Indian forces have killed Zakir Musa, who led the al Qaeda-linked Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGH). Musa and his men have attempted to poach from Pakistani-backed jihadist groups, while also competing with an upstart Islamic State presence. Musa’s motto was “Sharia or Martyrdom.”
AFRICOM has stepped up its targeting of the Islamic State, and continues to pursue its efforts to “degrade” al Qaeda’s branch in Somalia. Unfortunately, the defeat of the two terror groups is not in the cards.
Although John Walker Lindh is commonly known as the “American Taliban,” he was actually trained by al Qaeda and belonged to Osama bin Laden’s pro-Taliban fighting force.
Al Qaeda is operating “across the country” and not confined to one region, the commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan said.
Should Iran have taken the decision to attack civilian vessels that carry oil, it could represent one way to do damage to global oil shipments without inviting massive retaliation. Such a move would be consistent with Iran’s highly graduated approach to escalation and desire to respond to the Trump administration’s maximum pressure campaign.
A jury in a Manhattan federal court convicted Ali Kourani of various terrorism and other charges last week. Kourani surveilled prospective targets in New York City on behalf of Hizballah’s Islamic Jihad Organization, which has plotted terrorist attacks since the 1980s.
The Turkistan Islamic Party, “Incite the Believers” operations room and Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham are all battling Bashar al-Assad’s loyalists in Latakia, Syria.
The jihadist group also claimed an assault on a high-security prison near the capital of Niamey.
An 18-year-old man from North Texas has pleaded guilty to charges that he conspired to actively recruit for the Pakistani-backed terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), according to a release from the Department of Justice last week.
On May 14, the UN Security Council added the Islamic State’s so-called Khorasan province to its list of sanctioned terrorist entities. The group has recently rebranded operations in Kashmir and Pakistan as the work of supposedly new “provinces.”
Ayman al-Zawahiri has released a eulogy for Jalaluddin Haqqani, a key figure in the Taliban-al Qaeda axis. The Taliban announced Haqqani’s death last year. Zawahiri offers his condolences to the Taliban and its overall leader, the “Emir of the Faithful,” Hibatallah Akhundzada.
In a new audio address, Shabaab’s Abu ‘Abdurahman Mahad Warsame warns jihadists that they should avoid spilling the blood of innocent Muslims. However, he justifies the assassination of a Muslim cleric and the murder of civilians.
Al Qaeda has released a new video emphasizing its unity with the Taliban’s Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. The video features a joint Taliban-al Qaeda ambush on an Afghan army convoy in Paktika province.
A team of Taliban jihadists attacked Counterpart International, a USAID-backed NGO operating in Kabul. The Taliban claims that Counterpart’s work is “anti-Islamic” and criticizes the NGO for promoting “western culture,” as well as the “mixing” of men and women.
The Assad regime and Russia have stepped up their bombing campaign in northwestern Syria in recent weeks. The al Qaeda-linked “Incite the Believers” operations room has counterattacked with a series of operations.
The Islamic State’s loyalists raided a military camp in southern Libya on May 4, targeting a prison inside the facility. In an appearance late last month, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi praised the jihadists in Libya, saying that they and other Islamic State representatives are fighting a “battle of attrition.”
In his testimony to Congress in July 2016, Zalmay Khalilzad called for designating Pakistan a State Sponsor of Terrorism for its support of the Taliban, noted the enduring Taliban-al Qaeda alliance. Today he praises Pakistan for its desire for peace in Afghanistan and claims the Taliban will be an effective counterterrorism partner.
The U.S. military and NATO have stopped producing an assessment that was considered key for measuring progress against the jihadist insurgency in Afghanistan, according to a report released on April 30 by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR). The metric, which tracked district stability, was one of the “most widely cited Afghan security […]
Bill Roggio testifies before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East, North Africa and International Terrorism, and examines the global terrorism landscape.
The Islamic State has released the first video of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in nearly five years.
Sri Lankan security forces clashed with Islamic State loyalists during a raid in Kalmunai. The Islamic State claims that 17 members of the security forces were killed, but that claim is not corroborated by independent reporting. Instead, it appears that several terrorists, along with women and children, perished in the raid.
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei appointed Hossein Salami as the new chief commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on April 21, replacing Mohammad Ali Jafari after 12 years in command. Salami previously served as deputy commander to Jafari for a decade.
The Islamic State’s Amaq News Agency has released a video of eight jihadists in Sri Lanka swearing allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi before a series of bombings on Easter Sunday. The video is similar to a string of others released by Amaq since mid-2016.
The Islamic State has released three written statements and a video claiming responsibility for the bombings in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday. The video shows the terrorists’ leader, Zahran Hashim, and seven others swearing allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
A small team of Islamic State jihadists assaulted the Ministry of Communications in Kabul on Apr. 20. It was the latest in a string of attacks on government ministries and other official sites in the Afghan capital.
Today’s claim marks the first time the Islamic State has claimed any activity in Central Africa.
The Taliban has consistently refused to negotiate with the Afghan government, and said the composition of the delegation to Doha indicates that it represents the Afghan government.
In March, the leader of the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) called on various al Qaeda figures to offer more rhetorical support for the group’s cause. Al Qaeda’s general command responded earlier this month with a statement declaring its solidarity with the TIP and Muslims oppressed by the Chinese government.
The Rawi Network extends around the globe. One of its leaders is a former captain in Saddam Hussein’s Republican Guard. It was first established to help Saddam evade sanctions in the early 1990s.
AFRICOM announced the death of Abdulhakim Dhuqub, the second in command of the Islamic State’s network in Somalia.