April 1, 2014 (IRAQ): A suicide bomber targeted a military convoy in Tikrit, killing five Iraqi soldiers. – AP, April 1
April 2, 2014 (AFGHANISTAN): A suicide bomber wearing a military uniform attacked the Interior Ministry compound in Kabul, killing six police officers. – Time Magazine, April 2
April 2, 2014 (EGYPT): Two bombs exploded next to a police vehicle near Cairo University. A third bomb exploded more than two hours later in the same location while a forensics team was investigating the initial bombings. A senior police officer was killed. A little known-group called Ajnad Misr (Soldiers of Egypt) claimed responsibility. – Washington Post, April 2
April 2, 2014 (YEMEN): Al-Qa`ida in the Arabian Peninsula militants killed eight people in a rocket and car bomb attack on an army headquarters in Aden. – AFP, April 2
April 2, 2014 (KENYA): Unidentified militants assassinated Abubakar Shariff Ahmed (known as Makaburi), an extremist cleric supportive of al-Shabab, in Mombasa. – Mail Online, April 2
April 4, 2014 (GLOBAL): Al-Qa`ida chief Ayman al-Zawahiri released a new audio message calling on Islamist militants in Syria to end their infighting. He said that “sedition” is to blame for the killing of Abu Khalid al-Suri, al-Zawahiri’s representative in Syria who was assassinated in a suicide attack in February 2014. Al-Qa`ida’s affiliate in Syria, Jabhat al-Nusra, blamed al-Suri’s death on the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. – Voice of America, April 5
April 4, 2014 (AFGHANISTAN): A policeman fired on two veteran foreign journalists in Afghanistan’s Khost Province. Associated Press photographer Anja Niedringhaus was killed, while journalist Kathy Gannon was critically wounded. – Radio Australia, April 5
April 6, 2014 (PAKISTAN): Clashes between two Pakistani Taliban factions left at least 20 people dead along the border between North and South Waziristan. – The Nation, April 8
April 6, 2014 (EGYPT): Egyptian state media announced that authorities would charge Muhammad al-Zawahiri, al-Qa`ida chief Ayman al-Zawahiri’s brother, with setting up an “al-Qa`ida-linked terrorist group” that plotted attacks against security personnel, government installations, and members of Egypt’s Christian minority. Muhammad al-Zawahiri has been in Egyptian custody since August 2013. – Gulf News, April 6
April 6, 2014 (BAHRAIN): A homemade bomb exploded in a car in an area where many foreigners live in Manama, but there were no reports of casualties. – Reuters, April 7
April 7, 2014 (AFGHANISTAN): A suicide bomber in a minivan attacked a NATO convoy in Kandahar Province, although no one was seriously wounded. – AP, April 7
April 7, 2014 (AFGHANISTAN): A roadside bomb killed at least 15 people in Kandahar Province. – AP, April 7
April 7, 2014 (IRAQ): A suicide bomber in a vehicle attacked a police checkpoint near Samarra, killing five people. – AP, April 7
April 7, 2014 (SOMALIA): Two United Nations personnel were shot to death as they disembarked a plane at Galkayo Airport. The gunman was wearing a police uniform. – BBC, April 7
April 8, 2014 (LIBYA): The bullet-riddled body of Ali bin Taher, identified as the leader of the Islamic State Army, was found on a farm near Derna. Libyan authorities said that Taher’s group is suspected of involvement in a number of assassinations of policemen and judges. – AP, April 8
April 9, 2014 (PAKISTAN): A bomb killed at least 21 people at a fruit and vegetable market on the outskirts of Islamabad. Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan denied responsibility. – Wall Street Journal, April 9
April 10, 2014 (GREECE): A car bomb exploded outside a Bank of Greece building in Athens, although there were no injuries. – al-Jazira, April 10
April 11, 2014 (AFGHANISTAN): A suicide bomber killed a pro-government tribal elder in Jani Khil district of Paktia Province. – AP, April 11
April 12, 2014 (IRAQ): A car bomb exploded in Ba`quba, killing three people. – CNN, April 12
April 13, 2014 (IRAQ): A car bomb exploded near a joint Iraqi army and police patrol in a busy commercial area of Mosul, killing at least 10 people. – al-Jazira, April 13
April 14, 2014 (NIGERIA): Boko Haram militants kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls in Chibok, Borno State. – Daily Trust, April 16
April 14, 2014 (NIGERIA): A bomb killed at least 75 people at a crowded bus station on the outskirts of Abuja, the Nigerian capital. Boko Haram claimed responsibility. – Business Recorder, April 19; BBC, April 19
April 15, 2014 (YEMEN): Suspected al-Qa`ida in the Arabian Peninsula militants assassinated the governor of Bayda Province as he was heading to work. – al-Arabiya, April 15
April 16, 2014 (AFGHANISTAN): Taliban militants kidnapped a group of Afghan policemen who were traveling in civilian clothes in Wardak Province. The militants later claimed that they killed seven of them. – New York Times, April 16
April 16, 2014 (PAKISTAN): Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan said they were ending a six-week-old cease-fire with the Pakistani government. – New York Times, April 16
April 16, 2014 (YEMEN): A new jihadist video appeared on Islamist websites, showing a large gathering of al-Qa`ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) militants in Yemen. The video shows AQAP leader Nasir al-Wahayshi greeting more than 100 followers and saying “we must eliminate the cross…the bearer of the cross is America.” – CNN, April 16
April 18, 2014 (GLOBAL): A spokesman for the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, accused al-Qa`ida’s leaders of deviating from “the correct path” and betraying the jihadist cause. He further said that “al-Qa`ida today is no longer a base of jihad.” The ISIL, previously known as the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), was recently disowned by al-Qa`ida chief Ayman al-Zawahiri. – Daily Star, April 18
April 19, 2014 (YEMEN): A U.S. drone strike killed at least nine suspected members of al-Qa`ida in the Arabian Peninsula in Bayda Province. Three civilians also reportedly died in the strike. – AP, April 19
April 20, 2014 (YEMEN): Airstrikes killed approximately 25 suspected members of al-Qa`ida in the Arabian Peninsula in a rugged mountainous region in southern Yemen. – Voice of America, April 20
April 20, 2014 (IRAQ): A suicide bomber detonated explosives at the entrance to Kadhim University in Baghdad, killing five people. Police reportedly shot to death three other gunmen who were part of the attack. – RFE/RL, April 20
April 21, 2014 (SOMALIA): A bomb tore through the car of a Somali lawmaker in Mogadishu. The lawmaker, Isaak Mohammad Rinoco, was killed by the bomb, which was reportedly planted by Islamist militants. – Reuters, April 21
April 23, 2014 (NETHERLANDS): The Netherlands warned that militants returning to Europe from the Syrian battlefield pose a security threat. According to the Dutch intelligence agency, “at the end of 2013, dozens of Dutch jihadists have become habituated to extreme violence and have become radicalized in their intolerant and violent ideological orientation.” The agency also said that approximately 100 Dutch citizens had traveled to Syria to join the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant and Jabhat al-Nusra. Twenty of those fighters have returned to the Netherlands. – Reuters, April 23
April 23, 2014 (KENYA): A car bomb exploded outside a police station in Nairobi, killing four people. According to Reuters, “Kenya’s security forces are struggling to contain a surge in bomb and gun attacks that the authorities blame on the Somali Islamist militants [al-Shabab] who killed at least 67 people when they laid siege to Nairobi’s Westgate shopping mall in September.” – Reuters, April 23
April 24, 2014 (IRAQ): A suicide bomber in an explosives-laden vehicle attacked a police checkpoint at the entrance to Hilla, 60 miles south of Baghdad, killing at least 11 people. – AP, April 24
April 25, 2014 (AFGHANISTAN): The Afghan Taliban’s top military commander, Mullah Abdul Qayam Zakir, resigned due to health reasons. Some analysts viewed his resignation as a sign of major splits among the Taliban leadership. – Daily Beast, April 25
April 25, 2014 (IRAQ): A car bomb exploded at an election rally for a Shi`a political party in Baghdad. After the explosion, a suicide bomber attacked the site. The bombs killed at least 31 people. – AFP, April 25; CNN, April 25
April 26, 2014 (GLOBAL): Al-Qa`ida chief Ayman al-Zawahiri released a new audio statement calling on his followers to kidnap Westerners, particularly Americans, so that they could be used as bargaining chips to free jailed jihadists. – Reuters, April 26
April 27, 2014 (SYRIA): Iraqi army helicopters attacked a jihadist convoy in Syria close to the Iraqi border, killing at least eight people. The attack marked the first claimed airstrike inside Syria by Iraq since the start of the uprising against the Bashar al-Assad regime in March 2011. – al-Jazira, April 27; Guardian, April 27
April 28, 2014 (IRAQ): A suicide bomber detonated explosives in a Kurdish town in Diyala Province, killing 25 people. The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant claimed responsibility. – AP, April 28
April 29, 2014 (UNITED STATES): A Nigerian citizen pleaded guilty to providing material support to al-Qa`ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Lawal Olaniyi Babafemi allegedly traveled from Nigeria to Yemen twice to meet with AQAP leaders, and he reportedly worked on AQAP’s Inspire magazine. He was extradited to the United States from Nigeria. – News 24, April 30
April 29, 2014 (LIBYA): A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden minibus outside a Libyan army camp in Benghazi, killing two people. – Reuters, April 29
April 29, 2014 (SYRIA): The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) reportedly crucified two men in al-Raqqa, displaying their bodies in public. – Daily Beast, April 30; Fox News, April 29
April 29-30, 2014 (PHILIPPINES): Clashes between Philippine troops and the Abu Sayyaf Group in the southern Philippines left 14 militants and one soldier dead. – AP, April 29
April 30, 2014 (GLOBAL): The U.S. State Department released its annual report on terrorism. As stated by Voice of America, the report says that “losses in al-Qa`ida’s core leadership in Pakistan and Afghanistan have ‘accelerated’ the network’s decentralization. It says that has resulted in ‘more operationally autonomous’ and ‘more aggressive’ affiliates, notably in Yemen, Syria, Iraq, northwest Africa and Somalia.” – Voice of America, April 30
April 30, 2014 (SPAIN): Spanish authorities, with the help of French police, arrested Abdelmalek Tanem in the southern city of Almeria. Tanem, who is French-Algerian, is suspected of fighting for al-Qa`ida-linked militant groups in Syria. He is also accused of helping other Europeans cross the Turkey-Syria border to fight with the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant and Jabhat al-Nusra. – AFP, April 30
April 30, 2014 (NORTH AFRICA): Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a former leader in al-Qa`ida in the Islamic Maghreb, pledged allegiance to al-Qa`ida chief Ayman al-Zawahiri. – AFP, April 30
