Latest Terrorism Monitor Articles
Italy’s Underground Islamist Network
In late July, Italian police announced that they had arrested three Moroccans in a counter-terrorism operation codenamed "Hammam." The operation was aimed at breaking up a terrorist cell believed to be affiliated with al-Qaeda and with proven connections to Moroccan Islamic Combat Group (GICM) members... MORE
Extremist Reeducation and Rehabilitation in Saudi Arabia
For the past three years, the Saudi government has been quietly engaged in an ambitious strategy to combat violent Islamist extremist sympathies through an innovative prisoner reeducation and rehabilitation program. Following the May 2003 Riyadh compound bombings, the regime adopted a series of security measures... MORE
The Niger Delta Insurgency and its Threat to Energy Security
During the first half of 2006, Nigeria's energy industry was crippled by guerrilla attacks from militants demanding a larger share of the country's oil revenue. The guerrillas, primarily from Nigeria's Ijaw ethnic community, live in the country's Niger Delta region where the majority of its... MORE
Behind the Indoctrination and Training of American Jihadis
On July 26, a former Washington, DC cab driver and resident of Gwynn Oak, Maryland was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for providing material support to a terrorist group. Ohio-born Mahmud Faruq Brent, 32, admitted to attending training camps run by Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT,... MORE
The Threat of Islamic Radicalism to Greece
Al-Qaeda and affiliated Islamist terrorist organizations have extended their reach to many countries in Europe, including Greece (To Bhma, April 20). The war on terrorism has turned Greece into a key entry and transit point for Islamic fundamentalist networks. This is partly due to Greece's... MORE
Iran’s Challenges from Within: An Overview of Ethno-Sectarian Unrest
Iran continues to face international pressure over its nuclear program and heightening tensions with the United States regarding its role in Iraq and Afghanistan. A pillar of U.S. strategy in the Middle East after the fall of the shah has been to check Iranian power... MORE
Mujahid Dokubo-Asari: The Niger Delta’s Ijaw Leader
Among the restive Ijaw population in Nigeria's troubled, energy-rich delta region, one man stands alone as the most recognizable face of resistance: Mujahid Dokubo-Asari. Asari has been a central figure in the Ijaw cause, forming in late 2003 one of the delta's most notorious Ijaw... MORE
Turkey’s Dark War: Counter-Terrorism Strategies for the 21st Century
Turkey has experienced a long and painful history of terrorism. During nearly two decades of terrorist attacks and brutal fighting with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), some 35,000 lives were lost. At present, secular Turkey's moderate Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) government faces a... MORE
Preliminary Observations from the June 2007 UK Plots
On June 29, the Tiger Tiger nightclub in London was targeted by a gas cylinder-based car bomb studded with shrapnel—one of two found in central London. The following day, two men, Kafeel Ahmad and Bilal Abdullah, rammed a Jeep Cherokee into the Glasgow airport in... MORE
The Road to Lal Masjid and its Aftermath
It is clear that most Pakistanis wanted Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) leader Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi to be held accountable for his vigilantism and for trying to enforce his extremist version of Islam on society. The public's views have changed, however, now that it has... MORE