Since the 1998 al-Qaeda attack on the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi and the 2002 attack on an Israeli-owned hotel and Israeli airliner in Mombasa, Kenya has considered Somalia a key security threat. To combat this threat, Kenya has tightened its border with Somalia and engaged... MORE

In the early hours of Saturday, March 12, Yemeni security forces under the direction of Yemen’s Central Security Service (CSS) (which is commanded by Yahya Salih and is home to the U.S. funded and trained “counter-terror unit”) stormed the anti-government protesters’ camp near Sana’a University.... MORE

On March 11, two explosions took place in northern Moscow about 5-10 minutes apart. The bombs reportedly contained 0.3-0.4 kg of TNT along with fragments of nails to cause injuries. No one was hurt since the bombs detonated early in the evening, when there were... MORE

Over the past month or so, the Russian media have been very actively reporting on the creation of an anti-Wahhabi paramilitary unit operating on the territory of Kabardino-Balkaria in response to the actions of insurgents against members of law enforcement agencies. It has been also... MORE

Statistics on insurgency-related violence in the North Caucasus in February show that most of the violence was concentrated in the republics of Dagestan and Kabardino-Balkaria. Kavkazsky Uzel reported this week that 59 people were killed as a result of insurgency-related violence in the North Caucasus... MORE

Beyond the battle for the towns and cities of Libya, there is another battle raging over the legacy of Sidi Omar al-Mukhtar, Libya’s “Lion of the Desert.” The symbol of Libyan nationalism and pride, the inheritance of this stalwart of the Islamic and anti-colonial struggle... MORE

As calls intensify for the resignation of Ali Abdullah Salih, Yemen’s president of 32 years, the immediate impact of the political unrest on al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) remains unclear. Thus far, the turbulence appears to have had minimal impact on the group ideologically,... MORE

On March 4, Russia’s security services reported they managed to kill one of the leaders of Ingushetia’s insurgency, 30 year old Khamzat Korigov. Initially, the government sources said Korigov had detonated a bomb when the security agents surrounded him in Ingushetia’s principal town, Nazran. Later,... MORE

On March 1, a blast destroyed the home of a suspect militant, Eduard Ulbashev, in Kabardino-Balkaria’s Chegem district.  One day earlier, on February 28, Ulbashev himself was killed in a shootout with the police.  Government forces reported that two explosive devices equal to 25 kilograms... MORE

Doku Umarov, the “emir” of the rebel Caucasus Emirate, released a video statement that was posted to YouTube on March 2 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNNE28XYSAQ&feature=player_embedded).  A Russian translation of the video was posted on the rebel Kavkaz Center website on March 3.In the video, Umarov extols the virtues... MORE