It has been nearly ten years since Indonesia’s elite counter-terrorism force, Densus 88, began hunting down the country’s most influential Islamic State (IS) loyalist, Santoso, in Sulawesi in 2015. The force eventually killed him in 2016 (jakartapost.com, December 1, 2015). Since Santoso’s death and IS’s... MORE

Amid ongoing coup contagion in West Africa, the region’s new military regimes—especially in Mali, but possibly in Burkina Faso and Niger in the future—are eyeing Russia, and particularly the Wagner Group, as potential partners in counter-insurgency support. Russia is more than willing to play a... MORE

On August 13, al-Qaeda’s Al-Sahab Media issued a call on a Telegram channel for Muslims to "take revenge" on Denmark and Sweden for Quran-burning protests, which had been carried out for several months in both countries. The announcement was ominously titled, "The obligation to attack... MORE

Al-Shabaab is increasingly threatening Ethiopia amid the escalating conflict between its militants and Ethiopian and other foreign troops in Somalia (The Reporter, July 1). With the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) set to fully withdraw from Somalia by the end of 2024, it... MORE

The Baloch separatist insurgency in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province has been taking on more dangerous features since the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul in August 2021. Separatist violence has dramatically increased, with women carrying out suicide bombings (see TM, May 20, 2022; MLM, August 5, 2022) as the... MORE

On August 16, one of northwestern Nigeria’s most notorious bandits, Dogo Gide, released a video in which he claimed his fighters were responsible for downing a Nigerian air force helicopter in Shiroro, Kaduna State; this attack killed 20 soldiers and three senior military officers (premiumtimesng.com,... MORE

On July 6, law enforcement in Germany and the Netherlands arrested nine Central Asians on terrorism-related charges. In Germany, five Tajik nationals, one Kyrgyz citizen, and one Turkmenistani citizen were arrested in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia for allegedly creating and participating in a... MORE

On July 12, nine Pakistani army soldiers and five militants were killed after security forces retaliated for a “dastardly attack” on Zhob garrison in the northern part of Pakistan's southwestern province of Balochistan (Dawn, July 12). The Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan (TJP), a relatively new militant group,... MORE

On August 6, Islamic State (IS) announced its new caliph, Abu Hafs al-Hashimi al-Quraishi. He is now the organization’s fourth caliph since Abubakar al-Baghdadi declared the caliphate in 2014 (allarabnews.com, August 6). The announcement also dispelled the notion that the previous caliph was killed by... MORE

On February 24, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP, also known as the “Pakistani Taliban”) called on the disillusioned Baloch people in southern Balochistan province to launch an anti-state jihadist war to free themselves of Pakistani atrocities and end the government’s military oppression of the region (Umar... MORE