Latest Terrorism Focus Articles
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Baloch Insurgents Escalate Attacks on Infrastructure
Since 2002, Pakistan's southwestern province of Balochistan has remained gripped by insurgent violence. In the last few months, this violence has increased in frequency and intensity. The favorite targets of insurgents are energy production sites—such as Sui in Dera Bugti—and energy infrastructure that supplies natural... MORE
Egypt Attacks May Indicate Emerging Sinai Bedouin Insurgency
Egypt appears to have scored a number of successes in recent weeks in its war against Islamist militants. Counter-terrorist units and police converged on an olive grove in the mountainous area known as Gabal al-Arish on the outskirts of the northern Sinai coastal town of... MORE
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GSPC Leader Issues New Threat to U.S. Military Bases in North Africa
A recent threat from a prominent Algerian jihadist may expand Algeria's 14-year-old Islamist revolt to include U.S. military targets in the African Sahara and Sahel. The statement, issued by Mukhtar Bilmukhtar (Khaled Abu al-Abbas), comes at a time when the movement is under intense pressure... MORE
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Al-Suri’s Treatise on Musharraf’s Pakistan
Ayman al-Zawahiri's new video release, titled "Message to the People of Pakistan," closely meshes with the work of Abu Musab al-Suri (also known as Mustafa Setmariam Nasar), one of the chief political thinkers of al-Qaeda, who was arrested last November in Pakistan (Terrorism Focus, March... MORE
Reinforcing the Mujahideen: Origins of Jihadi Manpower
Much is written about how non-indigenous, would-be Islamist fighters enter the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan to join the mujahideen fighting U.S.-led coalitions in both countries. Do they enter Afghanistan from Pakistan? Or Iran? Perhaps Central Asia? What about Iraq? Which border is the most... MORE
Iraqi and U.S. Officials in Secret Talks with Iraqi Insurgents
In their continued effort to curb the Iraqi insurgency and drive a deeper wedge between homegrown Iraqi insurgents and al-Qaeda in Iraq, top U.S. and Iraqi officials announced that they had held secret talks with indigenous Iraqi insurgents over the past several months. Recent statements... MORE
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Sinai Bombings Mark Latest in Pattern of Symbolic Attacks in Egypt
Last week's deadly explosions at a popular restaurant, café and supermarket frequented by tourists in the Egyptian city of Dahab in the Sinai Peninsula appear to fit the pattern of terrorist attacks targeting Cairo's lucrative tourism infrastructure. As a critical source of income for the... MORE
Kurdish Unrest Escalates in Turkey’s Southeast
The issue of national security appears to be again coming to the forefront of Turkish politics. The continuing infiltration of Kurdish insurgents into Turkey from Iraq, the clashes between the army and domestic Kurdish youths, the spate of terrorist acts carried out by Kurdish militant... MORE
…as al-Zarqawi Models Himself After Bin Laden
There are a number of features that make al-Zarqawi's video noteworthy. First of all, al-Zarqawi himself appears unmasked in it, the first time the militant jihadist leader has appeared in this manner. Secondly, the high-quality video was presented as a production of the "Mujahideen Shura... MORE
Osama bin Laden: Taking Stock of the “Zionist-Crusader War”
Osama bin Laden's statement broadcast by al-Jazeera television on April 23 shows the al-Qaeda chief on top of his rhetorical game [1]. Examined in the proper context—that is, in the context of al-Qaeda's self-defined, primary mission as the vanguard and inciter of jihad—bin Laden's speech... MORE