The noose may be tightening on Islamist militant rebels on Jolo island, but the rebellion clearly still has teeth, judging from a spate of attacks claimed by the Abu Sayyaf group on February 14. Bombs within one hour of each other exploded in crowded areas... MORE

From the number of reports of activity recorded by the pro-Western press and the statements put out on the Emirate of Afghanistan's own Shafaq Information Center bulletins, the New Year has been an active time for the insurgency. But overall the portents are not good... MORE

Reaction to the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri on the Jihadi websites mirrored the diversity — and the bewilderment — of the world's press. As a sample of this diversity, the following postings are taken from the jihadist discussion web magazines and... MORE

DCI Porter Goss's testimony before Congress on February 16 that Soviet nuclear material could be in al-Qaeda's hands is a troubling coda to speeches by Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri in late 2004. Bin Laden's October 30 speech was treated by the media as... MORE

Posted on the jihadi forum al-Qal'ah (www.qal3ati.net), a new 44-page jihadi magazine, Dhurwat al-Sanam, "The Pinnacle", and subtitled the "Pinnacle of Islam" made its appearance on March 2. The magazine is billed as a "periodical issued by the information department of the Organization of the... MORE

While Bangladesh government spokesmen dismiss the notion of the presence of international Islamist militants in the country, and intelligence agents attempt to identify the local sources of a New York Times article in January that depicted ripe conditions for the "next Islamist revolution", events in... MORE

The announcement on February 20 of the capture of Talib al-Dulaymi, known as Abu Qutayba, marks the latest in a string of arrests of high-ranking aides to Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi. Al-Dulaymi fell victim to the military operation conducted by U.S. and Iraqi troops termed "Operation... MORE

In light of this issue's report on the Idarat al-Tawahhush and its view on the secondary importance of Afghanistan in al-Qaeda's global struggle, a further window into al-Qaeda's strategic thinking is provided by a Jordanian analyst Bassam al-Baddarin. Writing on March 11 for the Arabic... MORE

German Chancellor Gerhardt Schroeder's visit to Yemen in early March was well timed. Indeed, coinciding with the closing arguments in the New York terror trial of Yemeni cleric Mohammed Ali Hassan al-Moayad and his assistant, Mohammed Yahya Zayed, Schroeder's visit could easily be seen as... MORE

Taghout: ‘Tyrant' Originally a pre-Islamic idol, the term denotes any object or individual that prevents mankind from doing good. In jihadist literature it is commonly used to denote heads of state of Muslim countries which are not governed by Shari'a law. ‘Taghout' used as an... MORE