Category Archives: Europe

CT News: PTSS Daily Headlines

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  • LIBYA: At least 31 people were killed and 60 others were wounded in a series of clashes between ethnic Tibu militiamen and armed members of a local militia in the city of Sabha in the Sabha district on 27 March. Reports added that at least 20 combatants had been killed during earlier clashes on 25 and 26 March. (Al Arabiya/Reuters)
  • AFGHANISTAN: An International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) soldier of undisclosed nationality was killed in an improvised explosive device (IED) attack by unidentified militants in an unspecified area in the south of the country on 27 March. (ISAF/Khaama Press)
  • RUSSIAN FEDERATION: The leader of Yarmuk Jamaat, the faction of the Caucasus Emirate based and operating in the North Caucasus republics of Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia, Alim Zankishiyev alias Emir Ubayda, was shot dead by security forces during a counter-terrorism operation targeting his private residence in the city of Nalchik in Kabardino-Balkaria early on 27 March. The group confirmed Zankishiyev’s death in a subsequent statement. (RFE/RL/Kavkaz-Tsentr)
  • SOMALIA: At least two Transitional Federal Government (TFG) soldiers were killed when suspected Shabab militants attacked a military base manned jointly by TFG and Kenyan forces in the Hosingow area of Jubbada Hoose region early on 28 March. Four suspected militants were killed in retaliatory fire. While a further ten combatants were wounded in the resulting clashes, this figure was not broken down between the two sides. (Radio Shabeelle)
  • IRAQ: A police officer was killed and two others were wounded when an unidentified suicide bomber detonated his explosives near a police checkpoint in the Ghazaliya area of the Mansour district in the capital Baghdad on 27 March. (NINA)
  • PAKISTAN: Three people were wounded in a remote-controlled improvised explosive device (RCIED) attack by unidentified militants targeting the private residence of a local Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) official, Malik Nadeem, in the Faisal Colony area of the city of Peshawar in Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa on 27 March. (Daily Times)
  • SPAIN: A man, identified by security sources as Jordanian–born Saudi national M.H.A., was arrested by security forces during a counter-terrorism operation in the city of Valencia on 27 March on charges of broadcasting Al-Qaeda-related videos on the internet for the purpose of inciting militant attacks. Minister of the Interior Jorge Fernandez claimed that M.H.A. had been suspected of working with both Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and “was known in the heart of the terrorist organisation as ‘Al-Qaeda’s librarian.’” (Reuters)
  • ISRAEL/GAZA AND THE WEST BANK: Unidentified assailants threw at least three incendiary devices at an Israeli military patrol near the village of Al-Khader, south of the West Bank town of Bethlehem late on 27 March. No casualties were reported in the attack. (Maan News Agency)
  • TURKEY: Nine suspected Devrimci Halk Kurtulus Partisi/Cephesi (DHKP/C) militants were arrested during separate counter-terrorism operations in the city of Istanbul and the capital Ankara on 27 March on suspicion of involvement in a plot to assassinate former Minister of Justice Hikmet Sami Turk. (Today’s Zaman)
  • ITALY: Five suspected Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan (PKK) militants – identified only as Turkish citizens of Kurdish ethnicity – were arrested by security forces during a series of co-ordinated counter-terrorism operations targeting eight private residences in the towns of Modena, Padova, Udine, Pesaro, and the capital Rome on 27 March on suspicion of engaging in extortion activities to raise funds for the group. (Associated Press/Today’s Zaman)

CT News: PTSS Daily Headlines


  • LIBYA: At least 31 people were killed and 60 others were wounded in a series of clashes between ethnic Tibu militiamen and armed members of a local militia in the city of Sabha in the Sabha district on 27 March. Reports added that at least 20 combatants had been killed during earlier clashes on 25 and 26 March. (Al Arabiya/Reuters)

  • AFGHANISTAN: An International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) soldier of undisclosed nationality was killed in an improvised explosive device (IED) attack by unidentified militants in an unspecified area in the south of the country on 27 March. (ISAF/Khaama Press)

  • RUSSIAN FEDERATION: The leader of Yarmuk Jamaat, the faction of the Caucasus Emirate based and operating in the North Caucasus republics of Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia, Alim Zankishiyev alias Emir Ubayda, was shot dead by security forces during a counter-terrorism operation targeting his private residence in the city of Nalchik in Kabardino-Balkaria early on 27 March. The group confirmed Zankishiyev’s death in a subsequent statement. (RFE/RL/Kavkaz-Tsentr)

  • SOMALIA: At least two Transitional Federal Government (TFG) soldiers were killed when suspected Shabab militants attacked a military base manned jointly by TFG and Kenyan forces in the Hosingow area of Jubbada Hoose region early on 28 March. Four suspected militants were killed in retaliatory fire. While a further ten combatants were wounded in the resulting clashes, this figure was not broken down between the two sides. (Radio Shabeelle)

  • IRAQ: A police officer was killed and two others were wounded when an unidentified suicide bomber detonated his explosives near a police checkpoint in the Ghazaliya area of the Mansour district in the capital Baghdad on 27 March. (NINA)

  • PAKISTAN: Three people were wounded in a remote-controlled improvised explosive device (RCIED) attack by unidentified militants targeting the private residence of a local Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) official, Malik Nadeem, in the Faisal Colony area of the city of Peshawar in Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa on 27 March. (Daily Times)

  • SPAIN: A man, identified by security sources as Jordanian–born Saudi national M.H.A., was arrested by security forces during a counter-terrorism operation in the city of Valencia on 27 March on charges of broadcasting Al-Qaeda-related videos on the internet for the purpose of inciting militant attacks. Minister of the Interior Jorge Fernandez claimed that M.H.A. had been suspected of working with both Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and “was known in the heart of the terrorist organisation as ‘Al-Qaeda’s librarian.’” (Reuters)

  • ISRAEL/GAZA AND THE WEST BANK: Unidentified assailants threw at least three incendiary devices at an Israeli military patrol near the village of Al-Khader, south of the West Bank town of Bethlehem late on 27 March. No casualties were reported in the attack. (Maan News Agency)

  • TURKEY: Nine suspected Devrimci Halk Kurtulus Partisi/Cephesi (DHKP/C) militants were arrested during separate counter-terrorism operations in the city of Istanbul and the capital Ankara on 27 March on suspicion of involvement in a plot to assassinate former Minister of Justice Hikmet Sami Turk. (Today’s Zaman)

  • ITALY: Five suspected Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan (PKK) militants – identified only as Turkish citizens of Kurdish ethnicity – were arrested by security forces during a series of co-ordinated counter-terrorism operations targeting eight private residences in the towns of Modena, Padova, Udine, Pesaro, and the capital Rome on 27 March on suspicion of engaging in extortion activities to raise funds for the group. (Associated Press/Today’s Zaman)


CT News: PTSS Daily Headlines

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  • LIBYA: As many as 20 people were killed and 40 others were wounded during an armed clash that erupted between ethnic Toubou tribesmen and local residents in the centre of the city of Sabha in the Sabha district on 26 March. Conflicting reports claimed that the clash was either sparked when the Toubou tribesmen seized control of the local military council building, or when the Toubou refused to hand over to local authorities one of their men who had been accused of killing a member of the rival Bussif tribe. (AFP/Al-Arabiya/Al-Jazeera)
  • INDIA: At least 16 police officers were killed and an unknown number of others were wounded in a mine attack by suspected Communist Party of India – Maoist (CPI-M) militants in the Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra state on 27 March. (India Today/News 24/Reuters)
  • COLOMBIA: At least 36 suspected members of the Abelardo Romero Column of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia’s (FARC’s) 54th Front were killed and four others were detained by security forces during a sustained counter terrorism operation in the Vista Hermosa municipality in Meta department on 26 March. The operation involved members of the Air Force, Army, Navy, and Police forces. (Colombia Reports/Latin American Herald Tribune)
  • AFGHANISTAN: Intelligence officials claimed on 26 March to have foiled a mass suicide bomb plot in the capital Kabul earlier that day. An unspecified number of people, allegedly including several members of the Afghan National Army (ANA), were detained by security forces during a series of co-ordinated counter-terrorism operations the city and as many as 11 suicide explosive vests were, according to the BBC, seized from within the Ministry of Defence compound. Reports added that the alleged plot was intended to target passenger buses transporting government employees to the several ministry buildings in the city. The announcement came several hours after three International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) soldiers – two UK and one US – were shot dead in two separate incidents by Afghan security force personnel in Paktika and Helmand provinces. (BBC)
  • SOMALIA: Joint forces composed of Ahlu Sunna wal Jamaa fighters and Ethiopian soldiers attacked and seized control of the Elbur and El Lahey districts of the Galgaduud region from Shabab militants on 26 March. Confirmed casualty figures were unknown. (Somalia Report/BBC)
  • SYRIA: At least 76 people were killed by security forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad during a sustained series of security crackdowns targeting alleged anti-government activists throughout the country on 26 March. (Local Coordination Committees)
  • IRAQ: A soldier was shot dead by an unidentified militant in a small-arms attack in the Abu Ghraib district of the capital Baghdad on 26 March. (NINA)
  • PHILIPPINES: Three soldiers and two civilians were wounded when a group of suspected New People’s Army (NPA) militants launched an ambush of a military convoy in the village of Tubungan in Iloilo province on 26 March. (Philippines Daily Inquirer)
  • GAZA AND THE WEST BANK/ISRAEL: An Israeli soldier was stabbed and lightly wounded by an unidentified Palestinian individual during an operation launched in the West Bank city of Ramallah late on 26 March. In response to the attack, Israeli security forces opened fire with live ammunition, severely wounding at least three Palestinian men. (Haaretz)
  • NORWAY: A court in the capital Oslo sentenced one of the alleged founders of the Iraq-based Ansar al-Islam, Najmuddin Faraj Ahmad alias Mullah Krekar, to five years imprisonment on 26 March for issuing death threats against a government official and against three ethnic Kurdish individuals he had accused of burning or insulting the Quran. Krekar was reported to have claimed that he would appeal the sentence. (BBC)

CT News: PTSS Daily Headlines


  • LIBYA: As many as 20 people were killed and 40 others were wounded during an armed clash that erupted between ethnic Toubou tribesmen and local residents in the centre of the city of Sabha in the Sabha district on 26 March. Conflicting reports claimed that the clash was either sparked when the Toubou tribesmen seized control of the local military council building, or when the Toubou refused to hand over to local authorities one of their men who had been accused of killing a member of the rival Bussif tribe. (AFP/Al-Arabiya/Al-Jazeera)

  • INDIA: At least 16 police officers were killed and an unknown number of others were wounded in a mine attack by suspected Communist Party of India – Maoist (CPI-M) militants in the Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra state on 27 March. (India Today/News 24/Reuters)

  • COLOMBIA: At least 36 suspected members of the Abelardo Romero Column of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia’s (FARC’s) 54th Front were killed and four others were detained by security forces during a sustained counter terrorism operation in the Vista Hermosa municipality in Meta department on 26 March. The operation involved members of the Air Force, Army, Navy, and Police forces. (Colombia Reports/Latin American Herald Tribune)

  • AFGHANISTAN: Intelligence officials claimed on 26 March to have foiled a mass suicide bomb plot in the capital Kabul earlier that day. An unspecified number of people, allegedly including several members of the Afghan National Army (ANA), were detained by security forces during a series of co-ordinated counter-terrorism operations the city and as many as 11 suicide explosive vests were, according to the BBC, seized from within the Ministry of Defence compound. Reports added that the alleged plot was intended to target passenger buses transporting government employees to the several ministry buildings in the city. The announcement came several hours after three International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) soldiers – two UK and one US – were shot dead in two separate incidents by Afghan security force personnel in Paktika and Helmand provinces. (BBC)

  • SOMALIA: Joint forces composed of Ahlu Sunna wal Jamaa fighters and Ethiopian soldiers attacked and seized control of the Elbur and El Lahey districts of the Galgaduud region from Shabab militants on 26 March. Confirmed casualty figures were unknown. (Somalia Report/BBC)

  • SYRIA: At least 76 people were killed by security forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad during a sustained series of security crackdowns targeting alleged anti-government activists throughout the country on 26 March. (Local Coordination Committees)

  • IRAQ: A soldier was shot dead by an unidentified militant in a small-arms attack in the Abu Ghraib district of the capital Baghdad on 26 March. (NINA)

  • PHILIPPINES: Three soldiers and two civilians were wounded when a group of suspected New People’s Army (NPA) militants launched an ambush of a military convoy in the village of Tubungan in Iloilo province on 26 March. (Philippines Daily Inquirer)

  • GAZA AND THE WEST BANK/ISRAEL: An Israeli soldier was stabbed and lightly wounded by an unidentified Palestinian individual during an operation launched in the West Bank city of Ramallah late on 26 March. In response to the attack, Israeli security forces opened fire with live ammunition, severely wounding at least three Palestinian men. (Haaretz)

  • NORWAY: A court in the capital Oslo sentenced one of the alleged founders of the Iraq-based Ansar al-Islam, Najmuddin Faraj Ahmad alias Mullah Krekar, to five years imprisonment on 26 March for issuing death threats against a government official and against three ethnic Kurdish individuals he had accused of burning or insulting the Quran. Krekar was reported to have claimed that he would appeal the sentence. (BBC)


CT Analysis: CTC Sentinel March 2012 Issue

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Articles included in this issue:

  1. The Evidence of Al-Qa`ida’s Role in the 2004 Madrid Attack - Fernando Reinares
  2. A Pre-Trial Profile of Anders Behring Breivik - Jacob Aasland Ravndal
  3. The Rabbani Assassination: Taliban Strategy to Weaken National Unity? - Michael Gabbay
  4. Assessing Al-Qa`ida’s Presence in the New Libya - Andrew Lebovich and Aaron Y. Zelin
  5. U.S. Gang Alignment with Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations - Mark Schmidt, U.S. National Gang Intelligence Center
  6. The Emergence of the Difa-e-Pakistan Islamist Coalition - Arif Rafiq
  7. Attacking Drug Cartels Through Undercover Money Laundering Operations - Robert Mazur

CT News: PTSS Daily Headlines

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  • AFGHANISTAN: A UK soldier was killed in an improvised explosive device (IED) attack by unidentified militants in the Mirmandab area of Gerishk district in Helmand province on 21 March (Khaama Press/UK Ministry of Defence)
  • YEMEN: A military intelligence officer, identified as Commander Faraj Saeed al-Odsani, was abducted by suspected Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) militants near the town of Mukalla in Hadhramaut governorate on 21 March. Security forces launched a rescue attempt to free Odsani later that day but he was executed by his captors. (AFP)
  • COLOMBIA: At least 39 suspected Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) militants were killed in a combined military ground and air assault on alleged militant positions near the town of Arauquita in Arauca department early on 21 March. (Latin American Herald Tribune/Colombia Reports/Al Jazeera)
  • TURKEY: Five police officers were killed and three soldiers were wounded by Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan (PKK) militants during an armed clash in the course of a counter-terrorism operation in the Cudi mountain area of Sirnak province on 21 March. (Hurriyet Daily News/Today’s Zaman)
  • IRAQ: Four civilians were shot dead by a group of unidentified militants during an attack targeting their residence in the Zafaraniya area of Karadah district in the capital Baghdad on 21 March. (NINA)
  • MALI: A group of mutinying soldiers, describing themselves as members of the newly formed National Committee for the Restoration of Democracy and State, announced on 22 March that they had ended the rule of President Amadou Toumani Toure after seizing control of the Presidential Palace and the state television station in the capital Bamako the previous day. (Al-Jazeera)
  • NIGERIA: Suspected Boko Haram militants carried out an explosive device attack on a bank in the town of Tudunwada in Kano State on 21 March before ransacking the armoury of a local police station. Security forces then launched a counter-terrorism operation in the area, killing nine suspected militants and capturing two others. (Reuters)
  • PAKISTAN: Three suspected militants were killed by members of the Aman lashkar (tribal militia) during a clash in the Tirah Valley area of Khyber Agency in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) on 21 March. (Geo News)
  • NIGER: An alleged former senior Tuareg militant commander, identified by security sources as Aghali Alambo, was arrested by security forces in an unspecified area of the country on 21 March on suspicion of maintaining links to criminal groups, financing terrorism, and arms trafficking. (BBC)
  • SYRIA: In a video released online on 21 March, Jabhat al-Nusra claimed responsibility for two vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) attacks in the capital Damascus on 17 March that killed at least 27 people. (AFP/Al-Arabiya)

CT Analysis: CTC Sentinel March 2012 Issue

Articles included in this issue:

  1. The Evidence of Al-Qa`ida’s Role in the 2004 Madrid Attack - Fernando Reinares

  2. A Pre-Trial Profile of Anders Behring Breivik - Jacob Aasland Ravndal

  3. The Rabbani Assassination: Taliban Strategy to Weaken National Unity? - Michael Gabbay

  4. Assessing Al-Qa`ida’s Presence in the New Libya - Andrew Lebovich and Aaron Y. Zelin

  5. U.S. Gang Alignment with Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations - Mark Schmidt, U.S. National Gang Intelligence Center

  6. The Emergence of the Difa-e-Pakistan Islamist Coalition - Arif Rafiq

  7. Attacking Drug Cartels Through Undercover Money Laundering Operations - Robert Mazur


CT News: PTSS Daily Headlines


  • AFGHANISTAN: A UK soldier was killed in an improvised explosive device (IED) attack by unidentified militants in the Mirmandab area of Gerishk district in Helmand province on 21 March (Khaama Press/UK Ministry of Defence)

  • YEMEN: A military intelligence officer, identified as Commander Faraj Saeed al-Odsani, was abducted by suspected Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) militants near the town of Mukalla in Hadhramaut governorate on 21 March. Security forces launched a rescue attempt to free Odsani later that day but he was executed by his captors. (AFP)

  • COLOMBIA: At least 39 suspected Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) militants were killed in a combined military ground and air assault on alleged militant positions near the town of Arauquita in Arauca department early on 21 March. (Latin American Herald Tribune/Colombia Reports/Al Jazeera)

  • TURKEY: Five police officers were killed and three soldiers were wounded by Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan (PKK) militants during an armed clash in the course of a counter-terrorism operation in the Cudi mountain area of Sirnak province on 21 March. (Hurriyet Daily News/Today’s Zaman)

  • IRAQ: Four civilians were shot dead by a group of unidentified militants during an attack targeting their residence in the Zafaraniya area of Karadah district in the capital Baghdad on 21 March. (NINA)

  • MALI: A group of mutinying soldiers, describing themselves as members of the newly formed National Committee for the Restoration of Democracy and State, announced on 22 March that they had ended the rule of President Amadou Toumani Toure after seizing control of the Presidential Palace and the state television station in the capital Bamako the previous day. (Al-Jazeera)

  • NIGERIA: Suspected Boko Haram militants carried out an explosive device attack on a bank in the town of Tudunwada in Kano State on 21 March before ransacking the armoury of a local police station. Security forces then launched a counter-terrorism operation in the area, killing nine suspected militants and capturing two others. (Reuters)

  • PAKISTAN: Three suspected militants were killed by members of the Aman lashkar (tribal militia) during a clash in the Tirah Valley area of Khyber Agency in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) on 21 March. (Geo News)

  • NIGER: An alleged former senior Tuareg militant commander, identified by security sources as Aghali Alambo, was arrested by security forces in an unspecified area of the country on 21 March on suspicion of maintaining links to criminal groups, financing terrorism, and arms trafficking. (BBC)

  • SYRIA: In a video released online on 21 March, Jabhat al-Nusra claimed responsibility for two vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) attacks in the capital Damascus on 17 March that killed at least 27 people. (AFP/Al-Arabiya)


CT News: PTSS Daily Headlines


  • AFGHANISTAN: A UK soldier was killed in an improvised explosive device (IED) attack by unidentified militants in the Mirmandab area of Gerishk district in Helmand province on 21 March (Khaama Press/UK Ministry of Defence)

  • YEMEN: A military intelligence officer, identified as Commander Faraj Saeed al-Odsani, was abducted by suspected Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) militants near the town of Mukalla in Hadhramaut governorate on 21 March. Security forces launched a rescue attempt to free Odsani later that day but he was executed by his captors. (AFP)

  • COLOMBIA: At least 39 suspected Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) militants were killed in a combined military ground and air assault on alleged militant positions near the town of Arauquita in Arauca department early on 21 March. (Latin American Herald Tribune/Colombia Reports/Al Jazeera)

  • TURKEY: Five police officers were killed and three soldiers were wounded by Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan (PKK) militants during an armed clash in the course of a counter-terrorism operation in the Cudi mountain area of Sirnak province on 21 March. (Hurriyet Daily News/Today’s Zaman)

  • IRAQ: Four civilians were shot dead by a group of unidentified militants during an attack targeting their residence in the Zafaraniya area of Karadah district in the capital Baghdad on 21 March. (NINA)

  • MALI: A group of mutinying soldiers, describing themselves as members of the newly formed National Committee for the Restoration of Democracy and State, announced on 22 March that they had ended the rule of President Amadou Toumani Toure after seizing control of the Presidential Palace and the state television station in the capital Bamako the previous day. (Al-Jazeera)

  • NIGERIA: Suspected Boko Haram militants carried out an explosive device attack on a bank in the town of Tudunwada in Kano State on 21 March before ransacking the armoury of a local police station. Security forces then launched a counter-terrorism operation in the area, killing nine suspected militants and capturing two others. (Reuters)

  • PAKISTAN: Three suspected militants were killed by members of the Aman lashkar (tribal militia) during a clash in the Tirah Valley area of Khyber Agency in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) on 21 March. (Geo News)

  • NIGER: An alleged former senior Tuareg militant commander, identified by security sources as Aghali Alambo, was arrested by security forces in an unspecified area of the country on 21 March on suspicion of maintaining links to criminal groups, financing terrorism, and arms trafficking. (BBC)

  • SYRIA: In a video released online on 21 March, Jabhat al-Nusra claimed responsibility for two vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) attacks in the capital Damascus on 17 March that killed at least 27 people. (AFP/Al-Arabiya)