Category Archives: Al-Qaida

Hey, that’s my house: US aid worker realises Zawahiri villa is his old home

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The Kabul property hit by a US drone was familiar. It turned out Dan Smock had something in common with al-Qaida’s leader

The balcony in Kabul where the head of al-Qaida was killed was a spot Dan Smock knew well. It used to be his – when he worked in Afghanistan on a US government aid project – and the views were spectacular.

Smock enjoyed starting the day looking out at the Afghan capital, as did the world’s most wanted terrorist, from the villa they both called home, several years apart.

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Nancy Pelosi tells President Tsai US will not abandon Taiwan – as it happened

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This blog is now closed

Another area of tension lies between the US and Russia, which Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has ratcheted up again this morning.

On his daily call with the media, Peskov said any talks on a possible prisoner exchange involving US basketball star Brittney Griner needed to be discreet, and that “megaphone diplomacy” would not achieve results, Reuters reports.

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Biden echoes Obama as White House releases photo of briefing on strike

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Picture bore striking similarities to 1 May 2011 image, when US special forces killed Osama bin Laden

The White House on Tuesday released a picture of Joe Biden being briefed on the CIA drone strike which killed Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of al-Qaida and a chief planner of the 9/11 attacks, in Kabul last weekend.

The move came amid widespread celebration of the killing in the United States and the apparently successful attack provides a welcome fillip to Biden, whose popularity has plunged during 2022 as the nation gears up for crucial midterm election in November.

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Zawahiri’s killing unlikely to weaken al-Qaida significantly

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Analysis: The terrorist leader had been ill and key tasks are likely to have been handled by others for several years

Ayman al-Zawahiri was a low-key but effective leader of al-Qaida whose death will cause the terrorist organisation some short-term turbulence but is unlikely to cause any major long-term problems.

A decade ago, killing Zawahiri would have made a major difference. Now, though the nature of his death demonstrates the US’s continuing ability to strike individual enemies even in hostile environments and raises questions about the Taliban’s relationship with extremist groups, it is unlikely to weaken al-Qaida significantly.

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Ayman al-Zawahiri: al-Qaida leader killed in US drone strike in Afghanistan, Joe Biden says

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President ordered strike on Kabul safe house last month during a high-level meeting, administration says

A US drone strike in Afghanistan has killed the top al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, Joe Biden announced on Monday.

The US president described the death of Zawahiri, who was Osama bin Laden’s deputy and successor, as a major blow to the terrorist network behind the September 11 2001 attacks.

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Al-Qaida in Indian subcontinent plans revenge attacks over prophet remarks

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Suicide bombings threatened after ‘slandering’ comments made by Hindu Bharatiya Janata party

Al-Qaida in the Indian subcontinent has said it plans to carry out suicide bombings in revenge for the “insulting and slandering” remarks made by leaders of the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party about the prophet Muhammad and his wife, Aisha.

The Indian news agency ANI has reported that in a letter dated 6 June, AQIS – the regional branch of al-Qaida – warned that Hindu nationalist “terrorists should now await their end in Delhi and Bombay and in Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat”.

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Al-Qaida enjoying a haven in Afghanistan under Taliban, UN warns

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Intelligence report raises fears country could again become base for international terrorists

Al-Qaida has a haven in Afghanistan under the Taliban and “increased freedom of action” with the potential of launching new long-distance attacks in coming years, a UN report based on intelligence supplied by member states says.

The assessment, by the UN committee charged with enforcing sanctions on the Taliban and others that may threaten the security of Afghanistan, will raise concerns that the country could once again become a base for international terrorist attacks after the withdrawal of US and Nato troops last year.

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Guantanamo Bay detainee allowed to return to Saudi Arabia after 20 years

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Mohammad Ahmad al-Qahtani was accused of attempting to enter the US to hijack planes in the September 11 attack

A man accused of attempting to join hijackers in carrying out the September 11 attacks has been repatriated to his home country of Saudi Arabia for mental health treatment after two decades detained at Guantánamo Bay, the US Department of Defense said on Monday.

Mohammad Ahmad al-Qahtani was flown back to Saudi Arabia, to a treatment facility, from the US base in Cuba after a review board including military and intelligence officials concluded he no longer represented a significant threat to US national security, and could be safely released after 20 years in custody.

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Islamic State leader killed during raid by US special forces in Syria

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Joe Biden says military has removed Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi from the battlefield

Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, the leader of Islamic State and one of the world’s most wanted men, has been killed during an overnight raid by US special forces in north-west Syria.

The pre-dawn attack on a house in the village of Atme, just south of the Turkish border, led to up to 13 casualties, among them women and children. It also resulted in the destruction of a US helicopter, which had been used to carry special forces troops from Erbil in Iraq.

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Vulnerable Malians could ‘pay the price’ of heavy sanctions, warn aid groups

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NGOs call for aid exemption to EU-backed sanctions imposed after election postponement and arrival of Russian paramilitary

More than a dozen aid organisations have called for humanitarian exemptions to heavy sanctions imposed on Mali after the military leadership postponed planned February elections.

The EU has announced support for the sanctions imposed earlier this month by the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas), which include closing borders and a trade embargo.

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Burkina Faso declares two days of mourning after 41 militia members killed

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The killings come amid escalating violence in the region, where a four-year Islamist insurgency has resulted in thousands of deaths

Authorities in Burkina Faso have declared a two-day period of mourning after suspected militants killed at least 41 members of a government-backed civilian militia in the country’s desert north this week.

A column of civilian fighters from the homeland defence volunteers (VDP), a group the government funds and trains to contain Islamist insurgents, was ambushed on Thursday as it swept a remote area in the northern Loroum province, authorities said on Saturday.

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Mali: militants fire on bus, killing at least 31 people

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Insurgents shoot villagers going to a market on the same day UN peacekeeping convoy attacked, killing one person

Militants have killed at least 31 people in central Mali when they fired upon a bus ferrying people to a local market and attacked a UN convoy in the north of the country in a region racked by a violent insurgency.

The bus was attacked on Friday by unidentified gunmen as it travelled its twice-weekly route from the village of Songho to a market in Bandiagara six miles (10km) away, said Moulaye Guindo, the mayor of the nearby town of Bankass.

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Joe Biden tells FBI to release files on 9/11 investigation – and possible Saudi links

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• Order responds to call by victims’ families suing Riyadh

• Full record to be released over six months after review

Joe Biden has announced the wholesale review and declassification of files from the investigation into the 9/11 attack, in response to intense pressure from Congress and victims’ families currently suing Saudi Arabia.

Related: ‘A horn blew when human remains were found’: Wim Wenders’ six hours in the hell of Ground Zero

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Does the fall of Kabul increase the terror threat to the west?

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Analysis: Experts are divided over whether events in Afghanistan will significantly increase risk of attacks

In three days in earlier this month Islamist militants killed more than 120 civilians in a series of attacks in the Sahel, a belt of increasingly anarchic and violent territory across Africa, where such groups have gone from strength to strength in recent years. Thousand of miles to the east, fighters from the al-Qaida-affiliated al-Shabaab stormed a military base in the centre of Somalia.

None of these attacks received much attention – nor did the recent arrest of IS sympathisers in Australia, the attempted murder of a moderate politician in the Maldives or a court case against militants who attacked LGBT activists in Bangladesh.

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Jihadist attack in Burkina Faso kills 80 people

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Death toll from the assault near northern town of Gorgadji leaves 59 civilians dead, along with six militiamen and 15 military police

Burkina Faso’s president has declared three days of national mourning after suspected jihadists killed 80 people, including 59 civilians, in an attack in the north of the country.

The attack was the latest bloodshed in an area with high levels of Islamist violence.

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What does the Taliban’s return mean for al-Qaida in Afghanistan?

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UK defence secretary is worried that ‘al-Qaida will probably come back’ – but it is already there

As the Taliban prepare to rule Afghanistan after sweeping across the country in less than a week, an obvious question is what does this mean for the future of al-Qaida and other extremist Islamist groups committed to waging a global jihad.

There is no doubt that the astonishing rapidity of the Taliban’s victory will deliver a tremendous boost to Islamist extremists everywhere – whether al-Qaida, Islamic State, fighters in Mozambique or Syria, or jihadi fanboys in bedsits in Birmingham or Manila.

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Mogadishu car bombing kills at least nine people, says official

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Al-Shabaab claims responsibility for suicide attack on convoy of senior police official in Somali capital

A suicide car bomb targeting a government convoy exploded at a busy junction in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, killing at least nine people and injuring eight others, a health official said.

The convoy was carrying a senior police official, Farhan Mohamud, who survived the attack on Saturday, the government news agency reported.

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Six children killed in Syria shelling

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Artillery fired from government-controlled area kills eight civilians and injures others in Idlib province

Artillery fire from government-controlled territory and airstrikes killed at least eight civilians in Syria’s last rebel enclave on Saturday, most of them children, rescue workers and a war monitor said.

The shelling in Ibleen, a village in the southern Idlib province, hit the home of Subhi al-Assi, killing him, his wife and three of his children in their sleep, according to the rescue service known as White Helmets and Idlib’s health directorate. Al-Assi was an administrator in a local health centre.

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Isis-linked groups open up new fronts across sub-Saharan Africa

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Military victories combined with new alliances and shifts in strategy reinforce militants’ position across much of continent

Islamic State’s affiliates in Africa are set for major expansion after a series of significant victories, new alliances and shifts in strategy reinforced their position across much of the continent.

Following recent gains in Nigeria, the Sahel, in Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Isis propaganda published by the group’s leadership in its heartland in the Middle East is increasingly stressing sub-Saharan Africa as a new front which may compensate the group for significant setbacks elsewhere.

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The world has a vested interest in Somalia. Will it act to stop its collapse? | Vava Tampa

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Starvation, al-Shabaab and postponed elections have made the country a ready gun. If the trigger is pulled, global trade is at risk

Frantz Fanon once quipped: “Africa is shaped like a revolver, and Congo is the trigger.”

More than 60 years later, I think the French philosopher’s assessment is only half true. It leaves out Somalia – which once held the crown as the “Switzerland of Africa”, but is now again on the verge of political disintegration.

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