March 1, 2014 (PAKISTAN): Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan announced a one-month cease-fire aimed at restarting failed peace talks with the Pakistani government. The following day, on March 2, the Pakistani government announced a cessation of air strikes against the Pakistani Taliban in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. – Reuters, March 1
March 2, 2014 (AFGHANISTAN): Afghan officials announced that a number of Taliban insurgents escaped from Sarposa Prison in Kandahar on February 25. According to the officials, someone altered an official document, allowing at least 10 prisoners to leave the prison freely. The New York Times stated that “the escapees were believed to be among the most prominent insurgents being held at Sarposa on terrorism charges, followers of a particularly notorious Taliban commander, Mullah Dad Mohammad Munib, who specialized in orchestrating assassinations and suicide bombings.” The Afghan Taliban claimed that 23 inmates escaped. – New York Times, March 2
March 3, 2014 (GLOBAL): Rob Wainwright, the head of Europol, warned that “multiple thousands” of young men may have traveled to Syria as foreign fighters for militant groups linked to al-Qa`ida. – Telegraph, March 3
March 3, 2014 (PAKISTAN): Militants attacked a court building in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, killing 11 people, including a judge. The attack began with gunfire, followed by two suicide bombings. It marked the first suicide bombing in Islamabad since June 2011. Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, which announced a one-month cease-fire on March 1, denied any involvement in the attack. Instead, Ahrar-ul-Hind, a group that recently split from the TTP, claimed responsibility. – AFP, March 3
March 3, 2014 (YEMEN): Suspected fighters from al-Qa`ida in the Arabian Peninsula ambushed a Yemeni military convoy, killing seven soldiers. – AP, March 3
March 4, 2014 (GLOBAL): General David Rodriguez, the head of U.S. Africa Command, said that North Africa provides a “significant source of foreign fighters” involved in the war in Syria. “Terrorists are learning their trade abroad [in Syria], returning to their countries with hard-earned skills that increase their lethality,” Rodriguez said in testimony soon to be presented to the House Armed Services Committee. – Bloomberg, March 4
March 4, 2014 (FRANCE): A Paris court found Romain Letellier guilty of “apology for terrorism” for his role in publishing al-Qa`ida propaganda translated into French on the internet. He was sentenced to a year in prison. Letellier, also known as Abou Siyad al-Normandy, is a 27-year-old convert to Islam. He was the first person in France to be charged under a new law directed at promoting and apologizing for terrorism. – Radio France Internationale, March 5
March 4, 2014 (SOMALIA): Al-Shabab announced on its Facebook page the recent execution of three men accused of spying for the U.S. or Somali governments. Al-Shabab is an affiliate of al-Qa`ida. – Voice of America, March 4
March 5, 2014 (IRAQ): Seven car bombs and two roadside bombs exploded in six primarily Shi`a areas in Baghdad, killing at least 14 people. – AFP, March 5
March 5, 2014 (PAKISTAN): A roadside bomb killed at least six Pakistani soldiers in Hangu District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province. – Reuters, March 5
March 6, 2014 (YEMEN): Al-Qa`ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) killed one of their own members and hung his body from a light post in Shahr, Hadramawt Province. AQAP accused the man of spying for the United States. – AP, March 6
March 6, 2014 (SYRIA): A car bomb tore through Homs, killing at least 15 people. The bomb exploded in a mostly Christian and Alawite area. – AFP, March 6
March 7, 2014 (SAUDI ARABIA): Saudi Arabia declared the Muslim Brotherhood, Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant as terrorist organizations. – Reuters, March 7
March 9, 2014 (IRAQ): A suicide bomber in an explosives-laden minibus killed at least 45 people in the largely Shi`a city of Hilla. – Reuters, March 9
March 10, 2014 (GLOBAL): Al-Qa`ida released an al-Sahab-produced video promising a new English-language magazine, known as Resurgence, that will seek to recruit and inspire Western jihadists to conduct attacks in their own countries. Although al-Qa`ida in the Arabian Peninsula already produces the English-language Inspire magazine, Resurgence will supposedly be produced by al-Qa`ida’s core leadership. As stated by the Telegraph, the new video “mixes graphics, images of George W. Bush and warplanes launching missiles with a speech by Malcolm X…in which he said: ‘You can’t ever reach a man if you don’t speak his language. If a man speaks the language of brute force, you can’t come to him with peace.’” The video ends with the message: “‘So fight in the way of Allah…’ Resurgence. Coming Soon…” – Telegraph, March 10
March 10, 2014 (AFGHANISTAN): The Taliban threatened to target Afghanistan’s upcoming presidential election on April 5, instructing its fighters to attack voters, polling staff and security forces. “It is the religious obligation of every Afghan to fulfill their duty by foiling the latest plot of the invaders that is guised in the grab of elections,” the Taliban’s statement said. – AFP, March 10
March 10, 2014 (SYRIA): Jabhat al-Nusra militants released a group of 13 Greek Orthodox nuns in exchange for dozens of women held in Syrian government prisons. The nuns were captured three months ago after militants overran a Christian village. Qatari and Lebanese officials mediated the prisoner exchange. Jabhat al-Nusra is an al-Qa`ida affiliate. – AP, March 10
March 11, 2014 (GLOBAL): Director of the Central Intelligence Agency John Brennan said that Nasir al-Wahayshi, the head of al-Qa`ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), has been appointed as al-Qa`ida’s second-in-command, under Ayman al-Zawahiri. Al-Wahayshi previously served as Usama bin Ladin’s personal secretary. – NBC News, March 14
March 11, 2014 (GLOBAL): According to the Associated Press, “A British man testifying in the terror trial of Osama bin Laden’s son-in-law [Sulaiman Abu Ghaith] said Tuesday that he flew on planes over the Middle East and Europe with explosives in a shoe after the Sept. 11 attacks but didn’t detonate them because he was saving the bomb for an attack over America.” The man, Saajid Badat, eventually backed out of his mission. – AP, March 11
March 11, 2014 (AFGHANISTAN): A Taliban splinter group shot to death Nils Horner, a Swedish-British journalist, on a street in Kabul while he was reporting on Afghanistan’s elections. The splinter group, Feday-e-Mahaz, was reportedly formed by loyalists of the late Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah. – AP, March 12
March 14, 2014 (PAKISTAN): A suicide bomber killed seven people in a suburb of Peshawar. – CNN, March 14
March 15, 2014 (SOMALIA): A car bomb exploded near a hotel popular with government officials and businessmen. The blast injured one person. – AFP, March 16
March 17, 2014 (UNITED STATES): Federal prosecutors announced the arrest of Nicholas Teausant of Acampo, California, after he allegedly spoke of wanting to bomb the Los Angeles subway system and attempting to travel to Syria to fight with Islamist extremists. The San Joaquin Delta Community College in Stockton student and member of the U.S. National Guard was arrested on a northbound Amtrak bus just short of the Canada border. – AP, March 17; KCRA, March 17
March 18, 2014 (AFGHANISTAN): A suicide bomber on a ricksaw detonated explosives outside a checkpoint at a market in Faryab Province, killing at least 13 civilians. – Guardian, March 18
March 18, 2014 (RUSSIA): The well-known Islamist website Kavkaz Center announced that Doku Umarov, the amir of the Caucasus Emirate, had been killed in the North Caucasus. Umarov had been fighting against the Russians in Chechnya since 1994. – Business Insider Australia, March 19
March 18, 2014 (YEMEN): A suicide bomber in an explosives-laden vehicle killed one person at a military intelligence headquarters near Aden in southern Yemen. – AFP, March 18
March 19, 2014 (UNITED STATES): Shelton Thomas Bell, of Florida, pleaded guilty to conspiring to travel to Yemen to join the al-Qa`ida-linked Ansar al-Shari`a group. He recruited an unnamed juvenile, but they were unable to reach Yemen. – Reuters, March 19
March 20, 2014 (GLOBAL): The new issue of Inspire magazine, which is published by al-Qa`ida in the Arabian Peninsula, called on individuals to detonate car bombs in cities of symbolic importance, such as Washington, D.C., New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and northern Virginia. The issue also encouraged individuals to detonate bombs in the United Kingdom, France and “other crusader countries.” – Newsweek, March 20
March 20, 2014 (AFGHANISTAN): Four Taliban gunmen opened fire inside the Serena Hotel in Kabul, killing nine people, including a reporter from Agence France-Presse and his wife and two children. The hotel is considered one of the most secure sites for civilians in Kabul. – Wall Street Journal, March 21
March 20, 2014 (IRAQ): A suicide bomber killed at least 12 people at a Baghdad café. – RFE/RL, March 20
March 22, 2014 (IRAQ): A roadside bomb exploded on a commercial street in Tikrit. When policemen arrived, a car bomb exploded in the same area. The blasts killed at least seven people. – RTTNews, March 22
March 23, 2014 (KENYA): Gunmen opened fire on worshippers at a church near Mombasa, killing two people. – Voice of America, March 23
March 24, 2014 (YEMEN): Suspected al-Qa`ida in the Arabian Peninsula militants attacked a security checkpoint in Hadramawt Province, killing at least 14 Yemeni soldiers. – AP, March 24
March 25, 2014 (UNITED STATES): Jose Pimentel was sentenced to 16 years in prison for attempting to conduct an al-Qa`ida-inspired homegrown terrorism campaign in the United States. Pimentel, 29-years-old, admitted trying to build pipe bombs to conduct terrorist attacks. – AP, March 25
March 25, 2014 (AFGHANISTAN): Two Taliban suicide bombers detonated explosives outside an election office on the outskirts of Kabul. Other militants subsequently stormed the facility. The gunmen, and two police officers, were killed. – CBS/AP, March 25
March 25, 2014 (NIGERIA): Two suicide bombers in an explosives-laden vehicle attacked a police patrol in Maiduguri, killing five policemen. – Reuters, March 26
March 26, 2014 (UNITED STATES): A jury in New York City convicted Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, Usama bin Ladin’s son-in-law, of conspiring to kill Americans. – National Public Radio, March 26
March 27, 2014 (IRAQ): Bombs tore through commercial areas of Baghdad, killing 26 people. – Canadian Press, March 27
March 28, 2014 (AFGHANISTAN): The Taliban attacked the offices of a U.S.-based charity in Kabul in a complex assault involving four gunmen and a suicide bomber in a vehicle. The charity, Roots of Peace, is involved in replacing minefields with vineyards. – Washington Post, March 28; al-Jazira, March 29
March 29, 2014 (AFGHANISTAN): Taliban militants attacked the headquarters of Afghanistan’s independent election commission in Kabul. There were no injuries reported. – Guardian, March 29
March 29, 2014 (LEBANON): A suicide bomber in an explosives-laden vehicle killed three Lebanese soldiers at an army checkpoint in the Bekaa Valley. – CNN, March 29
March 30, 2014 (IRAQ): Gunmen shot to death seven Iraqi soldiers at a security checkpoint in Mosul, Ninawa Province. – Voice of America, March 30
March 31, 2014 (GERMANY): Authorities arrested two people suspected of being current or former members of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. A third person was arrested for allegedly providing financial support to the terrorist group. – AP, March 31
