April 1, 2013 (IRAQ): A suicide bomber in an explosive-laden truck attacked a police station in Tikrit, Salah al-Din Province, killing at least seven people. – RFE/RL, April 1
April 1, 2013 (IRAQ): Militants attacked the Korea Gas Company at the Akkas gas field in Anbar Province, killing at least three local workers and kidnapping two others. They then set the company’s camp on fire. The facility is located near the border with Syria. According to Reuters, “No group claimed responsibility for the late-night assault, but security officials say the local wing of al Qaeda, the Islamic State of Iraq, is regaining ground in the remote hills, caves and villages along the Syrian border.” – Reuters, April 1
April 2, 2013 (PAKISTAN): Dozens of militants attacked a major power station in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, shutting down electricity to half of Peshawar. The militants, who traveled to the facility from Darra Adam Khel, destroyed the entire grid station. According to a police official, “They entered the grid station and started setting ablaze each and every thing. They kidnapped nine people and killed five of them later and threw their bodies in the fields.” The militants killed a total of seven people. – Reuters, April 2
April 3, 2013 (AFGHANISTAN): Nine Afghan Taliban militants forced their way into an Afghan court in an attempt to free insurgents standing trial in Farah Province. The assault began with a car bomb at the entrance to the court. For the next seven hours, the militants battled security forces. All nine militants as well as 34 civilians, six army troops and four policemen were killed in the battle. – AFP, April 3
April 3, 2013 (PAKISTAN): Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants killed four Pakistani security personnel in Karachi, Sindh Province. The TTP, which claimed responsibility for the attack, fired on a van carrying paramilitary troops in Karachi’s Korangi neighborhood. Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city, is not within the TTP’s normal area of militant operations, although it has increasingly engaged in brazen operations in the city in the past year. – Dawn, April 3
April 5, 2013 (PAKISTAN): Pakistani security forces killed an alleged Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) commander, Naimatullah Mehsud, in the Sohrab Goth area of Karachi, Sindh Province. – Dawn, April 6
April 5, 2013 (THAILAND): A bomb killed two top provincial officials in southern Thailand’s Yala Province. Deputy Governor of Yala Province Issara Thongthawat and Yala’s permanent secretary responsible for security, Chavalit Krairisk, were both killed. – Straits Times, April 5
April 6, 2013 (AFGHANISTAN): A suicide bomber in a vehicle attacked a U.S. convoy near Qalat in Zabul Province, killing three U.S. soldiers, two U.S. civilians and three Afghans. The U.S. civilians worked for the State Department and the Defense Department. The Afghan Taliban claimed responsibility. Later reports, however, suggested that the five U.S. personnel were instead killed while on foot just outside the gate of the U.S. base in Qalat and not traveling in a vehicle convoy as originally reported. – New York Times, April 6; Guardian, April 11
April 6, 2013 (IRAQ): A suicide bomber killed 22 people in an election campaign tent for Sunni candidate Muthanna al-Jorani in Ba`quba, Diyala Province. Al-Jorani, however, escaped unharmed. – Reuters, April 6
April 7, 2013 (GLOBAL): Al-Qa`ida chief Ayman al-Zawahiri released a new audio statement, urging Muslims in Arab Spring countries to unite and establish an Islamic state. He told Syrian rebels to establish a “jihadist Islamic state,” saying that such a state would help to reestablish the caliphate. Al-Zawahiri also said that France would face “the same fate America met in Iraq and Afghanistan” in its military intervention in Mali. – RT, April 7; AFP, April 7
April 8, 2013 (SYRIA): A suicide bomber detonated a massive car bomb in a busy residential and financial district in Damascus, killing at least 15 people. – Dawn, April 8; AFP, April 8
April 9, 2013 (SYRIA/IRAQ): The Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), an al-Qa`ida front group, announced that it was merging with Syria’s Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian Salafi-jihadi rebel group that is at the forefront of the insurgency against the Bashar al-Assad regime. ISI chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi purportedly said that the ISI and Jabhat al-Nusra would now be known together as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. “It’s now time to declare in front of the people of the Levant and (the) world that the al-Nusra Front [Jabhat al-Nusra] is but an extension of the Islamic State of Iraq and part of it,” al-Baghdadi said. On April 10, however, Jabhat al-Nusra declared allegiance to al-Qa`ida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, but denied that they were merging with the ISI. – Reuters, April 9; Reuters, April 10
April 10, 2013 (SYRIA): Syria’s Jabhat al-Nusra, a Salafi-jihadi rebel group, pledged allegiance to al-Qa`ida chief Ayman al-Zawahiri. The group denied, however, that they had merged with the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI). Muhammad al-Jawlani, Jabhat al-Nusra’s leader, said that his group was not consulted before the April 9 announcement from ISI chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi that the two groups had merged. Al-Jawlani said that while his group has received assistance from the ISI, they will continue to operate under their own name with loyalty to al-Zawahiri. Al-Jawlani said, “The banner of the [al-Nusra] Front will remain the same, nothing will change about it even though we are proud of the banner of the (Islamic) State and of those who carry it.” – Reuters, April 10
April 10, 2013 (YEMEN): Said al-Shihri, the second-in-command of al-Qa`ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), purportedly released a new audio statement, criticizing Saudi Arabia’s policy of allowing the U.S. military to launch drone aircraft from Saudi territory. “They [Saudi Arabia] made it permissible with their bases and forces that planes launch to kill people of faith in Yemen,” al-Shihri said. “Instead of spending money to fight poverty and unemployment, and help Muslims defend themselves against enemies, it is spent to fight Muslims in every place.” On January 24, 2013, the Yemeni government announced that al-Shihri died of wounds sustained during a U.S. drone attack in November 2012. Al-Shihri’s latest statement, if verified, contradicts those prior claims. – Angola Press, April 11; AP, January 23
April 11, 2013 (TURKEY): Turkish police announced that al-Qa`ida planned to bomb the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, as well as a synagogue and other targets. Turkish authorities, however, foiled the plot after they dismantled two al-Qa`ida cells in February 2013. Turkish authorities arrested 12 people—two Chechens, two Azeris and eight Turks—as part of the operation. – UPI, April 12
April 11, 2013 (NIGERIA): Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau rejected the possibility of accepting any potential amnesty offered by the Nigerian government. According to Shekau, Boko Haram has not done anything wrong that would require an amnesty; instead, Shekau said, Boko Haram should be the one to offer the Nigerian government a pardon. – Voice of America, April 11
April 12, 2013 (AFGHANISTAN): Some 200 Taliban militants overran a remote Afghan Army outpost in eastern Afghanistan’s Kunar Province, killing all 13 soldiers assigned to the facility. The soldiers at the outpost were from the Afghan Army’s Third Battalion of the Second Brigade, one of only a handful of Afghan Army battalions designated by the U.S. military as able to operate independently and without foreign advisers. – New York Times, April 12
April 12, 2013 (MALI): A suicide bomber killed three Chadian soldiers at a market in Kidal. – Reuters, April 12
April 14, 2013 (PAKISTAN): Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants assassinated Mukarram Shah, a local leader of the anti-Taliban Awami National Party (ANP), in Swat. The TTP claimed responsibility, saying, “We have already announced we will attack ANP and other secular parties.” – Express Tribune, April 14
April 14, 2013 (SOMALIA): Nine al-Shabab suicide bombers attacked Mogadishu’s Supreme Court complex, in an attack that left at least five people dead. Six of the militants detonated suicide vests, while the other three were shot to death. The attack has been described as the most serious in Mogadishu since al-Shabab was forced out of the city in August 2011. – AP, April 14; Guardian, April 14; New York Times, April 14
April 14, 2013 (MALI): Chad’s president announced that he will withdraw Chadian troops from Mali because the “Chadian army does not have the skills to fight a shadowy, guerrilla-style war that is taking place in northern Mali…Our soldiers will return to Chad. They have accomplished their mission.” His decision came just two days after a suicide bomber killed three Chadian troops in Kidal. – Reuters, April 14
April 15, 2013 (UNITED STATES): Two explosions tore through the Boston Marathon, killing three people and injuring more than 200. One of the two suspects, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was killed in a firefight with police in the Boston suburb of Watertown on April 19, while authorities arrested the second suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, that night in the same suburb. The two suspects were brothers. Before his capture, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev reportedly wrote a note in which he claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack, saying it was retribution for U.S. military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq. “When you attack one Muslim, you attack all Muslims,” Dzhokhar Tsarnaev reportedly wrote. Tamerlan Tsarnaev was 26-years-old, while Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is 19-years-old. – Washington Post, April 23; Fox News, May 16
April 15, 2013 (UNITED STATES): A U.S. federal court sentenced two New Jersey men to prison for conspiring to join al-Shabab to wage a holy war against non-Muslims. Mohamed Alessa was sentenced to 22 years in prison, while Carlos Almonte received a 20-year prison sentence. Authorities arrested the two men at New York’s John F. Kennedy airport in June 2010 as they tried to board flights to Egypt. – Reuters, April 15
April 15, 2013 (IRAQ): A wave of attacks tore through Iraq only days before provincial elections. Car bombs that exploded at a Baghdad airport checkpoint killed two people, while four bombs targeting police patrols killed five people in Tuz Khurmato, Salah al-Din Province. In total, at least 20 people were killed in the wave of attacks. – NBC, April 15
April 15, 2013 (PHILIPPINES): Philippine troops reportedly slightly wounded Isnilon Hapilon, a senior leader in the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), in the southern Philippines. Hapilon’s followers dragged him to safety after soldiers attacked their jungle base in Basilan, killing eight militants. The United States has a $5 million bounty on Hapilon’s head. – New York Times, April 16; GMA News, April 16
April 16, 2013 (PAKISTAN): A suicide bomber attacked a political rally held for the secular Awami National Party (ANP) in Peshawar, killing 16 people. Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility. – Dawn, April 16; RFE/RL, April 17
April 17, 2013 (AFGHANISTAN): Afghan authorities discovered the bodies of four Afghan soldiers with their throats slit in Jawzjan Province. The four soldiers had been kidnapped by the Taliban the day prior. – AFP, April 17
April 17, 2013 (PAKISTAN): A U.S. drone destroyed a Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan training camp in South Waziristan Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, killing at least five militants. – AFP, April 17
April 17, 2013 (YEMEN): A U.S. drone killed four suspected militants from al-Qa`ida in the Arabian Peninsula in a desert area 90 miles south of Sana`a. – AP, April 18
April 17, 2013 (YEMEN): A U.S. drone blew up the house of Hamed Radman, an influential member of al-Qa`ida in the Arabian Peninsula. Radman was killed in the blast. – AP, April 18
April 18, 2013 (UNITED KINGDOM): Authorities jailed four Britons for plotting al-Qa`ida-inspired bombings across the United Kingdom. The men—Zahid Iqbal, Mohammed Sharfaraz Ahmed, Umar Arshad and Syed Farhan Hussain—are all from Luton, north of London. As part of the plot, the men wanted to pack a remote-controlled toy car with explosives, and drive it under the gates of a British military base. – Reuters, April 18
April 18, 2013 (IRAQ): A suicide bomber detonated explosives at a Baghdad café, killing at least 22 people. The bombing occurred just days ahead of provincial elections. – Belfast Telegraph, April 18; AP, April 18
April 18, 2013 (UNITED ARAB EMIRATES): Authorities announced that they recently arrested seven members of an alleged al-Qa`ida cell in the country. The suspected militants were reportedly planning to attack targets in the United Arab Emirates. The men were also supplying al-Qa`ida “with money and providing logistical support and seeking to expand its activities to some [other] countries in the region.” – BBC, April 18
April 19, 2013 (UNITED STATES): Authorities arrested Abdella Ahmad Tounisi, a suburban Chicago teenager from Aurora, on terrorism-related charges as he attempted to board a flight at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport to Turkey. The Federal Bureau of Investigation alleges that Tounisi, a U.S. citizen, was trying to join the al-Qa`ida-linked Jabhat al-Nusra, a Salafi-jihadi rebel group in Syria. – Fox News, April 21
April 19, 2013 (NIGERIA): Boko Haram group militants released the French family that it had kidnapped in northern Cameroon two months earlier. The family had been held in Nigeria. A Nigerian government report later suggested that Boko Haram received more than $3 million in ransom to release the hostages. The report did not specify who paid the ransom. – Guardian, April 19; BBC, April 26
April 20, 2013 (PAKISTAN): A female suicide bomber detonated explosives outside a hospital in Bajaur Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, killing at least four people. – AFP, April 20
April 21, 2013 (AFGHANISTAN): A civilian transport helicopter made an emergency landing due to strong winds and heavy rain in a Taliban-controlled area of Logar Province. Taliban fighters captured everyone aboard the helicopter—possibly 11 people—and moved them to a more secure location. Those kidnapped include eight Turkish construction workers, two Russian pilots and an Afghan. – AP, April 22; BBC, April 23
April 21, 2013 (PAKISTAN): A roadside bomb targeted a Pakistani security convoy in Bannu District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, killing four security officials. – Express Tribune, April 21
April 21, 2013 (YEMEN): A suspected U.S. drone killed two suspected militants from al-Qa`ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in Marib Province. Hours later, AQAP fighters attacked a military checkpoint in the same area as the drone strike, killing two Yemeni soldiers. – AP, April 21
April 22, 2013 (CANADA): Canadian authorities arrested two foreign men in Montreal and Toronto, charging them with plotting a terrorist attack on a passenger train with support from al-Qa`ida elements based in Iran. The men, Chiheb Esseghaier and Raed Jaser, allegedly plotted to derail a passenger train in the greater Toronto area. A Canadian official said that the attack was “definitely in the planning stage but not imminent.” – BBC, April 23
April 23, 2013 (UNITED STATES): A U.S. court resentenced Wadih el-Hage to life in prison for conspiring with Usama bin Ladin to kill Americans. El-Hage, Bin Ladin’s former secretary, is a naturalized U.S. citizen. – Bloomberg, April 23
April 23, 2013 (SPAIN): Spanish police arrested two suspected terrorists with links to al-Qa`ida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). The suspects were originally from Algeria and Morocco, and they apparently radicalized by going to online forums and chat rooms. Authorities said that one of the suspects was identified and recruited by Mali-based AQIM members and given specific instructions for a trip to a jihadist camp in northern Mali. – CNN, April 24
April 23, 2013 (PAKISTAN): A suicide bomber in a vehicle killed at least four people near a Frontier Corps checkpost in Quetta. Authorities suspect that the bomber was trying to reach a Shi`a-dominated neighborhood. The sectarian militant group Lashkar-i-Jhangvi claimed responsibility. – AFP, April 23; AP, April 24
April 26, 2013 (UNITED KINGDOM): A British court gave a life sentence to Irfan Naseer for his role as a ringleader of a Birmingham jihadist cell that plotted to explode up to eight rucksack bombs in suicide bombings in the United Kingdom. Naseer will have to serve a minimum of 18 years before he is considered for release. Ten other members of the cell also received prison sentences. Some of the men received training at militant camps in Pakistan, where they learned how to make bombs and mix poisons. The plot reportedly had the blessing of al-Qa`ida. – Sky News, April 26; Reuters, April 26; AFP, April 26
April 26, 2013 (AFGHANISTAN): The Afghan Taliban declared the start of their annual “spring offensive” against the Afghan government and international troops. – AFP, April 26
April 28, 2013 (PAKISTAN): Two separate bombs exploded at the campaign offices for secular candidates in Pakistan’s upcoming May 11 elections. The first bomb, in Kohat city, killed six people. The second bomb, in the suburbs of Peshawar, killed three people. Both candidates were not in their offices at the time of the attacks. Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility. – AP, April 28
April 29, 2013 (SYRIA): A car bomb targeted the convoy of Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi in Damascus, but the prime minister survived the assassination attempt. – BBC, April 29
April 29, 2013 (PAKISTAN): A suicide bomber on a motorcycle targeted a police patrol car on the busy University Road in Peshawar, killing nine people. – New York Times, April 29
April 30, 2013 (SYRIA): A bomb exploded in the government-held area of Damascus, killing 13 people. – Reuters, April 30
