
Briefs

Ustaz Ahmad Farooq’s Lasting Legacy in the South Asian Jihadist Ecosystem
In March, al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS)’s prominent Hitteen magazine published a 455-page book. It covered the life of former AQIS top ideologue Ustad Ahmad Farooq and was written by current AQIS deputy leader Atif Yahya Ghouri—an individual on the US Department of Treasury’s... MORE

Tides Turn Against the Pakistani Taliban: The Killing of Iqbal Bali
Since the fall of Kabul and the return of the Afghan Taliban to power in August 2021, Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhawa (KPK) Province has faced a resurgence of Islamist terrorism. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), or “Pakistani Taliban,” has perpetrated scores of terrorist attacks across KPK Province.... MORE

Eganius Kogoya: The Headline-Making Leader of the West Papua National Liberation Army
Since 2017, Eganius Kogoya has committed 65 attacks, resulting in the deaths of 46 individuals (kompas, February 12). He has also waged a guerilla war on two fronts: The first one is in the Papuan jungles, where he and his militants exploit the mountain's difficult... MORE

Janjaweed Commander to Political Power Broker: An In-Depth Profile of Sudanese General Hemedti
On April 15, clashes broke out in Sudan’s capital city of Khartoum between rival factions of the country's military government. Pitted against each other were the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The latter is led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo... MORE

Escaping Justice Through Geopolitics in Pakistan: Jaish-e-Mohammed Leader Abdul Rauf Azhar
Mufti Abdul Rauf Azhar (Abdul Rauf) is the deputy leader of the Pakistan-based group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), which was proscribed by Pakistan in 2002. The group is most notable for targeting Indian forces in Indian-administered Kashmir and claiming such attacks in the name of the “Kashmir... MORE

Akram al-Kaabi: The Anti-American Iraqi Shia Militia Leader Who Went to Moscow
In late November 2022, Iraqi Shia militia leader Akram al-Kaabi visited Russia and met with the Russian deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov and other Russian officials. During his visit, al-Kaabi, who is the leader of the Iranian-backed al-Nujabaa (“The Noble Ones”) Shia militia, condemned the... MORE

The Mysterious Assassination of a Former al-Badr Commander in Karachi: The Case of Syed Khalid Raza
On the evening of February 26, two gunmen riding on a motorcycle assassinated Syed Khalid Raza (Khalid) in the Gulistan-e-Johar neighborhood of Karachi (Dawn, February 27). Khalid was known as an educator, but formerly was an Islamist militant commander in the al-Badr militant organization. His... MORE

The Deradicalization of Indonesian Jihadist Ali Fauzi
In a speech on radicalization, terrorism, and deradicalization at a workshop with the Indonesian National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT), Ali Fauzi, the youngest brother of three of the 2002 Bali bombers, once stated: “Everyone has the right to become a better person” (ITS News, August 2,... MORE

The Curious Case of Ahmed Muaz: How Islamist Groups Coopt Criminal Gangs to Advance Radicalism in the Maldives
In mid-December 2022, the Maldivian Presidential Commission on Deaths and Disappearances (DDCom) submitted its final report on the disappearance of a prominent progressive journalist, Ahmed Rilwan Abdulla. Almost eight years after Rilwan mysteriously vanished from the capital Male’s suburb of Hulhumale in August 2014, the... MORE

The Death of Daud Muzammil and ISKP’s Assassination Campaign Against the Afghan Taliban
Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISKP), which operates in Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan, assassinated senior Afghan Taliban commander Daud Muzammil in a suicide attack on March 9 (Twitter.com/@Abdsayedd). This attack was ISKP's most significant blow to the Afghan Taliban since the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan... MORE