IRAQI AL-QAEDA AFFILIATE ISLAMIC STATE OF IRAQ INCREASES ATTACKS ACROSS IRAQ Nicholas A. Heras  The Iraqi al-Qaeda affiliate Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) has maintained a steady rate of attacks over the last few months. On January 3, ISI executed attacks against Shi’a Muslim pilgrims... MORE

ASSASSINATION SPARKS POLITICAL CRISIS IN TUNISIA  Andrew McGregor  Tunisia’s political crisis deepened this week with the emergence of a split in the ruling Islamist Ennahda Party and the subsequent resignation of Ennahda Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali on February 20. The split was the consequence of... MORE

SALAFISTS AND SECULARISTS CHALLENGE THE AUTHORITY OF TUNISIA’S ISLAMIST RULERS Growing tensions in Tunisia between that nation’s Islamist government, secular political forces and radical Salafists exploded on February 6 following the assassination of a leading Tunisian secularist politician, Chokri Belaid. Within hours, the Tunis headquarters... MORE

CAPTURED SHINING PATH LEADER REFUSES TO REMAIN SILENT AT TRIAL  The leader of the Shining Path faction in the Upper Huallaga Valley, Comrade Artemio, was captured in February 2012 after one of his comrades betrayed him and gave his location to the Peruvian security forces... MORE

EGYPT’S MUSLIM BROTHERS WATCH AS DIVISONS REND THEIR SALAFIST CHALLENGERS  Andrew McGregor As the February 25 parliamentary elections grow near, the political wings of Egypt’s Salafist movement continue to fragment, raising questions about the movement’s ability to replicate its relative success in last year’s elections,... MORE

ISLAMIST GROUPS MOUNT JOINT OFFENSIVE IN MALI  Just as the days of cooperation between the three Islamist groups that seized control of northern Mali last year seemed to be over, the three groups appear to have mounted a joint push southwards towards Malian Army lines... MORE

SUDANESE SECURITY FORCES RAID ISLAMIST TRAINING CAMP IN NATIONAL PARK  A raid earlier this month on what was described as a Salafi-Jihadist training camp in a remote part of Sudan’s Dinder National Park indicated Sudan’s growing vulnerability to armed Salafist groups ready to take advantage... MORE

TUNISIAN PRESIDENT WARNS OF GROWING STRENGTH OF SALAFI-JIHADI MOVEMENT Like Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, Tunisia’s Islamist-dominated government is facing often violent demands for the immediate imposition of an Islamic state from radical Salafist groups, leading Tunisia’s secularist president to warn of the threat posed by Salafi-Jihadists... MORE

AL-QAEDA SUPPORT IN NORTHERN MALI BEGINS TO CRUMBLE AS ALLIES PULL BACK It was an alliance that shocked security professionals and political observers—a coalition of Tuareg military veterans, Muslim militants from West Africa and one of al-Qaeda’s most active and vicious regional chapters, al-Qaeda in... MORE

ALGERIA WORKING TO SPLIT TUAREG ISLAMISTS FROM AL-QAEDA IN NORTHERN MALI Algeria has modified its stance on the conflict in northern Mali by dropping its insistence on a mediated settlement based on dialogue in favor of a growing willingness to consider the military option to... MORE