Monthly Archives: October 2014


Turkey

A farewell to beards: Men shaving to avoid jihadist stigma in southeast Turkey




Afghanistan

The Taliban killed 22 Afghan soldiers and policemen in an ambush on a convoy in Sar-i-Pul. The Taliban killed one person in suicide attacks in Nangarhar and Kabul. The Taliban executed a woman in Kunar for spying. Afghan officials claimed that ISAF accidentally killed seven civilians in an airstrike in Paktia.


Iraq

The Islamic State killed four policemen and a militia fighter in attacks in Samarra. Security forces claimed to have killed “dozens” of Islamic State fighters in Jurf al Sakhar.


Iraq

Iraq crisis: 180,000 flee IS advance in Anbar, UN says


Iraq

Turkish sources deny giving Washington the use of bases to fight Islamic State



Syria

US and Saudi aircraft conducted seven airstrikes targeting the Islamic State in Aleppo near Kobane and one strike on a garrison in Raqqah; the airstrikes also targeted refineries used by the IS. The Islamic State advanced in Kobane after carrying out a suicide bombing with an armored vehicle and at least one other bombing with […]


Lebanon

Sirajeddine Zureiqat, said to be the new emir of the al Qaeda-linked Abdullah Azzam Brigades, urged followers to attack the “puppetmaster” Hezbollah, not the Lebanese Army. Syrian terrorist suspects Ahmad Atef Jenayat and Saleh Mohammad Halloum were referred to the judiciary; Jenayat is linked to a June suicide bombing plot involving slain facilitator Monzer al […]


Turkey

Halis Bayancuk a.k.a. Abu Hanzala, the alleged head of al Qaeda in Turkey who was arrested with dozens of other operatives on Jan. 14, was released under a new court system introduced in July. Among those detained on Jan. 14 was İbrahim Şen, an ex-Gitmo detainee and a top al Qaeda leader in the Middle […]


Libya

Sources said that Ansar al Sharia’s leader for Benghazi, Mohammed al Zahawi, was wounded or killed in recent clashes at Benina Airport and has been taken to a Sirte hospital. The Islamic State is reportedly planning to start broadcasting from a TV station based in Sirte. Suspected Islamist gunmen vandalized a historic Sufi madrassa in […]


Somalia

A bomb planted in the car of a senior police officer in Mogadishu exploded, injuring two mechanics who were working on the vehicle. Shabaab was blamed for a car bombing that killed at least 10 people in Mogadishu yesterday.


Belgium

Authorities arrested a man on blackmail charges for last week threatening a Brussels businessman with beheading if he did not come up with 50,000 euros to help jihadists traveling to Syria; the prosecutor’s office said it was unclear whether the incident was terrorism-related. Belgian fighter jets began carrying out airstrikes against Islamic State targets in […]


United Kingdom

Authorities arrested three men in central London suspected of terrorism-related crimes, and searched a business and four homes in the city. Three of the five men arrested last week on suspicion of plotting terrorist attacks on the UK remain in custody.


Iraq

Turkey opens its bases for US and coalition forces in fight against ISIS



Germany’s Islamic State problem

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government faces daunting challenges due to the growth of the Islamic State and other extremist groups. Many of these challenges have arisen from Germany’s own problematic counterterrorism policies.



Algeria

French investigators in Algeria to probe monks’ 1996 murders


Afghanistan

A suicide bomber killed three soldiers and three civilians in Wardak. The Taliban killed a pro-government militia leader in Ghazni and two policemen in Kunar. The Afghan military claimed it retook control of Sangin district in Helmand.


Iraq

The Islamic State killed 25 people in a triple suicide attack north of Baqubah, six Iraqis in a bombing in Baqubah, and 23 more civilians in a pair of bombings in Baghdad. The Islamic State also assassinated Anbar province’s chief of police. The US and allied countries launched five airstrikes against the Islamic State in […]


Somalia

Suspected Shabaab militants detonated a car bomb in the center of Mogadishu, the capital city, killing at least seven people. Kenyan jets targeted Shabaab bases in Middle Jubba yesterday; a Kenyan commander of the AMISOM force claimed that some 60 Shabaab fighters were killed. A journalist working for a British-Somali TV station was critically wounded […]


Iraq

US general sees bigger role ‘advising and assisting’ Iraqi forces




Cameroon

President Biya announced that 27 hostages kidnapped by Boko Haram months ago, including 10 Chinese workers and the wife of the deputy prime minister, were released to Cameroonian authorities. Suspected Boko Haram gunmen stormed Nigerian refugee camps in Kereomafa, across the border from Borno state, killing “many” refugees and seizing women; the attackers are said […]


Niger

President Hollande of France said that on Oct. 9 French forces destroyed an al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb convoy in northern Niger that was transporting weapons from Mali to Libya. French forces “neutralized” the militants and captured some of them. France is establishing a new counterterrorism base in Niger.