On October 11, 2005, the website of the U.S. Director of National Intelligence posted a letter believed to be from al-Qaeda deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri to Iraqi insurgent leader and commander of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Dated July 9, 2005, this letter provided not... MORE

As political talks between Manila and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) register strong progress, the military campaign to finish off the remnants of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) in the south continues. According to the October 13 edition of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, which... MORE

Al-Qaeda and its allies pose a credible threat to Australian security. While al-Qaeda affiliates have repeatedly bombed Australian interests in Indonesia, the organization has consistently singled out Australia itself as a high priority target. The terror network is determined to make good on these threats,... MORE

On September 27, Gareth Evans—president of the respected International Crisis Group (ICG) and former Australian foreign minister—gave a keynote address in Australia in which he proclaimed, “JI no longer poses a serious threat in Indonesia or elsewhere” [1]. Four days later, three suicide bombers walked... MORE

With the pace of violence in Thailand increasing—the death toll since the renewal of the insurgency in January 2004 now exceeds 1000, making the region the most violent arena for Muslim violence outside Iraq—fears are growing that the Thai insurgency will take on more overtly... MORE

With the declaration of emergency law in the provinces of Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani, the Thai government has effectively underscored that the Muslim insurgency in the south, despite official rhetoric that it is calming down, has shown no signs of being brought under control. In... MORE

Judging from the nervous reports emanating from U.S. and Australian advisories, Indonesia is bracing itself for an imminent renewed cycle of anti-Western bomb attacks. "We continue to receive a stream of credible reporting" the Australian advisory posted on June 10 suggesting that terrorists are in... MORE

Bangladesh is increasingly recognized as the locus of a significant and expanding threat emanating from radicalized Islamist extremist mobilization and its systematic transformation into political and terrorist violence. Notwithstanding vociferous official denials, it has, for some time now, been an established staging post for terrorism... MORE

The subject of exposure to acts of terrorism and piracy has once again been occupying minds in the SE Asia region with governments anxious to protect the existing levels of commercial traffic and to secure expansion of tourist and leisure sectors connected with the waterways.... MORE

Some confusion surrounded the announcement on May 23 that the Malaysian government had uncovered the existence of new militant group, distinct, but linked to the regional extremist group Jemaah Islamiyah. According to a report at the time in the Malaysian daily The Star, Deputy Internal... MORE