The Islamic State’s Sinai Wilayah has released a short video showing a cadre of fighters renewing their allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Their ringleader is a masked man identified as Abu Jafar al-Ansari.
It is not immediately clear if today’s statement represents a legitimate claim from Mozambique.
The Islamic State’s Afghan arm detonated three improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in Kabul earlier today. The first bomb struck a bus carrying civilians, while the second two were detonated after security forces and journalists made their way to the scene.
The defeat of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria was neither final nor decisive, and policymakers should heed the War on Terror’s lessons to ensure the West doesn’t squander this advantage and enable ISIS, or its copycats and successor groups, to rally.
The Islamic State has claimed at least nine attacks in the DRC since April.
An Islamic State suicide bomber struck outside the Marshal Fahim National Defense University in Kabul earlier today. It is the second time the so-called Khorasan province has attacked the academy. According to UNAMA, the jihadists launch more “suicide and complex attacks” in the Afghan capital than in any other area of the country.
The jihadist group also claimed an assault on a high-security prison near the capital of Niamey.
On May 14, the UN Security Council added the Islamic State’s so-called Khorasan province to its list of sanctioned terrorist entities. The group has recently rebranded operations in Kashmir and Pakistan as the work of supposedly new “provinces.”
The photos show more evidence of ties between militants in the DRC and the Islamic State.
The Islamic State’s loyalists raided a military camp in southern Libya on May 4, targeting a prison inside the facility. In an appearance late last month, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi praised the jihadists in Libya, saying that they and other Islamic State representatives are fighting a “battle of attrition.”
Bill Roggio testifies before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East, North Africa and International Terrorism, and examines the global terrorism landscape.
The Islamic State has released the first video of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in nearly five years.
Sri Lankan security forces clashed with Islamic State loyalists during a raid in Kalmunai. The Islamic State claims that 17 members of the security forces were killed, but that claim is not corroborated by independent reporting. Instead, it appears that several terrorists, along with women and children, perished in the raid.
The Islamic State’s Amaq News Agency has released a video of eight jihadists in Sri Lanka swearing allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi before a series of bombings on Easter Sunday. The video is similar to a string of others released by Amaq since mid-2016.
The Islamic State has released three written statements and a video claiming responsibility for the bombings in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday. The video shows the terrorists’ leader, Zahran Hashim, and seven others swearing allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
A small team of Islamic State jihadists assaulted the Ministry of Communications in Kabul on Apr. 20. It was the latest in a string of attacks on government ministries and other official sites in the Afghan capital.
Today’s claim marks the first time the Islamic State has claimed any activity in Central Africa.
AFRICOM announced the death of Abdulhakim Dhuqub, the second in command of the Islamic State’s network in Somalia.
The Islamic State has released its first official attack claim from northern Mali.
The Islamic State’s Amaq News Agency, one of the jihadist group’s official media arms, released its first combat video from Mali earlier today. The brief video claimed to show an ambush on French forces somewhere near Mali’s border region with Niger. While no specific date was given, the video likely portrays last month’s Islamic State […]
The US-backed Syrian Defense Forces (SDF) announced today that Baghouz has been liberated from the Islamic State. The US considers Baghouz to be the last village that was part of the jihadists’ physical caliphate. However, a review of history and current operations shows that the Islamic State has not been entirely defeated.
Earlier today, the Islamic State’s Khorasan “province” attacked a memorial held in honor of Abdul Ali Mazari, an ethnic Hazara leader who was killed by the Taliban in 1995. The Islamic State’s loyalists frequently target Shiites in the Afghan capital.
According to UNAMA’s annual report for 2018, more civilians were killed in Afghanistan than in any year since 2009. The Taliban remains the main culprit when it comes to civilian casualties, killing or wounding more than any other party. But the number casualties attributed to the Islamic State’s branch more than doubled in 2018, as compared to 2017.
The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for two suicide bombings at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Jolo, Sulu earlier today.
Bilal Khuraysat, an al Qaeda ideologue in Syria, has released a treatise justifying Shabaab’s war with the Islamic State in Somalia. The Islamic State continues to battle al Qaeda’s branches and like-minded jihadists in several theaters.
Islamic State West Africa has forced thousands of civilians to flee Rann after raiding and ransacking the makeshift town in northeastern Nigeria. The assault in Rann is part of a broader ISWA offensive in the region.
The Islamic State’s loyalists claimed more operations in Somalia in 2018 than in 2016 and 2017 combined. The group has also expanded its operations to include tactics normally associated with its larger rival, Shabaab.
Islamic State West Africa reportedly seized the town of Baga in northeastern Nigeria earlier this week. The Nigerian military downplayed the jihadis’ advances, but it appears that ISWA seized the town, at least temporarily. And ISWA documented its spoils in a series of images released today.
President Trump claimed earlier today that the Islamic State has been “defeated” in Syria. But an unknown number of the group’s top leaders, including presumably Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, remain alive. And there are likely thousands of fighters in both Syria and Iraq, where they operate as insurgents.
The Islamic State released its first video footage of a clash with Shabaab, al Qaeda’s branch in Somalia and East Africa.