FDD's Long War Journal

Jundallah suicide attack targets Iran’s Revolutonary Guards Corps

A pair of suicide bombers struck at a mosque in Zahedan during Revolutionary Guard Day.

Al Qaeda

Pakistan™s role in reconciliation ambiguous: US

Pakistan extradited Salih S. to Germany to stand trial for his involvement in a plot to attack US bases in Germany. Salih, a Turkish citizen, is thought to be a member of the Islamic Jihad Union and is linked to the Sauerland terror cell in Germany.

US Predator strike kills 10 in North Waziristan

The strike is the first in 16 days.

Martyrdom tape of failed Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad released

Shahzad said jihad is a “pillar” of Islam and that the “Muslims’ war has just started.”

India

Indian foreign minister to press Pakistan on Mumbai probe in talks

India

India’s home minister claimed Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence directorate was “literally controlling and coordinating” the 2008 terror assault on Mumbai “from the beginning till the end,” and Lashkar-e-Taiba leader Hafiz Saeed was also intimately involved in the attack. Saeed “was not a peripheral player,” the minister stated. “He knew everything.”

Is al Qaeda racist?

Those familiar with the inner workings of jihadi circles will know that racism is in fact prevalent within al Qaeda’s ranks. But that makes the administration’s new line of rhetorical attack against the terrorist group — that it shows a disregard for African life — no less absurd. Jake Tapper reports: In an interview earlier […]

Afghan villagers battle the Taliban in Ghazni

At The Weekly Standard, I rounded up the news of Afghan villagers in Ghazni province who stood up to a force of Taliban fighters infiltrating from neighboring Uruzgan province. The news is welcome as it gives hope that the Afghan people can eventually organize to oppose the Taliban, much as the Sunni tribes in Iraq […]

Al Qaeda

US may label Pakistan militants as terrorists

Iran

An Iranian scientist who went missing in Saudi Arabia more than a year ago has appeared at the Pakistani embassy in Washington, DC. The foreign minister dismissed Russian President Medeved’s remarks that Iran is close to building a nuclear weapon as “unrealistic.”

Karzai pushes for removal of ex-Taliban officials from UN blacklist

The Washington Post reports that Afghan president Hamid Karzai “plans to seek the removal of up to 50 former Taliban officials from a U.N. terrorism blacklist.” From the Post: The Afghan government has sought for years to delist former Taliban figures who it says have cut ties with the Islamist movement. But the campaign to […]

Shabaab claims credit for dual suicide attacks in Uganda

The al Qaeda affiliate has carried out its first terror attack outside the borders of Somalia. The Somali suicide bombers attacked soccer fans as they watched the World Cup final in Kampala.

Germany agrees to accept two Gitmo detainees

Last week, German Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière said that his country has agreed to accept two Gitmo detainees. One of the two was recruited by Hamas, trained in an al Qaeda camp, and allegedly wanted to conduct a suicide operation. The other allegedly traveled to Afghanistan to wage jihad after the September 11 attacks.

Afghanistan

Pakistan blames militants from Afghanistan for bombing

Al Qaeda

US training of Pakistani forces faces hurdles

Al Qaeda

Three years on, Red Mosque legacy bites

Somalia

Kenya’s foreign minister said Iraqi, Afghan, and Pakistani fighters are based in Somalia. Shabaab urged attacks against the diplomatic missions of Uganda and Burundi. Shabaab fighters and Burundian troops clashed in Mogadishu.

Al Qaeda

Kenya: Iraq, Afghan, Pakistan fighters in Somalia

More Taliban ‘need to die’ before fighting ends: Musa Qala police chief

In an interview with The Long War Journal, Musa Qala District Police Chief Haji Abdul Wali discusses the Taliban problem and the need for NATO forces to remain in Afghanistan.

Indictments reveal coordinated NYC and London plots

An indictment unsealed today by the Dept. of Justice reveals that the foiled 2009 NYC subway terrorist attack uncovered in the Najibullah Zazi investigation was a much more ambitious plot than previously known. The NYC plot was planned to coincide with a similar suicide attack on the London transit system and was coordinated by senior […]

Al Qaeda

Pakistani ambassador: Groups that create militias are not acceptable to Pakistan

Al Qaeda

Al Qaeda has appointed Sheikh Fateh al Masri, an Egyptian, as the emir for Afghanistan and the wider Khorasan. Al Masri reportedly commanded forces in Afghanistan and also directed attacks inside Pakistan, including the terror assault on two Ahmadi mosques in Lahore.

United Kingdom

Police arrested Abid Naseer based on a warrant issued by the US for involvement with a plot to bomb the NYC subway. Naseer is the leader of a cell of 12 Pakistanis who had plotted to conduct attacks in Britain last year. Naseer could not be deported to Pakistan and he was not kept in […]

Al Qaeda bodyguard and accountant pleads guilty before military commission

Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al Qosi, a Sudanese detainee held at Guantanamo, pled guilty to charges of conspiracy and material support for terrorism before a military commission today. Al Qosi served the Taliban and al Qaeda in a variety of roles beginning in 1990.

Al Qaeda appoints new commander for Afghanistan

Sheikh Fateh al Masri, an Egyptian, has been named al Qaeda’s emir for Afghanistan. He replaced Mustafa Abu Yazid, who was killed in a US Predator strike in North Waziristan in May.

Lashkar-e-Taiba

In an interview, Lashkar-e-Taiba leader Hafiz Saeed said suicide attacks inside of Pakistan are “illegal” and called for the execution of those involved. Saeed blamed foreign elements for attempting to sow discord and said Pakistan’s involvement in the war was the cause of the conflict.