President Hamid Karzai has ordered the Ministry of Defense to eject all "US Special Forces" from the key eastern province of Wardak after accusing the American troops or their local Afghan security partners of committing war crimes. Karzai's order is an ominous development for future US and NATO plans, which are expected to rely heavily on special operations forces to take on a greater role as the bulk of conventional forces are withdrawn from Afghanistan.

"Today, the National Security Council ordered the Ministry of Defense to remove American Special Forces within two weeks from Wardak province," Karzai spokesman Aimal Faizi told reporters, according to TOLONews.

"A recent example in the province is an incident in which nine people were disappeared in an operation by this suspicious force and in a separate incident a student was taken away at night from his home, whose tortured body with throat cut was found two days later under a bridge," he added.

US Forces - Afghanistan, an ISAF subcommand under which some US Special Forces operate, said it was aware of the statement attributed to Karzai and that it is investigating the allegations.

US special operations forces often partner with local Afghan security forces, such as the Afghan Local Police (ALP) at the village level. President Karzai has generally opposed the ALP, and some Afghans fear the local units, currently totaling 19,600 officers and often accused of corruption (as are more traditional Afghan government security forces), will foster a return to warlordism.

Karzai's directive for "US Special Forces" to withdraw from Wardak comes as NATO is working to negotiate and finalize plans for its force structure in Afghanistan after combat forces are withdrawn by the end of 2014. Various draft proposals and statements by US personnel and NATO partners have indicated that a force of 8,000 to 15,500 NATO troops, comprised of up to 9,500 Americans, could remain in Afghanistan. The residual mission is expected to be structured around training Afghan security forces and the continuation of counterterrorism operations targeting high value enemies. Both tasks rely heavily on US Special Forces (a designation precisely indicating the US Army "Green Berets") as well as the broader category of all US special operations forces.

Wardak is a troubled province

Wardak province, which borders Kabul to the southwest, has been contested by the Taliban and the Haqqani Network, the al Qaeda-linked Taliban subgroup, despite US efforts to secure the province over the past several years. The Taliban have been in control of the Tangi Valley, which runs through Wardak, since the withdrawal of US forces from Combat Outpost Tangi in the spring of 2011. US troops turned over the base to the Afghan Army, which immediately abandoned it. The Taliban later released a videotape that showed hundreds of fighters and senior Taliban leaders massing at the abandoned base and conducting a tour.

Wardak has been the scene of numerous high-profile attacks by the two groups, particularly in 2011. The Taliban shot down a US Army Chinook helicopter in Sayyidabad on Aug. 6, 2011. Thirty-eight US and Afghan troops, including 17 US Navy SEALS from the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, were killed in the crash. And on Sept. 10, 2011, the Taliban detonated a massive suicide bomb outside of Combat Outpost Sayyidabad, killing four Afghans and wounding more than 100 people, including 77 US soldiers. US commanders later blamed the attack on the Haqqani Network, a powerful al Qaeda subgroup.

Al Qaeda is also known to maintain a presence in Wardak province. The presence of terror cells has been detected in the districts of Maidan Shah, Sayyidabad, and Tarnek Wa Jaldak, or three of the province's eight districts. On Nov. 18, 2011, special operations forces killed Mujib Rahman Mayar, an Afghan member of al Qaeda. Mayar "trained insurgents and worked as a courier" for the terror group, ISAF stated after his death. "He delivered messages and transported money for the al Qaeda network."

The Al Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant, al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria, have claimed credit for a suicide attack at a defense factory that occurred nearly three weeks ago. Several civilians were killed in the deadly bombing.

The Syrian terror group took credit for the attack in a statement that was released yesterday on its Twitter account and obtained by The Long War Journal.

According to the statement, the Feb. 6 attack was executed by a suicide bomber known as Abu Bara al Homsi. The suicide bomber detonated a minibus packed with "2.5 tons of explosives" in the middle of what was described as "a gathering place" of Syrian security personnel. The Al Nusrah Front stated that the factory "produces daily approximately 250,000 rounds Kalashnikov and 13,000 rounds Dushka and other munitions."

Photographs of the suicide bomber (whose face is blurred), the explosives, and the bus immediately before and as it was detonated accompanied the statement that took credit for the attack.

More than 60 people, including 11 women, were killed in the suicide attack, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the civil war in the country.

"Dozens of workers in the plant were killed, the Syrian Observatory documented 60 names (11 women) of residents from the Salamiya city of eastern Reef Hama, its neighbouring villages and the cities of Homs and Hama," the human rights group stated on its Facebook page.

When the attack was reported on Feb. 8, the fact that it had been executed by a suicide bomber was not clear. The Associated Press reported at the time that 54 people, all civilians who worked at the munitions factory, were killed.

The Al Nusrah Front has used al Qaeda's signature tactic -- the suicide bomber and suicide assault team -- to target Syrian security forces. Some of these attacks have been carried out in conjunction with supposedly secular Free Syrian Army units as well as with allied jihadist groups, such as the Muhajireen Group, which is led by a Chechen commander.

The Al Nusrah Front has now claimed credit for 52 of the 62 suicide attacks that have taken place in Syria since December 2011, according to a tally by The Long War Journal (note that multiple suicide bombers deployed in a single operation are counted as part of a single attack). So far this year, 10 suicide attacks have been reported in Syria; Al Nusrah has claimed credit for nine of them.

An al Qaeda affiliate

On Dec. 11, 2012, the US designated the Al Nusrah Front as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. The designation stated that the emir of al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Du'a (a.k.a. Abu Bakr al Baghdadi al Husseini al Qurshi), "is in control of both AQI and Al Nusrah."

At the same time, the US added two senior Al Nusrah leaders, Maysar Ali Musa Abdallah al Juburi and Anas Hasan Khattab, both members of al Qaeda in Iraq, to the list of global terrorists; the US did not add the emir of Al Nusrah, Sheikh Abu Muhammad al Julani, to the list, however. [See LWJ report, US adds Al Nusrah Front, 2 leaders to terrorism list, for information on the designation of the Al Nusrah Front and the two leaders.]

Despite Al Nusrah's known affiliation with al Qaeda and its radical ideology, Syrian opposition groups, including the supposedly secular Syrian National Coalition, have rallied to support Al Nusrah. Immediately after the US designated Al Nusrah as a terrorist group, 29 Syrian opposition groups signed a petition that not only condemned the US's designation, but said "we are all Al Nusrah," and urged their supporters to raise Al Nusrah's flag (which is the flag of al Qaeda) [see LWJ report, Syrian National Coalition urges US to drop Al Nusrah terrorism designation].

The al Qaeda affiliate's ranks have been growing, and it is now estimated to have upwards of 10,000 fighters in its ranks.

Due to its organization and prowess on the battlefield, the terror group has become popular and is recruiting from other rival groups. The Al Nusrah Front has overrun four major military bases and conducted multiple storming operations on security and intelligence bases and headquarters throughout the country.

Ansar al Sharia Tunisia, the al Qaeda-linked extremist group responsible for the Sept. 14, 2012 assault on the US Embassy in Tunis, has launched a new website. The group advertised the impending launch of the site on various Facebook pages and other extremist sites for weeks. A screen shot of the new site can be seen at the top of this article.

Some of the content on the site is not yet filled in, but the web page includes sections for articles, a chat forum, fatwas, and videos, among other topic areas.

One section appears to be set aside for an online library that will house the works of various extremists, including al Qaeda cleric Abu Qatada. Seifullah ben Hassine (a.k.a. Abu Iyad al Tunisi), the founder of Ansar al Sharia Tunisia, reportedly studied under Qatada. Few, if any, of Qatada's or the other extremists' writings had been uploaded to the online library by the time The Long War Journal last viewed the page.

The new site is part of Ansar al Sharia Tunisia's revamped online media campaign. For weeks, the group's Facebook pages have been routinely taken down. It is not clear who is responsible for the website interruptions, but Ansar al Sharia has regularly complained about the deletion of its Facebook pages. One entry on the group's new chat forum, for instance, solicits advice concerning the deletions.

Other entries on the forum deal with Mali and Syria, including statements issued by the Al Nusrah Front, al Qaeda's Syrian affiliate. One post highlights the "martyrdom" of a Tunisian who died fighting in Syria.

In January, Ansar al Sharia Tunisia rebranded its official Facebook page to honor al Qaeda's "martyrs," including the deputy leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), Said al Shihri. [See LWJ report, Ansar al Sharia honors senior al Qaeda 'martyrs'.]

Since then, the group has been forced to change the url of its Facebook page on multiple occasions. (Its official Twitter feed has remained online during this time, but has not been updated in the past week.)

It appears that Ansar al Sharia Tunisia has also now launched a number of new Facebook pages, many of which are dedicated to the group's franchises in various Tunisian cities. The proliferation of pages may be part of a new strategy by the organization to avoid losing its social media presence when a single site is lost.

The posts on these various Facebook pages range in content, from those dealing with the organization's dawa, or proselytizing, to entries praising global jihadists such as deceased al Qaeda master Osama bin Laden.

Ansar al Sharia Tunisia

Ansar al Sharia Tunisia is headed by Seifullah ben Hassine (a.k.a. Abu Iyad al Tunisi), who has longstanding ties to al Qaeda. In 2000, Hassine co-founded the Tunisian Combatant Group (TCG), an al Qaeda-affiliated group that participated in the Sept. 9, 2001 assassination of Northern Alliance leader Ahmed Shah Massoud in Afghanistan.

Hassine was arrested in Turkey in 2003 and deported to Tunisia, where he was sentenced to more than 40 years in prison. Hassine was released from prison in 2011, in the wake of the Tunisian revolution.

According to the Middle East Research Institute (MEMRI), Hassine eulogized Osama bin Laden after the al Qaeda master was killed in May 2011. "Let the entire world celebrate the death of one of our Ummah's leaders," Hassine said, "since the death and martyrdom of our leaders for the sake of this straight path ... is an indication of the truthfulness of our way."

MEMRI noted that in the eulogy, Hassine added that the death of bin Laden and other "brothers and leaders," such as al Qaeda in Iraq leaders Abu Musab al Zarqawi and Abu Omar al Baghdadi, should compel Muslims to fight on. "This is the allegiance, and that is the promise to Allah - do not regress after the death of your sheikh [i.e., bin Laden], or the deaths of your leaders," Hassine said. "Remain steadfast - and die for [the same cause] for which the best among you died."

Two other Ansar al Sharia Tunisia leaders are Sami Ben Khemais Essid and Mehdi Kammoun, both of whom were convicted by Italian courts for their participation in al Qaeda's operations in Italy. Essid was the head of al Qaeda in Italy before his arrest. According to the US State Department and other sources, Essid plotted to attack the US Embassy in Rome in early 2001. Both Essid and Kammoun were convicted in Italy of terrorism charges, deported to Tunisia for further imprisonment, but released in 2011 after the Tunisian revolution.

After the Sept. 14, 2012 assault on the US Embassy in Tunis, the Tunisian government imprisoned numerous Ansar al Sharia members. One of them is Bilel Chaouachi, a young imam who has openly praised Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri.

On Dec. 21, 2012, the Tunisian government announced that it had arrested members of an al Qaeda terrorist cell who had been trained by al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and "were active within" Ansar al Sharia Tunisia.

In December 2012 and January 2013, Ansar al Sharia posted at least three entries on social media related to the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya. In December, the group posted pictures of three FBI agents who were sent to Tunisia to interview Ali Ani al Harzi, an important suspect in the Benghazi assault. It also posted a video to its You Tube page of a lawyer discussing the FBI's presence in Tunis to interview Harzi. In January 2013, the group posted a video of Harzi being released from a Tunisian prison.

Also in January 2013, Ansar al Sharia Tunisia rebranded its official Facebook page to honor Said al Shihri, the deceased deputy leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

The US State Department has added the Mullah Nazir Group, a Taliban subgroup based in South Waziristan, and an important deputy commander to the list of foreign terrorist entities and individuals. The designations are likely to cause friction with Pakistan, which considers the Mullah Nazir Group to be "good Taliban," despite the group's historical support of al Qaeda and attacks on US and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

The group's former emir, Mullah Nazir, who was killed in a US drone strike in early January, has long supported and sheltered al Qaeda and allied terror groups. In 2011, Nazir even self-identified as an al Qaeda commander [see LWJ report, 'Good' Pakistani Taliban leader Nazir affirms membership in al Qaeda].

Today's State Dept. designation, which confirms years of reporting by The Long War Journal, noted that the group, which is based in South Waziristan, has sheltered al Qaeda, runs suicide training camps, and attacks both US and NATO forces in Afghanistan as well as Pakistani citizens and the military.

"Since 2006, [the Mullah Nazir Group] has run training camps, dispatched suicide bombers, provided safe haven for al Qaeda fighters, and conducted cross-border operations in Afghanistan against the United States and its allies," State's designation said.

"In addition to its attacks against international forces in Afghanistan, [the Mullah Nazir Group] is also responsible for assassinations and intimidation operations against civilians in Afghanistan and Pakistan," State continued.

State also noted that the Mullah Nazir Group and Commander Malang, who was added to the US's list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists today, have conducted several attacks against the Pakistani military.

"Malang claimed CNG responsibility for a March 2008 vehicle-borne improvised explosive device attack in front of an army brigade headquarters in Zari Noor, South Waziristan, Pakistan, which killed five Pakistani soldiers and injured 11 more," according to the designation. Additionally, the Mullah Nazir Group "broke a ceasefire agreement and attacked a Pakistani army camp in Wana, Pakistan, with missiles and rockets" in May 2011.

Malang was named a key subcommander of the Mullah Nazir Group on Jan. 4, just one day after Mullah Nazir was killed in a drone strike in South Waziristan. The group's shura named Salahuddin Ayubi, who is also known as Bahwal Khan, to replace Nazir. Other top leaders of the Mullah Nazir group include Haji Tehsil Khan, Haji Ainullah, Taj Muhammad, and Muhammad Shoaib.

The day after Nazir's death, US intelligence sources told The Long War Journal that Ayubi and the Mullah Nazir Group would continue to support al Qaeda's operations [see LWJ report, Taliban name Mullah Nazir's replacement].

Several top al Qaeda leaders, including Ilyas Kashmiri, Abu Khabab al Masri, Osama al Kini, Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan, and Abu Zaid al Iraqi, have been killed while being sheltered by Nazir. [For more information on Nazir and al Qaeda leaders killed while under his protection, see LWJ reports, 'Good' Pakistani Taliban leader Nazir affirms membership in al Qaeda, and US drones kill 'good' Taliban commander in South Wazirstan.]

Nazir's Taliban faction is one of four major Taliban groups that joined the Shura-e-Murakeba, an alliance brokered by al Qaeda in late 2011. The Shura-e-Murakeba also includes Hafiz Gul Bahadar's group; the Haqqani Network, a close al Qaeda ally; and the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, another al Qaeda ally, which is led by Hakeemullah Mehsud and his deputy, Waliur Rehman Mehsud. The members of the Shura-e-Murakeba agreed to cease attacks against Pakistani security forces, refocus efforts against the US in Afghanistan, and end kidnappings and other criminal activities in the tribal areas.

Despite Nazir's support for al Qaeda and his group's attacks in Afghanistan as well as against the Pakistani military, Nazir and his group have long been described by Pakistani officials as "good Taliban." In the eyes of Pakistani officials, Nazir and his followers serve as "strategic depth" against India and a hedge against Indian interests in Afghanistan. The Pakistani government and military have signed several peace agreements with Nazir that allowed him to rule over the Wazir areas of South Waziristan.

Both the United States and the United Nations have added Iyad ag Ghali, the emir of the Mali-based, al Qaeda-linked Ansar Dine, to their lists of global terrorists. Ghali was instrumental in the takeover of northern Mali and has worked with al Qaeda to establish an Islamic state in the Sahel region.

The UN designation notes that Ghali's group, Ansar Dine, is an affiliate of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) but that Ansar Dine itself has not been designated; similarly, the US notes the affiliation but has not added Ansar Dine to its terrorist list. The UN designation also mentions Ghali's ties with the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), which has been designated by both the UN and by the US as a terrorist organization.

Ghali "cooperates closely with al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization," the US State Department said in its designation today. He "created [Ansar Dine] in late 2011 because his effort to take over a secular Tuareg organization failed due to his extremist views."

"Ghali has received backing from AQIM in [Ansar Dine's] fight against Malian and French forces, most notably in the capture of the Malian towns of Agulhok, Tessalit, Kidal, Gao, and Timbuktu, between January and April 2012," State continued. "Before French intervention in January 2013, Malian citizens in towns that had been under [Ansar Dine's] control who did not comply with [Ansar Dine's] laws had faced harassment, torture, or execution."

Despite his failure to take over the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), Ghali worked with the secular Tuareg separatist to seize control of northern Mali last year. After northern Mali fell, Ansar Dine, backed by AQIM and the Movement for the Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), quickly and easily brushed aside the MNLA and established sharia, or Islamic law, in the north. The French intervened in Mali in January only after the jihadist alliance pushed southward and threatened to capture the capital of Bamako.

Abdelmalek Droukdel, the emir of AQIM, saw Ansar Dine as a key component of his plan to use Mali as a base of operations for local, regional, and global jihad. Droukdel instructed his followers to mask their operations and "pretend to be a 'domestic' movement" so as not to draw international attention and intervention. Ansar Dine was to be the local face of the jihadist movement, while AQIM established training camps for external jihadist operations [see LWJ report, Al Qaeda in Mali sought to hide foreign designs].

After Ansar Dine, AQIM, and MUJAO took control of northern Mali, they enforced a harsh version of sharia and destroyed tombs and other Muslim shrines and heritage sites.

Additionally, the terror groups began recruiting and training foreign fighters, from West African countries such as Togo, Benin, Niger, Nigeria, Guinea, Senegal, and the Ivory Coast, as well as from other countries such as Egypt, Algeria, Sudan, and Pakistan.

Since the French invasion of Mali in January, Ansar Dine, AQIM, and MUJAO have lost overt control of the north, but have been waging an insurgency against French, Malian, and African troops. Twenty-three Chadian troops have been killed while fighting jihadists in a mountainous area in the north, and five suicide attacks have been reported since Feb. 9. MUJAO has claimed credit for four of the attacks. Prior to Feb. 9, no suicide attacks were reported in Mali.

A previously unidentified American who fights in the ranks of Shabaab, al Qaeda's affiliate in Somalia, appeared on a videotape and urged Muslims to join one of the numerous fronts of the global jihad.

The American, who is identified as Abu Ahmed al Amriki, is seen on a videotape that was produced by Shabaab's media arm and posted on jihadist Internet forums on Feb. 25. The video was obtained and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.

Abu Ahmed speaks in both English and Arabic, and appears with two Kenyan jihadists, who are identified as Abu Seyf al Kenyi and Abu Khaled al Kenyi. Abu Ahmed's face is digitally blurred in the video. He is seen seated with a group of armed fighters; he is also holding a rifle as he speaks.

In his speech, Abu Ahmed implores Muslims to leave their lives of comfort and wage jihad in Somalia, Mali, Afghanistan, Iraq, or the "Islamic Maghreb" -- North Africa.

"Brothers and sisters, I won't take much of your time, but it's obligatory upon you to leave the lands of [disbelief] and [emigrate]. The fronts, they are all open, whether it's here in Somalia, whether it's in Mali, whether it's in Afghanistan, whether it's in Iraq, or whether it's in the Islamic Maghreb - it's all open," Abu Ahmed says, according to the transcript provided by the SITE Intelligence Group.

He urges Muslims who cannot "emigrate" to "fight the enemies of Allah where you find them ...."

Abu Ahmed claims that the West is losing the war against al Qaeda and its allies, and that a global caliphate will soon arise.

"Victory is coming. Your brothers are gaining strength after strength, victory after victory. The defeat of the [disbelievers] is near," he says.

"America is going down and the Caliphate is rising," he claims.

Abu Ahmed is one of the "Muhajireen" -- the emigrants or foreign fighters who wage jihad in Somalia alongside Shabaab.

Omar Hammami, the American who is better known as Abu Mansour al Amriki, is the most well-known foreign fighter in Somalia. He is feuding with Shabaab, and claims that foreigner fighters are at odds with Shabaab's leaders. Shabaab has disputed the claims, and has countered that Hammami is a narcissistic self-promoter who has taken advantage of his high-profile media presence to sow dissent between the Somali group and foreign fighters. Other than Hammami's claims, there is little evidence to support the assertion that there is a split between Shabaab and the Muhajireen.

Two other prominent Americans waging jihad in Somalia are Abu Abdullah al Muhajir, who is Ayman al Zawahiri's emissary to Shabaab, and Cabdulaahi Ahmed Faarax.

An estimated 50 Somali-Americans are thought to have been recruited in the US to train and fight with Shabaab. At least two Americans have carried out suicide attacks in Somalia, and Shabaab claimed that two other Americans have carried out such attacks.

For more information on Americans and foreigners who are fighting for Shabaab, see LWJ report, American Shabaab fighter and commander pictured together. For more information on Shabaab's links to al Qaeda, see LWJ reports, Somalia's Shabaab vows allegiance to new al Qaeda emir Zawahiri, and Al Qaeda leaders play significant role in Shabaab.

The US State Department announced today that it will provide nonlethal aid to two Syrian rebel groups, the Syrian Opposition Coalition and the Free Syrian Army. Both of these groups support and actively fight alongside the Al Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant, which is al Qaeda's affiliate in the war-torn country.

The State Department announced that it would provide $60 million in direct aid to the Syrian Opposition Coalition, an alliance of Syrian groups that has come out in support of the Al Nusrah Front after the US designated it as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and al Qaeda in Iraq's affiliate in Syria in December 2012.

"This money will be used particularly to enable the SOC to help local councils and communities in liberated areas of Syria expand the delivery of basic goods and essential services, and to fulfill administrative functions, including security, sanitation, and educational services," an unnamed State Department official told reporters in a briefing today.

Additionally, the State Department said that "the United States will look for opportunities to work with the ... Supreme Military Council ... to provide concrete, nonlethal support to the Free Syrian Army."

"This will include things like military rations to feed hungry fighters and medical supplies to tend the sick and the wounded," the official continued.

But as documented by The Long War Journal numerous times, the ostensibly secular Free Syrian Army often fights alongside or under the command of the Al Nusrah Front. The two groups have overrun Syrian military bases and they have even conducted a suicide attack in concert.

The push to back the Syrian Opposition Coalition and the Free Syrian Army came after newly appointed US Secretary of State John Kerry met with the SOC's president, Ahmed Moaz al Khatib, in Italy.

Al Khatib is a Syrian opposition leader, who, just one day after the US added the Al Nusrah Front to its list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations, urged the US to drop the designation, citing "ideological and political differences."

"The decision to blacklist one of the groups fighting the regime as a terrorist organization must be re-examined," al Khatib said in December 2012.

"We can have ideological and political differences with certain parties, but the revolutionaries all share the same goal: to overthrow the criminal regime" of President Bashar al-Assad, al Khatib continued.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has released the 10th edition of Inspire, its English language propaganda magazine that is marketed to Westerners. The magazine features an article by Adam Gadahn, the American traitor who works with al Qaeda's core leadership cadre in Pakistan.

AQAP released the current addition of Inspire "nine months after the release of the eighth and ninth issues" of the magazine, the SITE Intelligence Group noted. SITE obtained a copy of Inspire, which was released yesterday on Jihadist Internet forums.

The latest edition of Inspire focused on al Qaeda's view of the so-called Arab Spring. Inspire promoted two articles on the topic that are written by Gadahn and Yahya Ibrahim, a cleric who has been featured in the magazine in the past.

Both Gadahn and Ibrahim focus on al Qaeda's ability to capitalize on the Arab Spring. Gadahn calls for the US to end all involvement in the upheavals in the Middle East, and says a failure to do so "will result in a backlash which will make you regret the day you put your hands where they don't belong."

Gadahn also advises jihadists in the West to continue "direct engagement [attacks] at home and abroad with America and its NATO parents, particularly France and Britain."

"The enemies' economic and military hemorrhage must not stop until the day comes when the people of the West are forced to make a choice: either the continuation of the Crusade against the Muslims and the continuation of their backing Israel, or the continuation of viable governments and basic public services," Gadahn writes.

Ibrahim focuses on the assaults on the US Consulate in Benghazi and the US embassies in Egypt, Tunisia, and Yemen in September 2012. Jihadists raised al Qaeda's flag at the US installations, and killed the US's ambassador to Libya and three personnel in Benghazi. Ibrahim notes that the so-called protesters chanted "Obama! Obama! we are all Osama!" He also claims that despite bin Laden's death at the hands of US special operations forces in May 2011, bin Laden continues to inspire old and new jihadists alike.

The release of the latest edition of Inspire shows that al Qaeda's core in Pakistan is not cut off from its affiliates, and that AQAP retains the ability to produce the magazine despite the loss of two Americans who were thought to be important to its continuation.

AQAP touted Gadahn's article as an "exclusive," which means the group was either able to contact Gadahn to solicit and receive it, or that Gadahn contacted the publishers of Inspire to offer the article. Gadahn is believed to be based in Pakistan and is known to work with As Sahab, al Qaeda's primary propaganda production outfit. He also releases propaganda via As Sahab on occasion.

The Obama administration has claimed that al Qaeda's "core" leadership cadre in Pakistan is cut off and disconnected and isolated from its affiliates, and that the terror group is on the verge of defeat. But as Gadahn's latest article and numerous propaganda tapes and communiques by al Qaeda emir Ayman al Zawahiri and other top leaders show, the terror group is intact and capable of producing propaganda and communicating with its affiliates worldwide.

Additionally, it was unclear if AQAP would continue to produce Inspire after the deaths of American jihadists Samir Khan and Anwar al Awlaki, both of whom are thought to have greatly influenced the magazine's publication. Al Awlaki and Khan were killed in a US drone strike in Yemen in September 2011. As the release of the 10th edition of Inspire shows, AQAP clearly maintains the capacity to produce the magazine, and still remains committed to attacking the West.

Tahir Ashrafi, the head of the Pakistan Ulema Council. Image from TOLOnews.

The tortuous path of the Afghan government's plan for a regional ulema conference that would issue a fatwa condemning suicide attacks reached a new impasse yesterday when the head of Pakistan's ulema council stated that suicide attacks are permissible. The proposed conference, originally put forward by Afghanistan's High Peace Council, was agreed to by Pakistan in November, and then hit a series of snags as it was condemned by the Taliban in late December and early January.

The conference, which had been scheduled for January, was postponed; its agenda grew murky, the venue changed from Kabul to various other locations, and its fate became uncertain. It has been termed variously a "peace conference" and a conference on the issue of suicide bombings.

In an interesting twist, last month the Taliban changed their stance from condemning the proposed conference to demanding to take part in it. Reports suggested that Pakistan's position on the proposed conference mirrored that of the Taliban, which remained steadfastly opposed to a gathering that would potentially outlaw the tactic of suicide bombing. [See LWJ report, Karzai presses for fatwa on suicide attacks.]

Afghan officials have resisted the Taliban's demand to be included in the conference, suspecting no doubt that the Taliban would subvert the original goal of obtaining a fatwa against suicide bombings, and the event has appeared to be destined for limbo. Meetings between Afghan and Pakistani religious scholars on the proposed conference have reflected division between the two groups, and as of a few weeks ago they had apparently agreed only to hold a joint conference in March on the issue of attacks on civilians, according to Xinhua.

The picture became much clearer yesterday, however, when the head of Pakistan's ulema council announced that suicide attacks are permitted in Afghanistan so long as US forces remain in the country.

"Palestine is occupied by Israel, Kashmir by India, and Afghanistan by the US. So if the Muslims don't have the atomic bomb, they should sacrifice their lives for God," Tahir Ashrafi, the head of the Pakistan Ulema Council, told TOLOnews.

Significantly, Ashrafi's rhetoric on suicide attacks is identical to that of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan. In January 2009, the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan released a propaganda tape in which a jihadist said that "suicide bombers are the atomic weapons of Muslims."

In the tape, a teenage suicide bomber named Masood, who was involved with a May 2008 double suicide bombing in Lahore, stated: "Suicide bombers are the atomic weapons of Muslims because Muslims do not have the latest weapons to fight enemies who are committing atrocities against Muslims in Kashmir, Palestine, Afghanistan and Iraq."

The Taliban's influence is evident in the Pakistani clerics' recent letter to the Afghan ulema council, in which the Pakistani council stated that it would not attend the planned joint ulema summit, saying it was unwilling to criticize the Afghan Taliban's activities or issue a fatwa against them or their activities, Khaama Press reported.

In another interesting twist, Ahmad Saeedi, an Afghan political commentator, has claimed that the latest statement on suicide bombings by the head of the Pakistani ulema was issued at the request of Pakistan's Inter-Service Intelligence Directorate, according to Pajwhok Afghan News.

Afghanistan's ulema council has rejected the position of its Pakistani counterpart, and maintains that suicide attacks are not permitted by Islam.

It is not surprising that the Taliban continue to sabotage any attempt to curtail the use of suicide attacks, which constitute one of the most powerful weapons in their arsenal. As data compiled by the South Asia Intelligence Review of the South Asia Terrorism Portal show, the number of suicide attacks in Afghanistan rose from one in 2001 (the bombing that killed Northern Alliance leader Ahmad Shah Massoud on Sept. 9, 2001, two days before 9/11) to 736 by Sept. 5, 2011 (the date of the SAIR report), with a total of 3,755 fatalities.

Yesterday's statement by the head of the Pakistani ulema approving the use of suicide attacks in occupied Muslim lands also correlates with the increasing use of suicide attacks by the Taliban's close ally, al Qaeda, and its affiliates in jihadist theaters worldwide.

Al Qaeda commander Mokhtar Belmokhtar. Image from Sahara Media.

Chadian military forces in Mali claimed to have killed fugitive al Qaeda affiliate Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the mastermind behind the deadly terrorist assault against an Algerian gas plant in January, during a dramatic counterterrorism operation in northern Mali today.

"On Saturday, March 2, at noon, Chadian armed forces operating in northern Mali completely destroyed a terrorist base .... The toll included several dead terrorists, including their leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar," Chadian armed forces spokesman General Zacharia Gobongue said on a Chadian television station. The statement also noted that weapons, equipment, and 60 vehicles were seized, according to the BBC. As this is a developing situation and Belmokhtar's death has not yet been confirmed by additional sources, the reports must be taken with caution.

Yesterday Chadian forces claimed to have killed Abdel Mejid Abou Zeid, a top al Qaeda leader who serves as the deputy to Yahya Abu Hammam, the head of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb's operations in the Sahel region of North Africa.

Zeid leads the Taregh Ibn Ziyad brigade, which operates throughout Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and southern Algeria. Zeid's brigade is responsible for the beheading of British hostage Edwin Dyer in May 2009. Algerians, Mauritanians, Malians, and Moroccans are known to fight with both Hammam and Zeid. [See LWJ report, US adds senior AQIM commander to terrorist list.]

So far, the French ministry of foreign affairs has not confirmed Zeid's death, but officials are awaiting results of a DNA test that has been conducted on the remains supposedly belonging to Zeid, according to France 24 News.

Chadian military forces are reported to have entered Mali around Jan. 22 as part of a regional African military force seeking to thwart the Islamist takeover in the country.

Background on Belomakhtar

Belmokhtar has been tied to jihadists in North Africa and Central Asia. He waged jihad against the Soviets in the 1980s, and fought in Algeria's civil war in the 1990s with the al Qaeda-linked Armed Islamic Group and its successor, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, which renamed itself al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb in 2007. AQIM is al Qaeda's affiliate in North Africa.

In 2003, the United Nations designated Belmokhtar as a global terrorist for his activities on behalf of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. He was also convicted in absentia by Algerian courts for criminal acts including terrorism in 2004, 2007, and 2008.

Although Belmokhtar split with al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb in December 2012, he still conducts joint operations with the group. Belmokhtar later created the al-Mua'qi'oon Biddam, or Those who sign with Blood Brigade, which led the bloody terrorist assault against the In Amenas gas facility in southeastern Algeria in mid-January.

Belmokhtar reports directly to al Qaeda's central leadership, according to his spokesman. Al Qaeda central tightened its control over AQIM's hostage operations in late 2010. [See LWJ report, Analysis: Al Qaeda central tightened control over hostage operations].

Dost Mohammed, the Taliban's shadow governor for Nuristan province, is interviewed on Al Jazeera in November 2009.

The Taliban's most vaunted commander in Nuristan and Kunar provinces, Sheikh Dost Mohammed, has been killed along with three other Taliban figures in a US drone strike, according to Bokhdi News, citing an official from the Afghan and NATO Military Coordination Office. Sheikh Dost Mohammed has served as the top Taliban leader and shadow governor in Nuristan province for several years, and his insurgent network maintains deep ties to regional Salafist movements and al Qaeda.

The alleged drone strike took place early yesterday morning in the unstable Ghaziabad district in Kunar province. Among others said to be killed in the strike were Taliban operatives Akhtar Mohammad and one of Dost Mohammed's relatives, Nematullah Haidar.

International Security Assistant Forces (ISAF) issued a brief statement confirming that Afghan and Coalition forces killed three insurgents and wounded another during an operation in Ghaziabad district, Kunar province, on March 2. The ISAF statement further added: "The security force positively identified the militants engaging in insurgent activity in an isolated area away from civilians. After ensuring no civilians were in the vicinity, the security force engaged the armed insurgents, killing three and wounding one."

Dost Mohammed has previously been reported killed numerous times since 2009, and the latest report about his death should be viewed with caution.

Since abandoning several outposts in the more remote border districts of Nuristan province in October 2009, Afghan and Coalition forces have continued operations against an entrenched Taliban network spanning Kunar and Nuristan provinces. Last May, a Coalition operation killed Sheikh Jamil ur Rahman, the Taliban's deputy shadow governor for Nuristan province, as he and associate Abdul Hakim were traveling through Nuristan's Waygal district.

Background on Dost Mohammed

Dost Mohammed is one of the most wanted Taliban commanders in Afghanistan, and has organized massed assaults on US bases in the province. In one such attack, on Camp Keating in October 2009, Dost's fighters, backed by al Qaeda and other foreign fighters, overran a portion of the base and killed nine US soldiers.

Nuristan province is a known haven for the Taliban and al Qaeda. In September 2011, Governor Nuristani said that six of the eight districts in his province were effectively under Taliban control [see LWJ report, Governor: Most of Nuristan under Taliban control]. The current status of Nuristan's districts is unclear; the Taliban are still thought to hold sway in the province. In November 2011, Coalition and Afghan special operations forces captured an al Qaeda operative who was known to operate in Waygal as well as in Kunar.

The Afghan government and the Coalition have given up on waging counterinsurgency operations in Nuristan and Kunar. The US military has withdrawn from several combat outposts in the rugged, remote provinces. Instead, conventional and special operations forces are launching periodic sweeps to cull the Taliban forces, or "mowing the grass," as a senior US general described it in April 2011.

In a somewhat startling reversal for the religious leader of a nation, Allama Tahir Ashrafi, the Chairman of Pakistan's Ulema Council, announced yesterday that his recent statement endorsing suicide attacks and other forms of violent jihad in "occupied" Muslim countries was taken out of context and that harming civilians is acceptable to none.

It was widely reported that on March 1 Ashrafi stated: "Palestine is occupied by Israel, Kashmir by India and Afghanistan by the US. So if Muslims don't have the atomic bomb, they should sacrifice their lives. We want America to leave the region." [See LWJ report, Pakistani clerics endorse suicide bombings, reject proposed peace conference.]

Ashrafi told Pajhwok Afghan News yesterday, however, that "I've never supported suicide attacks that cause civilian casualties in Afghanistan," and he added that such bombings had also been banned by Taliban emir Mullah Omar.

Despite Ashrafi's claim that Mullah Omar does not support suicide attacks, the tactic has been used with regularity by his Taliban forces.

Since the first such attack on Sept. 9, 2001, suicide attacks have killed well over 3,755 people in Afghanistan and the vast majority of the victims of these attacks have been civilians. According to the United Nations' 2012 Report on Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict in Afghanistan, 22% of all civilian casualties inflicted by antigovernment elements in 2012 were caused by suicide attacks. The UN documented 1,507 civilian casualties in 2012 (328 killed and 1,179 injured) from 73 incidents of suicide and complex attacks (the latter include suicide attacks). Three children died executing suicide attacks in 2012, and 48 more were arrested for planning to conduct such attacks.

The UNAMA report also states: "In 2012 UNAMA documented 46 separate incidents for which the Taliban publically claimed responsibility. These incidents accounted for a total of 513 civilian casualties and included 15 targeted killings, 12 suicide and complex attacks, nine IED incidents and seven ground engagements."

It is also curious to see how Ashrafi could even assert, as he did yesterday, that a suicide bombing against a purely military target would be permissible under his version of Islam, given that many of the suicide bombers themselves are civilians. The ranks of suicide bombers include children as young as eight, women, and the mentally handicapped. [See LWJ reports, Taliban rebuild children's suicide camp in South Waziristan, Pakistani Taliban kidnap young girl to turn her into a suicide bomber, and Female suicide bomber strikes in Peshawar, and see also LWJ report, Al Qaeda in Iraq uses disabled women in Baghdad bombings.]

Ashrafi's statement endorsing suicide attacks triggered widespread condemnation from Afghan clerics and government officials, among others. The Afghan High Peace Council issued a statement castigating Ashrafi's declaration on jihad as contradicting every Islamic principle, and a group of Afghan Islamic scholars and clerics said that it was not for the head of Pakistan's ulema council to issue a fatwa, according to TOLOnews.

Afghan national security advisor Rangin Dadfar Spanta warned that the "fatwa" issued by Ashrafi demonstrated the strong current of violence that threatened the Afghan people, Khaama Press reported.

Deputy national security advisor and former spy chief Rahmatullah Nabil called for the international community to blacklist both Ashrafi and Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Agency, according to TOLOnews. Nabil said the fact that Pakistani clerics had responded to the conference invitation with "a religious Fatwa and [that they] consider Jihad in Afghanistan as permissible" amounted to a "very shameless confession" that Pakistan does not want a peaceful and powerful Afghanistan.

Ashrafi's fatwa also drew a reaction from NATO. Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen stated in Kabul today after meeting with President Hamid Karzai: "I strongly condemn endorsing suicide attacks and there is no justification for such a terrorist attacks." Speaking at the joint press conference with Rasmussen, Karzai said the chief Pakistani cleric's fatwa endorsing suicide attacks served to clarify Pakistan's position regarding Afghanistan, Khaama Press reported.

The speed and the nature of Ashrafi's apparent shift in position yesterday on the issue of suicide attacks suggest that forces are working on him to 'shape the message.'

The Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan released a videotape on the fighting in the Mehsud areas of South Waziristan which includes graphic footage of the mutilation of several Pakistani soldiers who appear to have been killed in a firefight last summer.

The videotape, which was sent to The Long War Journal by a spokesman from Umar Media, the media arm of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, is titled "Strike of a Believer." It focuses on the Taliban's fight against the Pakistani military in the tribal agency of South Waziristan, and includes a statement from the terror group's emir, Hakeemullah Mehsud.

A three-minute segment shows what appears to be the aftermath of a clash with Pakistani soldiers in a mountainous area of South Waziristan. The Taliban are seen taking the soldiers' weapons. The soldiers are seen with their Pakistani Army-issued weapons, body armor, and helmets.

At least three of what appear to be six soldiers who were killed and beheaded are shown. Their heads are displayed on top of rocks. The body of one Pakistani soldier, who was not beheaded, was thrown down the mountainside.

Although the date of the Taliban attack on the Pakistani soldiers was not provided in the video, a spokesman for Umar Media told The Long War Journal that "this fight was held on 22 June 2012."

The Pakistani media did not report the deaths of Pakistani soldiers in South Waziristan within three days before or after June 22, 2012. The nearest report of Pakistani soldiers killed in South Waziristan was on June 18, 2012, when two soldiers were said to have been killed in an attack on the Ladha area of South Waziristan.

Hakeemullah threatens the US and Britain

In addition to the graphic Taliban clip, a speech by Taliban emir Hakeemullah Mehsud was also featured in the lengthy tape. Hakeemullah vowed to continue to attempt to execute attacks on US and British soil.

"At present we are waging defensive jihad but our resolve is very strong," Hakeemullah said, according to a translation of the videotape which was provided by the SITE Intelligence Group. He continued: "We resolve to enter Britain and America. They come here and target us, so we will go to America and Britain and target them. These will be blessings of jihad. Allah willing, we will have access there and avenge inside America and Britain."

The Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan nearly detonated a car bomb in Times Square in New York City on May 1, 2010. The bomb was placed by Faisal Shahzad, an American citizen who was born in Pakistan and returned home to train for an attack on the US. Both Hakeemullah and Qari Hussain, another Taliban commander, claimed credit for the attack. Hakeemullah was later seen on tape with Shahzad, boasting about the plot.

Videotape the latest to show Taliban executions of Pakistani security forces

In the past, the Taliban have released several videos of the execution and beheading of Pakistani troops. Most recently, in September 2012, the Taliban released a videotape of the aftermath of the beheadings of several Pakistani soldiers who were captured after fighting in Bajaur.

In June 2012, a video showing the heads of 17 Pakistani soldiers who had served in the district of Dir, which is near Bajaur, was released by the Taliban. [See LWJ report, Pakistani Taliban release video of beheaded Pakistani soldiers.]

In June 2011, the Taliban released a video of the execution of 16 Pakistani policemen in Dir. The Taliban lined them up, and executed them via firing squad. The policemen had been captured after the Taliban crossed the border from Kunar. [See LWJ report, Video of brutal Taliban execution of Pakistani policemen emerges.]

In February 2011, Hakeemullah released a videotape of the execution of a former Pakistani military intelligence official known as Colonel Imam. Although Imam, a senior officer in Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence directorate, was a favorite of the Afghan Taliban for his support of Mullah Omar, the Pakistani Taliban accused him spying against the terror group. [See LWJ report, Video: Pakistani Taliban execute Colonel Imam.]

Asmatullah Muawiya (center). Image from the SITE Intelligence Group.

Asmatullah Muawiya, a Pakistani terrorist who serves as one of several al Qaeda "company" commanders, praised two terrorists who were behind some of the largest attacks in India and who were recently executed. Muawiya also said that India will become a major target of terrorist attacks once the US withdraws from the region.

Muawiya, a former Jaish-e-Mohammed commander who is affiliated with both al Qaeda and the so-called Punjabi Taliban, released a statement praising Ajmal Kasab, a participant in the November 2008 assault on Mumbai, and Afzal Guru, a member of the team that attacked the Indian Parliament in New Delhi in December 2001. Muawiya's statement was published on the jihadist Jamia Hafsa Urdu Forum on Feb. 24, and was obtained and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.

Kasab was "a true mujahid. He was among us, he was ours, a native of Pakistan," Muawiya said.

Kasab was the only surviving member of the 10-man Lashkar-e-Taiba assault team that shut down the city of Mumbai for 60 hours at the end of November 2008. The Lashkar-e-Taiba assault team attacked multiple targets, including hotels, a train station, and a Jewish center, and killed 166 people during the attack. The Indian government executed Kasab in November 2012.

Al Qaeda is said to have had a role in the planning for Mumbai and the training of the Lashkar-e-Taiba assault team. Several of the documents seized at Osama bin Laden's compound "suggested a much larger direct al Qaeda role in the planning of the Mumbai attacks than many assumed," according to Bruce Reidel, a former adviser to the Obama administration. And bin Laden may have seen surveillance reports prepared by David Headley, the Lashkar-e-Taiba operative who scouted out locations for the Mumbai siege [see LWJ report, Report: Osama bin Laden helped plan Mumbai attacks].

Additionally, Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari, the alleged facilitator of the Mumbai attack, revealed that al Qaeda was tasked with training the Mumbai attackers in a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) training camp close to the Pakistan-Iran border [see LWJ report, Al Qaeda trained Mumbai attackers].

Afzal Guru participated in the assault on the Indian Parliament building on Dec. 13, 2001, which was a joint Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed operation. Like Kasab, Guru was the only surviving member of the assault team. Five policemen, a security guard, and a civilian were killed during the attack. The Indian government executed Guru in February.

Muawiya said that their executions would only strengthen the jihadists' resolve to attack India and liberate the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

"The blood of Afzal Guru and Ajmal Kasab will multiply the rise of this jihadi tide," Muawiya said, according to SITE.

Muawiya also threatened that attacks in India will increase as jihadists shift their focus from Afghanistan to India and Kashmir after the US withdraws from the region.

"This should indicate the new target of mujahideen after the US leaves the region in a humiliating manner," Muawiya said. "Out of their love for Kashmir, and their religious fervor, the mujahideen will opt for Kashmir. This time American will not be in position to influence the events in the region."

Muawiya's statement hinted at the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate's ties to jihadist groups, and predicted that the ISI will not be able to control the groups that it has supported and directed in the past.

"Helpless in the face of jihadi strikes, the Pakistani government will not be able to defend India," he noted. "This time when jihad rises with new courage and dedication, it will be pure from the ISI's [Inter-Services Intelligence] cursed shadow. It is possible that ISI might opt for a smaller role in this situation."

An al Qaeda commander

Muawiya is one of several al Qaeda "company" commanders, US intelligence officials told The Long War Journal in May 2012. Atiyah Adl al Rahman and Abu Yayha al Libi, two top aides to Osama bin Laden who have since been killed in US drone strikes in Pakistan, mentioned the existence of these companies in a December 2010 letter addressed to Hakeemullah Mehsud, the emir of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan [see LWJ report, Bin Laden docs hint at large al Qaeda presence in Pakistan].

The US killed Badr Mansoor, the head of one such company, in a drone strike in early 2012. Mansoor had been directly named as a company commander by Atiyah and al Libi in their December 2010 letter. Al Qaeda swiftly designated Farman Shinwari as Mansoor's successor. Like Mansoor, Shinwari has close ties to Pakistani terror groups, and specifically the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen.

Muawiya is an influential commander who leads "several hundred jihadis" in Pakistan's tribal areas and in Punjab province, a US intelligence official told The Long War Journal in May 2012. Other companies include Ilyas Kashmiri's Brigade 313 and the Qari Zafr Group. These groups are commonly referred to as the Punjabi Taliban.

When leadership positions traditionally held by Arabs or Africans become vacant due to drone strikes, al Qaeda has often backfilled them with Pakistani jihadist commanders from groups such as the Laskhar-e-Jhangvi, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Jundallah (the Karachi-based, al Qaeda-linked group), and several other Pakistani terror groups.

Egyptian officials are worried that they are seizing only a fraction of the weaponry entering the Sinai Peninsula from Libya. And in contrast to earlier arms shipments, which were destined for the Gaza Strip, the final destination for many of the recent weapons shipments is the Sinai itself, where Salafi jihadists have a growing presence.

"Not all the weaponry flowing into Libya is going to the Gaza .... The Egyptians are becoming alarmed that weapons are now being stockpiled by Egyptian Salafi groups. They are starting to uncover arms trafficked from Libya in the [Nile] Delta and believe other weapons are being stored in Sinai. It is making them very nervous," a European diplomat recently told Voice of America.

According to the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), "hundreds" of high quality weapons from Libya and Sudan, including long-range rockets and advanced antitank and antiaircraft missiles, ended up in Gaza through the Sinai in 2012. And over the past few months, Egyptian authorities have seized numerous weapons in and en route to the Sinai and Gaza Strip, including short-range rockets and antiaircraft and antitank missiles.

On Jan. 7, Egyptian authorities foiled a car bomb plot in the city of Rafah, near Gaza. Following the Rafah incident, Egyptian authorities issued a security alert for the Sinai as intelligence services received information about potential attacks by extremist groups in the Sinai.

On Jan. 11, an Egyptian army officer was killed by a sniper "seemingly affiliated to extremist groups" in el Arish in the Northern Sinai. On Feb. 15, Egyptian authorities announced the seizure of two tons of explosives headed to the Sinai from Cairo. Two days later, Egyptian authorities seized a weapons cache in el Arish. "The seized weapons include 21 anti-aircraft shells, six anti-tank mines and an anti-aircraft gun," an official said. In another incident on Feb. 17, one ton of explosives was found in a car headed from Cairo toward the Sinai.

Four days later, a military spokesman said the Egyptian Armed Forces "will continue to carry out their assignments in Sinai until all tunnels in Rafah are destroyed and all terrorist hotbeds eliminated." On Feb. 27, Egyptian authorities seized 60 antitank missiles south of Cairo that were being transported in two pickup trucks from Libya. Yesterday, a cache of weaponry, including antitank mines, was seized by authorities in el Arish.

In addition to concerns over weaponry flowing into Egypt, US intelligence sources indicate that "contacts have increased in recent months between Al Qaeda-linked Jihadists and more localized Salafist groups in Sinai and the Egyptian Delta region," Voice of America reported.

Since the beginning of the so-called Arab Spring, a number of Salafi jihadist groups linked to al Qaeda have sprouted up in the Egyptian Sinai. The terror groups have conducted attacks against the Egyptian military and policemen, Israel, international peacekeepers in the Sinai, and a pipeline transporting natural gas to Israel and Jordan.

According to the Shin Bet, elements of the "global jihad" are using the Sinai as a base to wage terror attacks against Israel. Western officials estimate that at least several hundred jihadists, some of whom are from Yemen and Somalia, are now operating in the Sinai. Egyptian officials have also expressed concern that militants from Algeria and Libya are now operating in the Sinai Peninsula.

Israeli intelligence believes that most of the attacks originating in the Sinai have been carried out by Ansar Jerusalem, also known as Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis. At least two members of the Ansar Jerusalem cell that carried out the group's attack on Sept. 21, 2012 that killed one Israeli soldier were educated middle-class Egyptians from the Nile Delta, and not Bedouins from the Sinai.

In recently revealed communications between Muhammad Jamal al Kashef, the head of the Nasr City terror cell, and al Qaeda emir Ayman al Zawahiri, Jamal said that he had formed "groups for us inside [the] Sinai." As Thomas Joscelyn noted in an LWJ report last month, this was an "especially interesting revelation given that some jihadist groups there have openly proclaimed their allegiance to al Qaeda."

In December 2011, a group named Ansar al Jihad in the Sinai Peninsula announced its formation and pledged to "fulfill the oath" of Osama bin Laden. Then in January 2012, Ansar al Jihad swore allegiance to al Qaeda emir Ayman al Zawahiri. "To our beloved emir and honorable sheikh, Abu Muhammad Ayman al Zawahiri ... from your soldiers in the beloved Sinai in the Land of the Quiver [Egypt], we give you allegiance for obedience in good and bad, in difficulty and ease, and altruism," Ansar al Jihad said, in a statement obtained and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.

A few months later, the Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem (MSC), a consolidation of Salafi jihadist groups, announced that its June 18, 2012 cross-border attack, which killed one Israeli civilian, was "a gift to our brothers in Qaedat al Jihad and Sheikh Zawahiri" and retaliation for the death of Osama bin Laden. In February, the MSC released a martyrdom video for one of the two members of the cell behind the June 2012 attack, Khalid Salah Abdul Hadi Jadullah, portraying him as an al Qaeda martyr.

The body of a slain militant lies wedged in a rocky crevice reportedly in the rugged mountains of northern Mali. French sources have alternatively attributed the corpse in the photo to both Mokhtar Belmokhtar and Abdel Mejid Abou Zeid. Source: Paris Match.

The fate of fugitive al Qaeda affiliate Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the mastermind of the deadly terrorist assault against an Algerian gas plant in January, remains uncertain four days after senior Chadian officials declared him dead following pitched battles in northeastern Mali.

On March 4, a grainy photo obtained by RFI showed what Chadian soldiers claim is the corpse of Belmokhtar -- however, an identical or very similar photograph was also used in the French magazine Paris Match, which claimed the corpse was that of top al Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb (AQIM) commander Abdel Mejid Abou Zeid. Chadian authorities have also claimed to have killed Abou Zeid in a recent, but separate, clash in late February or early March. [See Threat Matrix, Conflicting accounts emerge over AQIM leader's reported death.]

According to the Paris Match report, Chadian journalist Abdelnasser Garboa claimed that as soon as he saw the photograph he recognized the corpse "immediately" as belonging to Abou Zeid. A French and Chadian offensive against Islamist militants in the rugged mountains of northeastern Mali began around Feb. 22, and remains ongoing, although the heaviest clashes were reported just before March 2.

Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno has never swayed from his position that Chadian forces killed Belmokhtar and Abou Zeid in recent battles, but claimed he has prohibited his forces from displaying or photographing the corpses of militants, out of respect for Islamic values.

Confusion over the identity of the corpse depicted in the photos, specifically since it has been attributed to two separate al Qaeda leaders, has only hampered efforts to confirm the deaths of Belmokhtar and Abou Zeid.

A militant claiming to be associated with al Qaeda was quick to denounce the photographs, noting that French and Chadian officials were unable to properly identify the dead man shown in the photo, and he maintained that Belmokhtar is alive and well leading battles near the beleaguered city of Gao, Mali, according to the SITE Intelligence Group. The alleged al Qaeda-affiliated fighter argued that the corpse in the photograph belongs to an unidentified Tuareg fighter, explaining that ethnic Tuaregs typically have a darker brown complexion, according to SITE.

It should be noted that the dust and blood-covered man in the photograph appears to fit the physical profile of Belmokhtar, and although the face is partially covered and is clearly saturated with blood from a head wound, what can be seen slightly resembles Belmokhtar, not Abou Zeid as proclaimed by Paris Match.

However, not all agree. Abdollah Mohamedi, the head of the jihadist-friendly, Mauritania-based Sahara Media, told France 24 News that the photos depicting a dead militant were not definitive proof that either Belmokhtar or Abou Zeid have been killed. Mohamedi argued that the corpse bore little resemblance to Belmokhtar. "The color of the beard is not right. We can't identify the body from the way the beard is trimmed because a lot of jihadists trim their beard in the same pointy way," Mohamedi said. "This could be the body of any jihadist."

Mohamedi further indicated that Sahara Media had contacted an unnamed AQIM affiliate, who had confirmed that Abu Zeid was indeed killed but also claimed that Belmokhtar was alive and that he would soon issue a public declaration.

French officials remained cautious in assuming that either Belmokhtar or Abou Zeid had been killed. On March 4, French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian acknowledged that there was no "proof of death" of either Belmokhtar or Abou Zeid.

Ali Jaleel, the al Qaeda suicide bomber who was aided by Reaz Qadir Khan, an American citizen. Image from the SITE Intelligence Group.

A naturalized American citizen who is originally from Pakistan has been indicted by the US government for providing material support to a Maldivian suicide bomber who attacked a Pakistani intelligence headquarters in Lahore on May 27, 2009.

Thirty-three people were killed in the suicide assault, which was executed by three heavily armed al Qaeda suicide bombers [see LWJ report, Terror assault team targets police and intelligence officials in Lahore].

Reaz Qadir Khan was arrested two days ago by the FBI in Portland, Ore., and charged with "conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists," the FBI stated in a press release. "If convicted, he faces a potential maximum sentence of life in prison."

Khan allegedly provided support to Ali Jaleel, a Maldivian who was eulogized by al Qaeda in a videotape released in September 2009 that celebrated the eighth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the US. Al Qaeda showed footage of Jaleel, who was also known as Musab Sayyid, and another suicide bomber who was also involved in the Lahore attack. In the tape, Jaleel is seen training at a terrorist camp.

The FBI claimed that Khan "conspired with an individual named Ali Jaleel and others to provide material support and resources and to conceal the nature of such support and resources, knowing they would be used in a conspiracy to kill, maim, or kidnap persons abroad" from December 2005 to June 2009. The "others" who conspired with Khan and Jaleel were not named in the indictment.

In 2006, Khan attempted to assist Jaleel "and a small group from the Maldives ... travel to Pakistan to train for violent jihad in Iraq or Afghanistan, but they were detained and returned to the Maldives, where Jaleel was placed under house arrest."

Undeterred by his house arrest, Jaleel continued to communicate with Khan and worked to travel to Pakistan.

"Khan provided advice to Jaleel on how to avoid detection and offered to arrange for money to be sent to Jaleel," the FBI stated. "In October 2008, Jaleel allegedly told Khan he needed '$2,500 for everything' and asked that Khan take care of his family and educate his children."

"Khan later instructed Jaleel to pick up the money he needed to enter the training camp from an individual in Karachi, Pakistan," the FBI stated. "To arrange for this transfer, Khan allegedly contacted an individual in Los Angeles whom he knew could quickly arrange for Jaleel to pick up money in Pakistan. According to indictment, the individual in Los Angeles then arranged for the money to be available for pick-up from the individual in Karachi."

It is unclear how Jaleel left the Maldives and entered Pakistan, but he is thought to have attended a terrorist training camp "in what is believed to be the Federally Administered Tribal Area of Pakistan."

Maldives nationals have been detained in Pakistan's tribal agencies in the past. In April 2009, "nine Maldives-based jihadists" were arrested in "Waziristan," according to The Hindu. Al Qaeda and allied groups are known to operate suicide training camps in the Taliban-controlled tribal agencies of North and South Waziristan.

Sulaiman Abu Gaith, Osama bin Laden, and Ayman al Zawahiri, from an al Qaeda propaganda tape. Image from BBC/AP.

Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, a former spokesman for Osama bin Laden, was arrested in Jordan and is currently being held in New York City. Abu Ghaith was initially detained in Turkey, according to Reuters, and then deported to Jordan, where the FBI and Jordanian authorities took him into custody.

The US Department of Justice has indicted Abu Gaith for conspiracy to "murder United States nationals anywhere in the world."

Abu Ghaith, who is bin Laden's son-in-law, fled Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and sheltered inside Iran for the better part of a decade afterwards. The Iranians held him under a loose form of house arrest.

The Kuwaiti press first reported that Abu Ghaith had been freed from Iranian custody and traveled to Afghanistan in 2010. [See LWJ report, Osama bin Laden's spokesman freed by Iran.] According to press accounts at the time, he was one of several al Qaeda leaders who was released in exchange for an Iranian diplomat who was kidnapped by al Qaeda's allies in Pakistan.

The details of this trade are not entirely clear.

It is known that the Iranians would not outright free some senior al Qaeda leaders from their custody, even while allowing others to operate a facilitation network. So, al Qaeda decided to force their hand by kidnapping and beating an Iranian operative doubling as a diplomat in Pakistan.

That deal was first reported by slain Pakistani journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad, who wrote about the exchange for the Asia Times and in his book, Inside Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Shahzad, who was killed under mysterious circumstances in Pakistan, reported that the hostage exchange led to al Qaeda's "broadening [of] ties with Iran." Al Qaeda, according to Shahzad, also received more sophisticated weaponry from Iran as part of the deal.

According to some accounts, Abu Ghaith operated inside Iran since his relocation there after the Sept. 11 attacks, including in more recent times. He was first captured after leaving Iran for Turkey earlier this year.

In 2002, Abu Ghaith openly threatened additional mass casualty attacks on the US. "Al Qaeda has the right to kill four million Americans, including one million children, displace double that figure, and injure and cripple hundreds and thousands," Abu Ghaith said in an online statement.

In his autobiography At the Center of the Storm: My Years at the CIA, former CIA director George Tenet explains that the US government "had to consider the possibility that Abu Ghaith was attempting to justify the future use of weapons of mass destruction that might greatly exceed the death toll of 9/11."

The CIA and FBI investigated numerous leads, but no such plot was uncovered.

Ties to Faylaka Island attack

According to declassified and leaked Joint Task Force-Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) documents, Abu Ghaith was tied to the al Qaeda terrorists responsible for a more conventional attack against American forces. On Oct. 8, 2002, an al Qaeda cell opened fire on US Marines conducting training exercises on the Faylaka Island off of Kuwait. One US Marine was killed and another seriously wounded.

The attack was carried out by al Qaeda trainees with direct ties to Abu Ghaith.

The leader of the Faylaka Island cell was a Kuwaiti named Anas al Kandari, who was killed during the shootout with the Marines. JTF-GTMO's files indicate that Anas al Kandari attended advanced sniper training at one of bin Laden's facilities in Afghanistan prior to the Sept. 11 attacks. Abu Ghaith, Fayiz al Kandari (Anas al Kandari's cousin) and some of bin Laden's sons were also allegedly part of the same training class.

In his book, The Martyr's Oath, Stewart Bell details how Abu Ghaith recruited and indoctrinated Anas al Kandari, as well as other al Qaeda recruits, in Kuwait. Fayiz al Kandari is a current detainee at Guantanamo and had his own ties to Abu Ghaith and bin Laden, according to the JTF-GTMO files.

Abu Ghaith's role in recruiting young Kuwaitis for al Qaeda eventually led authorities to strip him of his citizenship.

Earlier today, uniformed Afghan security forces attacked a US military base in eastern Kapisa province, killing a civilian contractor. Three Afghan troops are also said to have been killed in the incident.

A statement issued by ISAF today said: "Individuals wearing Afghan National Army uniforms turned their weapons against International Security Assistance Force members in eastern Afghanistan today, killing one ISAF-contracted civilian."

According to Khaama Press, "several" armed men, said to be Afghan National Army soldiers and Afghan police officers, attacked the base in Kapisa City "while Afghan soldiers were leaving the military base and a verbal conflict started between US and Afghan soldiers."

The attackers were equipped with "equipped with Humvee armoured vehicles and modern military equipment," Khaama Press reported.

The Khaama report stated that one US soldier and one Afghan soldier were killed in the attack, and that no one was injured. According to ISAF, however, it was a civilian US employee, not a US soldier, who died in the incident.

In response to an inquiry by The Long War Journal as to details of the attack, ISAF stated:

We can confirm that one ISAF-contracted civilian died when three individuals wearing Afghan National Security Forces uniforms and driving an ANSF vehicle forced their way on base and turned their weapons against International Security Assistance Force service members and civilians today in eastern Afghanistan. All three individuals were killed during the engagement and the area has been secured by ISAF and ANSF. Afghan and coalition officials are looking into the circumstances of this incident.

Today's attack is the second green-on-blue, or insider, attack on Coalition forces in Afghanistan this year. The previous attack took place on Jan. 6 in Wardak province. Last year, green-on-blue attacks accounted for 15% of Coalition deaths. The attacks have tapered off in recent months as partnering of Afghan and Coalition troops has been reduced. [See LWJ special report, Green-on-blue attacks in Afghanistan: the data.]

Update: The Associated Press reports that the attack took place in the Tagab district of Kapisa province, and that three US soldiers were also wounded in the attack. According to AP, the Taliban claimed in a statement that the attackers were from the Afghan army.

Al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria, the Al Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant, teamed up with another Salafist jihadist group to take control of the city of Raqqah along the Euphrates River in eastern Syria. Meanwhile, the Al Nusrah Front executed two more suicide attacks yesterday near the city of Homs.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a group that closely monitors Syria's civil war, reported yesterday that the Al Nusrah Front and the Ahrar al Sham Brigade took full control of Raqqah after the groups "overran the military security branch," which was "the last regime stronghold" in the city.

"The takeover of the city was symbolically celebrated by the Al Nusrah fighters through one of its fighters calling to prayer from inside the military security branch," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on its Facebook page. A video of the call to prayer was posted on YouTube [see video above].

Raqqah is the first provincial capital in Syria to fall completely under control of the myriad of forces opposed to President Bashir al Assad's regime. It is unsurprising that Raqqah fell to Al Nusrah and its jihadist allies, as Al Nusrah is considered to be the most organized and effective fighting force in Syria. The terror group has an estimated 10,000 fighters and is present on nearly all of the fronts in the country.

The Al Nusrah Front and the Ahrar al Sham Brigade, which is comprised primarily of Syrian fighters who want to establish an Islamic state, have conducted several joint operations in the past. In mid-February, the two jihadist groups seized control of the al-Jarrah military airport and the nearby town of Thawra and its dam.

Over the past several months, the Al Nusrah Front and its allies have effectively seized control of the Euphrates River Valley and have secured lines of communication with Al Nusrah's parent group, al Qaeda in Iraq [see LWJ report, Al Nusrah front spearheads capture of Syrian dam, claims suicide assault].

Al Nusrah executes two more suicide attacks

In addition to taking over Raqqah yesterday, the Al Nusrah Front executed two separate suicide attacks at military checkpoints outside the city of Homs in the province of the same name.

A pair of suicide bombers "detonated 2 suicide truck bombs yesterday by regime checkpoints in al-Dar al-Kabira near the entrance to Homs city," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. The attacks were executed as part of an attempt "to try to break the hold on the city entrances so that rebel fighters can go in."

While the Al Nusrah Front has not yet claimed credit for the two suicide bombings, previous reports attributed to the terror group by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights have been accurate. The Al Nusrah Front often claims credit for such attacks days or even weeks after they are executed.

The Al Nusrah Front has now claimed credit for 55 of the 67 suicide attacks that have taken place in Syria since December 2011, according to a tally by The Long War Journal (note that multiple suicide bombers deployed in a single operation are counted as part of a single attack). So far this year, 15 suicide attacks have been reported in Syria; Al Nusrah has claimed credit for 12 of them.