A ‘warning to the Korean Government' was posted on an Arabic-language site al-Muntada on October 10, threatening to ‘make Korea suffer' if Korean troops were not pulled out from Iraq within 14 days. The declaration, published by the Korean Chosun Ilbo newspaper, was made by... MORE

The pace of violence in southern Thailand continues to rise, and is fast taking on the appearance of a prototype to a full-blown insurgency. The rate of killing accelerated markedly last April when over 100 Islamist militants were killed by security forces. Earlier this month... MORE

On October 27, the re-trial of the alleged spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), Abu Bakar Ba'asyir began. While significant in its own right, the trial is in many ways a litmus test of the new Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono administration's commitment to combating terrorism. Head... MORE

As highlighted in the last edition of Terrorism Focus, the pace of violence, now a series of daily incidents, is confirming the impression of pre-insurgency conditions. The warnings issued by the Patani United Liberation Organization (PULO) website (www.pulo.org) "to avoid police stations, railway stations and... MORE

On January 4 2004, militants conducted simultaneous raids on police and military posts across three provinces in Thailand's Muslim majority south. The raids were well coordinated and displayed considerable planning and professionalism. Though described as the start of the new insurgency, the same type of... MORE

Renewed action by Philippine armed forces indicates that the path to rehabilitation of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is not running smoothly. On November 19 an air attack targeted what was a meeting of about 50 Abu Sayyaf terrorists, including leaders Khadaffy Janjalani and... MORE

On November 25 the Indonesian military made public the arrest – which had taken place three weeks earlier – of four men at the Javan town of Bogor. They were identified as major figures in the Indonesian radical group Jemaah Islamiah (JI), and implicated in... MORE

Domestic political sensitivities were sepverely tested by the worldwide response to the Tsunami crisis, particularly as armed forces from Australia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and the United States poured into the province of Aceh which has been waging a separatist conflict with the central government for... MORE

The humanitarian catastrophe caused by the December 26 tsunami has led to an outpouring of humanitarian aid and support from some unlikely quarters. While media attention has focused on how the relief efforts will affect the Indonesian armed forces (TNI) counter-insurgency campaign against the Acehnese... MORE

A spike in armed confrontations in January and indications of a developing alliance between the region's Islamist insurgent groups have underlined the fragility of the ongoing peace talks between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the largest of the Muslim separatist organizations... MORE