Kenya’s defense minister claimed that more than 3,000 Shabaab fighters have been killed in the last year. Shabaab forces detained dozens of people in Bulo-Mareer. Security forces recovered the bodies of four Kenyan and Somali troops who went missing in Kismayo.
Security forces identified the suicide bomber in an attack in Ouargla in June as Abdessamia Bouzidi. He was wanted on terrorism charges and joined the jihadists in Mali. The Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa, an AQIM offshoot, claimed the attack.
Drone strikes outside of the designated “kill boxes” in North and South Waziristan are rare. The strike is the first recorded outside of the two tribal agencies since December 2010.
The Taliban killed seven members of the Afghan Local Police in Helmand. Security forces killed and captured several Taliban commanders and fighters. The Kandahar provincial council accused the Quetta Shura of encouraging locals to grow poppy.
The Army detained 21 men on terrorism charges and discovered 52 bombs during raids south of Baghdad. Police seized two bomb-making factories in Hillah.
More than 100 US troops have been deployed to Jordan to provide aid in securing the border as well as humanitarian support for Syrian refugees. Additionally, US and Jordanian forces are monitoring Syria’s chemical and biological weapons stocks.
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Somali troops detained more than 300 suspected Shabaab fighters during security sweeps in Mogadishu. Shabaab has abandoned Burhakaba as government forces advance. A US journalist reported detained by pirates fears he will be transferred to Shabaab within days.
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The last three US attacks have occurred in the jihadist hub in Pakistan’s tribal agency of North Waziristan.
Three Afghan soldiers and seven Taliban fighters were killed during clashes throughout the country. The Taliban killed three civilians and a policeman in IED attacks in Helmand.
Iraqi and US officials said al Qaeda in Iraq has doubled in strength to 2,500 fighters and has re-established training camps. Insurgents killed three soldiers, a judge, and two civilians in attacks in Abu Ghraib, Mosul, and Tal Afar.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula beheaded three men in Marib after accusing them of spying for the government. Tribesmen kidnapped nine truck drivers in Lahj.
Shabaab killed two people in an IED attack in Kismayo. The military has placed Kismayo under curfew. The African Union denied a Shabaab claim that an ambush destroyed a military convoy.
“The Taliban and al Qaeda have not been vanquished …. They’re coming back,” Lara Logan said.
The Al Nusrah Front has now claimed credit for 27 of the 34 suicide bombings in Syria that the The Long War Journal has tallied since December 2011. Nine of those attacks have occurred since the end of August.
A suicide bomber killed two members of the National Directorate of Security in an attack in Lashkar Gah in Helmand. Afghan Border Policemen killed five “insurgents” in an attack on a border checkpoint in Nangarhar.
Security forces arrested a suspected American citizen in Ataq in Shabwa province who is reportedly on the al Qaeda watchlist. The military said it disrupted an Iranian espionage cell that operates in Sana’a and Aden, and has Iranian, Syrian, and Yemeni members.
Shabaab has “has officially revoked Islamic Relief’s permit to work in areas under” the terror group’s control. Shabaab killed a soldier during fighting in Beledweyne.
Thirty people were killed in heavy fighting in Maiduguri. The military claimed that 30 Boko Haram fighters were killed, while a report indicated that the military opened fire on civilians after a lieutenant was killed in a bombing. Police killed a Boko Haram field commander and three fighters in Damaturu.
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb appointed Yahya Abou El Hammam as its emir of the Sahara; Abdel Mejid Abou Zeid was named Hammam’s deputy. Hammam is also AQIM’s emir of Timbuktu.
A jihadist known as Abu ‘Atikah al Muhajir attributed the statement to the “Islamic Emirate of Mindanao (Soon).”
Militias are being organized to fight Islamist groups in the north. Mauritania and Algeria continue to call for negotiations to resolve the crisis in northern Mali, and oppose direct military intervention.
The Taliban killed a policeman’s two children in Ghazni. Policemen killed a suicide bomber in Helmand. Four Taliban fighters died in a premature detonation in Wardak. A cleric offered a $300,000 bounty for the murder of the producer of a film that insulted the Prophet Mohammed.
The government executed 10 Iraqis and an Algerian who were convicted on terrorism charges. Iraq has executed 113 people so far this year. Security forces detained four “wanted men” in Babil.
Yemeni troops killed a “gunman” and wounded another in Huta. Tribesmen freed a Turkish man who was kidnapped in September. The head of the largest tribal alliance called for opposing parties to “turn to dialogue.”
The Joint Task Force killed four suspected Boko Haram fighters and detained 11 more during a raid in Damaturu. Police detained an an immigration officer in Maiduguri for ties to Boko Haram.
The Taliban killed two US special forces soldiers in Wardak province. Special operations forces killed and captured several Taliban commanders and fighters in raids throughout the country.