Violence and Security

Iraq Fragmenting Under Assaults by Islamic Militants and Jihadis

July 11, 2014

Iraq continues its slide into territorial disintegration and social anarchy, as Sunni militants led by the jihadi group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant seized control from Baghdad over the Iraq's strategic area of Mosul and the Nineveh Province.
Pakistan's Taliban Reflects Adaptability of Globalized Islamist Extremism

July 11, 2014

The Pakistani Taliban's audacious weekend assault on the country's Karachi airport is a warning of the adaptability and dynamism of globalized Islamist extremist networks fanning outward from core hubs in Southwest and Central Asia.
Islamist Terror Roils Pakistan

July 11, 2014

Sectarian warfare and terrorist attacks spilled across Pakistan over the weekend, as the Pakistani Taliban and Lashkar-e-Jhangv staged a series of coordinated assaults against the airport in Karachi and against Shiite pilgrims on the country's border with Iran.
Civil Society Groups Claim Nigeria's OIC Membership Catalyzed Communal Violence

July 10, 2014

A report from civil society groups presented at Nigeria's National Conference claimed that the sharp deterioration in Christian-Muslim communal relations in Nigeria could be traced to the politicization of religion that accompanied the country's membership in the global, 57-member-state Organization of Islamic Cooperation (“OIC”).
UN Security Council Condemns Somali Islamist Terror Group

July 10, 2014

After approving a 12-month extension in the peacekeeping operation of the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (“UNSOM”), the UN Security Council categorically condemned the Islamist terror group, al Shabaab, for its continuing attacks on civilians and the aggravation of the country's humanitarian crisis.
Islamist Paramilitaries Kill 30 in Attack on Church in Central African Republic

July 10, 2014

International peacekeepers fear another round of sectarian reprisals following the Islamist paramilitary Seleka's attack on a Roman Catholic Church compound in the capital of the Central African Republic, which led to the killing of at least 30 of the civilians who had sought sanctuary inside.
Does the U.S. Know It's Supporting Jihadis in Syria?

July 10, 2014

Questions are being raised about U.S. military assistance being channeled to Harakat Hazm, a jihadist group supported by the Muslim Brotherhood, Turkey, and Qatar, that has cleverly rebranded itself by dropping its initial moniker of "fight against the disbelievers collectively" and successfully garnering the imprimatur of some Washington think-tankers as "a moderate/secularist faction, not an extremist/jihadist group."
Uighur Muslims Escalating Violence in China

July 10, 2014

Uighur Turkic Muslims, who are concentrated in China's western region of Xinjang, are the suspected perpetrators of another suicide bombing this week in the region's capital, signaling the Uighurs' turn to radical Islamism in the face of China's repressive human rights practices against religious and ethnic minorities.
Radical Islamist Group Forcing School Closures in Pakistan

July 10, 2014

A radical Islamist group, the Organization of Islam for the Koran, active on Pakistan's border with Iran and Afghanistan and opposed to "Western-style" and girls' education, is waging a terror campaign of violence and threats in order to force school closures in Pakistan.
Returning Jihadis from Syria a Concern for U.S. Homeland Security

July 10, 2014

Senior U.S. and Western intelligence and counter-terrorism officials are voicing growing concerns over potential high-level security threats from radicalized individuals returning home after fighting with extremist Islamist groups in Syria.