Latest Briefs

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

BRIEFS

SAUDI SECURITY FORCES PREVENT NEW TERRORIST ATTACK On June 23, Saudi security forces killed six al-Qaeda militants and arrested a seventh. The gun battle occurred after security forces followed the seven militants to a house in the al-Nakhil district of Riyadh (al-Jazeera, June 23). One... MORE

Pakistan Holds Secret Talks with Local Taliban

The Pakistani government is frantically attempting to prolong the relatively calm situation in South Waziristan and to reach reconciliation with militants in North Waziristan. In order to attain this objective of ending violence in the Waziristan agencies, a multi-prong strategy is underway, with the latest... MORE

BRIEFS

INDONESIA RELEASES RADICAL CLERIC ABU BAKAR BA'ASYIR On June 14, the alleged spiritual leader of Indonesian terrorist group Jemaah Islamiya (JI), Abu Bakar Ba'asyir (or Abu Bakar Bashir), was released from prison. Ba'asyir was arrested a week after the 2002 bombings in Bali that killed... MORE

Crackdown Against Islamist Opposition in Morocco Intensifies

Moroccan security forces intensified operations last week against al-Adl wa al-Ihsane (Justice and Spirituality Association—JSA), the country's largest opposition group, arresting scores more of its members in the towns of Bouarfa, Oujda and Nador in northeast Morocco. Mohammed al-Abadi, the JSA's second-in-command, was among the... MORE

Who’s Who in Ramadi Among the Insurgent Groups

U.S. forces have amassed an additional 1,500 troops for another security crackdown in Iraq's predominantly Sunni Arab center in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province. The Ramadi operation, as yet unconfirmed by the U.S. military, is part of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's security offensive... MORE

BRIEFS

IN NEW VIDEO, AL-ZAWAHIRI DISCUSSES PALESTINE AND SUDAN Al-Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri appeared in a new videotape broadcast on al-Jazeera June 9. The al-Qaeda leader called on "Muslims to reject any referendum on Palestine because Palestine is part of the Islamic world and not subject... MORE