FDD's Long War Journal

Nigeria

“Gunmen” killed 28 people, including a police officer, in Plateau. The director of Defense information said Boko Haram is “fighting their last battle.”

The Islamist group Ansaruddin released a statement urging fellow jihadist groups to keep up the fight in Mali, and claiming that its leader, Iyad Ag Ghaly, is currently leading military operations. France plans to start gradually reducing its troops in Mali from the current 4,000 to possibly 3,000 by July, with a transition to a […]

Pakistan

Campaigning in the shadow of the Taliban

Afghanistan

Kerry Hears Afghan Fears From Women in Business

Initial security impressions: Panjwai

Long War Journal correspondent Bill Ardolino is currently embedded with US soldiers from the 4-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team in Panjwai, Afghanistan.

War of words escalates in Tunisia

Tunisia’s prime minister accused Abu Iyad al Tunisi, the head of Ansar al Sharia Tunisia, of being “deeply involved” in violence and arms trafficking. Abu Iyad, in turn, released a statement threatening to “direct our war against” members of the Ennahda government.

Belgium

Belgian police shot and killed wanted Franco-Algerian terrorist Benladghem Hakim as he was resisting arrest for an armed robbery committed on March 21. Police found a “veritable military arsenal” in his home, arrested a woman, and are looking for his brother. French authorities believe Hakim belonged to a criminal group with terrorist aims.

France

Police arrested three people in southern France suspected of ties to al Qaeda-linked gunman Mohamed Merah. One of the suspects is a soldier in the French army, and another comes from Merah’s old neighborhood in Toulouse. Authorities are concerned that accomplices of Merah remain at large and present a security threat. Police arrested a suspected […]

United Kingdom

The UK has begun sending military trainers to Mali as part of an EU mission. The Home Office lost its appeal against a ruling preventing the deportation of radical Islamist Abu Qatada; the court said the fact he was regarded as a “very dangerous person” was not relevant. Qatada was arrested earlier this month but […]

United States

The US military is planning to add 14-man Marine special operations teams to ships carrying Marine Expeditionary Units to provide rapid responses in emergency situations. Abu Khalid Abdul-Latif, a Muslim convert formerly named Joseph Anthony Davis, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for plotting with accomplice Walli Mujahidh to attack a south Seattle military […]

Suicide attack reported in Damascus

Today’s suicide attack is the second in the Syrian capital in five days.

Latest IMU capture indicates resiliency of terror group in Afghanistan

Raids against the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and al Qaeda have taken place consistently for years. Can Afghan forces maintain the tempo as NATO takes a backseat in Afghanistan?

Afghanistan

Five policemen and eight Taliban fighters were killed after the Taliban launched a suicide assault on a police headquarters in Jalalabad. The government freed 26 inmates from Bagram Prison just one day after the US transferred control of the prison. Australia will withdraw 1,000 of its 1,500 troops from Afghanistan by the end of the […]

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb

AQIM names new field leader

Central African Republic

Central African Republic: Djotodia to rule by decree, suspends constitution

Iraq

Insurgents killed five people in attacks in Iraq. In one attack, in Tuz Khormato, the head of a local council and a council member were killed. Two policemen and a civilian were killed in attacks in Baghdad.

Egypt

Rise in Sexual Assaults in Egypt Sets Off Clash Over Blame

Syria

Rebels warned citizens yesterday to leave Damascus due to planned strikes on government and military targets in the city. Today a car bomb near a military supply office in Damascus killed at least three people, and mortars hit two schools, a hospital, and an office of the government news agency. The UN is relocating most […]

Egypt

Salafist and Muslim Brotherhood leaders are working together in view of an imminent crackdown by President Morsi’s government on opposition forces. A political activist was released after he demanded a judge for his case. An Israeli man and a Norwegian woman who were kidnapped by armed tribesmen on March 22 were released.

Yemen

A court sentenced 10 al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters to terms of four to 10 years in prison for plotting attacks; five had already been freed for time served. “Gunmen” wounded a Russian Red Cross worker in the capital of Sana’a.

Somalia

Somalia’s intelligence chief was dismissed after being accused of “extrajudicial killings” of Somali men. Elders from the Hawiye clan accused the military of committing human rights violations. Shabaab claimed it attacked militia bases in Afmadow.

Ethiopia

Intelligence officials said they foiled a Shabaab plot to kidnap UN aid workers from a refuge camp in Dolo Ado and take them to Somalia to hold them for ransom. Eight suspected Shabaab fighters were detained.

Nigeria

Boko Haram fighters killed a policeman and torched a police station and communications towers in Bara in Yobe state. Police raided a suspected hideout for Chadian and Malian “terrorists” in Lagos.

Taliban suicide assault team strikes police HQ in eastern Afghanistan

Five policemen and eight Taliban fighters were killed after the suicide assault team penetrated security at the Quick Reaction Force headquarters in Jalalabad.

Libya

After rioting in prison, 50 inmates escaped in Sabha; nine have been recaptured and 36 remain at large. One guard was killed and two were injured during the jailbreak. An unknown assassin fired 30 rounds at a senior member of the Thunderbird special forces outside his home in Benghazi, wounding him in the legs. Over […]

Algeria

After al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) announced its support for unemployed Algerians in the south who have staged recent protests, the National Committee for Protection of the Rights of the Unemployed (CNDDC) issued a statement disavowing any connection with AQIM or other violent groups. The protesters stressed that their movement is peaceful, unlike that […]