The ninth issue of the Islamic State’s Rumiyah (“Rome”) magazine features an interview with the group’s “emir” in Egypt. He concedes that the jihadists’ church bombings and ideology are not popular inside Egypt. Regardless, Rumiyah attempts to justify the Islamic State’s anti-Christian terror.
The Islamic State’s Wilayah Khorasan (or Khorasan “province”) has claimed responsibility for a bombing that killed at least eight civilians in Kabul, Afghanistan earlier today. The suicide attack targeted a NATO convoy that was driving near the US Embassy in Afghanistan’s capital. Three American servicemen were wounded in the blast.
Shawal is one of several areas in North Waziristan that the Pakistani military claimed it cleared after it launched an operation in 2014. However the fact that the TTP can organize 120 fighters and assault a base there indicates the area is all but cleared.
The suicide bombings show the Turkistan Islamic Party’s close battlefield integration with al Qaeda’s forces in Syria, as well as further highlighting its position within the overall al Qaeda network.
An “important” al Qaeda figure, Abdul Raheem, was reportedly killed in a drone strike in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan late last month. Al Qaeda and allied groups have sheltered in Datta Khel in the past. The Pakistani military claimed the area was cleared in Sept. 2014, but jihadists continue to operate there.
AQAP released a lengthy “dialogue” with its emir, Qasim al Raymi, on April 30. Raymi discusses the complex war inside Yemen, AQAP’s desire to focus on the Houthis and his group’s general approach to waging jihad. He also cites a text written by Ayman al Zawahiri to explain why AQAP cooperates with other Islamists inside Yemen.
The Islamic State’s Wilayah Khorasan and the Taliban clashed in the Chaparhar district of Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province earlier today. The two sides have battled each other in the area since 2015. Late last month, the Islamic State also fought with the Taliban in northern Afghanistan and assassinated a Taliban figure in Peshawar.
Both the Taliban and the Afghan government have slightly increased the number of Afghan districts under their control over the past three months, but the security situation remains virtually unchanged.
Yesterday’s strike is just the second reported in Pakistan this year, and the second since the US killed Afghan Taliban emir Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour in an attack in Baluchistan province in May 2016.
Salahadin al Uzbeki, a veteran of the jihad in Afghanistan and leader of the Taliban-loyal Katibat Imam al Bukhari, has reportedly been assassinated by an “Islamic State infiltrator” in Idlib.
Backed by the Iraqi air force, The Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), the umbrella organization of diverse militias, launched an offensive this week in Nineveh Province, southwest of Mosul, to capture territory from the Islamic State. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has embedded operatives in the PMF.
The US military has invested significant resources in battling the Islamic State in Afghanistan, despite the fact that the group controls areas in just four districts in Nangarhar.
This year’s “spring offensive” is named after Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, the previous emir who was killed by the US in a drone strike in Pakistan in May 2016. As in previous years, the Taliban said the main focus of its operation is the targeting of both foreign and local forces.
Hay’at Tahrir al Sham (“Assembly for the Liberation of the Levant”) and the Islamic State continue to battle for control of the Yarmouk camp in southern Damascus.
Two American soldiers were killed during a raid against the Islamic State in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province. A third American perished during combat earlier this month. The Islamic State’s so-called Khorasan province has lost ground since the beginning of 2016, but is still able to engage in heavy fighting and launch significant attacks.
Bill Roggio testifies before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade on terrorist groups in Afghanistan and the threat posed to the United States and its allies.
The photos confirm the report released last week that while it withdrew from a Malian base after French intervention, it captured large amounts of weapons and equipment.
The UK Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee has released its investigative report on the Aug. 21, 2015 drone strike that killed UK national Reyaad Khan. The bombing was “the first time outside participation in a military campaign that the UK had conducted a lethal drone strike against a terrorist target.” Khan was one of the Islamic State’s most prolific cyber planners.
Usama Ibrahim was a member of al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent’s top leadership body and the chief of Al Sahab Media, al Qaeda’s official media production arm. Tariq Bhai was AQIS’ “head of Bangladeshi Affairs.”
The Taliban claimed the attack was a suicide assault, however this has not been confirmed. Camp Chapman is used by the CIA to hunt al Qaeda in the region.
Afghanistan’s defense minister and the Army chief of staff have resigned, and President Ashraf Ghani has fired four Army corps commanders as US Secretary of Defense James Mattis is visiting the country.
The al Qaeda branch claimed a massive IED attack on a military convoy in Puntland, as well as shelling a military base in southern Somalia that also reportedly hosts US troops.
In a new audio message, Ayman al Zawahiri warns jihadists that they should avoid a strictly “nationalist” agenda in Syria. He also says the jihadists should focus on waging a “guerrilla” war inside Syria and not place too much emphasis on controlling territory at this time. Zawahiri’s words are likely intended to influence some of the debates occurring within jihadist circles.
“4 of these martyrdom seekers were infiltrated Mujahideen that were performing their duties in headquarter as soldiers for a long period of time in order to conduct this type of attack,” the Taliban claimed.
An Iranian general from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) this week began his new position as Tehran’s ambassador to Iraq. The selection of Brigadier General Iraj Masjedi, the senior adviser to the commander of the IRGC extraterritorial branch the Qods Force, highlights Tehran’s strategy to assert itself as the dominant foreign power in its western neighbor following the Mosul campaign. Since 2003 all Iranian ambassadors to Iraq have been Qods Force officers.
The Islamic State’s Amaq News Agency quickly claimed credit yesterday for a shooting in the Russian city of Khabarovsk that left at least one FSB officer dead. However, the Russian government claims that “information” about the gunman “points to his being a member of a neo-Nazi group.”
Qatar recently secured the release of Qatari hostages, including members of the royal family. But its diplomatic victory was marred by reports that a multi-million dollar ransom was paid to a US-designated terrorist group and an al Qaeda-linked joint venture in Syria.
The suicide assault was carried out by 10 Taliban fighters dressed as Afghan policemen. It may be the most effective raid on a military installation in Afghanistan since the September 2012 attack on Camp Bastion.
The US military announced today that Abdurakhmon Uzbeki, a “close associate” of Abu Bakr al Baghdadi who facilitated the New Year’s Eve attack in Istanbul, Turkey, was killed during a special forces raid in Syria on Apr. 6.
The Taliban has launched several major attacks against high-profile targets in Balkh in the past.