A 31-year-old Indian-American, caught in a Federal Bureau of Investigation sting operation, faces up to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to providing thousands of dollars in material support to three terror groups operating under the Al Qaeda in war-torn Syria and Somalia.
Acting on a tip off provided by the United States, police in Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar arrested a top Al-Qaeda suspect believed to have links to the 2005 London bombings that killed 52 people. Polce also nabbed six others militants in the pre-dawn swoop.
'We have leaders who would rather that we cohabit with the Indian Mujahedeen than fight terror, as long as the payoffs are there in the next polls... Obviously, we are not headed down the best route to keep terror at bay,' says Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd).
European countries are being used as hot destinations by terror group Al Qaeda to route money to India, according to a report by Peruvian Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).
A top terrorist expert on Thursday said that the militants behind the high-profile attacks in Mumbai that killed at least 125 people followed a 'blueprint' created by the Al Qaeda."Al Qaeda set the blueprint for terrorist operations and now we see different people, different groups in different parts of the world, copying it," said George Kassimeris, an expert in conflict and terrorism.
Less than a year after the Central Intelligence Agengy warned of renewed threats from a resurgent Al Qaeda, its director Michael Hayden portrayed the terrorist movement as largely defeated in Saudi Arabia and Iraq and on the backfoot throughout the world, including in its stronghold along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
Bin Laden's right hand man Ayman al-Zawahri surfaced on a video aired days before the 9/11 anniversary.
The Centre on Thursday sounded a country-wide alert after an Al Qaeda video appeared in which the terror outfit threatened to carry out campaign in India. Home Minister Rajnath Singh went into a huddle with top security officials as an initial assessment of the Intelligence Bureau found the video to be genuine.
A number of prominent ideologues linked to jihadist outfits in the Middle East took to social media to cheer the prospect of a Trump presidency, The Washington Post reported.
Al Qaeda is stronger than it was earlier thanks to President Pervez Musharraf's decision in 2006 to cut a ceasefire deal with Islamic militants in the region bordering Afghanistan, US intelligence agencies said. With the Pakistani security forces staying out of the region, Al Qaeda militants were able to resettle and even re-establish some training camps in the area, says Michael Leiter, acting director of the National Counter Terrorism Center.
Heaping scorn at a audio tape purported to be from Al Qaeda's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri seeking the overthrow of his government, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on Friday asserted he would "eliminate" all Al Qaeda terrorists.
Yasin was also responsible for the 2009 attack on a bus carrying the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore.
Afghanistan's Taliban have been wrongly perceived as close ideological allies of Al Qaeda and they could be persuaded to renounce the deadly global terrorist group, American scholars say.
The Delhi police on Friday charge-sheeted 17 accused, 12 of whom are absconding, for allegedly conspiring, recruiting Indian youths and establishing a base of terror outfit Al-Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent.
Al Qaeda will use women to carry out deadly attacks across the country, warns Intelligence Bureau.
"Clearly, Al Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan does not just comprise Arabs and Uzbeks and Tajiks. It also comprises Pakistanis; and among such Pakistanis it comprises Pathans and Punjabis and possibly Urdu speakers who constitute the Pakistani Taliban," the Daily Times said in an article.
Al Qaeda has made jihadi commander Ilyas Kashmiri as its chief military strategist for the region to plan and spearhead terrorist attacks against the West.
Bush said the US is in constant communications with the Pakistan government over the issue.
Despite the military action taken by the Pakistani Army against the terrorist groups, the US remains concerned that Al Qaeda operates with impunity in Pakistani territory, a Congressional report has said. 'Al Qaeda and Affiliates: Historical Perspective, Global Presence, and Implications for US Policy' was released by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) for US lawmakers on February 5.
In 2010, Al Qaeda's attempts to export terror to India, United States and Europe failed to quite an extent, analyses B Raman.
The officials also said the peace deal with tribal leaders in Waziristan has not proved successful in combating extremism and fighting terrorists.
Al Qaeda has first secured its base in northwestern Pakistan, and is now expanding its network through affiliations and even corporate-style takeovers of smaller Islamic groups.
The deaths in the drone strikes of many Al Qaeda leaders such as its No 3 Sai'd al-Masri and Saleh-al-Somali from Somalia have not weakened the capability of Al Qaeda to plan and mount terrorist strikes, writes B Raman.
He also told interrogators that Abu Omar al Baghdadi, who is identified as the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq, is a fictional role created by al Masri and that an actor is used for audio recordings of speeches posted on the Internet.
Al Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri is planning to carry out a terror strike at the eagerly awaited FIFA World Cup 2010, a recently arrested Al Qaeda operative has disclosed.
United States Defence Secretary Robert Gates has rubbished Pakistan's long-standing stance that unresolved issues like the Kashmir dispute were breeding terrorism and providing food for thought for banned extremist organisations like the Al Qaeda."Al Qaeda doesn't care about Kashmir, what it cares about is creating problems and provoking conflicts," Gates said.Gates's latest remarks are in addition to his statements, which he gave in New Delhi earlier this week.
About 150 terrorist entities and individuals, either based or with links to Pakistan have been blacklisted by the United Nations, with the latest addition being of Abdul Rehman Makki, the Lashkar-e-Taiba deputy chief designated by the Security Council's Al Qaeda sanctions committee.
Al Qaeda is helping and providing assistance to the Lashkar-e-Tayiba in launching terrorist attacks in India with the objective of provoking a conflict between India and Pakistan, United States Defence Secretary Robert Gates said on Thursday.
Cama Hospital and the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus were never part of the original 26/11 terror attack plan drawn out by the Al Qaeda. It was only when the ISI decided to hand over the plan to the anti-India Lashkar-e-Tayiba that the Mumbai attacks became bloodier. Vicky Nanjappa reports
US officials warn of attacks on 'multiple targets in multiple venues.'
A madrassa teacher from Bengaluru has been arrested by Delhi Police for suspected links with Al Qaeda, making it the fourth arrest in its ongoing operation against the terror outfit.
Pakistan has arrested Iranian Jundullah leader Abdul Malik Rigi, citing his ties with the Al Qaeda network, intelligence sources said.
A major chunk of the donations has been coming in countries such as Kuwait, Qatar and Dubai. However, the last year has seen a large number of persons from Switzerland, Africa and Russia contributing towards the Al-Qaeda coffers. Thanks to the improved funding, the Al-Qaeda has managed to set up more wings in countries like Nigeria, Sudan, Yemen, Morocco, United Kingdom and the latest one in California.
The Al-Qaeda has developed new explosive devices that enable suicide bombers carry them hidden in stomach to breach airline security measures, the media reported on Sunday. An al-Qaeda militant passed through several airline security checks with a bomb hidden in his intestine and made an abortive bid to assassinate a prominent Saudi prince, The Sunday Telegraph reported.
The two are members of Al Qaeda's sleeper cell and motivate youths of the steel city as well as other parts of Jharkhand to join and expand the organisation, he said.
The announcement by Al Qaeda that it has formed a branch for operating in India is not an indication of the terrorist outfit gaining new capabilities, the United States said on Friday, asserting that it is committed to dismantling the group.
Sherpao said the breakthrough in the case came after the mobile phone sets attached to the shells were "decoded" and the contact numbers of the "culprits" were obtained and the owners traced.
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