Iraq
Insurgents killed eight Iraqis in attacks in Tarmiyah, Baqubah, and Sadiyah. In Tarmiyah, gunmen killed the mayor’s bodyguard and four women in their home.
Author Archives: Bill Roggio
Yemen
The US killed three al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters on March 11 in an airstrike in Jaar. The spokesman of the Houthis said the tribes are preventing them from ousting the Americans from Yemen.
Somalia
Ethiopian troops will withdraw from Baidoa and Beledweyne in April, and will be replaced by 2,500 Djiboutian, Burundian, and Ugandan soldiers. Shabaab ambushed Kenyan troops between Taabta and Qoqani; five Shabaab fighters and several Kenyan troops were killed.
Kenya
The death toll in yesterday’s grenade attack at a bus station in Nairobi has risen to seven. Security forces detained four suspected Shabaab fighters, including foreigners.
AQAP demands prisoner exchange for 73 captured Yemeni soldiers
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula blamed the US and President Hadi for “escalation, launching an unjustified war against the mujahideen of Ansar al Shariah in Abyan.”
Iran
Iran stands by Syria, blames US for unrest
US drone strike kills 3 AQAP fighters in Yemen
The US has carried out three airstrikes in Yemen from March 9 to March 11. Two took place in Jaar, a city controlled by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
Afghanistan
Afghan civilian deaths spark calls for US exit
Pakistan
UK government sued for helping Pakistan drone strikes
Yemen
Two al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters were killed in a premature detonation in Mudiyah in Abyan province. Security forces arrested four Shabaab fighters in Mudiyah.
Somalia
Shabaab claimed that 81 Ethiopian soldiers, including a colonel, were killed during yesterday’s fighting near Luuq. Shabaab also claimed the US Treasury is initiating the shutdown of its Twitter page.
Suicide bomber kills 15 at funeral in Peshawar
The target of the attack appears to have been the deputy speaker of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s provincial assembly, who has also raised an anti-Taliban militia.
Nigeria
A Boko Haram suicide bomber killed three civilians in a bombing outside of a church in Jos. The suicide bomber was stopped before he could enter the compound. Boko Haram claimed credit for the attack.
US soldier kills 16 Afghan civilians in rampage
The Taliban are describing the killings as intentional “genocide” by US and Afghan troops.
Pakistan
The military claimed it killed 33 Taliban fighters in Arakzai. Four civilians and two Pakistani troops were killed during clashes with the Lashkar-e-Islam in Khyber. The government banned the Ahle Sunnat awl Jamaat, formerly the Sipha-e-Sahaba, but no action has been taken against it.
Yemen
At least 38 al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters and commanders are reported to have been killed in airstrikes in Jaar and Al Baydah. Abdulwahhab al Homaiqani, the commander for Al Baydah, is said to have been killed.
Somalia
Heavy fighting was reported after Shabaab attacked Ethiopian forces in the village of Yurkut near Luuq. Shabaab claimed it killed 73 Ethiopian soldiers and lost five fighters. Somali officials claimed 48 Shabaab fighters were killed. Ethiopia did not disclose casualties.
Kenya
Four people were killed and 42 were wounded in a grenade attack at a bus station in Nairobi. A Shabaab fighter is said to have been arrested and confessed to carrying out the attack.
Dozens of AQAP fighters killed in airstrikes in southern Yemen
US drones are suspected of conducting the strikes in Al Baydah and Jaar, but the reports are unconfirmed.
Nigeria
A Boko Haram spokesman denied that his group was responsible for the kidnapping and murder of a British and an Italian hostage during a failed raid late last week. More than 100 Nigerian and British soldiers and two helicopters were used during the raid in Sokoto.
Al Qaeda eulogizes senior commander killed in recent drone strike
Ustad Ahmad Farooq, al Qaeda’s spokesman for Pakistan, confirmed that Badr Mansoor was killed in a drone strike on Feb. 2012. Farooq accused the Pakistani military and government of supporting the US’s drone campaign.
Pakistan
US Predators killed 13 “militants” in a strike in South Waziristan. The Taliban killed seven Pakistani soldiers in North Waziristan and a tribal militia leader in Arakzai, and threatened the military and government if Osama bin Laden’s widows are not freed from prison. Prime Minister Gilani named the new chief of the ISI.
IDF kills head of Popular Resistance Committee in Gaza strike
A decade of Israeli airstrikes against Palestinian terror groups has failed to lead to their collapse.
Afghanistan
The US agreed to transfer control of the Parwan Detention Facility to the Afghan government in six months. The Taliban killed a civilian in a bombing at a Sufi shrine in Kandahar. Security forces killed and captured several Taliban commanders and fighters in Helmand, Khost, Paktia, Wardak, and Laghman.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula announced the death of Mohamed Ahmed al Haniq, the commander for forces in Arhab in Lahj province. Haniq died of natural causes. One of his sons died fighting US forces in Iraq, another was killed in a US airstrike in Yemen.
Yemen
Shia Houthi rebels killed a military officer and six bodyguards in an attack at a checkpoint in Amran. Yemeni troops returned fire, killing three Houthi fighters.
Nigeria
“Gunmen” killed a civilian and wounded three policemen in an attack on a police station in Kano. British special forces carried out the failed raid that resulted in the deaths of a British and an Italian hostage.
Taliban demand release of bin Laden’s wives, kill 7 Pakistani troops
“We will carry out suicide bombings against security forces and the government across the country,” a Taliban spokesman said. The Taliban also threatened two female Pakistani activists who have worked for the well-being of women and children in Pakistan.
US drones kill at least 13 in South Waziristan strike
Today’s strike is the first in Pakistan’s tribal areas in 14 days, and just the eighth this year.
Afghanistan
The US is investigating charges that the Afghan Air Force is involved in drug smuggling. The Taliban killed nine policemen in Uruzgan. Security forces captured two IMU leaders in Badakhshan.