October 1, 2009 (GERMANY): German authorities arrested a 24-year-old man on suspicion of preparing explosive devices and posting al-Qa`ida propaganda on the internet. The suspect, identified as Adnan V., is a German and Turkish citizen and was arrested in the Frankfurt area. During two police raids connected to the arrest, a small amount of explosives and a possible detonator were found. Authorities also accuse the man of seeking contact with members or supporters of al-Qa`ida on the internet. – BBC, October 2; Voice of America, October 2
October 1, 2009 (SOMALIA): Heavy fighting broke out between rival Islamist factions in the Somali port city of Kismayo. Somali insurgent groups al-Shabab and Hisbul Islamiyya are fighting for control of the key town. – AFP, September 30
October 3, 2009 (AFGHANISTAN): Eight U.S. soldiers were killed during a Taliban attack on their combat outpost in the Kamdesh area of Nuristan Province in eastern Afghanistan. More than 100 Taliban fighters were killed during the ambush. – Washington Post, October 5; AFP, October 6
October 3, 2009 (IRAQ): Iraqi security officials announced the arrests of 140 suspected al-Qa`ida militants and other Sunni Arab fighters during a series of raids the past four days in Mosul, Ninawa Province. – Voice of America, October 3
October 4, 2009 (GLOBAL): Al-Qa`ida deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri appeared in a new video message vowing to kill more Westerners to avenge “crimes” against Muslims. – AFP, October 5
October 4, 2009 (PAKISTAN): The new leader of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Hakimullah Mehsud, met with journalists at an undisclosed location in Pakistan’s northwest. Hakimullah was flanked by Qari Waliur Rahman and Qari Hussain, two other senior Pakistani Taliban militants. Hakimullah promised to avenge the death of Baitullah Mehsud, the former TTP leader who was killed in a U.S. missile strike in August 2009. – BBC, October 5
October 5, 2009 (UNITED STATES): The U.S. government will not seek the death penalty in the case of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, who is awaiting trial in federal court in New York. Ghailani, an alleged al-Qa`ida member charged with involvement in the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, was indicted on a total of 286 charges, along with 224 separate counts of murder—one for each person killed in the embassy attacks. His case is scheduled for September 2010. – CNN, October 6
October 5, 2009 (PAKISTAN): A suicide bomber attacked a UN World Food Program office in Islamabad, killing three Pakistanis and an Iraqi national. The bomber was reportedly disguised as a Pakistani security officer. – The Australian, October 6; Chicago Tribune, October 6
October 5, 2009 (IRAQ): A suicide bomber detonated explosives in a funeral tent in the town of Haditha in Anbar Province. At least six people were killed. – Voice of America, October 5
October 6, 2009 (UNITED STATES): U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said that the arrests of Najibullah Zazi and two other suspects disrupted “one of the most serious terrorist threats to our country since September 11, 2001.” According to Holder, “This wasn’t merely an ‘aspirational’ plot with no chance of success. This plot was very serious and, had it not been disrupted, it could have resulted in the loss of American lives.” The plot was foiled in September 2009. – Wall Street Journal, October 6
October 6, 2009 (IRAQ): A car bomb exploded in a residential area in Amiriyya, Anbar Province. The bomb killed at least 11 people. – Los Angeles Times, October 7
October 6, 2009 (PHILIPPINES): Abu Sayyaf Group fighters attacked a major military base in Sulu Province in the southern Philippines. Philippine security forces repulsed the attack, and there were no reports of casualties. U.S. soldiers are stationed at the base. – Mindanao Examiner, October 7
October 7, 2009 (AFGHANISTAN): The Afghan Taliban reportedly released a statement on an Islamist website claiming that the group poses no threat to the West, but will continue to fight foreign forces in Afghanistan. “We had and have no plan of harming countries of the world, including those in Europe…our goal is the independence of the country and the building of an Islamic state,” the statement read. The statement comes on the eighth anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan that overthrew the Taliban from power. – Reuters, October 7
October 7, 2009 (AFGHANISTAN): U.S. and Afghan forces killed 17 Taliban fighters and seized 50 tons of opium in Kajaki district of Helmand Province. The drug seizure totaled five million dollars. U.S. and Afghan soldiers also destroyed 30 tons of fertilizer and destroyed a factory for making remote-controlled bombs. – AFP, October 7
October 7, 2009 (SOMALIA): Somalia’s two main insurgent groups—al-Shabab and Hisbul Islamiyya—agreed to a truce after days of clashes over territory. – Reuters, October 8
October 8, 2009 (GLOBAL): Senior al-Qa`ida operative Abu Yahya al-Libi released a new video statement calling for a holy war against the Chinese government for its treatment of Muslim ethnic Uighurs in the country’s western Xinjiang Province. Abu Yahya also called on Muslims to launch a media campaign to draw attention to “atheist Chinese colonization.” – Voice of America, October 8; AFP, October 8
October 8, 2009 (FRANCE): French police arrested two Algerian brothers suspected of having ties to al-Qa`ida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). They were arrested in the southeastern French town of Vienne. One of the suspects, Adlene Hicheur, worked on projects for the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Switzerland. Investigators allege that Adlene Hicheur, who is a physicist, had been in contact with operatives linked to AQIM and had expressed a “wish, a desire” to carry out a terrorist attack. According to CERN, “his work did not bring him into contact with anything that could be used for terrorism.” Adlene Hicheur’s brother was later released by authorities and is not being charged at this time. – Reuters, October 9; Telegraph, October 9; news.com.au, October 13
October 8, 2009 (AFGHANISTAN): A suicide bomber in a vehicle loaded with explosives killed 17 people outside the Indian Embassy in Kabul. According to the Indian foreign secretary, “the suicide bomber came up to the outside perimeter wall of the embassy with a car loaded with explosives obviously with the aim of targeting the embassy.” Authorities said that blast walls built since a bombing at the embassy in July 2008 deflected the force of the explosion. – Guardian, October 8; Bloomberg, October 8
October 8, 2009 (IRAQ): A roadside bomb wounded three Iraqi soldiers on patrol in Mosul, Ninawa Province. – Reuters, October 9
October 8, 2009 (SOMALIA): Somali police warned that Islamist insurgents were planning more suicide attacks on African Union troops using explosives-laden vehicles, including ambulances, police cars and motorcycles. – AFP, October 8
October 9, 2009 (AFGHANISTAN): According to a Boston Globe report, “Nearly all of the insurgents battling US and NATO troops in Afghanistan are not religiously motivated Taliban and Al Qaeda warriors, but a new generation of tribal fighters vying for control of territory, mineral wealth, and smuggling routes, according to summaries of new US intelligence reports.” – Boston Globe, October 9
October 9, 2009 (IRAQ): A bomb attached to a vehicle killed a Sunni imam and two others near Falluja, Anbar Province. – Reuters, October 9
October 9, 2009 (PAKISTAN): A car bomb killed 50 people in Peshawar, the capital of the North-West Frontier Province. The attack targeted the Khyber Bazaar. It was not immediately clear whether a suicide bomber was involved. – Bloomberg, October 9
October 9, 2009 (INDONESIA): Indonesian counterterrorism forces killed two brothers wanted for involvement in the July 17, 2009 Jakarta hotel bombings. The men—Syaifudin Zuhri bin Jaelani and Mohammed Syahrir—were killed during a raid on a militant hideout in Jakarta. Jaelani was educated in Yemen and is accused of recruiting the two suicide bombers who blew themselves up at the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels on July 17. Both men were allegedly accomplices of the slain Jemaah Islamiya terrorist leader Noordin Mohamed Top. – AFP, October 9
October 10, 2009 (PAKISTAN): Ten Pakistani Taliban militants dressed in army fatigues launched an assault on the military’s General Headquarters complex in Rawalpindi. The attack left approximately 23 people dead, including a brigadier, a colonel and nine of the militants. It lasted approximately 22 hours, and at one point the militants held more than 30 people hostage in the facility. – Washington Post, October 11; New York Times, October 12
October 11, 2009 (KENYA): Kenyan police arrested an American man in northern Kenya on suspicion that he was trying to enter an area of Somalia controlled by Islamist insurgents. – Reuters, October 12
October 12, 2009 (FRANCE): A French court charged Adlene Hicheur with membership in a terrorist group. Hicheur worked at one of the world’s leading nuclear research laboratories in Switzerland. He was arrested on October 8 in France. According to Deutsche Welle, “US intelligence had intercepted e-mails between [Hicheur] and people tied to the branch of al Qaeda in the Maghreb states of North Africa.” The report further stated that Hicheur’s terrorist plans “were apparently not connected with his work at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN).” – Deutsche Welle, October 13
October 12, 2009 (PAKISTAN): A suicide bomber in an explosives-laden car attacked a military vehicle in a crowded market in Shangla District of the North-West Frontier Province. The attack killed 41 people. – New York Times, October 12
October 13, 2009 (SAUDI ARABIA): Two suspected al-Qa`ida militants and a Saudi police officer were killed at a checkpoint in Saudi Arabia, 75 miles from the city of Jizan. The al-Qa`ida militants, who were both shot to death, were wearing vests packed with explosives. A third militant was arrested. Saudi Arabia’s Interior Ministry later said that the men entered Saudi Arabia from neighboring Yemen to carry out “an imminent criminal act.” – BBC, October 13; Bloomberg, October 18
October 14, 2009 (PHILIPPINES): Suspected Abu Sayyaf Group militants bombed a bridge and a communications relay tower in the southern Philippines. – Mindanao Examiner, October 17
October 15, 2009 (UNITED STATES): The U.S. Treasury Department froze the assets of Bekkay Harrach, a German man who is thought to be in Afghanistan or Pakistan. Harrach was also added to a United Nations list of people associated with al-Qa`ida, Usama bin Ladin and the Taliban. – Reuters, October 15
October 15, 2009 (IRAQ): A roadside bomb killed an Iraqi soldier in Baghdad. – Reuters, October 14
October 15, 2009 (PAKISTAN): Three teams of militants launched a coordinated assault in Lahore, the capital of Punjab Province. The first team attacked the regional headquarters of the Federal Investigation Agency. The second team attacked the Manawan Police Training School. The third team attacked the Elite Police Academy. The combined assaults killed more than 30 people. – BBC, October 15
October 15, 2009 (TURKEY): Turkey’s state-run news agency announced that Turkish security forces detained 32 suspected al-Qa`ida members believed to have been plotting attacks on NATO, U.S. and Israeli targets in the country. Some of the men were possibly trained in al-Qa`ida camps in Afghanistan. – Reuters, October 15
October 15, 2009 (LIBYA): The Libyan government released 88 repentant Islamic militants, some of whom belonged to the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, according to a government-funded human rights organization. – AP, October 15
October 16, 2009 (IRAQ): A suicide bomber killed nine people after attacking a Sunni mosque in Ninawa Province. – Reuters, October 16
October 16, 2009 (PAKISTAN): Two suicide attacks ripped through a police compound in Peshawar, the capital of the North-West Frontier Province. Thirteen people were killed. The attack reportedly involved a female suicide bomber on a motorbike and another suicide bomber in a vehicle. According to Agence France-Presse, “It was only the second suicide bomb attack by a woman in Pakistan.” – AFP, October 16
October 17, 2009 (IRAQ): A roadside bomb exploded next to an Iraqi Army patrol, killing four soldiers. The attack occurred near Falluja, Anbar Province. – Reuters, October 17
October 17, 2009 (IRAQ): A suicide bomber in a truck blew up a bridge in Ramadi, Anbar Province. – Reuters, October 17
October 17, 2009 (IRAQ): Gunmen opened fire on an Iraqi police checkpoint in Mosul, Ninawa Province. A child was killed and five civilians wounded. – Reuters, October 18
October 17, 2009 (PAKISTAN): Pakistan’s military launched a major offensive in South Waziristan Agency, the stronghold of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan. – Bloomberg, October 18
October 17, 2009 (YEMEN): Yemen’s state security court began trial for seven suspected al-Qa`ida members. The defendants are accused of forming an armed group to carry out criminal acts and target foreign tourists and Western interests in Yemen, in addition to targeting the government and security forces. – Saba, October 17
October 17, 2009 (PHILIPPINES): Suspected Abu Sayyaf Group militants partially blew up a bridge in Sulu Province in the southern Philippines. – Mindanao Examiner, October 17
October 18, 2009 (IRAQ): A car bomb killed five people in northern Baghdad’s Adhamiyya district. – Reuters, October 18
October 18, 2009 (IRAQ): A bomb attached to a motorcycle killed three people in northern Baghdad’s Adhamiyya district. – Reuters, October 18
October 18, 2009 (IRAN): A suicide bomber killed 15 members of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard Corps and more than 20 tribal leaders in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan. As many as 42 people may have been killed by the blast. Nourali Shoushtari, the deputy commander of the Guard’s ground forces, was among those killed. The incident marked the deadliest attack against Iran’s Islamic regime in more than two decades. Jundallah, a Pakistan-based Sunni militant group, was blamed for the bombing. – Washington Post, October 19; Australian Broadcasting Corporation, October 21
October 19, 2009 (THAILAND): A bomb exploded in a busy market in Yala Province, injuring 24 people. – UPI, October 19
October 20, 2009 (PAKISTAN): Two near-simultaneous suicide bombings struck the International Islamic University in Islamabad, killing five people. An academic building and a women’s cafeteria were targeted. – Los Angeles Times, October 21
October 20, 2009 (MALI): The United States is preparing to provide Mali’s army with military equipment to help the North African state fight against al-Qa`ida in the Islamic Maghreb. The equipment includes trucks, advanced communication devices and clothing. – BBC, October 20
October 21, 2009 (UNITED STATES): Authorities arrested Tarek Mehanna on charges of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists. Mehanna, a 27-year-old pharmacist living with his parents in the Boston suburbs, allegedly conspired to attack civilians at a shopping mall, U.S. soldiers overseas, and two members in the federal government’s executive branch. According to the New York Times, “The complaint filed on Wednesday also states that Mr. Mehanna and his associates traveled to Pakistan, Iraq, Syria and Yemen, seeking training from terrorist groups to fight against American soldiers. But the groups rejected them.” Mehanna is a U.S. citizen. – New York Times, October 21
October 21, 2009 (PAKISTAN): A suspected U.S. unmanned aerial vehicle killed a top al-Qa`ida explosives expert in North Waziristan Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. The operative, identified as Abu Ayyub al-Masri, was reportedly a member of al-Qa`ida’s military committee. – The Australian, October 23
October 21, 2009 (SOMALIA): Fighting erupted between two Somali Islamist insurgent groups in the southern port town of Kismayo. Fighters from al-Shabab and Hisbul Islamiyya clashed, although the number of casualties was not clear. It marked the second time in October that the two groups fought over Kismayo. The latest incident shattered an October 7 truce between the groups. – AFP, October 21
October 22, 2009 (IRAQ): A local police chief announced the arrests of six suspected al-Qa`ida members near Falluja, Anbar Province. – AP, October 22
October 22, 2009 (PAKISTAN): Suspected Pakistani Taliban militants assassinated a Pakistani brigadier amid heavy rush hour traffic in Islamabad. Two gunmen on motorbikes fired into Brigadier Moinuddin Haider’s army vehicle, killing him and another soldier. His driver was injured. – Guardian, October 22
October 23, 2009 (PAKISTAN): A suicide bomber targeted Pakistan’s Aeronautical Complex in Kamra, Punjab Province. The bomber detonated his explosives at the checkpoint to the entrance of the massive airbase, killing seven people. According to the New York Times, the facility is “the country’s main air force maintenance and research hub, where engineers and workers build and overhaul fighter jets and radar systems.” – New York Times, October 23
October 23, 2009 (LEBANON): A court in Lebanon convicted 11 men of having links to al-Qa`ida and of carrying out terrorist acts. The men, who were tried in absentia because they are still on the run, were sentenced to life in prison. They include six Palestinians, three Lebanese and two Syrians. – AP, October 24
October 24, 2009 (IRAQ): A suicide bomber killed a guard at a local political party office in Tikrit, Salah al-Din Province. – Reuters, October 24
October 24, 2009 (PAKISTAN): Pakistani military forces recaptured the strategic Kotkai town in South Waziristan Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. According to Reuters, the town “has changed hands three times since the army launched a major offensive on Taliban strongholds a week ago.” Kotkai is the birthplace of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan leader Hakimullah Mehsud. TTP operative Qari Hussain Mehsud is also from the town. – Reuters, October 24
October 25, 2009 (IRAQ): Two bombs ripped through Baghdad, killing 155 people. The explosions were the result of two suicide bombers driving explosives-packed cars. The bombers targeted the Justice Ministry and the Baghdad Provincial Council building. More than 500 people were injured. The Islamic State of Iraq claimed credit for the attacks. – Wall Street Journal, November 4; Bloomberg, October 27
October 25, 2009 (PAKISTAN): A suicide bomber in an explosives-laden vehicle killed a Pakistani policeman near the town of Lillah, which is approximately 87 miles south of Islamabad. The bomber detonated the explosives because a patrol officer wanted to inspect the vehicle. – AFP, October 24
October 27, 2009 (UNITED STATES): Federal prosecutors unsealed charges against two men allegedly involved in plotting a terrorist attack overseas. The men, David C. Headley (who changed his name three years ago from Daood Gilani) and Tahawwur Hussain Rana, are both in U.S. custody. Both men have been living in Chicago, and it is believed that Headley met with fighters from the Pakistani militant group Lashkar-i-Tayyiba, in addition to Ilyas Kashmiri, a jihadist operative. Authorities accuse the men of plotting to attack the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in retaliation for it printing editorial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in 2005. Headley was born in the United States but moved to Pakistan as a child. Rana was born in Pakistan, but became a Canadian citizen and lived in the Chicago area. Both men were schoolmates in Pakistan. – Washington Post, October 28; AP, October 27
October 27, 2009 (AFGHANISTAN): Seven U.S. soldiers in armored vehicles were killed during a patrol in Kandahar Province. – AP, October 27
October 27, 2009 (RUSSIA): A suicide bomber blew himself up in Grozny, killing one police officer. – RIA Novosti, October 30
October 28, 2009 (AFGHANISTAN): Afghan Taliban militants attacked a private guesthouse in central Kabul and killed five UN staff members, including an American. – CNN, November 1
October 28, 2009 (PAKISTAN): A powerful car bomb ripped through Peshawar, killing more than 100 people. The blast came just hours after the arrival of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Islamabad. – AFP, October 28
October 29, 2009 (UNITED STATES): A U.S. federal judge sentenced Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri to more than eight years in prison for his role in trying to aid al-Qa`ida in the United States. In May 2009, al-Marri admitted attending terrorist training camps from 1998 to 2001, meeting with Khalid Shaykh Muhammad, and to having “offered his services” to al-Qa`ida. Al-Marri has been in U.S. custody since December 2001. – New York Times, October 29
October 29, 2009 (AFGHANISTAN): In the wake of the October 28 attack that killed five UN staff members in Kabul, the United Nations began evacuating “non-essential” staff from the city. – TimesOnline, October 30
October 29, 2009 (IRAQ): Iraqi authorities announced the arrests of 61 police and army officials in charge of the Baghdad district where two bombs killed 155 people on October 25. The government also said that it would no longer allow television networks to broadcast live during the aftermath of a bombing. – Washington Post, October 30
October 29, 2009 (PAKISTAN): Pakistani authorities announced that they had found the passport of Said Bahaji, a close associate of Muhammad Atta, the lead hijacker in the September 11, 2001 attacks. Authorities found the passport during operations in South Waziristan Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. Bahaji is an alleged member of the Hamburg, Germany 9/11 cell. German police have been searching for Bahaji since 2001. – Wall Street Journal, October 30
October 29, 2009 (ISRAEL): A group calling itself the Battalions of Ziad Jarrah claimed responsibility for firing a rocket into northern Israel from Lebanon on October 27. – AP, October 29
October 30, 2009 (AFGHANISTAN): A suicide bomber targeted a vehicle carrying Afghan intelligence officers near Kandahar. The blast killed three officers. – New York Times, October 30
October 30, 2009 (AFGHANISTAN): South Korea announced that it would send troops and police officers to Afghanistan to help protect its aid workers. South Korea withdrew its 200 troops from Afghanistan two years ago. The plans for reinstating a deployment still have to be approved by parliament. – New York Times, October 31
October 30, 2009 (RUSSIA): A suicide bomber blew himself up after being surrounded by police in the Lenin district of Grozny. There were no other casualties. – RIA Novosti, October 30
October 31, 2009 (PAKISTAN): A roadside bomb killed seven paramilitary soldiers in Khyber Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. – AP, October 31
October 31, 2009 (PAKISTAN): Suspected Pakistani Taliban militants blew up a boys school in Bajaur Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. – AP, October 31
October 31, 2009 (PAKISTAN): Pakistani fighter jets bombed three Pakistani Taliban targets in Orakzai Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, killing at least eight militants. – AP, October 31
