June 1, 2014 (PHILIPPINES): Philippine security forces arrested Miraji Bairullah (also known as Mahang), who was wanted for killing two U.S. servicemen in a roadside bomb on Jolo island in September 2009. Bairullah was believed to be a member of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). – Reuters, June 2
June 1, 2014 (NIGERIA): Suspected Boko Haram gunmen opened fire on a church service in the remote Attangara village in northeastern Nigeria, killing nine people. – Reuters, June 2
June 2, 2014 (AFGHANISTAN): A suicide bomber killed three Turkish construction workers in Nangarhar Province. – Washington Post, June 2
June 2, 2014 (TURKEY): Turkey listed Jabhat al-Nusra as a terrorist organization. The United States listed Jabhat al-Nusra as a terrorist organization in December 2012. – Hurriyet Daily News, June 3
June 2, 2014 (SAUDI ARABIA): Al-Qa`ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) said that they executed four men accused of putting electronic tracking chips in vehicles to help U.S. drone aircraft identify targets. According to Reuters, “The 28-minute video showed what AQAP said were four spies confessing that they had planted devices in vehicles which resulted in the deaths of AQAP fighters two years ago in the southern Shabwa Province.” – Reuters, June 2
June 2, 2014 (NIGERIA): Boko Haram militants wearing military uniforms reportedly killed at least 200 civilians in three villages in the Gwoza local government district in Borno State in northeastern Nigeria. As reported by the Associated Press, “The militants arrived in Toyota Hilux pickup trucks—commonly used by the military—and told the civilians they were soldiers ‘and we are here to protect you all,’ the same tactic used by the group when they kidnapped more than 300 girls from a school in the town of Chibok on April 15. After people gathered in the center on the orders of the militants, ‘they begin to shout Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar on top of their voices, then they begin to fire at the people continuously for a very long time until all that gathered were all dead,’ said the witness who didn’t want to be named for fear for his safety.” – AP, June 5
June 3, 2014 (IRAQ): A suicide bomber killed Mohammed Khamis Abu Risha, one of the leaders of Iraq’s pro-government Sunni tribal fighters, in Ramadi, Anbar Province. According to Reuters, he was “touring a checkpoint manned by his fighters in Ramadi when a suicide bomber hugged him, said one of his men. Four of Abu Risha’s bodyguards were killed in the blast.” He was the nephew of Ahmed Abu Risha, who is the formal leader of all pro-government Sunni fighters in Anbar Province. – Reuters, June 3
June 4, 2014 (GERMANY): German prosecutors brought terrorism charges against two Lebanese brothers and a German man who are accused of being involved with the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. According to the New York Times, “German authorities believe some 300 people have left Germany for Syria since the conflict began there, and the authorities worry that the dozen people who they say have returned radicalized pose a threat of increased terrorism. Officials have said those who have returned are capable of building bombs and carrying out attacks, although they have no indications of concrete plans.” – New York Times, June 4
June 4, 2014 (LIBYA): A suicide bomber in an explosives-laden vehicle tried to assassinate Khalifa Haftar, a rogue Libyan general who is leading an offensive against Islamist militias, in Benghazi. The explosion failed to injure Haftar. – AP, June 4
June 4, 2014 (IRAQ): A car bomb killed at least 14 people near a hospital in the predominately Shi`a Muslim city of Hilla. – Reuters, June 4
June 4, 2014 (PAKISTAN): A suicide bomber targeted a military vehicle near Islamabad, killing five people. Two senior army officers were among the dead. – AFP, June 4
June 5, 2014 (PAKISTAN): A suspected suicide bomber injured four people outside a mosque in Karachi. – The News International, June 5
June 6, 2014 (AFGHANISTAN): A suicide bomber targeted a convoy of vehicles carrying one of the candidates in Afghanistan’s presidential runoff election. The explosion killed six people, but the candidate, Abdullah Abdullah, was not injured. The attack occurred as Abdullah was traveling between hotels in Kabul. The Afghan government alleged that “an intelligence agency of a foreign country and LeT [Lashkar-i-Tayyiba]” were involved in the attack. – New York Times, June 6; Reuters, June 8
June 7, 2014 (IRAQ): At least 52 people were killed after a series of car bombs exploded across largely Shi`a neighborhoods in Baghdad. – Associated Press, June 7
June 7, 2014 (IRAQ): The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant entered a university in Ramadi, killing three policemen. The militants rounded up students and staff, but they were forced to withdraw after they came under attack by the Iraqi military. – Telegraph, June 7
June 8, 2014 (IRAQ): A suicide bomber parked an explosives-laden vehicle near the headquarters of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) party in Diyala Province. After the car bomb exploded, the bomber entered the PUK building and detonated his explosives vest. At least 18 people were killed. The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, which took responsibility for the attack, claimed that two suicide bombers were involved. – Reuters, June 8
June 8, 2014 (NIGERIA): A female suicide bomber killed a Nigerian soldier outside an army barracks in Gombe, located in northeastern Nigeria. – Reuters, June 8
June 8-9, 2014 (PAKISTAN): Approximately 10 gunmen disguised as police attacked a terminal at Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, Pakistan’s busiest airport. The five-hour siege killed at least 24 people. All 10 militants were also killed. Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility. – AP, June 8; CBS News, June 9
June 9, 2014 (IRAQ): The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which used to be part of al-Qa`ida, seized control of Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city. According to RFE/RL, Iraqi “officials said dozens of heavily armed insurgents seized the provincial capital’s headquarters, occupied police stations, overran the airport, and freed prisoners from jails. The governor of the northern province of Ninawa, Athil al-Nujaifi, said the military and police forces abandoned their positions.” Residents of the city said that black flags associated with jihadist groups were now flying from buildings in Mosul. – RFE/RL, June 10
June 9, 2014 (IRAQ): A roadside bomb exploded at a police checkpoint in Tuz Khurmato in northern Iraq. A suicide bomber then detonated an explosives-laden truck in the same location. The two blasts, which occurred near the office of President Jalal Talabani’s Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) party, killed 28 people. – Channel News Asia, June 9
June 9, 2014 (PAKISTAN): A suicide bomber rammed a truck into a military checkpoint in North Waziristan Agency in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, killing four soldiers. – The News International, June 10
June 10, 2014 (IRAQ): Two bombs exploded near a funeral procession in Ba`quba, Diyala Province, killing 20 people. – Independent, June 10
June 10, 2014 (PAKISTAN): Taliban militants attacked security forces at Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, the second time in two days. According to the New York Times, “the assault, in which at least two gunmen opened fire on a guard post at the airport perimeter, caused no casualties and ended with the gunmen fleeing into a nearby slum. By contrast, at least 36 people died in the first attack on Sunday [June 8], which lasted through the night.” – New York Times, June 10
June 11, 2014 (IRAQ): The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) took control of Tikrit, the hometown of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. The move comes just two days after the ISIL seized control of Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city. According to the Los Angeles Times, the ISIL has “pushed deeper into the heart of the country, threatening to create an extremist ‘proto-state’ in the Middle East, something that U.S. forces fought for eight years to prevent.” – Los Angeles Times, June 11
June 11, 2014 (IRAQ): The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant seized 49 Turks from the Turkish Consulate in Mosul, including special forces soldiers, diplomats and children. – Reuters, June 17
June 11, 2014 (IRAQ): A suicide bomber detonated explosives among a gathering of people inside a tent in Baghdad’s Shi`a slum of Sadr city, killing at least 16 people. – Reuters, June 11
June 11, 2014 (LIBYA): A suicide bomber in an explosives-laden vehicle attacked an army checkpoint outside Benghazi, wounding six people. The checkpoint was manned by fighters loyal to Khalifa Haftar, a rogue Libyan general who is leading an offensive against Islamist militias. – Chicago Tribune, June 11
June 11, 2014 (MALI): A car bomb killed four United Nations peacekeepers in the northern Malian town of Aguelhoc. As explained by Reuters, “Mali was thrown into chaos in 2012 when al-Qa`ida-linked Islamist fighters taking advantage of a military coup in the capital Bamako hijacked a Tuareg separatist rebellion to seize the West African nation’s desert north. A French-led military intervention pushed them back last year, but Islamist fighters are blamed for continuing sporadic violence, including attacks on vehicles with improvised landmines.” – Reuters, June 11
June 11, 2014 (PHILIPPINES): Philippine security forces arrested Khair Mundos, a senior Abu Sayyaf leader who was on a U.S. government terrorist list. – Sun Star, June 11
June 14-15, 2014 (LIBYA): U.S. Special Operations Forces apprehended Ahmed Abu Khatalla south of Benghazi, quickly transporting him out of Libya to a U.S. warship. Khatalla is accused of being a ringleader in the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi in September 2012 that killed four Americans. – Washington Post, June 17
June 15, 2014 (EGYPT): An Egyptian court began proceedings against 68 Islamists, including al-Qa`ida chief Ayman al-Zawahiri’s brother, on terrorism-related charges. Muhammad al-Zawahiri and the other defendants are accused of establishing a terrorist group to attack Egyptian security forces and members of the Christian minority, as well as other terrorist operations. – Gulf News, June 15
June 15, 2014 (IRAQ): A suicide bomber killed at least nine people outside a store selling army fatigues on a busy road near Tahrir Square in central Baghdad. – Independent, June 15
June 16, 2014 (SPAIN): Spanish police arrested eight suspected Islamist militants in Madrid. The militants are accused of recruiting and sending foreign fighters to join the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, which is fighting in Syria and Iraq. Spanish officials said that the leader of the cell had been detained in Afghanistan in 2001 and later held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay. – CNN, June 16
June 16, 2014 (IRAQ): The United States is sending up to 275 U.S. military personnel to Iraq to “provide support and security for U.S. personnel and the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.” The U.S. government also said that they might send approximately 100 special operations troops as well, to advise the Iraqi military as it fights against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. – Los Angeles Times, June 16
June 16, 2014 (IRAQ): The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) seized control of Tal Afar, the latest city in Iraq to fall to the militant group. As explained by the Los Angeles Times, “Over the last week, ISIL fighters have captured oil-rich Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, and seized Tikrit, Saddam Hussein’s hometown. Better equipped and numerically superior Iraqi army and police units abandoned their posts and fled. Other areas fell with a similar lack of resistance as ISIL fighters swept to within 50 miles of Baghdad.” – Los Angeles Times, June 16
June 17, 2014 (IRAQ): The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) forced Iraq’s largest oil refinery in Baiji to shut down. A senior engineer at the facility said, “Due to the recent attacks of militants by mortars, the refinery administration decided to evacuate foreign workers for their safety and also to completely shut down production units to avoid extensive damage that could result.” Shortly after the announcement, the ISIL laid siege to the refinery, targeting it with mortar shells. – CBS News, June 17; Los Angeles Times, June 18
June 17, 2014 (NIGERIA): A suicide bomber on a tricycle taxi targeted a World Cup viewing venue in Damaturu in northern Nigeria, killing at least 14 people. – Los Angeles Times, June 18
June 18, 2014 (UNITED STATES): Rahatul Ashikim Khan and Michael Todd Wolfe were arrested in Texas and separately charged with terrorism-related offenses. Khan, who was born in Bangladesh, allegedly wanted to join Somalia’s al-Shabab, while Wolfe, from Houston, wanted to fight in Syria. Khan became a U.S. citizen in 2002 and is a full-time student at the University of Texas-Austin. – ABC News, June 18
June 18, 2014 (IRAQ): Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari requested that the United States conduct airstrikes against Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants who have recently seized control of a number of cities in Iraq. – RFE/RL, June 18
June 19, 2014 (AFGHANISTAN): Four Taliban militants attacked a NATO post in eastern Afghanistan’s Nangarhar Province, reportedly damaging 37 NATO supply trucks. – Reuters, June 19
June 19, 2014 (PAKISTAN): A suicide bomber attacked the residence of an anti-Taliban militia leader, injuring five people. The incident occurred in the Matan Adezai area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province. – AFP, June 19
June 20, 2014 (AFGHANISTAN): An improvised explosive device killed three U.S. soldiers and a military dog in Helmand Province. – RFE/RL, June 21
June 20, 2014 (IRAQ): The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) reportedly seized control of al-Qaim, a border post on the Iraq-Syria frontier. As explained by Reuters, “Al-Qaim and its neighboring Syrian counterpart Albu Kamal are on a strategic supply route. A three-year-old civil war in Syria has left most of eastern Syria in the hands of Sunni militants, now including the Albu Kamal-Qaim crossing. The Albu Kamal gate [in Syria] is run by al-Qa`ida’s official Syria branch, the Nusra Front, which has clashed with ISIL but has sometimes agreed to localized truces when it suits both sides.” – Reuters, June 21
June 20, 2014 (SYRIA): The bullet-riddled bodies of three officers in the Free Syrian Army were found two days after they were kidnapped by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. – AFP, June 21
June 20, 2014 (LEBANON): A suicide bomber tried to assassinate Lebanese security chief Major General Abbas Ibrahim at a Lebanese security checkpoint in the eastern Bekaa Valley. Ibrahim was unharmed, but one security officer died in the blast. – al-Jazira, June 20
June 21, 2014 (AFGHANISTAN): A suicide bomber attacked High Peace Council adviser Mohammad Massom Stanikzai in western Kabul. The adviser was unharmed, but one civilian was killed in the blast. – Reuters, June 21
June 21, 2014 (CHINA): A suicide bomber in a vehicle reportedly drove into a police station in Kashgar in China’s contentious Xinjiang region. Police returned fire and killed a group of 13 Uighur separatists. – Australian, June 21
June 22, 2014 (IRAQ): The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) attacked rival opposition fighters in northern Syria, using U.S.-made military vehicles that they recently captured from neighboring Iraq. – Reuters, June 22
June 23, 2014 (NIGERIA): A bomb tore through a college campus in Kano, killing at least eight people. – Guardian, June 23
June 23, 2014 (UNITED ARAB EMIRATES): A court convicted six Arabs of forming an al-Qa`ida cell and raising money for Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qa`ida’s affiliate in Syria. They were sentenced to seven years in prison. – AFP, June 23
June 23, 2014 (TUNISIA): Tunisia’s interior minister said that at least 2,400 Tunisian jihadists are fighting in Syria, mostly on behalf of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. – AFP, June 24
June 23, 2014 (SOMALIA): The African Union said that Kenyan fighter jets attacked two al-Shabab bases in the Lower Jubba region of Somalia, killing at least 80 militants. It did not specify when the attacks were carried out. – Reuters, June 23
June 24, 2014 (SYRIA/IRAQ): U.S. officials said that the Syrian government launched airstrikes against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant in western Iraq. – AP, June 25
June 24, 2014 (LEBANON): A suicide bomber in an explosives-laden vehicle killed one security officer near a Lebanese army checkpoint in Beirut. The attack occurred in a mainly Shi`a area of the capital. – BBC, June 24
June 24, 2014 (PAKISTAN): A suicide bomber in a vehicle killed at least two soldiers and a civilian in Spinwam village of North Waziristan Agency in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. The militant group Ansar al-Mujahidin claimed responsibility. – AFP, June 24
June 25, 2014 (GLOBAL): The U.S. Treasury Department designated the finance chief and a senior public relations official with Lashkar-i-Tayyiba (LeT) as “global terrorists.” They were identified as Muhammad Hussein Gill and Nazir Ahmad Chaudhry, respectively. The U.S. government already recognizes the LeT as a foreign terrorist organization. – AFP, June 26
June 25, 2014 (SYRIA/IRAQ): Jabhat al-Nusra fighters in the Syrian border town of Albu Kamal pledged loyalty to the rival group the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). According to Reuters, “The central leadership of al-Qa`ida has disowned ISIL and proclaimed Jabhat al-Nusra as its official Syrian affiliate. Controlling parts of Syria’s Deir al-Zor Province, where Albu Kamal is located, could help ISIL link up its territorial gains across Syria and Iraq, where it overran the main northern city of Mosul on June 10.” In other parts of Syria, the two groups continue to clash. – Reuters, June 25
June 25, 2014 (IRAQ): A suicide bomber killed at least six people, including two Kurdish security personnel, in Kirkuk. – RFE/RL, July 26
June 25, 2014 (IRAQ): A suicide bomber detonated explosives at an outdoor market in the predominately Shi`a Mahmudiya area of Baghdad, killing 13 people. – AP, June 25
June 25, 2014 (LEBANON): A suicide bomber detonated explosives at the Duroy Hotel near the Saudi Embassy in Beirut, wounding three security officers. The bomber was reportedly a Saudi national. The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant claimed responsibility. – Reuters, June 26
June 25, 2014 (NIGERIA): A car bomb killed at least 21 people outside an upscale shopping mall in Abuja, the Nigerian capital. – Wall Street Journal, June 25
June 26, 2014 (PAKISTAN): The U.S. State Department listed the charity Jama`at-ud-Da`wa as a foreign terrorist organization. The charity is widely considered a front organization for the terrorist group Lashkar-i-Tayyiba. – Reuters, June 26
June 26, 2014 (YEMEN): Militants attacked an airport in the eastern Yemeni city of Sayun, killing at least one soldier. At approximately the same time, a suicide bomber drove an explosives-laden vehicle into an army base in Hadramawt Province, killing four Yemeni soldiers. – Reuters, June 26
June 26, 2014 (JORDAN): A Jordanian military court acquitted radical preacher Abu Qatada of terrorism charges over his alleged role in a 1999 plot to attack an American school in Amman. The court postponed its decision on an additional set of terrorism charges against Qatada, which involve plots in 2000 to attack Americans, Israelis and other Westerners in Jordan. – Globe and Mail, June 26
June 26, 2014 (PHILIPPINES): The United States will disband its anti-terrorism task force that was established in the Philippines more than 10 years ago. A U.S. official said that the United States would work with Filipino authorities to implement a transition plan that will ensure that “violent extremist organizations don’t regain a foothold in the southern Philippines.” – Slate, June 26
June 28, 2014 (IRAQ): An Iraqi military counteroffensive pushed the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) from the center of Tikrit, a city which fell to the ISIL on June 11. – New York Times, June 28
June 28, 2014 (YEMEN): Suspected al-Qa`ida in the Arabian Peninsula gunmen opened fire on an army position in Hadramawt Province, killing two soldiers. – AFP, June 28
June 29, 2014 (IRAQ/SYRIA): The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) declared itself an Islamic caliphate and called on Muslims everywhere to pledge their allegiance. The ISIL also announced that they have shortened their name to the “Islamic State,” and that their leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, is the new caliph. According to the statement, “It is incumbent upon all Muslims to pledge allegiance to [al-Baghdadi] and support him…The legality of all emirates, groups, states, and organizations, becomes null by the expansion of the khalifa’s authority and arrival of its troops to their areas.” – Reuters, June 29
June 30, 2014 (UNITED STATES): Sinh Vinh Ngo Nguyen, of Garden Grove, California, was sentenced to 13 years in federal prison for attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization. Nguyen had told an undercover FBI agent that he wanted to engage in jihad and planned to travel to Pakistan to train al-Qa`ida fighters. – AP, June 30
June 30, 2014 (UNITED STATES): The White House will send an additional 200 troops to Iraq to increase security at the U.S. Embassy and Baghdad’s international airport. The new deployment will also include helicopters and unmanned aerial drones. According to Voice of America, the troops “will join the 275 troops sent to protect the embassy earlier this month. These forces are separate from the up to 300 military advisers the president authorized to assist Iraq as it battles an invading army of jihadists that has taken over major cities and threatens the capital in Baghdad. The latest announcement will bring to nearly 800 the number of U.S. forces in Iraq.” – Voice of America, June 30
June 30, 2014 (IRAQ): The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant struck the perimeter of the al-Askari mosque, one of Shi`a Islam’s holiest shrines, in Samarra. A mortar round landed at the perimeter, killing a number of people. – Time, July 1
June 30, 2014 (SOMALIA): A car bomb ripped through a busy market in Mogadishu, killing two people. – Guardian, June 30
