Author Archives: LWJ Staff




Afghan NDS disrupts Kabul terror plot

Afghan intelligence forces stormed a militant safe house in Kabul City late on May 29. Afghan forces arrested six would-be suicide bombers and killed a seventh suspect. Suicide vests and other explosives were seized in the operation.


Afghan intelligence thwarts major attack against Kandahar City

Following weeks of surveillance work, Afghan intelligence officials intercepted an explosives-laden tractor late on May 25, effectively preventing a massive Taliban terror attack against Kandahar City. Tractors have been widely employed by insurgents as a means of transporting explosives and for vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices.






Afghan forces thwart unprecedented terror plot in Kabul

NDS forces raided a Haqqani Network safe house in eastern Kabul, killing five militants, capturing two others, and seizing a 7,800-kg truck bomb wired for detonation. The bomb’s destructive capacity had a radius of nearly one mile, according to Afghan officials.


US – Iran tensions escalate in latest drone incident

Iranian jets scrambled to interdict a US surveillance MQ-1 drone flying over international waters on March 12. US fighter jets escorting the drone prevented the Iranian craft from encroaching closer than 16 miles, marking the latest escalation of force between US and Iranian military units operating in the Persian Gulf.




Conflicting accounts emerge over AQIM leader’s reported death

Evidence is mounting that AQIM leader Abdel Mejid Abou Zeid was recently killed in clashes with French and African security forces, but conflicting reports have emerged as to the events leading to his alleged death. Algerian authorities are conducting DNA analysis on the supposed remains of Abou Zeid.




Pakistani Taliban threaten mobile phone sellers in Peshawar

Pakistani authorities display apparent ignorance over the rash of attacks targeting mobile phone shops in northwestern Pakistan, even as Pakistani militants state their intention to rid Pakistan of “un-Islamic” ring tones and other mobile phone accessories.


Pakistan

Pakistani officials claimed that at least 25 mortar shells fired from Afghanistan struck the border area of Ghulam Khan in North Waziristan. Seven unidentified bullet-riddled bodies were found dumped near Sarobi in North Waziristan. Tribesmen held a massive rally in South Waziristan demonstrating against the US drone campaign.


Yemen

Saudi Arabia denied that its Air Force has targeted al Qaeda militants in Yemen. Efforts are reportedly underway to convince former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to leave the country and go possibly to an Arab Gulf state, in hopes his exit will aid in the political transition process.


Nigeria

Suspected Boko Haram militants staged a brazen attack against the Nigerian Prison Service Farm Center in Maiduguri, freeing several jailed inmates. The previous day, Boko Haram militants and Nigerian state security forces clashed near Maiduguri and Marte, leaving at least seven killed.


Somalia

A UN report shows that increasing cooperation between Somalia’s Shabaab and the Ugandan rebel group Allied Democratic Forces is spreading instability across the region. African Union forces launched a major offensive against Shabaab militants along the Ballidoogle-Leego road, approximately 120 kilometers northwest of Mogadishu.


Libya

Gaddafi-era security official Lieutenant Colonel Nasser al Magrabi was found shot to death at his farm near Benghazi. The day before, the head of Benghazi’s criminal investigations department, Abdelsalam al Mahdawi, was kidnapped at gunpoint. Libyan officials said the trial for Saif al Islam, Libya’s former Intelligence Chief and a son of Gaddafi, will begin […]


Pakistan

The government released eight more Afghan Taliban detainees, including former Taliban justice minister Mullah Nooruddin Turabi. The bodies of nine Pakistani Taliban, all shot in the head and chest, were found dumped in North Waziristan. Government technicians briefly unblocked YouTube after work on a system designed to filter out allegedly blasphemous material.


Iran

Iran’s navy claims it has tested the Iranian-manufactured air defense system Raad (“Thunder”) during an exercise near the Strait of Hormuz. Iran also conducted a “cyberwarfare drill” during the same exercise taking place in the Strait of Hormuz as well as in the Gulf of Oman.


Iraq

Multiple explosions across Iraq targeted government officials, police patrols and members of both the Sunni and Shiite sects. The bombings killed at least 10 people and injured 46 others. Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq survived a purported assassination attempt in Ramadi.


Syria

Unconfirmed reports claim heavy clashes between Syrian and Jordanian military forces occurred overnight near the Ramtha border crossing. The mutilated bodies of 30 people who had been tortured were found dumped in the Barzeh neighborhood of Damascus. Syrian forces are now conducting counterstrikes following their seizure of a contested neighborhood in Homs.


Nigeria

A senior church pastor of the Nigerian Church of the Brethren announced that around 50 of their churches had been burnt and at least 109 members had been killed in northern Nigeria since the insurrection by Boko Haram began. A former president of Nigeria predicted that the existence of Boko Haram will soon come to […]