Denmark
Saudi Arabia links Dane’s shooting to Islamic State, arrests 3
Monthly Archives: December 2014
Iraq
A Force to Fight ISIS Has Manpower, but Little Firepower
Indonesia
The new head of Indonesia’s counterterrorism agency warned that the number of Indonesians joining the Islamic State has more than tripled since June, and said the total number of Indonesians who have joined the group in Iraq and Syria is about 514. The Jakarta Post’s chief editor was named a suspect in a blasphemy case […]
Revolutionary Command Council
Is the Islamic State’s next target Daraa or Ghouta?
Taliban kill 6 Afghan soldiers, foreigner in pair of suicide attacks in Kabul
Taliban suicide bombers struck a military bus and at a high school in the Afghan capital.
French troops kill MUJAO founder during raid in Mali
In a midnight raid in the Gao region of Mali, the French military killed Ahmed el Tilemsi. He had a long history of al Qaeda ties, and was wanted by the United States.
Germany
Investigations into jihadi returners pushing German courts to their limits
Boko Haram
Boko Haram: The Other Islamic State
Kenya
Shabaab in Kenya’s slums
France
The Foreign Ministry said several people were killed in Kabul, Afghanistan by a suicide bombing at a French school in the city. The French military announced that Ahmed el Tilemsi, a top commander in the al Qaeda-linked al Mourabitoun, was killed by French forces in Mali. A French media report claimed that Toulouse shooter Mohamed […]
China
China Uighurs: Xinjiang city of Urumqi to ban Islamic veil
United Kingdom
Runa Khan, a 35-year-old mother of six from Luton, was sentenced to five years and three months in jail for promoting terrorism on social media. Khan, who had advocated sending jihadists to Syria, had pled guilty in July to charges of disseminating terrorist literature.
AQAP claims shelling of American section of airbase in Yemen
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has claimed credit for a rocket attack on the US division of the al Annad airbase in Yemen’s Lahj province.
Despite government advances, Boko Haram continues to plague Nigeria
While the Nigerian military appears to be finally gaining ground against Boko Haram, it is unclear if it can sustain these battlefield successes.
Islamic State overruns Badr Brigade position near Samarra
The jihadist group also launched suicide attacks and assaults in towns around the central Iraqi city.
United States
CENTCOM reported that since Dec. 8, the US has conducted seven airstrikes in Syria against the Islamic State and the US and partners carried out 13 airstrikes against the group in Iraq. The US also released video of recent airstrikes in Syria. ISAF formally ended its Afghan mission on Dec. 8, and began preparing for […]
Islamic State
Kerry seeks authority to target Islamic State affiliates anywhere
Islamic State
ISIS executes its top Mosul official: Kurdish sources
Islamic State
Kazakh Government Analyst: Blocking Extremist Sites Justified Amid IS Threat
Syria
Three opposition journalists were killed in Deraa when their car was hit by a missile. Israeli airstrikes in Dimas on Dec. 7 are reported to have targeted Iranian weapons intended for Hezbollah. Rebel commanders in northern Syria claim the US has stopped paying them. Twenty-eight countries have pledged to take in 100,000 Syrian refugees, doubling […]
Somalia
A soldier avenged Shabaab’s murder of his wife and a female soldier by killing five female relatives of jihadists. The UN plans to repatriate 10,000 Somalian refugees from Kenya.
Egypt
Egypt has reduced the security curfew in portions of North Sinai from 14 hours to 11 hours, “to help people in Sinai earn a living,” according to President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi. Sisi’s government faces criticism of recent measures implemented to counter terrorism and diminish the influence of Islamist parties.
Libya
The UN is expanding peace talks in Libya to include the rival government based in Tripoli, in addition to the internationally recognized government currently in Tobruk. General Khalifa Hafter has stipulated eight conditions for participation in the talks, including the recognition of the Tobruk government as the sole representative of the Libyan people. Ansar al […]
Georgia
Zelimkhan Chatiashvili, 21, from the Pankisi Gorge, is said to have been killed in Syria while fighting for the Islamic State, and is reportedly the eighth Georgian to have been killed in this way. A member of the Pankisi elders council called the area a “slowly ticking time bomb.” An estimated 50 to 100 Georgians […]
Russia
Residents of Yandi in Chechnya reported that masked men, presumably government forces, torched several homes on Dec. 8. After the deadly militant attack in Grozny on Dec. 6, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov had vowed to raze the homes of relatives of those responsible for the killings.
France
Serge Lazarevic, a Frenchman held hostage by al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb since 2011, arrived back in France. Lazarevic was reportedly freed in exchange for the release of AQIM members Heiba Ag Acherif and Mohammed Ali Ag Wadossene; the French government did not disclose whether a ransom was paid. President Hollande thanked the presidents […]
United Kingdom
Counterterrorism police arrested a man in Luton who is suspected of terrorist fundraising and incitement. Prime Minister Cameron claimed that the UK and Turkey are working closely to stop the movement of British jihadists through Turkey.
Afghanistan
Ex-CIA Directors: Interrogations Saved Lives
Al Qaeda
Senate Panel Faults CIA Over Brutality and Deceit in Interrogations
New Zealand
New Zealand approves new anti-terror laws