FATWA IN TRIBAL PAKISTAN DECLARES TALIBAN “OUT OF ISLAM” A new fatwa (religious ruling) issued in the Pashtun Darra Adam Khel region of Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province declares the Taliban to be “out of Islam” as a result of their violence, failure to follow Islamic... MORE

The man most responsible for the growing strength of al-Qaeda in Yemen is a 32-year-old former secretary of Osama bin Laden named Nasir al-Wahayshi. He took over the leadership of the group when it had all but been eliminated, and has slowly, over the past... MORE

A new Turkmen jihadist group calling itself “the Martyr Saighan Battalion” has released a communiqué announcing its creation and intention to join the insurgency in Iraq (iraqipa.net, February 15). The new formation is non-Arab, drawing its members from Iraq’s Turkmen community. The Turkmen are the... MORE

AL-QAEDA IN AFGHANISTAN URGES PROFESSIONALS TO JOIN MUJAHIDEEN In a 47-minute video statement, the commander of al-Qaeda’s forces in Afghanistan issued an appeal for professionals such as physicians and engineers to join the jihad against Coalition forces in that country (Al-Sahab Media Production Organization, March... MORE

Much has been said about al-Qaeda’s quest to acquire weapons of mass destruction (WMD) as a means of striking at the heart of their number one enemy, the United States. The latest example of these ongoing efforts to acquire WMD capabilities is a recent posting... MORE

LOCAL SOURCES CLAIM U.S. MISSILE ATTACK MISSED TARGET IN SOMALIA According to local sources, a March 3 U.S. naval attack on Somalia missed its target—Kenyan terrorist suspect, Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan. Kenyan police claim U.S. intelligence intercepted Nabhan’s mobile communications, leading to a strike on... MORE

A previous issue of Terrorism Monitor (September 8, 2006) discussed the cellular technology know-how that jihadis exchange over the internet to help their fellow fighters evade interception by security forces. The implicit question at the time was: to what extent do jihadis learn and implement... MORE

HACKING MANUAL BY JAILED JIHADI APPEARS ON WEB A document entitled “The Encyclopedia of Hacking the Zionist and Crusader Websites” was released by al-Qaeda affiliated Global Islamic Media Front on January 27. The guide to computer mayhem is allegedly the work of Moroccan-born British jihadi... MORE

A day before Pakistan’s crucial February 18 parliamentary elections, the military government renewed the September 2006 North Waziristan peace accord. The move is widely seen as part of a revived effort to restore peace and order to the region under the aegis of the new... MORE

In the last issue of Terrorism Focus (February 20), we examined the attempt by Iraq’s Islamist insurgents to recruit trained professionals for jihad in Iraq. In this follow-up, we examine the use of jihadist internet forums to present would-be jihadis with safe routes to infiltrate... MORE