Both detainees were approved for transfer “subject to appropriate security measures” by President Obama’s Guantanamo Review Task Force. Previously, Joint Task Force Guantanamo deemed both detainees “high” risks to the US and its allies and recommended that they be retained in US custody.
Political administration not prepared to replace army in Pakistan’s tribal agencies
The strike reportedly killed 15 civilians who were traveling in a wedding convoy. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters are thought to have been traveling with the convoy.
Bangladesh executed Abdul Kader Mullah, a senior Jamaat-e-Islami leader who was convicted of war crimes committed during the 1971 war for independence from Pakistan. Four other leading figures in the party have also been convicted, but Mullah is the first to have been executed. Jamaat-e-Islami has warned it will avenge his death, and called for […]
ISPR, religious parties stoke anti-drone sentiment in Pakistan: US ambassador
Jordanian authorities reportedly arrested Raed Hijazi in November. According to the 9/11 Commission report, Hijazi was a key member of a terrorist cell that was broken up in late 1999. The cell was planning multiple attacks in Jordan at the time.
Defense Secretary Hagel responded to France’s request for “limited” US military assistance in the Central African Republic by offering to help transport Burundian soldiers to the CAR to participate in the UN peacekeeping force. Hagel told Pakistani officials that keeping supply lines open may be key to the continuance of military aid to Pakistan. Two […]
Muhammad bin Mahmoud Rabie al Bahtiyti denounced both the current regime in Egypt and the previous Muslim Brotherhood-led government. He said he hoped the overthrow of the Muslim Brotherhood would give its supporters the chance to “review themselves and correct their path.”
The strike targeted a vehicle in the eastern province of Hadramout, where Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has stepped up its presence.
The Taliban claim that the US’ reliance on drones to target their leaders is not only ineffective, but also is evidence of American decline. The group uses Osama bin Laden’s own words to describe the US as a “paper tiger.”
President Obama said Iran was not likely to give up its nuclear program, and put the odds for successful international negotiations on the program at 50/50 at best. James Dobbins, the special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, warned the Afghan government that failing to sign the Bilateral Security Agreement could lead to civil war in […]
On its newly established Twitter account, AQAP also criticized Yemeni soldiers for fighting alongside US forces and said the military is ignoring the fight against Shia Houthi rebels in the north.
Pakistani CIA informant: ‘Drone attacks are the right thing to do’
A suicide bomber created a breach in the outer wall of the Ministry of Defense, and a team of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters stormed several buildings. A Western doctor and a Filipina nurse are said to have been executed during the assault that resulted in the deaths of at least 20 people.
Afghan officials claimed security forces killed 27 Taliban fighters in operations throughout the country. The Taliban killed four family members in an IED attack in Kandahar. The US military stopped shipping equipment through the Torkham Gate due to protests over drone strikes in Pakistan.
Pakistani CIA Informant: ‘Drone Attacks Are the Right Thing to Do’
More than 20 security personnel and at least six civilians were killed as hundreds of Boko Haram fighters attacked the base on the outskirts of the provincial capital of Maiduguri.
The statement from the Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem also said attacks against the Palestinian Authority are legitimate, and called on Muslims in the West Bank to unite.
Adam Gadahn, an al Qaeda propagandist and spokesman, has released a video denouncing the capture of top al Qaeda operative Abu Anas al Libi. While calling for vengeance, Gadahn tries to portray al Libi as an innocent who was wrongly detained.
Security forces killed a Taliban district governor and seven fighters in Herat, and killed four more fighters and captured five more in Wardak. The Pakistani military fired 38 missiles into Kunar.
Pakistan promises to help Afghans meet former Taliban chief
The statement, released nearly a month after Mehsud was killed in a US drone strike, said his death “was very heavy on our souls and pained us.”
The Interior Ministry reported that over 500 Turkish citizens, including some who trained with al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan, have gone to Syria and joined the Al Nusrah Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham. The government said 13 Turkish fighters with the Al Nusrah Front have been killed in Syria, […]
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham killed 34 people, including four policemen and three soldiers, in a series of attacks in Baghdad and Mosul. Security forces captured an ISIS financier in Ninewa during a raid in Mosul.
A Baku court handed down prison sentences to 29 members of a group for plotting terrorist attacks on President Aliyev, police, hotels, and government buildings during the Eurovision song contest in Baku in 2012. The group’s leader, Vugar Padarov, was killed before the attacks could occur; members of the group were said to have trained […]
The recent deaths of top Haqqani Network leaders Nasiruddin Haqqani and Ahmad Jan will hurt the organization, but without a comprehensive strategy to fight jihadist groups beyond the tactic of targeted killings, will not lead to its collapse.
Testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on al Qaeda’s network in Africa and the threat it poses to the US
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham killed 26 people in a series of car bombings in Baghdad. An al Qaeda leader from Pakistan blew himself up as security forces raided his hideout in Tarmiyah. Security forces captured an al Qaeda leader in Kirkuk and six “infiltrators” in Al Qaim.
The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan’s condolences for the death of the commander of the Al Tawhid Brigade speaks volumes as to how the Syrian Islamist group is perceived by global jihadists.
The Syrian military claimed to have taken full control of Qara in the Qalamoun region and to have killed a “large number of terrorists.” The Al Nusrah Front withdrew from Qara, but activists from Al Nusrah and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham say they will return. At least 68 regime soldiers were […]