Mukhtar Belmukhtar, one of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb’s top military commanders, threatened to act “with firmness and determination” against locals in northern Mali who support foreign forces. He was rumored to have been killed during fighting in northern Mali last week.
The Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa threatened to attack any country that sends troops to northern Mali. “The MUJAO is committed to providing all kinds of material and military support for young Muslims determined to raise the banner of Islam,” the group also said. Islamist attacks on Sufi shrines continued.
Eight “militants,” including members of the Turkistan Islamic Party, were killed in the latest airstrike in a Taliban and al Qaeda hub in Pakistan’s tribal agency of North Waziristan.
ISAF killed the Lashkar-e-Taiba’s leader in Kunar and several insurgents in an airstrike in the province. The Taliban killed four civilians and two policemen in bombings in Helmand and Paktia, and poisoned 53 schoolgirls in Sar-i-Pul.
The United Nations Security Council will remove Saad al Faqih from the al Qaeda sanctions list tomorrow evening if none of the nations on the council object. Faqih was added to the US’s list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists in 2004 for ties to top al Qaeda leaders.
The four aid workers who were kidnapped yesterday in the Dadaab refuge camp in northern Kenya include two Canadians, a Norwegian, and a Filipino. Shabaab is suspected of moving the foreign aid workers to Somalia.
The military is planning on deploying troops to Kano as Boko Haram attacks rise. Police detonated two bombs in the city of Jos.
The Haji Khairullah Haji Sattar Money Exchange and the Roshan Money Exchange (RMX), and the Pakistan-based co-owners of HKHS have been funneling cash to the Taliban.
Khatab Shafiq, a Pakistani citizen, was the Lashkar-e-Taiba’s senior leader in Kunar province, where he established training camps, taught weapons classes, and funded operations.
An estimated 20 Taliban fighters, 15 policemen, and four civilians were killed after the Taliban attacked two villages in Nuristan province. Three policemen and three Taliban fighters were killed in Kunar. The Taliban killed a district police chief, his wife, and daughter in Jawzjan.
Insurgents killed Iraqis in a series of bombings in Balad. To hedge against a possible Iranian attack on shipping in the Persian Gulf, Saudi Arabia reopened a pipeline built by Iraq in the 1980s.
Shabaab said it is withdrawing from Jowhar without a fight as Somali and African Union forces advance from Balad. Security forces detained 11 suspected Shabaab fighters from Balad.
Twenty Taliban fighters, six policemen, and four civilians are reported to have been killed in Kamdesh district. The Taliban claimed that 15 policemen were killed.
Shabaab fighters are suspected of killing a driver and kidnapping four aid workers at the Dadaab refugee camp in northern Kenya. The gunmen took the aid workers towards the Somali border.
Mukhtar Belmukhtar, a senior al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb military commander, is rumored to have been killed in fighting between Islamists and Tuareg rebels in northern Mali. The report has not been confirmed.
Ansar Dine and the Movement of Oneness and Jihad claimed they were in full control of northern Mali one day after clashes with the Tuaregs from the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad in Gao. Twenty people were killed in the fighting.
Omar Mahdi Zeidan offered religious justification for waging jihad against Muslims. His brother was killed in a US drone strike in North Waziristan in early 2010.
The Taliban released a video of the beheading of 17 Pakistani soldiers. The Lashkar-e-Islam killed eight Pakistani soldiers in an IED attack in Khyber. Twenty Pakistanis traveling to Iran were killed in a bus bombing in Quetta.
Security forces killed 12 Taliban fighters in Uruzgan; the Taliban denied the report. The Taliban killed two ISAF soldiers in the east.
Insurgents killed 22 Iraqis in a series of bombings and shooting in Baghdad, Taji, Samarra, Baqubah, and Ramadi. The attacks took place against security forces and in Shia neighborhoods.
Yemeni soldiers near Sana’a kidnapped a brigade commander after not being paid for three months. Security forces detained members of an al Qaeda cell responsible for the May 21 suicide attack in Sana’a that killed more than 100 soldiers. Security officials said that some AQAP fighters have fled to Oman.
Three people were killed after Shabaab forces ambushed a Somali and Ethiopian military convoy in Goof-Gaduud near Baidoa. Shabaab claimed it killed 23 Kenyan soldiers in an ambush two days ago in Haluqa.
More than 20 people were killed as the Movement of Oneness and Jihad clashed with the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) in Gao. The Movement of Oneness and Jihad took control of the MNLA’s headquarters in Gao.
The Taliban displayed the heads of the soldiers and vowed to continue to fight the Pakistani military until sharia is imposed and Pakistan ends support for the US.
Afghan officials said that 71 Taliban fighters and five policemen were killed during fighting throughout the country. A separate report claimed that 10 policemen were killed in Helmand, Herat, and Kunduz.
Insurgents killed 11 Iraqis in two separate bombings in Baghdad province. Security forces detained four al Qaeda in Iraq fighters in Wasit province.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula reportedly established training camps in the mountains of the Al Mahfad area in the southern Yemeni province of Abyan.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has established a new base in the Al Mahfad area in Abyan province. Yemen’s foreign minister admitted that the US is conducting drone strikes against AQAP.
Eight people were killed after Shabaab forces attacked Somali and Kenyan army bases in Badhadhe. Shabaab called the telecom firm Hoormud “an oppressive tool of the Jews and US” for helping Kenyan forces track down Shabaab members. Prime Minister Ali said Shabaab will be driven “out of their last stronghold” by the end of August.
Seventeen “extremists” and one policemen were killed during fighting at police stations and a prison in Kano yesterday. Three Boko Haram fighters were also detained as police repelled the attacks.