4 ISAF soldiers killed in suicide, green-on-blue attacks
Three ISAF soldiers were killed in a suicide attack in Kabul, while another soldier was killed after an Afghan soldier opened fire on military trainers at a base in Farah province.
Author Archives: Bill Roggio
Pakistan
The military claimed it killed 15 Taliban fighters in airstrikes in North Waziristan. A tribal policeman was killed as “armed men” attacked a polio vaccination team in the Pishin district in Balochistan. The military said that the Taliban’s ability to conduct attacks has been degraded.
Iraq
Mideast’s complexities confound US efforts to build coalition against Islamic State
Iraq
The military claimed it killed 18 Islamic State leaders in Babil and 17 more near Tikrit. The Islamic State killed three Awakening fighters and five civilians in IED attacks in Madain and Abu Dashir. Iran rejected a US offer for talks on fighting the Islamic State.
Iraq
Islamic State rebuilds its manpower In Iraq and Syria
Yemen
Officials reported that 25 people were killed as tribesmen linked to the Muslim Brotherhood clashed with Houthi rebels in Al Jawf. Security officials said that al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is moving operatives into the capital of Sana’a as part of an effort to exploit the Houthi crisis.
2 al Qaeda commanders reported killed in US airstrike in eastern Afghanistan
The pair of al Qaeda commanders are said to be members of the Badr Mansoor Group, which was described in one of Osama bin Laden’s documents as an al Qaeda “company.”
Iraq
The Iraqi military claimed it killed 35 Islamic State fighters in Jurf Al Sakhar. The US destroyed an Islamic State mortar emplacement and an armed vehicle in two airstrikes near the Mosul Dam. Prime Minister Abadi suspended Iraqi air and artillery strikes on residential areas. The Obama administration is using the 2002 AUMF to justify […]
Iraq
White House: Iraq war vote Obama opposed could be used for ISIS strikes
Islamic State beheads British citizen, threatens another
The Islamic State released a video of the beheading of David Cawthorne Haines, a British citizen who was kidnapped while providing security for an aid group in Syria’s Idlib province in March 2013.
On the CIA estimate of number of fighters in the Islamic State
It should come as no surprise that the CIA concludes that the Islamic State has upwards of 31,500 fighters.
Iraq
Premier Haider Abadi’s new Iraq government
Afghanistan
The military claimed it killed 130 Taliban fighters during a month-long offensive in Kunduz; the Taliban are still said to control the district that was the target of the operation. The Taliban created the “Department of Prevention of Civilian Casualties.” The Taliban kidnapped a district governor in Paktia.
Iraq
The Iraqi military claimed it killed 50 Islamic State fighters in airstrikes in Jurf al Sakhar. US destroyed two Islamic State “armed vehicles” in two airstrikes near the Mosul Dam. Yesterday, 17 Iraqis were killed in bombings in Diwaniyah, Najarf, Karbala, and Baghdad.
Mali
A rebel group in Kidal in northern Mali captured an al Qaeda operative known as Meherig Jafar and transferred him to Malian security forces. Jafar is believed to be a deputy to Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a senior leader in the al-Murabitoon Brigade, which is separate from al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb but loyal to al […]
Iraq
The US destroyed two Islamic State machine gun emplacements and a bunker in two airstrikes near the Mosul Dam. The Iraqi military claimed it killed nine Islamic State fighters and three leaders in airstrikes south of Baghdad and north of Mosul.
Yemen
Five al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters, including a Saudi and an individual who shares the nom de guerre of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s emir for Mahfad, are reported to have been killed in the first drone strike since mid-August. Seven civilians were killed in bombings in Amran.
New leader of Ahrar al Sham previously led Free Syrian Army unit
The Islamic Front identified Sheikh Hashim al Sheikh, who is also known as Abu Jaber, as the new emir of al Qaeda-allied Ahrar al Sham.
Jamaat-ul-Ahrar celebrates 9/11 attack
“In 2001, Afghanistan was the only Islamic Emirate in the world but now Jihad has spread to a vast swathe of land including Pakistan, Chechnya, Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, Algeria, Mali and Nigeria,” the group states.
Iraq
President Obama said his strategy to defeat the Islamic State will mirror that of US actions in Somalia and Yemen, will use air power, and will not include ground forces. The US launched an airstrike agains the Islamic State near Irbil. Iraiq special forces killed seven Islamic State fighters outside of Fallujah. The military claimed […]
US aided Hezbollah Brigades in breaking Islamic State siege of Iraqi town
Hezbollah Brigades, which was listed by the US as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in 2009, now controls access to Amerli.
Afghanistan
The Afghan government claimed the US killed 11 civilians in an airstrike in Kunar. Security forces claimed to have killed 10 Taliban fighters in Kunduz; one security official was also killed. The Taliban killed five policemen in Laghman and another policeman in Kunar.
Iraq
The US launched five airstrikes against the Islamic State near the Haditha Dam. The Iraqi military claimed it cleared the Islamic State from Barwana near Haditha; the military also claimed it cleared Barwana last week. The Islamic State kidnapped 20 people, including five policemen, in a village near Tikrit.
Yemen
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula killed two soldiers and wounded seven more in a suicide attack and assault on a checkpoint in Hadramout province. Police opened fire on Houthi protesters and killed seven of them after they attempted to storm government buildings in the capital of Sana’a.
Iraq
The Islamic State killed 17 Iraqis in a suicide assault in the town of Dhuluiya, and launched a large-scale assault on the town of Ziwiya. The US targeted the Islamic State in five airstrikes in Irbil and near the Haditha Dam. The Iraqi military claimed it killed 22 Islamic State fighters in Jurf al Sakhar.
Iraq
Between a rock and a hard place: An interview with Anbar Governor Ahmed Dulaimi
Somalia
Shabaab killed 12 people, including several soldiers, in two suicide attacks that targeted African Union and Somali convoys south of Mogadishu. The government shut down two radio stations in the capital after accusing them of reproducing Shabaab propaganda.
Afghanistan
The Taliban killed a district police chief and two police officers in a suicide attack in Kandahar and six soldiers in an IED attack in Badakhshan. The Interior Ministry claimed 35 Taliban fighters were killed during operations throughout the country.
Iraq
The US launched four airstrikes in support of Iraqi military operations near the Haditha Dam in Anbar. The military claimed it killed several islamic State leaders, including a Moroccan, in Tal Afar, 16 fighters in Dhuliyah, and 11 more in northern Babil. The governor of Anbar was wounded in Barwana.
US airstrikes target Islamic State at the Haditha Dam
The US air campaign against the Islamic State has expanded into Anbar province.