November 1, 2013 (PAKISTAN): A U.S. drone strike killed Hakimullah Mehsud, the leader of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), in North Waziristan Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. – CBS/AP, November 1; AP, November 2
November 2, 2013 (MALI): Gunmen abducted and subsequently killed two French radio journalists in northern Mali. Al-Qa`ida in the Islamic Maghreb claimed responsibility. – Fox News, November 3; Daily Mail, November 2
November 3, 2013 (IRAQ): A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle outside the headquarters of a police battalion in Ba`quba, Diyala Province. A second suicide bomber also blew himself up, while a third suicide bomber managed to enter the compound and detonate his explosives at the entrance to the main building. The blasts killed three policemen. – AFP, November 3
November 3, 2013 (IRAQ): A suicide bomber in an explosives-laden vehicle killed two policemen at a checkpoint in Tal Afar, Ninawa Province. – AFP, November 3
November 3, 2013 (YEMEN): A car bomb seriously wounded a Yemeni intelligence officer in Aden. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. – AFP, November 3
November 3, 2013 (LIBYA): A car bomb killed a Libyan intelligence officer and his two-year-old son in Benghazi. – Daily Star, November 4
November 5, 2013 (AFGHANISTAN): A suicide bomber in an explosives-laden vehicle killed a British soldier east of Lashkar Gah in Helmand Province. – AP, November 5
November 6, 2013 (IRAQ): A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden oil tanker at a police station in Muqdadiyya, Diyala Province, killing five policemen. – AFP, November 6
November 7, 2013 (IRAQ): Gunmen entered the home of the leader of a local Awakening Council in Tikrit, killing him and five of his family members as they slept. – CNN, November 7
November 7, 2013 (IRAQ): A suicide bomber in a vehicle targeted the main entrance to a military base in Tarmiyya, 55 miles north of Baghdad. After the explosion, a suicide bomber on foot entered the base and detonated his explosives. The bombs killed at least 16 people. – CNN, November 7
November 7, 2013 (PAKISTAN): Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) elected Maulana Fazlullah as their new leader after the death of Hakimullah Mehsud in a U.S. drone strike on November 1. Fazlullah, considered a hardliner, was the head of the TTP’s Swat faction. – al-Jazira, November 7; New York Times, November 7
November 7, 2013 (YEMEN): Two suspected U.S. drone strikes killed five alleged al-Qa`ida in the Arabian Peninsula fighters in Abyan Province. – AP, November 8
November 8, 2013 (GLOBAL): Al-Qa`ida chief Ayman al-Zawahiri released a new audio message ordering the abolishment of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Al-Zawahiri said that Jabhat al-Nusra is the only al-Qa`ida representative fighting in Syria. The al-Qa`ida chief said that the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, “made a mistake” by creating the ISIL without al-Zawahiri’s permission. Al-Baghdadi continues to defy al-Zawahiri’s orders and still operates in Syria. – RFE/RL, November 8; AFP, November 8
November 8, 2013 (SOMALIA): A suspected car bomb exploded outside the popular Hotel Maka in Mogadishu, killing at least six people. – Reuters, November 8
November 10, 2013 (IRAQ): A suicide bomber detonated explosives in a line of Iraqi recruits waiting to enlist in the second army division in Mosul, Ninawa Province. The blast killed six people. – al-Jazira, November 10
November 10, 2013 (PAKISTAN): Nasiruddin Haqqani, a senior leader in the al-Qa`ida-linked Haqqani network, was shot to death by armed men riding a motorcycle on the outskirts of Islamabad. Nasiruddin was considered a key financier and emissary for the network. No one claimed responsibility for his killing. – AP, November 12; AP, November 11
November 11, 2013 (UNITED STATES): The U.S. government announced that a North Carolina man faces federal charges for attempting to join Jabhat al-Nusra, an al-Qa`ida-linked militant group fighting in Syria. The 29-year-old native of Pakistan, Basit Javed Sheikh, was arrested before boarding a flight to Lebanon on November 2. – AP, November 11; Mail Online, November 12
November 12, 2013 (FRANCE): French authorities arrested four men in the Paris region on charges of belonging to a jihadist network sending fighters to Syria. Three of the men were born in France, while one was born in Morocco. Agence France-Presse quoted an “informed source” who said that an estimated 440 people from France were either currently fighting in the Syrian conflict, planning to go and fight, or had already returned. – AFP, November 15
November 12, 2013 (AUSTRALIA): New video emerged showing a man claiming to be Australia’s first suicide bomber before he reportedly conducted an attack for Jabhat al-Nusra in Syria. – Radio Australia, November 12
November 13, 2013 (GLOBAL): The U.S. State Department designated the Nigerian militant groups Boko Haram and Ansaru as foreign terrorist organizations. – UPI, November 13
November 14, 2013 (IRAQ): A suicide bomber dressed in a police uniform killed 32 people in a Shi`a-majority area of Diyala Province. – AFP, November 14
November 16, 2013 (AFGHANISTAN): A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle near a camp where Afghan tribal leaders are scheduled to meet next week to discuss a security agreement with the United States. The explosion killed 13 people. – Wall Street Journal, November 17; UPI, November 16
November 16, 2013 (RUSSIA): Russian police killed five suspected militants, including the alleged mastermind of the October 21 suicide bombing of a bus in Volgograd, in the village of Semender. – RFE/RL, November 16
November 18, 2013 (ISRAEL): Court documents filed by Israel’s Justice Ministry revealed that the country has been holding suspected al-Qa`ida operative Samir al-Baraq for the past three years. Al-Baraq is allegedly an expert in biological warfare. He was arrested while trying to cross into Israel from Jordan in 2010. – Voice of America, November 18
November 19, 2013 (LEBANON): Two suicide bombers exploded outside the Iranian Embassy in Beirut, killing at least 23 people. The Abdullah Azzam Brigades, which is linked to al-Qa`ida, claimed responsibility for the attack. The group’s statement of responsibility said that “the operations in Lebanon will continue until two demands are met. The first is that Iran’s party [Hizb Allah] withdraws from Syria. The second is the release of our prisoners from Lebanon’s unjust jails.” – AFP, November 19
November 19, 2013 (SOMALIA): Fighters from al-Shabab attacked a police station in Beledweyne, killing at least 16 people. A suicide bomber in a vehicle blasted open an entrance to the compound, and then militants entered on foot spraying gunfire. – AFP, November 19
November 19, 2013 (YEMEN): A suspected U.S. drone strike killed three alleged militants belonging to al-Qa`ida in the Arabian Peninsula in Hadramawt Province. – al-Jazira, November 19
November 20, 2013 (EGYPT): A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into one of two buses carrying off-duty Egyptian soldiers in northern Sinai, killing 10 people. – AP, November 20
November 20, 2013 (PAKISTAN): A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a checkpoint in North Waziristan Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, killing at least two Pakistani security personnel. – Dawn, November 20
November 21, 2013 (IRAQ): A car bomb, hidden in a truck of vegetables, exploded in a crowded food market in Saadiya, Diyala Province, killing at least 30 people. – RTTNews, November 21
November 21, 2013 (PAKISTAN): A suspected U.S. drone strike killed a senior member of the Haqqani network in Hangu District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province. – Reuters, November 21
November 22, 2013 (PAKISTAN): Two bombs tore through a busy street in Karachi, killing at least seven people. Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility. – Dawn, November 23; The News International, November 23
November 23, 2013 (IRAQ): A car bomb, followed by a suicide bomber, killed at least nine people in a busy market near a Shi`a mosque in Tuz Khurmato, Salah al-Din Province. – Reuters, November 23
November 23, 2013 (IRAQ): A suicide bomber in a vehicle targeted a security checkpoint at an outdoor market in Tal Afar, Ninawa Province, killing at least five people. – CNN, November 23
November 26, 2013 (IRAQ): A suicide bomber killed at least seven soldiers at the entrance to an army base in Tarmiyya, north of Baghdad. – AFP, November 26
November 26, 2013 (SYRIA): A suicide bomber detonated a vehicle at a bus stop west of Damascus, killing at least 15 people. – Daily Star, November 26
November 27, 2013 (TURKEY): A Turkish Interior Ministry report said that approximately 500 Turks have crossed the border into Syria to fight with al-Qa`ida-linked jihadists of Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. – Dawn, November 28
November 28, 2013 (IRAQ): A series of car bombs exploded in a five minute period across Iraq, killing at least 30 people. – RFE/RL, November 28
November 29, 2013 (IRAQ): Iraqi authorities discovered the bodies of 18 men—including four policemen, an army major and two tribal chiefs—in farmland near Tarmiyya, north of Baghdad. All of the men had been shot in the head and chest. Similar incidents of violence occurred throughout Iraq, including in Salah al-Din Province where authorities found seven men with their throats slit. – AFP, November 29
November 29, 2013 (AFGHANISTAN): A suicide bomber who concealed explosives in his turban injured an Afghan lawmaker for Zabul Province in Kabul. – RFE/RL, November 29
November 29, 2013 (PAKISTAN): A suspected U.S. drone strike killed one militant in North Waziristan Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. – Voice of America, November 29
December 1, 2013 (IRAQ): A suicide bomber detonated explosives at a funeral in Muqdadiyya, Diyala Province, killing at least 10 people. – BBC, December 1
December 2, 2013 (AFGHANISTAN): A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle in front of a government office in Wardak Province, killing four Afghans. – CNN, December 2
December 2, 2013 (TURKEY): A Turkish newspaper reported that Turkey deported 1,100 European nationals who allegedly planned to cross the border this year to join al-Qa`ida-linked groups in Syria. – UPI, December 2
December 2, 2013 (NIGERIA): Boko Haram fighters attacked military and police facilities on the outskirts of Maiduguri. On December 12, Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau claimed responsibility for the attack, and he also warned that his group will attack the United States. – Voice of America, December 2; Voice of America, December 12
December 3, 2013 (AUSTRALIA): Authorities arrested two Sydney men on foreign incursion charges. One of the men was allegedly recruiting fighters for Syria and facilitating their travel, while the second man was preparing to travel to Syria. Authorities argued that the recruiter had already helped at least six other Australians travel to Syria to fight. – Australian, December 3
December 3, 2013 (IRAQ): A suicide bomber and a mortar attack on a government compound killed 10 people in Tarmiyya. – BBC, December 3
December 3, 2013 (SYRIA): A suicide bomber detonated explosives in central Damascus, killing four people. – CNN, December 3
December 3, 2013 (SOMALIA): Suspected al-Shabab militants attacked Somalia’s Intelligence and National Security Agency base in Mogadishu with anti-aircraft weapons and rocket-propelled grenades. – Garowe Online, December 4
December 5, 2013 (YEMEN): A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle at the gate to the Yemeni Defense Ministry. Gunmen in a separate vehicle entered the facility and opened fire on soldiers, doctors and nurses working at a hospital inside. Approximately 52 people were killed. According to Reuters, it marked Yemen’s “worst militant assault in 18 months.” Al-Qa`ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) claimed responsibility. On December 21, however, an AQAP senior leader apologized for the attack, saying that one of their fighters disobeyed orders and attacked the hospital attached to the Defense Ministry. – Reuters, December 5; Voice of America, December 6
December 5, 2013 (LIBYA): American schoolteacher Ronnie Smith was killed by unidentified gunmen while jogging in Benghazi. Smith worked at an English-language school in the city. – Los Angeles Times, December 5
December 6, 2013 (SOMALIA): A car bomb killed a Somali member of parliament outside the prime minister’s office in Mogadishu. – AFP, December 6
December 7, 2013 (IRAQ): Gunmen shot to death nine people at liquor stores in Baghdad. – AFP, December 7
December 10, 2013 (IRAQ): A suicide bomber killed 11 people at a Shi`a Muslim funeral in Ba`quba, Diyala Province. – Reuters, December 10
December 11, 2013 (AFGHANISTAN): A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle near a NATO convoy entering Kabul airport. There were no casualties. The Afghan Taliban claimed responsibility. – AFP, December 11
December 12, 2013 (KENYA): An unknown assailant threw a hand grenade at a van carrying British tourists in Mombasa. The grenade hit the window of the vehicle, but it failed to explode. – AP, December 12
December 12, 2013 (EGYPT): A car bomb exploded outside a central security forces camp in the Suez Canal city of Ismailia, killing one person. – Ahram Online, December 12
December 12, 2013 (PAKISTAN): A roadside bomb exploded next to a Pakistani military convoy in North Waziristan Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. Four soldiers were killed. Ansar al-Mujahidin claimed responsibility, saying it was in retaliation for a recent U.S. drone strike in Hangu District. – AFP, December 12
December 12, 2013 (YEMEN): A suspected U.S. drone strike killed at least 15 people in Bayda Province. Yemeni locals said that the missiles hit a convoy of vehicles traveling to a wedding party and that the dead were all civilians. Yemeni officials, who did not specify who conducted the airstrike, later said that the targets of the strike were senior al-Qa`ida leaders whose van hid in a civilian convoy. – AP, December 12; AP, December 14; Voice of America, December 14
December 13, 2013 (UNITED STATES): U.S. authorities arrested Terry Lee Loewen, of Kansas, for attempting to detonate a car bomb at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport. Loewen’s arrest was part of an FBI undercover investigation, and the “bomb” used by the defendant was inert. Authorities allege that Loewen, who worked at the airport, cited Usama bin Ladin and Anwar al-`Awlaqi as his inspirations. – Time Magazine, December 13; Telegraph, December 13
December 13, 2013 (IRAQ): Twenty-five suspects held on terrorism charges escaped from a prison north of Baghdad. Some of the men faced the death penalty. Two Iraqi guards were killed during the escape. – New York Times, December 13
December 13, 2013 (IRAQ): Gunmen surrounded a bus of Iranian oil workers and opened fire, killing 16 Iranians and three Iraqis. The incident occurred in Diyala Province. – New York Times, December 13
December 13, 2013 (SYRIA): Fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which is linked to al-Qa`ida, reportedly kidnapped at least 120 Kurdish civilians from a village near the border with Turkey in Aleppo Province. It was just the latest incident of the ISIL targeting Kurds. – al-Jazira, December 13
December 14, 2013 (MALI): A suicide bomber in an explosives-laden vehicle destroyed the only operating bank in Kidal, one day before a second round of parliamentary elections. The explosion also killed two Senegalese UN peacekeepers. – Reuters, December 14
December 16, 2013 (SWEDEN): Swedish authorities revealed that at least 75 people have left their country to fight in Syria since mid-2012. – Daily Times, December 16
December 16, 2013 (IRAQ): Two car bombs exploded in quick succession near a procession of Shi`a pilgrims in Baghdad, killing at least 27 people. – CNN, December 16
December 16, 2013 (NIGERIA): The United Nations said that Boko Haram has killed more than 1,200 people since a state of emergency was declared in the region in May 2013. – This Day, December 17
December 17, 2013 (LEBANON): A car bomb exploded near a Lebanese Hizb Allah base in Bekaa in eastern Lebanon. It was not immediately clear if a suicide bomber caused the explosion. Two Hizb Allah members were killed. – BBC, December 17; AFP, December 17; Daily Star, December 19
December 17, 2013 (PAKISTAN): A suicide bomber killed three people outside a Shi`a mosque in Rawalpindi. – al-Jazira, December 18
December 18, 2013 (GLOBAL): The U.S. State Department designated Mokhtar Belmokhtar’s al-Mulathamun Battalion as a foreign terrorist organization. Belmokhtar took credit for the attack on the In Amenas gas facility in Algeria in January 2013. – UPI, December 18
December 18, 2013 (SYRIA): In his first televised interview, the leader of the al-Qa`ida-linked Jabhat al-Nusra militant group in Syria, Abu Muhammad al-Julani, said that his group was not seeking to rule Syria, but that they would seek to ensure that the country is ruled by Shari`a (Islamic law). – Reuters, December 19
December 18, 2013 (PAKISTAN): A suicide bomber in an explosives-laden vehicle killed at least four Pakistani soldiers at a military checkpoint in the Mir Ali area of North Waziristan Agency. – The News International, December 18
December 18, 2013 (SOMALIA): Gunmen killed six people after attacking a convoy carrying doctors to a hospital near Mogadishu. Three Syrians were among the dead. – Voice of America, December 18
December 19, 2013 (IRAQ): A suicide bomber detonated explosives in a crowd of Shi`a pilgrims on the main road leading south from Baghdad to Karbala, killing 10 people. Another suicide bomber also targeted Shi`a pilgrims at a different location on the same road, killing 10 additional people. A third suicide bomber detonated explosives at a tent which had been set up to offer services for the pilgrims, killing 14 more people. – New York Times, December 19
December 20, 2013 (IRAQ): Two bombs tore through a sheep market in Tuz Khurmato, Salah al-Din Province, killing six people. – AP, December 20
December 21, 2013 (LEBANON): According to Lebanese press reports, Hizb Allah fighters ambushed and killed 32 Jabhat al-Nusra militants in east Lebanon. The Jabhat al-Nusra fighters were reportedly entering Lebanon through an illegal border crossing. – Daily Star, December 24
December 22, 2013 (LIBYA): A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden truck at an army checkpoint outside Benghazi, killing 13 Libyan soldiers. Although car bombs and assassinations occur relatively frequently in Benghazi, the suicide bombing marked a possible shift in tactics. – Reuters, December 23
December 23, 2013 (IRAQ): Multiple suicide bombers attacked an Iraqi television station headquarters in Tikrit, killing five journalists who worked for Salaheddin television. – AFP, December 23
December 24, 2013 (EGYPT): A suicide bomber attacked a security headquarters in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura, killing at least 15 people. Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis claimed responsibility. – NBC, December 24; AP, December 24; New York Times, December 24
December 25, 2013 (EGYPT): Egypt’s military government declared the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization. – AP, December 25
December 26, 2013 (EGYPT): A homemade bomb exploded near a bus in Cairo, injuring five passengers. – al-Jazira, December 30
December 26, 2013 (PAKISTAN): Warren Weinstein, an American contractor kidnapped from his home in Lahore in August 2011 by al-Qa`ida, appealed to U.S. President Barack Obama to help negotiate his release. – Voice of America, December 26
December 27, 2013 (UNITED STATES): Sinh Vinh Ngo Nguyen of Garden Grove, California, pleaded guilty to a federal terrorism charge after admitting that he tried to assist al-Qa`ida by providing weapons training. His sentencing date is scheduled for March 21, and he faces a maximum of 15 years in federal prison. – AP, December 27
December 27, 2013 (AFGHANISTAN): A suicide bomber in an explosives-laden vehicle attacked a NATO military convoy in Kabul, killing three NATO personnel, including an American. The Afghan Taliban claimed responsibility. – NBC, December 27
December 27, 2013 (LEBANON): A massive car bomb killed former Lebanese finance minister Mohamad Chatah in central Beirut. Chatah was an outspoken critic of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The blast killed five other people as well. – Voice of America, December 27
December 29, 2013 (RUSSIA): A female suicide bomber detonated explosives in the entrance hall of a Russian train station in Volgograd, killing at least 17 people. – Reuters, December 29; Bloomberg, December 30
December 29, 2013 (EGYPT): Militants remotely detonated a car bomb near the military intelligence building in Sharqiyya, injuring four people. The intelligence building was partially damaged by the blast. – al-Jazira, December 30
December 30, 2013 (RUSSIA): A suicide bomber detonated his explosives in a trolleybus during rush hour in Volgograd, killing at least 14 people. – Bloomberg, December 30
December 31, 2013 (YEMEN): A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle at a police headquarters in Aden. Militants then tried to force their way into the compound, but police prevented them from entering the building. At least three Yemeni soldiers were killed. Al-Qa`ida in the Arabian Peninsula claimed responsibility. – Reuters, December 31; AFP, December 31; Reuters, January 2
