September 2, 2013 (AFGHANISTAN): Taliban militants torched a number of NATO supply trucks and then attacked part of a U.S. military outpost in Nangarhar Province. Three insurgents were killed. Officials said that no Afghan or U.S. soldiers died in the attack. – Reuters, September 2; BBC, September 2
September 2, 2013 (SOMALIA): U.S. citizen Omar Hammami told Voice of America that while he still considers himself a terrorist, he is no longer a member of the Somali militant group al-Shabab or al-Qa`ida. Hammami, who has been indicted by a federal grand jury in the United States, said that al-Shabab’s leader, Ahmed Godane, is trying to kill him. Hammami, a 29-year-old from Alabama, is wanted by the U.S. government for providing material support to al-Shabab, an al-Qa`ida affiliate. – Voice of America, September 5
September 3, 2013 (IRAQ): Gunmen entered the house of a Sunni, pro-government militia member in southern Baghdad and beheaded him, as well as his wife and three children. – Reuters, September 3
September 3, 2013 (IRAQ): A series of car bombs killed nearly 60 people in predominately Shi`a districts of Baghdad. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant later claimed responsibility. – Reuters, September 3; AFP, September 8
September 5, 2013 (EGYPT): A suspected suicide bomber in a vehicle attacked the convoy of Egyptian Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim in Cairo, wounding seven people. Ibrahim was not injured in the attack. The Egyptian terrorist group Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, which is based in the Sinai Peninsula, claimed responsibility. – AP, September 6; CBS, September 9
September 7, 2013 (AFGHANISTAN): The Taliban said that they released an Afghan female member of parliament held hostage since August 10 in exchange for the release of six prisoners. The released prisoners—four women and two children—were family members of Taliban fighters. – AFP, September 7
September 7, 2013 (SOMALIA): Al-Shabab militants targeted the busy Village restaurant in Mogadishu, killing 15 people. The attack involved a suicide bomber and a car bomb. – Reuters, September 7
September 8, 2013 (AFGHANISTAN): Taliban suicide bombers attacked offices of the provincial intelligence department in Wardak Province, killing at least four Afghan intelligence staff. – BBC, September 8
September 9, 2013 (JORDAN): Four men appeared in a military court in Jordan to face charges of fighting with Jabhat al-Nusra in Syria. Jabhat al-Nusra is linked to al-Qa`ida. – AP, September 9
September 10, 2013 (NORTH AFRICA): A new video of Mokhtar Belmokhtar emerged, ending speculation over whether he was killed in March 2013. Belmokhtar, the leader of the terrorist group behind the attack on the Ain Amenas gas plant in Algeria in January 2013 that left 37 foreign workers dead, retains links with al-Qa`ida even though he is no longer a member of the group’s Africa affiliate, al-Qa`ida in the Islamic Maghreb. According to CBS News, “The new video shows the one-eyed leader of the ‘Signatories with their Blood’ group, Belmokhtar, chatting with another prominent jihadist, Abdel Hamid Abou Zaid, who was also said by the French to have been killed during confrontations with their forces in northern Mali earlier in the year.” – CBS, September 10
September 10, 2013 (IRAQ): A series of bombings targeting both Shi`a and Sunni Muslims in Iraq killed at least 20 people. – Reuters, September 10
September 11, 2013 (GLOBAL): Somalia’s al-Shabab militant group, which is an al-Qa`ida affiliate, released a series of posts on Twitter celebrating the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the United States. The militants vowed that the mujahidin will “continue with their jihad against the West until the world is ruled by one sovereign state, an Islamic state.” – AFP, September 11
September 11, 2013 (IRAQ): A suicide bomber detonated explosives in a crowd of Shi`a worshippers at a mosque in Baghdad, killing at least 30 people. Another man wearing a suicide vest, who apparently planned to attack police when they arrived in response to the first blast, was arrested nearby. – CNN, September 11
September 11, 2013 (LIBYA): A car bomb exploded near Libya’s Foreign Ministry building in Benghazi, exactly one year after an attack in the same city that killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans. In the latest attack, there were no serious casualties. – Washington Post, September 11
September 11, 2013 (EGYPT): Two suicide bombers drove their explosives-laden vehicles into military targets in the town of Rafah in the Sinai Peninsula, killing at least six soldiers. – CBS, September 11
September 11, 2013 (SYRIA): According to reports, an Australian jihadist, known as Abu Asma al-Australi, drove an explosives-laden truck into a Syrian military checkpoint close to the Deir al-Zour military airport. It is not clear how many people died in the explosion, although jihadist websites claimed that 35 Syrian soldiers were killed. Al-Australi fought for the al-Qa`ida-linked Jabhat al-Nusra. – Australian Broadcasting Corporation, September 14; Sydney Morning Herald, September 14
September 11, 2013 (THAILAND): Suspected separatist gunmen ambushed a Thai police patrol in Yala Province in southern Thailand, killing five officers. – UPI, September 12
September 12, 2013 (SOMALIA): Omar Hammami, a U.S.-born former member of al-Shabab, was killed in a firefight with al-Shabab militants in Somalia. Hammami, who referred to himself as a “former poster boy” of al-Shabab, accused its leader, Ahmed Godane, of betraying al-Qa`ida’s East Africa operative Fazul Abdullah Muhammad, who was killed in 2011. In recent months, Hammami wrote on his Twitter account that al-Shabab was trying to kill him. – AFP, September 12
September 12, 2013 (SYRIA): The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) declared an offensive against the Faruq and Nasr battalions, two fellow rebel factions fighting against the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad. The ISIL said that the two rebel groups attacked its forces and suggested that they may have collaborated with the Syrian regime. – Reuters, September 13
September 12, 2013 (PHILIPPINES): The Abu Sayyaf Group and the newly-formed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters combined forces to attack government troops in Lamitan in the southern Philippines. Three soldiers were wounded in the attack. According to the New York Times, “The violence raised fears of a widening of the insurgent threat in the area, where the government has for decades been struggling to contain attacks by Muslim-led groups.” – New York Times, September 12
September 13, 2013 (GLOBAL): Al-Qa`ida chief Ayman al-Zawahiri released a new audio message marking the 12th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the United States. Al-Zawahiri called for more acts of “lone wolf” terrorism against the United States. He said, “We must bleed America economically by provoking it, so that it continues its massive expenditures on security…Keeping America in a state of tension and anticipation does not cost us anything but [organizing] dispersed strikes here and there.” Al-Zawahiri further specified, “These dispersed strikes can be carried out by one brother, or a small number of brothers.” Separately, al-Zawahiri urged restraint in attacking other Muslim sects and non-Muslims, and in starting wars in countries where jihadists have a safe base to organize. “As far as targeting the proxies of America is concerned, it differs from place to place,” he said. “The basic principle is to avoid entering into any conflict with them, except in the countries where confronting them becomes inevitable.” – BBC, September 13; Reuters, September 16
September 13, 2013 (AFGHANISTAN): Two suicide bombers in vehicles attacked the U.S. Consulate in Herat Province. After the explosions, Taliban militants on foot engaged in a firefight with Afghan security forces around the compound. At least seven militants died, while at least two Afghans were killed. – AP, September 13
September 14, 2013 (AFGHANISTAN): A suicide bomber in a vehicle killed at least three civilians near Kandahar in southern Afghanistan. – RFE/RL, September 14
September 14, 2013 (IRAQ): A suicide bomber attacked a funeral near Mosul, Ninawa Province, killing at least 20 people. The attack targeted the Shabak minority sect. The Shabak are ethnic Turkmen and Shi`a Muslims. – AP, September 14
September 14, 2013 (YEMEN): Al-Qa`ida in the Arabian Peninsula confirmed that a U.S. drone strike killed one of its leaders, Qaid al-Dahab, at the end of August 2013. He was killed in Bayda Province. – AP, September 15
September 15, 2013 (PAKISTAN): A roadside bomb killed a Pakistani general and another officer in Upper Dir District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province. The officers were visiting a military outpost near the border with Afghanistan. The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility. – Reuters, September 15
September 16, 2013 (SPAIN): Spanish authorities arrested the alleged leader of a terrorist recruitment network in the Spanish North African enclave of Ceuta. The suspect, Spanish citizen Yassin Ahmed Laarbi, is accused of sending 50 militants to carry out attacks for al-Qa`ida-linked groups in Syria. – Fox News, September 17
September 16, 2013 (RUSSIA): A suicide bomber in a vehicle killed three police outside a police station in Russia’s Chechnya region. – Reuters, September 16
September 16, 2013 (NORTH AFRICA): Al-Qa`ida in the Islamic Maghreb released a new video showing seven kidnapped Westerners, including four Frenchmen. The four French nationals were kidnapped in northern Niger in September 2010. The other three hostages—a Dutchman, a Swede and a South African—were abducted in northern Mali in November 2011. – Business Standard, September 17; AFP, September 16
September 17, 2013 (IRAQ): A series of car bombs in Baghdad killed at least 31 people. – AP, September 17
September 17, 2013 (LIBYA): A car bomb killed the head of a criminal investigations unit in Benghazi. – AP, September 17
September 17, 2013 (NIGERIA): Boko Haram militants disguised in military uniforms killed at least 142 people in the Benisheik area in Borno State. According to a “security source” quoted in Agence France-Presse, the militants “came in droves, driving about 20 pickup trucks.” – AFP, September 20; AFP, September 22
September 18, 2013 (AFGHANISTAN): Taliban gunmen on motorbikes killed a senior election official in Kunduz Province. After the attack, the Taliban took responsibility on Twitter, apparently the first time the group used Twitter to officially claim responsibility for an assassination. – Dawn, September 18; New York Times, September 18
September 18, 2013 (AFGHANISTAN): Taliban fighters attacked a police convoy in Badakhshan Province, killing 10 policemen. – Reuters, September 19
September 18, 2013 (SYRIA): The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) overran the Syrian town of Azaz, two miles from the Turkish border. According to one activist, fighting broke out among rebel groups after a Free Syrian Army unit refused to allow the ISIL to abduct a German doctor working as a volunteer at a private hospital in Azaz. – Reuters, September 18
September 18, 2013 (JORDAN): A Jordanian military tribunal jailed six men for trying to join the al-Qa`ida-linked Jabhat al-Nusra rebel group in Syria. According to a Jordanian official, “The convicts, arrested in December as they tried to cross the border, were charged with carrying out acts that would expose Jordan and its citizens to the risk of acts of aggression and revenge.” – AFP, September 18
September 19, 2013 (UNITED STATES): According to the Washington Post, “A U.S. Army veteran accused of fighting alongside a Syrian rebel group linked to al-Qa`ida and charged with conspiracies that could have landed him in prison for life pleaded guilty Thursday to a less onerous count and was given a sentence of ‘time served.’” Eric Harroun, of Phoenix, was arrested in March 2013, and he apparently admitted he worked alongside Jabhat al-Nusra, an al-Qa`ida-linked rebel group. – Washington Post, September 19; CNN, September 20
September 20, 2013 (YEMEN): Suspected al-Qa`ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) militants killed at least 31 Yemeni soldiers and policemen in multiple attacks in Shabwa Province in southern Yemen. – Reuters, September 20
September 20, 2013 (SYRIA): Hundreds of rebels pledged allegiance to the al-Qa`ida-affiliated groups Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in northern and eastern Syria. – Reuters, September 20
September 21, 2013 (PAKISTAN/AFGHANISTAN): Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry confirmed that Mullah Baradar, a founder of the Afghan Taliban and its former military commander, has been released by authorities in Pakistan to improve the chances for peace talks. – Telegraph, September 21
September 21, 2013 (IRAQ): A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle near a tent filled with Shi`a mourners in Baghdad’s Sadr City, killing 25 people. – Reuters, September 21
September 21, 2013 (KENYA): Al-Shabab militants conducted a major terrorist attack against the upscale Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, killing at least 67 people in a multi-day siege. – AP, September 21
September 22, 2013 (IRAQ): A suicide bomber detonated his explosives inside a tent full of mourners in a predominately Sunni district of Baghdad, killing at least 16 people. – Reuters, September 22
September 22, 2013 (PAKISTAN): Two suicide bombers detonated their explosives outside an Anglican church after the Sunday service in Peshawar, killing at least 78 people. It marked the deadliest attack in recent history on Christians in Pakistan. – Australian Broadcasting Corporation, September 23
September 22, 2013 (SYRIA): Clashes among rebel groups in Syria resulted in the death of a local leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). The leader, Abu Abdullah al-Libi, was the amir of the ISIL in Idlib Province. – AFP, September 22
September 24, 2013 (SYRIA): A car bomb exploded in Damascus, killing at least seven civilians. – Reuters, September 24
September 25, 2013 (SYRIA): The Democratic Union Party (PYD), a Kurdish militia based in Syria, killed seven rebels from al-Qa`ida’s Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in Atma, a town on the Turkish border. – Reuters, September 26
September 25, 2013 (NIGERIA): Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau appeared in a new video, boasting of his invincibility and promised that there would be “no democracy in Nigeria.” Shekau, who was supposedly killed in a gun battle in June, said, “It was said that I was killed, but here I am; I deliberately refused to respond on time; but here I am talking and laughing at Nigerian authority who misled the world that I am dead.” He further said, “The concept of government of the people by the people, for the people cannot continue to exist. It shall soon, very soon, be replaced by ‘Government of Allah, by Allah for Allah.’” – Daily Post, September 25; UPI, September 25
September 26, 2013 (SYRIA): Kurdish militiamen killed the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’s local commander in Aleppo. – AP, September 26
September 27, 2013 (PAKISTAN): A bomb tore through a bus carrying junior government officials in Peshawar, killing at least 18 people. – CBS, September 27
September 27, 2013 (MALI): Al-Qa`ida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) named a replacement for Abdelhamid Abu Zeid, who was killed in fighting with French-led forces. Said Abou Moughatil, an Algerian, will now command AQIM’s Tarik ibn Ziyad battalion in northern Mali. – AFP, September 27
September 28, 2013 (MALI): A suicide bomber in a vehicle killed at least two people near a military camp in Timbuktu. Al-Qa`ida in the Islamic Maghreb claimed responsibility. – Voice of America, September 30
September 29, 2013 (IRAQ): A suicide bomber killed at least 40 people at a Shi`a Muslim funeral in Mussayab, 40 miles south of Baghdad. – Reuters, September 29
September 29, 2013 (IRAQ): Militants launched a coordinated suicide and car bomb attack at the entrance to a Kurdish security service headquarters in Erbil, killing six people. It was the first major assault in the Kurdistan region since 2007. – AFP, September 29; Reuters, September 29
September 29, 2013 (PAKISTAN): A car bomb killed 33 people on a crowded street in Peshawar’s oldest bazaar. – AP, September 28; AP, September 30
September 29, 2013 (NIGERIA): Boko Haram group gunmen attacked a college dormitory and fired on students as they slept, killing 40 people. – AFP, September 30
September 30, 2013 (UNITED STATES): A U.S. court sentenced Sabirhan Hasanoff to 18 years in prison for aiding al-Qa`ida. Hasanoff, an accountant living in New York, scoped out the New York Stock Exchange as a potential target for al-Qa`ida in 2008. – Reuters, September 30
September 30, 2013 (IRAQ): Approximately 14 car bombs rocked predominately Shi`a areas of Baghdad, killing at least 54 people. – Reuters, September 30
September 30, 2013 (YEMEN): Suspected al-Qa`ida in the Arabian Peninsula militants seized a military base in Hadramawt Province. The fighters were dressed in fatigues and riding in military trucks. The fighters reportedly held hostage a number of high-ranking officers and soldiers inside the base. – AP, September 30; AP, September 30
