Some extra light was cast upon the obscure events of last January in the Gulf state of Oman (reported in Terrorism Focus Vol II, Iss 3) when a group of ‘Islamists' were picked up. On April 18 the trial began of a total of 31... MORE

Syria's pivotal position, geographically and politically, between developments in Lebanon and Iraq has made it a major new focus for Western policy in the Middle East. One of the several factors casting the spotlight on Damascus is its ambiguous relationship towards Islamist militants operating in... MORE

On April 22 the Singaporean Ministry of Home Affairs announced it had arrested and detained for two years a member of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) under the Internal Security Act. According to the Singapore daily the Straits Times, The detainee, Jahpar bin Osman had trained in... MORE

In addition to the unexpected re-appearance of Sawt al-Jihad, just released on the internet is another new magazine, aimed at those the Arab mujahideen fighting in the Caucasus, or sympathizers following the events in the region, entitled Sawt al-Qoqaz (The Voice of the Caucasus). Modeled... MORE

A flurry of interest was expressed at the beginning of the month in the contents of a 7-page letter, apparently from a Sumatra-based operative of the al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamyiah (JI), detailing the training of militants for suicide bombings in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta. If authentic,... MORE

--CONTROVERSIAL BOOK IS CONFISCATED The FSB and Moscow police have confiscated several thousand copies of Aleksandr Litvinenko's book, "The FSB Explodes Russia," according to Aleksandr Podrabinek, editor in chief of the Prima information agency. Podrabinek told the radio station Ekho Moskvy that his agency had... MORE

--ATTACKS INCREASING IN CHECHNYA? Contrary to the image of "normalization" projected by the Kremlin, the number of rebel attacks in Chechnya classified by the Kadyrov administration as "terrorist" rose by more than 50 percent from 2002 to 2003. In the year just ended the total... MORE

--SECURITY SWEEP LEADS TO BLOODSHED Police of the Kadyrov administration came under rebel gunfire last weekend as they conducted a "zachistka" security sweep in eastern Chechnya's Kurchaloy district. An administration official told the Associated Press that one policeman was killed and two wounded in the... MORE

—POPOV TO RUN FOR GOVERNOR? A new job outside Chechnya may have been lined up for Anatoly Popov, now clearly on his way out as the Kadyrov administration’s prime minister (see Chechnya Weekly, January 14). According to a February 11 article in Moskovskie novosti, Popov... MORE