CONFLICT & TERROR

Interpol hunts 9 suspects in Mexico daycare blaze
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 9:38am
Interpol has issued arrest warrants for nine fugitives wanted in Mexico for a daycare fire that killed 48 children in June, justice officials said."The names of the fugitives have now been recorded in the police and immigration databases" of all member countries of the international police organization, the Mexican Attorney General said in a statement.Full Story

GSPC terrorist group in the throes of a financial crisis
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 9:39am
Well � informed sources told the newspaper "Echorouk" that the Salafist group for preaching and combat �GSPC- is now in the grips of an acute financial crisis. Full Story

Mennonite anti-crime activist killed in Mexico
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 9:41am
An anti-kidnapping activist and a neighbor, both members of the pacifist Mennonite community in northern Mexico, were killed Tuesday by gunmen believed linked to a drug cartel, a local legislator said.Mexican anti-crime activists said the slaying in northern Chihuahua state was the first time one of their own had been killed for denouncing crime.Full Story

G8 Lockdown: Italy Drafts In 15,000 Cops
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 9:46am
More than 15,000 police have been drafted in to shield leaders of the world's richest nations from protesters at the G8 summit in Italy. Full Story

Taliban kill 8 police, surround east Afghan office
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 9:46am
A district in Afghanistan's restive east was in danger of falling into Taliban hands after pitched gunbattles with insurgents killed at least eight police, a senior official said on Wednesday.
Full Story

Germany Boosts Security at Chinese Consulate After Attack
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 9:48am
German authorities are increasing security at the Chinese consulate in Munich after assailants threw firebombs at the building as China quelled Uighur riots in Xinjiang province, a Bavarian state official said. Full Story

Anti-Taliban tribal leader shot dead in Pakistan
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 9:49am
A Pakistani tribal elder who was raising a militia against the Taliban has been killed, an official said Wednesday, in the latest attack against figures opposing the Islamist rebels.
Full Story

Nearly 40 arrested at anti-G8 protests in Rome
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 9:52am
Police arrested 38 activists Tuesday during clashes at protests in Rome against this week's Group of Eight summit in central Italy. Full Story

Taliban infiltrate once-peaceful Afghan north
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 9:52am
Kunduzis are likely to remember their province as "the bread basket of Afghanistan" - it was the country's main source of cotton and fruit exports in more peaceful times. But those memories might be fading fast. A recent spate of attacks by the Taliban and al-Qaeda has altered the face of Kunduz beyond all recognition.
Full Story

Anti-TTP groups control Tank, DI Khan
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 9:55am
A masked boy no older than 10 years stopped the car for identification before letting it enter the street leading to a �recruitment centre� run by two anti-Baitullah Mehsud groups striving to inflict as much damage on the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan as possible while �standing by the government�.
Full Story

Honduras' Zelaya says to meet coup backers on Thursday
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 9:59am
Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya on Tuesday accepted a U.S.-backed effort by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias to mediate an end to the political crisis in Honduras and said talks with his rivals would begin on Thursday."Our first meeting is set for Thursday, in Costa Rica," Zelaya, told Honduran radio from Washington.Full Story

Al-Qaeda claims killing 28 Malian soldiers
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 10:02am
Al-Qaeda's North African wing claimed it killed 28 Malian soldiers in a weekend attack, according to an Internet statement published after Mali's president declared all-out war on the Islamist group. Full Story

Saudi Arabia issues rulings in first terror trial
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 10:10am
Saudi government TV says a court has issued verdicts in the kingdom's first known terrorism trial for accused al-Qaida militants. The kingdom has pursued an aggressive campaign against militants since May 2003, when they first began attacks in the kingdom. Full Story

Algeria sponsors Sufism to fight extremism
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 10:10am
After using police raids, arrests and gun battles in its fight against Islamist insurgents, Algeria is now deploying a new, more subtle weapon: a branch of Islam associated with contemplation, not combat. Full Story

3 tied to drug cartels sentenced for torture in Atlanta
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 10:12am
Three men who kidnapped and tortured a man over a drug debt were sentenced Tuesday in Atlanta, Georgia, to decades in prison, in a case tied to Mexican drug cartels.
Federal authorities point to the 2008 case as evidence that Atlanta has become a major distribution hub for powerful Mexican drug groups such as the Sinaloa and Gulf cartels.Full story

Marines push militants out of Taliban region
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 10:17am
U.S. Marines trapped Taliban fighters in a residential compound and persuaded the insurgents to allow women and children to leave. The troops then moved in � only to discover that the militants had slipped out, dressed in women's burqa robes.
Full Story

Swat, Buner cleared of militants: Maj Gen Abbas
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 10:21am
The operation in Swat and Buner has been completed and these areas have been cleared of militants. Addressing a press conference accompanied with Federal Information minister Qamar Zaman Kaira, military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said a meeting with Army chief Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani was held to discuss the issue of IDPs.
Full Story

17 killed as one more US drone strikes in SWA
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 10:23am
Seventeen people were killed when one more US drone launched an strike in South Waziristan Agency on Wednesday.
Full Story

Zardari admits terrorism nurtured by govt for tactical use
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 5:36pm
In an astonishingly candid admission - a first by any Pakistani head of state - president Asif Ali Zardari has admitted militants and terrorists were wilfully created by past Pakistani governments and nurtured as a policy to achieve tactical objectives. "Militants and extremists emerged on the national scene and challenged the state not because the civil bureaucracy was weakened and demoralized but because they were deliberately created and nurtured as a policy to achieve short-term tactical objectives. Let's be truthful and make a candid admission of the reality,'' he said at a gathering of civil servants in Islamabad on Tuesday night. Full Story

Afghanistan: Up to 27 Killed in Fighting
Posted on Thursday, July 9, 2009 at 9:30am
Insurgents in eastern Afghanistan attacked police posts and a government building, setting off a battle that killed 6 policemen and up to 21 insurgents, officials said.
Full Story

British troops put at greater risk in war on Taleban
Posted on Thursday, July 9, 2009 at 9:35am
More British troops will lose their lives as a result of a strategy being brought in to reduce civilian casualties, the new commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan warned yesterday
Full Story

UK helping Pakistan build its counter terrorism capacity: UK defence secretay
Posted on Thursday, July 9, 2009 at 10:11am
The United Kingdom is working with Pakistan to help build its counter-terrorism capabilities, UK Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth said on Wednesday. Talking about the UK strategy in Afghanistan, Ainsworth said, �Our engagement in Afghanistan serves to protect our national security, but it serves our national interest as well. Ensuring stability in the wider region, particularly in Pakistan and strengthening the international institutions that help provide Britain�s national security.� Full Story

Al Qaeda was planning attacks during the G8
Posted on Thursday, July 9, 2009 at 10:22am
Al Qaeda's terrorist network would have been planning to perform attacks during the G8 underway at L'Aquila, in Italy, according to what has been reported by the Israeli site "Debka" quoting sources of the American and German intelligence. The news has been reported today by the Italian newspaper "La Repubblica". Full Story

US Marines Clear Key Taliban Stronghold
Posted on Thursday, July 9, 2009 at 10:23am
The commander of U.S. Marines who have launched a major offensive in southern Afghanistan said his forces have removed Taliban fighters from a large section of one of their main strongholds and that U.S. troops are already working with the Afghan Army and local leaders to begin to establish stability in the region.
Full Story

Blast outside school in Afghanistan kills 25
Posted on Thursday, July 9, 2009 at 10:26am
An explosion outside a school south of the Afghan capital on Thursday killed at least 25 people, including 15 students, officials said, the worst toll from a single blast in a year.
Full Story

Egypt arrests 26 over suspected Suez Canal plot
Posted on Thursday, July 9, 2009 at 10:43am
Egyptian security forces arrested 26 suspected al-Qaeda loyalists on charges of plotting attacks on foreign ships passing through the Suez Canal, the interior ministry said on Thursday, in the latest of a series of clampdowns and evictions on suspected Islamists. Full Story

Karzai challenges Taliban to vote in Afghan elections
Posted on Thursday, July 9, 2009 at 10:47am
Afghan President Hamid Karzai called Saturday on the Taliban and other insurgent groups to vote in landmark August elections and to not attack the polls.
Full Story

Boldness of Qaeda Affiliate in Africa Raises Fears in West
Posted on Thursday, July 9, 2009 at 3:05pm
Al Qaeda�s affiliate in North Africa has carried out a string of slayings, bombings and other lethal attacks against Westerners and African security forces in recent weeks that have raised fears the terrorist group may be turning a more deadly corner. Full Story

ETA set off explosive device in Durango
Posted on Friday, July 10, 2009 at 9:17am
ETA has set off an explosive device in the Socialist Party offices in Durango, Vizcaya. Full Story

Germany to increase anti-terror measures before fall elections
Posted on Friday, July 10, 2009 at 9:21am
German federal and state authorities agreed on Thursday on a series of anti-terrorism measures ahead of this September's parliamentary elections. Security officials say the terror threat has increased. Full Story

Up to 22 Taliban killed in central Afghanistan
Posted on Friday, July 10, 2009 at 10:11am
Fighting overnight between international troops and Taliban militants in central Afghanistan has left as many as 22 insurgents dead, police said Friday.
Full Story

Air strikes kill 39 Taliban militants in Orakzai tribal region
Posted on Friday, July 10, 2009 at 10:13am
At least 39 militants were killed when Pakistani jets and helicopter gunships pounded positions of Taliban insurgents who had taken over homes of the minority Sikh community in the restive Orakzai tribal region.
Full Story

G8 leaders back Pakistan in war against terror
Posted on Friday, July 10, 2009 at 10:27am
The Group of Eight (G8) leaders on Thursday expressed solidarity with Pakistan in its fight against the Taliban and called on Afghanistan to ensure credible and safe elections reflecting the people�s will.
Full Story

The bloodiest month of the war in Afghanistan
Posted on Friday, July 10, 2009 at 10:35am
June was the bloodiest month of the war in Afghanistan, reports John McCreary, the former DIA analyst who follows the fighting there closely. This seems to be shifting to a war of roadside bombs, very different from the war of a few years ago.
Full Story

Pakistan says Taliban leader will talk to U.S.
Posted on Friday, July 10, 2009 at 10:43am
Pakistan's military has declared that not only is it in contact with Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar but that it can bring him and other commanders to the negotiating table with the United States.
Full Story

Senior Ingushetia Official Dies After Attack
Posted on Friday, July 10, 2009 at 11:11am
The head of Ingushetia's Forensics and Investigations Center, Colonel Magomed Gadaborshev, has died of wounds sustained in a gun attack by insurgents earlier this week, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports. Full Story

Police say ambush kills 5 officers in NW Pakistan
Posted on Sunday, July 12, 2009 at 8:50pm
Gunmen ambushed five police officers and a forestry official responding to reports of a dead body in northwestern Pakistan, killing all six, police said Sunday. Full Story

Mounting Casualties in Afghanistan Spur Concern
Posted on Sunday, July 12, 2009 at 8:51pm
A series of attacks in Afghanistan has left four U.S. Marines and eight British soldiers dead in recent days, stoking concern among U.S. and allied forces over a surge in battlefield deaths, as thousands of troops pour into the country. Full Story

Tribal region poses harsh test for Pakistan army
Posted on Sunday, July 12, 2009 at 8:52pm
After relative success against Islamic extremists elsewhere, Pakistan's military faces its toughest test yet � a surgical operation against the country's most dangerous militant in a region of harsh terrain and fierce tribal rivalries. Full Story

2 Marines killed in Afghanistan bomb blast
Posted on Sunday, July 12, 2009 at 9:21pm
A bomb blast killed two U.S. Marines in Afghanistan's dangerous south, where thousands of American troops have deployed in a massive operation to oust Taliban fighters from the country's opium poppy region, officials said Sunday. Full Story

Attack kills 12 Taliban in southern Afghanistan
Posted on Sunday, July 12, 2009 at 9:22pm
International troops and Afghan police killed 12 Taliban insurgents in a gunbattle in southern Afghanistan, police said Sunday. Full Story

Car bomb explodes outside Iraqi church, kills 4
Posted on Monday, July 13, 2009 at 5:37am
A car bomb exploded near a church as worshippers left Sunday Mass, killing at least four civilians and injuring 18 in one of several attacks on Iraq's beleaguered Christian minority. Full Story

Somalia clashes kill dozens, AU helps gov't forces
Posted on Monday, July 13, 2009 at 5:41am
Islamic insurgents fought their way toward Somalia's presidential palace Sunday in fighting that killed dozens and wounded about 150, officials said. African Union peacekeepers directly intervened for the first time to support government forces. Full Story

Pakistanis return to Swat; blast elsewhere kills 9
Posted on Monday, July 13, 2009 at 5:42am
Some Pakistani refugees refused to go home to the battle-scarred northwest Swat Valley under a government repatriation program Monday, citing security concerns and demanding promised aid. Thousands of others were stopped at military roadblocks after leaving. Full Story

India state on alert after Maoists kill 29 police
Posted on Monday, July 13, 2009 at 5:43am
Authorities in a central Indian state deployed hundreds of paramilitary troops Monday and searched for 13 missing policemen after Maoist insurgents killed 29 officers in a jungle ambush over the weekend. Full Story

Report: North Korea's Kim has pancreatic cancer
Posted on Monday, July 13, 2009 at 5:44am
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has life-threatening pancreatic cancer, a news report said Monday, days after fresh images of him looking gaunt spurred speculation that his health was worsening following a reported stroke last year. Full Story

Al-Qaeda releases Swiss hostage
Posted on Monday, July 13, 2009 at 5:46am
A Swiss man held hostage for six months by members of al-Qaeda in Mali has been freed, Swiss and Malian officials say. Full Story


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Courtesy Terrorism Research Center, Inc.