On April 5, Abdallaye ag Albaka was reportedly killed during an attack by the Group for Support of Muslims and Islam (JNIM) in the northern Malian town of Aguelhok (leparisien.fr, April 5). The attack targeted a United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA)... MORE

In late 2018, the Islamic State (IS) franchise in Puntland, Somalia, was convulsed by a violent power struggle that killed key allies and relatives of the group’s self-styled emir, Abdulkadir Mumin (see Militant Leadership Monitor, November 30, 2011). The internal putsch concluded with the abduction... MORE

Abu Yassir Hassan—a militant leader in Mozambique—is believed to be steering a deadly insurgency in the northern part of the country. Under his watch, a band of militants under the banner of Ansar al-Sunna has carried out deadly attacks in the gas-rich northern province of... MORE

Saddam al-Jamal, a.k.a. Abu Roqaiyya al-Ansari, is a notorious member of Islamic State (IS), and his arrest in May 2018 evoked strong reactions, both in the region and across the world. Al-Jamal was captured, along with four other high-level IS members, by Iraq’s intelligence agency... MORE

On March 2, the United States imposed sanctions on two senior military commanders of the Houthi organization: Mansur al-Saadi, chief of staff of the Houthis’ Navy and Ahmad al-Hamzi, commander of the Houthis’ Air Force (Middle East Eye, March 2). The announcement by the U.S.... MORE

The Supreme Court of Pakistan's acquittal of Ahmad Omar Saeed Shaikh is a recent but shocking development in the Daniel Pearl murder case. The kidnapping and beheading of the Wall Street Journal correspondent in Pakistan riveted international attention due to the fact that the victim... MORE

With Islamic State (IS) increasingly turning to social media to spread its propaganda amid its territorial defeat, the group has utilized apps like Tik Tok, Telegram, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube to recruit and radicalize youth. With social media often heralded as platforms for inspiration,... MORE

On February 16, the Taliban’s deputy leader and chief of its Qatar political office, Mullah Abdul Ghani, better known as Mullah Baradar (meaning brother), issued an “open letter” to the American public calling on “the American side to remain committed to the full implementation” of... MORE

Since Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the Kankara kidnapping in northwestern Nigeria’s Katsina State in December 2020, concern about banditry in the country has gained increasing national and international attention (see Terrorism Monitor, January 15). In the Kankara incident, the more than 300 schoolboys kidnapped... MORE

In early January 2021, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that three foreign nationals – Muhammed Naufar (also, Naufar Moulavi), Muhammed Riskan and Ahamed Milhan – had been charged with conspiring to provide material support to Islamic State (IS), a designated foreign terrorist organization that... MORE