A security sweep in Germany gave indications that the radical Islamist group Ansar al-Islam, a group linked with al-Qaeda and the Jordanian terrorist Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi, is spreading its influence outside Iraq. On January 12, according to a report in the German daily Spiegel (www.spiegel.de)... MORE

Life sentences handed out by courts in Cambodia on December 29 against three Islamists, on charges of plotting attacks against the British embassy in the capital Phnom Penh, have cast light on the growing reach of Islamic radicalism in Southeast Asia. Two of the convicts... MORE

The Islamist news site Mufakkirat al-Islam reported on January 14 how there has been a sharp increase in distribution of leaflets in Baghdad, al-Ramadi, al-Samawah specifically targeting the Japanese forces there and demanding their withdrawal from Iraq. The leaflets noted that instead of heeding an... MORE

Information from a recent court case in Jordan illustrates the vulnerability of U.S. personnel in the country, irrespective of any connections with military or diplomatic functions. On January 9 a total of 16 Jordanians were charged with plotting attacks against the U.S. and Israeli embassies... MORE

Evidence of the contentious issue of al-Qaeda presence in Lebanon may have come to light with the warning on a jihadist forum spotted by Focus on January 13. Posted on the al-Ma'sada forum (www.alm2sda.net) by the "Auxiliaries of the Organization of al-Qaeda in Lebanon," the... MORE

Afghan Uzbek warlord Abdul Rashid Dostam survived an assassination attempt on January 20 in a mosque while at Eid al-Adha prayers in Shibirghan, Northern Afghanistan. Posing as a beggar, the suicide bomber, who had strapped explosives to his body, blew himself up as he was... MORE

A car bomb and an arson attack in the Tajik capital Dushanbe have placed the administration on edge in the run-up to the parliamentary elections due at the end of February. On January 31, a Volga sedan parked outside the Emergencies Ministry blew up, killing... MORE

On January 26 came official confirmation from Malaysia that Thailand's most-wanted Islamist terror suspect, Abdul Rahman Ahmad, known in Thailand both as Doramae Kuteh and Chae Kumae Kuteh, had been arrested. He is considered to be the leader of the New Pulo separatist group and... MORE

Another surge of violence in Thailand's south since Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra won his second term on February 6 augurs ill for the region's future. On February 10 a bomb attempt on Governor Pracha Tehrat and senior army and police officers attending a military parade... MORE

Kazakhstan Today reported on February 11 that police in the Manghistau region arrested a militant from a Wahhabi organization Taza Islam (Pure Islam). They also confiscated audiotapes, extremist literature, leaflets calling to perpetrate terrorist acts, some explosives — a sack of carbide and toluene cartridges... MORE