RAF jets carried out an airstrike last night against Islamic State fighters near Ramadi who were firing on Iraqi forces. Whitehall officials acknowledged the credibility of reports that two British jihadists were among some 180 Islamic State fighters swapped last month by Turkey for 46 Turkish personnel held captive by the IS in Mosul. The […]
A female Kurdish YPG commander carried out a suicide bombing against an Islamic State position outside Kobane. Another female Kurdish fighter near Kobane killed herself with her last bullet to avoid being taken captive by the IS. Turkey has closed the border crossing at Kobane, while clashes continue and IS is using heavy weapons. Coalition […]
Clashes erupted at Hezbollah bases from Baalbek to Arsal between Syria-based Al Nusrah Front fighters and Hezbollah forces seeking to repel them; at least 16 Al Nusrah fighters, including commander Mohammed Khalid Hamza Suhaib, and two Hezbollah fighters were said to have been killed. Other reports said the infiltrators were from the Islamic State. The […]
Security forces arrested four men in Port Said suspected of recruiting fighters for the Islamic State. The Sinai-based terrorist group Ansar Jerusalem (Ansar Bayt al Maqdis) released a video showing three Egyptians being beheaded and a fourth being shot dead; the group had accused the men of serving as spies for Israel and Egypt.
Somali and African Union forces have taken partial control of Barawe, a coastal town held by Shabaab for the past six years. Shabaab fighters were said to have made a tactical retreat from the town two days ago. Some 25 Shabaab fighters were killed in clashes outside Barawe over the past two days. Jubbaland president […]
A suicide bombing outside a Grozny concert hall, where celebrations marking City Day and the birthday of Chechnya president Ramzan Kadyrov were taking place, killed five policemen and wounded at least eight other people. The bomber, 19-year-old local resident Opti Mudarov, had been stopped at a security checkpoint near the entrance to the hall.
Police are investigating the appearance of UK jihadist Abu Saeed al Britani in a recent IS video. Prime Minister Cameron called for a special forces raid to capture IS executioner “Jihadi John.” Ex-Gitmo inmate Moazzem Begg is planning to sue the British government on false imprisonment charges; he has admitted to having been “involved in […]
Coalition warplanes struck at targets in Deir Izzour, where the Islamic State is reportedly paying children to publicize the group; in Aleppo; in Hama near Morek, where regime forces are fighting the Islamic Front; in Hasakah, where 30 non-Syrian IS fighters were killed; in Idlib, reattacking Salma; in Latakia; and in Reef Dimashq. The Al […]
The Army repelled an attempt by gunmen in Wadi Hmeid and al-Masyadeh to infiltrate near Arsal. Jihadists in the area are said to be seeking access to Arsal for food and fuel. Lebanese forces discovered a 50-kilogram bomb set to detonate near a military checkpoint outside Arsal and disabled it. A few days earlier, over […]
Shabaab forces are reported to be pulling out of Barawe as African Union and Somali troops are advancing on it. Kenyan fighter jets attacked Shabaab forces in Middle Jubba on Oct. 2. Some 50 US special forces are said to have participated in an offensive against Shabaab in Galgala on Oct. 2. The Somali government […]
The Shoura Council of Islamic Youth, a Derna-based Islamist group, declared its support for the Islamic State and its allegiance to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi as caliph. In fighting over the past two days, 14 soldiers from Operation Dignity were killed and over 50 wounded trying to repel the advance of Ansar al Sharia on […]
Authorities have arrested 100 Islamic State members suspected of plotting attacks on “critical facilities,” and security is being stepped up along the border with Syria. Abdul Shehadeh Tahawi, the leader of Jordan’s Salafi jihadists who is currently imprisoned in Zarqa, called the international coalition against the Islamic State a “satanic” invasion against Muslim “civilians, women […]
Jihadists ambushed a MINUSMA convoy between Ansongo and Menaka in northern Mali, killing nine Nigerien UN peacekeepers and wounding several others. French forces reportedly arrested four jihadists affiliated with Mokhtar Belmokhtar’s group Al Mourabitoun near Gao several days ago. Terrorists are said to be regrouping in northern Mali.
The military killed five “criminals” and injured four others in an ambush near the border with Niger yesterday; all of the “criminals” were foreigners, and one was a Libyan. On Sept. 30, troops searching for the body of slain French tourist Herve Gourdel clashed with a terrorist group outside Aït Oualbane, between Tizi Ouzou et […]
Authorities are seeking to send Erhan A., 22, a Turkish Salafist from Kempten, back to Turkey after arresting him recently. Erhan has fought in Iraq or Syria, and has links to Islamic State fighters as well as an Islamic State recruiting network in Germany.
Police arrested 20 members of the hardline Islam Defenders Front (FPI) after more than 10 police officers were wounded during a violent FPI protest in Jakarta. Among those arrested was Irwan, an FPI member who organized the event, which protested against an incoming deputy governor because he is Christian and Chinese. A rights group called […]
ISAF commander General Campbell described the Taliban’s recent gains in Afghanistan as “fleeting.” The Taliban killed four Afghan soldiers in a suicide attack that targeted a military bus in Kabul. In his Eid address, Taliban emir Mullah Omar claimed victory and urged Afghan security personnel to attack Coalition soldiers.
The Islamic State took control of Hit and Anbar province and attacked military headquarters in Ramadi and at Al Asad Airfield. Twenty-four military personnel were reported killed in Hit. The US launched seven airstrikes against the Islamic State near Ramadi, Fallujah, Baghdad, and Mosul. The Iraqi military claimed it killed 50 Islamic State fighters in […]
A suicide bomber killed at least 53 people, including 47 young children, in an attack on a school in an Alawite neighborhood in Homs city. Clashes been the Kurdish YPG and the Islamic state continued around Kobane in Aleppo. Over 300,000 Kurds have been displaced by the Islamic State from Kobane and its environs, and […]
The Al Nusrah Front denied reports that it had promised not to execute captive Lebanese troops, and said it has withdrawn from negotiations for their release and will execute captives for any measures taken against Sunnis. The head of the Lebanese Army said the military is pursuing a terrorist cell in Tripoli and expects more […]
The Parliament authorized the deployment of Turkish troops in Syria and Iraq and the temporary basing of foreign troops in Turkey; the opposition called the vote an attempt to curry favor with the West and topple the Assad regime, not a serious move against the Islamic State. Authorities arrested 16 female anti-Islamic State protesters on […]
Security sources claimed that the military has killed Mohamed Abu Shatiya, a field commander for Ansar Jerusalem (Ansar Bayt al Maqdis), during clashes south of Rafah. Two tonnes of explosives were seized by security forces from a nearby tunnel into Gaza. The terror group has released a video threatening to conduct attacks during Eid al-Adha, […]
A double suicide car bombing attack on Saiqa special forces and Operation Dignity troops at Benghazi’s Benina airbase has killed at least 12 people and wounded 60. Islamists also killed four troops in a separate clash in the city. The Rafallah Al-Sahati Brigade, which is part of the Benghazi Revolutionaries Shoura Council and closely linked […]
Boko Haram released a new video purporting to show leader Abubakar Shekau dismissing reports of his death; the Nigerian military said it is studying the video but maintains that Shekau is dead. In proceedings closed to journalists, the High Court in Lagos sentenced three Boko Haram members each to 25 years in prison for terrorism […]
Former Guantanamo detainee Moazzam Begg, who had been jailed on terrorism charges, including the allegation that he attended a terrorist training camp in Syria between October 2012 and April 2013, was released from Belmarsh Prison after charges were dropped. The West Midlands police chief refused to discuss the “new material” that led to the dismissal […]
Prime Minister Erdogan said Turkey will fight the Islamic State “and all other terrorist organizations in the region.” Turkey is planning to establish safe havens inside northern Syria to protect areas controlled by the Free Syrian Army and the Islamic Front. The government is also asking Parliamentary approval for deployment of Turkish troops abroad and […]
A man was killed and three people were wounded in clashes that erupted after Benghazi residents attacked an Ansar al Sharia checkpoint. At least 13 people have been killed in three days of clashes between the Awlad Suleiman and Qaddadfa tribes in Sebha. Fighting in Derna between militants from the Ansar al Sharia-linked Abu Slim […]
Justice Minister Louh said Algerian authorities have identified the suspects who beheaded French tourist Hervé Gourdel on Sept. 24 in the Djurdjura Mountains. Gourdel was kidnapped on Sept. 21 by Jund al-Khalifa fi Ard al-Jazayer (“Soldiers of the Caliphate in Algeria”), a newly emerged terror group led by Abdelmalek El Gouri a.k.a. Khaled Abou Souleiman, […]
President Aquino said the Philippines will refuse “impossible or unclear” UN missions, after the UN refused Philippine peacekeeping troops’ requests for more weapons to fight off al Qaeda militants in the Golan area along the Syrian border and ordered the Philippine troops to surrender to secure the release of kidnapped Fijian peacekeepers. Military and intelligence […]
Police have arrested UK citizen Samiun Rahman a.k.a. Ibn Hamdan, who arrived in Bangladesh in February to recruit fighters from Bangladesh and Myanmar for the Islamic State and for the Al Nusrah Front. Hamdan had fought in Syria in late 2013 and had also gone to Mauritania and Morocco. His arrest followed the arrest of […]