Latest Briefs

BRIEFS

PAKISTANI MILITANTS HUNT AND KILL POLICE SERGEANT IN BAJAUR AGENCY In an incident that highlights the growing power of the local Taliban and other Islamists in Pakistan's tribal regions, militants recently tracked and gunned down a Pakistani police sergeant in Bajaur Agency. The significance of... MORE

Ocalan Culture Center, a PKK Contact Bureau, Opens in Baghdad

In the midst of rising tensions between the Turkish and Iraqi governments over the presence of Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels in northern Iraq, the PKK has managed to expand to other parts of Iraq outside of their traditional strongholds in the northern mountains. It... MORE

BRIEFS

TALIBAN TAKE CONTROL OF TWO AFGHAN VILLAGES As evidence of the Taliban's attempts to re-establish their control over southern Afghanistan, the Taliban managed to take control of two Afghan villages in the south of the country, near the border with Pakistan. Taliban militants drove police... MORE

Turkey’s Mounting Concerns over PKK Incursions from Northern Iraq

There have been ongoing tensions between Turkish and Iraqi Kurdish authorities over Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) terrorists operating out of the Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) territory. In a recent trip to the United States after meeting with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, Turkish Foreign Minister... MORE

BRIEFS

YEMEN ACQUITS 19 ALLEGED AL-QAEDA OPERATIVES On July 8, a court in Yemen, citing lack of evidence, acquitted 19 men accused of planning to blow up a hotel frequented by Americans and to conduct other attacks against Westerners in Yemen (Jerusalem Post, July 8). The... MORE

New Islamist Leaders Emerge in Somalia

The celebrations that marked the overthrow of the warlords, who had controlled Mogadishu for about 15 years, by the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) are nearing an end as the hard-line Islamic courts tighten their grip on most of southern Somalia. At the onset, Sheikh Sharif... MORE

Indonesians Infiltrate Southern Thailand’s Insurgency

While the Thai government goes to great lengths to state that the insurgency in Southern Thailand is solely a domestic affair, there is evidence that a growing number of Indonesians are involved. In late-2005, the Thai government began to acknowledge that a number of Barisan... MORE

BRIEFS

TALIBAN SECRET ARMY APPEARS IN AFGHANISTAN A previously unknown militant group, the Taliban Secret Army, claimed responsibility for a July 1 attack in Baghlan province in Afghanistan. The attack involved an explosion that ripped through the office of BRAC, a Bangladeshi NGO. The incident caused... MORE

Abu al-Ghadia to Build on al-Zarqawi’s Legacy in Iraq

Very little is known about one of the late-Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's top operatives, Abu al-Ghadia al-Soori (or sometimes known as Abu al-Ghadia al-Shami). Some refer to his real name as Sulayman Khalid Darwish. There is no photograph of Abu al-Ghadia, and not a single interview... MORE