Ansar al-Islam (AAI) is a jihadist group that formed in September 2001 in Iraqi Kurdistan from the merger of two small groups: Jund al-Islam, which was then led by Abu Abdullah al-Shafi’i, and a splinter group of the Islamic Movement of Kurdistan, which was led... MORE

In recent weeks, Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISKP) has been active in northern Afghanistan, which has prompted the Taliban to conduct a series of counter-terrorism operations against ISKP hideouts (Asia Plus, April 6). The location of these operations, the fact that Tajik and Uzbek... MORE

On February 17, the police chief’s office in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, was stormed by militants armed with grenades and automatic weapons. However, security forces killed at least three attackers after four civilians had already been killed inside the building (The News, February 17). The... MORE

On April 5, Densus 88, the Indonesian elite counter-terror unit, announced that four Uzbek nationals were arrested in Indonesia after traveling to that country from Turkey, passing through Abu Dhabi and Malaysia (kompas.com, April 5). They had all left Syria ahead of a media push... MORE

In a speech on radicalization, terrorism, and deradicalization at a workshop with the Indonesian National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT), Ali Fauzi, the youngest brother of three of the 2002 Bali bombers, once stated: “Everyone has the right to become a better person” (ITS News, August 2,... MORE

Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISKP), which operates in Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan, assassinated senior Afghan Taliban commander Daud Muzammil in a suicide attack on March 9 (Twitter.com/@Abdsayedd). This attack was ISKP's most significant blow to the Afghan Taliban since the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan... MORE

On March 20, al-Qaeda’s Sahelian affiliate, Group for Supporters of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) released two hostages, Olivier Dubois and Jeffery Woodke (from France and the US, respectively). The former was a journalist abducted in northern Mali in 2021 and the latter was an aid... MORE

The National Resistance Front (NRF), which is led by Ahmad Massoud, had intended to challenge the Taliban’s rule in Afghanistan after the Taliban took over the country in August 2021. However, since the Taliban’s September 2022 claim to have killed dozens of NRF fighters at... MORE

On February 17, the Indian government banned the Kashmir-centric Islamic militant group called the Jammu and Kashmir Ghaznavi Force (JKGF) (egazette.nic.in, February 17). A relatively new entrant in the Kashmir landscape, JKGF emerged as a hybrid strike unit comprised of highly trained cadres of Pakistan-based... MORE

On January 26, a US Special Forces operation in the mountainous region of Puntland, Somalia eliminated Bilal al-Sudani, who was a militant trainer and financial and logistical strategist within Islamic State in Somalia (ISS). Al-Sudani, who was also known as Suhayl Salim Abd el-Rehman, died... MORE