A Somali man named Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame was transferred to New York where he will stand trial for allegedly providing material support to both Shabaab and al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The unsealed indictment in his case follows a series of reports connecting Shabaab to AQAP.
The fighting is not related to a much-anticipated Pakistani offensive in the Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan, a US intelligence official said.
“Foreigners” were said to be sheltering at the Mir Ali guesthouse where today’s attack took place.
The attack is the latest by al Qaeda in Iraq against government installations.
Abu Zarr fought in the Caucasus for 15 years before traveling to Afghanistan and joining the Taifatul Mansura. The Taliban executed him for ordering the deaths of two “foreign fighters.”
According to a leaked Joint Task Force Guantanamo threat assessment, a current detainee named Haji Wali Mohammed was al Qaeda’s “primary financial manager.” Haji Wali also allegedly worked for the Taliban, and purchased missiles for Osama bin Laden with support from Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency.
Ismail Jan provided “material support” to the suicide assault team that attacked the Intercontinental just two days ago. ISAF also confirmed the assault was carried out by the Kabul Attack Network.
A suicide assault team penetrated security at the Intercontinental and has opened fire on guests. Foreigners are the target of the operation.
The senior commander was captured during a night raid in Kunduz. The IMU has been targeted by special operations forces in seven raids so far this month.
Shakirullah Shakir was gunned down in Miramshah, according to reports. He has claimed several suicide attacks and boasted that more than 1,000 suicide bombers are currently training in three camps in Mir Ali in North Waziristan.
The strikes are the first in a week. The US has executed 12 Predator strikes in Pakistan’s tribal areas this month, the highest total since December 2010.
The Taliban forced an eight-year-old girl to attempt a suicide attack in Afghanistan, and a husband and wife suicide team attacked a police station in Pakistan.
More than 30 people, including medical personnel and patients, were killed after a suicide bomber deliberately rammed an SUV packed with explosives into a hospital in Logar.
The raid took place in Ghazni province. The targeted facilitator operates in Pakistan, plans operations, and shuttles money and fighters into both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The New York Times reports that Osama bin Laden’s courier was found to be in contact with members of Harakat ul Mujahedin (HUM), a terrorist organization long backed by Pakistan’s spy agency. Leaked Guantanamo files provide more details about the relationship between HUM and al Qaeda.
In a decision released on Thursday, a DC district court denied Mullah Khairullah Khairkhwa’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The court cited Khairkhwa’s clandestine meetings with Iranian officials, among other evidence.
Ten thousand troops will be withdrawn by the end of the year, and an additional 23,000 troops will leave Afghanistan by the end of the summer of 2012.
AQAP’s chief Mufti, Ibrahim Rubaish, has released a biography honoring ex-Gitmo detainee Fahd Saleh Suleiman al Jutayli. Rubaish, himself a former Gitmo detainee, denies that Jutayli was killed while fighting alongside the Houthis in Yemen.
“The facilitator assisted in the transfer of Uzbeks and Farsi speaking foreign fighters from Pakistan into Afghanistan to fight for the Taliban,” ISAF reported.
The Taliban have used females to carry out three suicide attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan over the past year.
The strike hit in an area run by Fazal Saeed Utezai, a Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan commander who supports the Haqqani Network.
Three Taliban fighters wearing military uniforms killed nine people in an attack on a police station in the capital.
Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage “announces the renewal of its allegiance to the Emir of Qaedat al-Jihad,” according to a statement released on an al Qaeda-linked forum.
The Inter-Services Public Affairs branch denies accusations that the military tipped off al Qaeda and the Haqqani Network to avoid a raid based on intelligence provided by the US, describing the claims as “totally false and malicious.” The CIA has provided evidence to the contrary.
The State Department designated former Gitmo detainee Othman al Ghamdi as a global terrorist today. Al Ghamdi is an “operational commander” in al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
In an official statement released by As Sahab, al Qaeda’s media arm, Zawahiri was named emir. Al Qaeda said it would continue to fight with the Taliban in Afghanistan and support jihad in theaters across the globe.
Mahmoud Hamdan Nizal was killed while fighting for al Qaeda in the Bermel district in eastern Afghanistan.
The unmanned aircraft hit a vehicle and a compound in an area administered by “good Taliban” leader Mullah Nazir, and a vehicle in an area run by the Haqqani Network.
Salahuddin al Maqdisi, the brother of Abu Mohammed al Maqdisi and a former aide to slain al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al Zarqawi, was released from Iranian custody and has recently returned to Afghanistan.
Leaked Guantanamo threat assessments highlight Osama bin Laden’s influence over East Africa al Qaeda (EAAQ) and its leader, the recently slain Fazul Mohammed. The files also contain striking details about the ties between EAAQ and Somalia’s Islamic Courts Union, the predecessor of Shabaab.