Yemen
Ali Abdullah Saleh, Yemeni’s outgoing president, said he
Author Archives: Matt Dupee
Nigeria
Gun battles between Nigerian security forces and Boko Haram killed at least 68 people in two days of fighting in northern Nigeria. Nigeria’s army killed more than 50 members of the sect during fighting on Thursday and Friday in the northeastern city of Damaturu.
Kenya
Dozens of refugees were injured in a security operation by police in the Dadaab refugee camps in northeastern Kenya. The operation followed six explosions since early November, one of which killed a policeman on Dec. 19. Kenyan Defence Forces and Somalian troops advanced against Shabaab in Somalia’s Gedo region.
Somalia
A resident of a refugee camp in Matabaan shot and killed three aid workers. Somali soldiers shot and killed a civilian in Mogadishu. The British government is considering providing direct military assistance to international troops fighting Shabaab in Somalia.
Afghanistan
New Zealand’s elite commandos will pull out of Afghanistan in March. Afghanistan’s first rail link opened for service which should enhance the delivery of supplies to Coalition forces in Afghanistan. Gunmen assassinated a municipal councilman in Lashkar Gah.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
Yemeni security officials say a brother of Yemen’s al Qaeda leader was among five people killed in the latest of a series of battles. A member of a local tribe confirmed that Abdel Rahman al-Wuhayshi was killed. He is a younger brother of Nasser al-Wuhayshi, a Yemeni who once served as Osama bin Laden’s personal […]
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
Suspected al Qaeda fighters kidnapped a Mauritanian policeman near the border with Mali. The Jamat Tawhid wal Jihad fi Garbi Afriqqiya (Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa – MOJWA) has claimed it has split from al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
Somalia
A possible rift among Shabaab fighters fractured the militia into smaller groups in the Bay and Bakool regions. Shabaab has threatened to kill at least two Somali Members of Parliament. Two Shabaab assassins were sent to Kenya to kill senior government officials.
Russia
A suicide bomber attacked a police station in the village of Gubden in Dagestan’s Karabudakhkentsky district. No casualties or damage were reported. Dagestani leaders at a security summit described 2011 as “difficult in terms of terrorist and criminal situation” but said security had improved since 2010.
Yemen
Yemeni soldiers battled al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters outside Zinjibar. Four soldiers and 16 AQAP fighters were reported killed. Protests continue in Sanaa and in other anti-government hotbeds such as Taiz, Yemen’s second-largest city.
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
Algerian troops crossed into Mali to help Malian forces combat al Qaeda-linked groups. Such groups in Algeria, Mali, Niger, and Mauritania have become more active since the dispersal of Colonel Ghaddafi’s arsenal in the region.
Somalia
Over 200 Djiboutian troops arrived in Mogadishu to join the African Union force. Residents of Kismayo, a Shabaab stronghold, are facing a severe food shortage. Officials warned that the Tanzania-Kenya border post of Namanga could be easily infiltrated by Shabaab.
Philippines
A roadside bomb killed a civilian and wounded seven soldiers in Mindanao’s Surigao del Sur province. Three people were injured following a grenade attack near a security outpost in Cotabato City.
Turkey
Turkish police and security forces moved in with armored tanks and infantry against 17 locations in the southeastern town of Gaziantep and arrested 13 al Qaeda suspects. Turkish officials broke up another suspected al Qaeda cell on Dec. 14, when six suspects were arrested in Manisa province.
Kenya
A roadside bomb killed one police officer and wounded two others in the Dadaab refugee camp in northern Kenya. Provincial police chief Leo Nyongesa said a massive security operation is underway in the camp to flush out the attackers.
Russia
Four masked gunmen broke into a house in the Dagestani city of Caspiisk and killed Colonel Magomed Radzhabov. Radzhabov was serving as deputy head of the Internal Security Directorate of the FSB’s Border Guards Service in Dagestan.
Afghanistan
Abdul Baqi Raghbat, the former director of border and tribal affairs in Kandahar province, was assassinated in Kandahar city. Eighteen civilians and two policemen were wounded when a man threw grenades at a police vehicle in Khost City. Four insurgents were killed and 24 wounded during combined security operations.
Somalia
Shabaab fighters beheaded three men they accused of spying in the Lower Jubba region. Clashes between Ahlu Sunnah militiamen and armed government supporters in Galgudud province left at least 10 dead. A local journalist was killed in Mogadishu by a man in a Somali government uniform.
Russia
Khadzhimurad Kamalov, a journalist and founder of the political newspaper Chernovik (‘Rough Copy’), was shot dead in the republic of Dagestan. Journalists at Chernovik, known for its independent reporting on corruption in the local administration, have been routinely persecuted for their work.
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
Algeria and Mauritania’s leaders vowed to beef up security in the Sahel region, where Islamist militants are holding a dozen Western hostages. Security analysts warn that al-Qaeda’s North African branch seeks to turn the region into “a new Somalia.”
Afghanistan
Afghanistan has recalled its ambassador from Qatar for “consultations,” the Afghan foreign ministry announced, amid media reports over the opening of a Taliban office in Qatar. Nearly 250 Taliban fighters, including a wanted commander, surrendered to authorities in Badghis. Two Taliban commanders were killed in Nimroz.
Somalia
Shabaab fighters blocked two International Committee of the Red Cross convoys carrying emergency food aid. Aid worker sources said Shabaab wanted to check “the quality” of the food. The Somali Peace Alliance has welcomed Djiboutian peacekeeping forces to help stabilize Somalia.
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Falluja celebrates the US withdrawal by burning American and Israel flags
Afghanistan
Afghan and Coalition forces killed a Taliban commander and three of his bodyguards in Kandahar. A roadside bomb killed the Reg district governor in Helmand province. Britain may withdraw its forces from Afghanistan in 2013.
Russia
Russian soldiers shot dead four suspected rebel fighters in a mountainous area of Kabardino-Balkaria. Insurgents killed a senior police investigator in the Caspian Sea port of Kaspiisk. Three Russian Army engineers were injured by a remote-controlled bomb in Ingushetia.
Iran
IRGC General Gholam Reza Jalali says Iran will move its uranium enrichment facilities to safer locations underground if necessary. Iran has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz if attacked. Iran and Saudi Arabia held a rare high-level security meeting in Riyadh.
Libya
Clashes erupted south of Tripoli last night, just after local officials agreed on a ceasefire following a standoff between the town of Zintan and the neighboring El Mashasha tribe. Nearly 600 protesters staged a second day of demonstrations in the eastern city of Benghazi expressing their discontent with the country’s new interim leaders.
Kenya
Kenyan troops and their Somali allies said they will push deeper into insurgent-controlled territory in Somalia now that rains have stopped. Kenyan president Mwai Kibaki called on the Somali leaders and rebel factions to stop their “senseless civil war.”
Philippines
Jurail Bagsik, a suspected follower of slain Abu Sayyaf leader Khaddafy Janjalani, was arrested in the southern province of Basilan. Indonesia’s foreign minister, in Manila for an official visit, has expressed concern over the continuing smuggling of firearms between Indonesia and the Philippines.
Afghanistan
A roadside bomb killed six civilians, including women and children, in Helmand province. At least 18 insurgents were killed following military operations by Afghan police forces during the past 24 hours. Afghan forces killed a suicide-bomber intending to attack the airport in Badghis.