Heavy fighting between Ethiopian forces and Shabaab fighters erupted in the Bay region of southern Somalia. Shabaab fighters ambushed Somali National Army soldiers at a checkpoint near Garbaharey in Gedo province, and additional clashes were reported at the KM4 junction in Mogadishu.
The Afghan Taliban published a “proclamation of victory” on their Voice of Jihad website as the murky progression of negotiations between the US and the Taliban continues to unfold.
Iraqi insurgents dressed as policemen attacked a government compound and a police station in Ramadi with four suicide bombers; seven police officers and at least six attackers died in the clashes. A car bomb targeting a police station in Baiji killed at least one person and injured 12 others.
Nigerian authorities arrested a Boko Haram operative, Alhaji Nuhu Babawo, known as “Intelligent.” The raid netted various arms, ammunition, and military and police uniforms. Authorities also arrested Kabir Sokoto, the lead suspect in the deadly Christmas Day bombings carried out by Boko Haram.
Kenyan authorities arrested 29 Ugandans, including two women, in Nairobi for allegedly seeking to join Shabaab in Somalia. The government said it wouldn’t attack Kismayo without the financial support of the international community.
Heavy fighting in Buuhoodle between Somaliland forces and SSC militiamen resulted in widespread destruction and forced civilians to flee for the Ethiopian border. The Shabaab stronghold at Jilib, north of Kismayo, was bombed by Kenyan aircraft, reportedly killing militants and civilians. The British Royal Navy captured 13 Somali pirates yesterday.
Fierce fighting between the Taliban and Afghan forces in Nimroz left four Taliban dead, including a commander. A roadside bomb killed two women in the Nad-e-Ali district of Helmand. Two Taliban groups in Sar-i-Pul and Baghlan provinces surrendered to the Afghan government.
A suicide bomber killed more than 50 Shia pilgrims and injured 91 others as they gathered for Arbain in Basra. An explosion targeting Shia pilgrims east of Mosul injured three civilians and two policemen. Prime Minister Maliki strongly criticized Turkish “interventions” in Iraqi affairs and warned that “Turkey itself would suffer if its actions sparked […]
Shabaab paraded the four abducted Kenyans that have been missing since Wednesday, in the town of Bardhere, Gedo region. Shabaab said it will “punish” the four captives within 24 hours. Somali and Ethiopian troops are preparing to attack Shabaab positions in the region of Hiran located in south central Somalia.
Unidentified gunmen attacked two policemen at a checkpoint in Dagestan. Two days ago, a powerful homemade bomb killed one Russian policeman and injured eight others as they tried to defuse the device near the village of Komsomolskoye in Dagestan.
Mali deployed additional troops, surveillance and fighter aircraft, and over 200 vehicles to Tinzawaten, close to the Algerian border, to provide security for a festival near Timbuktu and to deter Tuareg rebels. Yesterday al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb warned it will kill the Western hostages it holds if European countries attempt to rescue them.
Turkish security forces investigating the urban arm of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party raided over 100 locations in 16 cities and detained 32 suspects. Police discovered a cache of explosives near the Atatürk Olimpiyat Stadium.
Ongoing clashes north and east of Zinjibar left two al Qaeda fighters and three soldiers dead. An explosion stopped all crude oil output from the Jannah Block oil field in Shabwa. Yemen’s parliament is considering a new law granting immunity to Yemen’s president and anyone who served in his regime over the past 33 years.
A Danish court fined the owners of the Danish-based Kurdish television station Roj TV after finding them guilty of promoting terrorism and being financed and controlled by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party. The deputy commander of a regiment linked to an airstrike that killed scores of Kurdish civilians in northern Iraq was removed from his post.
The nationwide strike drew tens of thousands of protesters to the streets chanting anti-government slogans and setting fires. A mob burned an Islamic school in the southern city of Benin where clashes earlier killed five people. Two Christians were killed by suspected Boko Haram gunmen in Maiduguri.
Security forces are searching for six to nine members of the Abu Sayyaf group and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in Manila and Rizal province after a presidential decree warned of impending attacks during the Feast of the Black Nazarene in Manila. Suspected members of Abu Sayyaf blew up a bridge in the southern province […]
Attacks against Shia pilgrims before the Arbaeen holiday have killed over 60 civilians, the deadliest being a suicide attack against a security checkpoint that killed 44 and wounded dozens more in Nasiriya. Qais Qazali, the notorious leader of the Shia death squad Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq, is prepared to disarm and join the political process.
Turkey’s prime minister vowed to continue the fight against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party but acknowledged the need to “learn lessons” from the airstrike in northern Iraq that killed 35 villagers. The National Intelligence Organization denied it shared intelligence with the Turkish General Staff that led to the errant airstrike.
Yemeni forces attacked the northeastern outskirts of Zinjibar with ground troops and warplanes, killing six al Qaeda-linked Partisans of Sharia fighters. Four Yemeni soldiers were killed and 10 others were wounded in the battle. Mohammed Miftah has formed a political party to represent Yemen’s Shia rebels.
Boko Haram claimed responsibility for two bombings in Maiduguri and Damaturu; no casualties were reported. Archbishop John Olurunfemi Onaiyekan denounced Boko Haram as “terrorists who cause problems for anyone in Nigeria who stands in their way,” and criticized media reports that depict the ongoing violence as a civil war between Muslims and Christians.
Al Qaeda-linked fighters killed two Yemeni soldiers in Zinjibar. Eleven Yemeni coast guards, including three officers, were found dead when their boat capsized in the Red Sea off the coast of Hudieda province.
Nigeria has sent government troops to the country’s troubled northern areas, where the radical Islamist group Boko Haram has launched a string of attacks on Christians that killed 43 people. A former warlord in southern Nigeria warned that Nigeria is “on the precipice of a civil war.”
Hamada Ould Mohamed Kheirou, the presumed leader of an armed Islamist group called the Movement for Unity and Justice in West Africa, has “declared war” against France. Last week, Mauritania issued an international arrest warrant against Kheirou, also known as Abou Qumqum.
A Philippine military commander says at least five foreign al-Qaida-linked extremists are hiding on the remote southern island of Jolo. Among the five suspects is Zulkifli bin Hir, also known as Marwan; the US has issued a $5 million bounty for information leading to his capture or death.
Eight suspected militants were killed in the Galju area of Arakzai. Security forces pounded insurgent hideouts in Upper Arakzai, killing 10 militants in an ongoing operation. The Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan vowed to stop “killing innocent people and kidnapping for ransom in Pakistan” but also to continue carrying out suicide attacks and fighting […]
Muslim rebels join hunt for kidnapped Australian
Armed Yemeni guards trying to break up a strike at a government office killed at least one of the protesters. A French journalist was found strangled with an electrical wire in his hotel room in Sana’a. The hotel, Al-Maali, is near the presidential palace in an area controlled by Yemen’s Republican Guard.
Iran test fired “long-range” shore-to-sea and surface-to-surface missiles, called Qader (Capable) and Nour (Light). The value of Iran’s currency fell 10 percent following new US sanctions against Iran’s central bank. Iran closed a border point with Pakistan after a Pakistani border force detained three Iranian guards for crossing the border and killing a man.
Military officials claimed they have killed a top Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb leader. Mohand Ouramdane and his second in command were reportedly killed in an ambush by Algerian troops in the town of Azib Ahmed, about 3 km east of Tizi Ouzou. An Algerian court sentenced in absentia Abdelhamid Abou Zeid, one of […]
Security forces arrested an Abu Sayyaf fighter thought to be involved in the beheading of 11 members of the Philippine Marines and the kidnapping of American tourists. The suspect, Boy Abdulphata, who is known as Boy Phata, was nabbed by a joint military and police operation in Kumaralang village, Isabela City in the province of […]