One of the jihadists shown in the Islamic State’s video on the beheading of US citizen Peter Kassig is reported to be French citizen Maxime Hauchard a.k.a. Abou Abdallah Al-Faransi, a Muslim convert who traveled to Syria in 2013. Another Frenchman also appeared in the video. Interior Minister Cazeneuve said authorities are investigating Hauchard, among […]
In a largely secret trial, Erol Incedal, a law student from London, was convicted of possessing a manual on how to make bombs. Incedal is thought to have been planning a Mumbai-type attack as well as targeting former prime minister Tony Blair, and faces retrial on those charges in 2015. Incedal’s co-defendant, Mounir Rarmoul-Bouhadjar, also […]
Immigration Minister Morrison reached out to the family of four brothers from Sydney said to have gone to Turkey to join the Islamic State in Syria; he also urged citizens to call a hotline to report any suspected terrorist activities. Over 60 Australians are known to be currently fighting abroad.
Secretary of Defense Hagel announced plans to revitalize the US military’s technological capabilities. Qatar’s foreign minister warned that the US air campaign against the Islamic State in Syria is helping the Assad regime and straining Sunni-Shia relations in the Middle East; he suggested that Arab forces take over territory recaptured from the Islamic State. President […]
A female suicide bomber detonated in a market in Azare in Bauchi state, killing at least 12 people; a similar bombing in Azare on Nov. 7 killed 13 people. Boko Haram is suspected in both attacks. Borno state is planning to use civilian JTF forces to provide security for schools. The military claimed to have […]
Police are looking further into the case of Franck Gervais, who impersonated a Canadian soldier during recent Remembrance Day celebrations; Gervais was charged with impersonating a public officer and unlawful use of a military uniform. A report raised questions about the continuing viability of Canada’s Arghandab Irrigation Rehabilitation Project in Afghanistan.
In his first visit to Iraq since the US air campaign against the Islamic State began in August, Joint Chiefs chair Gen. Martin Dempsey said that the battle against the group in Iraq is “starting to turn,” but cautioned that the effort to eradicate the group will take several years. The Obama administration is thinking […]
Following his extradition from Canada yesterday, Hassan Diab, 60, a Canadian citizen and university professor, was charged with first-degree murder and other crimes for the 1980 bombing of a Paris synagogue that killed four people and injured many more. Diab, who was arrested in Canada in 2008, was accused of membership in the extremist group […]
Amal El-Wahabi, 28, of London, was sentenced to 28 months in jail for trying to send 20,000 euros to her jihadist husband Aine Davis, an ex-convict who was fighting for the Islamic State in Syria. Mirza Masroor Ahmad, spiritual leader of Ahmadi Muslims worldwide, said governments need to stop the flow of funding to the […]
Indonesian authorities denied media reports that 350 members of the al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist group are being released from prison, and said in any event there are only about 274 terrorist inmates. Malaysia’s counterterrorism police chief said the releases will take place over the next two years. A human rights group warned that the […]
CENTCOM said the US and its coalition partners have conducted 20 strikes in Syria since Nov. 12, including one strike west of Aleppo against al Qaeda’s “Khorasan” network; 19 of the strikes targeted the Islamic State in three provinces. US and coalition forces have also targeted the Islamic State in Iraq since Nov. 12, carrying […]
Kenyan police announced the arrest of 10 suspected Shabaab operatives at the Somali border on Nov. 12. Two of the suspects are women who authorities claim intended to conduct suicide attacks.
Somali security forces searched vehicles in Mogadishu on Nov. 13 in response to a series of attacks on government workers in the city. Shabaab kidnapped 20 people and beheaded two women after briefly taking over Kuhda Island in southern Somalia.
Boko Haram has reportedly retaken Chibok, site of the infamous kidnapping of more than 200 school girls in April. A Nigerian Air Force helicopter crashed in Yolo, Adamawa State, killing all three crew members. A coalition of Nigerian Army, “local hunters, and civilian vigilantes” are reported to have recaptured the towns of Mubi and Maiha […]
Jihadists killed five off-duty soldiers and policemen after setting up ad hoc checkpoints in the Sinai. Five sailors were injured and eight remain missing after an Egyptian naval vessel was attacked in the Mediterranean by an unidentified group on Nov 12.
A pair of car bombs detonated near the closed Egyptian and UAE embassies in Tripoli, causing no injuries but some damage. The UAE blamed Libya Dawn and Ansar al Sharia for the attack. Ansar al Sharia released a video showing the beheading of a Libyan soldier who was fighting among General Khalifa Hiftar’s pro-government forces […]
Rebel sources are claiming that leaders from the Islamic State and the Al Nusrah Front have agreed to a truce in light of Western intervention. The US launched another round of airstrikes against Al Nusrah, targeting “at least one top operative” of the Khorasan Group. Western airstrikes on the Islamic State in Raqqa have reportedly […]
Two presidential candidates were notified by security forces of assassination threats; one of the candidates specified Ansar al Sharia was the source of the threat against him. Government agencies are preparing for a wave of Libyan refugees from the neighboring conflict, despite public resentment about the potential impact on resources and the economy.
A court sentenced French citizen Flavien Moreau, 27, a Muslim convert with a prior criminal record, to seven years in prison for joining Islamist militants in Syria. Interior Minister Cazeneuve has said that authorities have been monitoring about 350 possible jihadists, including some 80 minors and 150 women, and have prevented at least 70 people […]
Government soldiers clashed with Abu Sayyaf militants in the mountains on Sulu during a raid on a camp in Talipao where some 300 militants were reportedly based. At least 14 Abu Sayyaf fighters and five soldiers were killed, and 26 soldiers were wounded in the hours-long gun battle. A group of 50 Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom […]
Joint Chiefs chair Gen. Dempsey said the US is considering sending a small number of US combat troops to fight alongside Iraqi forces against the Islamic State. Dempsey also said some 15,000 Syrian rebels will be needed to pressure Islamic State forces in northern and eastern Syria. Defense Secretary Hagel claimed that the coalition air […]
US and allied forces conducted 16 airstrikes in Syria since Nov. 10; 10 of them near Kobane. US President Barack Obama has requested a review of policy towards Syria and may be open to the deposition of the Assad regime, according to senior officials interviewed by CNN. The Kurdish YPG is angling for self-rule in […]
Authorities today released 12 members of the Turkish Youth Union (TGB) who were arrested for assaulting three US sailors yesterday in Istanbul. The US Navy, Turkish national police, and the US Embassy are working together to investigate the incident. Authorities have arrested 386 people in connection with protests in early October against the Islamic State’s […]
State police arrested 11 people in raids in five towns, including Sarajevo; the suspects are thought to be involved in financing and recruitment of terrorist groups in Iraq and Syria. Several of the suspects are thought to have fought with jihadist groups in Iraq and Syria, and some had weapons and explosives.
Four men who belonged al Qaeda’s “Dusseldorf cell” and had planned to detonate two cluster bombs amid a large crowd in Germany were sentenced to jail terms ranging from four to nine years. The plans for the attack were found on the hard drive of one of Osama bin Laden’s computers. Antiterrorism police in Cologne […]
The national antiterrorism coordinator said 12 suspected Islamist militants were arrested in the Hague yesterday, and added that authorities are conducting 30 investigations involving some 60 people suspected of recruiting fighters for extremist groups in the Middle East. The mayor of the Hague said municipalities need government help in monitoring returning jihadists; about 30 of […]
Since Nov. 10, the US and its coalition partners have carried out 16 airstrikes against the Islamic State in Syria and seven airstrikes against the group in Iraq. The US also targeted al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula with a drone strike in Yemen, and a US drone strike yesterday in Pakistan killed several “foreign […]
The Iraqi government dismissed 26 senior military commanders and retired 10 more. Security forces killed 16 Islamic State fighters north of Ramadi and 19 more north of Tikrit. Three people were killed in a bombing in Baghdad. The US launched seven airstrikes near Baiji and Tikrit against the Islamic State over the past three days.
A UN envoy to Syria claims that regime officials gave him “positive signals” regarding a proposal for a ceasefire in Aleppo. The SOHR has stated that more than 860 have been killed since the start of US and allied airstrikes in Syria, including 746 Islamic State fighters, 68 members of Nusrah and at least 50 […]
A suicide bomber killed dozens of Shiite Houthi rebels in an attack in Rada’a; 26 more Houthis have been killed during fighting in the town over the past several days. Al Qaeda killed a military officer in an IED attack in Mukalla. US drones killed seven AQAP fighters in a strike in Shabwa.