Dual armed attacks shook Tajikistan, on the night of September 4, as militants allegedly connected to former deputy defense minister General Abduhalim Nazarzoda fired on a police station and a weapons depot in and around Dushanbe. The resulting firefights with government forces ended with 22... MORE

Brutal police operations in Kabardino-Balkaria in recent months have prompted some experts to conclude that the republic’s governor is building a “police republic.” Yuri Kokov has ruled Kabardino-Balkaria since December 2013, although he was officially appointed governor in October 2014. A career police official, Kokov... MORE

Following the 2002 Bali bombings, Indonesia confronted a seemingly unmanageable terrorist problem. Over the next decade, however, the country became widely viewed as a counter-terrorism success story as the threat from al-Qaeda-linked or -inspired jihadist groups declined dramatically. Unfortunately, the transnational pull of the conflicts... MORE

Afghanistan’s Taliban, in July 2015, confirmed the death of their leader, the amir al-mumineen (Commander of the Faithful), Mullah Muhammad Omar. Refuting allegations that Mullah Omar had lived in Pakistan, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said that Omar “did not leave Afghanistan since the U.S.-backed forces... MORE

By August 2015, at least 70 individuals from Finland had travelled to Syria and Iraq (Suomen Uutiset, July 30). [1] According to an Interior Ministry report from August 2014, the vast majority intended to join “radical opposition groups” operating in the conflict zone. [2] The... MORE

The Iraqi Kurdish cleric Mullah Shwan (a.k.a. Abu Haroon al-Kurdi) was killed in a coalition airstrike on July 28, in Kirkuk province (Basnews, July 29). Mullah Shwan was the second-highest man in charge of the Islamic State in the Kirkuk governorate (Wilayat Kirkuk); he recruited... MORE

Unlike the copybook Islamic jihadists or extremist militant ideologues of the Indian Subcontinent, Shafiur Rahman Farabi is an over ground, overt Islamist who is engaged in an online pro-Islamist campaign and incitement against non-believers and free speech activists in Bangladesh. [1] He is notorious for... MORE

According to recent reports, over 1,000 foreign fighters from the Western Balkans have joined the Islamic State, predominantly coming from Muslim communities throughout the region (Illyria Press, August 8). Several Balkan think tanks have attempted to provide the generic profiles of foreign fighters that have... MORE

During much of the 1990s and 2000s, the United Kingdom was the undisputed hub of much of the jihadist radicalization and activism in Western Europe. This was caused by a confluence of factors, including active and entrenched Islamist and Salafist networks that provided a seedbed... MORE

One of the first indications of the Islamic State’s potential appeal in India occurred in late 2014, when Aarif Majeed, a youth from the state of Maharashtra, returned to the country from Iraq, where he had reportedly received training from the Islamic State (Times of... MORE