Egypt’s head prosecutor referred 439 “hard-liners” to military tribunals over violence that occurred last year after protests were broken up. Two policemen were killed in a drive-by shooting in the town of El Arish in the Sinai. At least 10 jihadists were killed and one vehicle destroyed in a government air strike on militant hideouts […]
Anti-government forces with Libya Dawn attacked al-Hilal, a major oil region, causing the shutdown of one oil export port and threatening another. Pro-government forces under General Khalifa Hafter and Libya Dawn are fighting over the Ras Jdir border crossing, the main crossing into Tunisia. Hafter’s forces claimed to have seized “the western Bokmash area and […]
The Malian government announced that it traded four prisoners to AQIM to obtain the release of French hostage Serge Lazarevic last week. France’s defense minister said that “nearly 200 terrorists have been neutralized” by French forces in the Sahel region over the past year.
Tunisia closed its border crossing at Ras Gdair on Dec. 15 as fighting raged between pro-government forces and Islamist militias in Libya. The closing follows another air strike by the Libyan Army near the border on Dec. 14.
Libya’s internationally recognized prime minister said that pro-government troops are moving toward Triploi “to liberate it” from Islamist militias and the rival government. Medical sources said 50 people have been killed in the past 10 days during fighting in Benghazi. A Libyan government source claims that France blocked UK attempts to place sanctions on pro-government […]
The Algerian justice minister announced that security forces have found and killed a second terrorist involved in the beheading of French hiker Herve Gourdel in September. The jihadist purportedly was a member of the Jund al-Khilafa group, which had claimed responsibility for the murder.
The French military killed Ahmed el Tilemsi, the co-founder of MUJAO, during a special operations raid in Gao in northern Mali on Dec. 11. France’s current Operation Barkhane “is taking place across Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad and involves a total 3 000 French troops.”
A double suicide attack has killed more than 40 people at a bus station in the city of Jos in central Nigeria. Boko Haram, assumed to be behind the attack, is described as “the Other Islamic State” in a NYT timeline of the recent violence.
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 […]
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 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.
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 […]
The interior ministry announced that security services “dismantled a network that recruited young people for foreign jihad.” A Tunisian-born Canadian was arrested in relation to a terrorism plot upon his return to Canada from Tunisia on Dec. 7. Tunisia’s presidential run-off has been set for Dec. 21.
An Algerian court acquitted a former inmate of Guantanamo Bay on terrorism charges due to insufficient evidence. The Algerian Director of the African Department at the Foreign Affairs Ministry pledged “to support all the actions and initiatives which can … contribute to definitively defeat this terrible scourge (terrorism)” during the opening of a meeting by […]
Serge Lazarevic, the last French hostage in Africa, has been freed. Lazarevic was kidnapped along with geologist Philippe Verdon by AQIM on November 24, 2011. Verdon was murdered by the jihadist group in July 2013.
Nigeria has released a seized Russian plane carrying military helicopters after “clarification” from the French government. The Nigerian military arrested a Boko Haram photographer among other jihadists in Adamawa state. The military claimed it has recaptured Mubi, Gombi, Maiha and Hong in Adamawa State from the terrorist group.
Israel conducted two airstrikes near Damascus on Dec. 7; one took place near Dimas, which houses military facilities, and the other hit near Damascus International Airport. Both the Syrian regime and Iran condemned the attack. UN observers have documented numerous interactions between Israeli forces and Syrian rebels in the Golan Heights. Al Nusrah has reportedly […]
Two suicide bombings killed 15 people, most of them journalists and politicians, at a restaurant in Baidoa northwest of Mogadishu on Dec. 5. Local police announced the arrest of at least 60 suspected members of Shabaab after the attack. A Kenyan military plane crashed in southern Somalia on Dec. 4; Kenyan authorities cited mechanical issues, […]
An Egyptian court upheld death sentences for seven men accused of an August 2013 attack on a convoy in Sinai that killed 25 policemen. The British Embassy in Cairo has suspended services due to unspecified security concerns. Authorities have enacted new regulations that ban Egyptians from traveling to Turkey without a permit, in a bid […]
US Africa Command General David Rodriguez noted that reports on the Islamic State’s presence in Libya are “mixed,” but that individuals are “coming [to Libya] for training and logistics support right now. It’s for training sites, and that’s what we see right now. As far as a huge command-and-control network, I’ve not seen that yet.” […]
Military and security forces are on high alert due to fighting between Libyan factions close to the Tunisian border. A Libyan pro-government airstrike hit a rival militia post near the Ras Jedir border crossing on Dec. 5.
Nigerian authorities seized a Russian airplane bound for Chad carrying two helicopters, a bullet-proof vehicle, and various heavy weapons. The crew has been variously reported as being Ukrainian and “French-speaking.” Ten Nigerian soldiers and over 70 Boko Haram fighters were reportedly killed when the jihadist group attempted to overrun the town of Ashaka in Borno […]
The Islamic State attacked the sole remaining government air base in Deir el-Zour province; at least 19 regime troops and seven IS fighters have been killed thus far. The US accused the regime of continuing to use chemical weapons as recently as September. Syrian President Bashar al Assad declared US airstrikes against the Islamic State […]
At least six people were killed in a Shabaab car bomb attack on a UN convoy in Mogadishu; a second blast was aimed at African Union vehicles 15 miles from the city. The Somali National Intelligence and Security Agency claimed that security forces dismantled three Shabaab cells in recent operations, netting a “weapons cache and […]
A court sentenced 188 protesters to death for support of the Muslim Brotherhood and complicity in the killing of 11 police officers in Kardasa in August 2013. A member of the Helwan Brigades was arrested for allegedly attempting to blow up a police station in Helwan. The leader of al-Azhar, a prominent Sunni scholars group, […]
Libyan Army airstrikes in the western city of Zwara killed eight people and wounded 24; a spokesman from Tripoli’s Islamist-controlled government claimed the strike hit a food warehouse and a chemical factory, whereas Army forces under General Khalifa Haftar claimed the target was an arms depot. A random shell killed four people and wounded seven […]
Tunisian forces “dismantled” a terrorist cell operating near Kasserine and Tunis on Dec. 1; a mine that exploded in Kasserine killed one soldier and wounded another. Tunisia’s first elected, secularist-led parliament held its opening session on Dec. 2.
The Algerian Army captured over 50 foreign smugglers along the country’s border with Niger. The defense ministry stated that the operation was part of an effort to prevent Islamist attacks.
Three Chadian peacekeepers were injured, one seriously, when their vehicle struck an IED close to the UN camp in Aguelhok on Dec. 2. Ten peacekeepers have been killed and 36 injured in northern Mali this year.
More than 220 people have been killed after the Boko Haram attack on Damaturu, the Yobe state capital, on Dec. 1; one report claims the toll included more than 150 militants, six soldiers, and 33 policemen. A teenage female suicide bomber was caught by civilian defense personnel at a roadblock before she could detonate explosives […]