Eight policemen defected to the Taliban in Herat. A policeman gunned down his commander in Khost. A US Blackhawk pilot was one of five soldiers killed in a helicopter crash in Kandahar earlier this week. An ISAF soldier was killed yesterday in a helicopter crash in the south.
Insurgents killed nine Iraqis in a car bombing in Basra. Al Qaeda in Iraq claimed last week’s suicide assault on the Justice Ministry.
The Al Fajr Media Center referred to Khalid bin Abdul Rahman al Husainan in terms used to describe dead leaders and fighters. Husainan was killed in a drone strike in late 2012.
Boko Haram fighters chanting “”Allahu Akbar” in Arabic assaulted a prison in Gwoza in Borno with IEDs and molotov cocktails. All of the inmates escaped from the prison; the guards did not put up any resistance.
An al Qaeda in Iraq suicide assault team killed seven policemen and 15 civilians in an attack on the Justice and Interior Ministries in Baghdad. Forty-one Iraqi tribes denounced al Qaeda’s attempts to hijack peaceful demonstrations.
A suicide bomber killed 10 civilians, including the father and brother of the speaker of parliament, in an attack in Kunduz. Security forces killed five suicide bombers and captured two more in Kabul.
Insurgents killed a politician at a mosque and a child at an election center in Mosul. Protesters in Ramadi captured a wanted al Qaeda fighter. The provincial council in Anbar postponed elections due to security concerns.
The al Qaeda affiliate continues to push back government forces in Deir al Zour, and the group has also established the Sharia Committee for the Eastern Region to govern areas under its control.
A pro-government militia in Jaar tried and executed an al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula operative for his involvement in a suicide attack that killed 40 people last year. A militia in Jaar claimed to have dismantled an al Qaeda cell operating in the city.
Somalia’s army chief vowed to free all areas of Somalia that remain under Shabaab control. Pirates freed two ships and released 48 hostages after reportedly receiving ransom payments.
An Afghan policeman killed two US Special Forces soldiers and two Afghan security personnel in an attack at a base in Wardak. The military said seven Taliban fighters were killed in a premature detonation in Helmand. Twenty Taliban fighters reconciled with the government in Kunduz.
Insurgents killed seven Iraqis in attacks throughout Iraq; one of the attacks was carried out by a suicide bomber in Dibis. Al Qaeda in Iraq claimed credit for the March 4 ambush that killed 48 Syrian and 9 Iraqi soldiers.
The Iraqi terror group said it killed the Syrian and Iraqi soldiers just one day after its affiliate, the Al Nusrah Front, seized a border crossing in Syria.
An Afghan Local Policeman opened fire on a US Special Forces base in Wardak. The attack is the second of its kind in four days.
“The bombs that went off in Kabul and Khost yesterday were not a show of power to America, but were in service to America…” the Afghan president said.
The two “militants” are said to have been on horseback when they were targeted. The strike is the first reported by the US in Pakistan in 29 days.
The Taliban killed nine people in a suicide attack outside of the Defense Ministry in Kabul and nine more in another suicide attack in Khost. A prominent Afghan political leader in Herat escaped another assassination attempt. The transfer of the Parwan Detention Facility to Afghan control has been delayed yet again.
Five people were killed in a bombing inside of a mosque in Peshawar. A Muslim mob torched dozens of homes in a Christian neighborhood in Karachi after a Christian man was accused of committing blasphemy.
Ansar al-Muslimeen in the Land of Black Africans said it executed the foreigners after British and Nigerian forces attempted to free the hostages.
The suicide attacks took place as US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel was visiting the capital to discuss the handover of security to Afghan forces.
Security forces killed 11 Taliban fighters in operations in Arakzai and Khyber. Eleven Taliban and Ansarul Islam fighters were killed in clashes in Khyber’s Tirah Valley. The US said Pakistan may face sanctions if it completes a gas pipeline with Iran.
Three Afghan soldiers attacked a US military base in Kapisa province, and killed a civilian contractor. The three Afghan soldiers were killed. US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel made his first trip to Afghanistan.
Two al Qaeda fighters and an Iraqi soldier were killed in a clash in Ramadi; another al Qaeda fighter was detained. Security forces captured five al Qaeda fighters near Mosul. The Agriculture Minister resigned after a protester was killed in Ninewa.
Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria teamed up with the jihadist Ahrar al Sham Brigade to take control of the provincial capital. The jihadist alliance effectively controls most the Euphrates River Valley in Syria all the way to the Iraqi border. The Al Nusrah Front also carried out two suicide attacks in Homs.
Five Taliban fighters and one security official were killed in fighting in Arakzai. The Taliban released a video of a university chancellor who was kidnapped in Peshawar two years ago. Pakistan will build a gas line to Iran despite US objections.
Security forces killed 14 Taliban fighters during operations throughout the country. The Taliban killed three policemen in an IED attack in Farah. CENTCOM commander General Mattis said the US would equip the Afghan military with drones.
If the Obama administration is able to transfer al Qaeda propagandist Suleiman Abu Ghaith and prosecute him in federal court, why couldn’t it do the same for Musa Ali Daqduq, the Hezbollah commander who was in US custody?
Security forces killed an al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighter as he was planting a roadside bomb in Lawder in Abyan province. The Yemeni coast guard seized another Iranian ship, the Jihan 2, as it was transporting weapons.
The United Nations Security Council extended the African Union’s mandate in Somalia for one year. The UNSC also partially lifted the arms embargo on Somalia; government forces would be able to purchase light and medium weapons, but not “heavy weapons, such as surface-to-air missiles.”
Reaz Qadir Khan was arrested two days ago by the FBI and charged with providing material support for an al Qaeda suicide bomber who participated in a suicide assault in Lahore, Pakistan in May 2009.