Boko Haram gains ground

July 22, 2014
By Laura Grossman

Launching more attacks, Boko Haram hoisted its flag in a northeastern Nigerian town where it recently killed over 100 civilians.

(0)

Islamic State touts training camp in northern Iraq

July 22, 2014
By Bill Roggio

The images are the latest in a propaganda effort by various terror groups in both Iraq and Syria to promote their training camp infrastructure.

(1)

Al Qaeda renews its oath of allegiance to Taliban leader Mullah Omar

July 21, 2014
By Thomas Joscelyn

In the first edition of its new online newsletter, Al Nafir, al Qaeda renews its oath of allegiance to Taliban leader Mullah Omar. The move is likely a response to the Islamic State's claim that it rules over a caliphate with its leader, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, serving as the new caliph. Last week, al Qaeda released a video of Osama bin Laden discussing his oath of allegiance to Mullah Omar.

(4)

6 al Qaeda operatives thought killed in recent drone strike in Pakistan

July 20, 2014
By Bill Roggio

Sanafi al Nasr, a top al Qaeda leader based in Syria, named three jihadists killed in the "Khorasan."

(4)

Islamic State storms Camp Speicher, routs Iraqi forces

July 19, 2014
By Bill Roggio

The large military base fell just two days after the retreat of the Iraqi military and allied militias following their failure to recapture Tikrit.

(14)

US drones target 'Punjabi Taliban' in North Waziristan strike

July 18, 2014
By Bill Roggio

The US has launched three strikes in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan in the past 10 days, indicating that a top jihadist leader is thought to be operating there.

(2)

Australian Islamic State suicide bomber attacks Shia shrine in Baghdad

July 17, 2014
By Bill Roggio

The Baghdad Division of the Islamic State claimed that Abu Bakr al Australi detonated his vest at a Shia mosque in the Shorja district.

(0)

Islamic State, allies blunt Iraqi offensive to retake Tikrit

July 16, 2014
By Bill Roggio

Iraqi military units, SWAT units, and Shia militias withdrew from Tikrit after facing heavy fire. It is the second failed attempt to retake the city.

(9)

US launches another drone strike in North Waziristan

July 16, 2014
By Bill Roggio

The strike is the second in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan in the past week.

(0)

Analysis: Al Qaeda attempts to undermine new Islamic State with old video of Osama bin Laden

July 15, 2014
By Thomas Joscelyn

Al Qaeda has posted a video featuring Osama bin Laden from mid-2001. Al Qaeda is attempting to undermine the legitimacy of the Islamic State's announced caliphate by highlighting bin Laden's testimony. Bin Laden spoke of the "pillars" necessary for building a "strong Islamic state."

(5)

Boko Haram leader fires back at Twitter campaign

July 15, 2014
By Laura Grossman

In a new video claiming responsibility for recent attacks, Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau mocked the campaign to bring the kidnapped girls back, while threatening local leaders and calling for the release of Boko Haram members currently held in Nigerian prisons. A Nigerian military airstrike attempted to counter the latest Boko Haram attack in Borno state.

(0)

US adds Norwegian AQAP bomb maker to list of terrorists

July 15, 2014
By Bill Roggio

Anders Cameroon Ostensvig Dale, a Norwegian who joined al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in 2008, is thought to have been trained under AQAP bomb maker Ibrahim al Asiri or one of his lieutenants.

(2)

AQIM rejects Islamic State's caliphate, reaffirms allegiance to Zawahiri

July 14, 2014
By Thomas Joscelyn

In a statement attributed to AQIM's propaganda arm, the al Qaeda branch rejects the Islamic State's caliphate and reaffirms its loyalty to Ayman al Zawahiri. The statement also reveals that AQIM has played a role in the mediation efforts between the Islamic State and its jihadist rivals in Syria.

(10)

Al Nusrah Front issues 'clarification' on the creation of an Islamic emirate

July 13, 2014
By Thomas Joscelyn

The Al Nusrah Front has released a statement saying that it has not "yet" announced the creation of an Islamic emirate and it will only do so after other jihadist groups agree with the decision.

(0)

Islamic State routs Iraqi armored column in Anbar

July 13, 2014
By Bill Roggio

Several M1A1 tanks and M113 armored personnel carriers were destroyed. The ambush highlights the deteriorating state of the Iraqi security forces.

(33)

Leaked audio features Al Nusrah Front emir discussing creation of an Islamic emirate

July 12, 2014
By Thomas Joscelyn

An alleged audio recording featuring Al Nusrah Front emir Abu Muhammad al Julani was leaked online. Julani discusses the creation of an Islamic emirate, or state, in Syria as a counterweight to the Islamic State and other actors.

(0)

Azamat Tazhayakov, a friend of accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was found guilty of obstruction of justice in the case; another friend, Stephen Silva, was arrested and accused of providing a gun used to kill a policeman during the manhunt after the bombing. The State Department warned citizens against travel to Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza, and US and European airlines suspended flights to and from Tel Aviv. Two leaders of a Philadelphia mosque were arrested last week for trying to amputate the hand of a man they accused of theft. Congressional staffers reportedly rejected a plan to invest $500 million in training and equipping moderate Syrian rebels.

Militants from the Bangsamo Islamic Liberation Front attacked security forces in two towns in Maguindanao province yesterday, killing one soldier and wounding two others; 17 militants were killed in the clash, including a close aide to BIFF leader Ameril Ombra Kato. The BIFF disputed the army's report. Army operations are continuing in the area.

Outspoken Islamist cleric Musa Cerantonio arrived in Australia after being deported from the Philippines, where he had been arrested in the company of a Filipina fashion designer in Cebu. Cerantonio, who has supported the Islamic State and claimed to be traveling to Syria to join it, was freed on arrival but his passport was canceled because he has urged Australians to travel to Syria and Iraq for jihad. Police said he will be monitored.

The Taliban reportedly took control of an area of Faryab province; 31 Taliban fighters and nine policemen are said to have been killed in three days of fighting. A Taliban suicide bomber killed five foreign security guards in an attack at Camp Gibson in Kabul. Security forces killed a Taliban shadow district governor and 13 fighters in Badakhshan.

A suicide bomber killed 21 Iraqis, including seven policemen, in an attack at a checkpoint in Baghdad. The military killed 19 people, most of them civilians, in airstrikes in Fallujah and Garma. The Islamic State released photographs of its training camps in Ninewa.

The deputy of the opposition CHP party showed news media yesterday copies of official records confirming that Syria-bound trucks stopped in January by unwitting local authorities in Adana were carrying rockets that Turkish intelligence was supplying to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham. The military claimed that two soldiers and six Kurdish fighters were killed in a clash in the border town of Ceylanpınar; the YPG denied its fighters were involved. Mehmet Görmez, head of the Religious Affairs Directorate, called the Islamic State's caliphate "illegitimate," warned that the group's intolerance of other faiths "heralds the collapse of a civilization," and stated that of the 1,000 Muslims killed daily worldwide, "[a]lmost 90 percent of them are killed by other Muslims, their brothers. Muslims need not look beyond themselves for the causes of these conflicts."

In Benghazi, a suicide bombing killed at least four people at an army base, and at least 14 people were killed in fighting between Ansar al Sharia and the forces of Operation Dignity. After clashes between Zintani forces defending Tripoli airport and Islamist forces from Misrata attacking it left 47 people dead, Zintani forces claimed to have defeated the attackers and accused the Grand Mufti of backing them. The Filipino Embassy told all Philippines citizens to leave Libya after the decapitated body of a Christian Filipino construction worker was found in Benghazi; Japan closed its embassy in Tripoli due to insecurity. A helicopter carrying money from Benghazi to Beida crashed after takeoff, killing one person.

An Air Force helicopter crashed near Bama in Borno state yesterday. Boko Haram militants killed 60 residents of Gaidamgari in Bama on July 19, in retaliation for the town's refusal to allow the terror group to take its teenage boys as fighters. Boko Haram has reportedly taken over half of Borno state, and the group's black Islamist flag is flying over Damboa, a town of 15,000 people near the Sambisa Forest. The military said it is not conceding any state to the terrorists. The government has closed some hotels and markets in the Federal Capital Territory until adequate security measures are in place.

In the far north, near towns like Amchide, across the border from Nigeria's Borno state, Boko Haram militants are stepping up attacks and residents are fleeing. Cameroonian soldiers killed four Boko Haram fighters in Amchide on July 20. Last week Boko Haram fighters kidnapped two teenage sons of an influential Muslim cleric in Limani, and attacked a police station in Nariki and killed a policeman.

Ansar al Sharia forces attacked an army camp in Benghazi but were repelled by Operation Dignity forces with airstrikes; one person was killed and 20 injured in the clash. Fighting in Tripoli between Islamist militants and Zintani militias loyal to the government spread to the suburbs of Janzour and Abu Saleem; some 60 technicals belonging to the Islamist forces were said to have been pinned down in Gasr Bin Gashir. Foreign staff of the oil companies ENI and Total have been evacuated from Libya. Gunmen ambushed an ambulance transporting a patient wounded by fighting in Sabratha and killed him.

The Pakistani military claimed it killed 28 foreign and local "militants" in airstrikes in the Shawal Valley in North Waziristan. Locals said that "nine women, six children and two civilian men" were killed in the airstrikes. The US is thought to have killed six al Qaeda operatives in the July 10 drone strike in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan.

The Islamic State beheaded a man in Raqqah; blew up some houses in Deir Izzour; clashed with the Islamic Front and rebels in Damascus; battled regime special forces around the Sha'er gas field in Homs, where some 60 soldiers were killed; and fought against the Al Nusrah Front, the Islamic Front, and Kurdish YPG forces in Aleppo, where the IS is massing reinforcements for attacks on Ayn al Arab. Al Nusrah and the Islamic Front battled regime forces in Hama, Damascus, Reef Dimashq, Homs, and Aleppo. The Islamic Front's Ahrar al Sham clashed with the Free Syrian Army's Harakat Hazm at the Bab al-Hawa crossing on the Turkish border, leading to the closing of the crossing. A number of Islamic and rebel fighting groups banded together for a military operation in Deraa to "purify" the Al Meftera area of Alawites.

Al Monzer al Hassan, a terrorist facilitator with dual Swedish-Lebanese nationality who delivered explosives to two Saudi suicide bombers in Beirut last month, was shot dead during a raid in Tripoli as security forces were trying to arrest him; two accomplices were arrested. Security forces in Tripoli also arrested Hussam al Sabbagh, a wanted Lebanese-Australian with links to al Qaeda who commands Salafist forces in the city. Hamas officials thanked Sidon residents for their financial support of its jihad. Samir Geagea, leader of the Lebanese Forces Party, slammed the Islamic State's ultimatum to Christians, saying that "Christians and the various minorities in Iraq ... have not been subjected to such treatment since the start and early spread of Islam."