Bombing near Sunni mosque in northern Iraq kills 12 worshippers, wounds 24.

Bombing near Sunni mosque in northern Iraq kills 12 worshippers, wounds 24.

People carry a wounded man at the scene of a car
 bomb after it exploded as worshippers were leaving
 a Sunni mosque in Kirkuk, northern Iraq on October
 15, 2013 (AFP, Marwan Ibrahim)

Kirkuk | 15 Oct 2013 ::  A bomb ripped through a crowd of worshippers as they left a Sunni mosque in Iraq Tuesday, killing 12 people, as they marked the start of the Eid al-Adha holiday.

Three children, a policeman and an army officer were among the dead from the blast in the northern city of Kirkuk, which also wounded 26 people, police and a doctor said.

Bodies, their clothes covered in blood, were placed in the back of a police pickup truck to be taken away, an AFP journalist reported.

Angry and grieving people railed against those who carried out the attack, shouting: "God take revenge on those who are evil!"

Worshipper Khalaf al-Obaidi said he narrowly avoided the blast because he had gone to greet one of his brothers inside the mosque instead of leaving.

"Then the bomb exploded," Obaidi said.

"You look and you see your friend or your brother or your relatives (on the ground). Even an infidel would not do this," he said. "God willing, there will be security and safety for this country and its poor people."

Eid al-Adha, which commemorates the willingness of Abraham (Ibrahim in Arabic) to sacrifice his son at God's command, is the biggest Muslim holiday of the year.

In Iraq, as around the Islamic world, people mark the holiday by slaughtering an animal, normally a sheep, and giving the meat to the poor.

As with various other religious occasions in Iraq, observance differs between Sunnis and Shiites.

Eid al-Adha begins for Sunnis on Tuesday this year, while most Shiites consider Wednesday to be the first of the holiday.

"We ask God to keep the ghost of sectarian strife... and civil war, on which those who sold their soul to the devil are insisting, away from our country," Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said in pre-recorded remarks broadcast on Tuesday.

"Our region today is in a storm of violence moved by sectarianism and terrorists, and our country is in the heart of this storm," he said.

On Monday, UN envoy Nickolay Mladenov had called for unity in Iraq on the occasion of the holiday.

?On this Eid and at this crucial time, I would like to plead for unity and understanding among all the Iraqis and their political, religious, and civil leaders," Mladenov said in a statement.

"It is only through working together that the people of Iraq can stand up to the violence that is tearing society apart."

Other attacks in Kirkuk, Nineveh and Baghdad provinces on Tuesday killed three people and wounded three more, officials said.

Almost nothing is safe from attack by militants in Iraq, and violence has reached a level not seen since 2008, when the country was just emerging from a brutal sectarian conflict.

Secure targets such as prisons have been struck in recent months, along with cafes, markets, mosques, football fields, weddings and funerals.

Attacks on both Sunni and Shiite gatherings have raised fears of a relapse into the intense sectarian bloodshed that killed tens of thousands of people in 2006-2007.

Analysts say the Shiite-led government's failure to address the grievances of Iraq's Sunni Arab minority -- which complains of being excluded from government jobs and senior posts and of abuses by security forces -- has driven the surge in unrest.

Violence worsened sharply after security forces stormed a Sunni anti-government protest camp in northern Iraq on April 23, sparking clashes in which dozens died.

And while the authorities have made some concessions aimed at placating anti-government protesters and Sunnis in general, such as freeing prisoners and raising the salaries of Sunni anti-Al-Qaeda fighters, underlying issues remain unaddressed.

The government has enacted new security measures, stepped up executions and carried out wide-ranging operations against militants for more than two months, but has so far failed to curb the violence.

The latest unrest takes the number of people killed so far this month to more than 310, and to over 5,000 since the beginning of the year, according to AFP figures based on security and medical sources.(Courtesy: AFP)

Iraq violence: Baghdad hit by series of deadly blasts.

Iraq violence: Baghdad hit by series of deadly blasts.

BBC News | 07 Oct 2013 :: At least 22 people have been killed and dozens hurt in a series of explosions across the Iraqi capital, police say.

There are reports of at least six apparently co-ordinated bomb attacks in mainly commercial areas of Baghdad.

The majority were reported in mainly Shia districts, but a predominantly Sunni Muslim neighbourhood was also hit, according to Reuters news agency.

Iraq has seen a sharp rise in sectarian violence in recent months. Nearly 6,000 people have been killed this year.

Two of the explosions were reported in Doura and in the Husseiniya district, where a parked car was reportedly blown up in a busy street during the evening rush hour.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.The rate of attacks has quadrupled since the relative calm in the months before US forces pulled out in 2011.

Almost 1,000 were killed in Iraq during the past month alone, the UN has said, amid fears of a return to the sectarian conflict that peaked in 2008.

Most of the violence has been blamed on Sunni Islamist militants linked to al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), which belongs to the over-arching Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS).

Iraq has also seen a spill-over of violence from the conflict in Syria, where jihadist rebels linked to the Islamic State of Iraq, a Sunni militant umbrella group that includes al-Qaeda, have risen to prominence.

In the past two months, Iraqi security forces have reportedly arrested hundreds of alleged al-Qaeda members in and around Baghdad as part of a campaign the government is calling "Revenge for the Martyrs".

But the operations, which have taken place mostly in Sunni districts, have angered the Sunni community and failed to halt the violence.(Courtesy:BBC News)

al-Qaeda fighters at Damascus.

Syria: 12 killed in clashes between Army, al-Qaeda fighters at Damascus.

Beirut | Lebanon | 02 Oct 2013 :: Activists reported heavy clashes between Syrian troops and al-Qaeda-linked fighters in northern Damascus have killed at least 12 soldiers and pro-government militiamen.

International weapons inspectors are in Damascus to begin their complex task of overseeing the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons against the backdrop of the civil war.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Wednesday that the 12 died the day before in the city's Barzeh district.

Clashes in Barzeh flared up on Monday when the army launched a push to dislodge the rebels, including al-Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra fighters, from the district.

The Observatory says the opposition has been trying to capture the area for months in an attempt to take the battle for the capital closer to President Bashar Assad's seat of power.(Courtesy:The Indian Express)

Al-Shabab attacks Kenyan border towns.

Al-Shabab attacks Kenyan border towns.

Three killed in attacks by Somali terrorist group responsible for attack on mall; vows to continue until Kenyan troops leave Somalia

Dawn breaks over the still-smoldering Westgate Mall in Nairobi,
 Kenya, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2013. (photo credit: AP/Ben Curtis)

NAIROBI | Kenya | AP | 26 Sep 2013 ::  The Islamic extremist group that killed scores of people at a Nairobi mall has now attacked two Kenyan towns near the Somali border, killing three people. The leader of the Somali group affiliated with al-Qada said the attacks will continue until Kenyan troops are withdrawn from Somalia.

The leader of al-Shabab said in a message that there is no way Kenya can “withstand a war of attrition inside your own country.”

“Make your choice today and withdraw all your forces,” said Ahmed Abdi Mohamed Godane, who goes by his nom de guerre Mukhtar Abu Zubayr, in a new statement posted on the Internet late Wednesday. “Otherwise be prepared for an abundance of blood that will be spilt in your country, economic downfall and displacement.”

Al-Shabab said the Nairobi mall attack was not only directed at Kenya, but was also “a retribution against the Western states that supported the Kenyan invasion and are spilling the blood of innocent Muslims in order to pave the way for their mineral companies,” according to the statement from Godane.

Al-Shabab attacked Nairobi’s upscale Westgate mall Saturday and held it for four days in a siege in which at least 67 people were killed. Forensic experts from around the world, including the US, Britain, Germany and Canada, continued their work Thursday reconstructing events in the crime scene including by carrying out fingerprint, DNA and ballistic analysis.

Early Thursday, Al-Shabab fighters attacked the border town of Mandera, killing two police officers, injuring three others and destroying 11 vehicles, said regional police chief Charlton Mureithi.(Courtesy:The Times of Israel)

Deadly blasts hit Baghdad markets.

Deadly blasts hit Baghdad markets.

BBC News | AP | 26 Sep 2013 :: At least 23 people have been killed in blasts targeting markets in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, officials say.

Bombs in the Shia Sabaa al-Bour area, north of Baghdad, killed up to 16 people. More than 40 others were reportedly injured as the area was packed with shoppers.

A blast in the Sunni Dora district, south of Baghdad, killed seven people.

Sectarian violence has surged across Iraq in recent months, reaching its highest level since 2008.

More than 5,000 people have died so far this year in Iraq, 800 of them in August alone, according to the United Nations.

The worsening violence is also seen a spill-over from the conflict in Syria, which has taken on increasingly sectarian overtones.

There are fears of a return to the all-out Sunni-Shia sectarian violence that peaked in 2006-2007 and killed tens of thousands of people.

In recent weeks, Iraqi security forces have reportedly arrested hundreds of alleged al-Qaeda members in and around Baghdad as part of a campaign which the Shia-led government is calling "Revenge for the martyrs".

But the operations, which have taken place mostly in Sunni districts, have angered the majority Sunni community and failed to halt the violence.

Diplomats say that the government's failure to address Sunni grievances - both their political exclusion and abuses against them by the security forces - are the main factors behind the rise in violence.(Courtesy:BBC News)

Iraq clashes, attacks kill 25.

Iraq clashes, attacks kill 25.

Eight people, including seven policemen, were killed
 on Tuesday during attacks on two police stations
 and a local official's house northwest of
 Baghdad. — File photo

BAGHDAD | 24 Sep 2013 ::  Violence, including fighting between security forces and militants, killed 25 people in Iraq on Tuesday, as the UN warned that sectarian attacks threaten to force more Iraqis from their homes.

Violence in Iraq has reached a level this year not seen since 2008, when the country was emerging from a brutal sectarian conflict.

Militants attacked two police stations and a local official's house in the towns of Rawa and Aana near the highway to Syria in Anbar province, killing seven police and the official's brother, officers and doctors said.

Deputy Interior Minister Adnan al-Assadi told journalists a large group of militants had attacked Aana, seeking to take control of security positions.

Security forces killed six of the militants, Assadi said, adding that SWAT units were deployed to the area.

Separately, soldiers battled militants in the Hamreen area north of Baghdad, killing four, while two soldiers were killed and nine wounded, officers said.

A helicopter pilot was wounded by gunfire in the operation, during which two militants were arrested and weapons seized, army Staff Lieutenant General Abdulamir al-Zaidi told AFP.

Two officers said a helicopter had been shot down, but Zaidi insisted that it was able to return to base.

Militants, including those linked to Al-Qaeda, frequently target security forces and other government employees, and security forces have carried out major operations against them in recent months.(Courtesy:Dawn)

Qaeda calls for attacks inside United States.

Qaeda calls for attacks inside United States.

The Nation | 13 Sep 2013 :: Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri urged small-scale attacks inside the United States to "bleed America economically", adding he hoped eventually to see a more significant strike, according to the SITE monitoring service.

In an audio speech released online a day after the 12th anniversary of the 9/11 strikes, Zawahri said attacks "by one brother or a few of the brothers" would weaken the U.S. economy by triggering big spending on security, SITE reported.

Western counter-terrorism chiefs have warned that radicalized "lone wolves" who might have had no direct contact with al Qaeda posed as great a risk as those who carried out complex plots like the 9/11 attacks.

"We should bleed America economically by provoking it to continue in its massive expenditure on its security, for the weak point of America is its economy, which has already begun to stagger due to the military and security expenditure," he said.

Keeping America in such a state of tension and anticipation only required a few disparate attacks "here and there", he said

"As we defeated it in the gang warfare in Somalia, Yemen, Iraq and Afghanistan, so we should follow it with ...war on its own land. These disparate strikes can be done by one brother or a few of the brothers."

At the same time, Muslims should seize any opportunity to land "a large strike" on the United States, even if this took years of patience.

The Sept 11, 2011 attacks, in which hijacked airliners were flown into New York's World Trade Center, the Pentagon in Washington and a Pennsylvania field, triggered a global fight against al Qaeda extremists and their affiliates. Almost 3,000 people were killed in the attacks.

In his audio speech, Zawahri said Muslims should refuse to buy goods from America and its allies, as such spending only helped to fund U.S. military action in Muslim lands.(Courtesy:The Nation)

6 killed as bombs hit Egyptian security HQ in Rafah.

6 killed as bombs hit Egyptian security HQ in Rafah.e

17 wounded when suicide attacks destroy two-story military building near Gaza border

Egyptian army soldiers stand guard on the border with
 Egypt in Rafah. (photo credit: Hatem Moussa/APFile)

EL-ARISH | Egypt | AP | 11 Sep 2013 ::  A pair of suicide bombers rammed their explosives-laden cars into military targets in Egypt’s volatile Sinai on Wednesday, killing at least six soldiers and wounding 17 people, security officials and a military spokesman said.

One of the two bombings in the town of Rafah brought down a two-story building housing the local branch of military intelligence, while the other struck an army checkpoint.The near-simultaneous attacks nudged the violence in the strategic Sinai Peninsula closer to a full-blown insurgency, compounding Egypt’s woes at a time when the country is struggling to regain political stability and economic viability more than two years since longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak was toppled in a popular uprising.

The attacks also came less than a week after a suicide car bombing targeted the convoy of Egypt’s interior minister, who is in charge of the police, shortly after he left his home in an eastern Cairo district. Mohammed Ibrahim, the minister, escaped unharmed, but the blast caused extensive damage in the area. An al-Qaida-inspired group based in Sinai claimed responsibility for that bombing.

Wednesday’s attack on the intelligence building in Rafah collapsed the entire structure and buried an unspecified number of troops under the rubble, two security officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

The second attack targeted an armored personnel carrier deployed as part of an army checkpoint not far from the intelligence headquarters, the officials added. The officials said the remains of the two suicide bombers have been recovered.(Courtesy:Times of Israel)

Al-Qaeda affiliate claims attacks against Shi'ites in Baghdad.

Al-Qaeda affiliate claims attacks against Shi'ites in Baghdad.

Baghdad | Retures | 09 Sep 2013 :: An al-Qaeda affiliate has claimed responsibility for a series of car bombs that killed around 60 people in predominantly Shi'ite districts of the Iraqi capital last week.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which was formed earlier this year through a merger between al-Qaeda's Syrian and Iraqi branches, said it had carried out the attacks in response to the Shi'ite-led government's tightening security Flames rise from a vehicle at the site of a car bomb in Talibiya in Baghdad on September 3, 2013. (AFP)measures.

Sunni Islamist groups including al Qaeda, which view Shi'ites as non-believers, have been regaining momentum in Iraq, invigorated by a conflict in neighboring Syria which has brought sectarian tensions across the Middle East to the boil.

“The operations encompassed targets that were carefully selected deep within the rejectionist strongholds inside Baghdad,” read a statement posted by the group on militant internet forums, using a derogatory term to refer to Shi'ites.

The group said it could now regularly reach the outskirts of the heavily fortified “Green Zone” in Baghdad, where many foreign embassies are located, online monitoring group SITE said.

The monthly toll of Iraqis killed in acts of violence has risen at times this year to the highest since the intercommunal bloodletting that peaked in 2006-07, raising concerns of a return to full-blown civil conflict.

Some 800 Iraqis were killed in acts of violence in August, according to the United Nations.(Courtesy:Al Arabia)

Shelling near Syrian capital kills 16, activists say.

Shelling near Syrian capital kills 16, activists say.

Fatalities include mostly rebel fighters, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claims

Syrian forces loyal to President Bashar Assad take their
 position during clashes against Syrian rebels, in Aleppo,
 Syria,Sunday, May 26, 2013 (photo credit: AP Photo/SANA)

BEIRUT | 07 Sep 2013 ::  Syrian anti-regime activists say government shelling has killed 16 people, mostly rebels, near Damascus.

The attack near the Syrian capital comes as US Secretary of State John Kerry lobbies European allies to back Washington’s proposed military action against the Syrian regime.The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says President Bashar Assad’s troops fired mortars and artillery early Saturday at opposition fighters’ positions near Moldokhiya, an agricultural area south of Damascus, killing 14 rebels. Two civilians also died in the shelling, the Observatory said.

The group also reported heavy fighting between rebels and Assad troops around the Christian village of Maaloula. The attack, which started Monday, was reportedly spearheaded by al-Qaida-linked fighters and has added to fears of Syrian religious minorities over the role of Islamic extremists in the rebel ranks.(Courtesy:The Times Of Israel)

U.S. Drone Strike Kills 6 in Pakistan, Fueling Anger.

U.S. Drone Strike Kills 6 in Pakistan, Fueling Anger.

US drones have fired missiles into inaccessible border
 areas such as North Waziristan since 2004 [Reuters]

ISLAMABAD | Pakistan | 06 Sep 2013 :: At least six people were killed in an American drone strike in Pakistan’s restive northwestern tribal areas early Friday, according to government officials and local news reports.

The strike was directed at a house in the Ghulam Khan area of the North Waziristan tribal region, close to the border with Afghanistan.

A senior Haqqani network commander was killed, a security official said. The official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said that the ranking Haqqani official in the region, Sangin Zadran, had been killed. “He was the most influential commander in the area,” the official said. “The Americans had been after him for a long time.”

North Waziristan has long been a haven for Taliban and Qaeda militants.

American drone strikes are deeply unpopular in Pakistan, and opposition to them has become an essential staple of local politics and grievances against the United States. Pakistani politicians and government officials condemn the missile strikes, which are directed by the Central Intelligence Agency, as a violation of the country’s sovereignty.

Opposition politicians like Imran Khan, leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf political party, have campaigned against the strikes, saying that they result more in civilian casualties than militant killings. In October 2012, Mr. Khan led a big protest rally to the edges of the tribal regions against the use of drones on Pakistani soil.

The number of drone strikes has, however, dropped sharply in recent months. The last strike occurred on Aug. 31, when at least four suspected militants were killed in an attack in North Waziristan.(Courtesy:New york times)Read More>>>

Egypt’s Sinai emerges as new theater for jihad.

Egypt’s Sinai emerges as new theater for jihad.

Peninsula becoming a hotbed for terror groups since the ouster of Islamist president Morsi

Egyptian Army personnel supervise the destruction of tunnels
between Egypt and the Gaza Strip at the border, near the town
 of Rafah, northern Sinai, Egypt, Tuesday Sept. 3, 2013
 (photo credit: AP/AP Television)

CAIRO  | AP | 04 Sep 2013 ::  An Egyptian doctor once close to Osama bin Laden is bringing together multiple al-Qaida-inspired militant groups in Egypt’s Sinai to fight the country’s military, as the lawless peninsula emerges as a new theater for jihad, according to Egyptian intelligence and security officials.

There have been other signs of a dangerous shift in the longtime turmoil in the peninsula bordering Israel and Gaza since the military’s July 3 ouster of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi, the officials say. With the shifts, Sinai’s instability is becoming more regionalized and threatens to turn into an outright insurgency.

Sinai has seen an influx of foreign fighters the past two months, including several hundred Yemenis. Several militant groups that long operated in the area to establish an Islamic Caliphate and attack their traditional enemy Israel have joined others in declaring formally that their objective now is to battle Egypt’s military.

Also, Sinai has become the focus of attention among major regional jihadi groups. Al-Qaida’s branch in Iraq last weekend called on Egyptians to fight the military, as did al-Qaida’s top leader, Ayman al-Zawahri. The militant considered the most dangerous man in the Sahara — one-eyed terror leader Moktar Belmoktar, a former member of al-Qaida’s North Africa branch — joined forces with a Mali-based jihadi group last month and vowed attacks in Egypt.

Topping the most wanted list in Sinai is Ramzi Mawafi, a doctor who joined al-Qaida in Afghanistan in the 1990s. Mawafi, 61, escaped from an Egyptian prison in 2011 in a massive jailbreak that also sprung free Morsi and more than a dozen Muslim Brotherhood members during the chaos of the uprising against autocrat Hosni Mubarak.(Courtesy: Times of Israel)

Al-Qaeda in Yemen denies U.S. claims on attack plots.

Al-Qaeda in Yemen denies U.S. claims 

on attack plots.

Yemeni security forces at a checkpoint in Sana’a. Embassies were
 closed during August due to allegations that the al-Qaeda was
planning attacks in Yemen. (File Photo: AFP)

Dubai | AFP | 27 Aug 2013 :: Al-Qaeda in Yemen has denied U.S. allegations it is plotting massive attacks that prompted the closure of Western missions in the country this month, in a statement posted online.

The extremist network also denied reports confirmed by Yemen’s President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi that U.S. intelligence services had intercepted a conversation between al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri and Nasser al-Wuhayshi, head of the Yemen-based al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

“Hadi repeated the nonsense and propaganda published by U.S. intelligence on telephone calls between jihadist leaders to justify the US plot to kill Muslims in Yemen through continued raids,” AQAP said in the statement posted on jihadist Internet forums.

Hadi had “claimed the jihadists were plotting to target oil terminals in the country using bomb-laden trucks,” said AQAP.

“We deny what he said and regard it as an attempt to justify US criminal practices.”

“We also affirm our concern... in preserving the blood of Muslims,” the statement added.

A source close to Hadi quoted the Yemeni leader as saying Friday that in the alleged conversation between the al-Qaeda leaders Wuhayshi told Zawahiri he would be hearing of something “that will change the course of history”.

Hadi and U.S. President Barack Obama had discussed the matter at the White House on August 1, according to the same source.

On August 4, the United States shut 19 of its consulates and embassies in the Arab and Muslim countries amid what American officials said was a threat of an imminent al-Qaeda attack.(Courtesy:Al Arabia)Read More>>>

Report: Al-Qaeda plotting terror attacks on European rail network.

Report: Al-Qaeda plotting terror attacks on European rail network.

Yemeni al-Qaeda militants sentenced for plotting attacks in
Yemen at a court in Sana'a earlier this year. (AFP)

Al Arabiya | 19 Aug 2013 :: Extremist group al-Qaeda is plotting attacks on Europe’s high-speed rail network, reported German newspaper Bild on Monday.

Attacks could include explosives planted on trains and tunnels or sabotage to tracks and electrical cabling, said Europe’s most widely read daily newspaper.

Bild said the information came from the National Security Agency (NSA) in the United States, which had listened in to a conference call involving high-ranking al-Qaeda operatives in which attacks on Europe’s rail network was a “central topic” of this call, the Bild said.

Authorities in Germany have responded to the threat by deploying plain-clothed police officers at key stations and on main routes.

Terror alerts have been at an all-time high this month due to an earlier call between al-Qaeda leader al-Zawahiri and other operatives.

This prompted the U.S. and several allies to temporarily shut embassies across the Muslim world, warning of al-Qaeda plans to launch an attack in the Middle East or North Africa.(Courtesy:al arabia)

Leader of Al-Qaida Yemen Vows To Free Prisoners.

Leader of Al-Qaida Yemen Vows To Free Prisoners.

CAIRO | 12 Aug 2013 ::  The leader of the Yemen-based al-Qaida offshoot has vowed to free fellow militants from prisons everywhere and urged them to remain faithful to the terror group’s ideology.

The message by Nasser al-Wahishi, posted on militant websites Monday, warns al-Qaida prisoners not “to be lured by their jailers” and promises that “victory is imminent” to ensure their freedom.

The note by al-Wahishi, a onetime aide to Osama bin Laden, comes after last week’s closure of 19 U.S. diplomatic missions triggered by the interception of a secret message between al-Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawahri and the Yemeni branch’s leader about plans for a major attack.

It also follows an announcement by Yemeni authorities that they had discovered an al-Qaida plot to target foreign embassies in Sanaa and international shipping in the Red Sea.(Courtesy:Epoch Times)

Saudi terror arrests suggest U.S. not alone in war against al-Qaeda.

Saudi terror arrests suggest U.S. not alone in war against al-Qaeda.

Soldiers from the Saudi special forces' anti-terror unit. (File photo: Reuters)

Al Arabia | 10 Aug 2013 ::  In the United States, the general perception is that the war against al-Qaeda is an American war against a specific anti-American organization. This perception has been stretched at times, by apologist academia, to a point where the public has been made to believe that the United States is alone in this confrontation and all it would take to bring about a cease to hostilities is for Washington to withdraw from the region. Parallel to this oversimplification is the other common assertion that no one else is fighting this battle, and if they are, Arab and Middle Eastern efforts are meaningless. These approaches have been proven wrong as events in the region and worldwide are demonstrating.

Two men have recently been arrested in Saudi Arabia on suspicion of planning terrorist strikes, part of the uncovered information which prompted the closure of several Western embassies in the region last week. Saudi officials said the two suspects, from Yemen and Chad, were planning suicide attacks connected to recent al-Qaeda threats on American and British diplomatic interests. According to Saudi media reports, the two jihadists were arrested towards the end of July after having exchanged information on social media about attacks. Officials in Riyadh said the two men investigated used mobile phones and encrypted electronic communications to discuss the terrorist plot.

The Saudi official statement explained, "The two recruited themselves for the service of deviant thought (al Qaeda's ideology), as evidenced by their seized items which included computer hardware, electronic media and mobile phones and which indicated their communication with the deviant group abroad either by electronic encrypted messages or through identities via the social networks (such as Abu Alfidaa, Hspouy, Muawiya Almadani, Rasasah fi Qusasah, and Abu El Feda Aldokulai) so as to exchange information about impending suicide operations in the region." The timing of this arrest parallels U.S. drone attacks in neighboring Yemen as well as Egyptian military operations in Sinai and Tunisian troop movements against the Jihadists in the south of their country.(Courtesy:Al Arabia)Read More>>>

Al-Qaeda’s top Yemen operative leaves blueprint for waging jihad.

Al-Qaeda’s top Yemen operative leaves blueprint for waging jihad.

Nasser al-Wahishi’s outline of terror tactics precedes by a year recently intercepted communications that prompted US embassy closures

TIMBUKTU |  Mali | AP | 10 Aug 2013 :: A year before he was caught on an intercept discussing the terror plot that prompted this week’s sweeping closure of US embassies abroad, al-Qaeda’s top operative in Yemen laid out his blueprint for how to wage jihad in letters sent to a fellow terrorist.

In what reads like a lesson plan, Nasser al-Wahishi provides a step-by-step assessment of what worked and what didn’t in Yemen. But in the never-before-seen correspondence, the man at the center of the latest terror threat barely mentions the extremist methods that have transformed his organization into al-Qaeda’s most dangerous branch.

The perhaps surprising hearts-and-minds approach advocated by the 30-something Wahishi, who spent years as Osama bin Laden’s personal secretary, is a sign of a broader shift within al-Qaeda. After its failure in Iraq, say experts who were shown the correspondence, the terror network realized that it is not enough to win territory: They must also learn to govern it if they hope to hold it.

“People in the West view al-Qaeda as only a terrorist organization, and it certainly is that … but the group itself is much broader, and it is doing much more,” says Gregory Johnsen, a scholar at Princeton University whose book, “The Last Refuge,” charts the rise of al-Qaeda in Yemen. “The group sees itself as an organization that can be a government.”

The correspondence from al-Wahishi to Algerian national Abdelmalek Droukdel is part of a cache of documents found earlier this year by the AP in buildings in Timbuktu, which until January were occupied by al-Qaeda’s North African branch. The letters are dated May 21 and Aug. 6, 2012, soon after al-Wahishi’s army in Yemen was forced to retreat from the territory it had seized amid an uprising against long-time Yemeni ruler Ali Abdullah Saleh.(Courtesy:The Times of Israel)Read More>>>

Al-Qaeda chief’s message triggered embassy closures.

Al-Qaeda chief’s message triggered embassy closures.

Intercepted communications about terror plans from bin Laden’s successor to deputy in Yemen set off sweeping terror alert

WASHINGTON | AP | 06 Aug 2013 ::  An intercepted secret message between al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahri and his deputy in Yemen about plans for a major terror attack was the trigger that set off the current shutdown of many US embassies, two officials told The Associated Press on Monday.

A US intelligence official and a Mideast diplomat said al-Zawahri’s message was picked up several weeks ago and appeared to initially target Yemeni interests. The threat was expanded to include American or other Western sites abroad, officials said, indicating the target could be a single embassy, a number of posts or some other site. Lawmakers have said it was a massive plot in the final stages, but they have offered no specifics.

The intelligence official said the message was sent to Nasser al-Wahishi, the head of the terror network’s organization, based in Yemen, known as al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the sensitive issue publicly.

American spies and intelligence analysts on Monday scoured email, phone calls and radio communications between al-Qaeda operatives in Yemen and the organization’s senior leaders to determine the timing and targets of the planned attack.

The call from al-Zawahri, who took over for Osama bin Laden after US Navy SEALs killed the al-Qaeda leader in May 2011, led the Obama administration to close diplomatic posts from Mauritania on Africa’s west coast through the Middle East to Bangladesh, east of India, and as far south as Madagascar.

The US did decide to reopen some posts on Monday, including well-defended embassies in Kabul, Afghanistan, and Baghdad.

Authorities in Yemen, meanwhile, released the names of 25 wanted al-Qaeda suspects and said those people had been planning terrorist attacks targeting “foreign offices and organizations and Yemeni installations” in the capital Sanaa and other cities across the country.

The Yemeni government also went on high alert Monday, stepping up security at government facilities and checkpoints.

Officials in the US wouldn’t say who intercepted the initial suspect communications — the CIA, the National Security Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency or one of the other intelligence agencies — that kicked off the sweeping pre-emptive closure of US facilities. But an intelligence official said the controversial NSA programs that gather data on American phone calls or track Internet communications with suspected terrorists played no part in detecting the initial tip. That official spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss the spying publicly.(Courtesy:Times of Israel)Read More >>>