July 1, 2010 (UNITED STATES): The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that government prosecutors must present evidence that an Algerian national, who has been held at Guantanamo Bay for more than eight years, was truly an al-Qa`ida member, otherwise he must be released. According to the Associated Press, the decision “has broad implications for the credibility of evidence the administration of President Barack Obama has presented to justify holding terror suspects without trial.” – AFP, July 3
July 1, 2010 (PAKISTAN): Two suicide bombers targeted the shrine of Data Ganj Baksh in Lahore, the capital of Punjab Province. The bombs killed at least 41 people. The site is considered Pakistan’s most important Sufi shrine. The Pakistani Taliban, however, publicly denied responsibility for the attack. – CBS News, July 1; New York Times, July 1
July 1, 2010 (YEMEN): Yemeni Political Security officer Saleh Amtheeb was assassinated in Zinjibar, Abyan Province. Authorities later apprehended four suspects, two of whom were al-Qa`ida members. – Saba, July 3; AFP, July 3
July 1, 2010 (SOMALIA): Somali and African Union troops launched an offensive against al-Shabab insurgents in Mogadishu. The insurgents have vowed to topple the government. – Wall Street Journal, July 2
July 1, 2010 (THAILAND): Muslim separatists killed five people in Narathiwat Province in southern Thailand. The fighters detonated a roadside bomb near a military vehicle and then opened fire. – Voice of America, July 2
July 2, 2010 (AFGHANISTAN): Taliban fighters, including multiple suicide bombers, stormed the compound of a U.S. aid group in Kunduz Province, killing at least two expatriate workers, a security guard and an Afghan police officer. All six of the Taliban assailants died in the attack. The killed expatriate workers were from Germany and the United Kingdom. – Los Angeles Times, July 3; Australian Broadcasting Corporation, July 2
July 2, 2010 (THAILAND): A roadside bomb killed three Thai soldiers in Yala Province in southern Thailand. – Voice of America, July 2
July 3, 2010 (PAKISTAN): Taliban fighters attacked a checkpoint in Upper Orakzai, located in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas. Security forces retaliated, killing four Taliban fighters. – Daily Times, July 4
July 4, 2010 (GERMANY): German police arrested a 24-year-old Syrian man, identified as Hussam S., who is accused of recruiting for al-Qa`ida on the internet. He is also suspected of operating a German-language internet forum to distribute Islamist literature. The man was arrested in the southwestern town of Montabaur in Rhineland-Palatinate. – Reuters, July 7
July 4, 2010 (IRAQ): A female suicide bomber killed at least four people in Ramadi, Anbar Province. The bomber, who wore an explosives vest, managed to slip through four checkpoints at the provincial governor’s compound. She detonated her explosives outside Governor Qassim Mohammed Abid’s office. The governor and his two deputies were not injured. – Washington Post, July 4
July 4, 2010 (PAKISTAN): Pakistani security forces reportedly killed a senior commander in the Pakistani Taliban, identified as Ameerullah Mehsud (also known as Qari Gud). The commander, who was killed in a shootout with soldiers in North Waziristan Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, carried a $234,000 bounty for his arrest or death. He is considered one of the founders of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan. – AFP, July 5; CNN, July 6
July 5, 2010 (PAKISTAN): A suicide squad of four militants attacked a paramilitary fort in Lower Dir District of the North-West Frontier Province. The militants, armed with car bombs and rockets, killed one soldier. All four of the fighters were killed. – AFP, July 4
July 5, 2010 (YEMEN): Yemeni soldiers and al-Qa`ida militants clashed in eastern Hadramawt Province. The militants killed two soldiers, while authorities apprehended two al-Qa`ida suspects. Another two al-Qa`ida suspects escaped. A third soldier later died of wounds sustained during the firefight. – Reuters, July 5; Reuters, July 6
July 5, 2010 (PHILIPPINES): Wu Xili, a Chinese shopkeeper held hostage by the Abu Sayyaf Group for nearly 19 months, was rescued by police. The rescue operation took place on Jolo Island in the southern Philippines. – AFP, July 5
July 7, 2010 (GLOBAL): Federal prosecutors in the United States revealed that the plot to bomb New York City’s subway system, which was foiled in September 2009, was directly related to a similar plot in Manchester in the United Kingdom. The Manchester plot involves Abid Naseer and Tariq ur Rehman, who were arrested by UK authorities in April 2009. U.S. authorities also allege that three senior al-Qa`ida operatives—Adnan Shukrijumah, Salah al-Somali and Rashid Rauf—organized the New York subway plot, recruiting Najibullah Zazi and two other men to conduct the attack. – Wall Street Journal, July 7
July 7, 2010 (UNITED STATES): Sudanese national Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al-Qosi pleaded guilty in a U.S. military court at Guantanamo Bay to conspiring with al-Qa`ida and providing material support to terrorism. Al-Qosi ran the kitchen and provided supplies at one of Usama bin Ladin’s compounds in Afghanistan. He has been held at Guantanamo Bay for more than eight years. The terms of his plea agreement were not disclosed. – Washington Post, July 8
July 7, 2010 (AFGHANISTAN): Gunmen shot to death Mohammad Gul, director of the intelligence department of Kabul’s counter-crime police branch. One of his bodyguards was also killed. – AFP, July 8
July 7, 2010 (IRAQ): A suicide bomber killed at least 28 people in northern Baghdad. The bomber targeted Shi`a pilgrims en route to the Imam Musa al-Kadhim mosque for a major festival. – RadioFreeEurope/Radio Liberty, July 7; New York Times, July 7
July 7, 2010 (YEMEN): A Yemeni court sentenced two al-Qa`ida members to death for their role in killing military and security officials. According to the Wall Street Journal, “The two men sentenced Wednesday were found guilty of ambushing and looting a military truck carrying weapons and of killing three soldiers, a policeman and a civilian during the subsequent pursuit in July 2009. The prosecution said they also attacked a convoy that killed two high-ranking police officials, including the director of political security, in November [2009].” They were identified as Mansour Daleel, who is 18-years-old, and Mubarak al-Shabwani, who is 23-years-old. – Wall Street Journal, July 8
July 8, 2010 (UNITED KINGDOM): A court convicted three Britons of plotting to kill hundreds of people in suicide bombings after being recruited by an al-Qa`ida-inspired cell. The men—Ibrahim Savant, Arafat Waheed Khan and Waheed Zaman—were part of the 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot that involved liquid explosives. According to Reuters, “Their conviction follows one of Britain’s biggest counter-terrorism investigations and a series of trials around a plot that prosecutors said could have been on the same scale as the 9/11 attacks.” On July 12, the men were sentenced to life in prison. – Reuters, July 8; BBC, July 12
July 8, 2010 (NORWAY): Authorities arrested three al-Qa`ida suspects in Norway and Germany, accused of planning terrorist attacks in Norway. The men arrested in Norway were identified as Mikael Davud, a 39-year-old ethnic Uighur with Norwegian citizenship, and David Jakobsen, a 31-year-old Uzbek with legal residency in Norway. The third man, who was arrested in Germany, was identified as Shawan Sadek Saeed Bujak, a 37-year-old Iraqi-Kurd who was on holiday in Duisburg. The plot is reportedly linked to the September 2009 New York City subway plot, as well as the April 2009 terrorist plot in Manchester in the United Kingdom. – Voice of America, July 8; Reuters, July 13
July 9, 2010 (IRAQ): A suicide bomber in a vehicle attacked an Iraqi Army checkpoint in western Baghdad, killing five people. Three of the dead were soldiers. – CNN, July 9; BBC, July 9
July 9, 2010 (PAKISTAN): A suicide bomber attacked a group of tribal elders in the administrative center of Mohmand Agency in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. More than 100 people were killed. The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility. – New York Times, July 9; Dawn, July 10
July 9, 2010 (PAKISTAN): Taliban fighters attacked an army patrol in Makeen district of South Waziristan Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. Three soldiers were killed. – AFP, July 10
July 10, 2010 (AFGHANISTAN): Insurgents overran a police checkpoint in Emam Saheb district of Kunduz Province, killing nine policemen. – Reuters, July 11
July 10, 2010 (AFGHANISTAN): A bomb killed the head of the police department in Qaleh Zaal district of Kunduz Province. – Reuters, July 11
July 10, 2010 (AFGHANISTAN): Five policemen were killed after hitting a roadside bomb in Badakhshan Province. – Reuters, July 11
July 11, 2010 (UGANDA): Two suicide bombers attacked crowds gathered to watch the World Cup final in Kampala, the capital of Uganda. The bombings, which were claimed by the al-Shabab militant group in Somalia, killed approximately 76 people. One attack targeted a rugby club filled with soccer fans, while the other bomber targeted a popular Ethiopian restaurant. At least one American was killed in the attacks. – ABC News, July 11; Washington Post, July 13
July 11, 2010 (NORTH AFRICA): Al-Qa`ida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) threatened to execute a French hostage in 15 days if the French government failed to meet its demands. The hostage has been identified as 78-year-old Michel Germaneau, who was seized in northern Niger in April. – Reuters, July 11
July 11, 2010 (PAKISTAN): Pakistani fighter jets and helicopter gunships attacked Taliban positions in Orakzai Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. Authorities allege that 22 Taliban fighters were killed in the strikes. – RTTNews, July 12
July 11, 2010 (YEMEN): Security forces arrested eight suspected al-Qa`ida fighters, including a Saudi fugitive, accused of plotting attacks against security facilities in Yemen. – al-Jazira, July 11
July 12, 2010 (RUSSIA): Russian security officials announced that they broke up a terrorist cell that was preparing female suicide bombers for attacks on major Russian cities. Authorities arrested six women, who had apparently already written “farewell letters” in anticipation of their impending attacks. The women were detained in the Muslim region of Dagestan. – New York Times, July 12
July 12, 2010 (AFGHANISTAN): According to a senior Afghan official, President Hamid Karzai is seeking the removal of 50 former Taliban officials from a UN terrorism blacklist with the goal of advancing political reconciliation talks with Taliban insurgents. – Washington Post, July 12
July 12, 2010 (AFGHANISTAN): The Afghan Defense Ministry said that 80% of Taliban bombs are made with ammonium nitrate and potassium nitrate fertilizer. Before 2007, however, most bombs were constructed from ordnance leftover from the Soviet occupation of the country in the 1980s. – AFP, July 12
July 13, 2010 (AFGHANISTAN): Taliban fighters attacked a police unit headquarters in Kandahar city, killing three U.S. soldiers, five civilian Afghan employees and one Afghan policeman. As part of the attack, a suicide bomber in a vehicle detonated his explosives at the entrance to the Afghan National Civil Order Police. Immediately after, Taliban militants fired rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns at the facility. – Christian Science Monitor, July 14
July 13, 2010 (PAKISTAN): Pakistani police arrested 650 suspected militants in the North-West Frontier Province in response to the July 9 suicide attack that killed more than 100 people in Mohmand Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. The arrests took place in a three-day period. – AFP, July 13
July 13, 2010 (PAKISTAN): Taliban militants blew up a government-run middle school for boys in Bajaur Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. – Daily Times, July 14
July 14, 2010 (UNITED STATES): A video surfaced of Faisal Shahzad, who attempted to detonate a car bomb in New York City’s Times Square on May 1, describing his planned bombing as a “revenge attack.” In the video, Shahzad, who is in U.S. custody, dedicated his planned attack to Baitullah Mehsud and Abu Mus`ab al-Zarqawi, both of whom were killed by the United States. The video appears to have been filmed in Pakistan, and Shahzad is seen shaking hands with Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan leader Hakimullah Mehsud. – AOL News, July 14; Christian Science Monitor, July 15
July 14, 2010 (AFGHANISTAN): The Afghan government approved a program to establish local defense forces in the country. The program is similar to the Awakening Councils created by General David Petraeus in Iraq. According to the New York Times, “…the two programs would not be identical. Unlike the Iraqi units, the Afghan forces would not be composed of insurgents who had switched sides. They would be similar as a lightly armed, trained and, significantly, paid force in a nation starving for jobs.” – New York Times, July 14
July 14, 2010 (AFGHANISTAN): A roadside bomb killed four U.S. soldiers in southern Afghanistan. – Christian Science Monitor, July 14
July 14, 2010 (INDIA): India’s home secretary argued that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence was behind the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, in collaboration with Lashkar-i-Tayyiba. “The ISI has had a much more significant role to play (in the Mumbai attacks),” the official said. “It was not just a peripheral role. They were literally controlling and coordinating it (the attacks) from the beginning till the end.” According to Reuters, “His accusations are the strongest comments made by Indian officials since the attacks which brought the South Asian nuclear neighbours to the brink of war.” – Reuters, July 14
July 14, 2010 (YEMEN): Approximately 20 suspected al-Qa`ida fighters attacked a Yemeni intelligence agency in Zinjibar, located in Abyan Province. A policeman and two militants were killed in the incident. – Bloomberg, July 14
July 15, 2010 (AFGHANISTAN): NATO forces killed Mullah Akhtar, identified as a Taliban commander responsible for bringing foreign fighters from Iran into Afghanistan. He was killed in Farah Province. – CNN, July 16
July 15, 2010 (PAKISTAN): A suspected U.S. aerial drone killed at least two people in North Waziristan Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. – USA Today, July 15
July 15, 2010 (PAKISTAN): A suicide bomber detonated his explosives at a bus stop in Mingora, the main town of Swat District of the North-West Frontier Province. Five people were killed. Authorities believe that the bomber tried to target a security force convoy. – BBC, July 15; Reuters, July 15
July 15, 2010 (IRAN): Two suicide bombers detonated their explosives at a Shi`a mosque in Zahedan, located in Sistan-Baluchistan Province in southeastern Iran. The explosions killed at least 26 people at the Jamia mosque. The Sunni rebel group Jundallah reportedly claimed credit for the bombings, saying it was revenge for Iran’s execution of the group’s leader, Abdulmalek Rigi, on June 20. – BBC, July 16; AFP, July 15; New York Times, July 16
July 16, 2010 (UNITED STATES): The U.S. Treasury Department blacklisted Yemeni-American cleric Anwar al-`Awlaqi, identifying him as a “specially designated global terrorist.” – Reuters, July 16
July 16, 2010 (PAKISTAN): A bomb ripped through a used car market in Khyber Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, killing six people. – BBC, July 16
July 17, 2010 (PAKISTAN): Gunmen shot to death 16 Shi`a Muslims in the Sunni-dominated Charkhel area of Kurram Agency in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. The victims were ambushed as they headed to Peshawar in two passenger vehicles. – AFP, July 17
July 17, 2010 (PAKISTAN): Two bombs exploded at a congested market in Lahore, the capital of Punjab Province, killing six people. Both bombs struck internet cafes. – AFP, July 17
July 18, 2010 (GLOBAL): A senior U.S. law enforcement official told CNN that the author of the new online al-Qa`ida magazine, Inspire, may be U.S. citizen Samir Khan, who previously lived in North Carolina and left for Yemen in October 2009. Khan, who is 23-years-old, has previously been involved in radical Islamist blogs, and he once lived in the New York area. – CNN, July 18
July 18, 2010 (AFGHANISTAN): A suicide bomber killed three people near a market in eastern Kabul. – RTTNews, July 18; Washington Post, July 19
July 18, 2010 (AFGHANISTAN): Taliban fighters blew up the gate to a jail and freed 23 insurgents in Farah Province. – Reuters, July 18
July 18, 2010 (IRAQ): Two suicide bombers killed at least 50 people in southwestern Baghdad. The bombers targeted members of a government-backed Sunni militia who were waiting to receive their paychecks outside a military base. – BBC, July 18; Los Angeles Times, July 19
July 18, 2010 (PAKISTAN): A suicide bomber detonated his explosives at a Shi`a mosque in Sargodha, Punjab Province, wounding at least 15 people. – Reuters, July 18
July 19, 2010 (GLOBAL): Al-Qa`ida second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri purportedly released a new audio message, promising al-Qa`ida’s followers victory in Afghanistan and Iraq. Al-Zawahiri also said that the battle to liberate Jerusalem will eventually occur. – CNN, July 20
July 19, 2010 (IRAQ): A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a convoy of armored SUVs in Mosul, Ninawa Province, killing one British security contractor. – Guardian, July 19
July 20, 2010 (GLOBAL): The United Nations blacklisted Yemeni-American cleric Anwar al-`Awlaqi, identifying him as an al-Qa`ida operative. – Reuters, July 20
July 20, 2010 (UNITED KINGDOM): Eliza Manningham-Buller, the former head of MI5, harshly criticized the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, saying “we gave Osama bin Laden his Iraqi jihad, so that he was able to move into Iraq in a way that he was not before.” Manningham-Buller, who was the head of MI5 from 2002-2007, also said, “Our involvement in Iraq radicalized, for want of a better word, a whole generation of young people—not a whole generation, a few among a generation—who saw our involvement in Iraq, on top of our involvement in Afghanistan, as being an attack on Islam.” – Christian Science Monitor, July 21
July 20, 2010 (AFGHANISTAN): Taliban fighters beheaded six Afghan police officers in Baghlan Province. The Taliban denied that they beheaded the officers. – al-Jazira, July 21; AFP, July 21
July 20, 2010 (PAKISTAN): Five militants attacked a military training center in Mardan, located in Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province. As the fighters tried to enter the training facility, security forces opened fire, killing all five assailants. Three of the fighters wore suicide bomb vests. Four soldiers were wounded. – AFP, July 19
July 21, 2010 (UNITED STATES): U.S. authorities arrested Zachary Adam Chesser on charges of providing support to the al-Shabab terrorist group in Somalia. Chesser, who is from Fairfax County, Virginia, was turned away from a July 10 flight out of New York’s John F. Kennedy airport after he was told he was on a “no-fly” list. Chesser, who is 20-years-old, also reportedly told federal agents that he twice attempted to travel to Somalia to join al-Shabab. – Bloomberg, July 21
July 21, 2010 (MAURITANIA): A Mauritanian court sentenced Omar Sid’Ahmed Ould Hamma to 12 years in jail for kidnapping three Spanish aid workers and handing them over to al-Qa`ida. Hamma, a Malian national, was arrested by Mauritanian security forces in February. – AFP, July 21
July 21, 2010 (PHILIPPINES): U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns announced that U.S. troops will remain in the southern Philippines to help local security forces in their fight against Muslim extremists. According to Agence France-Presse, “About 500 US Special Forces troops train Filipino soldiers in Mindanao to combat militants from the Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group, which the United States lists as a terrorist organisation.” – AFP, July 21
July 22, 2010 (AFGHANISTAN): Two U.S. soldiers were killed in a helicopter crash in Helmand Province. NATO forces are investigating the cause of the crash, while the Taliban said they shot down the aircraft. – Los Angeles Times, July 23
July 22, 2010 (SOMALIA): Somali officials admitted that members of the country’s elite presidential guard had defected to the al-Shabab insurgent group. – New York Times, July 22
July 22, 2010 (MAURITANIA): Mauritanian commandos supported by the French military launched a raid on fighters belonging to al-Qa`ida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). The soldiers killed six AQIM members, while four militants managed to escape. Reports suggested that the goal of the operation was to free a 78-year-old French hostage, Michel Germaneau, a retired engineer who was kidnapped in neighboring Niger in April. Germaneau, however, was not found. – Washington Post, July 23; AFP, July 22
July 23, 2010 (AFGHANISTAN): Reports said that two U.S. soldiers were captured by Taliban fighters in Logar Province. Later, however, both soldiers were found dead. One of the soldiers appears to have been killed in the initial firefight. It was not immediately clear if the second soldier died from wounds sustained during the initial firefight, or if he was executed by Taliban fighters. – Los Angeles Times, July 30
July 24, 2010 (AFGHANISTAN): A roadside bomb killed four U.S. soldiers in southern Afghanistan. – BBC, July 24
July 24, 2010 (PAKISTAN): A U.S. aerial drone killed at least 16 militants in South Waziristan Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. – BBC, July 24
July 24, 2010 (NORTH AFRICA): Al-Qa`ida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) executed French national Michel Germaneau in revenge for the July 22 failed rescue raid by French and Mauritanian troops. – BBC, July 26
July 25, 2010 (IRAQ): New reports suggest that the Iraqi military arrested the minister of defense for the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), who has been identified as Saleem Khalid al-Zawbayi. Two other senior ISI leaders were also reportedly arrested. – Bloomberg, July 25
July 25, 2010 (PAKISTAN): A U.S. aerial drone strike left 10 suspected militants dead in the Shaktoi area of South Waziristan Agency in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. – BBC, July 26
July 25, 2010 (PAKISTAN): A U.S. aerial drone strike killed four suspected militants in Srarogha, located in South Waziristan Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. – BBC, July 26
July 25, 2010 (PAKISTAN): A U.S. aerial drone killed five suspected militants in Tabbi Tolkhel, located in North Waziristan Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. – BBC, July 26
July 25, 2010 (YEMEN): Al-Qa`ida fighters killed six Yemeni troops in Shabwa Province. – CNN, July 26
July 25, 2010 (ALGERIA): A suicide bomber in a vehicle attacked members of the Algerian National Gendarmerie in Tizi Ouzou, killing one person. Al-Qa`ida in the Islamic Maghreb later claimed credit for the attack. – al-Bawaba, July 25; AFP, July 29
July 26, 2010 (IRAQ): A suicide bomber in a vehicle attacked the Baghdad offices of al-Arabiya television, killing four people. The Islamic State of Iraq later took credit for the attack. – AFP, July 28
July 26, 2010 (PAKISTAN): A suicide bomber targeted a group of people mourning the death of a cabinet minister’s son who was murdered in a suspected Taliban attack. The suicide blast killed seven people. It occurred near Peshawar. – BBC, July 26
July 27, 2010 (GLOBAL): Al-Qa`ida second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri purportedly released a new audiotape, threatening more attacks in the United States and in the West. “Oh American people…We offered you a peace plan, and mutual benefit; but your governments were proud and haughty, and so the attacks against you followed one after another, everywhere—from Indonesia to Times Square, by way of Madrid and London,” the voice said. “And the attacks are ongoing, and more will come one after another.” – ABC News, July 27
July 27, 2010 (FRANCE): French Prime Minister Francois Fillon reacted to the recent execution of French hostage Michel Germaneau by al-Qa`ida in the Islamic Maghreb, stating that France is “at war with al-Qa`ida.” French President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed that the murder “will not go unpunished.” – Christian Science Monitor, July 27
July 28, 2010 (UNITED STATES): Madhatta Haipe, a Philippine citizen who was a founding member of the al-Qa`ida-linked Abu Sayyaf Group, pled guilty in a U.S. court to the 1995 kidnappings of 16 people, including four U.S. citizens. Haipe was extradited to the United States in 2009. – AFP, July 28
July 28, 2010 (AFGHANISTAN): A bomb ripped through a crowded bus in Nimroz Province, killing 25 civilians on board. – Los Angeles Times, July 28
July 29, 2010 (IRAQ): Gunmen launched a coordinated attack on Iraqi soldiers in a predominately Sunni Baghdad neighborhood, killing at least six of them. The gunmen also briefly erected the flag of the insurgent group al-Qa`ida in Iraq near the destroyed army checkpoint. – Washington Post, July 30
July 29, 2010 (PAKISTAN): A new poll released by the Pew Research Center showed that nearly six in 10 Pakistanis described the United States as an enemy, and only one in 10 called it a partner. – AP, July 29
July 30, 2010 (GLOBAL): The United Nations removed five members of the Taliban from its sanctions blacklist. According to Voice of America, “Afghan President Hamid Karzai had been calling for the removal of at least 10 former Taliban members from the blacklist, as part of a reintegration plan for Taliban fighters willing to lay down their weapons.” Two of those removed from the list are deceased. – Voice of America, July 30
July 30, 2010 (AFGHANISTAN): A bomb attached to a motorcycle exploded in Kandahar, killing a woman and a child. The target of the attack was a candidate in the country’s upcoming parliamentary elections, yet the candidate was unharmed. – News24.com, July 30
July 31, 2010 (AFGHANISTAN): A suicide bomber killed a former militia commander who supported the Afghan government, in addition to two other people, in northern Afghanistan’s Kunduz Province. – AP, July 31
July 31, 2010 (AFGHANISTAN): At least 66 U.S. troops died in Afghanistan in July, making it the deadliest month for American forces in the country since the intervention began in 2001. As stated by the Guardian, “US and NATO commanders had warned that casualties would rise as the international military force ramped up the war against the Taliban, especially in the organisation’s southern strongholds in Helmand and Kandahar provinces.” – Guardian, July 30; AP, July 31
