Security forces killed 29 Taliban fighters in Paktika, Paktia, Ghazni, and Kabul. The Taliban killed seven Afghan policemen in the east and west, and four education officials in Paktika. NATO plans to apologize for recent airstrikes that killed civilians.
An Iraqi court ordered the release of Hezbollah commander Musa Ali Daqduq, but he will remain in prison as his case is appealed. INTERPOL issued a Red Notice warrant for Vice President Tariq al Hashemi.
Al Qaeda has about 500 operatives in Egypt, according to Nabil Naim, a leader of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad.”It doesn’t have a large number of men” in Egypt, Naim claimed.
Yemeni officials are angry that the US did not inform the government of an airline plot hatched in the country. The US is sending military trainers back into Yemen.
Nine people were killed using heavy fighting in Mogadishu. Security forces prevented a suicide attack and captured two suspected bombers at a checkpoint in Mogadishu. “Gunmen” killed a Somali soldier and an immigration official in the capital.
Afghan officials claimed 20 civilians, including women and children, were killed in ISAF airstrikes in Helmand and Badghis. The Taliban killed three ISAF soldiers in an attack in the south.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula overran two bases in Al Koud and Dawfas, killing 32 soldiers and capturing 28 more. Tribesmen killed AQAP commander Bassam Al Sayed in Radfan in Lahj province. AQAP denied it plans on freeing a Saudi diplomat and a Swiss hostage.
Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama’a and Shabaab forces clashed in El Bur. Shabaab attacked government troops in Beledweyne. Shabaab dismissed its commander in Afmadow and arrested 15 civilians for criminal activity.
The soldiers’ heads were displayed on poles in Miramshah, where the Pakistani military maintains a garrison.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters attacked two bases outside of Zinjibar. Forty troops were wounded and at least 28 were captured.
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The videotape is the first real proof that al Qaeda is holding Warren Weinstein, who was kidnapped in Lahore in August 2011.
The Taliban killed nine Pakistani soldiers in an ambush in Miramshah, two men in an attack on an anti-Taliban elder’s home in Kurram, and one person in a bombing in Dir. The Taliban also bombed schools in South Waziristan and Mohmand.
The Taliban killed six Afghan soldiers in Badghis and an ISAF soldier in the south. An Afghan soldier killed an ISAF soldier in the south. Security forces killed two Taliban commanders and three fighters in Badghis, and killed several fighters in Helmand.
The US killed senior al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula leader Fadh al Quso in a drone strike in Shabwa. The government may deport two Belgians who are accused of plotting terror attack. The interior minister expects a kidnapped Saudi diplomat and a French teacher should be released within 48 hours.
The Taliban ambushed a convoy near Miramshah, inflicting “heavy losses” on Pakistani troops.
The Yemeni Embassy said Fahd al Quso was killed in an airstrike in Shabwa province. A US intelligence official told The Long War Journal that Quso was the target of a strike.
The al Qaeda-linked group said a suicide bomber targeted a large group of Syrian soldiers on April 20 in Hama.
Afghan security personnel have killed 20 ISAF soldiers this year.
Security officials said that al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb “occupies a dominant position in the three areas of northern Mali.” The officials said that AQIM is working through Ansar al Dine, and Tunisian, Libyan, and Moroccan fighters are entering the theater.
A “terrorist network” active in several cities and linked to al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb was broken up, a Moroccan security official said. The leader of the “Mujahideen of Morocco,” who has links to AQIM’s network in other countries, was detained.
US drones killed 10 militants in North Waziristan. Pakistan’s parliament condemned the US strike and said such attacks are “a violation of its sovereignty and territorial integrity.” Sixteen Taliban fighters surrendered in Kurram.
The Taliban killed five policemen in Nangarhar and a teacher in Wardak. ISAF killed a Taliban commander and six fighters in an airstrike in Wardak and five more in an airstrike in Faryab.
The strike took place in the Shawal Valley in North Waziristan. Al Qaeda and the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan have sheltered in the area in the past.
Security forces killed 13 Taliban fighters in Helmand and Laghman, and detained several commanders and fighters in Khost, Ghazni, and Kunduz. The Taliban killed two British soldiers in Helmand.
Human Rights Watch accused the Kenyan military and police of abusing ethnic Somalis in North Eastern province. The abuses are in response to IED and other attacks by Shabaab fighters in the region.
In the past, al Qaeda has not shied away from putting its top leaders in Pakistan’s major cities.