On August 18, 2017, 22-year-old Abderrahman Bouanane, a Moroccan citizen, attacked pedestrians in the center of Turku, Finland's third largest city, armed with a knife. The incident was Finland’s first jihadist-inspired terrorist attack, and it might have received more coverage internationally had it not been... MORE

Al-Shabaab insists on a strict interpretation of sharia in areas of southern Somalia that it controls. This typically means that the group prohibits watching the World Cup, but the hardline al-Qaeda affiliate has, unusually, not pronounced a ban on watching this year’s event. Given that... MORE

Iraq: Baghdad Takes ‘Retribution’ on IS in the South The killing by Islamic State (IS) militants of Iraqi security force personnel that the group had been holding hostage has prompted a vicious response from the government. Further, it highlights just how dangerous the jihadists in... MORE

Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, the firebrand founder of the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and its charity front Jamaat ud Dawa (JuD), remains free in Pakistan. Legendary for his anti-Western and anti-India rhetoric, Saeed is known for his longstanding obsession and support for the Kashmir militant movement.... MORE

A failed bomb plot that appeared to target the Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, as he visited a pilgrimage site in Bihar, India, has been blamed on the militant group Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), and an emerging Indian offshoot. On January 19, a low... MORE

Syria: Government Forces Move on the South Syrian government forces have begun their assault on parts of Syria’s southwest, effectively ending a ceasefire agreement in place since last year and raising fears that Iranian-backed fighters could be left to infiltrate the area. In the weeks... MORE

Somalia: The Gulf Crisis Spills Into the Horn of Africa Somalia is officially neutral in the Gulf split with Qatar, but it has become a political battleground for the dispute that, if allowed to fester, threatens to undermine Somalia’s battle against al-Shabaab. The United Arab... MORE

A series of attacks by Muslim youth targeting villages in northern Mozambique has raised fears that a new Islamist militant group is gaining a foothold in East Africa. The group goes by the name Ansar al-Sunna, although locals refer to it as al-Shabaab after Somalia’s... MORE

As an increasing number of Islamic State (IS) female militants have been captured and sentenced to death after the collapse of the so-called “caliphate,” gender roles within the group have been deconstructed once more. This process marks the fall of female militancy within the terrorist... MORE