Al Qaeda’s chief representative in Syria killed in suicide attack
Ayman al Zawahiri’s chief representative in Syria, a longtime al Qaeda operative known as Abu Khalid al Suri, has been reportedly killed in a suicide attack in Aleppo.
Ayman al Zawahiri’s chief representative in Syria, a longtime al Qaeda operative known as Abu Khalid al Suri, has been reportedly killed in a suicide attack in Aleppo.
The Taliban again denied that Agha Jan Mutasim represents the group, and said his actions are “detrimental” to both the Taliban and “the goals of the sacred Jihad.”
Shabaab fighters dressed in military uniforms attacked a mosque inside the presidential palace. Two government officials are reported to be among those killed.
Military officials claimed that more than 60 “militants,” including Uzbeks, Turkmen, and Tajiks, were killed in a series of airstrikes in the Taliban-controlled tribal agencies of North Waziristan and Khyber.
The al Qaeda-linked group threatened further attacks against Iran and Hezbollah if their forces are not withdrawn from Syria and jihadists are not freed from Lebanese prisons.
“This comes within our assault in the economic war on this traitorous agent regime,” Ansar Jerusalem said in its latest statement. The attack in Taba is at least the fourth since September 2013 in which Ansar Jerusalem has used a suicide bomber.
Omar Khalid al Khurasani, the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan’s emir for the Mohmand tribal agency, said the troops were killed in retaliation for the targeting and execution of jihadists in Pakistan.
The exact cause of the explosion has yet to be determined, and the attack has thus far gone unclaimed. After the attack, authorities closed the Taba border crossing between Israel and Egypt.
Abdul Waheed Majeed, who is thought to be the first British suicide bomber in Syria, is seen in a video dedicated to Al Nusrah Front commander Saifullah al Shishani, a Chechen recently killed in Aleppo.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula freed 19 of its operatives in a complex suicide assault on the central prison in Sana’a.
For the third time in three months, Boko Haram has mounted a large-scale attack in Borno state. A Boko Haram force estimated at 400 fighters killed at least 39 people and burned 1,000 homes in the latest attack.
Lahore Jan, an Afghan national based in Jalalabad, uses his hawala to transfer funds for the Taliban.
Testimony to the House Committee on Homeland Security on al Qaeda’s network in Egypt and the threat it poses to the US
The new group is an offshoot of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan and other jihadist groups. Its spokesman said Ahrar-ul-Hind is based in Pakistan’s “urban areas” and would conduct attacks in Pakistan’s cities despite the outcome of peace talks.
The emir of al Qaeda’s Al Nusrah Front and a sharia official from the Muhajireen Army confirmed Saifullah al Shishani’s death and noted that he had sworn allegiance to Al Nusrah.
The army spokesman did not identify the 16 suspect militants, but some reports have suggested that members of Ansar Jerusalem were targeted. In Cairo, authorities continued to search for the perpetrators of yesterday’s bombing.
Three Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force officers and one facilitator who are involved in the “use of terrorism and intelligence operations as tools of influence against the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan” were added to the US’ list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists.
The Treasury Department confirmed today that the head of al Qaeda’s Iran-based network, known as Yasin al Suri, is operational once again. Treasury also designated an additional “associate” of al Suri’s.
Malik Ishaq leads the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, an al Qaeda-linked group that has conducted numerous suicide attacks in Pakistan and has targeted Americans.
Two of the Haqqani Network leaders have close ties to al Qaeda; one of them has traveled to Saudi Arabia to fundraise as recently as late 2013. The other is a member of the Miramshah Shura and coordinates operations with the Taliban.
Abu Bakr al Iraqi, who is also known as Haji Bakr, served as a top lieutenant to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi and as the military commander for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham before he was killed in Syria earlier this year.
Influential al Qaeda-linked jihadists have denounced the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham (ISIS) in recent weeks and are now calling on its members to defect. They have supported Ayman al Zawahiri and al Qaeda’s senior leadership in their dispute with ISIS.
Al Qaeda’s general command has disowned the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham (ISIS), which has been fighting with other jihadist groups in Syria and pursuing its own agenda.
The Al Nusrah Front, the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham continue to target Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Al Jazeera reports that Yasin al Suri, the head of al Qaeda’s Iran-based network, is facilitating the terror network’s operations from Iranian soil once again. Al Suri was detained by the Iranian government after the US government exposed his network, and the deal between Iran and al Qaeda, in 2011.
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham suicide assault team killed 17 people in the Ministry of Transportation before Iraqi security forces killed them.
The Dec. 13 airstrike in Nangarhar killed two al Qaeda commanders who were associated with slain al Qaeda leader Ilyas Kashmiri.
Hassan Abboud, a top official in Ahrar al Sham and the Islamic Front, has issued a stinging rebuke of ISIS emir Abu Bakr al Baghdadi. Earlier this week, ISIS rejected a reconciliation effort that would have put an end to the infighting between jihadist groups in Syria.
The group issued statements today threatening that the fate of the Interior Ministry official in Cairo would be shared by others, and that attacks against the Egyptian army’s economic interests would continue.
Saudi cleric Abdallah Muhammad al Muhaysini offered a reconciliation initiative for the jihadists in Syria to end their infighting. His proposal mirrored a message issued by Ayman al Zawahiri. Although the initiative garnered much support, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham has rejected it.