The bombing came as Turkey also shelled the city. It is likely that as the Turkish advance continues, the Islamic State will further exploit the chaos inside northern Syria to regroup and conduct more attacks.
The rising of Islamic State sleeper cells could become more common as the Kurdish-dominated SDF is diverted to the newly announced Turkish invasion of northern Syria.
Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security claims it has confirmed that Asim Umar, the emir of Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent, was killed during a Sept. 23 raid in Helmand province. Other key AQIS leaders were also killed in the fighting.
Eleven Taliban leaders have been reportedly exchanged for three kidnapped Indian engineers. One of the newly-freed Taliban commanders is Abdul Rashid Baluch. The US designated Baluch as a terrorist in 2015, reporting that he “served as a Taliban liaison officer to al Qaeda (AQ) and was responsible for planning meetings between Taliban senior leadership” and al Qaeda “members in Karachi, Pakistan.”
In 2001, Omar was unwavering in his position that the Taliban was religiously obligated to protect Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda cadre. The Taliban has remained true to Omar’s words, and fought an 18 year long war to defend the terror group.
No group has yet to claim the attacks, but al Qaeda-linked militants have been widely blamed.
Shabaab, just days after launching assaults on US and Italian troops, has now also claimed two IEDs on a US-trained Somali special forces unit.
The Taliban continues to use rural areas it controls to threaten major population centers, including provincial capitals.
No casualties were reported in either attack, however.
Yemen’s Houthis claim that the operation is the largest in nearly four years of conflict with Saudi Arabia and its allies.
Not only does the Taliban reject democracy in Afghanistan, it is opposed to it worldwide. Given the Taliban’s clear and consistent views on the “evils” of democracy and all Muslim’s religious obligation to resit it, it is absolute folly for the State Department to attempt to appeal to the Taliban to permit elections to take place.
The US military launched its second airstrike against the Islamic state near the town of Murzuq in the past week.
Afghan officials have identified several AQIS members who were killed during a controversial raid in Musa Qala, Helmand earlier this week. They have also posted images purportedly documenting the weaponry, explosives and cash seized at the jihadists’ compound.
“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has repeatedly made it absolutely clear that the aim of this Jihad is the end of occupation and establishment of an Islamic government,” the Taliban says in a recent statement.
On Sept. 19, Thomas Joscelyn testified before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs at a hearing titled, “The Trump Administration’s Afghanistan Policy.” His testimony focused on the close working relationship between the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.
U.S. and Afghan officials say they targeted al Qaeda members in Musa Qala, a Taliban-controlled district in the southern Helmand province. Reports indicate that dozens of civilians perished during the clash that ensued.
The camp is at least the second one ran by the Islamic State in Somalia’s northern Puntland region.
The U.S. military killed eight Islamic State fighters yesterday in the first recorded airstrike against the group in more than one year.
Both groups have claimed deadly assaults in Burkina Faso, playing into the already perilous security situation in the country.
The Taliban has warned civilians to stay away from places near government facilitates, including election sites, as it says these targets are fair game. However, given the scarcity of medical facilities, it is impossible for Afghan civilians to avoid hospitals such as the one in Qalat.
One of the attacks, in Parwan province, targeted an election rally while President Ghani was speaking. The Taliban has warned civilians to stay away from election sites.
In a newly-released audio message, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi boasts that his Islamic State has conducted “unified raids” across the globe this year. Many of these operations were conducted by the Islamic State’s wilayat, or provinces,
A raid against a Taliban explosives warehouse in Ghazni highlights the enduring relationship between the Taliban and al Qaeda.
On Sept. 14, President Trump released a statement saying Hamza bin Laden was killed in an American “counterterrorism operation.” However, key questions concerning Hamza’s life and death remain unanswered.
The confirmed drone strike campaign so far from Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen represents another worrying development in the region.
After killing at least 14 civilians in a landmine explosion last week, al Qaeda’s Group for Support of Islam and Muslim’s offers a rare apology.
The U.S. State Department has offered rewards of up to $5 million each for information concerning three al Qaeda leaders in Syria. All three have been involved in the heated disagreements over jihadi strategy and leadership in the Levant.
Taliban fighters overran a district center in Zabul and destroyed and looted several bases, including one along a main highway. Afghan officials previously downplayed the fighting in Zabul.
On the 18th anniversary of the 9/11 hijackings, Ayman al-Zawahiri defends the attack. He claims in a new video that all of the Islamic scholars’ arguments against the hijackings have been “refuted.” The video also features various al-Qaeda leaders from around the globe.
The past week has seen the harshest fighting between the two jihadist groups since April.