Mokhtar Belmokhtar united his group, the al-Mulathameen Brigade, with Ahmed el Tilemsi’s Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa to form the al-Murabitoon. The new group has praised the emirs of al Qaeda and the Taliban.
The People’s Defense Units (YPG), the military arm of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), issued a call to arms against Islamist forces in Syria, and charged that the Al Nusrah Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, along with the Free Syrian Army, have “become one side in attacking the Kurdish people.” […]
Ibrahim al Afghani, a jihadist leader closely linked to al Qaeda, and Abul Hamid Hashi Olhayi, were killed during Shabaab infighting in Barawe. Hassan Dahir Aweys is reportedly in custody in Mogadishu.
The DG of Panjwai district in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province outlines the nature of the insurgency and the local uprising against the Taliban, his desire for continued international assistance, and the limited resources provided by the national and provincial Afghan governments.
Officials from several countries are said to be trying to find two members of Hezbollah alleged to be behind the Burgas terror attack. Meanwhile, new details on the attack have been released by those involved in the investigation.
Bulgaria’s Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov announced that the identity of three of those involved in the attack is known and that at least two of them are members of Hezbollah.
According to an article in the Washington Post earlier this week, AQIM is leading the jihadist coalition in Mali.
French aircraft and attack helicopters beat back a jihadist advance on the town of Mopti.
Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Somalia has broken its nearly year-long silence on the American jihadist who has claimed that deep divisions exist between foreign fighters and local jihadists.
Rebels overran a military base in northern Syria, capturing armored vehicles and a large quantity of ammunition. Rebels also captured part of an air defense base. The European Union said the Syrian rebel coalition was legitimate. Extremist Islamist groups rejected the coalition and announced their own “jihadist state.”
The Islamist takeover of two-thirds of Mali this year has spurred the West as well as neighboring African countries to find a way to drive out the extremists.
“The nightmare that surreptitiously looms on British shores is bound to eclipse the horrors of 7/7 and 21/7 combined,” Shabaab said on its Twitter account.
While Shabaab has been weakened by the Kenyan and African Union military operations over the past year, the group has experience in conducting a protracted insurgency.
Al Qaeda supporter Muhammad Mahmoud has recruited German and Austrian Salafists to set up a “colony” in Egypt.
In the wake of bloody attacks on police in Bonn and Solingen, authorities slowly begin to crack down on radical Islamist organizations in Germany.
The American jihadist said the move is necessary to unite the local Islamist insurgencies and global jihadist movements.
The American commander in Shabaab says he is “still alive and well (by May 16 2012)” and details his life, including his radicalization and fighting in Somalia up until he joined Shabaab.
Shabaab was in control of Baidoa for three years before abandoning the provincial capital today without a fight.
Thousands attended rallies held by senior Shabaab leaders in cities outside of Mogadishu.
The Muslim Youth Center, Shabaab’s affiliate in Kenya, said that the groups would fight “under the banner of AQEA (al Qaeda East Africa).” AQEA has long reported to al Qaeda’s most senior leadership.
The announcement formalizes the longstanding close working relationship between the two terror groups.
A statement at a prominent jihadist forum claimed that al Qaeda strategist, military trainer, and ideologue Abu Musab al Suri has been freed from Syrian custody. The report has not been confirmed.
Zulkifli bin Hir, Abu Sayyaf commander Umbra Jumdail, and Muhamad Ali are among 15 terrorists killed in an airstrike in Sulu province, according to the military’s Chief of Staff.
Bilal al Berjawi, a British citizen of Lebanese origins, “was from the early people who came to jihad in Somalia.” Shabaab said he was killed today in a US drone strike. He was second-in-command to slain al Qaeda leader Fazul Mohammed.
A previously unknown American called Abdullah al Amriki was recently pictured with Shabaab commander and fellow American Omar Hammami.
Shabaab released an audiotape from Cabdi Salaam al Muhajir, who they claimed is an American citizen. Al Muhajir is one of two suicide bombers who attacked an African Union base in Mogadishu.
Ahmed Omar Abdul Rahman, the son of the spiritual leader of the Egyptian Islamic Group, was killed today, according to the terror group.
Abu Abdullah al Muhajir, an al Qaeda “representative,” said he distributed the aid on behalf of Ayman al Zawahiri, and praised al Qaeda for waging jihad in Somalia for three decades.
A suicide bomber detonated a truck packed with explosives outside a compound where students were present. Shabaab claimed it was targeting government ministers and “informers.”
Al Qaeda will take lessons from the use of the Internet in the Arab Spring, but the lessons it has learned aren’t necessarily the obvious ones.