Al Nusrah Front
Syrian death toll reaches new grim milestone
Monthly Archives: May 2014
United States
FBI Director James Comey admitted to underestimating the strength of al Qaeda’s offshoots in Africa and the Middle East, and said the FBI should continue to focus primarily on combating terrorism. The Justice Department filed cyber-espionage charges against five members of the Chinese military. Al Qaeda-linked cleric Abu Hamza was found guilty of all 11 […]
Al Nusrah Front
Syria rebels face setback in south
Al Nusrah Front
Islamic extremism on rise in Jordan
Syria
The head of the regime’s air defenses died after being wounded in fighting near Damascus. Syrian National Coalition defense minister Asaad Mustafa resigned. The Islamic Front, Jaish Al-Mujahideen, Ajnad Al-Sham, Failaq Al-Sham, and Alweiat Al-Furqa issued a “revolutionary covenant” declaring that their targets are the regime, Hezbollah, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the […]
Egypt
Egyptian Brotherhood split on using force
Al Nusrah Front
Maaloula a ghost town after rebel ouster
Syria
Detainees in Homs spurned by regime and rebels alike
United Arab Emirates
Trial was adjourned in the case of nine suspected Al Nusrah Front members accused of participating in al Qaeda-linked activities. The cell, which includes five Tunisians, two Palestinians, a Jordanian, and a Lebanese, is suspected of plotting attacks in UAE, supporting and recruiting for Al Nusrah, and running the jihadist website Sinam al-Islam.
Turkey
Authorities detonated a suspect package found outside the US Embassy in Ankara. The founder of a popular online forum was given a 10-month suspended sentence for blasphemy; he was among 40 members charged with insulting religion. “Smugglers” from Syria attacked a military border post at Hacıpaşa in Hatay province.
Kenya
A suspected Shabaab militia killed 12 people, including three police reservists, during an ambush in Mandera near the Somalia border; seven other people are also thought to have been abducted or killed. US Ambassador Robert Godec said on May 17 that the embassy is reducing its Nairobi staff and heightening security measures as the US […]
Somalia
Airstrikes by Kenyan AU-force jets targeted Shabaab in Jilib in Middle Jubba yesterday. The Somali army claimed to have killed 17 militiamen during the army’s roadblock-clearing operation in Lower Shabelle in recent months.
Libya
Wanis Bukhamada, the head of special forces in Benghazi, said his forces are allied with General Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army in fighting against Islamists; commanders of the Cyrenaenica federalists and the Tobruk air force base made similar statements. Haftar’s forces claimed to have suspended the GNC. The Islamist-leaning GNC head Nouri Abu Sahmein ordered […]
Al Nusrah Front collects donations for new Islamic institute via Twitter
The Al Nusrah Front, al Qaeda’s official branch in Syria, is using Twitter to raise funds for a new Islamic institute.
Libya
Security concerns delay NATO assistance to Libya
Europe
NATO Chief Says Europe Facing New ‘Less Predictable’ Security Situation
Mali
Malian troops were deployed to retake Kidal from militants who killed eight soldiers, kidnapped 30 civil servants, and seized government offices two days ago. Prime Minister Mara said yesterday that terrorists have “declared war on Mali.” Defense Minister Maiga said the militants are members of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) who […]
Boko Haram
Nyanya: How mastermind was arrested in Sudan
Nigeria
Boko Haram militants burned the Borno state village of Dalwa-Masuba to the ground over the weekend and killed at least 40 residents. Police foiled a car bombing today in Kano; a suicide car bombing yesterday killed at least four people and wounded many more in a mainly Christian neighborhood. Security was stepped up around secondary […]
China
US to charge Chinese military with cyber-spying
Boko Haram
The exodus of Nigeria’s Christians
United Kingdom
Nawal Masaad, of Holloway, and Amal El-Wahabi, northwest London, were accused of seeking to finance terrorism. Masaad had tried to smuggle €20,000 (£16,300) in her underwear through Heathrow airport on her way to Istanbul, where she was allegedly planning to meet with El-Wahabi’s husband, a jihadist in Syria. The Foreign Office summoned Sudan’s charge d’affaires […]
Iraq
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham killed 14 people, including five policemen and soldiers, in attacks in Mosul, Baghdad, and Mahmoudiya. A candidate in the recent election was kidnapped in Baghdad. Iran is calling on Iraq to send more than 3,000 members of the People’s Mujahideen Organization of Iran home to face a […]
Yemen
Yemeni officials said that two Saudi al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters were killed yesterday in a clash in Azzan. The military killed five AQAP fighters in Shabwa. Gunmen in Marib destroyed power lines to Sana’a for the seventh time this month.
Egypt
A court sentenced 126 Muslim Brotherhood supporters to jail terms of 10 years. A gunman wounded two security force conscripts at a camp in Daqahliya.
Libya
Gunmen loyal to retired General Khalifa Haftar stormed the GNC. Fighting in Benghazi between Islamist militants and Haftar’s Libyan National Army left scores of people dead and wounded. The army announced a no-fly zone over Benghazi, reportedly to prevent Haftar’s forces from using air power against Islamists there. A bomb destroyed Ansar al Sharia’s radio […]
Mali
Tuareg MNLA separatists killed six government officials and two civilians during an assault on the regional governor’s office in Kidal. The militants also kidnapped 30 civil servants. The regional governor said 23 Malian soldiers were wounded in clashes with the MNLA that broke out shortly before Prime Minister Mara’s visit to the city. The defense […]
Shabaab leader calls for mediation in Syria, says Zawahiri is ‘our Sheikh and Emir’
Abu Zubayr, the emir of Shabaab, restates his support for Ayman al Zawahiri and calls for mediation in Syria.
Al Qaeda
Libyans weigh in on Ansar al Sharia
Morocco
Salafists demonstrated in Casablanca, calling for the release of Islamists linked to suicide bombings in the city in 2003. One of the protest organizers said that of some 1,000 Islamists currently imprisoned in Morocco, about 400 were detained after the Casablanca bombings and the remainder were jailed after coming back from fighting in Syria.