A covert United States military operation in January targeting Al-Qaeda leaders in the Afghan-Pakistan border region accidentally killed an American and an Italian, both aid workers who were hostages of the terror group, President Barack Obama said.
US President Barack Obama has vowed to defeat the Al Qaeda terrorist network and hit them anywhere in the world from where they are plotting attack against the US.
Now that it has been revealed that Osama was hiding in Pakistan, the presence of other key Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives in that nation doesn't seem such a far-fetched possibility
Two Indian brothers are among four men who have been indicted by a US federal court on charges of providing material support to slain Al Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki, prosecutors said.
Former RAW Additional Secretary Jayadeva Ranade tells Rediff.com's Upasna Pandey that India needs to be extremely cautious and watchful of the estimated 35-40 Indians who may have joined the ISIS in Iraq and may return to the country.
With reports of some youths from India joining the Islamic State, National Investigation Agency has sought permission of the government to register a case against the terror group as well as the banned Al Qaeda.
A pistol of 9 mm calibre, laptop, mobile phones, USD 2,000, 13,000 in Bangladeshi currency and Indian rupees were recovered from him.
Al Qaeda and a North Waziristan-based terror group 'Brigade 313' have reportedly prepared a plan to launch an attack on the 19th Commonwealth Games, which are due to be held in New Delhi from October 3 to October 14.
Al Qaeda's chief in Pakistan, who once fought in Jammu and Kashmir, was among four terrorists killed in a United States drone attack in Pakistan's restive North Waziristan tribal region on Thursday.
The Pakistan Army, however, asserted that only 'three to four' of its personnel were being held for alleged links with extremist groups.
Al Qaeda in Yemen has claimed responsibility for the attack on the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, saying it was ordered by the Islamist militant group's leadership for insults to the Prophet Mohammad, according to a video posted on YouTube.
A non-metallic explosive device that could have passed through airport security unnoticed like the one used in the failed attempt to bomb a Detroit-bound jet in 2009 by underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was recovered, the official said.
"In the key countries of Pakistan and Afghanistan, the group is under serious pressure," Robert F Godec, Principal Deputy Co-coordinator for Terrorism in the State Department said. There us "growing resolve" in both Afghanistan and Pakistan to "defeat" Al-Qaeda, he added.
Armaments seized included explosive belts used by suicide bombers, assault rifles, ammunition, computers, pre-paid mobile SIM cards and documents, the interior ministry said.
Al Qaeda's second-in-command Abu Yahya al-Libi has died in a US drone strike, the White House has confirmed, with a top Obama aide terming it as a major blow to the terrorist outfit.
Besides Germany, The UK's Scotland Yard and French Surete are also on full alert for possible Al Qaeda strikes in London and Paris. The German magazine Der Spiegel had reported on the weekend, that a group of Al Qaeda terrorists trained in Pakistani camps and assisted by underworld don Dawood Ibrahim are planning to storm Germany's Parliament in a Mumbai-style attack.
The Kerala police is probing alleged links of radical PFI, blamed for the attack on a college lecturer, with terror outfits Hizbul Mujahideen, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Al Qaeda, but not found any evidence so far, the state government informed the High Court on Monday.
The police has scheduled a press conference later in the day to give more details about the plot as security experts warned that the plotters could have been planning to blow up hydroelectric plants and transmission lines to hit the US. "There are ways of attacking the US through Canada. The whole energy for New York comes from Quebec," they said
As the peril of Islamic militancy spreads like a jungle fire in almost every nook and corner of Pakistan, the Al Qaeda network keeps thriving by evolving a modus operandi which exploits its local affiliates -- the Pakistani militant groups active in Jammu Kashmir and Afghanistan -- to pursue their global jehadi agenda, says Amir Mir.
"We should not underestimate the Taliban and Al-Qaeda nor fight terrorism with any less military and political determination than in the immediate post-2001 days after terrorist attacks on the United States," India's UN Ambassador Nirupam Sen told the Security Council on Wednesday.
The United States on Thursday said that the Lashkar-e-Tayiba was as dangerous as Taliban and Al-Qaeda with which it was working in close coordination and that Pakistan has been asked to deny it a foothold in that country.
The 27-year-old German national, later identified as Rami Mackenzie, was allegedly an expert in making suicide vests and was wanted by German authorities for links with extremists. He was clad in a burqa which covered his face at the time of the arrest.
Nasir Al-Wuhayshi, 32, was a key member of the Al Qaeda. He received jihadi training directly from Al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan.
An Al Qaeda document recovered by US Navy SEALs from the Abbottabad hideout of Osama bin Laden describes the 2008 Mumbai terror attack by Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorists as a "heroic Fidai" operation and the one at German Bakery in Pune as a "beautiful huge" bombing.
"It requires recognition that we will not just solve these problems militarily, but we're also going to have to be much more effective diplomatically; we're going to have to be much more effective on the development front," he said.
"As we approach our 10th year of combat in Afghanistan, there are those who are understandably asking tough questions about our mission there. But we must never lose sight of what's at stake," Obama said in his address to the nation to announce the end of combat mission in Iraq.
Al Qaeda remains "very capable" and focused on attacking the United States, a top American military official said on Sunday, adding the situation in Afghanistan is "serious" and "deteriorating" as the militants have found a "safe haven in Pakistan."
Adm Michael Mullen, chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, said despite the scale of threat, progress would be slow since Pakistan has been lagging behind in its strategy to eliminate safe havens for terrorists in the lawless Federally Administered Tribal Areas
Four leading hotels in Coimbatore have received e-mails in the name of Al Qaeda threatening to bomb them and demanding huge sums as protection money. The police suspect this to be the handiwork a Nigerian gang.
'The shift of militants to Afghanistan this year suggests that Al Qaeda and its allies, armed with new tactics honed in Iraq, are coming full circle five years after US-led forces ousted the Taliban mullahs,' says the Los Angeles Times.
"An attempt has been made to create a scare among the people. If it merits response, it will be there," Gupta said.
The top CIA official is said to have presented Musharraf 'compelling' evidence of Al Qaeda's resurgence in Pakistan, US officials were quoted as saying.
A special criminal court in Riyadh on Saturday sentenced 37-year-old Haila Al-Qaseer after she was convicted of taking part in various terrorist activities, Arab News reported.
Former Pakistan premier Benazir Bhutto said she does not blame the government for the terrorist attack on her homecoming parade in Karachi.
Al Qaeda and its followers, the New York Times says, have used the Internet to communicate and rally support for years, but in the past several months the Western tilt of the message and the sophistication of the media have accelerated.
They figure on a secret list drawn up by Britain's domestic intelligence service MI5 in the aftermath of 7/7 terror attacks in London.
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