Ansar al Sharia
General’s opinion on Benghazi draws a rebuke
Author Archives: Lisa Lundquist
Syria
The emir of al Qaeda, Ayman al Zawahiri, told the Al Nusrah Front to stop fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham and urged ISIS to concentrate its efforts in Iraq. ISIS clashed with Al Nusrah and the Islamic Front in Deir Izzour. Rebels led by the Islamic Front overran an abandoned chemical […]
Syria
Former US diplomat warns of possible ‘grave mistake’ in Syria
Lebanon
The Sunni militant group Liwaa Ahrar al-Sunna claimed to have captured three Hezbollah members near Baalbek. Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Lebanon returned after a month’s absence blamed on security concerns.
Hezbollah
Lebanon – Beirut’s southern suburbs exhale as bombings fade
Libya
At least five soldiers were killed and 11 people wounded during heavy fighting between Ansar al Sharia and the Saiqa Special Forces in Benghazi last night after the militants raided a security headquarters and tried to recover a vehicle packed with explosives. A convoy of 20 Ansar al Sharia technicals had reportedly moved into the […]
Nigeria
The US Embassy warned of a potential terrorist attack on a Sheraton hotel in Lagos. The Nigerian military is said to be mobilizing for an assault on Boko Haram militants in the Sambisa forest in Borno in an attempt to free 276 kidnapped schoolgirls. Boko Haram gunmen killed 10 people along the Maiduguri- Beneshiek- Damaturu […]
United Kingdom
The national head teachers’ group expressed “serious concerns” about an alleged plot by Islamists to control education in a number of Birmingham schools. Ofsted, which oversees UK schools, and Birmingham authorities are conducting parallel investigations. Ofsted is now looking at 21 Birmingham schools; and schools in Bradford, Manchester, and east London are alleged to have […]
Spain
Spanish security forces, working with French police, arrested Abdelmalek Tanem, an Algerian national who also has French citizenship, in Almeria on April 30. He had recently returned from Syria, where he worked as a facilitator along the Turkish border, integrating European jihadists into the Al Nusrah Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the […]
Algeria
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb claimed the April 19 ambush of an Algerian army convoy near Tizi Ouzou in Kabylie. The latest US State Department worldwide terrorism report said that in 2013 Algerian forces had “decreased the number of successful terrorist attacks, sustained pressure on AQMI group’s Algeria-based leadership … and further isolated AQMI.”
Tunisia
Authorities arrested five members of Ansar al Sharia in Ariana. Foreign Minister Hamdi said France recently confirmed its commitment to supporting the efforts of Tunisian security forces, especially in stabilizing the area along the Libyan border.
Libya
Gunmen killed a Benghazi security official and injured his colleague in an attack near the Benghazi Al-Ahly football club. A former security official was killed near Derna. The road to Tripoli airport was blocked due to clashes with RPG-wielding drug dealers that left two alleged dealers dead and destroyed several vehicles. Protesters forced the closure […]
Afghanistan
As US draws down, Afghan opium production thrives
Ansar al Sharia
Email Suggests White House Strategy on Benghazi
Nigeria
A suspected Boko Haram suicide car bombing killed 30 people and injured scores more in Abuja. A negotiator for the Boko Haram militants who have kidnapped over 200 schoolgirls said the kidnappers are demanding a ransom and that the military knows their location; some reports said the girls had been taken to Chad or Cameroon. […]
Iraq
In Iraq and Syria, a resurgence of foreign suicide bombers
Southern Front tries to disassociate itself from Al Nusrah
The Southern Front, a new coalition of “moderate” fighting groups in the Syrian south, is seeking to present itself as untainted by links to extremist groups in Syria, including the al Qaeda-affiliated Al Nusrah Front. But evidence, including a recent claim by Al Nusrah itself, points to the contrary.
Afghanistan
Abu Hamza trial: American follower tells terror trial about US jihad training camp
South Sudan
South Sudan sides ‘recruit 9,000 children to fight’
China
Authorities blamed religious extremists for yesterday’s suicide bomb and knife attack at a busy train station in Xinjiang. One of the two bombers was identified as Sedierding Shawuti, a Uighur. A spokesperson for the World Uyghur Congress said 100 Uighurs had been arrested following the attack. President Xi, who had been visiting the region at […]
India
Two bombs detonated in two coaches of the Bangalore-Guwhati Express as it was stopped at the Central station in Chennai, killing a passenger and injuring 14 others. No group has claimed responsibility for the blasts, but security officials have been monitoring the Islamist terror group Indian Mujahideen more closely in recent weeks.
CIA
CIA’s resolve to track weapons complicates push to arm Syria rebels
United States
The State Department’s latest annual Country Reports on Terrorism said a growing number of terrorist groups are threatening the US, and noted a 43% increase in the number of terrorist attacks worldwide in 2013 from 2012. A Pentagon report said the number of high-profile insurgent attacks in Afghanistan rose by 43% between October 2013 and […]
Syria
The Al Nusrah Front and the Islamic Front battled regime forces in Idlib; Hama; Latakia, where they were joined by Ahrar al Sham, Sham al Islam, Ansar al Sham, and rebels; Reef Dimashq; and Aleppo. Al Nusrah claimed two car bombings in Homs that killed 51 people and injured 71, and threatened more attacks on […]
Lebanon
A group of gunmen ambushed a Lebanese army patrol on the outskirts of Arsal, sparking a clash in which five soldiers were injured. Security forces mounted a search for the gunmen, who escaped. A Lebanese group called Liwaa Ahrar Al-Sunna claimed the attack.
Jordan
Jordan opens new Syrian refugee camp
Brunei
The Sultan of Brunei announced that the first phase of the implementation of sharia law in Brunei will begin tomorrow. The new penal code, which will be adopted in three phases by the end of next year, will provide for punishments including stoning, flogging, and amputation of limbs.
Mali
Military sources said French special forces killed Haroun Said, a deputy of Ansar Dine head Iyad Ag Ghaly, during operations in north Mali last week in which a number of insurgents, including two child soldiers, were arrested. One report said he and two of his children were killed by an airstrike on his vehicle. Armed […]
Libya
A Benghazi security officer was severely injured by a car bomb. Security forces in Tobruk clashed with armed smugglers near the Egyptian border, who fled into Egypt. The Abu Saleem Brigade, an Islamist militia, is building a wall at a Derna university to segregate the sexes, and has agreed to provide security so long as […]
Al Nusrah Front
Editorial: Support for radical Islamism on the rise in Turkey