Battle of Mogadishu

December 18, 2024 | Caleb Weiss |

Jihadi history: Kenyan detainee transferred out of Guantanamo shows the extent of Al Qaeda’s jihad in East Africa

The US Department of Defense (DoD) announced yesterday that longtime Guantanamo Bay detainee Mohammed Abdul Malik Bajabu was transferred to his native Kenya. The Ugandan-born Kenyan national...

November 1, 2023 | Caleb Weiss |

Shabaab claims several al-Qaeda leaders present during infamous ‘Black Hawk Down’ incident

In a newly released video – touted as a documentary by Shabaab – the Somali jihadi group claimed that as many as 10 al-Qaeda leaders and figures were present during the infamous ‘Black Hawk Down’...

February 9, 2012 | Bill Roggio, Thomas Joscelyn The Long War Journal

Shabaab Formally Joins al Qaeda

Shabaab and al Qaeda have announced their formal merger, according to a video disseminated online today and translated by the SITE Intelligence group. In the video, Mukhtar Abu al Zubayr (a.k.a....

June 15, 2011 | Human Events

The CIA and Al-Qaeda

In intelligence it’s not so much what you don’t know as what you won’t know. Al Qaeda was initially formed in 1988, when the Soviet Union announced the humiliating with...

June 13, 2011 | The Weekly Standard

While Pakistan Burns

Al Qaeda regroups in the tribal areas, the government falters. What is to be done?

August 25, 2008 | Bill Roggio The Long War Journal

Al Qaeda-linked Shabab in control of southern Somalia

Map of Shabab-controlled regions in southern and central Somalia. The red ovals indicate major cities and towns taken over by Shabab according to open source reports. The yellow boxes...

August 3, 2008 | Bill Roggio The Long War Journal

Al Qaeda’s East Africa operations chief escapes raid in Kenya

Fazul Abdullah Mohammed. Click to view. Senior al Qaeda leader Fazul Abdullah Mohammed escaped a raid in the resort town of Mandali in Kenyan, police stated. Kenyan police...

October 21, 2007 |

While Pakistan Burns


If there were any doubt about the reach of militants in Pakistan, last week's events should have put them to rest. The ostentatious procession celebrating the return home of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto was tragically cut short by twin bombs that killed over 130 and wounded several hundred more on Thursday night. The attackers almost succeeded in killing Bhutto as well. The blast shattered the windows in her vehicle and set a police escort car ablaze. The sophistication of the attack was apparent from the outset, and the bombs may have been accompanied by sniper fire.

July 25, 2007 | Dr. J. Peter Pham World Defense Review

Mired in Mogadishu

Two weeks ago a "national reconciliation congress" that Somalia's ineffectual "Transitional Federal Government" (TFG), under pressure from international donors who are its only means of supp...

July 8, 2007 |

Living History .. with the New York Times

“U.S. Aborted Raid on Qaeda Chiefs in Pakistan in ‘05.” So blared the top headline of Sunday’s New York Times. Breathlessly, correspondent Mark Mazzetti reported...

April 4, 2007 | Dr. J. Peter Pham World Defense Review

The Tipping Point in Somalia

In last week's column, I warned that the situation in Somalia has become untenable: while the country's nominal "Transitional Federal Government" (TFG) is nowhere to be found and the Ug...

March 28, 2007 | Dr. J. Peter Pham World Defense Review

Salvaging Security in Somalia

Two weeks ago in this space, I reported that the supporters of Somalia's defeated Islamic Courts Union (ICU) were reconstituting themselves as the "Popular Resistance Movement in the Land of...

March 24, 2004 | Clifford D. May Scripps Howard News Service

Blame Game: Who Took Terrorism Seriously Before 9/11?

Let's grant that Richard Clarke is correct in charging that the Bush administration did not appreciate the urgency of the terrorist threat in the eight months leading up to Sept. 11, 2001. B...

March 21, 2004 | Townhall

The Price of Spain’s Appeasement

The savage terror attack in Madrid was said to be Europe's 9-11. To many observers March 11 quickly became Spain's day of infamy. Instead, March 14, the day of the Spanish elections, ha...