reported; dozens of armored GMV vehicles are missing, along with hundreds of weapons and most of the night-vision goggles. Alway Pouryan, a US citizen, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for conspiring […]


Iraq

Al Qaeda in Iraq killed 25 people in attacks throughout the country. In one attack, seven civilians and two soldiers were killed in a suicide assault on a district center in Hawija. Security forces killed five al Qaeda fighters near the Syrian border and four more in south of Mosul, and detained four Ansar al […]


Yemen

A suicide bomber killed a Yemeni intelligence officer in an attack at a market in the city of Ataq in Shabwa province. He is the second intelligence officer to be assassinated by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in two days.



Syria

In a statement issued yesterday, 13 Syrian rebel groups, including the al Qaeda-affiliated Al Nusrah Front, agreed to create an Islamist opposition force in Syria to be run only by groups fighting in Syria, rejecting the Syrian National Coalition and other groups “formed abroad.” The new coalition of powerful Islamist groups also includes members of […]


UN warned of Shabaab ally’s ‘new and more complex operations’ in Kenya

A report published by a UN Monitoring Group in July warned that Al Hijra, Shabaab’s affiliate in Kenya, was planning more complicated attacks utilizing fighters who had returned from Somalia. The report also revealed that the US has been funding the “Al-Shabaab/East Africa Al-Qaida Disruption Initiative,” which has targeted Al Hijra’s leaders.



Shabaab emir praises group’s assault on Kenya mall

Sheikh Mukhtar Abu Zubayr threatened further attacks in Kenya if its military is not withdrawn from southern Somalia. He also noted that the assault on the Westgate Mall was “just 10 days after the anniversary date of the blessed 911 operations.”


Number of Gaza terror groups possess Strela 2 MANPADS

Recent photos and video from the Gaza Strip provide clear evidence that Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups are in the possession of Strela 2 (SA-7 Grail) MANPADS. Israeli officials have previously warned that Palestinian terror groups were benefiting from the looting of weapon stockpiles in Libya.





Syria

Former rebel stronghold Homs a shadow of its old self


Kenya

Shabaab’s emir threatened more attacks if Kenya does not withdraw its troops from Somalia. The death toll in the attack, already at 62, may rise by as many as 60 more as security forces and forensic experts continue to sweep the building. A British man of Somali origins was arrested at Nairobi airport on suspicion […]




Libya

The son of Defense Minister Al-Thani is said to have been kidnapped in the Tripoli suburb of Janzur by gunmen. A member of Prime Minister Zeidan’s staff was kidnapped in Tripoli on Sept. 23. Former Guantanamo inmate Abdulhamid Abdussalam El Ghazzawi, 50, has arrived in Libya from Georgia, where he had been transferred by US […]



United States

President Obama told the UN that the US will stay engaged in the Middle East and North Africa, with “all elements of our power, including military force,” to ensure the free flow of energy from the region, dismantle terrorist networks, and forbid the use of chemical weapons or WMD. He also called for “consequences” if […]


Iran

President Rouhani claimed that the greatest danger in the Middle East is that of chemical weapons in Syria falling into the hands of terrorists, and warned against a military intervention in Syria. He also said Iran is ready to engage on talks about its nuclear program as long as Iran’s right to enrich uranium for […]