Iraq
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham killed 24 people, including three policemen, in bombings in Baghdad; and killed a soldier in Kirkuk. Security forces captured the ISIS’s wali, or governor, for Kirkuk during a raid in Baghdad.
Author Archives: Bill Roggio
Afghanistan
A suicide bomber killed two policemen in the capital of Kabul. Security forces killed three Taliban fighters. Eighty Taliban fighters reconciled with the government in Baghlan; another 19 did the same in Herat. ‘Reconciled’ fighters often return to the Taliban at the beginning of the fighting season.
Iraq
An Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham suicide bomber killed three people in Tuz. Eight people were killed as security forces clashes with the ISIS in Zaidon. Security forces killed three ISIS fighters in Khalidiyah and captured the ISIS’s finance minister in Ramadi.
Saudi Arabia
A court sentenced to death the leader of an al Qaeda cell that attacked foreigners in Yanbu in May 2004; two Americans, two Britons, and an Australian were killed in the attack. Ten other jihadists were given prison sentences of between three to 10 years.
Yemen
Yemeni officials said al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters killed four members of the coast guard in Shahr in Hadramout province; other reports claimed tribesmen killed the security personnel. The military is deploying troops to Dammaj to monitor a truce between Houthis and Salafists.
Afghanistan
ISAF confirmed that the Taliban downed a US helicopter on Dec. 17, 2013, killing six US soldiers. Police killed three Taliban fighters. Two more Taliban fighters died in a premature detonation in Nangarhar.
Al Qaeda
US never saw Pakistan as an ally, writes Gates
Iraq
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham killed the chief of intelligence in Anah, an Awakening leader and his family in Baghdad, a police captain in Al Kut, and two soldiers and a policeman in Mosul. Security forces killed three ISIS fighters in Kirkuk, and accidentally killed three civilians in an airstrike in Ramadi. […]
ISAF confirms Taliban downing of US helicopter in Zabul
It is unclear if the downing of the US Blackhawk in Zabul province, which killed six US soldiers, was caused by RPGS or “if the low-flying aircraft set off a bomb hidden on the ground.” Last year, the Islamic Jihad Union tested an anti-helicopter fragmentation mine with the intent of bringing down an Apache.
Iraq
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham killed four border guards in IED attacks in Haditha and one civilian each in bombings in Ramadi and Fallujah. The ISIS also bombed two bridges in Anbar. Security forces killed
Yemen
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula freed one of two South Africans who were captured in Taiz in May 2013. The other hostage is expected to be released within days. It is unclear if a ransom has been paid. The central government reportedly has signed a power sharing agreement with the south.
Afghanistan
Gates: US tried to oust Karzai in ‘failed putsch’
Kenya strikes Shabaab camp in Gedo
The Kenyan Defense Forces claimed to have killed 30 Shabaab militants, including senior leadership, in a strike at a Shabaab camp in Gedo.
Taliban assassinate Karachi police chief
The Mohmand branch of the Taliban accused Chaudhry Aslam Khan, slain chief of the Crime Investigation Department in Karachi, of being “involved in torturing Mujahideen in prison” and killing them.
Pakistan
A Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan suicide bomber killed the head of the Crime Investigation Department in Karachi and three policemen. The Taliban accused him of executing and torturing their followers in prison. Ten Taliban fighters and three soldiers were killed during a Taliban assault on an outpost in South Waziristan.
Afghanistan
Three members of a Taliban suicide assault team and a policeman were killed during an attack on a police station in the capital of Helmand. Two ISAF soldiers and a civilian were killed in a helicopter crash in the east. The government will free 72 of the 88 Taliban prisoners deemed by the US to […]
Saudi Arabia
A Saudi court convicted 15 of 22 men accused of providing support to al Qaeda, including fundraising, weapons training, sheltering known terrorists, fighting in theaters of jihad, and forging documents. They were sentenced to terms ranging from two to 15 years.
Iraq
An Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham suicide bomber killed 21 people, including four soldiers, in an attack at a military recruiting station in Baghdad. Another ISIS suicide bomber killed four SWAT officers in Ramadi. ISIS fighters killed four Awakening fighters and a policeman near Tikrik, and three policemen in Mosul. The military killed […]
Suicide bomber attacks Iraqi recruits as al Qaeda forces retain control of areas in Anbar
One week after the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham took over the cities of Ramadi and Fallujah, large areas of Anbar province remain under its control. Karma has also been seized by the ISIS.
Iraq
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham killed three policemen in Salahuddin, three security personnel and a police officer in Baqubah, and two policemen and a soldier in Mosul. A helicopter crew died in a crash in Anbar. Security forces killed the ISIS’s military commander for Ramadi and four fighters, an ISIS commander and […]
Yemen
US drones killed two al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters in a strike in Hadramout. The US is investigating the Dec. 12, 2013 strike that reportedly killed 15 civilians. The government brokered a ceasefire between Houthis and Salafists in Amran.
US drones kill 2 AQAP fighters in eastern Yemen
The strike is the first in Yemen this year. Four of the past five strikes in Yemen have occurred in Hadramout province, an AQAP stronghold and the ancestral home of Osama bin Laden.
Iraq
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham killed seven policemen and a soldier near Tikrit, and two policemen near Baqubah. Security forces killed an ISIS leader in Jisr al-Ruood, two ISIS fighters in Ramadi, a suicide bomber in Babil, and two “gunmen” in Baghdad.
Yemen
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula assassinated an officer and a soldier in Aden. Tribes in Hadramout again bombed a oil pipeline. Yemeni officials denied an airstrike took place in Rada’a, and instead claimed three AQAP fighters died in a premature detonation.
US Military
In his new memoir, Robert M. Gates, the former Defense Secretary, offers a critique of the president
US adds Afghan Taliban deputy shadow governor to terrorist list
Qari Saifullah, whom the State Department described as a “Taliban shadow deputy governor and an operational commander in Zabul Province,” also supports al Qaeda in southern Afghanistan.
Pakistan
A suicide bomber killed a student in an attack outside a school in Hangu. Nine people, including three children, were killed in a bombing at the home of a tribal leader in Khyber.
Afghanistan
A Taliban suicide bomber killed three Afghan Local Police officers in Ghazni. The Taliban killed four people in a rocket attack in Helmand. Security forces captured a young female suicide bomber in Helmand. The government will free 88 prisoners at Bagram despite US objections that they are members of the Taliban.
Iraq
Security forces killed seven Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham fighters in Ramadi, two in Abu Ghraib, and two more in Mosul, an ISIS “prince” in Fallujah, and eight “gunmen” in Hillah. The ISIS killed five soldiers in Abu Ghraib and one more in Balad, and a policeman and a civilian in Samarra.
Afghanistan
Afghan officials claimed that five Pakistanis were among 15 Taliban fighters killed in Ghazni; the Taliban claimed two Taliban fighters and six policemen were killed. The Taliban killed five civilians in a rocket attack in Helmand.