Abu Yahya al-Libi might not have lived long enough to become the next Osama Bin Ladin, but over al-Libi’s seven-year career with al-Qaeda he had an indelible impact. Al-Libi evolved from an ideologue to a military commander to senior leadership. It would not be a... MORE

A U.S. citizen born in 1984 in Alabama, Omar Hammami (a.k.a. Abu Mansoor al-Amriki) is a key recruiter and propaganda specialist for the al-Qaeda affiliated group, al-Shabaab, in Somalia. Al-Amriki, the son of a Syrian Muslim father and an American Southern Baptist mother, was raised... MORE

Known for his Saudi Salafist links, idolization of Osama bin Laden and for keeping close liaisons with Mullah Omar and other Taliban leaders in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region, Abdur Rahman Makki is one of the founding members of Markaz Dawa-wal-Irshad (MDI). MDI is the parent body... MORE

One of Pakistan’s top terrorists and one of the founders of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), Malik Muhammad Ishaq, is all set to play his role after his release earlier this year by the Lahore High Court. Anti-Shia sectarian violence drastically increased in Pakistan after he was... MORE

In a pre-dawn attack on April 15, 2012, militants belonging to the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) stormed the Bannu Central Jail in the district of Bannu in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province (KP). In what is considered the largest prison break in Pakistan’s history, the Taliban successfully freed... MORE

Operating from deep in the ungoverned bush of the northern part of the Central African Republic (CAR), a poorly educated Fulani tribesman from southern Chad leads a rebel movement of several hundred men that claims to be both a Fulani self-defense militia and an armed... MORE

A month ago, thousands of Salafis from various organizations demonstrated in downtown Tunis in support of the Qur‘an. Tens of individuals among them also brazenly climbed the famous clock tower and waved the black flag of Islam. Yet, among these Salafi organizations in Tunisia, there... MORE

Servando “La Tuta” Gómez Martínez  Servando Gómez Martínez (a.k.a. El Profe, La Tuta­—the teacher), was born in Arteaga, Michoacán, Mexico on February 6, 1966 (El Universal, August 7, 2009). He is co-leader of Los Caballeros Templarios (the Knights Templar), a Transnational Criminal Organization (TCO) based in the Michoacán... MORE

Henry Emomotimi Okah was born in 1965 and raised in Ikorodu, Lagos State, although his family’s ancestral home was in Baylesa State.  The fourth child of a Navy officer, his upbringing was described by a sibling as very “British”; he attended private schools and led a relatively privileged... MORE