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New surveillance drones for Kandahar by 2009
Author Archives: Matt Dupee
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Investigator details Taliban chief’s alleged role in Bhutto’s death
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Troops will fight Taliban without vital Chinooks
Egypt
Egyptian police arrested 40 members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood movement. Egyptian police shot and killed an Eritrean women trying to sneak across Egypt’s border into Israel on Saturday. Egyptian and Jordanian officials demanded that Israel “put an end to its military operations which claim innocent civilian lives” in the Gaza Strip.
Algeria
A bomb attack on an Algerian military convoy killed one soldier on Saturday while the head of the main secular opposition party escaped unhurt from a separate attack nearby. Four other soldiers were injured in the bombing. A national census has found that there are over 200,000 various guns held by civilians, including government sanctioned […]
Somalia
A senior government official was assassinated after he left a mosque in the in Yaqshid district on Saturday night. Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf escaped unhurt from a mortar attack by Islamist insurgents on his official residence in Mogadishu. Yemen’s ambassador to Somalia Ahmed Omar denied reports that he was nearly assassinated in the Somali capital […]
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Somalia: Senior government official killed in Mogadishu
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Three members of Haqqani network captured
Devastating suicide attack rocks Kandahar
A suicide bombing at a dogfight in Kandahar province kills and wounds scores. A district security leader who appears to have been the target is believed killed.
Afghan Taliban leaders nabbed in Pakistan
Several Afghan Taliban fighters were arrested in western Pakistan last week, preceding the capture of Taliban commander Shah Mansoor Dadullah. The US military is hoping to exploit tribal differences on the border to sow further discord among the insurgents and gather intelligence on their leaders.
Algeria
Algerian security forces plan to recruit 15,000 personnel per year until they reach their benchmark of a 200,000-strong police force. There are currently 140,000 Algerian security forces deployed throughout the country to help ward off a creeping insurgency. Eleven suspected terrorists linked to al Qaeda have been arrested for participating in the Jan. 29 car […]
Afghanistan
Two civilians and one Afghan soldier were killed by a suicide bomber in the eastern province of Ghazni. According to the UN, Afghan opium production in 2008 might decline slightly from 2007’s record levels, but the output continues to rise steeply in the southern provinces, which account for 69 percent of the country’s total crop. […]
Somalia
Islamist insurgents in Somalia have claimed responsibility for twin attacks in the northeast port city of Bossaso that left 20 dead. The presence of the Ethiopian Army inside Somalia remains the most contentious issue in the country’s chaotic political landscape. Armed groups have killed two government troops after they assaulted the troop’s base in Yaqbari […]
Algeria
Algerian security forces have killed an al Qaeda linked commander and arrested six of his associates suspected of conducting a twin bombing on a court building and UN offices in Algiers and an attack on foreign oil workers. According to the Interior Ministry, terror leader Abderrahmane Bouzekeka was killed on Jan. 28, 2008 in Boumerdes […]
Egypt
Plans to mount a new fence along the Israeli-Egyptian border may take five years to implement and will cost at least $1.37 billion to construct. The Israeli government remains divided over Egyptian plans to send more troops to the Gaza-Egyptian border. Less than a week after Egypt lost two-thirds of its international networking cables, two […]
Algeria
The death toll from political violence in Algeria fell to 25 in January, from 60 in December. A new report indicates the narcotics trade is directly tied to the spike in Algerian terror attacks.
Afghanistan
US forces say they have arrested a Taliban commander named Shah Noor, also known as Agha Khan, in southern Zabul province last month. One Coalition soldier was killed in Helmand province and seven Taliban were killed in an airstrike after they laid a landmine in the Panjwai district. Taliban militants in southern Afghanistan are launching […]
Al Qaeda
Senior US intelligence officials believe al Qaeda™s stronghold in the Pakistani tribal areas will allow terrorists to train for strikes in Pakistan, the Middle East, Africa, and the US. A Middle Eastern newspaper reported two other al Qaeda leaders, Abu Obeida Tawari al Obeidi and Abu Adel al Kuwaiti, were killed in last week’s airstrike […]
Afghanistan
A Taliban spokesman confirmed the South Korean government paid a hefty ransom for the release of 21 South Korean hostages seized by the Taliban last October. Two roadside bombs killed seven people in southern Afghanistan, five of them civilians from the same family. Afghan officials confirmed two Taliban commanders were killed in the Farah province […]
Algeria
A bomb exploded in the Algerian town of Mzira, Biskra province injuring three National Gendarmerie soldiers on Sunday. The Algerian government said it will monitor the sale or distribution of chemical fertilizers to prevent them from being used by terrorists for the manufacture of explosive devices.
Somalia
A Russian tugboat and its crew were seized off the coast of Somalia. The NATO fleet operating nearby has been informed of the attack. A roadside bomb killed eight civilians and wounded nine others when it exploded near a minibus full of passengers in Mogadishu. Medecins Sans Frontieres suspended its operations in Somalia after a […]
Afghanistan
Corrupt Afghan cops, judges, and jailers are sabotaging the war effort in Afghanistan. Canadian Major General Marc Lessard will lead 12,000 NATO soldiers that are part of the Regional Command South, which covers six Afghan provinces. The Norwegian government is unable to meet the US request for increasing its military participation in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan
Nearly 500 women gathered in Kandahar to protest the abduction of the American aid worker and her translator. Afghan officials remain clueless about the missing pair™s whereabouts. Afghan Taliban leaders are publicly distancing themselves from Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, but denied he has been relieved of his command.
Afghanistan
A 49-year-old American woman and her translator were abducted by gunpoint in Kandahar city. Afghan officials claimed they have evidence Iran is supplying weapons to the insurgents after a recent arms cache was discovered and confiscated in western Afghanistan. British PM Gordon Brown denied British involvement in Helmand had allowed the Taliban to return.
Afghanistan
One US soldier was killed and three others were wounded during a Coalition operation against insurgents in eastern Kunar province. The targeted Taliban cell was wiped out by ensuing air strikes. Four Afghan security officers were killed in Khost after their vehicle struck a roadside bomb. Afghan officials confiscated 130 landmines in western Afghanistan imported […]
Karzai’s Eagles: The Afghan Air Force flies again
The Afghan Air Force is receiving new helicopters, expanding its facilities, and recruiting personnel. Over 120 aircraft and helicopters have been pledged for the reborn air force.
Divide and conquer: The British strategy against the Taliban
Matt Dupee looks at the turning of a Taliban commander in Musa Qala and the British divide and conquer tactics in Afghanistan.
Making sense of the European Union-Afghan political row
Matt Dupee looks at the expulsion of two European Union and United Nations diplomats and the heated debate over their and British intelligence’s involvement in talks with the Taliban in southern Afghanistan.
A chronology of the Musa Qala dilemma
Matt Dupee takes a look at the Taliban takeover Musa Qala in Afghanistan one year on. The Taliban still control the Helmand district after the British withdrew in November 2006 and the Taliban overran the district center in February 2007.
Operation Spin Ghar: Uruzgan gets ugly
Matt Dupee looks at Operation Spin Ghar, a joint International Security Assistance Force and Afghan National Army operation in Uruzgan province.