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

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

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

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

Of the known leadership of Jemaah Islamiya (JI) at large, there is no one with a higher price on his head than Joko Pitoyo (known as Dulmatin), who commands a US$10 million bounty offered by the United States. Dulmatin, a skilled technician, remains the most... MORE

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

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

On June 6, British authorities arrested Syed "Fahad" Hashmi, a 26 year-old American citizen of Pakistani descent, in London's Heathrow Airport for his suspected role in aiding an al-Qaeda plot to attack targets in London and delivering military equipment and funds to radical Islamists in... MORE

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

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