President Hollande of France said that on Oct. 9 French forces destroyed an al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb convoy in northern Niger that was transporting weapons from Mali to Libya. French forces “neutralized” the militants and captured some of them. France is establishing a new counterterrorism base in Niger.
A suicide bomber killed two policemen and wounded five more in an attack outside of a police headquarters in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand. The US killed a Taliban district commander in an airstrike in Herat. Afghan intelligence disrupted a Taliban plot to carry out a complex suicide attack in Baghlan.
A suicide bomber killed 11 Iraqis at a market north of Baghdad. A Shia militia killed four Iraqi soldiers near Udaim. The Islamic State executed two civilians in Fallujah, and a reporter and three family members in Salahaddin. An Iraqi tribe killed five Islamic State fighters near Baiji. US and Dutch warplanes launched three airstrikes […]
The Islamic State battled regime forces in Deir Izzour; fought against the Islamic Front in Aleppo; and continued to try to advance against Kurdish YPG forces in the area around Kobane. The US-led air campaign carried out six airstrikes against the Islamic State near Kobane over the past two days. Over 550 people have been […]
The Islamic State executed eight Iraqis near Tikrit and Kirkuk. The US launched one airstrike against the Islamic State near Baghdad. The Iraqi military claimed it killed 30 Islamic State fighters in Anbar and the group’s second in command in Babil and four more fighters.
The Islamic State reportedly captured Kurdish headquarters in Kobane and took over at least 40 percent of the town. Coalition airstrikes targeted the Islamic State in Kobane; IS fighters are said to be raising Kurdish YPG flags to mislead the coalition, and to be wearing YPG uniforms to infiltrate Kurdish areas. The IS battled YPG […]
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claimed it carried out two attacks in Sana’a over the past two days. An attack on Oct. 10 targeted Houthi leader Ibrahim al Mahtouri with a “sticky bomb” attached to his car. A suicide attack in the capital on Oct. 9 killed dozens of Houthis.
The military claimed it killed Shehata Farhan, a senior leader in Ansar Bayt al Maqdis, or Ansar Jerusalem, during a raid in Rafah. The military also claimed it killed Mohamed Abu Shatiya, an Ansar Jerusalem military commander, also in Rafah last week.
Mohammed Al Zahawi, the commander of Ansar al Sharia in Benghazi, claimed that the city will soon be completely under the control of the Benghazi Revolutionaries’ Shoura Council. An explosion outside a Benghazi hotel killed a man and wounded two others. Pro-government Zintani forces accused Libya Dawn of bombing a key bridge between Jebel Nafusa […]
The government said it repatriated 82 foreigners for “nefarious activities that could undermine the security of Nigeria.” The military claimed to be conducting operations based on “active intelligence on Boko Haram positions” obtained from “a newly established intelligence sharing mechanism.”
The FBI has posted a video showing an American appearing in Islamic State propaganda, in an attempt to identify him. Mohammed Hamzah Khan, a US citizen from Bolingbrook, Ill., was arrested on Oct. 4 at O’Hare Airport as he was trying to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State. US intelligence officials said that […]
The House of Commons authorized the deployment of Canadian troops to join the coalition air campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq; Prime Minister Harper said Canadian troops will not be deployed on the ground. He also said Canada will join in coalition airstrikes against the Islamic State in Syria only if the Damascus government […]
A suicide bomber killed seven people in an attack in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province. The Taliban claimed the attack on Voice of Jihad and claimed it killed the former chief of police of Nawzad district. Police prevented a suicide attack in Kabul.
An Islamic State suicide bomber killed eight people in Baqubah. The US launched two airstrikes against the Islamic State near Sinjar. The Iraqi military claimed it killed 63 Islamic State fighters, including two senior leaders, in Kirkuk, Hit, Ramadi, and Jurf al Sakhar.
At least 29 people have been killed and dozens wounded in nationwide protests against Turkey’s refusal to assist Kurdish forces against the Islamic State in Kobane. Turkish authorities have detained 16 Kurdish PYD fighters seeking to flee across the Syrian border into Turkey; two of them were unarmed females. Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of […]
King Abdullah II reiterated Jordan’s support for the international coalition against terrorist organizations in the Middle East. Forty Salafists jailed on charges related to Syria threatened a hunger strike in protest against prison conditions. The trials of eight Jordanians suspected of membership in the Islamic State are set to begin on Oct. 13. Police arrested […]
AL Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula killed nearly 70 people in two suicide attacks in Sana’a and Mukallah. In the capital, a suicide bomber killed an estimated 43 people in an attack at a pro-Houthi rally. In Mukallah, a suicide assault team killed 20 Yemeni soldiers in an attack at a checkpoint outside the city.
Operation Dignity bombed and sank a ship that was attempting to enter the port of Benghazi, after repeated previous warnings that any ship attempting to resupply the Benghazi Revolutionaries’ Shoura Council would be bombed. Suspected extremists gunned down a popular radio DJ in Benghazi; it is the sixth assassination in the city in the past […]
Officials are looking into the disappearance from their homes in Nice of a family of 11, including a grandmother; the family is said to have gone to Syria for jihad. Over 1,000 French nationals or residents are thought to have traveled to Syria or Iraq to join extremist groups, and at least 350 are believed […]
Foreign Secretary Hammond said the UK has not ruled out participating in coalition airstrikes against the Islamic State in Syria. Defence Secretary Fallon urged other Middle Eastern countries, especially Turkey, to join the battle against the Islamic State, and said Parliament currently is not ready to approve joining coalition airstrikes in Syria; he also stated […]
Islamic State fighters executed 15 civilians in Mosul. The Islamic State shot down an Iraqi Army helicopter with a shoulder-fired missile and killed both crewmen near Bayji. The US, UK, and the Netherlands launched five airstrikes against the Islamic State near Fallujah, Ramadi, and Sinjar. Yesterday, the US launched five airstrikes against the Islamic State […]
The Pentagon said coalition airstrikes have pushed some Islamic State fighters out of Kobane, but that the city, and other towns, may still fall to the terrorist organization, as the US does not yet have a “willing, capable” partner on the ground in Syria. Coalition airstrikes targeted the IS with six airstrikes near Kobane, two […]
The US condemned the Hezbollah bomb attack on Oct. 7 that wounded two Israeli soldiers in the Shebaa Farms area near an Israeli outpost. Lebanon accused Israel of shelling with cluster bombs in response to the attack. Hezbollah clashed with the Al Nusrah Front in the Qalamoun area near the Syrian border, reportedly capturing the […]
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula launched attacks against a Special Forces headquarters, a police station, and two military checkpoints in the city of Baydah. At least 10 police officers were reported killed in the fighting. The attack against the Special Forces headquarters was carried out by a suicide bomber.
Ugandan troops took control of the port town of Barawe from Shabaab. Shabaab fighters left the city and reportedly went to Jilib. The Kenyan military claimed it killed 22 Shabaab fighters during an operation that targeted a “logistics base” in Bula Gadud.
The Algerian military ambushed a group of Islamist “militants” in Biskra on Oct. 6 and killed three fighters. On Oct. 7, the military captured 20 “criminals,” including 12 Sudanese and eight Chadians, in Tiririne near the borders with Niger.
Six “smugglers” who were arrested in Ben Guerdane are now accused of supporting “terrorist” activities. The six men are accused of recruiting Salafists to wage jihad in Libya and Syria. Their group affiliation has not been disclosed.
Boko Haram fighters beheaded seven people in Ngambu in Borno state. A prominent Catholic priest said that Boko Haram has burned down 185 churches and displaced more than 190,000 people from their homes during their recent campaign in Borno and Adamawa. Niger, Cameroon, and Chad said the countries would create a multinational force to battle […]
The Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) claimed it carried out the Oct. 3 attack in Mali that killed nine Nigerian peacekeepers in Gao. MUJAO’s emir vowed to conduct more attacks against UN peacekeepers in northern Mali.
The Defense Ministry rejected a media report that among those targeted in coalition airstrikes against the Al Nusrah Front in Syria last month was a French intelligence operative who had defected to al Qaeda; he is said to have survived the strikes and to be leading fighters in Irbil. The Foreign Ministry refused to comment. […]