Pakistan to launch another Potemkin offensive in North Waziristan
After years of promising military operations in North Waziristan, and failing to deliver, Pakistani officials want you to believe Pakistan is going to take on the Haqqani Network.
Author Archives: Bill Roggio
Afghanistan
Security forces killed “several insurgents” in an airstrike in Paktia. Eight Taliban fighters and two civilians were killed in clashes in Nuristan. Nineteen people were wounded in a bombing inside a mosque in Nangarhar.
Iraq
Thirty-four Iraqis were killed in a series of insurgent attacks throughout the country over the past two days. The targets included security forces, Awakening militiamen, government workers, and civilians.
Somalia
Heavy fighting broke out in Afmadow after Shabaab forces attacked Kenyan troops at their bases in the town. Shabaab claimed it killed six Ugandan troops in an IED attack on an armored personnel carrier in Mogadishu.
Kenya
One person was killed in an apparent grenade attack outside a military airbase in the Eastleigh neighborhood in Nairobi. Eastleigh is a known haven for Shabaab.
Nigeria
A Boko Haram suicide bomber wounded several people in a failed attack outside of a mosque in Potiskum. The target of the attack was the senior traditional leader of Muslims in Yobe state.
Hamas frees al Qaeda-linked jihadist leader in Gaza
Abu al Walid al Maqdisi, the leader of the Tawhid and Jihad Group in Jerusalem, was freed after more than a year in prison. His release was announced by Masada al Mujahideen, one of six major jihadist groups operating in Gaza.
Afghanistan
Security forces killed five Haqqani Network fighters in Kabul and 24 other Taliban fighters in raids nationwide. A police commander killed 11 civilians in Uruzgan. The Taliban killed five civilians in Logar. Twenty-eight Taliban fighters reconciled with the government in Ghor.
Iraq
A court has blocked the extradition of Ali Mussa Daqduq, a senior Hezbollah operative who was transferred from US custody to Iraqi custody at the end of 2011. Daqduq helped Iran establish Shia terror groups in Iraq and was involved in the murder of five US soldiers in 2007.
Somalia
A Somali comic who was critical of Shabaab was gunned down in Mogadishu. Shabaab claimed credit for yesterday’s suicide attacks in Mogadishu and also climbed it killed nine militiamen in Baidoa and 12 militiamen and six Kenyan troops in Fahfahdhun.
50 US troops must be ‘blown to smithereens’ for America to take Haqqani Network, Pakistan seriously
US officials fear that one of the Haqqani Network’s complex suicide assaults will eventually succeed in killing a number of Americans, and then Pakistan and the Haqqanis would need to be dealt with.
Niger
The European Union deployed a Capacity Building Mission team to Niger to help combat the spread of Islamist terror groups in the Sahel region. The 50-man-strong EUCAP team is described as a civilian mission, but includes military advisers.
Spain
Three members of an al Qaeda cell, including a Turkish man, were detained during raids in San Roque and Almuradiel. Explosives were seized during the raid in San Roque. The men had recently been seen paragliding in Gibraltar, and may have been planning an attack there.
Afghan intel kills 5 members of Haqqani Network suicide cell in Kabul
The Haqqani Network cell was planning to take over a high-rise building in Kabul. Three trucks packed with explosives, suicide vests, and weapons were seized during the raid.
New jihadist group emerges in the Egyptian Sinai
Jund al Sharia called for the establishment of Islamic law and threatened to attack US peacekeepers in the Sinai if they do not withdraw.
Bulgaria
Specialists have made in an image of the face of the suicide bomber who killed five Israeli tourists and a Bulgaria bus driver in Burgas. The suicide bomber’s head was decapitated and mutilated in the blast.
Afghanistan
The Taliban killed a district police chief in Helmand, a senior police officer in Ghazni, four ISAF soldiers in the south and east, four civilians in Wardak, and a policemen in Uruzgan. Four Taliban fighters were killed in an airstrike in Wardak.
Afghanistan
Afghanistan: Local Police Chief Arrested in Badakhshan over Tajikistan Unrest
Iran
Panetta: US force option against Iran nukes
Afghanistan
UPDATE 1-NATO should finish job in Afghanistan, Putin says
Afghanistan
French hand over base in Afghanistan
Afghanistan
‘There Are No Buyers’– Kabul’s Housing Boom Goes Bust Amid Uncertainty
Yemen
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters killed four soldiers and a civilian in an attack on a police station in Jaar. Seventeen people, including 11 soldiers, were killed during fighting outside the Interior Ministry in Sana’a.
Somalia
The Somali parliament approved a new constitution that is based on sharia, or Islamic Law; two suicide bombers were killed outside the building in Mogadishu where the vote took place.
Nigeria
Boko Haram claimed credit for suicide attacks on police stations in Sokoto and an assault on the vice president’s home in Kaduna. The Joint Task Force killed two Boko Haram fighters in Borno.
Taliban deny media report that they seek split with al Qaeda
A report that the Taliban were prepared to sever ties with al Qaeda was written “without any confirmation by the cultural commission or an official of the Islamic Emirate,” the top spokesman said.
Afghanistan
Nine Taliban fighters were killed in a tribal uprising against the group in the Muqur district in Ghazni. Security forces killed several Taliban fighters in an airstrike in Muqur in Ghazni, and a Haqqani network commander involved in suicide attacks in Paktia.
Iraq
Twelve Iraqis, including seven policemen, were killed in a suicide attack and a car bombing in Baghdad; two more Iraqis were killed in a car bombing north of Fallujah. Security forces detained 20 “terrorists” in Diwaniyah.
Senior Haqqani Network leader urges Turks to wage jihad in Afghanistan
Mullah Sangeen Zadran calls on Turks to fight in Afghanistan and elsewhere, and says that through jihad, “We will make Islam prevail in the world!”
Yemen
Eight people were killed as tribesmen loyal to former President Saleh clashed with security forces at the Interior Ministry in Sana’a. Security forces captured a wanted al Qaeda leader who was behind attacks in Sana’a. AQAP fighters in Lahj surrendered to the government.