Security forces detained a suspected al Qaeda operative in Sa’ana. An al Qaeda fighter on trial claimed Yemen’s intelligence service arranged for him to join the terror group. Yemen’s tourist industry has lost more than $10 billion over the past 10 years due to kidnappings and terror threats.
More than 60 NATO supply trucks and fuel tankers have been destroyed in Taliban attacks since the Pakistani government closed the Khyber Pass to NATO traffic. The latest attack took place near Islamabad.
The Taliban executed three “US spies” in North Waziristan. NATO’s supply line to Pakistan through the Khyber Pass remains closed for the fourth day in a row; the government said it would consider reopening it soon.
The Taliban killed seven civilians in an IED attack in Paktia. Security forces killed and captured several Taliban and Haqqani Network commanders and members in Kandahar, Zabul, Ghazni, and Badghis. President Karzai has disbanded eight security firms.
Canadian military confirms enemy action brought down helicopter in Afghanistan
Insurgents killed a policeman, an Awakening fighter, and a civilian in attacks in Fallujah and Baghdad. Security forces detained seven wanted men in Basrah and three security officials in Diyala.
Ten Somalis were killed in clashes in Mogadishu. Uganda threatened to remove its forces from Somalia after a UN report criticized the African nation of committing massacres. Infighting has been reported between two of Shabaab’s top leaders.
More than 400 policemen have been killed in the Republic of Ingushetia over the past five years, according to President Yevkurov. A plane flying from Moscow to the Chechen capital of Grozny was forced to land after receiving a bomb threat.
The FBI searched the homes of so-called peace activists who are suspected of providing “material support” for FARC, Hezbollah, and other terror groups. More than a dozen people may face a federal grand jury in Chicago in the next several weeks.
Police arrested a French man of Algerian origin who is suspected of being a member of al Qaeda. The man, who was arrested two weeks ago, had notes and “a kit for making bombs,” according to reports.
The deputy industry minister for technology claimed Iran’s industries are now free of the dangerous Stuxnet virus that disables control software. President Ahmedinejad wants to “bury” US leaders for its opposition to Iran’s nuclear program.
Osama bin Laden released his second audiotape in two days. On the latest tape, bin Laden urged Muslims to help Pakistani flood victims and blamed Arab governments for failing to respond to their plight.
The Swedish Security Service said “a handful” of citizens have traveled to Pakistan to train at terror camps. The terror alert in Sweden has been raised to its highest level in five years.
US Predators killed 14 Haqqani Network and Uzbek fighters in strikes in Datta Khel in North Waziristan. The military killed 18 Taliban fighters in Kurram. A senior Muslim scholar in Swat was killed in Mardan.
Security forces killed and captured several Taliban and Haqqani Network commanders and members in Helmand and Paktia. The Taliban killed two ISAF soldiers in the east, a policeman in Uruzgan, two civilians in Kandahar, and a child in Helmand.
Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, the leader of al Qaeda’s Islamic State of Iraq, promoted Sami al Daini to lead the group in Diyala province. Daini is the brother-in-law of slain al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al Zarqawi.
Nine Somalis were killed in heavy fighting in the Bakara market after Shabaab attacked African Union forces in the capital. Shabaab arrested 17 young men in Beledweyne for violating sharia orders.
Security forces arrested several people said to be involved in the dangerous Stuxnet virus that has plagued the Bushehr nuclear plant. Police arrested Ebrahim Yazdi, the leader of the Freedom Movement of Iran, in Isfahan. The deputy oil minister claimed Iran broke its record of gasoline production.
Security forces have been fighting Islamist rebels for more than a week in the Rasht Valley; communications have been cut off from the region. A captured Islamist fighter said several training camps are in operation in the Rasht Valley.
Counterterrosim forces killed five Islamist fighters during raids in the republic of Dagestan. Two female fighters were among those reported killed.
The pair of strikes took place in Datta Khel, a known hub for al Qaeda. Uzbeks and Haqqani Network members were reported killed in the attacks.
CIA escalates campaign in Pakistan
More than three dozen NATO fuel tankers and container trucks were destroyed in a pair of attacks in Shikarpur and and Baluchistan; two civilians were killed. Ten suspects have been detained in the larger attack in Shikarpur. Former President Pervez Musharraf has returned to Pakistan politics.
Security forces killed and captured several Taliban and Haqqani Network commanders and members in Kandahar, Kapisa, Zabul, Khost, and Kunar. Three Taliban fighters and a farmer were killed in a premature detonation in Zabul. The Taliban killed four ISAF soldiers in separate attacks in the south.
The unnamed commander directed operations in Kandahar from the border city of Chaman in Pakistan. Chaman is a known command and control hub for Taliban operations in the Afghan south.
Osama bin Laden released his first audiotape since March. On the tape, bin Laden said climate change is responsible for the floods in Pakistan and expressed concern over the natural catastrophe.
Arafat asked for intifada attacks: Hamas leader
A source close to slain Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri insists Hezbollah was responsible for his brutal assassination. Hezbollah said that Saad Hariri, Rafik’s son and the current prime minister, should deflect the UN tribunal’s attention on the group.
September saw the lowest number of Iraqis killed (273) since January of this year. Insurgents killed two policemen in Mosul and three Awakening fighters in Baghdad. Security forces detained four al Qaeda fighters in Diyala.
Interpol’s secretary general warned that Somalia may be a bigger al Qaeda threat than Afghanistan in the near future. “For us, we believe that ‘the Afghanistan’ in the next five to 10 years will be Somalia and those parts of Africa (countries in the north and west),” Ronald Noble said.