An open source, around the world tour of international security-related news.
By Professor Joseph B. Varner
Global War on Terror
A provincial official says an insurgent attack on a fuel truck has killed six civilians in eastern Afghanistan. The official, Abdul Wakil Atak, says the truck was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade fired by insurgents in Laghman province on Sunday. Atak is a spokesman for the provincial governor.
An open source, around the world tour of international security-related news.
By Professor Joseph B. Varner
Global War on Terror
U.S. and Afghan special forces killed two influential tribal leaders and a number of their followers in western Afghanistan in a joint airborne operation Wednesday night amid more accusations of causing civilian casualties, military officials said Thursday.
An open source, around the world tour of international security-related news.
By Professor Joseph B. Varner
Global War on Terror
A deadly attack on a remote NATO outpost in the eastern province of Kunar is being viewed as a serious escalation in the fighting between the insurgents and the international forces stationed in Afghanistan, and a possible shift in the insurgents' tactical capability. The high casualties sustained by international forces in recent attacks have also increased the prospects that international troops could launch cross-border strikes into Pakistan with increasing frequency.
An open source, around the world tour of international security-related news.
By Professor Joseph B. Varner
Global War on Terror
Nine U.S. soldiers were killed in heavy fighting Sunday at a military base in eastern Afghanistan near the Pakistani border, according to a Western official. The attack was the deadliest against U.S. forces in the country since 2005.
A daily, open source, around the world tour of international security-related news.
By Professor Joseph B. Varner
Global War on Terror
U.S. military officials may be voicing concern about Afghanistan, but Canada's former top officer in NATO says he has only seen a continually improving situation in the Asian country. In the past month, U.S. military reports and statements have indicated the war is worsening. A Pentagon report to Congress several weeks ago outlined how a revitalized insurgency is expected to maintain or increase its level of attacks. "The Taliban regrouped after its fall from power and have coalesced into a resilient insurgency," the report said.
A daily, open source, around the world tour of international security-related news.
By Professor Joseph B. Varner
Global War on Terror
A U.S. commander says more than 400 Taliban insurgents have been killed since the spring deployment of U.S. Marines in southern Afghanistan. The Marines have also eliminated insurgent positions and strongholds, and are stabilizing the region, CNN reported, quoting Colonel Peter Petronzio, commander of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit.
A daily, open source, around the world tour of international security-related news.
By Professor Joseph B. Varner
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Global War on Terror
In one of the worst suicide attacks ever to strike the Afghan capital, a car bomber today killed up to 41 people and wounded more than 140 others just outside the Indian Embassy.
A daily, open source, around the world tour of international security-related news.
By Professor Joseph B. Varner
U.S.-led troops backed by warplanes battled militants in southwestern Afghanistan, killing 28 rebels including several Taliban leaders, an Afghan official said Monday.
Other reported violence claimed the lives of two Afghan soldiers, two militants and a government employee, while the Pentagon said a bomb killed an elite U.S. soldier last week. Fighting between insurgents and security forces is escalating, damping the prospect of the Western-backed effort to stabilize the country succeeding any time soon.
A daily, open source, around the world tour of international security-related news.
By Professor Joseph B. Varner
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Early this year, a religious radical calling himself Abu Hamza had a question for the deputy leader of Al Qaeda regarding the Egyptian secret police. "Are they committing unbelief?" he tapped on his keyboard. "And is it permissible to kill them?" A few weeks later, an answer came from a man with a $25 million bounty on his head, Ayman al-Zawahiri. Killing the police is justified, Zawahiri replied, because they are "infidels, each and every one of them." The exchange was part of the latest propaganda coup orchestrated by Al Qaeda: an online chat between Zawahiri, one of the world's most wanted fugitives, and hundreds of curious people around the globe.
A daily, open source, around the world tour of international security-related news.
By Professor Joseph B. Varner
Global War on Terror
Militants ambushed troops patrolling in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan, prompting a gunbattle and airstrikes that left about 55 militants dead, the U.S.-led coalition said Monday. Meanwhile, a coalition helicopter attacked men suspected of laying a roadside bomb in the same region, killing one. Afghan officials said two civilians, including a 4-year-old boy, also died.
A daily, open source, around the world tour of international security-related news.
By Professor Joseph B. Varner
Global War on Terror
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By Professor Joseph B. Varner
Global War on Terror
Hundreds of Taliban fighters took control of seven villages in southern Afghanistan on Monday in what appeared to be a major offensive near the country's second-largest city, according to Afghan officials. An estimated 500 Taliban fighters swept into several villages in the Arghandab district, about 15 miles northwest of Kandahar, officials said. Agha Lalai Wali, an official with the government-sponsored Peace and Reconciliation Commission in Kandahar, said the fighters surged into the area Sunday evening, setting up several checkpoints in the district. Wali said local residents had reported seeing dozens of fighters believed to be of Pakistani and Arab origin traveling in the area in pickup trucks shortly before the incursion.
A daily, open source, around the world tour of international security-related news.
By Professor Joseph B. Varner
Global War on Terror
Canadian Defence Minister Peter MacKay says NATO has sent additional troops to the Kandahar City area in the wake of Friday's brazen prison break that freed about 400 Taliban fighters.
A daily, open source, around the world tour of international security-related news.
By Professor Joseph B. Varner
Global War on Terror
U.S.-led coalition forces killed several militants and a female civilian in an operation targeting two insurgent leaders in eastern Afghanistan, a military statement said Friday. The fighting happened in Zurmat district of Paktia province on Thursday. The coalition statement said it launched airstrikes after its forces came under fire as they searched compounds for two militant leaders believed behind attacks by foreign fighters on Afghan and coalition forces. Several militants and a woman who was located in the same building the militants were firing from were killed, it said. One militant detonated a suicide-vest, killing himself. A suicide car bomber attacked a coalition convoy Friday in eastern Nangarhar province, but only the bomber died. Also Friday, more than 2,000 Afghans staged a peaceful protest claiming U.S. troops at a remote base in eastern Kunar province had burned a copy of Islam's holy book.
A daily, open source, around the world tour of international security-related news.
By Professor Joseph B. Varner
Global War on Terror
Two explosions were heard in the Afghan capital on Tuesday, but it was not immediately clear what caused them or whether there were any casualties. Kabul has seen a series of suicide attacks by the resurgent Taliban in recent years, but demining agencies also sometimes carry out controlled explosions of detected landmines as well as ordinance, a legacy of the country's three decades of war. (Source: Reuters)
A daily, open source, around the world tour of international security-related news.
By Professor Joseph B. Varner
Global War on Terror
Al Qaeda's media wing says the terrorist network's No. 2 leader will soon issue a message marking the anniversary of the start of the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. The announcement by al-Sahab media group is posted on a Web site that commonly carries Islamic militant messages. It doesn't say whether the promised statement by Ayman al-Zawahri, who is Osama bin Laden's deputy, will be in audio or video format. Al Qaeda's messages typically appear within 72 hours of announcement. (Source: Washington Post)
A daily, open source, around the world tour of international security-related news.
By Professor Joseph B. Varner
Global War on Terror
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A daily, open source, around the world tour of international security-related news.
By Professor Joseph B. Varner
Global War on Terror
A suicide bomber blew him self up as an Afghan army convoy slowed to pass a pothole-riddled section of road Friday in eastern Afghanistan, killing four soldiers and a child.
Four other soldiers were wounded in the attack, about eight miles west of Khost city, said Defense Ministry spokesman Zahir Azimi. Suicide bombers frequently target military convoys, but civilian passers-by are often killed in such attacks. In eastern Kunar province, meanwhile, deputy police chief Abdul Sabor Allayer said a rocket hit a schoolyard on Wednesday in Asmor district, killing one student and wounding four others. The victims were between eight and 14 years old. Afghanistan's Education Minister said earlier this year that the number of students and teachers killed in Taliban attacks spiked in the past year in a campaign to close schools and force teenage boys to join the Islamic militia. UNICEF says 236 school-related attacks occurred last year.
A daily, open source, around the world tour of international security-related news.
By Professor Joseph B. Varner
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Global War on Terror
Pakistan's new government has signed a peace deal with pro-Taliban militants, in what some U.S. officials call a "victory for Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda." Under the terms of the 15-point plan, signed Wednesday in the city of Peshawar, the Pakistani army will withdraw thousands of troops deployed to the Swat Valley region, an area where officials believe local Taliban militants are hiding. The militants have promised to stop suicide bomb attacks and hand over any foreign militants, according to Bashir Bilour, a senior minister of Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province. (Source: ABC)
A daily, open source, around the world tour of international security-related news.
By Professor Joseph B. Varner
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Global War on Terror
The two latest messages believed to be from Osama Bin Laden emphasize the centrality of a struggle against Israel and raise the question as to why he did not concentrate on Iraq. Perhaps the shift from Iraq to the "Palestinian question" is meant to attract support, leading to a theory among some Western intelligence analysts that Al Qaeda accepts that it is in trouble in Iraq. Nigel Inkster, Director of Transnational Threats and Political Risk at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London said, “Al-Qaeda could now be preparing its followers for a strategic failure in Iraq. It therefore needs a rallying cry and Palestine is a no-brainer. There is some evidence that support for Osama Bin Laden has been dropping in the Arab world because of revulsion about Al Qaeda behavior and especially the killing of Muslims. On the other hand, there is still an appetite and ambition to engage in terrorism spectaculars in Western Europe and the U.S., though the capacity might not match the ambition. But they only have to be lucky once." (Source: BBC News)
A daily, open source, around the world tour of international security-related news.
By Professor Joseph B. Varner
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A provincial governor says a roadside blast has killed five nomads and dozens of sheep in southwestern Afghanistan. The Nimroz province Governor Ghulam Dastagir says the nomads were transporting sheep on a truck when their vehicle hit the freshly planted bomb late on Monday. Dastagir accused Taliban militants for the blast. It happened on the road frequently used by Afghan and foreign troops. More than 1,200 people, mostly militants, have died in insurgency-related violence in Afghanistan this year.
A daily, open source, around the world tour of international security-related news.
By Professor Joseph B. Varner
Global War on Terror
A U.N. rights official has alleged that foreign intelligence agents have taken part in secret raids in Afghanistan that have killed civilians. U.N. special rapporteur Philip Alston told reporters Thursday he is aware of at least three such recent raids in the country's south and east. He said no one was taking responsibility for the killings. He said one raid in January that killed two Afghan brothers was conducted by Afghans and personnel from a U.S. Special Forces base in Kandahar. (Source: Globe and Mail)
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Dozens of protesters blocked a road Saturday in eastern Afghanistan, claiming U.S.-led coalition forces killed three civilians, and a local official said police fatally shot one of the protesters and injured three of them. Villagers from the area carried three bodies to a major highway during the protest. Police allegedly opened fire, killing one and wounding three. The coalition said its troops were attacked Friday while searching compounds in the Shinwar district of Nangarhar province. "Several militants were killed" and nine insurgents were arrested, the coalition said in a statement Saturday. The coalition said the operation was targeting a "foreign fighter network" and that militants in the area had recently attacked coalition forces. The troops destroyed several automatic rifles, grenades and ammunition discovered in the compounds. (Source: AP)
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A recent upsurge in piracy in waters near Somalia, with 31 ships seized in 2007, has led the International Maritime Bureau to advise merchant ships against approaching closer than 200 nautical miles from the country's coast. The acts of piracy have been criminal in nature and have garnered pirates handsome sums of ransom money for their efforts.
Continue reading "Somali Waters: When Will Kidnapping for Profit Lead to Kidnapping for Jihad? " »
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By Professor Joseph B. Varner
Global War on Terror
A suicide bomber in a car blew himself up close to a convoy of foreign troops in Kabul on Thursday, but instead wounded three civilians. The bomber in a white Toyota Corolla vehicle died in the blast, which happened in the capital's western outskirts shortly after a convoy carrying foreign troops passed by, said a regional police chief Zulmay Khan.
Three civilians, including a woman and two men, were wounded in the blast. There were no reports of casualties among those in the convoy. (Source: AP)
A daily, open source, around the world tour of international security-related news.
By Professor Joseph B. Varner
A daily, open source, around the world tour of international security-related news.
By Professor Joseph B. Varner
A daily, open source, around the world tour of international security-related news.
By Professor Joseph B. Varner
A daily, open source, around the world tour of international security-related news.
By Professor Joseph B. Varner
A daily, open source, around the world tour of international security-related news.
By Professor Joseph B. Varner
A daily, open source, around the world tour of international security-related news.
By Professor Joseph B. Varner
A daily, open source, around the world tour of international security-related news.
By Professor Joseph B. Varner
A daily, open source, around the world tour of international security-related news.
By Professor Joseph B. Varner
A daily, open source, around the world tour of international security-related news.
By Professor Joseph B. Varner
A daily, open source, around the world tour of international security-related news.
By Professor Joseph B. Varner
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