Pakistani citizens Ramzan Muhammad and Adeel Muhammad were declared personae non gratae after their arrest on suspicion of plotting a terrorist attack in Romania over the winter holidays. The two al Qaeda-linked men are being held in custody until they can be extradited.
Asadullah Khalid, the chief of Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security, was wounded in an attack at an NDS guesthouse today by a Taliban suicide bomber posing as a peace envoy.
The drones hit a compound near Mir Ali, an area known to shelter al Qaeda’s military and external operations councils, as well as a host of regional terror groups.
Special operations forces killed an al Qaeda leader in Kunar and captured an Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan facilitator in Kunduz.
Shukrullah “was the senior IMU/Taliban leader in the Almar district of Faryab province” and the “other two individuals killed with him were known Taliban insurgents.”
Nine Taliban fighters, three Afghan security guards, and four civilians were killed as the Taliban attempted to storm Forward Operating Base Fenty in Nangarhar province.
Mullah Nazir ordered all Mehsud tribesmen to leave South Waziristan’s largest town before Dec. 5 or face the consequences. Nazir clearly holds the Mehsud tribe responsible for the Nov. 29 suicide attack against him and his associates at the Rustam bazaar in Wana.
The FBI arrested brothers Raees Alam Qazi and Sheheryar Alam Qazi, naturalized US citizens born in Pakistan, on charges of plotting since July 2011 to use a weapon of mass destruction in the US and conspiracy to support terrorists. The two Fort Lauderdale residents were detained in an ongoing investigation that is not a sting […]
Abdul Rehman al Zaman Yemeni, a mid-level leader, is reported to have been killed in today’s attack. Sheikh Abdul Bari, another mid-level al Qaeda commander, is thought to have been killed in another strike in the same town on Nov. 29.
Afghanistan presses Pakistan on Taliban releases
Abubakar Shekau said he and his fighters support jihad in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kashmir, Chechnya, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Somalia, Algeria, Libya, and Mali.
Mullah Nazir was wounded in a blast at a market in Wana that killed six people and wounded 12 more. No group has claimed credit for the attack.
A judge set a sentencing date of Jan. 17, 2013 for David Coleman Headley, a US national who conducted surveillance for the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks. Sentencing for his accomplice, Pakistan-born Tahawwur Rana, was moved to Jan. 15. Headley has admitted to all charges and entered a plea bargain to cooperate with the FBI.
Pakistan test fires nuclear-capable ballistic missile
A terrorist cell dismantled on Nov. 24 was found to have recruited fighters for Libya as well as for Mali; al Qaeda facilitated the fighters’ travel through the Algerian-Moroccan border to the Sahel region. The influx of Islamist fighters in the Sahel includes Tunisians, Libyans, Europeans, Sudanese, Pakistanis, and a number of Mauritanians, among others.
During a speech last week, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said that ISAF’s analysis of the Afghan insurgency shows that the level of violence has decreased in 2011 and 2012. That is true when compared to 2010, a peak year for violence. But the level of violence remains worse than prior to the surge.
Reports of raids against al Qaeda and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan have decreased over the past two months, but “that does not indicate there were no missions executed, just that there was not a release issued,” ISAF told LWJ.
The al Qaeda-linked Nigerian terror group has carried out at least 19 suicide attacks this year. Boko Haram’s targets have included churches, mosques, newspapers, government officials, and security forces.
Hafiz Gul Bahadar could end attacks on Pakistani security forces if he really wanted, but he chooses not to.
Pakistan holds key to success in Afghanistan: US
Pakistani Taliban threaten to avenge Kasab’s execution
India asks Pakistan to increase security at embassy in Islamabad
Security forces killed 12 Taliban fighters, including several Pakistanis, in Zabul, and four more in Faryab. The deputy NDS chief in Herat was gunned down in the streets.
Two convicted members of an al Qaeda-affiliated terror network in Italy are now senior members of Ansar al Sharia Tunisia. One of them, Sami Ben Khemais Essid, was the head of al Qaeda’s operations in Italy and plotted to attack the US Embassy in Rome in early 2001.
Pakistan, Afghanistan, ISAF agree on border coordination
Pakistan lawyer challenges powerful army
The Taliban website has uploaded a 35-minute-long video depicting a series of attacks against Afghan security forces in the Kamdesh district in Nuristan province.
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.
Lashkar front JuD into mobile gaming?
Pakistan May Release More Taliban Prisoners