Al Jazeera has published a letter purportedly written by Ayman al Zawahiri to al Qaeda’s franchises in Iraq and Syria. Two US intelligence officials say the letter is genuine. In the letter, Zawahiri rules on a dispute between the two al Qaeda branches and appoints a new representative in the region.
Over the past several days, ISAF launched five raids against two senior al Qaeda leaders and two al Qaeda-linked Taliban commanders in Kunar and Nuristan provinces.
The strike killed a local al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula commander and five fighters as they traveled in Al Jawf province near the border with Saudi Arabia.
Mutaqi was reportedly preparing to lead fighters across the border to wage jihad in Afghanistan. The Obama administration has claimed that drone strikes would be conducted only against targets that pose an “imminent threat” to the US.
Afghan soldiers “turned his weapon” on US troops in Paktika, killing two soldiers and a civilian adviser. The attack is the seventh of its kind so far this year.
The strike is the first in the Shawal Valley, a known terrorist haven, since late 2012. An unidentified “high value target” is reported to have been killed.
Abd al Hamid al Masli, a Libyan, is a “key improvised explosive device (IED) facilitator” who operates in Waziristan. He temporarily served as the head of al Qaeda’s military committee, likely after Abdullah Said al Libi, the former head of the Lashkar al Zil, was killed in a drone strike.
The Taliban claimed one of their suicide bombers detonated the bomb inside a base in the Now Zad district. The suicide attack is the sixth of its kind by the Taliban and their allies in less than two weeks.
The $7 million reward for Abubakar Shekau, Boko Haram’s emir, puts him in the top echelon of wanted terrorist leaders. Rewards of $5 million are also offered for Mokhtar Belmokhtar and Yahya Abu Hammam.
The suicide bomber targeted a US and Afghan Local Police patrol as it passed by a high school in Paktia province. The US has stepped up raids against the Haqqani Network in Paktia.
The al Qaeda cell is said to have been plotting to use sarin and mustard gas against a religious procession in Iraq, and was planning to move the chemical weapons to the US, Canada, and Europe.
The attack struck a “convoy” of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters as they traveled in an AQAP-controlled area of Abyan province in Yemen.
The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan claimed the attack under the banner of the Taliban’s spring offensive and said that it “is continuing its jihadi activities in the Khorasan region.”
The State Department’s Country Reports on Terrorism 2012 summarizes Iran’s extensive support for terrorists, including al Qaeda and Taliban members. The State Department also recognized Iran’s support for Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Spokesman Ihsanullah Ihsan said that Waliur Rehman was indeed killed yesterday in a drone strike in North Waziristan. Rehman was wanted by the US for involvement in terror plots, including the failed Times Square bombing.
Alberto Nisman, the Argentine prosecutor who investigated the 1994 AMIA bombing, issued a 500-page document that accused Iran of establishing terror networks throughout Latin America since the 1980s.
Mohammed Zawahiri, the brother of al Qaeda’s emir, is one of the 20 Egyptian jihadists who issued a statement calling upon Sunnis to launch attacks in Shiite-led countries in response to the Bashir al Assad regime’s offensive in Qusayr, Syria. Iran and Hezbollah have reportedly joined the fight in Qusayr alongside Assad’s forces.
The strike in North Waziristan killed seven people in an area administered by the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani Network. Senior Taliban commander Waliur Rehman is rumored to have been killed. The program had been put on hold for “political considerations.”
The target of the raid was a senior al Qaida leader who serves as an operations chief, trainer, and facilitator in the east.
In recently released propaganda, the al Qaeda-linked group claimed two suicide attacks in Afghanistan and identified several fighters who have been killed in the country since 2007.
Mokhtar Belmokhtar is alive, and announced that his al Mua’qi’oon Biddam, or Those Who Sign in Blood Brigade, carried out the suicide assaults in Niger in conjunction with MUJAO.
The al Qaeda-linked Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa said the suicide attacks were intended to punish Niger for “cooperation with France in the war against Sharia” in Mali.
Jude Kenan Mohammed was the eighth member of Daniel Boyd’s terror cell in North Carolina. He traveled to Pakistan in 2008, was arrested, skipped bail, and is thought to have traveled to Pakistan’s tribal areas. He may have been killed in a strike in 2011 that occurred in an area controlled by the Haqqani Network.
The top sharia official from the Muhajireen Brigade, an al Qaeda-linked jihadist group in Syria, slammed Hamas’ recent crackdown against Salafi jihadists in the Gaza Strip. The official also called on Hamas to join hands with the Salafi jihadists in Gaza to fight Israel.
From ‘Fallujah Awakens’: a chlorine truck bomb deployed by insurgents against the village of Albu Aifan on March 16, 2007.
Two al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters were killed while driving a motorcycle in the central province of Baydah. The strike is the second reported in Yemen in four days.
The head of the provincial council in Baghlan province and 13 others were killed by a Taliban suicide bomber who was dressed as a policeman.
Four al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters who were reportedly transporting suicide vests and explosives were killed in a strike in the terrorist haven of Al Mahfad in Abyan province.
The International Security Assistance Force has balked at mentioning al Qaeda in press releases since the end of January.
Fazliddin Kurbanov is charged with supporting the al Qaeda-linked Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, training others to purchase and assemble components of a bomb, and possessing an “unregistered destructive device.”