US Assistant Secretary of State Johnnie Carson told reporters that Kenya does not intend to occupy the southern Somali port city of Kismayo. Kenya would transfer control to African Union and Somali forces and the UN “yery quickly,” he said. Two policemen were gunned down in Garissa.
Malian Prime Minister Diarra rejected calls for a negotiated settlement with al Qaeda-linked Islamist groups that rule the northern half of the country. Diarra also said he would not negotiate with Touaregs from the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad.
The Taliban have targeted ISAF convoys in the east with a suicide bomber twice in the past five days, killing five NATO soldiers.
The strike took place in the same village where al Qaeda leaders Abu Kasha al Iraqi and Fateh al Turki are rumored to have been killed on Sept. 24.
Insurgents killed 32 Iraqis in car bombings in Taji, Madaen, and Al Kut. Iraq said it would stop and inspect Iranian flights that are suspected of transporting weapons to Syria.
Masked gunmen assassinated a military intelligence colonel in Aden. The Yemen Socialist Party called for the arrest of Tareq al Fadhali, a jihadist and tribal leader who has been linked to al Qaeda..
Sixteen Somali troops and Shabaab fighters were killed during clashes on the outskirts of Kismayo. Kenyan warships shelled Kismayo; two civilians were killed. “Gunmen” assassinated a tax official in Baidoa.
Two children were killed and two more were wounded during a grenade attack at a Catholic church in Nairobi. Shabaab is suspected of executing the attack.
Security forces disrupted an al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb network that was training Algerians to fight with Islamist terror groups in Libya. AQIM was training 27 fighters, who were to be deployed to Benghazi and Bani Walid.
The attack took place just two days after the US and NATO resumed joint operations with Afghan forces.
Twenty Taliban fighters and two Afghan policemen were killed during fighting throughout the country. ISAF has resumed joint operations with the Afghan National Security Forces. The Taliban claimed they captured the Wardoj district in Badakhshan.
A suicide bomber killed one person during an assassination attempt that targeted the leader of an anti-al Qaeda militia in Lawdar. President Hadi endorsed the US drone campaign in Yemen, and said he personally approved each airstrike.
Shabaab fled Kismayo just one day after Kenya launched its offensive on the southern port city. The Kenyan military claimed it killed senior Shabaab commanders Hassan Yakub and Abdikarim Adow. Three civilians were killed in airstrikes in Badhere.
The Director of National Intelligence finally admitted that the Sept. 11 attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, was “a deliberate and organized terrorist attack carried out by extremists” linked to al Qaeda.
While Shabaab has been weakened by the Kenyan and African Union military operations over the past year, the group has experience in conducting a protracted insurgency.
Since the end of May, special operations forces have conducted at least 21 raids against al Qaeda’s network in Afghanistan.
More than 90 inmates were freed after al Qaeda in Iraq launched an attack on the Tasfirat prison in Kirkuk. Ten prison guards and two inmates were killed during the attack, which included a suicide bomber.
The Kenyan military claimed it has seized control of the port city of Kismayo, the last major stronghold for Shabaab. The Kenyans launched an amphibious assault on the beach. Shabaab has denied that Kismayo has fallen.
Boko Haram is suspected of torching an Islamic college in Maiduguri. Police raided a bomb factory in Kano; two Boko Haram members were detained in the raid.
Foreign jihadists from West African countries such as Togo, Benin, Niger, Nigeria, Guinea, Senegal, and the Ivory Coast are filling out the ranks.
According to the al Qaeda-linked group, its fighters were able to penetrate security and attack the Syrian Army headquarters after a suicide bomber caused a diversion.
ISAF killed an al Qaeda facilitator in Kunar and several Haqqani Network fighters in Khost. The Taliban killed five people in an attack on a village in Faryab. Eight Taliban fighters reconciled with the government in Baghlan.
Al Qaeda in Iraq launched a suicide assault on the Tasfirat prison in Tikrit; one guard was killed. Security forces detained a senior terrorist in Baghdad. US special operations forces reportedly have deployed to Iraq to advise and train security forces.
The children were killed in an IED attack in Hadramout. Security forces detained two al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters in Sana’a. The military reportedly will receive four unarmed RQ-11 Raven drones.
Another journalist was gunned down in Mogadishu; five journalists have been killed in the capital this month. Shabaab plans on infiltrating Somali security forces. The government paraded dozens of captured Shabaab fighters.
Algeria said it may agree to the deployment of a West African force to intervene against al Qaeda-linked groups in northern Mali. The European Union is exploring “options to support international efforts to assist Mali.”
Abdul Rauf and two other “insurgents” were killed in an airstrike in in the Marawarah district on Sept. 23. Rauf moved “foreign fighters” and built IEDs.
The Taliban killed two Pakistani soldiers and wounded 14 more in an IED attack in North Waziristan. The Taliban removed Railways Minister Ghulam Ahmad Bilour from its “hit list” after he placed a bounty out for a film maker.
The Taliban killed two ISAF soldiers in a suicide attack on a convoy in Logar, and two civilians in an IED attack in Helmand. Sixteen school girls in Kabul were poisoned. The Interior Ministry claimed its forces killed 51 Taliban.
Insurgents killed four policemen, including a senior commander, two soldiers, and a civilian in attacks in Hillah, Iskandiriyah, and Balad. A military court sentenced the commanding general of the 3rd Division to two months in prison for corruption.