2013–2015 Incidents

2013

Denmark—On October 23, 2014, AP reported that Denmark would demarche Turkish Ambassador Mehmet Donmez regarding the release and subsequent disappearance of Danish national Basil Hassan, 27, who was suspected of the failed shooting of a Danish anti–Islamist in 2013 and was arrested by Turkey on April 16, 2014, at Danish request.

Bahrain—On April 29, 2014, a Bahrain criminal court convicted and sentenced 3 men and female activists Nafisa ­al-Asfoor and Rayhana ­al-Musawi to 5 years in prison each on terrorism charges related to an attempt to bomb the 2013 Formula One race. No explosives were detonated at the 2013 Bahrain Grand Prix race.

Egypt—On June 13, 2015, AP reported that an Egyptian criminal court sentenced 23 people to 14 years in prison for beating to death 4 Shi’ite men west of Cairo. Villagers, including Salafis, surrounded the home of Shi’ite community leader Hassan Shehata and threatened to torch it if the 34 Shi’ites inside did not leave the village. They refused, and the villagers attacked them. Only 9 of the defendants were in custody. The court also acquitted 8 other defendants in the case.

Syria—The Islamic State kidnapped a 26-year-old American woman doing humanitarian aid work with 3 organizations in Syria. In late 2014, the Islamic State demanded a $6.6 million ransom. 13999901

Yemen—In November 2014, the United Nations announced that a Sierra Leonean water engineer working on a sanitation project had been freed more than a year after being kidnapped by unidentified gunmen. 13999902

Egypt—On June 13, 2015, AP reported that an Egyptian appeals court granted a retrial for Adel Habara, alleged senior member of Ansar Beit ­al-Maqdis who had been sentenced to death, and 15 others accused of killing 25 Egyptian police officers in 2013. Gunmen had attacked 2 minibuses carrying ­off-duty police officers near Rafah, lined up the officers, and shot them.

Bangladesh—On March 18, 2015, a court in Dhaka indicted Mufti Jasimuddin Rahmani, head of the a ­hard-line Islamist group Ansarullah Bangla Team, and 7 students at a private university who confessed to involvement in the hacking death of atheist blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider in front of his house in the Mirpur area of Dhaka in 2013. An investigation indicated that Rahmani incited the students to kill Haider, who criticized the Prophet Muhammad and Islam, in sermons at 2 mosques in which he said all atheist bloggers should be killed to protect Islam.

On December 31, 2015, UPI reported that a court sentenced to death 2 students for murdering Ahmed Rajib Haider, an atheist blogger who was hacked to death in Dhaka in 2013. Six others were convicted. Jashim Uddin Rahmani, leader of Ansarullah Bangla, the group suspected behind the attack, was sentenced to 5 years. The court said Faisal bin Nayeem, one of the students sentenced to death, attacked Haider with a meat cleaver outside of the victim’s home. The other student, Rez­wanul Azad Rana, was sentenced in absentia. The 2 killers attended Bangladesh’s North South University.

Nigeria—On May 28, 2015, the Spanish government opened a probe into Nigerian Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau on suspicion of terrorism and crimes against humanity. National Court judge Fernando Andreu cited a 2013 Boko Haram attack in Ganye, Nigeria, in which Spanish nun Maria Jesus Mayor was subjected to molestation and coercion. She escaped and was rescued by Nigerian intelligence officers.

January—Colombia—The National Liberation Army kidnapped Canadian engineer Gernot Wober. On August 29, 2013, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said he was ready to start talks with the ELN, since it had freed Wober the previous day.

January—Turkey/France—Turkish authorities arrested French citizen Flavien Moreau, 27, and sent him to France. In France, he tried to buy a false passport and was arrested. He was charged with plotting to prepare and conduct “terrorist attacks.” Moreau entered Syria in November 2012 but stayed only 10 days, telling the court, “I really struggled with not smoking. It was forbidden by the katiba [a group of jihadis]. He returned to France to purchase an ­e-cigarette, but was arrested in Turkey after trying to go back to Syria. On November 13, 2014, UPI reported that a Paris court sentenced him to 7 years for his brief membership in a jihadi group in Syria.

January—Syria—The Islamic State kidnapped Russian engineer Sergey Gorbunov. He was last seen in a video released in October 2013, saying that he would be killed if Moscow ignored IS demands. In early 2014, IS killed him and showed other hostages a video of his body. The New York Times reported they said, “This is what will happen to you if your government doesn’t pay.” 13019901

January 1—Pakistan—Two gunmen on a motorcycle fired assault rifles on a van, killing 7 Pakistani teachers and health workers, including 6 women, in the Swabi district of ­Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province near the village of Sher Afzal Banda. The victims worked for the private Pakistani aid group Support With Working Solution, which specializes in health and education. Five of the young women were teachers at a ­primary-level school hosted by the organization. The Pakistani Taliban was suspected.

January 1—Pakistan—A ­remotely-detonated bomb placed on a motorcycle exploded in a crowded Karachi neighborhood, hitting several buses returning from a political rally for the MQM political party, killing 4 and wounded more than 40. The rally was for Muhammad ­Tahir-ul Qadri, who had returned to Pakistan after living in Canada for several years. He was a critic of President Asif Ali Zardari and the governing Pakistan People’s Party.

January 2—UAE—The government announced the detention of 11 Egyptian members of a Mus-lim ­Brotherhood-linked terrorist cell. Al-Khaleej news­paper said the Egyptians collected security information, held secret meetings, and tried to recruit members.

January 2—Ethiopia—The high federal court convicted 10 people on terrorism charges.

January 2—Nigeria—Gunmen fired on the 21 Brigade army post in Marte. One soldier and 5 terrorists died in the gun battle. Boko Haram was suspected. Authorities seized 2 AK-47 rifles, one locally made shotgun, ammunition, and machetes.

January 3—Ethiopia—The local intelligence service announced the arrest of 15 members of an ­al-Qaeda–linked terrorist cell and the confiscation of military training manuals, videos, and weapons. Authorities said the group was trained by al-Shabaab in Somalia and Kenya and planned to conduct attacks in Ethiopia’s Somali and Harara regions.

January 3—Nigeria—Nearly 100 gunmen killed 4 people, including 2 civilians, a soldier, and a police official in an attack on the divisional police headquarters and the local government secretariat in Song, in Adamawa State. The attackers torched both buildings. The fire set alight a nearby house, killing a 64-year-old woman and her 4-year-old granddaughter. Boko Haram was suspected in the grenade and bomb attack. Two terrorists died in the ensuing gun battle.

January 3—Sudan—Two UN peacekeepers who had been kidnapped were freed in Darfur. 13010301

January 3—Libya—Gunmen kidnapped police Captain ­Abdel-Salam ­al-Mahdawi, head of Benghazi’s criminal investigation unit. A corpse charred with hydrochloric acid that was found in Buhmeida District was not that of ­al-Mahdawi.

January 3—Iraq—A car bomb exploded in central Musayyib, killing 28 and injuring 35, in an attack on Shi’ite pilgrims returning from the holiday city of Karbala.

January 4—Chile—An elderly couple was burned to death in Araucania while trying to defend their home against Mapuche Indians who claimed ancestral rights to their vast landholdings.

January 4—Indonesia—Detachment 88’s antiterrorism squad shot to death 2 terrorists who were resisting arrest at their safehouse in Dompu on Sumbawa Island, part of West Nusa Tenggara Province. Four other terrorists were arrested.

January 5—Indonesia—Police shot to death 3 terrorists at another safe house in Dompu on Sumbawa Island after the terrorists fired on police officers and attempted to set off suicide vests they were wearing. Police seized 3 primed bombs and ­bomb-making materials. The terrorists killed and arrested in the past 2 days were planning terrorist attacks in Dompu and Bimu towns. The terrorists had conducted terrorist training in Poso and had killed 6 police officers in December. The group wanted to establish an Islamic nation.

January 7—Afghanistan—A gunman wearing an Afghan Army uniform fired on foreign troops in Helmand Province’s Gereshk District, killing a British NATO soldier and wounded 6 other Brit­ish soldiers in the engineering regiment, 3 of them seriously. Troops returned fire, killing the terrorist. The Taliban said the killer was Mohammed Qasim, alias Sheik Mohammed, aged 23–25, from eastern Afghanistan. He fired at his Afghan compatriots from a guard tower, then fired on the Brit­ish citizens. 13010701

January 9—Colombia—FARC announced that the ceasefire it instituted on November 19, 2012, the day the peace talks began in Havana, would end on January 20 unless the government also observed the truce.

January 9—France—The bodies of 3 women who were shot to death were found in the Paris offices of the Information Center of Kurdistan, which has links to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Sakine Cansiz, a Turkish national in her 50s, was a founding member of the PKK in the 1970s. She was in Turkish prisons for much of the 1980s, spent time at the PKK’s mountain headquarters in Qan­dil, Iraq, then moved to France as a political refu­gee in 1998. Fidan Dogan was the Paris representative of the ­Brussels-based Kurdistan National Congress. Do­gan’s guest was Leyla Soylemez; both were in their 20s. The Kurdish Firat news service said 2 were shot in the head and one in the stomach, apparently by a silenced gun. French Interior Minister Manuel Valls said it was a politically motivated execution. Some pundits said it was an ­intra–PKK bloodletting; hundreds of Kurdish demonstrators on the Paris streets blamed Turkey. Police said the attack took place at 3 p.m. on January 9 in the small ­second-floor office of the organization. The bodies were found at 1 a.m. on January 10.

On January 21, French prosecutors filed preliminary murder and terrorism charges against Omer Guney, 30, a Turk who was a driver for Cansiz. Guney said he had been a PKK member for 2 years. Prosecutors said that a video camera placed Guney inside the Kurdish Information Center on January 9 at the time of the murders. An accomplice was questioned and released. 13010901

January 10—Yemen—AQAP shot to death Ali ­Abdul-Salam, a prominent tribal chief who had been elected to a local council in Shabwa Province, and injured 2 of his guards as he drove in Abyan Province. AQAP said he had provided information to local security officials and foreign intelligence.

January 10—Pakistan—Several bombs in Quetta killed 115, including children, and wounded more than 270. Two bombs went off in Quetta. A suicide bomber attacked a snooker hall frequently by Hazara Shi’ites, killing 81, including 9 security officers, and wounding more than 170. As police officers and journalists arrived, a second bomber set off his car bomb, killing 5 police officers and a camera operator. Five of those who were wounded later died, bringing the tally to 86. One of the dead was human rights activist Irfan Ali, a member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, where he had worked for 10 years. ­Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed credit. The United Baluch Army claimed credit for a morning bomb attack on paramilitary soldiers at a checkpoint in a commercial neighborhood of Quetta, killing a dozen people and wounding 45. The bomb was hidden in a bag placed near a vehicle carrying the soldiers. It was spotted by a pas­serby, but the soldiers could not react before it was remotely detonated. Yet another bomb injured 3 people. The minority Shi’ites refused to bury the dead as a way of forcing the government to increase security protection for their group.

Meanwhile, in the Swat Valley, a bomb went off at a religious seminar run by the Islamic missionary group Tablighi Jamaat, killing 22 and wounding 60. The bomb included ball bearings.

January 11—Greece—The Lovers of Lawlessness (also known as Circle of ­Lawbreakers-Nuclei Lovers of ­Lawlessness-Fighting Minority) claimed credit for setting off bombs at the Athens homes of 5 journalists, saying that the journalists’ coverage of the financial crisis was sympathetic to the austerity measures imposed by the government and foreign leaders. The group posted on the Internet that the media were “the main managers of the oppressing state designs manipulating society accordingly.” The bombs were tied to gas canisters, causing minor damage to the homes of Antonis Skylakos—editor of the Athens News Agency—and broadcasters Giorgos Oikono­meas and Antonis Liaros, who work for private television stations. No injuries were reported. The terrorists also set off bombs at the home of crime reporter Petros Karsiotis and Christos Konstas, a former journalist who now works as spokesman for the government agents in charge of privatization.

January 12—Sudan—A local militia was accused of kidnapped 3 Chinese workers and several Sudanese construction workers from a road construction site in North Darfur State. They had been employed by China Railway 18 Bureau Group Co., part of the ­state-owned China Railway Construction Corporation. 13011201

January 12—Libya—Gunmen fired on the armored car of Italian Consul Guido De Sanctis in Benghazi. He was not injured in the evening ­drive-by shooting. His security detail returned fire, but the gunmen escaped. Italy closed its consulate and withdrew its staff. 13011202

January 13—Pakistan—A remotely detonated roadside bomb killed 14 Pakistani soldiers and wounded 25 some 20 miles south of Miram Shah in North Waziristan. The soldiers were driving toward Bannu District. Three vehicles were damaged. The Pakistani Taliban was suspected.

January 13—Greece—The home of the brother of government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou was firebombed. No injuries were reported.

January 14—Greece—Gunmen fired at the offices of the ruling New Democracy party, causing no injuries and minor property damage. One of the semiautomatic rifle shots went through the window of an office used by Prime Minister Antonis Samaras. Radical leftists were suspected.

January 15—Syria—Two large explosions went off at Aleppo University, killing at least 87 people and injuring 160. The government and the opposition blamed each other.

January 15—Greece—Two men on a motorcycle stabbed to death Shehzad Luqman 27, a Pakistani immigrant who was riding his bicycle to work in an Athens suburb. On January 19, circa 5,000 immigrants and human rights activists demonstrated in Athens’ central Omonia Square unfurling banners that read “Neo-Nazis out” and “Punishment for the fascist murderers of Shehzad Luqman.” 13011501

January 16—Syria—Three car bombs exploded in Idlib, killing at least 24 people, including many Syrian soldiers, and wounding 30.

January 16—Algeria—At 5 a.m., at least 32 radical Islamists protesting Algerian support for the French incursion into Mali attacked the country’s third largest natural gas pumping station and employee barracks in the south, a remote facility 1000 miles away from the capital city, killing 2 people and taking at least 573 Algerian and 132 foreign hostages, including 41 Westerners, among them 7 Americans and several British, French, Austrian, Malaysian and ­Japanese citizens. The facility employs 790 people including 134 foreigners from 26 countries. The attackers arrived in at least 3 unmarked trucks and im­mediately took over a production facility and an administration building, later adding a dormitory at the Ain Menas (variant In Amenas) gas field. An Irish citizen was also reportedly held. Algerian security forces were escorting Westerners from Ain Menas Airport when the Islamists initially attacked, but were run off. The Islamists withdrew 3 kilometers away to the base of the petroleum operation. The gunmen seized Westerners and Algerians. An Algerian and a Briton were killed and 2 of the security guards, 2 base guards, and 2 Westerners were wounded. The UK sent a rapid deployment team to Algiers to guard its embassy. Algerian military forces surrounded the building where the hostages were held. The gunmen released the Algerians, then made demands, including an end to “brutal aggression on our people in Mali” and release from prison of their colleagues, who should be sent to northern Mali. The group told a Mauritanian news service it protested “blatant intervention of the French crusader forces in Mali” and that the world was ignoring the Syrian people, who were “groaning under the pressure of the butcher” President Bashar ­al-Assad. The group complained that Algeria was allowing the French to use its airspace for operations in Mali. An Algerian spokesman said, “The authorities do not negotiate, no negotiations; we have received their demands, but we didn’t respond to them.” The group variously called itself ­Al-Mulathameen, variant al-Mouwa­koune ­Bi-Dima (Those Who Sign with Blood), Battalion of Blood, the Masked Brigade, and the Brigade of the Masked Ones, led by Mokhtar Belmokhtar, who had recently broken with AQIM, which also claimed credit. He said he would trade the Americans for 2 Islamist terrorists jailed in the United States: blind Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman and Aafia Siddiqui. The terrorists threatened to blow up the plant if a rescue operation was tried. They told Mauritanian media that dozens of their fighters were armed with mortars and ­anti-aircraft missiles. They claimed to have come from Mali; Algerian authorities said it was a multinational group that included terrorists from Algeria, Tunisia, (2 from) Canada, Mali, Egypt, Libya, Niger, the Persian Gulf, and Mauritania, who were armed from the former arsenal of Libyan leader Mu’ammar Qadhafi. They were denied safe passage into Libya.

They allowed hostages to talk to France 24 TV, to put more pressure on the government. A British hostage told al Jazeera that the Algerian Army should withdraw to avoid casualties. “We are receiving care and good treatment from the kidnappers. The (Algerian) army did not withdraw and they are firing at the camp…. There are around 150 Algerian hostages. We say to everybody that negotiation is a sign of strength and will spare many loss of life.” An Irish hostage told al Jazeera that French, American, Japanese, British, Irish and Norwegian citizens were among the hostages. “The situation is deteriorating. We have contacted the embassies and we call on the Algerian army to withdraw…. We are worried because of the continuation of the firing.” Japanese media said 5 workers from the Japanese engineering firm JGC Corporation were held.

French catering contractor Alexandre Berceaux barricaded himself in his room for 40 hours. He was freed by Algerian soldiers who also found some British citizens hiding on the roof.

BP and Sonatrac, the Algerian national oil company, and Norway’s Statoil jointly operate the field. Statoil said 17 of its employees—including 13 Norwegians—were in the area at the time of the attack. Five of them—4 Norwegians and a Canadian resident—were safely evacuated to a military camp; 2 injured individuals received medical treatment.

The terrorists, armed with AK-47s, rounded up the Westerners, tied them up, and put explosive vests on several of them. The terrorists announced that Muslims would not be harmed, but the Christians would be killed. They held the Algerians in a separate location at the facility, saying that would not release them because they believed the Algerian army would kill them and blame the ­hostage-takers. Some of the Westerners blended in with the Algerians who escaped. Some of the hostages were blindfolded, gagged, and thrown into 5 Jeeps. When a Jeep crashed after taking fire from Algerian troops, Stephen McFaul, 36, an electrical engineer from Belfast, Northern Ireland, ran to freedom with explosives strapped around his neck. (McFaul had ­earlier hidden in a room with a colleague and phoned home.) Military rescuers targeted the Jeeps; it was believed that the other hostages in the Jeeps died. Some observers believed that the terrorists set off their explosives in the Jeeps when they found their way blocked.

Belmokhtar released a video on January 17 saying “we are ready to negotiate with Western countries and the Algerian regime on the condition that they halt aggression and bombing against the Muslim people of Mali … and respect their desire to apply sharia on their territory.” The Algerian government rejected negotiations with terrorists, who hoped to free 100 prisoners jailed in Algeria 15 years earlier. Algerian television broadcast African terrorist leader Abdel Rahman ­al-Nigeri as saying “you see our demands are so easy, so easy if you want to negotiate with us. We want the prisoners you have, the comrades who were arrested and imprisoned 15 years ago. We want 100 of them.” He took over the operation after the initial leader was killed. He was later recorded saying “The Americans that are here, we will kill them. We will slaughter them.”

Algerian special forces and an elite GIS group disconnected mobile phone transmitters and scrambled satellite phone connections. ­Russian-made helicopters ringed the facility.

It was initially unclear what happened when the Algerians conducted their 3 rescue operations with ground troops supported by helicopter gunships. They did not inform the Americans, British, or Japanese ahead of time when they raided the facility on January 17. Initial reports said that 25 hostages had escaped, including Mark Cobb, a Texan general manager for a BP joint venture. Reuters said that 6 foreign hostages were killed in the rescue mission in which 40 Algerians and 3 foreigners were freed. Algeria’s Ennahar TV said 15 foreigners, including 2 French citizens, had escaped. The remaining 20 terrorists, hemmed in on all sides, demanded safe passage with the rest of their hostages. The terrorists told Mauritanian ANI News that Algerian helicopter fire had injured 2 Japanese hostages. Algeria’s APS state media claimed that all Algerian nationals were free, either via escape or rescue, and that 2 Britons, a Kenyan, and a French citizen were freed by the Algerian Army. Turkish and Filipino workers were hospitalized. The rescue operation apparently freed the hostages who had been brought to the dorms, but the rest of the facility was still held by the terrorists, who wanted to drive the hostages to other countries.

The terrorists on January 19 placed an explosives-laden car beneath 2 central ­gas-producing towers and handcuffed 3 Norwegian and 2 American executives above the car. The terrorists set off the explosives, hoping to set off a fireball, but merely killed the hostages.

The Algerian government announced on January 19 that it had conducted a final rescue mission that ended the siege, during which 23 hostages and 32 terrorists had died. The government said at least 685 Algerian workers and 107 foreigners were freed. During the final assault, 7 hostages and 11 terrorists died. Some reports said that the terrorists had been holding 2 Americans, 3 Belgians, a Japanese citizen, and a Briton. The militants had planted mines in the facility and had planned to take their remaining hostages to Mali after blowing up the installation. An Algerian security official told local media that the terrorists had turned their guns on the hostages when they failed to destroy the facility, as well as during the final rescue operation. Algerian officials found 21 rifles, 6 machine guns, 2 60 mm mortars, rockets, 6 60 mm C5 missiles with launchers, 2 grenade launchers with 8 rockets, ­Belgian-made antitank mines and 10 grenades arranged into explosive belts. Operations leader ­Mohamed-Lamine Bouchneb purchased the weapons in Tripoli, Libya.

The status of the foreigners was unclear. The Norwegian Prime Minister announced that 8 Norwegian hostages were safe, but 5 were still missing. Tore Bech, a Norwegian, was feared dead. Five Britons and another UK resident were missing and feared dead; by January 20, British Prime Minister David Cameron announced that 3 Britons, including Paul Thomas Morgan, 46, had died and 3—including a British resident—were missing and feared dead. At least 22 Britons, including 8 Scotsmen, were safe. All French nationals were accounted for; Yann Desjeux, 52, a retired French soldier, died, but the other 3 were safe. (Desjeux had been permitted to talk on the phone to a local journalist to say he had been ­well-treated. He died in the next rescue operation.) Fourteen BP employees were safe but 4 were missing. Frederick Buttaccio, a Texan, died of a heart attack during the second assault by the army; 6 Americans were freed or escaped, but the rest were missing. Americans Victor Lynn Lovelady and Gordon Lee Rowan were reported killed. American Steven Wysocki sometimes hid feet away from the terrorists for 2 days before escaping. Briton Kenneth Whiteside and 3 other hostages were executed during the first rescue operation. One Romanian was killed but 4 others were freed. Some 14 Japanese were missing; the Wall Street Journal said 7 Japanese had died. Two Malaysians and an Austrian were also held captive. The Algerian press service said an initial tally indicated that 650 hostages, including 100 foreigners, were freed, but at least a dozen Algerian and foreign workers were killed, with 18 terrorists “neutralized.” On January 20, a Romanian hostage who had escaped died from his injuries, bringing an informal death toll to 81. The Colombian government said one of its citizens had died. Government officials found 25 charred bodies at the facility after the final rescue operation. On January 21, the Algerian ­government said 38 hostages from 8 countries had died and another 5 hostages were missing. At least 29 terrorists were killed, including their leader.

An Algerian television station said 5 terrorists had been captured and 3 were still unaccounted for.

Algerian interrogation of the surviving terrorists and interviews with the freed hostages yielded details on the operation. The Algerian government announced that the terrorists organized the plot in Mali, then entered Algeria via their gathering place in Ghat in southern Libya. Authorities believed the planning took weeks. The terrorists had inside information about the facility from ­short-term contract workers for BP who served as drivers, cooks, and guards, providing information about the entrances and exits, the residence complex, the guard systems, and building details. The attackers knew how to shut off production at the site, and knew of ongoing labor strife and plans for a strike by catering workers. They told the Algerian hostages “We know you’re oppressed; we’ve come here so that you can have your rights.”

The terrorists attacked when several senior executives were on site. They included Statoil’s country manager in Algeria; a senior BP executive; the top advisor and former vice president of JGC; and 3 senior ­on-site managers for BP, Statoil, and Sona­trach. Several of the executives died.

The government said the terrorists, dressed in fatigues and wearing turbans, first attacked a bus carrying foreign plant workers to the airport, killing 2 people. Prime Minister Sellal said “They wanted to take control of this bus and take the foreign workers directly to northern Mali so they could have hostages, to negotiate with foreign countries. But when they opened fire on the bus, there was a strong response from the gendarmes guarding it.” The terrorists then sent separate teams to take over the living quarters and the gas plant. Many workers hid under beds and on rooftops; several Filipinos who refused to leave their rooms were beaten. A fleeing European was shot in the back; another ­middle-aged European man was shot in the back in the cafeteria. Many Algerian hostages were permitted to use their cellphones to phone home. Algerian women were immediately released. Late on January 16, the terrorists attempted to break out of the facility by putting explosives on the hostages and loading them into jeeps to go to Mali. Algerian helicopters fired on the jeeps, killing terrorist ­on-site leader ­Mohamed-Lamine Bouchneb, variant Mohammed Bencheneb, variant Mohamed Lamine Ben Shanab, alias Tahir. He was linked to the Movement of the Sons of the Sahara for Islamic Justice. In the early 2000s, Bouchneb joined the Movement for the Defense of the South Years in his Saharan town of Ouargla. He worked as a petty trafficker and was arrested on charges of weapons possession. In December 2007, he led an attack against a military transport plane in Djanet Airport in Algeria, causing material damages.

The 11 remaining terrorists moved their hos­tages into the ­gas-producing plant that they had tried to set alight. On January 19, according to Prime Minister Sellal, the dying words of the terrorist leader were “the order for all the foreigners to be killed, so there was a mass execution, many hostages were killed by a bullet to the head.” Army snipers then fired on the terrorists.

The news media reported that the gas companies had chosen not to deploy armed guards. The workers were no match for the terrorists operating in the dark who brought in mortars, grenade launchers, and .50-caliber machine guns.

Some of the Egyptian members of the attack team reportedly had been involved in the September 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi that killed 4 U.S. diplomats.

The news media reported that several of the hostages had used their cell phones to video some of the siege. One captured an execution via bodybomb; others included other executions of hostages. Another showed a terrorist with a car battery between his thighs, 2 wires in his hands, and wearing an explosive belt, ready to set it off if a rescue was attempted. One video showed the terrorist leader wearing a green military uniform with an explosives belt and carrying a Kalashnikov.

A terrorist spokesman announced on a Mauritanian news site that more attacks within Algeria were coming.

The British and American governments publicly vowed to track down the perpetrators.

Two Canadians—Ali Medlej and Xristos Katsiroubas—met with Aaron Yoon from London, Ontario, Canada, in Morocco, just before the attack on the natural gas facility. Katsiroubas and Medlej died in the attack. All 3 grew up in southern Ontario and attended the London South Collegiate Institute. Yoon was reported in April 2013 to be in Mauritania, studying Arabic. He was a Muslim convert of ­Korean-Canadian ancestry.

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan on July 19, 2013, charged Mokhtar Belmokhtar for masterminding the attack. The State Department offered $5 million for information leading to his location. The 8 counts including conspiracy to take hostages, which carried a maximum penalty of life in prison, or death if requested by the government.

On June 14, 2015, CNN reported that a 2 a.m. U.S. airstrike in Ajdabiya, Libya, killed 5 terrorists, including Algerian terrorist Mokhtar Belmokhtar, former head of AQIM. Federal prosecutors in New York had indicted him in 2013 on various conspiracy counts including ­hostage-taking, kidnapping, providing material support to al-Qaeda and conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction in connection with the January 2013 attack on the Ain Amenas gas facility that killed 37 hostages, including 3 Americans. Belmokhtar founded the ­Signed-in-Blood Battalion (al-Mulathamun Battalion). Libyan officials said the strike was against Ansar ­al-Shariah affiliates. Other terrorists were injured, and started a gun battle with Libyan soldiers guarding a hospital in which 3 soldiers died. The U.S. had offered a $5 million reward for his capture. The next day, a Libyan military spokesman said 17 terrorists, including 2 foreign terrorist leaders and a Tunisian terrorist, were killed in the strike. White House spokesman Josh Earnest confirmed the U.S. airstrike. AQIM later denied he was killed. 13011601

January 16—Afghanistan—A Taliban suicide car bomber hit the gates of NDS in Kabul, killing one and injuring 32 and five terrorists wearing suicide vests trying to storm the compound but were shot dead by security guards. NDS guards found dozens of hand grenades and assault rifle magazines at the scene. They later found a second vehicle carrying ­water-gel explosives set on a timer. A bomb squad dismantled the explosive device.

January 16—Iraq—Two car bombs went off on Atlas Street at the Kirkuk headquarters of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, killing 19 and wounding more than 200. A third bomb went off at a neighboring building used by Kurdish security forces, killing 4 people.

January 17—Tunisia—Authorities announced the arrest of a terrorist cell and seizure of a large arms cache that included Kalashnikov rifles and ­rocket-propelled grenades in the southern town of Medenin.

January 18—Colombia—The National Liberation Army seized 5 workers—a Canadian, 2 Peruvians and 2 Colombians—at a gold mine in the north. 13011801

January 18—U.S.—Counterterrorism authorities from the FBI and NYPD arrested New York’s Babylon High School student Justin Kaliebe, 18, as he tried to board a plane at John F. Kennedy International Airport bound for Oman and Yemen. He secretly pleaded guilty on February 8, 2013, to attempting to provide material support to a terrorist organization, AQAP, so that he could die fighting jihad. He had told an undercover agent, “There is no way out for me…. The only way out is martyrdom.” He used his computer and that of an in­formant to watch the lectures of Anwar ­al-Aulaqi, blind Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, and Osama bin Laden. On June 26, 2013, when the plea was unsealed, a Long Island judge ordered a psychiatric evaluation. Sentencing was scheduled for September 27, 2013; he faced 30 years in prison. Kaliebe was a resident of Babylon, New York and Bay Shore. He claimed to be of Russian descent. He said he had saved more than $1,200 to obtain a passport and plane ticket.

January 19—Yemen—Four groups of defendants, totaling 21 suspected members of al-Qaeda, appeared before a Yemeni antiterrorism tribunal, accused of attacks against security forces. The defendants pleaded not guilty and said their confessions were the result of torture. One group included 3 Jordanians and an Egyptian.

January 19—Bulgaria—Oktai Enimehmedov, 25, ran on stage during a live conference at the National Palace of Culture (NDK) in Sofia for the Movement for Rights and Freedoms party (MRF) and put a gas pistol to the head of the speaker, Ahmed Dogan, leader of Bulgaria’s ethnic Turkish party. The gun jammed and Dogan knocked away the ­would-be assassin’s arm. Numerous delegates jumped onto the stage and severely beat and kicked him. Authorities seized Enimehmedov’s gun and 2 knives. The assailant had been convicted in 2006 for causing bodily harm and for drug possession in 2010. Dogan was unharmed.

January 19—Nigeria—Gunmen fired on the convoy of a senior Islamic leader in Kano, killing 3 palace guards and a local government official. The emir of Kano was not harmed. Boko Haram was suspected.

January 20—Greece—A bomb went off at 11 a.m. inside the country’s largest shopping mall in an Athens suburb, slightly injuring 2 security guards. News organizations received a warning call that a bomb would go off in 30 minutes. Two hundred shoppers were evacuated. No one claimed credit. The mall is run by one of the country’s wealthiest men, Spiros Latsis.

January 20—Colombia—The unilateral FARC ceasefire ended. Ivan Marquez, the group’s chief negotiator at the peace talks in Havana, offered to extend it for 2 months if the government joined it.

January 21—Afghanistan—At 5:30 a.m., 5 Taliban gunmen wearing suicide vests and carrying ­rocket-propelled grenades stormed into the headquarters of the Kabul traffic police department, starting an 8-hour-long gun battle in which 2 police officers died. Two gunmen set off their bombs; the rest were shot to death in the gun battle. At 6:30 a.m., a car bomb on a timer went off at the complex’s entrance. Four police officers and 7 civilians were injured. A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, said the police were being trained by foreign advisors, noting “We have been planning this attack for 3 months in order to inflict heavy casualties on the police as well as the foreigners.”

January 23—Iraq—A suicide bomber set off his explosives in a tent full of Turkmen mourners in the Tuz Khurmato district in Salahuddin Province, killing 35 and wounding 117. Victims included senior regional dignitaries, military officers, professors, and clerics. The mourners were at a funeral at the Imam Ali mosque for a Turkmen employee of the Ministry of Health who had been killed in bombings on January 22. 13012301

January 24—Libya—The governments of the UK, Germany, Canada and the Netherlands warned its citizens to evacuate Benghazi after receiving “a specific and imminent threat to Westerners,” noting that schools were among the potential targets. The U.S. Department of State reiterated its early warning against travel to the city.

January 25—Afghanistan—A Taliban suicide car bomber failed to set off his explosives against a convoy of NATO supply trucks and crashed into a residential home in the Tagab District of eastern Kapisa Province, killing 5 people, 4 from the same family, and injuring 25 other people.

January 25—Ireland—Police Detective Adrian Donohoe, 41, was shot in the head while trying to stop a gang robbing a cash collection van outside a Dundalk bank. An IRA faction in South Armagh was suspected of involvement. Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams apologized for the killings of 7 police officers and soldiers in the Republic of Ireland.

January 25—Yemen—During the night, unidentified attackers blew up the country’s main oil pipe­line that links the production fields in central Marib Province to the Red Sea, forcing the government to shut down the flow from the Sirwah area.

January 25—Colombia—The FARC kidnapped 2 policemen who were investigating a wave of extortions in Valle de Cauca Province. FARC noted on its Web site “We reserved the right to take prisoner security force members who are captured in combat. They are called prisoners of war and it’s a phenomenon that occurs wherever there is conflict in the world.”

January 25–26—Pakistan—Clashes between ­Tehrik-e-Taliban and Ansarul Islam in the Tirah Valley led to the deaths of at least 24 people near the Afghan border.

January 26—Afghanistan—A suicide bomber set off his explosives in a square in Kunduz City during the afternoon sunset, killing 10 policemen, including 2 senior officers, and wounding 29 people, including 5 police officers. Among the dead were the head of the police counterterrorism department, Abdullah Zemarai, and the chief of the traffic police, Sayyed Aslam Sadat. Police were trying to determine whether the bomber was a pedestrian or on a motorcycle.

January 27—Somalia—The British government warned its citizens to evacuate the breakaway Somaliland area, citing a “specific threat to Westerners” that might include “kidnapping for financial or political gain, motivated by criminality or terrorism.” The New York Times reported that al-Shabaab had threatened to kidnap foreigners in Hargeisa, the region’s capital.

January 27—Algeria—Terrorists attacked an Algerian natural gas pipeline run by ­state-owned Sona­trach, but failed to destroy the facility in Djebahia in the Bouira region, part of the Kabylie mountain area. The suspected AQIM terrorists killed 3 guards and wounded 7 others by firing mortars. It was unclear whether they were from AQIM or the AQIM splinter group led by Mokhtar Belmokhtar. No one claimed credit.

January 28—U.S./Somalia—Twitter suspended ­al-Shabaab’s account after it used its feed on January 16 to threaten to murder French hostage Denis Allex, then later in January threatened to kill kidnapped Kenyans. The group also posted photos of the mutilated corpse of a French special operations soldier killed in the failed rescue of Allex. Among Twitter’s rules, “You may not publish or post direct, specific threats of violence against others.” The Taliban and al-Qaeda affiliates’ accounts remained open. By February 4, the group had established a new account, observing “For what it’s worth, shoot­ing the messenger and suppressing the truth by silencing your opponents isn’t quite the way to win the war of ideas.” “In their quest to throttle the truth, the Kuffar forget that silencing @HSMPRESS only highlights the cause and justified Mijahideen’s actions.” “Freedom of Press is but a meaningless rhetoric. So long @HSMPress! You might be gone, but your legacy lives on.” The first account had 20,000 followers. The new ac-count was opened by “Press Office, ­Al-Shabaab Al-Mujahideen.”

January 28—Nigeria—France asked its citizens to leave the north and areas around Abuja after receiving threats from jihadis regarding its intervention in Mali. Some 335 Frenchmen live around Abuja; 2,000 live in Nigeria. French oil company Total moved its 40-person staff from Abuja after Ansaru kidnapped a Frenchman in a remote northern town near Niger in December 2012. (The group’s complete name is Vanguards for the Protection of Muslims in Black Africa—Jama’atu Ansarul Musilimina Fi Biladis Sudan. It may be linked to Boko Haram.)

January 29—Afghanistan—The U.S. Department of State issued a travel warning, saying al-Qaeda remains active in the country and no region was safe for Americans.

January 29—Somalia—A suicide bomber set off his explosives at a checkpoint in the presidential palace complex—Villa Somalia—killing 2 people. He was 4 checkpoints away from President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s residence.

January 29—Pakistan—Terrorists shot to death a police officer who had been escorting female polio workers in Swabi district, 50 miles east of Peshawar. An ­ax-wielding man injured another polio worker in a separate attack.

January 30—Colombia—FARC was believed responsible for the kidnapping of 3 civilian engineers working for an oil company.

January 30—Pakistan—Three jihadi terrorists died as they were trying to place a bomb in the trunk of a taxi in Karachi. The trio had built 3 other bombs, which were defused by police. The bombs contained 660 pounds of explosives and included electronic detonators.

January 30–31—Nigeria—Nigerian soldiers attacked Boko Haram training camps in the Sambisa Game Reserve in Borno State, killing 17 terrorists; one soldier died. Authorities found assault rifles and explosives.

January 31—Internet—The Ansar al-Mujahe­deen Network’s website called for attacks on the U.S. and other countries helping the French intervention in Mali. The group predicted “strong, serious, alarming, ­earth-shattering, shocking and terrifying” anti–Western attacks.

January 31—Pakistan—Two polio workers with a ­UN-funded campaign were killed when their motorcycle passed by a roadside bomb, which detonated. It was the third attack that week on polio workers. The duo was traveling near Parachinar, Kurram District, near the Afghanistan border. The Taliban was blamed.

February—Turkey—Police announced on April 11, 2013, that they had discovered during a February raid on 2 houses evidence of an al-Qaeda plot to bomb the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, a synagogue in Istanbul’s Balat district, the private Rahmi M. Koc Museum, and other targets. Police seized 50 pounds of plastic explosives with detonators attached, 6 laptop computers, and other evidence. Police found photos, floor plans and other information regarding those targets and the homes and offices of 2 ­well-known Turks. Police arrested 12 people, including 8 Turks, 2 Chechens, and 2 Azeris. The terrorist cells were found in Istanbul and Corlu, a district of Tekirdag on the Sea of Marmara. The raid came from surveillance of a man belonging to al-Qaeda who arrived in Tekirdag 2 years earlier after receiving military training at an al-Qaeda camp in Afghanistan.

February—Golan Heights—Canadian attorney Carl Campeau was abducted while serving as legal advisor for UNDOF, the U.N. observer force in the Golan Heights. The Syrian news agency said terrorists kidnapped him in the Damascus suburb of Khan ­al-Sheik. He was held in a villa in Syria. He escaped in October 2013 when the kidnappers forgot to lock his room. He ran into nearby fields. He told the media that his kidnappers included Iraqis, Saudis, Jordanians and Chechens. 13029901

February—Spain—Spanish police defused a small explosive device left inside Madrid’s Almudena Cathedral. The anarchist group Mateo Morral Commando claimed credit.

February 1—Turkey—Suicide bomber Ecevit Shanli, variant Alisan Sanli, 40, a member of the ­Marxist-Leninist Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party (Devrimci Halk Kurtulus Cephesi ­DHKP-C), set off his 13-pound ­explosives-laden vest at 1:15 p.m. near the U.S. Embassy’s Gate No. 2, killing Turkish guard Mustafa Akarsu, 46, and injuring female television journalist Didem Tuncay, 38, who was there to have tea with U.S. Ambassador Francis J. Ricciardone, Jr. In January, the government had arrested 85 members of the group, which had been under investigation for 5 years. It was established in the 1970s and had links to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). ­DHKP-C said it was protesting U.S. Middle Eastern policy. Turkish terrorism experts said Shanli was trained in bombmaking in Europe in the 1990s, then returned to Turkey in 1997. He had lived on the Black Sea town of Ordu. He went on to attack Istanbul’s police headquarters and used ­anti-tank weapons against senior military officials. He used a flame thrower against a military guest house in Istanbul. He was on a hunger strike in jail and was released in 2002 after developing ­Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, a neurological disorder that affects vision, muscle coordination, and memory and can cause hallucinations. He had lived in Germany, then returned illegally to Turkey with a fake ID to conduct the bombing. Shanli had posed as a courier, waving an envelope. He had enough TNT to blow up a 2-storey building. He also set off a hand grenade. Police detained 3 people for questioning. One of the suspects was a man whose identity was used by Shanli to enter the country illegally. Another was suspected of falsifying identity papers. Some observers believed Syria, which had provided safe haven to the group in the 1980s, could have had a role in the attack. Turkey’s president said the government believed the terrorist group was planning an attack, but the government did not have enough specific information to establish countermeasures. Authorities questioned a dozen people, detained 3 suspected accomplices, and confiscated a handgun related to the group.

On February 19, police issued arrest orders for 167 people in 28 provinces. Police in Izmir and 2 other provinces arrested 15 members of the Revolutionary Civil Servant Movement, believed linked to the ­DHKP-C. 13020101

February 1—Pakistan—A Pakistani Taliban suicide bomber killed 30 people and injured 33 by setting off his explosives outside a market in Hangu in Khyber Paktunkhwa Province during Friday prayers. Pakistani Taliban spokesman Abu Omar said the group was avenging the death on January 31 of Sunni cleric Mufti Abdul Majeed Deenpuri, 60, who was shot in Karachi.

February 1—Nigeria—Soldiers attack Boko Haram training camps in a game reserve in Borno State, killing 17 terrorists. One soldier died.

February 1—Thailand—Suspected Islamist terrorists shot to death 2 agricultural specialists who were trying to improve rice farming methods in Yala Province.

February 2—Pakistan—The Pakistani Taliban attacked a remote Pakistani Army base in Serai Naurang town in Lakki Marwat district, Khyber Pakh­tunkhwa Province, leaving 31 people dead. In the predawn attack, the group fired rockets, killing 10, then sent in suicide bombers who set off explosives that killed a dozen terrorists and 9 officers and civilians, among them 3 women and 3 children. Another 18 security officers were injured. Taliban spokes­man Ihsanullah Ihsan said the group was avenging the drone attack that killed top commanders Faisal Khan and Toofani Mehsud, alias Wali Muhammad in Mir Ali, North Waziristan on January 6, 2013.

February 2—Turkey—Turkey’s Daily Milliyet reported that Turkish security forces arrested Osama bin Laden’s ­son-in-law, Suleiman Abu Gheith, after he entered the country on a false passport. He had fled Afghanistan to an Iranian camp after the 9/11 attacks, according to Hurriyet Daily News.

February 2—Germany—German Islamist Abu Azzam, a radical Salafist who moved to Egypt in 2012, posted a 3-minute video on the Internet in which he said “Looking back at an Arab spring, we are looking forward to a European summer…. Osama, wait for us…. We want to see Obama and Merkel dead.” He said that the German Reichstag parliament building would be attacked like the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center.

February 3—Iraq—A suicide car bomber killed 36 and wounded 105 when he set off his explosives at a provincial police headquarters in Kirkuk. A second bomb went off in a parked car. Police killed 3 other ­machinegun-toting suicide attackers who then tried to enter the building. The commander of the Kirkuk police was hospitalized in Erbil. Also wounded was Nauzad Mohamed, a police officer who said the terrorist drove a police car and wore a police uniform. “The explosion happened when we asked him to stop for a search.” Another wounded policeman, Faris Mustafa, said “I saw the 3 suicide bombers running into the police building. They were throwing hand grenades at us. We opened fire on them and killed them immediately.” No one claimed credit, although suicide vests are a favored tactic of al-Qaeda in Iraq.

February 4—Iraq—A suicide bomber killed 22 and injured 44 men collecting their salaries outside the anti–Al-Qaeda Sunni militia Sahwa (Awakening Councils) in Taji, 12 miles north of Baghdad. Among the dead were 3 Iraqi soldiers and 19 Sahwa members.

February 4—Colombia—The National Liberation Army (ELN) said it had kidnapped 2 German men—Uwe Breur and Gunther Otto Breur—in the Catatumbo region near the Venezuelan border. The group said the duo might be spies. “In the weeks that they’ve been detained they haven’t been able to justify their presence in the territory. For this reason they’re being viewed thus far as intelligence agents and they will continue to be investigated.” 13020401

February 5—South Africa—The police arrested 19 suspected Congolese rebels, including 2 senior M23 members, in Limpopo Province. They were to appear in a Pretoria court on charges relating to the Foreign Military Assistance Act.

February 5—Nigeria—Boko Haram killed 6 park rangers after midnight in the Sambisa Reserve, in reprisal for a government attack, using helicopter gunships, against the group’s base in the park.

February 5—France—The police announced the arrest of 4 men planning to join jihadis in the African desert. They were linked to a French citizen arrested in Niger in August 2012—Cedric Lobo, 27, held in France awaiting trial on terrorism charges. He was believed to have planned to join jihadis in Mali. The foursome knew Lobo and attended the same ­Hay-les-Roses mosque south of Paris. One suspect was ­French-Algerian, one was a Malian, the other 2 were French. Other news reports said 3 were French Congolese.

February 5—Thailand—Suspected masked Islamist terrorists, armed with handguns and assault rifles, attacked 7 fruit traders from the middle of the country while they were asleep in a rented shack in Yala Province. Four traders died, among them Thavorn Suwanchote, Thassana Thumporn, and Suthat Somroob.

February 6—Tunisia—Prominent secular opposition leader Chokri Belaid, 47, was shot to death at close range outside his home in Tunis as he was getting into his car to go to work. A policeman was killed in the resulting demonstrations in Tunis. Four Tunisian jihadi suspects, aged between 26 and 34, were arrested by February 26, although the killer remained at large. One suspect confessed to accompanying the murderer; other detainees were believed to have surveilled the site a few days before the assassination. Ansar ­al-Shariah was suspected. The killer fired 4 shots into Belaid. On September 25, 2013, Tunisian Interior Minister Lotfi Ben Jeddou told Mosaique FM Radio that authorities had arrested 300 terrorists and foiled a plot by Salafis to divide the country into 3 caliphates, assassinate political figures, and conduct bombings near Tunis. Detainees told police that another 30 terrorists were hiding in the western mountains. They included Kamel Gadhgadhi, wanted for the murder of ­left-wing opposition legislator Chokri Belaid.

On February 3–4, 2014, the Tunisian National Guard raided 2 Ansar ­al-Shariah safehouses in the Raoued seaside suburb of Tunis, during which 7 jihadis—including Kamel Gadhgadhi—and one National Guard member were killed. Gadhgadhi was wearing an explosive belt. Two other dead jihadis had ambushed soldiers in Mount Chaambi and killed 8, slitting the throats of 5 of them. The daylong gun battle began during an afternoon raid against Salafis. Police seized a large amount of weapons, explosives and ­rocket-propelled gre­nades.

February 7—U.S.—The FBI arrested Matthew Aaron Llaneza, 28, a San Jose man who expressed support for the Taliban, in a sting operation in which he tried to detonate what he believed was a car bomb in front of a Bank of America branch in Oakland, California.

February 8—Mali—An 18-year-old Arab Francophone suicide bomber with ties to Mokhtar Belmokhtar set off his explosives near a military checkpoint near Gao, killing only himself. The bomber had lived for 7 months in a Gao jihadi safehouse.

February 8—Nigeria—Suspected Boko Haram gunmen shot to death 9 women giving polio vaccines at 2 clinics in Kano. Most of the women were shot in the back of the head. In an early ­morning attack, 8 workers were shot at a clinic in Kano’s Tarauni neighborhood; 2 or 3 died. The 2 gunmen set alight a curtain, then locked the doors before escaping. An hour later, 6 men on motorized tricycles attacked a clinic in the Haye neighborhood, a few miles away, killing 7 women.

February 9—Nigeria—Boko Haram was suspected in the machete murders during the night in Potiskum, Yobe State, of 3 North Korean doctors. Two of them had their throats slit; the other was beheaded. The doctors were attacked in their home, which had no security guards. They had lived in the area since 2005. They were originally misidentified as South Korean and Chinese. 13020901

February 9—Iraq—Several dozen mortar shells rained down on a refugee camp for 3,400 Iranian exiles belonging to the Mujahedeen ­e-Khalq, killing 7 and wounding more than 50. Hizballah claimed credit for the attack on the site of a former U.S. military base—Camp Liberty—near Baghdad Airport. On February 26, Wathiq ­al-Batat said his Mukhtar Army, a Shi’ite group, was responsible. MEK said more than 100 people were injured. 13020902

February 10—Thailand—Suspected Islamist terrorists killed 5 soldiers and wounded several others in 2 ambushes in the south.

February 11—Turkey—A van with Syrian license plates being driven into Turkey exploded just before the Cilvegozu (Bab ­al-Hawa in Arabic) border crossing point near Reyhanli, in Hatay Province, on the Syrian border, killing 12 people—among them 4 Turks and 8 Syrians—and wounding 28. Some of the victims were Syrian civilian refugees. The explosion occurred minutes after George Sabra, Vice President of the Syrian National Coalition, passed through. No one took credit. Turkey labeled the explosion a terrorist attack; senior Syrian dissident leader Mohammad Sarmini said the SNC leaders were the intended target. By May 11, 4 Syrians and a Turk were charged with the bombing. 13021101

February 12—France/Spain—Authorities in the 2 countries arrested 23 suspected Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) members on charges of engaging in extortion to finance the operations of the group. Police arrested 6 suspects in Madrid, Bar­celona, and Murcia, Spain and raided 7 sites linked to the suspects. The detainees were accused of placing a “revolutionary tax” on fellow Kurds to finance the purchase of munitions to use in Turkey. Another 17 people were detained in Bordeaux and Toulouse, France.

February 13—Thailand—Sixteen jihadis in Thai military uniforms died when they conducted an ­hour-long 1 a.m. attack on a Thai military base in Narathiwat Province’s Bacho District. The army had been tipped off by a terrorist who defected and by local villagers. Among the dead was the terrorist leader, Marowso Chantarawadee, variant Mahrosu Jantarawadee, 31, who was wanted for the murder of a local teacher, Cholatee Jarenchol, 51. The victim was shot twice in the head in front of hundreds of students, including his 7-year-old daughter, in a Bacho school on January 23, 2013. Chantarawadee was married to Rusnee Maeloh, 25, who slept through the gun fight. Police said he was involved for 8 years in gun and bomb attacks that killed at least 25 people. He often shot his victims and then torched them. He was a member of the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (National Revolutionary Front, BRN).

February 14—Pakistan—Five Pakistani Taliban suicide bombers attacked a police station in Bannu city. Three terrorists set off their explosive vests, injuring a police officer. Police shot dead the other 2 terrorists. The Taliban was retaliating for the shooting deaths of 8 terrorists whose bodies were found in North Waziristan.

February 15—Senegal—Gendarmes in Velingara, 375 miles southeast of Dakar, detained a Mauritanian and a Malian for “criminal conspiracy in collusion with terrorist organizations, aimed at undermining the country’s military situation and its economic interests,” according to the Justice Ministry. The media said the Mauritanian was an AQIM recruiter hoping to get young men to fight in Mali.

February 16—Pakistan—At 7 p.m., a 2,200-pound bomb in a water tanker was remotely detonated in a busy Quetta vegetable marketplace along Karana Road, killing 89 and wounding nearly 200. The bomb targeted the minority Shi’ite Hazara community. The tanker had been towed into the area by a tractor. The bomb also destroyed shops and leveled a 2-storey building. The Sunni jihadi ­Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed responsibility. In one related bombing, 17 students and 2 teachers in one school were killed. Seventeen members of Bostan Kishtmand’s family were killed. Thousands of Shi’ite Muslims joined protests, demanding protection from the ­government. On February 28, the group said it would set up its own defense force to battle Sunni terrorists. The tanker had passed untouched through 2 checkpoints manned by Pakistani Frontier Corps soldiers.

February 16—Nigeria—Ansaru gunmen attacked a camp of the Lebanese construction company ­Setraco in Jama’are, Bauchi State, during the night, setting off explosives and shooting to death a guard before kidnapping 7 foreigners, including an Italian, a Briton, a Filipino, a Greek, and 3 Lebanese. One hostage was a woman. The gunmen initially attacked a local prison, burning 2 police trucks. Ansaru (Jama’atu Ansarul Musilimina Fi Biladis Sudan) said was protesting “the transgression and atrocities done to the religion of Allah by the European countries in many places, such as Afghanistan and Mali. It is stressed that any attempt or act contrary to our conditions by the European nations or by the Nigerian government will” put the hostages’ lives at risk. On March 10, 2013, Britain, Italy and Greece announced that hostages from their countries were among 7 construction workers killed by the terrorists. The Philippine government denied that one of its citizens had been taken hostages. Ansaru released photos of 4 bodies. It said that the Nigerians and British were about to conduct a military rescue operation, necessitating the killings. The Greek Foreign Ministry said the terrorists never made demands. 13021601

February 16—Somalia—A remotely detonated car bomb exploded in Mogadishu beach’s Lido Seafood restaurant, killing a Somali soldier and wounding 3 other people. ­Al-Shabaab was suspected.

February 17—Iraq—Car bombs killed 37 and wounded more than 100 in markets in Shi’ite neighborhoods in Baghdad, including Sadr City, ­al-Amin, Husseiniya, Karrada, and Kamaliya. Two other car bombs were defused in Husseiniya and Habibiya. Al-Qaeda in Iraq was suspected.

February 18—Pakistan—Terrorists wearing tribal police uniforms and suicide vests attacked the office of Muttahirzeb Khan, the political agent of the Khyber tribal agency, killing 5 people and wounding 7. One terrorist set off his bomb at the main entrance to the complex, killing a guard and wounding 5 others. Two other terrorists fired on police officers, killing 4 members of the paramilitary force. One terrorist was hit by gunfire before setting off his suicide vest, collapsing the roof of the control room and injuring the deputy administrator. It appeared the terrorists were attempting to free arriving prisoners. The suicide vests weighed 16 pounds each.

February 19—Cameroon—At 7 a.m., gunmen from Nigeria—probably Boko Haram—kidnapped 7 French tourists, including a French family that included 4 children—boys aged 5 to 12—from a village 6 miles from the northern border with Nigeria. The terrorists rode motorbikes near the Waza national park and Lake Chad and were heading toward Nigeria. The tourists’ vehicle was found abandoned. One of the French hostages was Tanguy ­Moulin-Fournier, the children’s father, who was employed by the French power group GDF Suez SA, which is developing a liquefied natural gas project. He was based in Yaounde. He was vacationing with his family, including his wife and his brother. On February 25, the kidnappers released a video on YouTube claiming credit for Boko Haram. The family was sitting on the ground inside a tent made from prayer mats, in front of a black al-Qaeda banner. Two masked riflemen flanked the family. Another masked terrorist read a statement that demanded the release of their “brothers and sisters” and threatened to “slaughter those we took.” The reader said the “President of France” has “waged war against Islam” by invading Mali. ­Moulin-Fournier read a statement identifying the group in Arabic as “those engaged in the propagation and teaching of the prophet and of jihad” (Jamaatu Ahlis Sunna Liddaawati ­wal-Jihad). Some observers questioned whether Boko Haram was involved. Another group of Boko Haram denied involvement. Observers noted that the group had not previously kidnapped Westerners, and its videos normally used the Hausa language. The hostages were believed to be held in Borno State. The group warned Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan that “we will establish the Islamic state of Nigeria…. We say to you: If you want us to leave those French people, leave all of our women whom you imprisoned by your hands quickly, because we know that all ways of disbelief are the same, and all of you are equally in war with us.” The reader also called for Cameroon to release Boko Haram prisoners.

On March 18, 2013, an audiotape was released of a man claiming to be Tanguy ­Moulin-Fournier, the father of the hostage family. He read a Boko Haram threat to increase kidnappings and suicide bombings if Cameroonian authorities arrested more BH members. He said the hostages’ health and living conditions were deteriorating. “We lose force (strength) every day and start to be sick; we will not stay very long like this…. The living conditions are very hard … hot (the heat), water, food, sleep, life in the desert, etc., conditions even more difficult for the white men that we are who are not used to the African hot and for the kids.” A kidnapper said “They will not be able to get the 7 hostages unless they free our members” held in Cameroon and Nigeria.

On April 19, 2013, Boko Haram released the 7 family members—4 young boys, their mother and father and an uncle—who had been held for 2 months. The French President said no ransom was paid, although on April 26 Reuters reported that a Nigerian gov­ernment report said $3.15 million was paid by French and Cameroonian negotiators and that Cameroon freed some BH detainees. Albane and Tanguy ­Moulin-Fournier and Cyril Mou­lin-Fournier, his brother, were gaunt. 13021901

February 20—Nigeria—A bomb went off in Maiduguri, killing 3 people. Boko Haram was suspected.

February 21—Indonesia—Gunmen shot to death 7 people in 2 attacks against the army in Papua’s most eastern province. In the first attack, gunmen carrying machetes attacked an army vehicle, killing 4 soldiers and 2 civilians. A later attack on an army post killed one soldier and wounded a second. The same 20 gunmen were believed responsible for both attacks.

February 21—UN Security Council—The UN Security Council sanctions monitoring committee removed Osama bin Laden from its list of terrorists subject to UN sanctions. Bin Laden died in May 2011.

February 21—Syria—Three car bombs exploded in Damascus, killing 72 people and wounding more than 200. The bombs went off near the headquarters of the Ba’ath Party and the Russian Embassy in the Mazraa District, where 59 people were killed, and at 2 checkpoints in Barzeh District, in which 13 died, including 10 members of the security forces. 13022101

February 21—India—Two timebombs made of ammonium nitrate went off within 2 minutes of each other, about 400 feet apart, in a movie theater parking lot and at a bus stop in Dilsukh Nagar, an area in the Hyderabad suburbs, killing 16 and injuring 117. Two days earlier, the government received warnings of potential terrorist attacks in Hyderabad, Bangalore, and Coimbatore. Four days earlier, someone cut wires to security cameras in the area. The government dismissed the claim in a letter that the ­Lashkar-e-Taiba was responsible. The letter was signed by Yakub Pahalwan. Police offered a million rupee ($18,360) reward for information on the perpetrators. Authorities noted that an individual arrested in November had surveilled the area for the Indian Mujahideen.

February 23—Algeria—An Army patrol killed 8 terrorists in Boumerdes and another 4 in the northern Boukadir forest. Authorities also found an arms cache.

February 23—Nigeria—Boko Haram was suspected of a nighttime attack that killed 6 people in the north.

February 24—Afghanistan—Members of the National Directorate of Security shot to death a man driving a Toyota SUV packed with explosives in the Wazir Akbar Khan neighborhood, near the diplomatic quarter of Kabul. The Taliban set off 3 other car bombs in 2 nearby provinces, but caused mini-mal damage. The bombs killed 2 terrorists plus 2 ­security guards and a police officer and injured 5 other people, including one of the terrorists, who escaped.

February 26—Israel—Gunmen from a faction of the al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade fired a Grad rocket from the Gaza Strip, damaging a road but causing no injuries, near Ashkelon in southern Israel. The group said it was retaliating for the death of Arafat Jaradat, 30, a Palestinian who died in Israeli Shin Bet custody on February 23.

February 26—Mali—A suicide car bomber crashed into a Tuareg checkpoint in Kidal, killing 6 people and injuring 11. The separatists manning the checkpoint belonged to the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad, which supports the French intervention.

February 26—Pakistan—Two gunmen shot to death a police officer accompanying a group of polio workers during a ­UN-funded vaccination campaign in the Mardan district of Khyber Pakh­tunkhwa Province. No polio workers were harmed.

February 26—France—Spain’s Interior Ministry reported on March 1 the arrest in France of 3 Chechen jihadis, following August 2012 raids in Linea de la Concepcion in southern Spain of a ­3-man terrorist cell. The suspects were Ali Dokaev, arrested in Noyon, 62 miles northeast of Paris; Elsy Issakov, arrested in Les Lilas in eastern Pais; and Mourad Idrissov, arrested in Genevieve des Bois in southern Paris. Eldar Magomedov, the alleged ringleader hailing from Dagestan, a Russian republic, was charged in Spain with terrorist offenses.

February 27—Afghanistan—A Taliban suicide bomber wearing a black overcoat and carrying an umbrella against a heavy snowfall laid down in front of an idling bus carrying Afghan soldiers, snuck underneath, and set off his bomb, wounding 6 soldiers and a civilian.

February 27—Afghanistan—At 6 p.m., 2 new police recruits loyal to the Taliban stole weapons from other police officers walking to their security post and gunned down 2 members of the Afghan Local ­Police in Musa Qala District center, Landai Nawa, Helmand Province. The Taliban said the terrorists stole the officers’ Toyota Corolla.

February 27—Afghanistan—Around 1 a.m., 17 Afghan policemen were drugged by colleagues, who then shot them to death at an Afghan Local Police building in Habib Godala village in Andar District in Ghazni Province. The group had completed training by Americans the previous month. The 17 were initially reported to have been poisoned. Authorities arrested 2 Taliban infiltrators posing as policemen. The murderers set alight a police vehicle and stole the victims’ weapons. Ten victims were police officers, 7 were recruits. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said “locals in the area were tired of the atrocities and crimes of these arbakais, and their lives and property were not safe … oppression has been weakened and decreased in the area.” The Taliban denied that they had been poisoned.

February 28—Turkey—In raids on 2 houses in Istanbul and 9 in Tekirdag Province, police arrested 11 individuals believed linked to al-Qaeda and confiscated 55 pounds of plastic explosives and diagrams and photos of the U.S. Consulate and other potential targets, including a synagogue and a church, in Istanbul. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was due to visit Ankara.

February 28—Afghanistan—Several bombs killed 8 members of the Afghan Border Police traveling through a village in the Dangam District of eastern Kunar Province during the evening. The first bomb went off at 4 p.m., wounding 4 officers on a truck. They were placed on a civilian truck by their 8 comrades, who headed for an Asadabad hospital. A mine went off under the vehicle, killing the 8 a few hundred meters from the first blast.

March—Mali/France—In March 2013, Mali expelled to France Ibrahim Ouattara, 24, from the working class Paris suburb of Aubervilliers, who had been arrested in November 2012. He had traveled to Yemen and Somalia, and was suspected of setting up a recruiting network in Mali for AQIM.

March—Rwanda—A grenade exploded in Kigali. Political dissidents were suspected.

March—Sudan—A faction of the Sudan Liberation Army, a Darfur rebel group, kidnapped 31 Darfuris on their way to a conference for displaced people. UNAMID peacekeepers had been escorting the delegates in 3 buses. The hostages were handed to the Red Cross nearly a week later, on March 30.

March—Pakistan—Gunmen kidnapped 2 female Czech tourists as they were traveling on a bus on the road from Iran to Quetta in southwest Pakistan. On October 30, 2013, the kidnappers released a video to the Czech embassy in Islamabad. The video showed both of them speaking. One of them said the video was taken on August 23. Czech President Milos Zeman said earlier in October that they were held on the ­Pakistan-Afghanistan border. On March 28, 2015, AP reported that Czech tourists Hana Humpalova and Antonie Chrastecka were released after mediation by the Turkish ­non-governmental humanitarian organization IHH. 13039901

March—Syria—On September 13, 2014, the Islamic State released a video showing the beheading of British aid worker David Cawthorne Haines, 44, who was kidnapped in Syria in March 2013 while working for the French aid group Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development (ACTED) to help victims of the fighting. He was grabbed at a refugee camp in Atmeh, northern Syria. At the end of a previous video showing the beheading of American journalist Steven Sotloff, the group had threatened to kill Haines. In the Haines video, entitled “A Message to the Allies of America,” the group threatened to kill Alan Henning, another British hostage. Haines’s murderer appeared to be the same man speaking with an East London accent as in the previous videos announcing the killings of Americans James Foley and Steven Sotloff. He told the UK government that its alliance with the U.S. will only “accelerate your destruction” and will drag the British people into “another bloody and unwinnable war.” He added “This British man has to pay the price for your promise to Cameron to arm the pesh merga against the Islamic State. Ironically, he has spent a decade of his life serving under the same Royal Air Force that is responsible for delivering those arms.”

Haines had also worked for Handicap International, which helps the disabled during conflicts, and Nonviolent Peaceforce, which sends unarmed peacekeepers into conflict zones. He had worked in Libya during its civil war, in South Sudan, and for the United Nations in the Balkans. Survivors included a teenage daughter in Scotland from a previous marriage and a 4-year-old daughter in Croatia with his current wife, Dragana.

The terrorists forced Haines to read a script in which he said “I would like to declare that I hold you, David Cameron, entirely responsible for my execution. You entered voluntarily into a coalition with the United States against the Islamic State. Unfortunately, it is we the British public that in the end will pay the price for our Parliament’s selfish decisions.”

The New York Times reported that Haines was held with an Italian coworker, Frederico Motka, who also worked for ACTED. Motka was freed in May 2014 after a ransom payment. 13039902

March—Syria—The Islamic State kidnapped Italian aid worker Federico Motka. He was freed in April 2014 after payment of a ransom. 13039903

March—Bahrain—A bomb exploded on a road, missing its intended police target but injuring a worker. On October 3, 2013, a judge sentenced 4 people to life in prison. Two defendants were convicted in absentia. On October 7, the Bahrain government announced that 9 people (4 in custody, 5 in absentia) had been sentenced to life in prison on charges of ­bomb-making and attempting to target police.

March—Canada—During the afternoon, 2 gunmen forced a helicopter pilot working for a Canadian tour company to pick up 2 escaping inmates at the Orsainville Detention Center outside Quebec. Police arrested the foursome hours later.

March—Germany—On September 6, 2014, AP reported that 4 men went on trial on charges of forming a terrorist group and planning to kill a ­far-right politician who had protested the construction of mosques. Prosecutors said the men were inspired by the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. German national Marco G., age 26; 43-year-old Albanian Enea B.; 25-year-old ­German-Turkish dual national Koray D.; and 24-year-old German Tayfun S. were arrested the night before the planned killing in March 2013. Marco G. was also charged with a failed bombing attempt at Bonn’s main railway station in December 2012.

March 1—Thailand—Local jihadi terrorists were blamed for setting off a bomb on a motorcycle on a road in Narathiwat Province, wounding 6 people.

March 2—Internet—AQAP’s 64-page 10th edition of its Inspire online magazine included articles on how to torch parked cars and cause traffic accidents. The group suggested to not spill gasoline on oneself and rather spill oil on road turns to cause crashes. The magazine called for attacks on 11 Western public figures, including Dutch politician Geert Wilders, ­Canadian-Somalian activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali, author Salman Rushdie, Molly Norris, Flemming Rose, Morris Swadiq, Lars Vilks, Steph­ane Charbonnie, Carsten Luste, Kurt Westergaard, and ­Koran-burning American pastor Terry Jones “wanted dead or alive for crimes against Islam.” AQAP called for France to leave Mali, noting that the U.S. experience in Afghanistan and Iraq made “them bite their fingertips in regret.” The magazine also called for “lone wolf” jihadis to attack current and former world leaders, including former U.S. Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, former U.S. Secretaries of State Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, former French President Nic­ho­las Sarkozy and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. “It is now easy to reach these guys, especially since they aren’t in office anymore.” The edition included an interview with American AQ spokesman Adam Gadahn regarding the Arab Spring, and a letter written by the late Samir Khan, the magazine’s former American editor. Gadahn said “let’s continue to bleed the head of unbelief dry.” The magazine also noted that one of its editors, Abu Yazeed, in his early 20s from a “respectable family” who spent much of his life in Qatar, was killed by a Yemeni army tank projectile while fighting in Zinjibar in southern Yemen in 2013. He had gone to the UK to earn a science degree, but complained of the “hypocrisy of the West” and returned to Yemen to join AQAP. “As (he) had a wide knowledge of the language and customs of the West, he quickly came to the Inspire team and became great friends with Samir Khan and Sheikh Anwar (al-Aulaqi), even spending time camping with them in the deserts.” After joining front line fighters, “he was quickly spotted for his skills and leadership talent and was given the position of supervisor at an Abyan training camp.” Abu Yazeed wrote of Samir Khan “during his company, he taught me everything he knew about the presentation of certain material, special designing for the magazines, how to work in certain visual design programs. He taught me how to use the best from my skills.” The magazine included a note smuggled from his U.S. prison cell from Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, saying “If they kill me, which they will … take revenge on them for me in the most severest and violent of manners!”

March 2—Thailand—Local jihadi terrorists were blamed for setting off a bomb on a motorcycle on a road in Yala Province, killing 2 military rangers and wounding 11 people.

March 2—Pakistan—A male Hazara Shi’ite was shot to death in what appeared to be a targeted killing on a Karachi street.

March 3—Nigeria—Boko Haram attacked a military base in Monguno, 125 miles from Maiduguri, killing 20 people, including a local village leader. The terrorists arrived in SUVs and attacked a barracks with gunfire and explosives. BH leader Abubakar Shekau denied that the group was in peace talks, and said it would continue its attacks until sharia law was established. He threatened Sheikh Mohammed Abdulaziz, the individual claiming to be a BH deputy leader interested in a ceasefire. He observed “whoever kills any of our members should await a grave retaliation from us. We will continue waging war against them until we succeeded in establishing an Islamic state in Nigeria…. I swear by Allah that Abdulaziz or whatever he calls himself did not get any authority from me to represent me in any capacity. I do not know him. And if we per adventure encounter Abdulaziz and his group, I swear by Allah we are going to mete them with the grave judgment that Allah had prescribed for their likes in the holy book.” Military spokesmen said 20 BH terrorists and one civilian died.

March 3—Pakistan—A bomb exploded in a crowd of Shi’ites leaving a mosque in the Abbas Town neighborhood of Karachi, killing 48 and wounding 180. ­Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and the Taliban were suspected.

March 4—Iraq—On March 11, Syria’s ­al-Nusra Front, the local branch of the Islamic State of Iraq (a nom de guerre of al-Qaeda in Iraq), claimed credit for the deaths of 51 Syrian soldiers and 14 Iraqis in an assault on a Syrian military convoy traveling under Iraqi military escort in Anbar Province in western Iraq. The group said the area “became a graveyard in which the blood of the filthy ones from the Rafidah (Shi’ites) and the Nusaryis (Alawites) is mixed.” The group said they set off bombs the hit the bus convoy, then fired light and medium weapons and RPGs at the survivors. 13030401

March 5—U.S.—The FBI arrested naturalized U.S. citizen Reaz Qadir Khan, 48, at his home in Portland, Oregon, on one count of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists. The FBI said he provided advice and money to Ali Jaleel, an al-Qaeda suicide bomber who died in the 2009 attack in Pakistan that killed 30 and injured 300. Khan was a wastewater treatment plant operator in Portland. He pleaded not guilty. He faced a life sentence. He was represented by attorney Larry Matasar. Khan’s indictment said he provided Jaleel advice on how to avoid detection and offered funding. Jaleel said he needed $2500. Khan sent the money through a Los Angeles cutout to Karachi. After Jaleel died in the attack, Khan sent circa $750 from an Oregon store to one of Jaleel’s 2 wives in the Maldives.

March 6—Syria—Martyrs of Yarmouk rebels seized 21 Filipino UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) peacekeepers near the Golan Heights border. The hostages were held in several basements around the village of Jamlah. Initially, the group threatened to treat the hostages as “war prisoners.” The kidnappers posted a video showing 3 Filipinos in blue flak jackets sitting on a couch. In other videos, the peacekeepers said they were being treated well by the Free Syrian Army. The FSA condemned the kidnapping. After 3 days of negotiations, the Martyrs released the hostages to the Jordanian Army at the border. The Martyrs initially demanded that the Syrian government withdraw from the south and cease its attack on local villages, but under pressure from rebel leaders, dropped its demands. It then said it had detained the 21 hostages to protect them from fighting in the area. A rebel commander going by the alias Colonel Abu Mahmoud said, “We took them to keep them safe because they were going through a very dangerous area and they were our guests, and we protected them with our own chests.” The group claimed that Syria was shelling the area to try to kill the hostages and blame it on the FSA. 13030601

March 7—U.S.—Federal authorities announced the arrest of Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, 48, ­son-in-law of Osama bin Laden and former spokesman for al-Qaeda. On September 12, 2001, he appeared in a video, sitting next to bin Laden, warning of even worse attacks. In a video released on October 10, 2001, he praised the 9/11 hijackers, saying “Americans should know the storm of the planes will not stop until you drag your defeated tails from Afghanistan, not until you raise your hands from the Jews in Palestine, not until you lift the embargo on the Iraqi people, not until you leave the Arabian Peninsula, not until you stop supporting the Hindus against the Muslims in Kashmir. There are thousands of the Islamic nation’s youths who are eager to die, just as the Americans are eager to live.” Kuwait pulled his citizenship. He apparently disappeared into Iran along with other members of the group’s Management Council, in 2002. He had been arrested upon arrival in Turkey at U.S. request in January 2013 on charges of entering the country with a fake passport, but released after 33 days because a court said he had committed no local crime. He was rearrested in a Luxury Ankara hotel for deportation to Kuwait, his 1965 birthplace, via Jordan. Jordanian authorities detained him on February 28 and turned him over to the U.S. on March 1. He was flown to New York. He pleaded not guilty to one count of conspiracy to kill Americans by recruiting terrorists via his propaganda broadcasts in a Manhattan court presided over by U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan. He faced life in prison. FBI interrogators drafted a 22-page ­post-arrest summary of his revelations. He was represented by ­court-appointed attorney Philip Weinstein. A pretrial hearing was scheduled for April 8. He joined al-Qaeda in Afghanistan in 2000. He had married bin Laden’s eldest daughter, Fatima. He urged others to swear bayat to bin Laden.

March 7—France—Authorities arrested 2 French men, aged 18 and 20, for plotting terrorist attacks, preparing bombs, and conducting online extremist activities in a house in Marignane near Marseille. The terrorists had been under surveillance since November 2012.

March 8—Afghanistan—Gunmen wearing Afghan uniforms fired on ISAF members, killing a coalition contractor in the east. 13030801

March 9—Nigeria—In a gun battle in Maiduguri following a visit by President Goodluck Jonathan, 2 soldiers and 52 Boko Haram terrorists were killed.

March 11—Afghanistan—A gunman wearing a police uniform grabbed a machine gun from the back of a police pickup truck and fired on a group of Americans and Afghans, killing 2 U.S. Special Operations Forces, including a Green Beret, a civilian man and a civilian woman, 2 Afghan troops and 3 police officers in Khwaja Mohammad Village, Jalrez District, Wardak Province. Ten Americans and at least 2 Afghans were wounded. Coalition forces returned fire, killing him. 13031101

March 12—Pakistan—A suicide bomber on foot set off his explosives near a police van in Bannu District, Khyber Paktunkhwa Province, killing 2 people and wounding 10. The Pakistani Taliban was suspected.

Gunmen shot to death Zia Ullah, a senior official of the Election Commission of Pakistan, in Quetta.

A bomb disposal expert died when a roadside bomb he was defusing went off in Peshawar.

March 13—Afghanistan—The local intelligence service seize a truck packed with 17,200 pounds of explosives in Kabul’s eastern suburbs, killed 5 suspected Haqqani network suicide bombers, and arrested 2 others in a raid.

March 13—Afghanistan—At 6 p.m., a suicide bomber set off his explosives at a game of buzkashi (polo with a headless goat carcass) in Basos village in Kunduz Province, killing 7, including several family members of Afghanistan Parliament Speaker Abdul Raouf Ibrahimi, who was born in the village. Another 8 people were wounded. The dead included his father, 2 brothers, and a nephew.

March 13—Pakistan—Gunmen shot to death Perween Rahman, a female activist who brought sewers and water to Karachi’s poorest neighborhoods.

March 14—Iraq—Gunmen disguised as police set off their suicide vests and fired on police at the Iraqi Justice Ministry killing 24 people during an ­hour-long assault. All of the terrorists died. Al-Qaeda in Iraq was suspected.

March 14—Indonesia—Police shot to death 3 suspected terrorists and arrested 4 others near Jakarta. Two suspects resisted when police attempted to arrest them for a jewelry shop robbery; police killed one of the men. Another suspect said the robberies were to fund terrorist attacks. He led police to 5 other terrorists in Bekasi, a Jakarta suburb. Police killed 2 terrorists who drew weapons and arrested the other trio. Police seized 2.2 pounds of gold jewelry, 5 homemade guns and 14 pipe bombs. The terrorists were involved in recent attacks on police and bank robberies in Medan, North Sumatra Province.

March 15—Pakistan—A bomb hidden in a rickshaw went off after midnight outside a cable TV office in Karachi, killing 3 and wounding 4. The motive was unclear.

March 15—Thailand—A 100-kilogram bomb exploded under a pickup truck carrying 3 policemen in Narathiwat Province, killing all 3.

March 18—Nigeria—At 5 p.m., 5 bombs went off at a Kano bus park, killing 25 people and destroying several buses in the mostly Christian-im­mi­grant Sabon Gari area. Boko Haram was suspected of targeting non–Muslims. One of the bombs was on a Volkswagen that crashed into a bus parked at a depot, setting alight 4 other buses. Many other people were injured.

Boko Haram was blamed for attacks on 2 Maiduguri secondary schools that killed a teacher and left 3 girls injured.

March 18—Pakistan—Terrorists attacked a Peshawar court complex, killing 4 and wounding 47, including a judge. During an ensuring gun battle, the terrorists took hostages. They were believed attempting to free fellow terrorists jailed at the complex. The police killed a suicide bomber at the gates before he could set off his explosives. A second bomber got into a courtroom and set off his bomb, killing 2 court officials and seriously injuring female presiding judge Kulsoom Afridi. No one claimed credit.

March 18—Somalia—An ­al-Shabaab suicide bomber set off his car bomb in Mogadishu, killing 10 in an attempt to target government officials, including the city’s security chief, near the presidential palace. The car instead hit a minivan filled with passengers on the main road between the palace and the national theater. The security chief was injured. Most of the dead were on the minivan. ­Al-Shabaab spokesman Sheik Ali Mohamud Rage said the group was avenging the deaths of its members killed by the Somali national security forces.

March 19—Iraq—Al-Qaeda in Iraq’s front Islamic State of Iraq website claimed credit for bombings that killed 65 people to avenge executions and “massacres” of Sunni prisoners.

March 19—Turkey—The Revolutionary People’s Liberation ­Party-Front (DHKP-C) claimed credit for nighttime attacks on the Justice Ministry and Athens offices of the ruling AK Party. Terrorists threw hand grenades and shot a ­shoulder-fired missile in hopes of subverting the peace process with Kurdish rebels, who were about to declare a ceasefire. One person was slightly wounded.

March 20—Turkey—Terrorists attacked an Istanbul district governor’s office; police foiled a second nearby bombing. No one claimed credit, although 2 suspects were spotted on security video.

March 21—U.S.—The U.S. State Department designated Ansar Dine, which had been fighting French and African soldiers in Mali, as a terrorist group cooperating with AQIM. The group’s assets were frozen and Americans were prohibited from dealing with it.

March 21—Pakistan—A car bomb exploded inside the Jalozai refugee camp in the Peshawar suburbs, killing 13 and wounding 25. Most of the victims, who had lined up to get food, were from the Bajur and Khyber tribal areas. The dead included 11 refugees, a security guard and an employee of a Pakistani aid group.

A bomb hidden in a rickshaw went off outside a bus terminal near a Jafarabad bazaar, killing 9 and wounding 40. Several shops were destroyed. Baluch nationalists were suspected.

March 21—Syria—At 6 p.m., a bomb went off at the Eman mosque in central Damascus, killing 42 people, including Sheik Mohammad Said Ramada ­al-Bouti, 84, Syria’s seniormost Sunni cleric and a supporter of the beleaguered Assad regime, and injuring 84. He was the former dean of Damascus Islamic Law School and was holding a religious class in the mosque when the bomb went off.

March 21—Turkey—Imprisoned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan ordered a ceasefire, withdrawal of the PKK from Turkish soil, and a move into aboveground politics. “Let the guns fall silent, let ideas speak. The time has come for our armed elements to withdraw beyond the border…. This does not mean giving up this struggle. It means starting a new phase.”

March 22—Nigeria—Gunmen conducted a night­time prison break in northeast Adamawa State, freeing 120 prisoners and killing 25 people near the Cameroon border.

March 24—Pakistan—A suicide car bomber set off his explosives during the night next to 2 fuel tankers at an army check point in North Waziristan, killing 17 soldiers and wounding 34 soldiers, along with 3 civilians. The explosion destroyed 2 barracks.

March 24—Mali—AQIM announced its new commander in Mali would be Djamel Okacha, alias Yahia Abu El Hamam, 34, a close associate of AQIM leader Abdelmalek Droukdel. France confirmed the death of Okacha’s predecessor, Abdelhamid Abou Zeid. The appointment was to be ­confirmed by AQIM’s Shura Council. Reuters re­ported that Okacha joined AQIM in 2004 and participated in the 2009 murder of U.S. aid worker Christopher Leggett.

March 26—Afghanistan—Eight suicide bombers killed 5 officers and wounded 4 others at the Jalalabad police headquarters. One set off his car bomb in front of the Jalalabad Police Quick Reaction Force, while the other 7, wearing bomb vests, ran into the compound. Three of them set off their explosives and the other 4 were shot by police during an ­hour-plus gunfight. Some of the attackers were wearing uniforms that resembled coalition garb. The Taliban’s Zabiullah Mujahid claimed credit.

March 26—Ethiopia—The National Intelligence and Security Service announced the arrest of 8 al-Shabaab members planning to kidnap foreigners working for the UN World Food Program and the UN Development Program in Ethiopia and take them to Somalia to demand a ransom. NISS said “the 8 were caught ­red-handed with arms as they plotted to carry out the kidnapping” in a camp for Somali refugees in the frontier town of Dolo Ado.

March 26—U.S.—During the evening, the FBI arrested Eric Harroun, 30, a former U.S. soldier from Phoenix, Arizona at a hotel near Virginia’s Dulles Airport on charges of using a ­rocket-propelled grenade in Syria in support of the ­al-Nusrah Front, an ­al-Qaeda–linked group. He had served in the U.S. Army from 2000 to 2003. Prosecutors said he snuck into Syria in January 2013 to fight against President Bashar ­al-Assad’s regime, and posted photos and recordings of his adventures on the Internet.

March 26—Libya—Gunmen kidnapped 5 British humanitarian activists and sexually assaulted at least 2 of the women. The group had been traveling, without visas, with an aid convoy that was going from London through several North African countries en route to Gaza. Egyptian authorities refused to allow the convoy to enter. The 5, including a father and 2 daughters, decided to go to Benghazi Airport. Their taxi was raided by the gunmen at a checkpoint near Benghazi. The gunmen beat the men. Four hostages were soon freed and a fifth, a woman, was found several hours later. All were British citizens of Pakistani origin. They were given shelter at the Turkish Consulate; the British closed their consulate after the September 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. Consulate. On March 29, Libyan authorities arrested 2 men in the case and announced that they were searching for one more male suspect. 13032601

March 27—Greece—A backpack bomb exploded at 8:30 p.m. outside a Greek ship owner’s house near the Acropolis in central Athens, causing no injuries. A Greek newspaper received a warning call. No group claimed credit for the attack on the Tsa­kos family residence; anarchists were suspected.

March 27—Afghanistan—An Afghan teen fatally stabbed in the neck U.S. Army Sergeant Michael Cable, 26, of Philpot, Kentucky, after soldiers had secured an area near the Pakistan border for a meeting between U.S. and Afghan officials at a ­swearing-in ceremony for Afghan Local Police in Shinwar District, Nangarhar Province. Cable was playing with local children and was attacked from behind. The 16-year-old fled to Pakistan. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Majahid said the terrorist was named Khalid. 13032701

March 27—Nigeria—Gunmen killed 28 people in the Riyom area.

March 28—Nigeria—Gunmen killed 18 people in the Bokkos area. The military fired back, killing 6 attackers.

March 28—Internet—AQIM’s media arm ­al-Andalus Media Foundation joined Twitter, posting “We send glad tidings to our Muslim Ummah in general and its sons from among the supporters of the mujahedeen in particular.”

March 29—Pakistan—A suicide bomber set off his explosives against a convoy carrying Abdul Majeed Marwat, commander of the Frontier Constabulary paramilitary police, in Peshawar. Six people, including 2 women, were killed and 15 were injured, but Marwat was unhurt. Three civilians and 3 police were killed (another report said 6 civilians and one soldier were killed). No one claimed credit.

March 29—Iraq—Car bombs went off at 5 Shi’ite mosques—4 in Baghdad, one in Kirkuk—killing 23 people following Friday prayers. Al-Qaeda in Iraq was suspected. One bomb went off in Baghdad’s Jihad neighborhood, killing 7 and wounding 25. A bomb in Qahira neighborhood killed 4 and wounded 20. A bomb in Zafaraniyah district killed 3 and wounded 15. Another bomb in Binook killed 5 and wounded 14. The Kirkuk bomb killed 3 and wounded 70.

March 29—Nigeria—The week’s death toll reached more than 50 people in pre–Easter attacks on villages around Jos in the central belt. Terrorists hit the Bokkos village in the Barkin Ladi area, killing 9. Terrorists carrying assault rifles hit Ratas village for 2 hours; ­Hausa-Fulani cattle herdsmen were blamed.

March 30—Mali—At 10 p.m., a suicide car bomber set off his explosives on the outskirts of Timbuktu. He was on the road from Goundam and was stopped at a checkpoint. Authorities opened fire; he set off his bomb, injuring one soldier.

March 31—Nigeria—The army raided in Islamist hideout in Kano at dawn, killing 14 terrorists. One soldier died and another was seriously injured while arresting a suspected suicide bomber at his car, which was packed with explosives.

April—Philippines—In mid–April, the New People’s Army ambushed the convoy of southern Gingoog City Mayor Ruth Guingona, wife of former Vice President Teofisto Guingona, killing 2 of her aides and wounding her and a police escort. The communists apologized for the casualties, but said her bodyguards fired at them at a rebel checkpoint.

April, June, July 12—UK—Mohammed Saleem, 82, was stabbed to death as he walked home from a Birmingham mosque in April 2013. On October 21, Pavlo Lapshyn, 25, a white supremacist Ukrainian student, pleaded guilty to murdering Saleem and plotting a terrorist bombing campaign against mosques in central England. He admitted leaving ­home-made bombs outside 3 mosques near Bir­mingham in June and July 12. One bomb was hidden in a child’s lunchbox. Another was timed to go off during Friday prayers. No one was injured when they exploded. West Midlands Police said Lapshyn, in the UK on a ­part-time work placement related to his studies, was motivated by racism and a desire to stir up racial tension. British police found in his room 98 video files and more than 400 photo files show-ing chemicals, firearms, ­bomb-making components and images of him manufacturing and detonating explosive devices. On October 25, 2013, he was sentenced to at least 40 years in jail. 1304901, 13069901, 13079901

April 2—Pakistan—At 2 a.m., more than 40 terrorists fired assault rifles and ­rocket-propelled grenades at a power station in the Peshawar suburbs, killing 7 people, including 2 people at the scene, and taking 9 hostages. They killed 5 others during their escape. The dead included 3 police officers and 4 power station workers. No one claimed credit, although the ­Tehreek-i-Taliban was suspected.

April 2—Somalia—A remotely detonated bomb was set off via a cellphone at the headquarters of Mogadishu’s Dahabshilil Bank, wounding 2 guards. Hours earlier, ­al-Shabaab had demanded that the company cease operations, which it said was assisting foreign aid agencies.

April 3—Afghanistan—At 8:45 a.m., Taliban terrorists wearing Afghan Army uniforms killed 55 people at a courthouse in western Farah Province. Two suicide terrorists set off explosives in a Ford Ranger pickup painted in camouflage at the entrance gate, damaging the mayor’s office and neighboring buildings. Seven suicide terrorists garbed in Afghan National Army uniforms ran to the courthouse, took hostages, and set off a 7-hour gun battle in which all of the terrorists died. The terrorists walked from room to room, shooting any civilians they found, including nearly 2 dozen hiding in a basement. Two judges were singled out, brought to a separate room, killed there, and set on fire. The dead included 36 civilians—including the 2 judges, 6 prosecutors, administration officers, and cleaners working at the site—and 10 members of the Afghan security forces. More than 100 people, including 42 civilians, were injured. Among the injured was Shujauddin, 22, a Farah teacher, who while trying to escape was hit twice in the arm and once in the leg. Authorities said the terrorists were trying to free 15 Taliban members about to go on trial. Others pointed out that no Taliban were on trial. Of the 16 in court, 2 were accused of drug trafficking the others faced criminal charges.

April 4—Mozambique—Members of the opposition RENAMO party raided a provincial station at Muxungue in Sofala Province in an attempt to free more than a dozen jailed colleagues arrested earlier in the week. Four Mozambican police were killed.

April 5—Somalia—The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office issued a travel alert, saying it expected imminent terrorist attacks in Mogadishu.

April 5—Nigeria—Gunmen attacked a group of police officers stranded in a boat on a creek near Azuzama village in Bayelsa State in the ­oil-rich Niger Delta, apparently kidnapping 12. Earlier in the week, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta threatened attacks after the sentencing in South Africa of Henry Okah, a gun runner believed head of the MEND. He had been arrested for the 2010 Abuja car bomb attack that killed 12 people.

April 6—Afghanistan—A Taliban Suzuki car bomb in Zabul Province killed 5 Americans, including U.S. Foreign Service Officer Anne Smedinghoff, 25—who served as Assistant Information Officer at the Kabul Embassy—3 U.S. service members, and a civilian Defense Department contractor. Several Afghans and 4 other State Department employees were injured, one critically, when the bomb went off at 11 a.m. as they were walking, carrying textbooks to children in Qalat. She had also served in Venezuela. Also killed were an Afghan doctor accompanying Governor Mohammad Ashraf Nasery of Zabul Province, and 2 of his bodyguards. On April 11, the State Department announced that the victims had been on foot, not in an armored vehicle as had earlier been reported. The Washington Times reported that the victims included soldiers Staff Sgt. Christopher M. Ward, 24, of Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Spc. Wilbel A. ­Robles-Santa, 25, of Juncos, Puerto Rico; and Spc. Delfin M. Santos, Jr., 24, of San Jose, California—all members of a Provincial Reconstruction Team. Four State Department employees were injured. The most seriously hurt was Kelly Hunt, a public affairs officer who was medevaced to Germany. Two were treated at an allied medical facility in Afghanistan.

Smedinghoff was a graduate of the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences at Johns Hopkins. 13040601

April 6—Syria—Gunmen kidnapped Italian reporter Domenico Quirico, a correspondent for a Turin newspaper, 3 days after he had arrived in the country from Lebanon. He was trying to get to Homs. He was released on September 8, 2013, as was Belgian hostage Pierre Piccinin da Prata. Piccinin blamed the Farouq Brigade for kidnapping them. 13040602

April 7—Internet—Ayman ­al-Zawahiri issued a 100+-minute audio message in which he called on Syrian rebels to fight for a “jihadist Islamic state.” He complained of the breakup of the Ottoman caliphate at the end of World War I and its splintering into 50 small states run by “traitor rulers” subservient to the “satanic American program” that aids the “biggest criminals in Washington, Moscow, and Tel Aviv.” Some of the small states “barely fit the foreign military bases that occupy them.” He complained of France’s intervention in Mali, warning that it would become like “what America was met with in Iraq and Afghanistan.” He lauded Jabhat ­al-Nusra in Syria and al-Qaeda in Iraq, condemning Hizballah for supporting those regimes, “true faces of Iran and Hizballah have been unmasked.”

April 7—Iraq—Three bombs went off in Mosul, killing 4 security officers and wounding 7 people: a car bomb killed 2 soldiers and wounded 5; a bomb hidden underneath a vehicle wounded 2 people; a roadside bomb killed a soldier and a police officer.

April 8—Afghanistan—A roadside bomb exploded next to a public bus en route from Ghazni Province to Kabul when it was in the Sayed Abad district of Wardak Province, killing 9 passengers.

April 8—Syria—A minibus bomb killed 15 people and wounded 146. The government blamed oppositionists for the afternoon attack in Damascus at the Syrian Central Bank just off the Seven Lakes Square (Sabaa Bahrat).

April 9—Yemen—Armed tribesmen were blamed for sabotaging oil pipelines and electricity pipe­lines in Marib Province, leading to a power outage in Sana’a.

April 9—South Sudan—Around 200 gunmen fired on a UN convoy in Jonglei State, near the Sudan border, killing 5 Indian members of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) peacekeepers and 7 civilian staff. Two of the dead staffers were from South Sudan; the others were from undisclosed nationalities. The convoy included a military escort of 30 UNMISS peacekeepers and 18 civilians. No one claimed responsibility. 13040901

April 9—Iraq-Syria—Al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Bakr ­al-Baghdadi posted an audio on jihadi websites to announce the AQI was merging with the Nusra Front in Syria. The group would be known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (the historic Islamic name for Syria).

April 10—Philippines—Abu Sayyaf gunmen believed led by Amin Baco, alias Abu Jihad, a terrorist with Jemaah Islamiyah links, who is from either Indonesia or Malaysia, killed one of 3 Philippine Army intelligence officers traveling via motorcycle to Ungkaya Pukan town in Basilan Province. The terrorists conducted a brief gun battle with other soldiers near a river before escaping into the jungle. 13041001

April 10—Pakistan—A 20-something gunman shot to death policeman Raj Wali and wounded another. Mohammad Ishfaq, as they guarded 2 female polio eradication health workers in the Par Hoti neighborhood, Mardan district, ­Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province. The terrorist fled.

April 11—Pakistan—Two Taliban gunmen on a motorbike shot to death Fakhrul Islam, a Muttahida Qaumi Movement candidate for the Sindh provincial parliament from Hyderabad. He was walking from his home to the office of his transportation business around noon when he was hit by 3 bullets. The gunmen’s bike stalled and they stole a second one.

April 11—Pakistan—A bomb went off at a car showroom owned by a local Awami National Party activist in Karachi, injuring 2 people.

April 11—Pakistan—During a gun battle, 15 Taliban terrorists and one Pakistani soldier were killed in the Tirah Valley in the Khyber region during a government raid on a Taliban base camp.

April 12—Taiwan—Six hundred passengers were evaluated from a Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation train that was stopped at Hsinchu City at 9 a.m. after someone found explosives in 2 pieces of luggage inside a restroom. The luggage was emitting white smoke. Passengers smelled gas. Police found 5 liters of gasoline and a timer to trigger the explosives. The train was on the Zuoying to Taipei route.

April 12—Mali—A suicide bomber killed 3 Chadian soldiers and wounded 4 others at a market in Kidal. 13041201

April 12—Syria—On December 14, 2015, AP reported that the Goteborg District Court convicted and sentenced to life in prison 2 Swedish men—Hassan Mostafa ­al-Mandlawi, 32, and Sultan ­al-Amin, 30—of terrorist crimes in connection with killings in Syria. The duo denied they had been at the scene. The court said photographs and video found during a home search proved their involvement in 2 kill-ings at an industrial area north of Aleppo between April 12 and May 2, 2013. The 2 said they would ­appeal the life sentences, which in Sweden gener-ally means a minimum of 20–25 years in prison. 13041202, 13050203

April 12—Afghanistan—Two hundred Taliban gunmen attacked the elite Third Battalion of the Second Brigade, one of the few battalions rated by the U.S. military as independent, killing 13 soldiers by firing heavy weapons and setting the Narai District, Kunar Province facility on fire.

April 13—Pakistan—A bomb hidden in a bus killed 8 passengers and wounded 7 others in the crowded Matni bazaar en route from Peshawar to a nearby town. Driver Jehanghir Khan was not hurt. The victims included women and children.

April 14—Somalia—At 12:30 p.m., 10 al-Shabaab terrorists attacked a Mogadishu courthouse, setting off explosives, taking hostages, and exchanging gunfire with guards. At least 35 people, including 9 terrorists, were killed and another 60 people were wounded by 2 car bombs and gunfire. Some 100 people fled safely. The regional court was in session; the building also houses the Supreme Court. Among the dead were a Somali journalist who acted as the courts’ media advisor, and human rights attorneys Abdikarin Hassan Gorod, who had won the freedom of a Somali reporter who was jailed after interviewing a rape victim, and Mohamed Mohamud Afrah, head of the Somali Law­yers Association. Gorod and Afrah were working for a ­UN-sponsored legal aid program. 13041401

April 14—Somalia—Two Turks in an African Union aid convoy and 2 Somali civilians, including the driver, were killed and 3 Turks were wounded when a car bomb exploded near Mogadishu airport. Deaths were also reported when bombs went off at a military intelligence building and a clinic. 13041402

April 14—Iraq—Terrorists conducted attacks in Baghdad, Kirkuk, Tuz Khurmato, Samarra, and Nassirya, killing 11 and wounding dozens. A suicide car bomber attacked a police checkpoint. Al-Qaeda in Iraq was suspected.

April 15—U.S.—Two pressure cooker bombs hidden in backpacks loaded with shrapnel—nails and BBs—exploded with 15 seconds of each other when they were set off by cell phones at 2:48 p.m. near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Boylston Street, killing 3 people and injuring 264, including 9 children. The first bomb went off in front of Marathon Sports and Lens Crafters near Exeter Street. The second bomb went off 670 feet away, in front of the Forum restaurant. More than a dozen people lost limbs. MIT security guard Sean Collier, 26, was shot to death in his police car on April 18 at 10:25 p.m. by the 2 terrorists, who were armed with 5 bombs, a 9mm handgun, ammunition, a machete, and a hunting knife.

Police identified the dead as:

• Krystle Marie Campbell, 29, a restaurant manager from Medford, Massachusetts, who was cheering for her boyfriend.

• Lu Lingzi, 23, a Chinese citizen and Boston University graduate student in math and statistics. She was an only child who graduated from Shenyang’s Northeast Yucai School in 2008, then studied international trade and economics at the Beijing Institute of Technology. In 2010, she studied at the University of California at Riverside for 3 months.

• Martin Richard, 8, from the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, who was attending the race with his family. His mother, Denise Richard, and sister, Jane Richard, 7, were severely injured. Jane is a ­first-grader at the Neighborhood House Charter School where Martin was a ­third-grader and Denise worked as a librarian.

Among the wounded were:

• Heather Abbott, 38, who lost her left foot while getting into the Forum restaurant.

• Jeffrey Bauman, 27, who lost both legs near the knee. The guitarist, who works at Costco in Nashua, New Hampshire, was cheering on his girlfriend. When he emerged from surgery, he wrote “Bag. Saw the guy, looked right at me.” This was a clue that helped find the terrorists. He had attended Chelmsford High School in Massachusetts.

• Erika Brannock, 29, a preschool teacher from Towson, Maryland, whose left leg was amputated above the knee; her right leg was severely injured. She had gone to Boston to watch her mother, Carol Downing, run the race. Brannock’s sister, Nicole Gross, suffered breaks to her left leg in 2 places, an ankle fracture, and a severed Achilles tendon. Nicole’s husband, Michael Gross, also was injured.

• Kaitlynn Cates, 25, was hit in the leg while cheering for a friend.

• Liza Cherney, 29, from Novato, California, was cheering for Boston College business school classmate Meaghan Zipin, who was running for charity. Cherney had a master’s in gerontology and was working on her second graduate degree. She was hit with BBs, nails, and other shrapnel. Her best friend, Brittany Loring, 29, another BC MBA candidate, was also hospitalized with shrapnel wounds in her legs, a BB in her neck, and a head fracture. It was her birthday.

• Jenny Chung, 35, a teacher who had shrapnel blown into her chest, 2 inches from her heart, who was cheering on a friend. Shrapnel hit the runner’s boyfriend’s calf.

• Jarrod Clowery, 35, a carpenter who was burned and hit by shrapnel in the hands and legs. His hearing dropped to 15 percent in one ear. Three friends—including 2 brothers—each lost limbs. He grew up in Stoneham, 9 miles north Boston.

• Sydney Corcoran, a Lowell High School student who was seriously wounded. Her mother, Celeste, a hairdresser, lost both legs.

• J.P. Craven, 25, a math and science teacher waiting for his father to finish running his final Boston Marathon. He sustained injuries to his ear—which was singed off—and nose, was hit with shrapnel in his leg, and had surgery to reconnect nerves on his forehead.

• Patrick Downes, 29, and Jessica Kensky, 32, newlyweds who both lost a leg. Kensky’s right foot was badly hurt. Downes ran in the Boston Marathon in 2005. He was finishing his doctorate in psychology. She was from California and was an oncology nurse. They met in 2006, when he was working on Capitol Hill.

• Marc Fucarile, 34, who went home in July 2013 after losing his right leg. The blast also broke his spine and bones in his left leg and foot, ruptured both eardrums, and severely burned him and wounded him with shrapnel. He underwent 49 surgeries.

• Sarah Girouard, 20, an environmental science student at Northeastern University who was injured with her roommate. A piece of metal hit her right leg near her knee and passed through the bone. A ­thumb-size chunk of metal lodged near her heel. Girouard was an intern at Boston City Hall.

• Aaron Hern, 11, was hit on the left thigh. He was from Martinez, California, and played football, baseball, and basketball, and ran a sub-6-minute mile.

• Bill Iffrig, 78, a runner who was blown down by a bomb as he approached the finish line.

• Joanna Leigh, 39, who sustained a brain injury. She had recently earned a doctoral degree in international development and was pursuing a career as a consultant.

• John Odom, 65, a month from retirement, who was watching his daughter, Nicole, run. He underwent at least 7 surgeries; shrapnel severed an artery in his leg. He is a mechanical contractor from Redondo Beach, California.

• Karen Rand, seriously injured, who was watching with Krystle Campbell, who was killed. One of Rand’s legs was amputated below the knee.

• Roseann Sdoia, an avid runner who lost her right leg and almost her left. She grew up in Dracut, 30 miles north of Boston, and attended the Catholic Academy of Notre Dame in Tyngsboro, later obtaining a business degree from the University of Massachusetts in Lowell. She was a resident property manager at a New England real estate development firm.

• Jacqui Webb, 25, a real estate agent, underwent 3 surgeries to repair damage to her leg. Both her hands were burned and she suffered partial hearing loss. Her boyfriend, Paul Norden, 31, and his brother, JP, 33, who each lost a leg, may have saved her from greater injury when they pushed her out of the way. Webb graduated from Stoneham High School and attended Suffolk University. The group was cheering on a friend.

• Scott Weisberg, a physician from Birmingham, Alabama, was one of the few runners injured.

• Kevin White, 35, and his parents, Mary Jo White and Bill White, both 71, suffered serious injuries. Kevin had trauma to his abdomen and several hairline fractures. Mary Jo had a seriously wounded hand. Bill lost a leg below the knee.

• David Yepez, 15, who was hit by a 1 × 3-inch piece of metal in the leg. He is a 9th-grader at St. John’s Preparatory High School in Danvers.

• Danling Zhou, a graduate student of actuarial science from Chengdu, in China’s Sichuan Province, who was critically injured.

• A 2-year-old with a bleeding head injury

• A 7-year-old boy with a leg injury

• A 9-year-old girl with a leg trauma who spent hours in the operating room

• A 10-year-old girl with a leg fracture

• A 13-year-old with a broken femur

• A 14-year-old boy with a head injury

Traffic cameras and cellphone video helped authorities spot the duo placing the bombs and led to them being tracked down. Police released images of the suspects 3 days after the bombing.

At 12:50 a.m. on April 19, the terrorists loaded 5 bombs and went on a crime spree, killing an MIT security guard in an attempt to obtain his gun. They then carjacked a black Mercedes Benz SUV, forcing the driver to go to 3 ATMs and get $800 cash. They threw at least one homemade bomb during a vehicular pursuit by police that ended with the death of one terrorist while his wounded colleague escaped, having run over his brother with the Mercedes SUV as he tried to run over the 3 policemen who tackled the wounded terrorist. The terrorists and police had fired over 200 rounds at each other. The SUV dragged the downed terrorist several feet. The driver hit Richard H. Donohue, 33, a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority officer, in the femoral artery of his right leg, abandoned the SUV, smashed his 2 cell phones, and hid in a boat. The driver was arrested the next night, hiding in a boat in the driveway of David Henneberry, a Watertown resident, who saw blood on the boat’s tarp and called police. Police found a note in the boat indicating that the duo were motivated by anger over U.S. actions against Muslims overseas. He had written on the walls of the boat “The US government is killing our innocent civilians. I can’t stand to see such evil go unpunished. We Muslims are one body, you hurt one you hurt us all. Now I don’t like killing innocent people it is forbidden in Islam but due to said … it is allowed. Stop killing our innocent people and we will stop.”

The terrorists were ultimately identified as Tamerlan Tsarnaev, a Chechen living in the U.S. since he was a teen; he had a green card. He had hoped to box as a heavyweight for the U.S. after excelling in the U.S. Golden Gloves competition. He was killed in the police confrontation; he was the only one to fire the brothers’ sole gun, a Ruger P95 semiautomatic 9mm handgun (the serial number was erased). His brother, Dzhokhar, came to the U.S. as a child and obtained U.S. citizenship. By May 16, authorities had not discovered any warning signs regarding Tamerlan. They also suggested that Dzhokhar was merely following the instructions of his elder brother, and might not have been radicalized. The brothers had downloaded sermons by Anwar ­al-Aulaqi.

Dzhokhar told interrogators at his hospital bedside that the brothers were ­self-radicalized, angry at the U.S. actions in Iraq and Afghanistan, and were not members of any terrorist group. He said his brother suggested they bomb New York’s Times Square after the Marathon bombing. They had planned to bomb the July 4 celebration at Boston’s Charles River, and were considering suicide bombings.

Dzhokhar was a student at the University of Massachusetts–Dartmouth, where he returned after the bombing.

The duo learned how to make the bombs via the Internet al-Qaeda magazine Inspire’s 2010 first edition. Tamerlan assembled the bombs in the same small apartment where he lived with his Muslim convert wife, Katherine Russell, 24, and toddler daughter, Zahara.

Tamerlan’s name was placed in a database that notified a ­Boston-based federal agent when Tamerlan was about to go to Russia. A similar ping went off when he returned to the U.S. in 2012. The FBI had interviewed him a year earlier at the Russian Federal Security Service’s request but found nothing alerting. He had traveled to Dagestan using a Kyrgyz passport. Authorities were investigating whether Tamerlan, during his 6-month visit to Russia’s North Caucasus in 2012, met with Makhmud Mansur Nidal, a terrorist recruiter, and William Plotkin, a ­Russian-Canadian jihadist, both of whom was killed by security forces, one just 2 days before Tamerlan left Russia.

Tamerlan drove to New Hampshire several times to buy fireworks for the explosive powder used in the bombs. He also shot at a firearms range in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Authorities arrested and charged Dias Kadyrbayev, 19, and Azamat Tazhayakov, 19, 2 Kazakh citizens, with conspiracy to obstruct justice and destroying evidence for helping Dzhokhar conceal evidence. They faced 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. On May 6, federal Magistrate Judge Marianne B. Bowler released a third friend, Robel Phillipos, 19, to 24-hour monitoring by an electronic bracelet and a $100,000 bond. He had been charged with making false statements when asked about the destruction of evidence by Kadyrbayev and Tazha­yakov when they threw away a backpack they found in Dzhokhar’s dorm room. The backpack contained fireworks that had their explosive powder removed. He was represented by attorneys Susan B. Church and Derege B. Demissie. Phillipos, a U.S. citizen, faced 8 years and $250,000 in fines. Kadyrbayev’s 2006 BMW sports the license plate TERRORISTA #1.

The FBI also questioned Chechen refugee and former separatist fighter Musa Khadzhimuratov, 36, who said he had a passing social relationship with Tamerlan and his wife and daughter. In 1996–1999, Khadzhimuratov was a bodyguard for Akhmed Zakayev, a secular Chechen separatist leader who as of 2013 resided in London. He claimed he was shot by Russian security forces in 2001 while trying to evade capture and lost the use of his legs. Zakayev’s other 5 bodyguards were killed.

MSN.com reported on May 11, 2013, that the brothers might have been involved in a triple murder in 2011 in Waltham, Massachusetts. Police cited forensic efforts and cell phone records linking the duo to the killing of Brendan Mess, 25; Raphael Teken, 37; and Eric Weissman, 31, who were found with their throats slit and covered in marijuana. FBI agents, 2 Massachusetts State Police troopers, and Orlando police followed up on May 22 in an interview in Orlando, Florida with Ibragim Todashev, 27, who admitted to the murder with Tamerlan after a drug deal went awry. He then attacked an FBI agent with a knife right before he was going to sign his confession. (Other press reports said he was unarmed.) The officers shot him to death. He was not suspected of involvement in the Marathon bombing, but also confessed to a 2011 murder in Boston. He had been arrested on May 4, 2013, for aggravated battery over a parking space at Premium Outlets in Orlando. He was released the next day on a $3,500 surety bond. Todashev was arrested in Boston in 2010 following a collision involving his van and a car carrying 2 women, whom he later physically attacked. Todashev, a ­5’9”, 160-pound mixed martial arts fighter, knew Tsarnaev in Boston. He had some connections with Chechen rebels. He had been in the U.S. since 2006. He was the eldest of 12 children.

On June 6, 2013, Massachusetts residents Salaheddin Barhoum, 16, and Yassine Zaimi, 24, sued the New York Post for libel for falsely portraying them as “Bag Men” involved in the bombing.

On July 10, 2013, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev pleaded not guilty to 30 federal counts, including using a weapon of mass destruction to kill. Seventeen of the charges authorized life in prison or a death penalty. He was represented by attorneys Miriam Conrad and Judy Clarke. The indictment said circa February 6, Tamerlan paid $199.99 for 48 mortars with 8 pounds of low explosive powder at Phantom Fireworks in Seabrook, New Hampshire. The brothers went to a firing range in Manchester, New Hampshire circa March 20. Dzhokhar on April 14 opened a prepaid cell phone account using the alias Jahar Tsarni.

The Wall Street Journal reported on June 28 that Dzhokhar had downloaded a digital version of the book The Slicing Sword, Against the One Who Forms Allegiances with the Disbelievers and Takes Them as Supporters Instead of Allah, His Messenger and the Believers, a book by Abdullah Azzam Defense of the Muslim Lands, the First Obligation After Imam and Jihad and the Effects of Intention Upon It, plus a volume of Inspire magazine.

On August 8, 2013, a federal grand jury charged Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s friends, Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev, both 19 and of Kazakhstan, with obstructing justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice in the case by removing a laptop, a backpack filled with fireworks, explosive powder and a jar of petroleum jelly from Tsarnaev’s dorm room at the University of Massachusetts–Dartmouth. They were charged in May of one conspiracy count. The duo faced 20 years on the obstruction count and 5 on the conspiracy count, along with a $250,000 fine. On August 13, they pleaded not guilty. Dias was represented by attorney Robert Stahl. The duo faced up to 25 years in prison.

On August 29, 2013, Robel Phillipos, 19, a friend of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was indicted for lying to authorities. He faced 16 years in prison for 2 federal counts of lying to investigators. He was represented by attorneys Derege Demissie and Susan Church. He was arrested in May 2013 on one count of lying to authorities, but was released on $100,000 bond, home confinement, and electronic monitoring. He and Dzhokhar were 2011 graduates of Cambridge Rindge and Latin School before entering the University of Massachusetts–Dartmouth. His single mother emigrated to the U.S. from Ethiopia. Prosecutors said he was with Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev on April 18 when they removed Tsarnaev’s laptop and a backpack filled with fireworks from the latter’s dorm room.

On January 30, 2014, federal prosecutors announced that they would seek the death penalty against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

On May 30, 2014, authorities arrested Khairullozhon Matanov, 23, of Quincy, Massachusetts, on “one count of destroying, altering, and falsifying rec­ords, documents, and tangible objects in a federal investigation, specifically information on his computer, and 3 counts of making materially false, fictitious, and fraudulent statements in a federal terrorism investigation” regarding the bombing. He was charged with trying to hide his connection to the Tsarnaev brothers. He was represented by attorney Ed Haden. Prosecutors said 40 minutes after the bombs went off, Matanov bought dinner for the brothers and was later in phone contact with them. He faced 20 years in prison on the destruction of evidence charge, and 8 years for each of the false statement counts.

On July 21, 2014, Azamat Tazhayakov, 20, a friend of bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was convicted on federal charges of obstruction of justice and conspiracy for trying to protect Tsarnaev by agreeing with friend Dias Kadyrbayev to get rid of a backpack and disabled fireworks they took from his dorm room 3 days after the attack. Sentencing was scheduled for October 16, 2014. Tazhayakov faced 20 years for obstruction and 5 years for conspiracy. He had arrived in the U.S. less than 3 years earlier from Kazakhstan, and had planned to study engineering at the University of Massachusetts–Dartmouth. The jury found Tazhayakov not guilty of participating in the plan to take Tsarnaev’s laptop, but guilty on the plan to take the backpack and fireworks.

On August 27, 2014, Ailina Tsarnaeva, sister of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was arrested on suspicion of threatening via telephone to bomb an upper Manhattan woman who previously had a romantic relationship with her boyfriend. The North Bergen, New Jersey, resident turned herself in to a Manhattan police precinct, which charged her with aggravated harassment. A court hearing was scheduled for September 30. She was represented by attorney George Gormley. She was well known to police, having been required to check in with Massachusetts probation officers since she failed to cooperate with a 2010 counterfeiting investigation.

The same day, bombing victim James Costello married his Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital nurse, Krista D’Agostino. He had undergone several surgeries for shrapnel injuries and serious burns.

On September 24, 2014, AP reported that Judge George ­O’Toole granted a ­2-month trial delay, from November 3, 2014, to January 5, 2015, for Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, but denied a defense request to move his trial from Boston to Washington, D.C.

On October 28, 2014, CNN reported that Robel Phillipos, a friend of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was convicted on 2 counts of lying to federal agents investigating the bombing. Prosecutors said Phillipos lied about being in Tsarnaev’s college dorm room at the University of Massachusetts–Dartmouth after the bombing. He faced up to 8 years in prison on each count and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing was scheduled for January 29, 2015. He was represented by defense attorneys Derege Demissie and Susan Church, who said they will appeal the verdict.

On December 18, 2014, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev appeared in court. U.S. District Court Judge George ­O’Toole did not rule on the motion by defense attorney David Bruck to move the trial out of Boston, or to delay the trial, scheduled to begin on Janu-ary 5, 2015.

On March 4, 2015, AP reported that Judy Clarke, defense attorney for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, told the jury on the first day of his trial that “It WAS him,” but he was under the influence of his older brother. She added, “The evidence will not establish and we will not argue that Tamerlan put a gun to Dzhokhar’s head or that he forced him to join in the plan, but you will hear evidence about the kind of influence that this older brother had.” Clarke had also represented Unabomber Ted Kaczynski; Atlanta Olym­pics bomber Eric Ru­dolph; and Jared Loughner, who killed 6 people and gravely wounded ­then–Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in a 2011 shooting in Tucson, Arizona.

On April 8, 2015, the Washington Post reported that a federal jury of 7 women and 5 men deliberated for 11 hours before finding Dzhokhar Tsarnaev guilty on all 30 counts—including 17 that carry the death penalty. The charges included using a weapon of mass destruction that resulted in the deaths of 3 people and of killing of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer. He was represented by attorneys William Fick, Judy Clarke and David Bruck. On May 15, 2015, the Washington Post reported that the jury sentenced Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to death on 6 of the capital charges.

On June 2, 2015, AP reported that Judge Douglas Woodlock sentenced Dias Kadyrbayev, 21, to 6 years in prison after he pleaded guilty in 2014 to obstruction of justice and conspiracy charges for removing items from Tsarnaev’s dorm room after recognizing his friend in photos released by the FBI days after the bombing. He apologized to the victims and their families for not calling police. He received credit for the 26 months he was in custody and will be deported to his native Kazakhstan when his prison term is up.

The Latin Post reported on June 5, 2015, that Azamat Tazhayakov, 22, was sentenced to 31/2 years in federal prison for obstructing justice for throwing Tsarnaev’s backpack into a dumpster. Robel Phillipos was sentenced to 3 years for lying to investigators.

On June 18, 2015, a court sentenced Khairullozhon Matanov, 24, a friend of Tamerlan Tsarnaev and an acquaintance of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, to 2½ years in prison for not disclosing that he had dinner with the bombers hours after the attack and deleting files from his computer. He had pleaded guilty in March 2015 to misleading the FBI. He received credit for the 13 months served since his May 2014 arrest.

On June 24, 2015, the Washington Post reported that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev apologized to his victims at a proceeding during which the judge formally imposed the death penalty. “I’d like to now apologize to the victims and the survivors…. I am sorry for the lives I have taken and suffering I have caused you and the damage I have done…. Immediately after the bombing, which I am guilty of, let there be no doubt about that … I learned about some of the victims…. I learned their names, their faces, their ages…. And they had hearts and souls.”

On July 6, 2015, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s attorneys filed a motion for a new trial. On July 11, 2015, Middlesex District attorney Marian Ryan told the Boston Globe that she planned to try Tsarnaev for the death of MIT police officer Sean Collier. On July 18, 2015, CNN reported that Tsarnaev had been moved into the Supermax federal prison.

On December 22, 2015, a U.S. District Court judge released Stephen Silva, 22, who had loaned a Ruger 9mm handgun to the brothers months before the bombings. The Tsarnaevs used the gun to kill a police officer. Silva pleaded guilty to gun and heroin distribution charges in 2014. He was sentenced to the 17 months he had already served. Silva said he was “young, dumb, and thought I could outsmart everyone.” Silva had known Dzhokhar Tsarnaev since the 8th grade. Silva said Tsarnaev had claimed he wanted the gun to rob University of Rhode Island students, and “kept coming up with excuses” for not returning the Ruger. 13041501

April 15—Iraq—Terrorists set off 20 car bombs across the country, killing 55 and wounding 200. Al-Qaeda in Iraq was suspected of bombing Anbar Province, Tikrit, and Baghdad, where 25 were killed. Two bombs hit schools in Hilla that were to be used in the local election; no one was killed.

April 15—Libya—Gunmen shot Sufyan bin Qumu, former Gitmo detainee who was believed to be the leader of the jihadi militia involved in the Septem-ber 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. facility in Benghazi that killed the U.S. Ambassador and 3 other diplomats. The attack took place in the ­al-Thruwn area in Darna. He was taken to the intensive care unit at a local hospital.

April 15—Philippines—More than 100 army troops targeted Abu Sayyaf commanders Isnilon Hapilon and Puruji Indama in the suburbs of Tipo Tipo town on Basilan Island. The duo escaped. The soldiers killed 8 terrorists and seized their jungle hideout, discovering bomb materials. Three soldiers were wounded in the main assault and another 2 gun battles with 30 Abu Sayyaf gunmen. The U.S. offered a $5 million reward for Hapilon’s capture. He was on the FBI’s most wanted terrorists list for bombings, kidnappings, and beheadings of Americans. Philippine authorities wanted Indama for bombings and kidnappings, including of a former Australian soldier who was freed in March 2013 after 15 months of jungle captivity when a ransom was paid. Indama was linked to the 2007 beheadings of 10 marines in Basilan. The duo were accused of trying to sabotage infrastructure, including the construction of a road and a power barge, and extortion against several companies; they had signed extortion letters. A Moro Islamic Liberation Front camp was 300 yards from the Abu Sayyaf camp.

April 15—U.S.—Ricin-filled envelopes were intercepted before they could arrive at the desks of President Obama, U.S. Senator Roger Wicker (R–Mississippi), and Justice Court Judge Sadie Holland, 80, of Lee County. The letters ended with “I am KC and I approve this message.” The first letter, to Wicker, was found on April 15. The letters had been mailed on April 8 from Memphis. The ricin was on identical letters on yellow paper. The letters mentioned a conspiracy theory about trafficking in human body parts.

On April 17, the government arrested Paul Kevin Curtis, 45, an Elvis impersonator with a history of mental instability who believed government drones were spying on him. He was charged with threatening the president and other elected officials. He had earlier written letters to government officials that had endings similar to those used in the ricin letters. His Facebook page contained phrases used in the ricin letters. The letters appeared to refer to Curtis’s unpublished novel Missing Pieces about black market trading in human body parts. Judge Holland had sentenced him to 6 months for a 2003 assault on a Tupelo, Mississippi lawyer. Wicker had hired Curtis to perform at a party as Elvis. The FBI searched his Corinth, Mississippi home and car; they also checked his Tom Tom GPS device and cell phone records. Curis had been arrested 4 times since 2000 on charges including cyber harassment. He was represented by attorneys Christi McCoy and Hal Neilson, a former FBI supervisor in the local district. The government dropped charges without prejudice against Curtis and released him on April 23.

The Defense Intelligence Agency announced on April 23 that no suspicious letters had been found at Joint Base ­Anacostia-Bolling, a military base in Wash­ington, D.C.

On April 27, Tupelo, Mississippi authorities arrested James Everett Dutschke, 41, a former martial arts instructor and insurance salesman, at his home. He pleaded not guilty to charges of creating and attempting to use a biological weapon. He had a ­long-running dispute with Curtis, who had said Dutschke attempted to frame him in the ricin case. On April 22, the FBI had seen him discarding a coffee grinder, dust mask, and latex gloves in a trash bin; the mask tested positive for ricin. Dutschke was charged in January 2013 on 2 counts of child molestation but later released on bail. He was earlier convicted of indecent exposure. He failed to win a seat for the Mississippi House of Representatives in 2007 and reportedly sent ricin to the mother of the victor. He ran and lost in 2008 for a Lee County Election Commission post. He then started a band and played guitar for RoboDrum, a blues band. His older brother, following the breakup of his marriage, killed himself with one of their father’s guns when Dutschke was 17. He was born in Kentucky and raised in College Park, Texas, and Meridian, Mississippi. He was once a Mensa member. He had twice purchased castor beans—used in making ricin—online. He was represented by attorney Lori Nail Basham. He faced life in prison on the ricin charges, and another 45 years if convicted of fondling 3 underage girls.

On June 3, a federal grand jury in Oxford, Mississippi, indicted Dutschke on 5 counts, including producing and stockpiling ricin, threatening the President and others, and attempting to impede the investigation. He faced life in prison and thousands of dollars in fines. On November 21, 2013, the U.S. District Court in Oxford additionally charged Dutschke with trying, while in jail, to again frame Curtis by recruiting someone to make and send more ricin to Senator Wicker.

On May 19, 2014, James Everett Dutschke, 41, of Tupelo, Mississippi, was sentenced by United States District Judge Sharion Aycock, in Aberdeen, Mississippi, to 300 months in prison and 5 years of supervised release. Under terms of the plea agreement, he waived his right to appeal. On May 27, 2014, Judge Paul Funderburk in Lee County Circuit Court in Tupelo sentenced Dutschke to 20 years in prison on state charges of fondling 3 martial arts students between 2007–2013, to which he had pleaded guilty in January. He would then face a 25-year suspended sentence on the state charges. He would also register as a sex offender. He was represented by attorney Lori Neil Basham.

April 15—Russia—The deputy chief of the Dagestan forestry agency was shot dead outside his office.

April 15—Mali—Beatrice Stockli, a Christian from Switzerland, was kidnapped from Timbuktu, 14 days after the city fell to jihadis. She was briefly held by the ­al-Qaeda–linked group Ansar Dine. She was freed on April 24, 2013, following mediation by the Burkina Faso government, which picked her up via helicopter. The jihadis said she was proselytizing for Christianity, and warned that they would kill her if she returned to the town. She was returned to Timbuktu on August 26, 2013. 13041502

April 16—U.S.—Around 1:30 a.m., unknown individuals cut communications cables near the Pacific Gas and Electric substation in San Jose, California. A surveillance video showed that snipers then fired more than 100 rifle bullets, taking out 17 of the station’s 23 transformers. PG&E prevented a power failure by diverting power from other facilities, but needed 27 days to complete repairs. In December 2013, Foreign Policy magazine and a Congressional hearing and in early February 2014, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, reported that some authorities believed it was a dry run by terrorists to determine whether the technique would work against the U.S. power grid. As of that date, the case remained open. FBI/San Francisco Field Office spokes­man Peter Lee told the media, “The FBI at this time does not believe it is related to terrorism, based on the initial assessment of the investigation.”

April 16—Nigeria—Boko Haram armed with guns and RPGs attacked the fishing settlement at Baga on the shores of Lake Chad, cutting off the head of a soldier on patrol with an ax. The terrorists fled over the border into Chad. Nigerian soldiers conducted raids during the next week.

April 16—Pakistan—A Pakistani Taliban suicide bomber at a political rally by the Awami National Party in Peshawar killed 9 and wounded more than 50, including Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, a senior ANP member and former railways minister. He had offered a $100,000 reward in September for the murder of those who made a film that was insulting to Islam.

A suicide bomber crashed his car into a military truck in North Waziristan, killing 8 security officers and wounding 12 people.

April 16—Belgium—Authorities raided 48 homes, including in Antwerp and Brussels, and arrested 6 jihadi street recruiters for the anti–Assad insurgency as part of Sharia4Belgium. Police seized cell phones, money, and computers. Police said 33 people linked to the group from Antwerp and Vilvoorde, a Brussels suburb, were in Syria or en route.

April 17—Iraq—Authorities in Baghdad hanged 21 al-Qaeda prisoners convicted on terrorism charges, including bombings, car bombings, and assassinations.

Terrorist attacks around the country killed 9, including Fallujah judge Maarouf Ahmed, and wounded 32. Gunmen in 2 SUVs fired on a military checkpoint in Abu Ghraib, killing 2 soldiers and wounding 5. A parked car bomb went off later in another area of Abu Ghraib, killing 2 civilians and wounding 6. At noon, a car bomb went off in Jihad, Baghdad, killing 3 civilians and wounding 12. A roadside bomb went off in the convoy of a Sunni lawmaker, wounding 3 guards. A bomb attached to a car went off in a parking lot in Ramadi, Anbar Province, killing 2 and wounding 6.

April 17—India—At 10:45 a.m., a bomb on a motorcycle went off in front of a temple 100 yards from the Bangalore office of the Hindu nationalist Bhara­tiya Janata Party, wounding 16 people, including 8 police officers, and damaging 2 vans, a police vehicle and a motorbike. The BJP runs the Karnataka State government, but is the opposition party in national politics.

April 17—Egypt/Israel—Terrorists fired 2 rockets from the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula into the Israeli resort of Eilat, causing no damage or injuries, falling in open spaces. An Iron Dome ­anti-missile defense ­system failed to operate. The Mujahedeen Shura Council—Environs of Jerusalem said “this is a strike against the enemy in the language it understands very well and in the place that it did not expect.” It called on Hamas to stop pursuing Salafi fighters and release Salafi prisoners.

April 18—UAE—The government arrested 7 al-Qaeda affiliates planning attacks. The government said they were of several Arab nationalities. They had been recruiting, financing, and providing logistical support to the terrorist group. They planned to expand their efforts to neighboring countries.

April 19—U.S.—The FBI arrested Abdella Ahmad Tounisi, 18, of Aurora, Illinois, as he was about to board a plane for Turkey at Chicago’s ­O’Hare International Airport. He was planning to join an al-Qaeda–linked group fighting in Syria. He was a friend of Adel Daoud, 19, an American accused of trying to bomb a downtown Chicago bar in 2012; Tounisi was not involved in that plot. He appeared in front of a U.S. magistrate the next day on one count of attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. He was ordered held until his next court appearance. Prosecutors said that in March he made online contact with a person he thought was a recruiter for Jabhat ­al-Nusrah; the individual was an FBI undercover employee. On April 10, Tounisi bought a plane ticket to Istanbul. The undercover employee gave him a bus ticket from Istanbul to Gaziantep, Turkey, near the Syrian border. Tounisi was represented by federal public defender Michael Madden. Tounisi faced 15 years in prison. On May 3, U.S. District Judge Edmond Chang ruled that he posed a danger and flight risk, and revised the previous day’s order by U.S. Magistrate Judge Daniel Martin that ordered him released to home confinement on electronic monitors. Tounisi had set up a post office box and obtained a second passport after his family had confiscated his original one.

April 19—U.S.—Randy “Rasheed” Wilson, 26, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Mobile, Alabama, to conspiracy to travel to Africa with another man to support efforts to “maim, murder, and kidnap” for Islam. He was represented by attorney Domingo Soto. Authorities had taped conversations between Wilson and Mohammad Abdul Rahman Abu­khadair, 25, of Syracuse, New York, who lived with Wilson’s family in Mobile in 2011. An undercover investigation began in October 2010. In December 2012, the duo were detained in separate locations in Georgia—Wilson at Atlanta’s airport; Abukhadair at an Augusta bus station. Wilson and his family were planning to fly to Morocco; he and Abukhadair would join up in Mauritania. An undercover agent joined the duo in watching videos of beheading and mutilation of corpses, soldiers and children. ­Mobile-born Wilson was raised a Muslim from age 4, after his mother married an Egyptian Muslim. Despite divorce, Wilson remained close to his stepfather and attended an Islamic school in Birmingham. Wilson was friends with Omar Hammami, a prominent American jihadi affiliated with ­al-Shabaab in Somalia. Wilson and Abukhadair had decided that going to Somalia was too dangerous. Sentencing for Wilson was scheduled for October 18, 2013. Abu­khadair’s status hearing was scheduled for May 7, 2013, with a trial to begin in August 2013.

April 19—Afghanistan—A Taliban member infiltrated an anti–Taliban militia in Andar District, and facilitated a raid that killed 13 members in Gandayr village. Four Taliban terrorists and another rebel were killed. The turncoat had pulled guard duty while the others slept.

April 20—Yemen—AQAP was believed behind the evening assassination of a Yemeni intelligence officer in Mukalla, Hadramawt Province. An official told AFP, “Al-Qaeda gunmen on a motorbike opened fire on the officer Ibrahim Bameshel as he was on his way back home, killing him immediately.”

April 20—Afghanistan—A chartered civilian MI-8 cargo helicopter made an emergency landing in the Mangal valley in Logar Province because of bad weather. The Taliban apparently grabbed 10 civilians, including 8 Turks, along with 2 crew members from Russia and Kyrgyzstan and an Afghan citizen. No Americans were on the helicopter. Taliban spokes­man Zabihullah Mujahid said the group captured alive 11 “foreigners” aboard a U.S.-NATO helicopter … [carrying] American military officers…. The foreign forces, by disassociating themselves from the helicopter, are trying to make it seem as the detainees are civilians but denial will not benefit them as all were captured while wearing American military uniforms.” The ­Russian-designed chopper was chartered by Khorasan Cargo Airlines. 13042001

April 21—Afghanistan—The Taliban was suspected of sickening 74 schoolgirls in Taluqan, Takhar Province, with poison gas. Three days earlier, more than a dozen students became ill in another girls’ high school in Taluqan.

April 22—Nigeria—Gun battles between jihadis and soldiers led to the deaths of at least 187 people, most of them civilians, in Baga and the surrounding area. The armed forces said only 37 died in battle, most of them from ­rocket-propelled grenades fired by Boko Haram. Some 77 people were receiving medical care, according to the Red Cross, which said 300 homes were torched by the soldiers who were attempting to flush out Boko Haram.

April 22—Canada—The Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrested Chiheb Esseghaier, 30, a Tunisian resident of Montreal, and Raed Jaser, 35, who lives in Toronto, and charged them with planning to derail a Canadian Via Rail passenger train in Toronto going to New York, with assistance from al-Qaeda in Iran. The duo planned to blow up a bridge or trestle before the train passed over it. They had researched train routes and time tables. The RCMP said “al-Qaeda elements located in Iran” provided “direction and guidance,” but not financial support. The 2 were charged with conspiring to carry out an attack and murder people in association with a terrorist group. They were not Canadian citizens, but had been in Canada “a significant amount of time.” The RCMP thanked the FBI and U.S. Department of Homeland Security for their assistance. Reuters quoted U.S. authorities as saying that Esseghaier had traveled to Iran more than once in the last 2 years to meet with facilitators in Zahedan.

In a Montreal court hearing on April 24, Esse­ghaier challenged Canadian jurisdiction, saying “the criminal code is not a holy book.” Esseghaier and his ­court-appointed attorney did not enter a plea. The Tunisian Embassy said Esseghaier was “a brilliant PhD student” who arrived in Quebec in August 2008. He had been a doctoral student since 2010 at the Institute National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS) in Montreal, researching the use of nanotechnology to detect cancer and other diseases. He had transferred from the University of Sherbrooke in Montreal. He was writing a thesis in energy and materials sciences, according to INRS.

The investigation began from a tip from a local imam.

Jaser was represented by ­Toronto-based attorney John Norris, who said his client had lived legally in Canada for 20 years. The UAE said Jaser, a Palestinian by birth, had traveled to the UAE several times on a Jordanian passport, as recently as September 2011, arriving from Qatar.

Charges included conspiring together and with terrorist groups/conspiring to murder; conspiring to contribute to terrorist activities; conspiring to interfere with transportation facilities. Esseghaier was also charged with instructing another person in terrorist activity.

On September 23, 2013, the prosecution announced that suspects Raed Jaser and Chiheb Esseghaier would proceed directly to trial without a preliminary inquiry. A trial date was to be set on October 21, 2013.

On February 2, 2015, AP reported that Prosecutor Croft Michaelson said that the defendants were motivated by Islamic extremism and spent months plotting to kill as many people as they could. He claimed Esseghaier told an undercover FBI officer that he wanted cause a 20-foot hole in a railway bridge. Michaelson said the duo visited 2 railway bridges in Canada.

On March 18, 2015, after deliberating for 8 days, a Canadian jury reached a verdict on one of the men, but remained deadlocked on some of the counts against the second man. The duo were charged with 2 counts of conspiracy and 2 counts of participating in or contributing to a terrorist group. Esseghaier faced a fifth ­terror-related charge. On March 20, AP reported that the jury found Esseghaier guilty on all 5 terrorism charges against him, but deadlocked on one of the 4 charges against Jaser. The jury found the duo guilty of conspiring to commit murder for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with a terrorist group, and 2 counts of participating in, or contributing to the activity of a terrorist group. Esseghaier was also found guilty of conspiring to damage transportation property with the intent to endanger safety for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with a terrorist group. The jury deadlocked on that charge for Jaser; Judge Code called a mistrial on that charge.

On September 23, 2015, AP reported that Toronto Justice Michael Code sentenced Chiheb Esseghaier and Raed Jaser to life in prison for plotting to derail a passenger train in Canada with support from ­al-Qaeda. The judge sentenced Chiheb Esseghaier to 2 concurrent life sentences plus 18 years. Raed Jaser was sentenced to life with a concurrent sentence of 13 years. A jury convicted Esseghaier, a Tunisian national, of planning to derail a Via train heading from New York to Toronto and 4 other ­terror-related charges. Jaser was found guilty of conspiring to commit murder in support of terrorism and 2 other charges. Jaser was born in the United Arab Emirates to Palestinian parents but was not a UAE citizen.

April 22—U.S.—The FBI arrested Tunisian citizen Ahmed Abassi at JFK International Airport, accusing him of radicalizing Chiheb Esseghaier, a Canadian charged in Toronto with conspiring with al-Qaeda members in Iran to derail a New York ­City–to–Montreal train. He was arraigned on May 2 in a sealed federal court proceeding in Manhattan. On May 9, 2013, Abassi was charged with trying to stay in the U.S. illegally and set up a terrorist cell which would poison a water system or the air with bacteria to kill up to 100,000 people. Abassi had arrived in the U.S. from Canada in mid–March 2013. He met often with an undercover FBI agent and another Tunisian who was arrested in Canada in the train plot. Abassi was represented by attorney Sabrina Shroff. Abassi pleaded not guilty to 2 counts of making false statements in an application to the immigration authorities for a green card and a work visa to facilitate an act of international terrorism. On June 3, 2014, Abassi in a Manhattan federal court pleaded guilty to less serious immigration charges, admitting to lying to a federal agent in 2013 when he filled out a green card application, noting “I said I was going to work in the real estate field. It was not true.” He faced a 6-year sentence. The sentencing hearing was scheduled for July 23, 2014. Defense attorneys requested time served, at which time he could be deported. 13042201

April 22—Afghanistan—The Taliban took hostage 11 civilians, including 8 Turkish engineers and a Russian, after their cargo helicopter conducted an emergency landing in Logar Province because of bad weather. Four Turks were freed on May 13, 2013, by the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan as a “goodwill gesture” for the sake of “humanitarian sympathy and for the honor of the Turkish Islamic nation.” Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid praised polio vaccinations. The statement noted “According to the latest international medicine science, the polio disease can only be cured by preventive measures; i.e., the ­anti-polio drops and the vaccination of children against this disease.” The Taliban continued to hold 4 other Turkish engineers, along with an interpreter and 2 pilots from the helicopter. On November 1, 2013, Halyna Petrenko, the wife of Pavel Petrenko, a hos­tage Russian pilot held since April 22, said from her home in Sumy, Ukraine, that she was told by Russian officials that negotiations for his release were continuing. A senior Taliban official also told AP that Zamir Kabulov, a former Russian ambassador to Afghanistan, was in contact with the Taliban in Qatar. By then, all 8 Turkish hostages had been released. The Taliban was apparently still holding a Kyrgyz and an Afghan translator. 13042202

April 23—U.S./Lebanon—The U.S. Department of the Treasury designated 2 Lebanese financial institutions—Halawi Exchange Company and Kassem Rmeiti and Company—as money launderers for drug traffickers supporting Hizballah and the Assad regime in Syria. Some of the cash was routed through U.S. banks. Treasury blocked their access to the U.S. banking system. Treasury and DEA said the Rmeiti firm moved nearly $30 million in drug proceeds, while the Halawi Exchange facilitated a shipment of more than $220 million of U.S.-origin used cars to Benin in 2012 as part of a drug operation.

April 23—Spain—Police arrested 2 suspected members of AQIM, although they did not appear to have explosives or to be planning an attack. The duo had praised the Boston Marathon bombers. The Madrid Marathon was scheduled within the week. Nou Mediouni, an Algerian who trained in an AQIM camp in Mali, was arrested in Zaragoza Province. Hassan ­el-Jaaouani, a Moroccan in contact with AQIM in Mali, was arrested in Murcia Province. He was tasked with recruiting radicals in Spain. One of his recruits was involved with the kidnap/murder of 2 French citizens in Niger in January 2011, according to the Spanish Interior Minister. Police credited assistance from France and Morocco. Authorities said they were locally radicalized via online forums and found ­bomb-making information on the Internet. They had been under surveillance for more than a year.

April 23—Libya—At 7:30 a.m., a car bomb exploded at the French Embassy in Tripoli’s Andulus neighborhood, wounding 2 French guards and a Libyan teen girl eating breakfast at a nearby house. Ansar Shariah was suspected. 13042301

April 23—Pakistan—A suicide bomber killed 6 people in Quetta during an attack against Khaliq Hazara, chairman of the ethnic minority Hazara Democratic Party, who was unharmed. He had finished addressing an outdoor election meeting in a Hazara area east of Quetta. ­Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed credit. The attacker set off the explosives in his car when he was stopped at a checkpoint run by the paramilitary Frontier Corps, which lost one of its officers in the bombing.

Three smaller bombs went off elsewhere in Quetta, injuring 9.

Two people were killed in a bombing in Karachi near a gathering of the Muttahida Quami Movement.

April 24—China—A battle between police and suspected Uighur terrorists in Zinjiang killed 21 police—including 6 police officers, 9 community watch workers and 6 terrorists. Eight other terrorists were detained in a confrontation that included knives, axes, guns, and arson. The battle began when 3 community workers called on a house in Bachu county (“Maralbexi” in Uighur), outside Kashgar, at 1:30 p.m. The workers called their superiors to report “suspicious people” with swords, but were taken hostage. The terrorists then attacked police with axes and large knives. The terrorists killed the hostages and set the house on fire, killing those remaining in the house. The terrorists included 10 Uighurs, 3 Han Chinese, and 2 Mongolians. By April 30, Chinese police had detained 19 people and seized homemade explosives and weapons.

April 25—Turkey—The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) military chief, Murat Karayilan, announced it would begin withdrawing armed elements from Turkey beginning May 8.

April 25—Mediterranean Sea—An Israeli F-16 shot down an unmanned aerial vehicle flying from Lebanon toward Israel, 6 miles from Haifa. Hizballah was suspected, having sent a similar drone that met the same fate in October 2012.

April 26—Russia—The Federal Security Agency announced the detention in southern Moscow of 140 people suspected of involvement in an Islamic extremist organization. Thirty of the suspects were citizens from other countries; some had links to North Caucasus militants.

April 26—Philippines—Some 15 gunmen ambushed political campaigners for Nunungan Mayor Abdul Manamparan, killing his daughter, Adnanie, 2 other relatives, and 7 other supporters. Manamparan, who was running for vice mayor, and 8 other people, including a 15-year-old girl and the mayor’s bodyguard, were wounded in the attack on their truck on a remote mountain road. Police believed the attackers were from a rival clan.

April 27—Yemen—AQAP was believed responsible for the attack on an army checkpoint in Rada District southeast of Sana’a in which 5 Yemeni soldiers were killed and several others wounded. Two gunmen also died.

Two suspected AQAP gunmen on a motorcycle shot to death Brigadier General Ali Ahmed Abdelrazzaq, an army intelligence local chief, in Mukalla, outside his home.

April 27—Pakistan—A bomb on a motorbike went off during a political meeting of the Pakistan People’s Party in Karachi, killing 3 and injuring 21.

A bomb went off at an office of the Muttahida Quami Movement in Karachi, killing one and injuring 21.

April 27—Russia—The Russian National ­Anti-Terrorism Committee announced that security forces in Dagestan had killed 2 terrorists belonging to a criminal gang outside Kizilyurt. The duo fired on police with automatic weapons. Shakhrudin Askhabov was a suspect in bombings against local police convoys and local stores.

April 28—Pakistan—The Pakistani Taliban bombed the office of Shi’ite politician Syed Noor Akbar in Kohat city, killing 6 and wounding 10. He was an independent candidate for a national assembly seat in the May 11 general elections.

A Pakistani Taliban bomb went off at the campaign office of Nasir Khan Afridi in the Peshawar suburbs, killing 3 and wounding 12.

April 28—Italy—Gunman Luigi Preiti, an unemployed 40-something from Calabria, shot and wounded 2 Italian police officers outside the Prime Minister’s office in Rome as the new premier, Enrico Letta, 46, was being sworn in one mile away. Preiti called on other police officers to “shoot me, shoot me.” One officer was hit in the neck and in serious condition. The other was hit in the leg.

April 29—Pakistan—A suicide bomber on a motorcycle set off his explosives near a police patrol car on University Road during Peshawar’s morning rush hour, killing 9 and wounding 29. Among the dead were 2 Afghan trade officials—Qari Bilal Ahmad Waqad, a son of Qazi Amin Waqad, a member of the Afghan High Peace Council, and Mohammed Idrees, a refugee attached at the Afghan trade commissioner’s office in Peshawar—a police constable and several bystanders. The Taliban was suspected. 13041901

April 29—Syria—A car bomb exploded near the convoy of Syrian Prime Minister Wael Nader ­al-Halqi in Mezze, an upscale Damascus neighborhood. The prime minister was unhurt, but a bodyguard died and several people were injured.

April 29—Iraq—Two car bombs exploded in public markets in Amara, killing 9 and wounding 40.

A car bomb exploded in a market in Diwaniya, killing 2 and wounding 27.

April 30—Israel—A Palestinian man stabbed to death Evyatar Borovsky, a father of 5 from Yitzhar settlement, at a bus stop at Tapuah Junction in the northern West Bank. The attacker then grabbed Borovsky’s firearm and shot at arriving security forces, who wounded the terrorist, identified as Salam Zaghal, 24, from Tulkarm, West Bank. He had been jailed by Israel for 3 years after being convicted of throwing stones. He was released with the past 6 months. His brother was in a Palestinian Authority prison.

An Israeli missile strike killed Haitham ­al-Mishal as he rode a motorcycle along a road along the Gaza coast. He manufactured and traded in weapons, including rockets and explosives devices, and worked with militant organizations in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli Defense Forces said he had been involved in firing rockets at Eilat earlier in April by the Mujahedeen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem. The group said he was a member of the organization, and had previously belonged to the armed wing of Ha­mas.

May—Iraq—The UN Mission to Iraq reported on June 1 that 1,045 Iraqis died in violence during May, the highest toll in years and higher than the 712 killed in April 2013. Most were killed in Baghdad. Another 2,397 were wounded in terrorist attacks. Civilian deaths tallied 963, including 181 civilian police; 2,191 civilians were injured (including 359 civilian police. Another 82 members of the Iraqi Security Forces were killed and 206 were injured.

May—Nigeria—Some 200 Boko Haram members attacked an army barracks, police station, and prison in Barma, leaving 55 people dead but freeing more than 100 prisoners. The terrorists were armed with machine guns, RPGs and ­anti-aircraft guns mounted on pickup trucks.

May—Tunisia—Early in the month, 4 ammonium nitrate fertilizer bombs wounded 13 soldiers and police. Two lost legs, 2 lost eyes.

May—Yemen—Two South Africans—teacher Pi­erre Korkie and his wife, Yolande—were kidnapped in Taiz. Yolande Korkie was released in January 2014 after negotiations by Gift of the Givers, which has an office in Yemen, and returned to South Africa. On January 21, 2014, his family said it was trying to raise a $3 million ransom demanded by suspected AQAP terrorists. Friends and South African businessmen had started a ­fund-raising campaign. The family said the kidnappers had extended their deadline by 3 more weeks; they had earlier threatened to execute Korkie. He was killed by AQAP on December 6, 2014, during a U.S. special operations team rescue attempt when a terrorist ran into the building where he and U.S. photographer Luke Somers were being held and shot the 2 hostages. 13059901

May—U.S.—A dry ice bomb went off in a trash can in Disneyland’s Toontown. No one was hurt but the park was evacuated.

May—UK—Two individuals threw petrol bombs at the Grimsby Islamic Cultural Center in northeastern England. No one was injured. On December 20, 2013, former British soldiers Stuart Harness, 34, and Gavin Humphries, 37, were sentenced to 6 years in prison for the firebombing.

May—Senegal—Casamance rebels kidnapped 12 Senegalese employees of a South African bomb disposal firm. The hostages were eventually released. 13059902

May 1—Afghanistan—A roadside bomb killed 3 British soldiers on routine patrol in the ­Nahr-e-Saraj District in Helmand Province. Nine Afghans were killed and 6 other UK soldiers affiliated with the Royal Highland Fusiliers were wounded.

May 1—Afghanistan—Government peace negotiator Malim Shah Wali Khan, 53, provincial director of the High Peace Council, was killed in an ambush ­involving bombs and automatic weapons fire in Helmand Province. The Taliban was suspected.

May 1—Iraq—A suicide bomber set off his explosives vest amongst a ­government-backed Sunni militia group collecting their salaries in Fallujah, killing 6.

A roadside bomb killed 4 police in Baiji.

A car bomb in a Shi’ite area of northeastern Baghdad killed 3 people.

A car bomb in Ramadi killed 2 policemen.

May 2—Indonesia—The National Police’s counterterrorism squad Detachment 88 arrested 2 individu-als planning to bomb the Myanmar Embassy. They were identified as Sefa Riano (Facebook name Mambo Wahab), 22, and Achmad Taufiq, 29, who were on a motorcycle in a residential area near Jl. Sudirman in central Jakarta. Police confiscated a backpack containing 5 homemade pipe bombs. In a raid the next day on a house in Pamulang, South Tangerang, that was rented by Sigit Indrajit, police found books on jihad. Indrajit escaped. Authorities suggested that Muslim terrorists were retaliating for Buddhist mistreatment of Rohinga Muslims in Myanmar. On May 8, 2013, antiterrorism police killed 3 suspected terrorists and arrested a 4th in the plot. The dead terrorists were identified as Budi Syarif, Sarene, and Jonet. Locals said they moved into the safehouse 4 months earlier, claiming to be ­Jakarta-based tailors. Police found the safehouse after interrogating the 2 individuals—who were identi-fied as Zainal Abidin, 38, and Julisman, 28—arrested on May 2. On January 21, 2014, AP reported that Judge Hariono of the South Jakarta District Court sentenced Sigit Indrajit, 23, to 71/2 years in prison for masterminding the Myanmar Embassy bomb-ing plot. He was the third person found guilty in the case. The plotters had used Facebook to communicate, posting threats against the embassy in response to mistreatment of Rohingas. Court testimony indicated that the defendants practiced bomb making at Indrajit’s house. He had financed the plot. 13050201

May 2—U.S.—The FBI announced that the first woman had made it onto its Ten Most Wanted Terrorists list. Joanne Deborah Chesimard, 65, alias Assata Shakur, a name she used while living in Cuba since the 1980s under political asylum, was a fugitive member of the Black Liberation Army and had been convicted of murdering New Jersey state trooper Werner Foerster during a traffic stop on May 2, 1973. She fired on trooper James Harper, was herself hit, and fled, but was picked up 30 minutes later. She was convicted in 1977 of ­first-degree murder, armed robbery and other crimes and sentenced to life in prison. She escaped nearly 2 years later when the radical Collective coalition took 2 guards hostage during an armed assault at the New Jersey prison where she was held. She showed up in Cuba; she was charged with unlawful flight to avoid confinement. On May 2, 2013, the FBI doubled the reward for her arrest to $2 million. She was born in the Jamaica section of Queens, but spent her childhood in North Carolina. Returning to New York in her 20s, she joined the Black Panther Party, dropped her “slave name” of Chesimard, and became Shakur. She was represented by attorney Lennox Hinds. She was the ­step-aunt of rapper Tupac Shakur.

May 3—Pakistan—Chaudhry Zulfikar, the government’s lead prosecutor in the Pervez Musharraf case, was assassinated by gunmen who fired from a taxi and a motorbike, hitting him 13 times in the head, shoulder, and chest as he was leaving home to an ­anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi. Zulfikar lost control of his white Toyota Corolla, hitting and killing a female ­passer-by. Guard Farman Ali returned fire, hitting at least one attacker before becoming severely injured. The attackers escaped. Zulfikar was also the prosecutor in the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in a gun and suicide attack in 2007, and of 7 men charged with assisting the 2008 Mumbai attackers who killed 166 people.

Meanwhile, gunmen shot to death Saddiq Zaman Khattack, a candidate for the secular Awami National Party, and his ­3-year-old son, as he returned from Friday prayers.

May 3—U.S.—The FBI arrested Buford Rogers, 24, who had a cache of Molotov cocktails, suspected pipe bombs, and firearms—including a Romanian AKM assault rifle—in his mobile home in Montevideo, Minnesota. The FBI believed he was planning a terrorist attack. He was charged in U.S. District Court in St. Paul on May 6 on one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. U.S. Magistrate Tony Leung ordered him held pending a detention hearing. A federal public defender was to be assigned. Authorities believed his target was to be in Montevideo. The mobile home featured a homemade sign with the letters BSM, referring to the local ­anti-government militia Black Snake Militia, which his family helped found. His father, Jeff, told ­KMSP-TV that the guns in the home belonged to him, and that his son did not own any guns. Buford had a 2011 conviction for felony burglary and was not allowed to have a firearm. He admitted firing the gun on 2 separate occasions at a Granite Falls gun range. The family had flown an ­upside-down flag from the side of their home.

May 3—South Sudan—During the week, gunmen killed 11 Sudanese traders crossing into South Sudanese territory. A government official blamed militias who wanted to end the peace between the 2 countries, which had agreed a fortnight earlier to open 10 border crossing points to facilitate trade. 13050301

May 3—Nigeria—The government reported that ­anti-ethnic clashes between the Christian Jukun and Muslim Hausa and Fulani youths in Wukari town in Taraba State led to the deaths of 39 people, 32 injuries, 40 arrests, and 40 houses being set on fire.

May 4—Sudan—Members of the Misseriya tribe killed Kuwal Deng Mayok, senior Dinka tribal leader in Abyei, on the border between Sudan and South Sudan. Misseriya official Saddiq Babu Nirm blamed Ethiopian UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) peacekeepers, one of whom fired on and killed a Misseriya before the tribesman shot back, killing Mayok.

May 4—Pakistan—Two Taliban bombs killed 3 people near the Karachi office of a political party that criticized the Taliban.

May 5—Somalia—A suicide bomber set off his vehicle filled with explosives in the middle of a convoy carrying a 6-person Qatari delegation in Mogadishu, killing 8 bystanders at a busy K4 roundabout and wounding 18. No one in the convoy was hurt and they arrived safely at their hotel. Four civilians and a soldier died immediately; 2 other people died at a hospital. The convoy was escorted by Ugandan peacekeepers. Delegation chief Ahmad Alzoidi was traveling in the Somali interior minister’s car; the interior minister was not in the convoy. ­Al-Shabaab claimed credit, saying they had killed 6 soldiers and wounded 9, observing, “the mujahideen have today carried out a martyrdom operation in Mogadishu, targeting Somali interior minister convoy.” ­Al-Shabaab military spokesman Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab said “more explosions are on the way.” Several suspects were arrested. 13050501

May 5—Somalia—Four Somali soldiers were wounded when a roadside bomb went off at their government vehicle in Mogadishu’s northwestern Deynile District.

May 5—Internet—The first edition of Azan: A Call to Jihad, an 80-page, online, ­English-language, jihadi magazine, was discovered, although it appeared to have been posted by terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan in March. One article asked for Muslims around the world to hack into or manipulate drones. “With the death of so many Muslim assets, this is one of the utmost important issues that the Ummah must unite and come up with an answer to…. Any opinions, thoughts, ideas and practical implementations to defeat this drone technology must be communicated to us as early as possible because these would aid the Ummah greatly in its war against the ­Crusader-Zionist enemy.” The magazine said the Pakistani Army was working with the U.S. and not fighting the Indians. The edition included excerpts of speeches by Mullah Omar and Osama bin Laden. An article criticized Malala Yousufzai, the 14-year-old schoolgirl who was shot by the Taliban in 2012 for speaking out for female education. Another article railed against democracy, a theme of the Pakistani Taliban in its efforts to derail the May 11 election in Pakistan. A ­full-page poster of President Obama read “Wanted Dead Only. Barack Obama Mass Murderer. Reward: in the Hereafter.”

May 5—Tanzania—A bomb exploded at a church in Arusha, killing 2 and injuring 60. The bomb was thrown into a crowd while the Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Francisco Montecillo Padilla, attended the first Mass at the new church. On May 7, Tanzanian police announced the arrest of 8 suspects, including 4 Saudis near the Namanga border post on the Kenyan border. 13050502

May 5—Pakistan—In a gun battle in the Tirah Valley area of the Khyber region, 2 soldiers and 16 terrorists were killed and 3 soldiers were wounded.

A roadside bomb in North Waziristan went off against a military convoy, killing 2 soldiers and wounding 3.

In a gunfight in Baluchistan Province, 13 terrorists responsible for kidnappings and robberies and 2 mem­bers of the paramilitary Frontier Corps were killed.

Two gunmen attacked the convoy of Sardar Sarfraz Domeki, an independent candidate running in the May 11 parliamentary elections, killing 2 police guards. The other guards fired back, killing an attacker and wounding another.

May 5—Egypt—A gunman in a red pickup with 4 other militants twice fired birdshot pellets at a motorcade escorting Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Qandil at 11 p.m. Police arrested the men, aged 18 to 29. Police said it was road rage with “no political motivation” and that the individuals were on their way to fight other people.

May 5—Iraq—A bomb went off during the morning near Baghdad’s Zein ­al-Abideen mosque, killing a passerby and wounding 6 others.

Gunmen attacked the home of a district mayor in Mahmoudiya, killing the mayor and his son.

A bomb exploded during the night near an Internet café in a Sunni area in western Baghdad, killing 3 and wounding 13.

Mortar shells hit house in Baghdad, killing 3 and wounding 14.

May 6—Tunisia—Authorities searching for 12 terrorists in El Kef and 20 in the Mount Chambi area reported finding 16 arms caches and books, food, and ­bomb-making materials in the Mount Chambi region. The Interior Ministry said the Mount Chambi group included 9 Tunisians and 11 Algerians. Authorities arrested an individual bringing food to the group.

May 6—Pakistan—The Taliban set off a bomb at a political rally for Munir Khan Orakzai, a former member of Parliament, in Kurram tribal region, killing 25 and wounding 65. He was stepping off the stage when the bomb exploded, but was not injured. He was a candidate for the religious party Jamiat ­Ulema-e-Islam, which is linked to the Taliban. The group said he had betrayed Arab jihadis detained by the Pakistani army who were then shipped to the Americans. The government said the group was attacking candidates who refused to pay protection money.

May 6–7—Pakistan—Bombs went off at 2 cam-paign events for the Jamiat ­Ulema-e-Islam-F party in the northwest, killing more than 30 and injuring scores of people. The Pakistani Taliban denied responsibility for the May 7 explosion in Khyber Pakh­tunkhwa Province. It said the May 6 bombing in Khurram was aimed at settling scores with a member of the party.

On May 7, a suicide bomber driving a motorcycle set off explosives in Hangu District near a vehicle carrying Mufti Syed Janan Khan, a provincial candidate with the Jamiat ­Ulema-e-Islam-F party. Khan survived, but a dozen people were killed.

Later that day, a remotely detonated roadside bomb exploded in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa near the vehicle of Zahir Shah, a PPP leader campaigning for his brother, a provincial assembly candidate. Shah and 5 others, including 2 PPP supporters, were killed.

May 7—Nigeria—Boko Haram was suspected of being behind a 5-hour-long attack on a prison in Bama, in the northeast. By noon, more than 100 prisoners had escaped and the attack had led to the deaths of 55 people, including 22 police officers, 2 soldiers, 14 prison guards, 4 civilians, and 13 gunmen.

May 7—Syria—The rebel Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade detained 4 Filipino UN Disengagement Observer Force peacekeepers while on patrol near Jamlah in the Golan Heights. The group intended to “secure and protect” the peacekeepers from Syrian shelling. The 4 were freed and transferred to Israel on May 12. 13050701

May 7—Somalia—Omar Hammami, alias Abu Mansour ­al-Amriki, was reportedly killed by ­al-Shabaab gunmen loyal to the group’s emir, Ahmad Abdi Godane, alias Abu Zubayr, near the village of Rama Addey in southern Somalia. The death was announced by ­al-Shabaab spokesman Fuad Mohamed Qalaf, alias Fuad Shangole. Hammami died in an ambush that led to several other deaths. Hammami’s last Twitter posting was on May 3, 2013, a week after he claimed that Godane loyalists had tried to kill him. 13050702

May 7—France—Yelling “Allah is great,” a man armed with a box cutter attacked gendarmes in Roussillon, injuring one officer before being shot and wounded.

May 8—Yemen—AQAP shot to death 3 air force pilots traveling to a southern air base used with U.S. forces. Authorities captured one of the gunmen.

May 8—Indonesia—Antiterrorism police killed 3 suspected terrorists and arrested a 4th plotting to bomb the Myanmar Embassy the previous week.

Police killed another suspected terrorist, Abu Roban, and arrested 9 others in 4 other operations in Central Java and West Java.

May 8—Algeria—The army killed 7 jihadis. Four terrorists died in Tizi Ouzou Province, the 3 others died in Boumerdes Province. The area is the stronghold of AQIM leader Abdelmalek Dourkdel. Authorities seized 6 assault rifles and ammunition.

May 8—Nigeria—Police tried to stop an ethnic militia that was forcing locals to take a blood oath in Alakio, Nasarawa State, but 20 police officers were killed in the ensuing gun battle.

May 9—Pakistan—Gunmen kidnapped Ali Haider Gilani, mid–20s son of Yousuf Raza Gilani, who was the country’s prime minister from 2008–2012. He was grabbed in Multan in central Pakistan. The family includes members of the liberal Pakistan People’s Party. Ali’s personal secretary/guard and another person were killed, 5 others were wounded in the attack. Ali’s clothes were bloodstained; it was unclear whether he was injured. Intelligence officers were searching for 4–5 gunmen in a black Honda auto and a motorcycle. Ali is a candidate for the provincial assembly in Multan District; 2 of his brothers were running for parliamentary seats. Yousuf had been forced by the Supreme Court to step down in a contempt case. The Pakistani Taliban denied responsibility, although the group later released a video claiming to be holding him. On May 24, 2015, AP reported that Yousuf Raza Gilani said he spoke by phone to his son, whom he believed was being held in good condition in Afghanistan. He said the kidnappers demanded the release of several ­al-Qaeda members held in Pakistani prisons.

May 9—Egypt—Christopher Stone, an American fellow at the San ­Antonio-based American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE), was stabbed in the neck near the U.S. Embassy at noon. Police arrested the attacker. The unemployed young man asked Stone twice about his nationality. Stone is on sabbatical in Cairo; he is an associate professor of Arabic and head of the Arabic Program at City University of New York. He was returning to the embassy to finish some paperwork for his wife. He was brought to the emergency room of the ­al-Qasr ­al-Aini hospital. 13050901

May 9—Afghanistan—Gunmen kidnapped 11 Afghans working in a ­UN-affiliated land mine clearing program in Nangahar Province. Local officials and tribal elders were trying to negotiate their freedom. Some 10 million mines were planted in 150 Afghan districts. 13050902

May 9—Afghanistan—A remotely detonated roadside bomb went off in Nangahar as a police vehicle passed, killing 2 and injuring 3 other police officers. Local residents chased the 3 bombers, who threw away a detonator. Authorities arrested a Pakistani and 2 Afghan nationals. 13050903

May 9—Yemen—AQAP shot to death Mohammed Ahmed Saleh ­al-Koobi, a Yemeni intelligence officer, with a silenced weapon in Lahj Province as he was walking down his hometown’s streets.

May 9—Russia—Police killed 8 jihadis in the North Caucasus region. Four jihadis died after firing au­tomatic weapons in police. Three died in firefights in 2 other regions of Dagesant. The last died in ­Kabardino-Balkaria.

May 10—Mali—Five suicide bombers failed to injure their targets—Malian and Nigerian troops—killing only themselves. The bombs went off nearly simultaneously between 4 and 5 a.m. in Menaka and Gossi, near Gao. In Menaka, a car bomber drove into the military camp, but the Nigerian soldiers destroyed the vehicle. Three pedestrian suicide bomb­ers attacked a Gossi checkpoint, where they were shot to death. A 4th terrorist entered the military camp and blew himself up, injuring 2 soldiers. Alioune Toure, former head of Islamic police in Gao, told Radio France Internationale that the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) “had struck and they’re going to keep striking the enemy.” He said foreign soldiers should leave Mali and negotiations should begin involving “Muslim brothers of the region.” 13051001–02

May 11—Turkey—Two car bombs exploded in front of the municipality building and the post office in Reyhanli in Hatay Province near the Syrian border, killing 51 people and injuring 155. A row of buildings was destroyed near the municipal headquarters. The second bomb sheared off the façade of office towers. At least 500 shops, 300 homes, and 60 vehicles were damaged. The bombs went off within 15 minutes of each other, a mile apart. Angry residents blamed Syrian refugees, and broke the windows of Syrian cars. The Turkish government said the bombers were linked to Syrian President Bashar ­al-Assad’s intelligence service. Syrian Information Minister Omran ­al-Zoubi denied responsibility, observing that Ankara was a “terrorist Turkish government” that brought foreign fighters, weapons, and funds into Syria across their 565-mile-long border. Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay said Turkish cars were used in the bombings and that the license plate numbers were part of the government’s evidence. Other observers blamed the PKK, or those who wanted to derail the PKK ceasefire. By May 12, Turkish officials had arrested 9 Turkish members of a Marxist, pro–Assad organization; another 4 were detained on May 14. Turkey detained more than 15 people in May, charging 4 of them. By May 12, the government had identified 39 of the dead—36 Turks and 3 Syrians. Among the dead was Erkan Calim, 41, a farmer and father who was helping the victims of the first bombing but was killed by the second bomb. The same day, Turkey called for UN actions to end the war in Syria. On June 10, Turkish authorities caught the Turkish “main perpetrator,” N.E., near the border in Yayladagi District, Hatay Province, as he tried to cross into Syria.

On February 10, 2014, the ­state-run news agency reported the opening of a trial in Adana against 33 people, including 2 Syrians, accused of involvement in setting off the 2 car bombs that killed 52 people in Reyhanli near the Syrian border. Some 19 people were charged with homicide and attempting to “quash the unity of the state.” The other 14 were charged with membership in a terror organization or aiding terrorists. Turkey blamed a Turkish Marxist group with alleged links to Syrian intelligence. 13051101–02

May 11—Iraq—A suicide bomber set off his tanker truck packed with explosives outside the ­al-Shurqat home of an army intelligence officer, killing 3 people and injuring 18 while damaging the home of Briga­dier Khalaf ­al-Jubouri, whose son and nephew were killed. The brigadier was not at home at the time.

May 11—U.S.—Hussain ­al-Kwawahir, 33, who was carrying a doctored Saudi passport, was arrested at Detroit Metro Airport while trying to take a pressure cooker on board a flight. He appeared in U.S. District Court on May 13, charged with altering a passport and lying to Customs officials. A page had been removed from his passport. He had flown into Detroit from Amsterdam. He said he’d bought the pressure cooker as a gift for his nephew, Nasser Almarzooq, a student at the University of Toledo, because pressure cookers were not sold in the U.S. He then changed his tale, saying the nephew’s pressure cooker had broken. Why he’d need one flown into the U.S. remained unexplained.

May 11—Egypt—Authorities announced the arrest of 3 Egyptians linked to al-Qaeda. They had 22 pounds of ammonium nitrate—an explosives precursor—and were planning suicide car bomb attacks on the U.S. and French embassies in Cairo and an Egyptian army facility in the Sinai Peninsula. Two had escaped from prison in 2011. One of them had been extradited to Egypt from Algeria; the other had been extradited from Iran, were he had gone to join groups fighting the U.S. in Iraq; he was picked up by Iran in 2006 and deported. The duo planned to attack France because of its military intervention in Mali. One of those arrested was to be the suicide bomber. All 3 were linked to the Nasr City Cell; one was linked to the ­second-in-command of the Jamal Network and also had ties to al-Qaeda facilitators. Police also seized instructions on how to make bombs and build rockets and model airplanes to use in terrorist attacks. They also found AQIM literature and information on intelligence gathering. The government said the trio had communicated online with an al-Qaeda member in Pakistan. They were identified as Amr Abu ­al-Ela Aqida; Muhammad Hameida Saleh and Muhammad Bayouni. An al-Qaeda leader, Dawoud ­al-Asadi, variant Dawood ­al-Assady, told them to contact a terrorist cell in Cairo’s Nasr City neighborhood. Two men were ordered held for 15 days; the other was put under house arrest. The Middle East News Agency reported that Aqida was linked to Daoud al Asdi, a member of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, and to al-Qaeda members in the Sinai.

May 12—Iraq—Gunmen at 2 locations in Baghdad shot to death 4 people and wounded 3. Terrorists in a car fired on an outdoor vegetable market in Mi­shahda, 20 miles north of Baghdad, killing 3 people and wounding 3. Another group of ­drive-by shooters killed a police officer driving in Baghdad’s northern Shaab suburb.

May 13—Libya—At ­mid-afternoon, a car bomb went off 2 blocks from a Benghazi hospital, killing 4 people, injuring at least12, and damaging a dozen vehicles. Among the dead was a 13-year-old. During the previous week, attackers bombed 4 empty Benghazi police stations in the early morning. Jihadis, criminal gangs, and Qadhafi loyalists were suspected. The Islamist Front of Derna claimed credit on Facebook.

May 13—Indonesia—A man threw a pipe bomb that did not detonate at the police post in Tasikmalaya, West Java. The suspect then fired a homemade gun, but it jammed. He then knifed a police officer; the officer’s partner shot him. The dead terrorist was a member of the group led by William Maksum, one of 3 men killed in a May 7 ­shoot-out at a house near Bandung.

May 13—Afghanistan—A roadside bomb went off under a vehicle in Kandahar Province, killing 11 civilians, including 4 women and 4 children. The government blamed the Taliban. A separate car bomb in the south killed 3 members of the international military coalition. 13051301

May 13—Afghanistan—A bomber killed 3 Georgian troops. 13051302

May 13–14—Internet—Three al-Qaeda websites were hacked in early May. ­As-ansar.com, the website of Ansar ­al-Mujahidin and shamikh1.info, the site of Shumukh ­al-Islam returned on May 13–14. The al Fida site remained down. A member of the hacker group Qassam HackeRs, which supports Hamas, claimed credit on Facebook. It said it would continue to attack the Ansar site until al-Qaeda stopped referring to the ­Izz-al-Din ­al-Qassam Brigades (Hamas’s military wing) as “infidels.”

May 14—Internet—On June 12, the Washington Post revealed that sometime in May, the U.S. had sabotaged AQAP’s Inspire online magazine, garbling text on the second page and blanking the next 20 pages.

May 14—U.S.—The U.S. Postal Service intercepted 2 letters containing ricin in Spokane, Washington. The letters were postmarked on May 14 in Spokane and addressed to the downtown post office and the adjacent federal building. No one was injured. Authorities raided a downtown Spokane apartment building on May 18 and escorted a man from the building. On February 22, the FBI arrested Matthew Ryan Buquet, 37, after a grand jury indictment accused him of mailing a death threat to U.S. District Judge Fred Van Sickle at the federal courthouse on May 14. Buquet pleaded not guilty in federal court. By May 22, authorities had also found letters addressed to Fairchild Air Force Base and President Obama.

CNN reported on May 30 that the FBI was searching for a similar letter addressed to the CIA; the letter showed up in the Spokane post office on June 8.

May 14—Iraq—Just after sunset, gunmen in 4 cars fired on a row of 4 liquor stores in the Zayouna neighborhood in eastern Baghdad, killing 11 people and wounding 5 others. The stores had been destroyed in a previous bombing attack in 2012.

May 14—Indonesia—Police shot to death a jihadi who tried to bomb a roadside police traffic post in West Java Province. He was retaliating for counterterrorism raids in West Java, Tanten, Central Java, and Lampung Provinces that killed 8 terrorists and led to 17 arrests since May 5’s arrest of 2 pipe bombers in Jakarta.

May 14—Mexico—U.S. Marine Armando Torres, III, his father, Armando Torres, II, and uncle Salvador Torres, the latter both Mexican citizens, were kidnapped at a ranch in La Barranca, Tamaulipas, near the U.S. border. The family suggested the kidnappers were involved in a land dispute in which drug traffickers were trying to get the property. The kidnappers escaped in a white truck. The kidnapped Marine comes from Hargill, Texas, and has 2 children, aged 3 and 4.

May 15—Iraq—Car bombs went off in Shi’ite areas of Baghdad and northern Iraq, killing more than 35 people. Bombs exploded outside a café and a market, killing 22 and wounding dozens. Many homes in the Zaafaraniya district in Baghdad were damaged and several cars were on fire. Ten people died when 2 car bombs exploded near government buildings in Kirkuk. A suicide bomber on a motorcycle set off his explosives near a police patrol in northern Baghdad, killing 2 police officers. Another police officer died from a roadside bomb in Mosul.

May 15—U.S.—Authorities announced the arrest of a smuggling ring that made $55 million by buying cigarettes in Virginia, with a 30 cent/pack sales tax, and selling them in New York, which has a $5.85/pack sales tax. One of the men had lived in the same Brooklyn building as the personal secretary of a senior Hamas member. Another was a mentor to a terrorist who shot at a van full of yeshiva students on the Brooklyn Bridge. Another received an investment from blind Sheikh Omar ­Abd-al-Rahman. They and 13 other men were charged with trafficking in untaxed cigarettes. New York City Police Department’s Intelligence Division had been monitoring the scam since 2006. Eleven pleaded not guilty in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn on charges of enterprise corruption, money laundering, and tax evasion. Most were from Brooklyn and Staten Island.

May 16—Afghanistan—At 8 a.m., a ­Hezb-e-Islami (Islamic Party) suicide car bomber set off explosives in his white Toyota Corolla next to 2 armored Chevy Suburbans carrying foreign forces in Kabul’s Shah Shahid neighborhood, killing 15 people, including 2 U.S. troops, 4 civilian NATO contractors, and 9 Afghan civilians, including 2 children walking to school, and injuring 70 people. The group, led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, 65, said it was targeting U.S. military advisors. Haroon Zarghoun, the group’s spokesman, said the U.S. is “not sincere about talks or solving Afghanistan’s problems…. We will step up jihad, and our first target will be American forces. We have a committee planning and choosing targets for more suicide attacks…. When ­Hezb-i-Islami Afghanistan realized that American invaders have the devil intention of staying in Afghanistan, we decided to step up our attack on Americans in Afghanistan…. We will step up jihad, and our first target will be American forces. We have a committee planning and choosing targets for more suicide attacks” by a “martyrdom squad.” He said the bomber was a 24-year-old man who had grown up south of Kabul. 13051601

May 16—Iraq—Car bombs in Shi’ite neighborhoods in Baghdad killed 21 people. One bomb hit a bus and taxi stand in Sadr City, killing 9 and wounding 16. Suicide bombers set off explosives in Mosul and Kirkuk. Al-Qaeda in Iraq was suspected.

May 16—Internet—CNN reported that the latest version of AQAP’s Inspire online magazine was hacked earlier in the week. Its content, except for the cover page, was scrambled. Investigators believed that Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev had used the magazine’s instructions on bombmaking. The magazine was posted to the protected forum Al-Fidaa on May 14, but the PDF file was corrupted and the posting was deleted within minutes. The Spring 2013 edition was titled “How did it come to this?” The cover noted that one article was on Open Source Jihad. Al-Shamukh, another al-Qaeda website, crashed within 30 minutes of the Inspire posting in an apparent denial of service attack.

May 16—U.S.—The U.S. Department of State designated as a terrorist Syrian ­al-Nusrah Front leader Muhammad ­al-Jawlani, observing “he has stated in videos that his ultimate goal is the overthrow of the Syrian regime and the institution of Islamist shari’a law throughout the country…. Under ­al-Jawlani’s leadership, ­al-Nusrah Front has carried out multiple suicide attacks throughout Syria. Many of these attacks have killed innocent Syrian civilians.” His U.S. assets were frozen and Americans were banned from financial dealings with him.

May 16—U.S.—The FBI arrested Uzbek citizen Fazliddin Kurbanov, 30, in Boise, Idaho, charging him with providing a foreign terrorist group with help in building a bomb, one count of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, and possessing bombmaking parts. Federal authorities from Utah also filed one count of distribution of information relating to explosives, destructive devices and weapons of mass destruction. Between August 2012 and May 2013, authorities said he provided computer software and money to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan to conduct “an offense involving a weapon of mass destruction” overseas. Authorities found a hollow hand grenade, a hobby fuse, aluminum powder, potassium nitrate, and sulfur. “The defendant showed Internet videos, conducted instructional shopping trips, provided written recipes and gave verbal instructions on where to obtain the necessary components to construct and use improvised explosive devices.”

May 16—Egypt/Sinai—Masked gunmen kidnapped 7 Egyptian security officers—one soldier and 6 police officers—from their 2 taxis outside ­el-Arish. Four policemen worked in the Rafah border terminal leading to the Gaza Strip. One belonged to a riot police unit in Snai. The border guard was in the armed services. President Mohamed Morsi the next week sent dozens of tanks and hundreds of soldiers to Sinai. The kidnappers wanted their jailed comrades freed; they were held for attacks on a Taba tourist hotel in 2004 that killed 34 police and on an el-Arish police station in 2011 that killed a police officer, a soldier, and 3 others. Some were awaiting trial; others had been sentenced to death or long prison terms. The kidnappers posted a video on Youtube on May 19 showing the hostages blinded with their hands behind their heads. The hostages identified themselves in turn; one said he was Corporal Ibrahim Sobhi Ibrahim, who told Morsi “we implore you as fast as possible to release the political prisoners from Sinai as fast as possible because we can’t take any more, any torture.” Police colleagues shut down the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza in protest, then shut another crossing with Israel. Another 5 police stations in north Sinai went on strike. Egyptian troops and police on May 20 fired on a Bedouin funeral procession of 8 trucks during their search for the kidnappers. The Bedouins refused to stop and the authorities opened fire, assuming they were gunmen. The mourners fired back and fled, leaving behind the body of the deceased. President Morsi announced on May 22 the release of the hostages in a remote desert. A military helicopter retrieved them. No one claimed credit for the attack and no arrests were announced. Morsi thanked the tribes and “honorable people of Sinai” for working with the government to obtain their release. A group led by Ahmed Abu Shita, convicted to death in absentia in September for the 2011 attack on the police, was believed responsible.

May 17—Nigeria—The government announced it had killed 21 Boko Haram terrorists when it shelled the group’s camps in the Sambisa Forest Reserve south of Maiduguri, capital of Borno State.

May 17—Afghanistan—Two bombs in a motorcycle and a car went off near a restaurant during the evening inside the Aino Mina gated community developed in part by Mahmoud Karzai, younger brother of President Hamid Karzai, killing 9 and wounding more than 70 in Kandahar.

May 17—Iraq—Bombs went off at bus stops and outdoor markets in Sunni districts in Baghdad and the surrounding area, killing 76. One bomb went off as worshipers were leaving Baqubah’s main Sunni mosque. Another bomb went off as people were tending the wounding, killing 41 and wounding 56. Later that day, a roadside bomb exploded during a Sunni funeral procession in Madain, killing 8. Another bomb hit a Fallujah café, killing 2. A bomb at a Baghdad shopping center killed 21 people in the Sunni neighborhood of Amiriyah. A bomb went off in a commercial district in the Sunni neighborhood of Dora, killing 4. A bomb went off near a funeral tent in Baladiyat, killing 7 and wounding 28.

May 17—Pakistan—Two bombs went off at 2 mosques in Baz Darra, a village in the Malakand region of ­Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province, killing 13 and injuring 30.

May 17—Libya/Yemen—U.S. officials told the Wall Street Journal that Sunni terrorists were planning to car bomb U.S. embassies in Tripoli, Libya and Sana’a, Yemen. The Yemeni attack was to be conducted by AQAP.

May 17—Syria—The Islamic State kidnapped Danish freelance photographer Daniel Rye Ottosen, 25. He had gone to Syria to photograph the conflict and the civilian population’s conditions. He was freed in good condition on June 20, 2014. The Danish Foreign Ministry would not say whether a ransom had been paid, although CNN said the family was believed to have paid a large ransom. The Danish media knew of the kidnapping, but kept silent until his release for security reasons. On October 15, 2015, CNN reported that IS spokesman/murderer Mohammed Emwazi, alias Jihadi John, had forced him to dance the tango and threatened to pull off his nose with ­pliers. Ottesen was sometimes held with other foreign hostages, including U.S. hostage James Foley. 13051701

May 18—Iraq—Gunmen kidnapped 14 people, including 6 policemen. Their bodies were found in the desert in Anbar Province, with bullet wounds to the head and chest.

Gunmen broke into the southern Baghdad house of ­anti-terrorism Captain Adnan Ibrahim, killing him, his wife, and 2 children, aged 8 and 10, in their sleep. The fleeing attackers then killed a policeman at a nearby checkpoint.

May 18—Pakistan—Gunmen shot to death Zahra Shahid Hussain, 60, one of the founders of the Pakistan ­Tehreek-e-Insaf party, outside her home in the posh Defence neighborhood of Karachi. The leader of PTI, former cricket star Imran Khan, said the leader of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Altaf Hussain, who lives in exile in London, was responsible.

May 19—Nigeria—The Defense Ministry announced that 14 terrorists and 3 soldiers had been killed in gun battles during the state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States. Nigeria imposed a 24-hour curfew on Maiduguri neighborhoods, where 65 extremists were arrested.

May 19—Iraq—Terrorists killed at least 10 Iraqi police officers in checkpoints in western Iraq. Sunni terrorists were suspected. Seven police officers died at checkpoints and on patrols near Haditha. Terrorists attacked police checkpoints, the home of a member of the provincial council, and the home of a police chief, killing 3 policemen and wounding 2 others in Rawa, Anbar Province.

May 20—Iraq—Car bombs killed more than 113 people in attacks on Shi’ite Muslims across the country. Al-Qaeda in Iraq and Saddam Hussein loyalists were suspected. Two car bombs went off in Basra, killing 13 and wounding 50, mostly day laborers at a sandwich kiosk in the Hayaniya neighborhood. Another bomb went off at a bus terminal in Saad Square, killing 5. Car bombs in Kamaliya, Ilaam, Diyala bridge, ­al-Shurta, Shula, Zaafaraniya, and Sadr City—all in Baghdad—killed 30 people. A car bomb went off in Shaab in northern Baghdad, killing 12 and wounding 26. A car bomb went off next to a bus carrying Shi’ite pilgrims from Iran near Balad, killing 5 Iranians and 2 Iraqis en route to Samarra. A suicide bomb in Babylon killed 9 and wounded 53. 13052001

May 20—Russia—Security forces killed 2 terrorists believed plotting to conduct a terrorist attack in Moscow. Authorities detained another terrorist during an operation by the Federal Security Service in ­Orekhovo-Zuyevo, 55 miles east of Moscow. The Russian citizens had arrived from the ­Afghan-Pakistan region, where they had received training. An FSB security officer was slightly wounded. The terrorists fired on the authorities after being cornered in a building and refusing to surrender.

May 20—Russia—Two remotely detonated bombs exploded within 15 minutes of each other in Ma­khach­kala, capital of Dagestan, outside the headquarters of the court bailiffs’ service, killing 4 and wounding 44, most of them police officers. A 3-year-old child was injured. Most were hit by the second bomb as they were rushing to aid the victims.

May 20—Egypt—Gunmen attacked an Egyptian base in ­al-Ahrash, north Sinai at dawn, conducting a gun battle before retreating. Islamists were blamed.

May 21—Iraq—A suicide bomber set off his explosive vest at a military checkpoint in Tarmiyah. Terrorists then fired on the soldiers, killing 3.

In Abu Ghraib during the night, a bomb killed 6 Sunnis leaving a mosque.

Two simultaneous car bomb explosions killed 3 civilians in Tuz Khurmatu.

Three bombs exploded at a sheep market in Kir­kuk, killing one person.

May 21—Afghanistan—The Taliban killed 4 police officers in southern Afghanistan and another 10 in 2 attacks in the west.

May 21—Afghanistan—In the early morning, gunmen kidnapped Khobi Khan, 60, father of Mohammad Nabi, captain of the country’s cricket team, from his car near his home in Jalalabad. No ransom was demanded.

May 22—Afghanistan—A local Taliban commander and a bombmaker died when the bomb they were making went off in Ghazni Province.

May 22—UK—A black man identified as Michael Adebolajo, 28, a UK citizen of Nigerian descent, and Michael Adebowale, 22, hit an active duty soldier at 2:20 p.m. with their small blue car on a public street in Woolwich, London, then hopped out and hacked him to death with a meat cleaver and a long knife, all while yelling jihadi rants. Some observers said the victim was beheaded. The man was seen on ITV on a cellphone video holding the weapons with blood on his hands, continuing his yelling, saying “We swear by the almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you until you leave us alone…. I apologize that women had to see this today, but in our lands women have to see the same thing. You people will never be safe. Remove your governments! They don’t care about you.” He said the attack was “because of what’s going on in our own countries.” The attackers talked to ­passers-by about their motives. The duo was shot by a policewoman after they rushed toward a group of police officers. The terrorists were hospitalized with wounds that were not life-threatening. Two other people, both 29, possibly related to the attackers, were arrested for conspiracy to murder. One of those detained was a woman. The man was freed soon after on bail. Adebolajo was a Christian convert to Islam. The attackers had earlier come to the attention of the authorities, who deemed them not an immediate threat.

The dead soldier was identified as drummer Lee “Riggers” Rigby, 25, a member of the Regimental Recruiting Team in London. He served as a machine gunner with the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers and had served in Afghanistan, Germany, and Cyprus. He left a 2-year-old son, Jack. He joined the Army in 2006. He also served in the ceremonial drumming team outside the royal palaces. At the time of the attack, he was wearing a ­T-shirt labeled Help for Heroes, a charity that supports UK mili-tary wounded who served in Afghanistan and Iraq and the families of British troops killed in those theaters.

The attack came a short walk from the south London headquarters of the Royal Artillery. Students and parents from a nearby primary school saw the attack.

Police raided 6 residences linked to the 2 primary suspects, located in Lincolnshire in northern England and 5 in London, including in Greenwich, home to a university where Adebolajo studied.

On May 25, detectives from the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command arrested 3 men—aged 21, 24, and 28—on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder. The police tasered 2 suspects. Police raided 4 residences.

Police arrested Abu Nusaybah on suspected terrorism offenses after telling a broadcaster how his friend Adebolajo had been approached by MI5 in the past year. Abu Nusaybah said MI5 contacted Adebolajo after he returned from Lamu, Kenya, where he claimed he had been detained by police on November 22, 2010, for trying to cross illegally into Somalia via boat from Pate Island and join ­al-Shabaab. Kenyan officials said Adebolajo was using a false name and was picked up with 5 Kenyans who carrying ­al-Shabaab literature. A Mombasa cleric said Adebolajo had worked with preacher Aboud Rogo, an ­al-Shabaab supporter shot to death by Kenyan police in 2012. Adebolajo had been in Kenya for 8 months before his arrest, working with the Muslim Youth Center, which recruits for ­al-Shabaab.

Adebolajo was seen on a video of a London protest in 2007 standing behind Anjem Choudary, head of the ­since-banned Al Muhajiroun jihadi group.

On May 27, police arrested a 10th suspect, a 50-year-old man, on a street in Welling in southeastern UK. He and the other 9 suspects were held on conspiracy to commit murder. Two were released without charge; 4 were released on bail.

Upon release from the hospital, on May 29 Adebowale was charged with murder, a firearms offense related to possessing a 9.4mm revolver with intent “to cause persons to believe that unlawful violence would be used.”

Adebolajo was released from a hospital on May 31 and charged on June 1 with murdering Rigby, attempting to murder 2 police officers, and possession of a firearm.

On August 13, 2013, British police charged 2 people for publishing a video which they say revels in the death of soldier Lee Rigby, who was hacked to death in a gruesome terror attack on May 22. London’s Metropolitan Police said that Rebekah Dawson, 21, and Royal Barnes, 22, were accused of encouraging of terrorism with a video entitled “Muslim laughs at British Soldier killing” published around the time of Rigby’s death. Laws passed after the 2005 London transit bombings ban anything that “glorifies the commission or preparation” of terrorist acts, a crime punishable by up to 7 years in prison, a fine, or both. Dawson and Barnes also were charged with disseminating terrorist publications and inciting terrorism overseas, respectively.

On November 18, 2013, the trial began at London’s Old Bailey Court of Michael Adebolajo, 28, and Michael Adebowale, 22, for the fatal attack on Lee Rigby, an ­off-duty soldier. Adebolajo asked to be known as Mujaahid Abu Hamza in court. Adebowale asked to be known as Ismail Ibn Abdullah. Although the duo pleaded not guilty to murder, the defense stipulated to possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence. They were also charged with attempting to murder a police officer on May 22, and conspiracy to murder a police officer on or before May 22.

On December 2, 2013, witnesses said defendants Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale repeatedly stabbed Rigby with knives and a meat cleaver. On December 5, police testified in London’s Central Criminal Court that Michael Adebolajo told them that he attacked the first soldier he saw because “it was almost as if Allah had chosen him … because he joins the army with kind of an understanding that your life is at risk.” Adebolajo said he was a soldier in a war between Muslims and the British people. “I’m a soldier…. I couldn’t do anything else,” he said when asked whether he had any regrets. Regarding al-Qaeda, he said, “I love them. I consider them brothers in Islam.” He said that he was born to Christian parents and used to read the Bible, but converted to Islam while studying at a university. He wanted to go to Somalia to live under sharia law, but was detained by Kenyan troops. Adebowale was represented by attorney Abbas Lakha. On December 17, 2013, prosecutors dropped the charge of conspiracy to murder a police officer. On December 19, AP reported that the jury of 8 women and 4 men deliberated for 90 minutes, then found the 2 men guilty of murdering Rigby. The jury acquitted them of attempting to murder a police officer. On January 30, 2014, Adebolajo submitted an application to appeal at the Judicial Office. On February 26, 2014, Michael Adebolajo was sentenced to life without parole by the Central Criminal Court. Michael Adebowale was sentenced to life with a minimum of 45 years in jail because of his age and lesser role in the murder. On April 8, 2014, Michael Adebolajo had applied for permission to appeal his life sentence, having earlier appealed against his conviction.

On November 25, 2014, Parliament’s 9-member Intelligence and Security Committee determined that in December 2012, Michael Adebowale “expressed his intent to murder a soldier in the most graphic and emotive manner” in an online posting, and that “there is a significant possibility” that intelligence services could have prevented Rigby’s murder if they had seen the posting earlier. The online exchange with an overseas extremist was discovered after the murder. The report said the 2 terrorists had been mentioned in 7 different investigations and in 2 of them Adebolajo had been labelled a “high priority.” He was arrested in Kenya in 2010 while trying to travel to Somalia to join ­al-Shabaab. Sir Malcolm Rifkind, chairman of the committee, concluded that security and intelligence agencies could not have stopped the attack based on what they knew. He added, “None of the major U.S. companies we approached proactively monitor and review suspicious content on their systems, largely relying on users to notify them of offensive or suspicious content…. They appear to accept no responsibility for the services they provide.”

On December 10, 2015, AP reported that Michael Adebolajo, who was convicted of fatally hacking British soldier Lee Rigby, was suing prison officials over having his 2 front teeth knocked out during a confrontation with prison personnel after his arrest but before his trial. He said he was assaulted by 5 prison officers. 13052201

May 23—Pakistan—A remotely-detonated bomb placed in a ­3-wheeled ­auto-rickshaw went off during the morning on a road in the Quetta suburbs, killing 11 policemen and 2 civilians and wounding 23 people. The bomb hit a truck carrying members of the police’s special forces. Pakistani Taliban spokes­man Ihsanullah Ihsan said “We proudly claim responsibility for Thursday’s blast in Quetta and the target was local police. The Baluchistan police recently arrested and killed some of our colleagues belonging to the Swat Taliban.”

May 23—Niger—At 5:30 a.m., 2 groups of suicide car bombers crashed into a military base at Agadez and a ­French-owned uranium mine 150 miles away in Arlit, killing at least 35 people, including 24 soldiers, an employee of the French nuclear firm Areva, and the 10 bombers, and injuring 30. At least 14 Areva civilian employees were injured at the SOMAIR mine in Arlit. A sixth bomber was believed to be holding several Nigerian soldiers hostage inside the base. On May 24, with the assistance of French special forces, the Nigerian military killed the last 2 jihadis who took over the dormitory at the garri-son and freed 2 soldiers who had been taken hos-­tage.

The attackers at Agadez struck during the changing of the guard and morning prayers to force open the battalion gates. At least 16 soldiers were injured. Three suicide bombers died, but at least a 4th survived and took hostage a group of military cadets.

An al-Qaeda offshoot, the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) claimed credit. The attack was also claimed by Algerian terrorist Mokhtar Belmokhtar, using his alias Khalid Abu ­al-Abbas, who earlier in the year had been reported dead by Chad. He said on an Internet posting “We warn all the countries that are intending to participate in the crusader campaign on our land, even if in the name of peacekeeping, that we will make you taste the heat of death and wounds in your homelands and among your soldiers.”

The Nigerian state news agency suggested that the terrorists came from southern Libya. 13052301–02

May 23—Iraq—Gunmen killed 7 soldiers in an attack on an army checkpoint in Taji (4 dead) and a second one in Karma (3 dead) near Fallujah.

May 23—Syria, Pakistan, Iraq—Al Jazeera and CNN reported on June 11 that on May 23, al-Qaeda leader Ayman ­al-Zawahiri sent a May 23 memo to the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq and the leader of Jabhat ­al-Nusra, saying that their merger happened “without asking permission or receiving advice from us and even without notifying us.” He complained that Sheikh Abu Muhammad ­al-Joulani, head of the Syrian al-Qaeda wing, had claimed affiliation “without having our permission.” He said the merger should “be dissolved” and claimed Jabhat ­al-Nusra was “under the (al-Qaeda) general command.” He said he had consulted “with my brothers in Khorosan” and that further disputes were to be resolved by Abu Khalid ­al-Suri.

May 24—Afghanistan—An 8-hour gun battle on the Kabul streets pitting the Taliban and security forces killed 6 terrorists and 2 police officers and injured 12 people, including 4 foreigners working for the ­UN-affiliated International Organization for Migration in the city’s ­Shahr-e Naw neighborhood. The Taliban car bombed the facility and ran in, occupying it for 3 hours. The gunmen fired shots and RPGs, badly damaging the building. A 6-year-old child and an Afghan police officer also died. Five Nepalese Gurkha security guards were wounded, one seriously, as was an Italian female staff worker who was medevaced to Europe. At least 14 people were injured, including an employee of the International Labor Organization. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the group was targeting a CIA guesthouse. The government blamed the Haqqani Network. Booby traps the terrorists placed in the compound went off all night. 13052401

May 24—Afghanistan—Bombs placed near a mosque in Andar District, Ghazni Province, went off prematurely during the evening, killing 4 civilians and 8 terrorists and injuring 6 civilians.

May 24—Pakistan—Gunmen fired heavy weapons at a police convoy in Mattani, 12 miles south of Pesha­war, killing 6 police officers and wounding 7 others.

A suicide bomber set off his explosives at a vehicle owned by Haji Hayatullah, an Afghan religious leader in Peshawar, killing 3 people. Hayatullah was safe, in a nearby mosque attending Friday prayers. However, his driver and guard were killed, as was a passerby. Two others were wounded. No one claimed responsibility for the attacks. 13052402

May 25—France—In the late afternoon, a terrorist stabbed in the back of the neck Cedric Cordiez, 25, a uniformed French soldier on patrol in the La Defense transit and shopping concourse in western Paris. French Defense Minister ­Jean-Yves Le Drian said, “The aim was to kill the soldier because he was a soldier … who is in charge of French security.” Cordiez was admitted to a hospital with ­non-life-threatening wounds and later released. The terrorist used a box cutter. The terrorist, believed to be a North African wearing a North ­African-style jellabah robe, fled. A security camera showed him ditching the jellabah and fleeing in European clothes into a subway entrance. On May 29, French police detained Alexandre Dhaussy, a homeless man, at dawn at the ­Paris-area house of a female friend. He turned 22 years old on May 30. He had no known connection to jihadis, but was believed motivated by jihadi beliefs. He converted to Islam just before his 18th birthday. He had a history of petty crimes during his teen years, including illegal arms possession, burglary, and mugging. Supermarket receipts showed he bought 2 knives an hour before the attack. 13052501

May 25—India—About 200 Maoist Naxalite rebels attacked local leaders of the ruling Congress party in the densely forested Sukma area of Jagdalpur Region, Chhattisgarh State, killing 17–24 people and wounding another 24. The terrorists felled trees, detonated a land mine and fired at a convoy of Congress workers driving from a party rally. Among the dead was Chhattisgarh Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel and his son (although one report said the 2 were kidnapped rather than killed), plus Mahendra Karma, a party leader who founded the Salwa Judum militia to fight the Maoists. Four state party leaders and 5 police officers were killed. Some 32 people were injured, including former federal minister Vidya Charan Shukla, 84.

May 25—Afghanistan—A suspected suicide bomber set off his explosives after police surrounded his safe house in Kabul’s Hindu Sozan neighborhood. No one else was hurt.

May 25—Russia—Madina Alieva, 25, a Chechen female suicide bomber, set off her explosives in the central square in Makhachkala, Dagestan, injuring 18, including 2 children and 5 police officers. She was the widow of 2 jihadis killed by security forces in 2009 and 2012, respectively.

May 25—Yemen—A roadside bomb killed 2 Yemeni soldiers and injured 4 others in Shar, southeastern Hadramawt Province. AQAP was suspected.

May 25—Philippines—The government reported the deaths of 7 Marines and 7 Abu Sayyaf terrorists during an effort to rescue 6 foreign and Filipino hostages in a village near Patikul in Sulu Province. Another 6 Marines and 10 terrorists were wounded. Authorities believed the terrorists were led by Abu Sayyaf commander ­Jul-Aswan Sawadjaan, accused in the kidnappings of a Jordanian journalist and 2 European bird watchers. One of Sawadjaan’s sons and a minor Abu Sayyaf commander were believed killed in the ­hour-long gun battle. The hostages were kidnapped in 2012. They were held with 3 Filipinos kidnapped in May 2013.

May 26—Colombia—The government announced an agreement with the FARC on land reform, the first of 6 points that could lead to a comprehensive peace deal. A Land Fund for Peace would be created to redistribute millions of illegally held or underused acres to landless peasants and displaced people.

May 26—Kenya—Suspected ­al-Shabaab gunmen killed 6 people in a nighttime attack on police posts near the border with Somalia.

Mombasa police killed Khalid Ahmed in a dawn gun battle at his mother’s house. The Somali had entered Kenya from Somalia after undergoing paramilitary training. Police trailed him from Nairobi. They found a hand grenade, pistol, and ammunition inside the house. Several police were wounded in the ­shoot-out. Al-Shabaab was suspected. 13052601

May 26—Guantanamo Bay, Cuba—The U.S. announced that U.S. Navy medical staff were force feeding 35 of the 103 hunger strikers at the prison facility.

May 26—Yemen—Terrorists on a motorcycle fired a silenced gun, killing Major Majid Muttayr, a Yemeni security officer, in ­al-Qutn District in southeastern Hadramawt Province.

May 26—Lebanon—Two rockets hit a Shi’ite district in southern Beirut, wounding several people. Hizballah leaders had earlier said that it would continue fighting for the Syrian regime. One rocket hit a car sales lot near a road crossing in the Chiah neighborhood; another hit an apartment 300 meters away, wounding 5 people. No one claimed credit.

May 26—Iraq—A car bomb went off during the morning in Mosul while police and the army were conducting ­door-to-door searches. Three police officers and a soldier died; 20 people, including 4 civilians, were wounded.

Terrorists shot to death a police officer in his car in Mosul.

Authorities found a body floating in the Tigris River; he had been shot at close range with his hands tied behind his back.

Terrorists in Kazimiyah District in northern Baghdad conducted a ­drive-by shooting spree, killing 3 civilians and wounding another.

Gunmen in 2 cars killed a police officer in Baghdad’s northern Waziriyah neighborhood.

Terrorists shot to death a schoolteacher in Baghdad’s Qahira neighborhood.

Two roadside bombs killed 3 soldiers and wounded 5 others in western Anbar Province.

May 27—Pakistan—A roadside bomb killed 5 Pakistan police officers in the Shangla District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province. The remotely detonated device targeted the car of Khan Bahadur, Deputy Superintendent of Police, who died along with 4 other officers who were returning from the funeral of an officer killed the previous day. Jihadis were suspected.

May 27—Lebanon—A rocket was fired into Hermel, a village near the Syrian border, killing Lulu Awad, 17, in her house.

May 27—Philippines—The New People’s Army set off a roadside bomb then fired on a police truck, killing 7 and wounding 7 members of the elite Special Action Force en route to an Allacapan hospital. The NPA fled with the police weapons after overpowering the officers. The government recently suspended talks in Norway aiming to end the 44-year insurgency after the NPA rejected a ceasefire.

May 27—Iraq—Car bombs in Shi’ite areas of Baghdad killed 66 and wounded nearly 200. The Islamic State of Iraq was suspected.

Two bombs went off in eastern Habibiya on the edge of Sadr City, killing 12 and wounding 35.

Two bombs hit an open air market in the Shi’ite ­al-Maalif area, killing 6 and wounding 12.

A car bomb went off in the commercial Sadoun Street in downtown Baghdad, killing 5 civilians and wounding 14, including 4 policemen at a nearby checkpoint.

A car bomb exploded in eastern New Baghdad as explosives experts were trying to dismantle it, killing a civilian and wounding 9.

A car bomb in the northern Sabi ­al-Boor neighborhood killed 8 civilians and wounded 26.

A car bomb went off near a bus and taxi stop in the Kazimiyah district, killing 4 and wounding 11.

A car bomb went off in the Shaab area, killing 4 and wounding 9.

A car bomb in the Hurriyah neighborhood killed 5 and wounded 14.

A car bomb in southwestern Bayaa killed 6 civilians and wounded 16.

A car bomb in central Sadria in Baghdad killed 3 civilians and wounded 11.

Car bombs in the Baladiyat neighborhood killed 4 and wounded 11.

A car bomb in the eastern Jisr Diyala area killed 5 and wounded 12.

A car bomb in Madain, 12 miles south of Baghdad, killed 3 and wounded 9.

May 28—Pakistan—Gunmen shot to death a 19-year-old female polio vaccine worker and critically injured a 20-year-old polio vaccination team member in Peshawar’s Shaikh Mohammadi area. The World Health Organization withdrew its polio vaccination teams from Peshawar. The Pakistani Taliban was suspected. 13052801

May 28—Iraq—Two bombs went off in Baghdad’s southern Dora neighborhood, killing 9 people and wounding 10.

A bomb went off in the street in Baghdad’s northern Shaab neighborhood, killing 2 and wounding 8.

A bomb inside a bus in Sadr City killed 5 commuters and injured 5 policemen and 20 civilians.

A suicide bomber set off explosives in his truck after passing a police checkpoint in Tarmiyah, north of Baghdad, killing a police officer and a civilian and wounding 9 other people.

In a gun battle between police and terrorists, 3 policemen and 4 gunmen were killed; 15 others were arrested.

A bomb went off at a police patrol south of Mosul, killing a police officer and wounding another. Meanwhile, a suicide bomber crashed his car into an army patrol, killing a soldier and wounding 3.

May 28—Afghanistan—Two Afghans fired on a police chief at a checkpoint in Kandahar, killing him and 6 of his men. The duo were former policemen who had rejoined the force 2 days earlier. The Taliban were suspected of conducting infiltration operations against the police.

May 28—Lebanon—Gunmen driving a black vehicle shot to death 3 Lebanese soldiers at a checkpoint on the outskirts of Aarsal, in the Bekaa Valley, near the Syrian border. The gunmen escaped into the mountains on the border.

Four rockets crashed into Hermel village near the Syrian border, seriously injuring Khadijah Nasreddine, a woman sitting under an olive tree in her yard.

The Free Syrian Army threatened to “chase Hiz­bollah to hell” if it did not withdraw from the fighting in Syria.

May 28–29—Myanmar—Buddhist mobs torched a mosque, a Muslim school, a movie theater and shops in Lashio, near the border with China. One Muslim man was killed and 4 Buddhists injured in the clashes. Young men on motorcycles drove around the city, brandishing swords and metal rods.

May 29—Pakistan—A drone strike killed ­Wali-ur Rehman Mehsud, deputy chief and chief military strategist of the Pakistani Taliban, along with his aide ­Fakhar-ul-Islam and 2 unnamed Uzbeks in a drone strike at Chashma, near Miranshah, North Waziristan District, in Pakistan. Pakistani officials said 7 were killed and one person was injured. Mehsud was wanted in the U.S. on suspicion of involvement in the December 30, 2009, bombing in Khost, Afghanistan that killed 7 CIA employees. The next day, the Pakistani Taliban vowed revenge and called off plans to open peace talks with the new government of Pakistan.

May 29—Afghanistan—At dawn, 7 suicide bomb­ers, some dressed in police uniforms, attacked a government compound in Panjshir Province, killing a police officer and wounding another. The Taliban terrorists all died in the ­half-hour gun battle in the Bazarak compound of Provincial Governor Kramuddin Karim. Three terrorists set off their explosive vests; the other 4 were shot by police. Their ­explosives-laden minivan failed to detonate. One of the terrorists fled the scene, but later blew himself up when cornered by police in a nearby village.

May 29—Afghanistan—Two terrorists wearing suicide vests attacked a Red Cross compound in Jalalabad. One terrorist set off his explosives at the gate while the other conducted a 2-hour gun battle with authorities before he died. One guard was killed and one foreign employee wounded. The Taliban denied involvement. The Red Cross temporarily closed operations in Afghanistan. 13052901

May 29—Libya—Terrorists in a black Chevrolet threw a bomb at a military checkpoint in Benghazi, killing 3 soldiers and injuring 3 others.

May 29—Bahrain—A bomb wounded 7 policemen, including 2 critically, in a nighttime attack in Bani Jamra, 6 miles west of Manama.

May 29—Iraq—Bombers killed 30 people in 2 Baghdad neighborhoods. One bomb went off on a commercial street in the Jihad neighborhood, killing 18 and wounding 42. Many of the dead were in a wedding party that was passing by. The Shi’ite-dominated Mukhtar Army had sent threatening leaflets to the local Sunni community, but had not conducted car bombings previously. A roadside bomb and a car bomb exploded near a market, killing 12 and wounding 31.

May 29–30—U.S.—Authorities announced that they had intercepted ­ricin-filled envelopes addressed to President Obama and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his ­gun-control group Mayors Against Illegal Guns, and Mark Glaze, director of the ­gun-control group. The text of the letters was the same: “What’s in this letter is nothing to what I’ve got planned for you.” The individual warned that anyone who came to his house will “get shot in the face” and that he would protect his constitutional and divine right to bear arms. “You will have to kill me and my family before you get my guns.” The letters, postmarked May 20, originated in Shreveport, Louisiana. The Bloomberg letters arrived the previous week, giving members of a New York police emergency unit minor symptoms from ricin exposure.

Actress Shannon Rogers Guess Richardson, 35, of New Boston, Texas, called the FBI to say that her husband, Army veteran Nathaniel Richardson, sent the letters. Investigators arrested her in Arkansas on June 7 for sending the letters. The pregnant mother of 5 had minor roles on TV shows The Walking Dead and The Vampire Diaries. She faced 10 years in prison on a federal charge of mailing a threat to the president. She admitted typing the letters but said her husband made her do it. On June 28, she was charged with 2 counts of mailing a threatening communication and one count of threatening the president. She faced 5 years on each charge. She was represented by attorney Tonda Curry. Nathaniel filed for divorce in June; they had married in 2011. She was ordered to take a psychological examination. She gave birth prematurely on July 4 to Brody. On August 28, 2013, U.S. Magistrate Judge Caroline Craven in Texarkana, Texas, ruled that Shannon Guess Richardson was competent to stand trial on one count of making a threat against the president of the United States and 2 counts of mailing threatening communications. Her trial was scheduled for October 7. She faced 5 years on each charge.

On November 23, 2013, NBC News and AP reported that Shannon Guess Richardson agreed to a plea deal whose terms were not released by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. She was represented by attorney Tonda Curry. Richardson had been charged with one count of making a threat against the President of the United States and 2 counts of mailing threatening communications; each count carried a 5-year sentence. On December 10, 2013, Shannon Guess Richardson pleaded guilty in federal court to making the ricin that was sent to President Barack Obama and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The deal called for her to be jailed for 18 years and then to 5 years of supervised release. She had initially been charged with one count of making a threat against the President of the United States and 2 counts of mailing threatening communications.

On July 17, 2014, Shannon Guess Richardson, 36, was sentenced to 18 years in prison and ordered to pay $367,000 in restitution. In December 2013, she pleaded guilty to possession of a toxin for use as a weapon, in return for a maximum sentence of 18 years; she had faced life in prison.

May 30—Syria—Nicole Lynn Mansfield, 33, of Flint, Michigan, died in the fighting in Syria. The Muslim convert and 2 others were killed in Idlib while battling against the Damascus government. It was unclear for what rebel faction she was fighting. Years earlier, she married an Arab immigrant but later divorced him. She was raised as a Baptist. She quit high school after becoming pregnant, but earned a GED and attended community college and worked in home health care for a decade. The Chicago Tribune reported on January 20, 2014, that she threw a grenade from a car at Syrian soldiers, who fired on her vehicle. She was carrying her Michigan driver’s license. Syrian authorities found that the vehicle contained a banner for an ­al-Qaeda linked group. The Tribune said she had married a man from Dubai.

May 30—Nigeria—Soldiers found an arms cache belonging to Hizballah in the master bedroom in a Kano home. The weapons were placed in small coolers and concealed under several layers of concrete. They included RPGs, land mines, hand grenades, assault rifles, and magazines. The Nigerian military said “The arms and ammunition were targeted at facilities of Israel and Western interest in Nigeria.” Three Lebanese men were arrested, one at Kano International Airport while trying to board a flight to Beirut while carrying $60,000 cash. On November 29, 2013, Federal High Court Judge Adeniyi Ademola Adeto­kunbo sentenced ­Nigerian-Lebanese Talal Ahmad Roda to 2 life terms for conspiracy to unlawfully import and store prohibited firearms. The judge freed ­Nigerian-Lebanese citizens Mustapha Fawaz and Abdallah Thahini for lack of evidence that they had received terrorist training. Judge Adetokunbo said that Hizballah membership was not illegal.

May 30—Internet—The 11th edition of the AQAP online Inspire magazine featured articles on the “BBB (Blessed Boston bombings)” Marathon bombing and London soldier stabbing and called for further lone wolf attacks in the West. Abu Abdillah Almoravid wrote “when one looks at the terrific Boston Mara­thon operation and its aftermath, including the accusation of the 2 brothers, Tamerlan and Dzho­khar Tsarnaev, he understands how a single lone jihad operation can force America to stand on one foot and live in a terrified state, full of fear and rare restlessness.” Many of the 39 pages were aimed at a U.S. audience. The Letter from the Editor said “Americans, you should understand this simple equation: as you kill you will be killed. The war is yet to cease, it has barely started. Yesterday it was Baghdad, today it is Boston. The question of ‘who and why’ should be kept aside, you should be asking, ‘Where is next?’” Qassim ­Ar-Relmy, claiming to be AQAP Commander, wrote a “Message to the American Nation: Leave us with our religion, land and nations and mind your own internal affairs…. Save your economy, look after your concerns…. The Boston events, the road accidents, the poisoned letters, disregard of the people behind them, indicate that the control of your security has broken away and operations against you has taken a path which can be controlled not.” The magazine even commented on the Moore, Oklahoma, tornado of May 20, saying “The Oklahoma tornado took lives, destroyed properties, and still nations, Muslims and others alike, celebrated and prayed for more to strike America. They love to see America in calamities!” Noting the use of simple materials, one writer said “Lone Jihad is impossible to counter and stop, except when basic cooking ingredients and building material become illegal.” “An Eye for an Eye” included a photo of the meat cleaver killer in the UK, saying “the message of these young men has been conveyed to the whole world, including every Britain, every westerner, every kafar whose hands have Muslim blood.” “Jones the Rebel” told U.S. Muslims to “break down these psychological barriers which hinder us from attacking this enemy … beware of belittling yourself and your capability … [Boston] revealed the power of the lone jihad operation … take things into your hands.” An article “Inspired by Inspire,” with a flaming iPad graphic, was accompanied by media coverage of the magazine.

May 30—Iraq—The government said it had prevented an al-Qaeda attempt to set off tanker trucks containing explosives at a Baghdad oil facility.

June—Philippines—The Khilafa Islamiyah Mindanao bombed a hotel in Cagayan de Oro.

June—Syria—On April 19, 2014, AP reported that 4 French journalists—Edouard Elias, Didier Francois, Nicolas Henin and photographer Pierre Torres—who were kidnapped in Syria in June 2013 were released. Private Turkish news agency DHA said Turkish soldiers on routine patrol found the journalists blindfolded and cuffed in the southeast San-liurfa Province on April 18 after they were dropped off near the ­Turkey-Syria border. The 4 were ­kidnapped in 2 incidents. On September 6, 2014, AP reported that French journalist Nicolas Henin said one of his captors was Mehdi Nemmouche, a Frenchman suspected of killing 4 people at the ­Brussels Jewish Museum in May 2014. Henin told Le Point that he was tortured by Nemmouche dur-ing his captivity. Henin was held for a time with American journalists James Foley and Steven Sot-loff, who were beheaded in ­August-September 2014. 13069901-02

June—Syria—The Islamic State kidnapped German citizen Toni Neukrich, who was freed in June 2014 after a ransom was paid. 13069903

June 1—Niger—At 3 p.m., 3 prisoners attempted to escape from Niamey’s central prison, shooting at guards and killing 2 of them; 3 others were injured, one gravely. All 3 gunmen were captured alive. The 600 inmates included many Boko Haram members. The ­would-be escapees included 2 Boko Haram terrorists and a Sudanese arms dealer. 13060101

June 1—Yemen—Two motorcyclists shot to death Colonel Yahya ­al-Umaysi (some reports identified him as Brigadier General Yahya ­al-Omaisi), commander of an air base in Sayoun city. One of the gunmen used a ­silencer-equipped gun while Umaysi was leaving his car near a government office complex.

A bomb went off in the afternoon under the car of Colonel ­Abdel-Rahman Bashkeel, head of the criminal investigation department in Seyoun in Wadi Hadramout, killing him.

June 1—Afghanistan—Three terrorist attacks led to the deaths of 3 NATO service members and a civilian working with the international coalition. 13060102–04

June 1—Iraq—The Defense Ministry broke up an al-Qaeda cell trying to make chemical weapons, including sarin and mustard gas. The cell had conducted experiments and set up production labs. The cell members had obtained some CW precursors and formulas but had not produced any agents. Iraqi authorities said the agent would have been used locally and shipped overseas for attacks in Europe and the U.S. Police said 5 men were captured. The Ministry presented to the media 4 hooded suspects and a table of beakers and jars of chemical compounds, along with remote controlled toy helicopters to be used to disperse the gas.

June 2—Iraq—Gunmen killed 3 Syrian truck drivers near Rutba on a main highway between Baghdad and Syria and Jordan. In late August 2013, terrorists released a video of them taking over a major desert highway near Rutba in western Iraq, stopping, interrogating, and shooting to death 3 Syrian truck drivers they claimed were members of the Alawite sect. The Syrians were questioned on how to pray, and when they were tripped up on the subtle differences between Sunni and Shi’ite prayer, they were found out.

June 3—Egypt—On April 20, 2015, AP reported that an Egyptian criminal court in Giza sentenced 22 people to death after convicting them of storming a police station in Kerdasa and killing an officer on June 3, 2013. Eight were sentenced in absentia for murder, attempted murder, possession of unlicensed firearms, vandalism and destruction of property. A minor was sentenced to 10 years.

June 3—Afghanistan—A Taliban roadside bomb killed a family of 7, including 2 children, 4 women, and their driver in their truck on their way home from collecting firewood in Mehtarlam, Laghman Province.

A Taliban suicide bomber on a motorcycle set off his bomb near a boys’ school in Paktia Province killing 2 ISAF soldiers and 9 children and wounding many other children. The soldiers’ nationalities were not released. The government blamed the Taliban.

A suicide bomber on a motorbike set off his device in the main bazaar of Samkanai District in Paktia Province, killing a police officer and injuring 16 other people.

June 3—Indonesia—A motorcyclist set off his suicide bomb while trying to end the police headquarters in Poso, Sulawesi, killing him and injuring a construction worker’s hands. The man was in his early 30s.

June 3—Internet—AQAP military commander Qassim ­ar-Reimy (variant Rimi) posted a 6-minute video “Message to the American Nation” threatening more attacks in the U.S. until the U.S. Government stops “attacking and oppressing” Muslim nations and calling on American lone wolves to attack. He observed that the Marathon bombings and ricin letters “indicate that the control of your security has broken away.” “Your security is not achieved by despoiling other nations’ security or by attacking and oppressing them. Your security is achieved by stopping the foolish, who rule you, from oppression and aggression. Know that oppression and aggression rebound on the throats of the perpetrators…. Your leaders are assaultive, oppressive and tyrannical, and you stand behind them cheering, supporting and voting for them.” AQAP “supports a justification for mass casualty attacks targeting civilians as it shifts responsibility” to the American people. “While [actions] could be in the ­near-term, historical patterns have shown the threat window to extend as far out as a year or longer between warning and attack.” “Blame none but yourselves. Gulf the bitterness of war, death, destruction and insecurity as other oppressed humans do. The 2 decade war has not laid down its burden, rather it is at its peak. The war between you and us has not ceased.” “Leave us with our religion, land and nations and mind your own internal affairs.”

June 3—U.S.—The U.S. Department of State announced rewards totaling $23 million for information leading to the capture of AQIM leaders Yahya Abu ­el-Hammam, Malik Abou Abdelkarim and faction leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar; AQIM alum and spokesman for the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) Oumar Ould Hamaha; and Boko Haram leader Abudbakar Shekau.

June 4—Mali—A ­would-be jihadi suicide bomber set off his explosives without harming anyone else in the town of Kidal, a stronghold of Tuareg MNLA rebels. A suicide bomber succeeded in killing 7 people in Kidal in February, and another killed 3 Chadian soldiers in April. It was not clear whom the terrorist was targeting. The bomb went off near the Kidal home of an MNLA officer, and not far from the former home of Iyad Ag Ghaly, head of Ansar Dine.

June 5—Iraq—Shi’ite gunmen ambushed travelers at a fake checkpoint near Nukhaib, west of Karbala, in mainly Sunni Anbar Province, killing 14 people. The gunmen checked the travelers’ identification to determine their sect based on their names, then shot them in the head, killing police officers, soldiers, and civilian residents of Karbala. No one claimed credit.

June 5—Afghanistan—In Kandahar Province, the Taliban beheaded Khan, 16-year-old son of Abdul Wahab, in Maiwant District. Khan often visited an Afghan Local Police checkpoint. He visited a shrine in a ­Taliban-held area, where he was grabbed by the terrorists.

June 6—Iraq—A suicide bomber crashed a car bomb into the headquarters of a police commando unit in Taji, killing 7 police officers and wounding a dozen others.

A car bomb went off at a livestock market in Nahrawan, a southeastern Baghdad suburb, killing 4 civilians and wounding 22.

A car bomb exploded in a Bayaa neighborhood, killing 3 and wounding 11.

June 6—Afghanistan—A Taliban suicide truck bomber killed 7 Georgian soldiers on the perimeter of an international military base in Helmand Province. The victims belonged to the 42nd Battalion of the 4th Infantry, which deployed in April. 13060601

June 6—Afghanistan—The United Nations announced that since January 1, some 3,092 civilians were killed, the vast majority due to Taliban attacks. More than 20 percent of the casualties were children.

June 6—Tunisia—A roadside bomb killed 2 Tuni­sian soldiers searching for ­al-Qaeda–linked terrorists in the mountains near the Algerian border.

June 6—Syria—French reporters Didier Francois and Edouard Elias were kidnapped while working in Syria. They remained missing as of early October 2013. 13060602

June 7—Iraq—Suicide bombers crashed their car bombs into a bus carrying Iranian pilgrims near Muqdadiyah and at a police checkpoint west of Baghdad, killing 19 people. In the morning bombing, the bus attack killed 11 Shi’ite pilgrims on their way to shrines in Najaf. In the evening bombing, 2 car bombs hit a major highway checkpoint between Fallujah and Ramadi in Anbar Province, killing 4 police officers and 4 civilians. 13060701

June 8—Afghanistan—Shortly after noon, a man wearing an Afghan National Army uniform got into an argument with a U.S. soldier in Paktika, then opened fire, killing 2 U.S. soldiers and an American civilian in another “insider” attack. The Americans killed the gunman. He apparently had no links to the insurgency. Another Afghan was detained after the shooting. 13060801

June 8—Afghanistan—An 11-year-old Afghan child threw a hand grenade at an Italian training team in a NATO convoy in Farah Province, killing an Italian military captain and wounding 3 others. The Taliban hailed the attack, but did not take credit. 13060802

June 8—Syria—A suicide bomber set off his car in Adawiya, an Alawite neighborhood in Homs, killing 7 people.

June 8—Iraq—A car bomb exploded on a commercial street in Baghdad’s ­al-Ameen district, killing 4 and injuring 18.

A car bomb struck a police convoy in Mosul, killing a police officer.

June 8—Nigeria—Jihadis who had hidden their assault rifles in a coffin attacked vigilantes in Mai­du­guri, killing 13 people before being shot by authorities.

June 8—Yemen—Dutch reporter Judith Spiegel and partner Boudewijn Berendsen were kidnapped in Sana’a. Spiegel worked for national broadcaster NOS and the newspaper NRC Handelsblad. The kidnappers released an online video in which Spiegel said, “Now there’s another 10 days to do something…. These people are armed. If no solution is found after 10 days, they’ll shoot us dead.” On December 10, 2013, the Dutch Foreign Ministry said the 2 hostages had been released unharmed during the previous few days near the Dutch Embassy. 13060803

June 9—Internet—Al-Qaeda leader Ayman ­al-Zawahiri issued an online letter via al-Jazeera TV in which he declared that the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant should be abolished and the 2 franchises in Syria and Iraq should remain independent. Abu Mohammad ­al-Golani would run the al Nusrah Front in Syria while Abu Bakr ­al-Baghdadi would continue to run things in Iraq. Days later, al-Baghdadi questioned the letter’s authenticity, and said the merger continued: “I chose the command of God over the command that runs against it in the letter.”

June 10—Iraq—Two car bombers and a suicide bomber set off their explosives at a grocery market in a Shi’ite town—Jadidat ­al-Shatt in Diyala Province, 25 miles north of Baghdad—killing 13 people. Sunni jihadis were blamed. Bombings elsewhere brought the national total to 25 dead and dozens wounded.

June 10—Afghanistan—Seven Taliban terrorists attacked Kabul International Airport at 4:30 a.m., conducting a 4-hour gun battle that left only the terrorists dead. Two terrorists wore suicide vests and blew themselves up. The other 5 gunmen took refuge in buildings under construction before they were killed by authorities. A civilian woman and an elderly man were injured. Some of the terrorists wore security uniforms.

Six suicide bombers died before they could seize a government building in Zabul Province, but killed a police officer and wounded 19. A suicide car bomber set off his explosives at the entrance to the provincial council compound. A van with 5 other terrorists tried to come in. Some bombers wore police uniforms.

A bomb killed a NATO soldier in the east.

The Haqqani Network was suspected.

June 11—Iraq—Terrorists at a fake checkpoint shot 3 truck drivers in central Diyala Province. In Mosul, a bomb went off at a military convoy, killing 3 soldiers and 2 officers. A roadside bomb hit another convoy, killing a policeman. Sunni terrorists were suspected.

June 11—Afghanistan—A Taliban car bomb went off at the entrance to the Supreme Court in Kabul as employees were boarding buses at the end of the work day, killing 17 civilians and wounding 39. Five buses and several cars were destroyed. Many of the victims were women and children. The Taliban said the Court was committing “cruelty” against Afghans, enabling corruption, imprisoning religious scholars, ending the moratorium on the death penalty and hanging Taliban convicts, and giving free rein to the infidels. The Taliban said the bomber was Engineer Abdul Wajid.

June 11—U.S.—The Department of the Treasury blacklisted 4 West ­Africa–based Lebanese fund raisers who had brought in millions of dollars for Hizballah, freezing their U.S. assets and banning Americans from dealing with them. The 4 had worked in Sierra Leone, Senegal, Ivory Coast and Gambia, and were identified as Ali Ibrahim ­al-Watfa, Abbas Loutfe Fawaz, Ali Ahmad Chehade and Hicham Nmer Khanafer, who “organized ­fund-raising efforts, recruited members, and in some cases styled themselves as ambassadors of Hizballah’s Foreign Relations Department.”

June 11—Yemen—The government announced that terrorists had attacked power lines in Marib Province, causing a 2-day blackout in 5 provinces, Taiz and Sana’a. Rebel tribes were suspected.

June 13—Yemen—A Dutch couple were kidnapped from Sana’a. Police followed up on a phone call regarding the couple, breaking down the door to their apartment after no one answered on June 15. Police found a pet dog.

June 13—Afghanistan—Authorities found the bodies of 6 Afghan policemen who were shot to death at their checkpoint in the south. Two other policemen, along with their vehicles and weapons, were missing; some observers suggested that they had killed their colleagues.

June 14—Guatemala—During the night, heavily armed gunmen ambushed 8 Guatemalan police officers in Salcaja, 120 miles west of Guatemala City.

June 15—Pakistan—The Baluchistan Liberation Army bombed the Ziarat, Baluchistan home of Quaid e Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, founder of the country, killing a police officer and wounding an employee.

June 15—Pakistan—Lashkar-e-Jhangvi terrorists bombed a bus parked at the inside of Sardar Bahadur Khan Women’s University, killing 11 female university instructors and wounding more than 20 people who were sent to the Dolan Medical College in Quetta. All of the victims were teachers and students. Soon after, a bomb went off near the hospital’s emergency room. Several gunmen took over the hospital, seizing several hundred hostages, including patients, physicians, and nurses. Eleven people, including 4 terrorists, were killed during the siege. The gunmen killed 3 guards and the deputy commissioner of Quetta. Three nurses were killed in the crossfire. Two terrorists set off their suicide bombs; 2 others died in the gun battle. Lashkar said it was avenging the recent killing of colleagues near Quetta.

June 15—Iraq—Several Katyusha rockets were fired at Camp Liberty, which houses Iranian exiles affiliated with the ­Mujahideen-e Khalq, near Baghdad Airport, killing 3 people, including residents Kol­thom Serahati and Javad Naghashan and an Iraqi and wounding 27, including at least 9 Iranians and 7 Iraqis. 13061501

June 15—Libya—Just after midnight, hundreds of gunmen in civilian garb attacked 6 security buildings and military outposts in Benghazi, including the National Security Directorate, killing 6 soldiers affiliated with the elite Saaqa unit and injuring 11 people, including some terrorists. The attackers used rocket propelled grenades, knives, explosives thrown onto rooftops, and sniper tactics. Four soldiers died from gunshot wounds to the head; 2 others were killed by knives. The 1st Infantry Brigade was forced out of its headquarters. Two army vehicles were destroyed and a security building was burned down. The fighting spread to the neighborhood around the international airport, which was closed down as a precaution. No one claimed credit. Jihadis were blamed.

June 15—Afghanistan—A roadside bomb went off under a police van in Paktika Province, killing 5 police and wounding 7 other police en route to a training session in Janikahil District for exercises between the Afghan National Police and the Afghan Local Police. Among the dead were 2 National Police and 3 Local Police.

June 16—Iraq—A bomb went off in a parked car in the morning in Kut, killing 3 and wounding 14. A second car bomb in the Kut suburbs hit a group of construction workers, killing 2 and wounding 2.

A car bomb went off on a busy street in Basra; a second car bomb went off after the first responders arrived, killing 6 people.

An hour later, 2 parked cars exploded in 2 Nasi­riyah neighborhoods, killing one and wounding 17.

Car bombs in Wasit and Babil Provinces killed 4 and wounded 53.

Two civilians died and 9 were wounded by a car bombing in a Mahmudiyah market.

A bomb went off at a Najaf produce market, killing 8 and wounding 28.

A roadside bomb and a car bomb went off in Madaen, killing 5 and wounding 14.

A car bomb went off in a Hilla parking lot, killing one and wounding 9.

Gunmen fired on Mosul police guarding an oil pipeline, killing 4 and wounding 5.

A roadside bomb went off in Tuz Khormato, killing 2 police officers and wounding another on patrol.

A suicide bomber walked into a southeastern Baghdad café, killing 6 men and wounding 22 people, among them Ali Ahmed, who observed “Let the world see what’s happening to us. We cannot even sit in a simple café. I hate my life!”

June 16—Lebanon—Gunmen ambushed and killed 4 Shi’ite Lebanese men near the Syrian border in northern Beqaa Valley. The bodies were found in an SUV in a hilly area near Ras Baalbek and ­al-Qaa. Their families blamed residents of the Sunni majority town of Arsal. The victims belonged to Shi’ite clans of Jaafar and Amhaz. Among the dead was Hussein Amhaz. Hizballah and Amal representatives said the killings were conducted by “paid agents looking to ignite strikes in the region using artificial pretexts.”

June 16—Pakistan—Terrorists shot to death 2 polio vaccination workers—a school teacher and a government health worker—in Swabi District.

June 16—Worldwide—National Security Agency Director General Keith Alexander announced that NSA data collection programs had thwarted terrorist plots in the U.S. and more than 20 other countries. Among the plots was Najibullah Zazi’s plan in 2009 to bomb the New York City subways. Two days later, Robert S. Litt, General Counsel of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and NSA Director Alexander told the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence that more than 50 plots had been disrupted. At least 10 of the plots were in the U.S. Deputy FBI Director Sean Joyce said the plots included a plan by a Kansas City, Missouri, man, Khalid Ouazzani, to bomb the New York Stock Exchange and an attempt by a San Diego man to send money to al-Shabaab. On June 27, General Alexander said 42 terrorist plots were disrupted and 12 individuals providing material support to terrorists were identified. Thirteen of the cases had a “homeland nexus.” Some 25 cases occurred in Europe, 11 in Asia, 5 in Africa.

June 16—Nigeria—Boko Haram attacked the Government Secondary School in Damaturu, killing 7 students and 2 teachers. Two terrorists also died.

Three soldiers were critically wounded in a Boko Haram attack on the military in Damaturu; 3 terrorists were arrested.

June 17—Afghanistan—A suicide car bomber sent off his explosives at the convoy of Helmand Province Police Chief Mohammad Nabi Elham, who was slightly wounded as he was en route to his Lashkar Gah office at 7 a.m. The bombing wounded 3 officers.

June 17—Afghanistan—At 2:30 a.m., the Taliban fired RPGs and heavy machine guns into a convoy carrying goods to Kabul on the main highway 3 miles east of the capital. Grenades hit 2 trucks. Three drivers were killed and 2 others injured.

June 17—Iraq—Two bombs in Taji and one in Fallujah killed 15 people.

June 18—Afghanistan—A bomb exploded near the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission in the ­Pul-e-Surkh area in western Kabul, destroying a police vehicle and injuring 30 people, including several guards. The bomb was aimed at the convoy of Second Vice President Mohammed Mohaqiq, leader of the Hazara ethnic group.

June 18—Iraq—Two suicide bombers set off their explosives at a Shi’ite mosque in the northern Qahri neighborhood of Baghdad, killing 37 and wounding 55. One hit a checkpoint, killing 3 guards, while another walked in during prayers. Among the dead was Sattar Jabbar, a male college student.

A roadside bomb aimed at a police patrol in western Baghdad killed 4 civilians.

Police killed 2 gunmen trying to blow up a Mosul polling station.

June 18—Pakistan—A suicide bomber hit a funeral in the northwest, killing 29 people and wounding more than 60, including Imran Mohmand, a newly elected provincial legislator who had been receiving threats. The funeral included prominent local officials mourning a local businessman killed in a feud in Khyber Pahktunkhwa Province. Many were aligned with the anti–Taliban Awami National Party.

June 19—U.S.—The FBI arrested Glendon Scott Crawford, 49, of Galway, New York, and Eric J. Feight, 54, of Hudson, New York, for conspiracy to provide support to terrorists by assembling a portable ­x-ray weapon to secretly sicken opponents of Israel. In 2012, Crawford asked Jewish organizations for funding and technological support, then in October 2012 went to North Carolina to get money from a senior Ku Klux Klansman. The FBI said the device would not work. They faced 15 years in prison. The FBI investigation began in April 2012. Crawford was an industrial mechanic for General Electric in Schenectady, New York. Feight was an outside GE contractor with mechanical and engineering skills. They met at work. Feight designed, built and tested the remote control. The industrial ­x-ray system would be ­truck-mounted.

June 19—Somalia—Al-Shabaab attacked the UN headquarters in Mogadishu. One attacker set off a pickup truck’s explosives at the entrance to the compound. Other terrorists wearing suicide vests entered the compound. Somali and African Union forces surrounded the building and conducted an ­hour-long gun battle with the terrorists. Seven terrorists, 4 foreign UN employees (including 2 Kenyans), 2 South Africans with the defense equipment manufacturer Denel Mechem, 4 Somali security officers working at the UN building, and 3 female civilians died and 15 other people were wounded. During the attack, al-Shabaab’s Martyrdom Brigade posted on Twitter, “are now in complete control of the entire compound and the battle is still ongoing. Inside the compound are several clueless foreigners who were lulled into a false sense of security by a strong disinformation campaign!” 13061901

June 19—Libya—The ­al-Hadqaiq police station in downtown Benghazi was flattened by a 3 a.m. bombing attack that caused no casualties.

June 19—Iraq—A suicide bomber hit a Ramadi ­ballot-counting center after polls closed, killing 7 people and injuring 5. Earlier, a mortar attack killed one person in Ramadi during polling.

June 20—Colombia—The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia announced on its website on July 20, 2013, that it had kidnapped Kevin Scott Sutay, an American who left the USMC 3 months earlier, in the Guaviare region, on June 20. He had served in Afghanistan during 2010–2011. The U.S. demanded his release. FARC said it would be willing to release him as a good faith gesture. The FARC said Sutay was wearing military fatigues and carrying surveillance equipment. The FARC said Sutay claimed to be an ­anti-mining and explosives specialist. His passport said he was born in New York City and arrived in Colombia on June 8 via Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama. On September 28, 2013, the Reverend Jesse Jackson accepted FARC’s request that he mediate the release. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos had earlier posted on Twitter that “only the Red Cross will be authorized to ­facilitate the handover of the North American kidnapped by the FARC. We will not allow a media spectacle.” On October 27, 2013, NBC News, AP and the Florida Times-Union reported that the FARC kidnappers released former U.S. Marine Kevin Scott Sutay to representatives of the governments of Cuba and Norway and delegates of the International Committee of the Red Cross. At 11:30 a.m., he was handed over to U.S. government officials at Bogota airport. On October 8, FARC posted on its website a description of Sutay as “a classic gringo, a ­gum-chewer and marijuana smoker, who with backpack on his back, blue jeans and a few dollars in his pocket lights out to know and travel the world.” 13062001

June 21—Pakistan—Three terrorists, including a suicide bomber, attacked a Shi’ite madrassa in Peshawar, leaving 15 dead and 28 injured. A guard wounded the suicide bomber, who nonetheless got inside and set off his explosives. Sunni terrorists were suspected.

The Taliban claimed credit when 4 gunmen on 2 motorcycles killed Muttahida Qaumi Movement politician Sajid Qureshi, 53, and his son, 27, along with a ­passer-by after Friday prayers in Karachi’s North Nazimbad neighborhood. The senior Qureshi had been elected in May 11 elections to represent North Nazimabad.

June 21—Ceuta—Police detained 8 suspected members of an ­al-Qaeda affiliated network that recruited individuals to conduct attacks in Syria

June 22—Iraq—A suicide bomber blew himself up after sunset at a Shi’ite mosque in Sabaa ­al-Bour, 20 miles north of Baghdad, killing 14 people and wound­ing 32.

A suicide car bomb hit a police patrol in ­al-Athba, killing 3 bystanders and a police officer and wounding 6 people.

Terrorists in Tuz Khormato fired from motorcycles on a civilian vehicle carrying 4 ­office-duty policemen, killing 3 and wounding another.

Gunmen attacked a Samarra police checkpoint, killing 2 police officers and wounding 4.

A bomb exploded in a Baghdad market, killing several civilians and wounding 9.

June 22—Afghanistan—The Taliban attacked Kunduz security checkpoints, killing 2 policemen. Some 18 terrorists were killed.

June 22—Syria—Gunmen kidnapped French journalists Nicolas Henin and Pierre Torres. On Octo-ber 9, 2013, French Prime Minister ­Jean-Marc Ayrault identified them in a Europe 1 radio interview. Henin worked for Le Point magazine and Arte television. Torres was photographing municipal elections in Raqqa. 13062201

June 22—Philippines—Abu Sayyaf kidnapped 2 ­Algerian-born Filipino sisters—Nadjoua and Linda Bansil—in Patikul in Sulu Province, where they were to make a documentary, “Cafe Armalite,” about poor coffee farmers in the region. The group demanded a ransom of 50 million pesos ($1.1 million). The hostages were often moved to different jungle camps and were fed rice, dried fish and roots. The sisters’ guards ran off when a military patrol approached, and they escaped. Authorities said they escaped with Juanita, a cat that had kept them company. Linda Basil, 37, told the AP that “I think I needed a pet because they say a pet makes you relax. It’s scary, there were times we heard mortar explosions but I always grabbed her first. I got used to that. I got attached to her.” On February 20, 2014, Philippine marines found the 2 before nightfall in Buhanginan village in Patikul town on Jolo island. 13062202

June 23—Pakistan—Around 1 a.m., 2 dozen gunmen wearing Frontier Constabulary paramilitary police uniforms broke into a remote mountain camp in Diamir district, ­Gilgit-Baltistan in the northwest and abducted 2 local guides, forcing them to bring them to where ­mountain-climbing foreign tourists could be found at the foot of the country’s ­second-highest peak, Nanga Parbat. The gunmen tied up the Pakistanis, then shot a Shi’ite Pakistani. The list of the dead conflicted, including claims that the terrorists had shot to death a Russian, 2 Chinese, a Nepalese, an American of Chinese origin and their Pakistani guide, 5 Ukrainians, 2 Slovakians and a Lithuanian; a wounded Chinese man escaped. ­Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan said an affiliate carried out the attack because the international community supports drone strikes. Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan credited the attack to the Taliban affiliate Jundul Hafsa. The group was also avenging the killing of Emir ­Wali-ur-Rehman in a drone strike in Waziristan on May 29. Nanga Parbat, at 26,660 feet, is the world’s 9th-highest mountain. The tourists’ camp was at 15,000 feet. Before dawn on February 27, 2015, 2 prisoners held in the murders tried to scale a wall in Gilgit prison. Guards killed one and rearrested another, but 2 others escaped. The 4 were arrested 6 months earlier and were awaiting trial. 13062301

June 23—Pakistan—A male terrorist threw acid in the face of sleeping Bushra Waiz, also known as Shazia Aziz, an 18-year-old ­Pashto-language singer, actress and theater artist, at her family home in Nowshera, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, critically injuring her in the right side of her face, right leg, arm and eye.

June 23—Syria—Suicide bombers set off a car bomb in Damascus, killing 8 people.

June 23—Iraq—Bombers killed 11 people, including 2 Turkmen leaders. 13062302

June 24—Pakistan—Gunmen on motorcycles shot to death police deputy superintendent Amanullah Khan and his driver in Peshawar. Khan was the chief of Peshawar’s traffic police. The Pakistani Taliban was suspected.

June 24—Iraq—Two bombs went off during the night near a market in Baghdad’s Shi’te Husseiniyah neighborhood, killing 10 and wounding 30. The second bomb was aimed at first responders.

Two car bombs exploded within minutes in the Jihad neighborhood of Baghdad, killing 9 and wounding 21.

A car bomb exploded near shops in the Shi’ite area of ­al-Shura ­al-Rabeaa in Baghdad, killing 4 and wounding 9.

A car bomb exploded near a Karrada supermarket, killing 5 and wounding 16.

A car bomb went off after sunset in a Nahrawan outdoor market, killing 4 and wounding 15.

A car bomb went off in New Baghdad, killing 3 and injuring 10. A second car bomb at a local bus stop killed 2 and wounded 8.

A car bomb in the ­Christian-Shi’ite neighborhood of Garage ­al-Amana in southeastern Baghdad killed 2 people.

A suicide car bomber crashed into an army patrol in Mosul, killing a soldier and a police officer and injuring 7, including 2 civilians.

A suicide bomber set off a suicide belt inside a Tikrit university campus, killing a police officer.

June 24–25—France—Police detained 9 people suspected of plotting jihadi raids or having ties to jihadi networks. Police in the Paris suburbs on June 24 arrested 6 men aged 22 to 38 deemed “particularly dangerous” and intending to conduct terrorist attacks. They may have converted to Islam while in prison. They were known “for acts linked to organized crime” and were believed to have been involved in a robbery. Domestic intelligence agents arrested 3 people in the south on June 25.

June 25—Germany/Belgium—German police received a tip about an Islamist plot by 2 Tunisian men who were going to conduct terrorist attacks using ­remote-controlled model airplanes carrying explosives. Authorities conducted raids in 9 locations in southern Germany and Belgium. The 2 Tuni­sians were targets of the raids around Stuttgart and in Belgium. Raids in Munich and Stuttgart swept up 4 contacts of the Tunisian duo, who were suspected of ­financing terrorist activities. Raids also were conducted in Saxony.

June 25—Lebanon—A roadside bomb exploded near Barr Elias, near the Syrian border crossing point of Masnaa, causing no casualties.

June 25—Iraq—At least 42 people died and dozens were wounded nationwide in terrorist attacks.

A suicide bomber set off his explosives amongst Turkmen demonstrators in Tuz Khormato, killing 16 and wounding 53, including the governor of the province and the vice president of the Turkmen Front party.

A suicide bomber set off his explosive belt in a popular Mosul café, killing 10 and wounding 18.

A bomb hit a bus carrying Shi’ite pilgrims heading to Karbala, killing 6 and wounding 53 in Babel Province.

Gunmen fired on an eastern Baghdad church, wounding 3 police guards. 13062501

June 25—Afghanistan—At 7:45 a.m., a minibus hit a bomb buried in a road in Kandahar, killing 8 women, 2 children, and a man and wounding 2 men. All of the victims were relatives.

June 25—Afghanistan—At 6:30 a.m., gunmen attacked the Presidential palace in Kabul. The gunmen were wearing military uniforms that resembled those of the International Security Assistance Force and carried fake documents. All 5 terrorists were killed, some via suicide bombings and some via government gunfire. Three Afghan security guards died in the 90-minute gun battle. The Taliban said it was targeting the palace, the Afghan Defense Ministry, and an alleged CIA outpost at the Ariana Hotel. The gunmen drove 2 armored vehicles that had ISAF emblems. One of the vehicles got past a checkpoint. 13062502

June 25—Dubai—Abbas Yazdi, 44, a British businessman of Iranian origin, was believed to have been kidnapped. On January 9, 2014, Dubai authorities arrested 3 Iranians in connection with the disappearance. 13062503

June 26—Pakistan—The Pakistani Taliban set off a remotely detonated bomb on a motorcycle during rush hour traffic against the convoy of senior antiterrorism Judge Maqbool Baqir in Karachi, severely injuring him and killing 6 police officers, a Pakistan Ranger, his driver, and a bystander and wounding 15, including policemen and Rangers. He had earlier served as head of the Antiterrorism Court in Rawal­pindi, having recently moved to the Sindh High Court in Karachi. Taliban spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan said “we attacked the judge in Karachi as he was taking decisions against Shariah and he was harmful for mujahideen.”

June 27—Afghanistan—The Taliban ambushed a national police patrol in Herat, killing a commander and 4 of his men.

Police ambushed Taliban gunmen in Ghazni Province, killing 5.

June 27—Pakistan—A bomb went off in the morning, killing 2 people and wounding 5 in Kuchlak, 13 miles from Quetta.

June 27—Iraq—Bombers killed 36 people watching a Confederations Cup semifinal in cafes in and around Baghdad. The worst bombing killed 20 people in Baqubah. Other bombs went off in Baghdad and Jbala.

June 27—Nigeria—Terrorists killed a soldier and kidnapped 3 others in Potiskum, a Boko Haram stronghold.

June 28—Nigeria—Soldiers killed 20 jihadis and lost 2 of their own in an ­hours-long ­shoot-out near Maiduguri.

June 28—Iraq—A bomb went off at a militia checkpoint in Zangoura staffed by members of the Sahwa Sunni militia, killing 11.

A suicide car bomber hit a funeral in Dujail for a Shi’ite tribal leader, killing 4.

Two bombs went off at a neighborhood football stadium in Madaen, killing 5 soccer players.

A roadside bomb near a bakery in west Baghdad killed 3 people.

A bomb killed a senior Iraqi police officer. A second bomb went off 5 minutes later, killing 10 people in Ramadi.

June 29—Iraq—A bomb went off at an Abu Ghraib outdoor market, killing 4 and wounding 12.

Gunmen fired silenced guns and killed 3 ­off-duty police officers in a ­drive-by shooting near Fallujah.

A nighttime bomb in Fadhil in Baghdad killed 4 people and wounding 17 watching a soccer game.

June 29—Thailand—A 60-kilogram roadside bomb hit a military truck carrying 10 soldiers on patrol in a village in Yala Province’s Krong Pinang District. The bomb killed 8 soldiers and wounded 2 officers and 2 villagers on a motorcycle. Jihadis were suspected.

June 30—Syria—Terrorists posted an Internet video of rebels beheading 3 Christians, including a Catholic priest.

June 30—Iraq—A bomb went off near a Nahra­wan yard where people were playing soccer, killing 12 and wounding 24.

The UN Mission to Iraq announced in early July that 761 Iraqis were killed and 1,771 Iraqis were wounded in terrorist attacks during June.

June 30—Pakistan—A suicide bomber set off his explosives near a Quetta mosque during the evening, killing 28 people, including 2 women and several minors, and wounding 65. ­Lashkar-e-Jhangvi was suspected. The bombing came during a visit by British Prime Minister David Cameron to Islamabad. A terrorist set off a hand grenade at the mosque; when first responders arrived, the suicide bomber set off his explosives.

A car bomb went off in the Peshawar suburbs near a police station and a market area as a Frontier Corps convoy passed by, killing 17 civilians and wounding 20, including 3 Frontier Corps militia members.

A roadside bomb hit a military convoy in Miranshah, North Waziristan, killing 4 soldiers and wounding 19 people.

June—Afghanistan—In early July, the Interior Ministry announced that 299 police were killed and 618 wounded in terrorist attacks in June. Some 753 terrorists were killed, as were 180 civilians, and more than 300 terrorists were arrested in June.

July—Greece—A letter bomb was intercepted at the Association of Prosecuting Magistrates. A clerk handed it over to police. Bomb disposal experts destroyed the device.

July—Rwanda—A grenade exploded in Kigali. Political dissidents were suspected.

July—Tunisia—The first car bomb ever in Tunis exploded in late July, causing no injuries.

July—Syria—Al-Qaeda in Iraq and ­Al-Sham rebels with links to al-Qaeda kidnapped hundreds of Kurds. They released them on July 21 after battles with Kurdish militiamen in Tal Abyad, on the ­Syrian-Turkish border. The swap obtained the release of a rebel leader, Abu Musab.

July—Syria—The Islamic State was suspected when masked gunmen kidnapped Polish photojournalist Marcin Suder, 37, who was working for a Polish photo agency in Sarqib. He was passed among several groups during the next 4 months before he escaped on October 31, 2013, and returned to Poland. Suder’s mother, Krystyna Jarosz, told radio RMF FM that he initially was held in a dark basement without food, and had some unidentified marks on his body. The New York Times quoted him on October 26, 2014, as recalling “They checked my camera. They checked my tablet. Then they undressed me completely. I was naked. They looked to see if there was a GPS chip under my skin or in my clothes. Then they started beating me. They Googled ‘Marcin Suder and CIA,’ ‘Marcin Suder and KGB.’ They accused me of being a spy.” He said they spoke English, referring to him as “naughty.” 13079901

July—Syria—As of early March 2014, Italian Jesuit priest Father Paolo Dall’Oglio, who went missing in July after traveling to meet militants in Raqqa, had not been heard from. 13079902

July—Yemen—AQAP kidnapped an Iranian embassy official from his car in Sana’a, forced him into their vehicle, and fled. No one claimed credit, but ­al-Qaeda–linked gunmen were suspected. The official IRNA news agency on March 5, 2015, said deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian announced that intelligence officers undertook a “difficult and complicated operation” to rescue Nour Ah­mad Nikbakht from the “hands of terrorists.” He said Iran had not given into the kidnappers’ demands. 13079903

July 1—Afghanistan—Security forces shot to death a ­would-be suicide bomber wearing a military uniform as he approved the National Directorate of Security office in ­Chara-i-Sidarat, Kabul in the morning.

July 1—Iraq—The ­bullet-riddled bodies of 8 Sunni Muslim Sahwa militiamen who had been kidnapped 2 days earlier were found in an orchard near Mishahda. Some had their hands tied behind their backs.

Just after sunset, a suicide bomber set off his explosive belt inside a Shi’ite mosque conducting a funeral in Muqdadiyah, killing 9 and wounding 40.

A suicide bomber set off his explosives at a Baqouba café, killing 8 and wounding 20.

July 1—Canada—Royal Canadian Mounted Police announced the arrest of John Nuttall and Amanda Korody, in Abbotsford, British Columbia. The duo had planned to set off ­pressure-cooker bombs at BC’s provincial legislature headquarters on Canada Day, July 1, when thousands of people would have been at the scene. The RCMP had them under surveillance since February. Nuttall had converted to Islam several years earlier, according to his former attorney, Tom Morino. The bombs were found outside the legislature. The duo were charged with conspiracy, facilitating a terrorist activity, and making an explosive device. Nuttall had previous convictions for mischief and assault. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service provided a tip. On January 13, 2015, AP reported that the duo pleaded not guilty to knowingly facilitating a terrorist activity, conspiracy and making or possessing an explosive device by planting the bombs. Jury selection began in Vancouver. Police said the duo were ­self-radicalized, inspired by al-Qaeda ideology. On February 2, 2015, AP reported that John Nuttall and Amanda Korody pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiring to commit murder, conspiring to place explosives on behalf of a terrorist group, facilitating terrorist activity and possessing explosives on behalf of a terrorist group. A prosecutor said they claimed to be the sole members of ­al-Qaeda Canada.

July 2—Iraq—Two parked car bombs went off at car dealers and a commercial area in Baghdad’s northern Shaab neighborhood, killing 9 people, including a policeman, and injuring 24 other people.

A bomb went off in a Shula open air market in Baghdad; a second bomb caught the first responders, killing 10 civilians and 2 policemen and wounding 27 people.

A car bomb went off in Kamaliya, an eastern Baghdad suburb, killing 5 and wounding 16.

A car bomb in southern Dora, Baghdad killed 4 and wounded 15.

A car bomb killed 2 civilians and wounded a dozen in the Sunni neighborhood of Amiriyah, Baghdad.

A car bomb went off in Baghdad’s Hurriyah neighborhood, killing 3 and injuring 13.

An ­anti–al-Qaeda Sunni Sahwa militiaman died and 2 others were injured when a bomb under their car went off in the western Baghdad suburb of Abu Ghraib.

Terrorists conducted a gun battle with police in Baaj, near the Syrian border, leaving 4 policemen and 7 terrorists dead and 5 police wounded.

A car bomb killed 3 civilians and wounded 6 others in Abu Ghraib.

Gunmen in a ­drive-by shooting killed a barber in Baghdad.

A bomb hidden under his car killed a physician in Baghdad.

Two car bombs went off outside a Basra hotel that hosts foreign investors, wounding 3 Iraqi civilians.

July 2—Afghanistan—The Taliban set off a car bomb at 4:30 a.m. at the gate to a camp of foreign military contractors in Kabul, killing 2 truck drivers waiting to enter the area, then fired small arms at the guards, killing 4 Nepalese contractor guards, an Afghan guard, and 2 civilians. Authorities killed the 4 terrorists, including 3 ­would-be suicide bombers. The group attacked the warehouse that serves as the Ka­bul headquarters of No Lemon, a firm that provides vehicle maintenance for the international military coalition. Zabihullah Mijahid, Taliban spokesman, said the group was targeting the ­Netherlands-based Supreme Court, the U.S. military’s main food supplier in the country. 13070201

July 2—Afghanistan—District Police Commander Habinul Rahman and 3 other police officers were killed when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in the north.

July 3—Pakistan—At dawn, terrorists attacked a police post 15 miles southeast of Peshawar, killing 6 police officers and wounding 10. Police returned fire, killing several terrorists.

July 3—Russia—Chechen jihadi leader Doku Uma­rov posted an Internet video at Kavkaz Center news agency saying that it was the duty of Muslims in the North Caucasus to disrupt the 2014 Sochi Olympics and that he would use “maximum force” to prevent the Games. He observed, “They plan to hold the Olympics on the bones of our ancestors, on the bones of many, many dead Muslims, buried on the territory of our land on the Black Sea. We as mujahideen are obliged not to permit that, using any methods allowed us by the almighty Allah.” He said the Olympics would be the equivalent of hosting “satanic dances” on Muslim graves.

July 3—Iraq—A roadside bomb in Nahrawan, a southeastern Baghdad suburb, killed 7 civilians.

The bodies of 3 workers shot in the head were found in a house under construction in southeastern Zafaraniyah, Baghdad.

Two suicide bombers crashed their cars into 2 ­military barricades in Mosul, killing 4 soldiers and a civilian.

Two ­anti–al-Qaeda Sunni fighters died when a roadside bomb hit their car in Abu Ghraib, Baghdad.

July 3—Pakistan—Terrorists attacked a police post 15 miles southeast of Peshawar, killing 6 officers.

July 3—U.S.—Authorities arrested Justin Jasper, 22, a ­self-employed journalist from Las Vegas, near the University of Washington, and found that his truck contained 6 firebombs, a ­bolt-action rifle, a ­double-barreled shotgun, several knives, maps to 3 college campuses—the University of Washington, Seattle University, and South Seattle Community College—and a podcast in which he said he planned to do something “somewhere in the Western United States” to support the “Brazilian Revolution” protestors demanding reform in Brazil. “I’m going to make sure people understand and notice it.” On July 5, King County Judge Arthur R. Chapman in Seattle set a $2 million bail, saying he was a flight risk and a threat to the community. Montana authorities said Jasper stole a pickup truck and guns from Erik Henderson, a truck driver in Butte who had let Jasper stay in his residence for a month. The trucker returned from an 11-day trip to find the items and his body armor—a souvenir from his work as a contract convoy trucker in Iraq—missing. Henderson said Jasper claimed to be an “anarchist” concerned about the chemical industry, genetically altered foods, and voting rights.

July 4—Iraq—A suicide bomber crashed his car into a police patrol in Tuz Khormato, killing 2 police and wounding 4 police and 15 civilians.

July 4—Afghanistan—A roadside bomb killed 2 schoolboys on their way home from school in Paktika Province.

A roadside bomb killed 4 girls, aged 10–12 years, who had been sent by their families to fetch water at a river for a wedding near Lashkar Gah, Helmand Province.

Gunmen shot to death a police inspector on her way to work in Lashkar Gah.

July 5—Afghanistan—A uniformed suicide bomber set off his explosives at a police dining hall on a base in Tarin Kowt, Uruzgan Province’s capital, killing 12 people. Authorities said they had preliminary indications that the bomber was aided by an insider.

A border police checkpoint commander and a civilian died in a suicide bombing at a border checkpoint at Spin Boldak in Kandahar Province. A police officer and 7 civilians were wounded.

July 5—Iraq—A female suicide bomber hit evening prayers at the Husseinieh Ali Basha mosque in Baghdad’s Kiraiyat (variant Graiaat) neighborhood, killing 15.

A car bomb went off near a Shi’ite protest camp in Samarra, killing 7. The protests were organized by Adnan ­al-Muhana, who called on Sunnis to follow the Egyptian example.

July 5—Ireland—Police charged 8 people with membership in the Irish Republican Army. A raid on a meeting of the group’s Dublin membership rounded up leaders of the New IRA splinter group.

July 6—Nigeria—Boko Haram terrorists attacked the 1,200-student Government Secondary School, a boarding school in Mamudo village, 3 miles from Potiskum town, at 3 a.m., shooting to death and burning alive 29 students and Mohammed Musa, an English teacher, who was shot in the chest. Farmer Malam Abdullahi said his 10-year-old son was shot in the back while trying to run away, and his 12-year-old son was shot in the chest. Both died. He said he would take his 3 younger boys out of a nearby school. Among the injured was Musa Hassan, 15, who said that the children were sleeping when the attack began. A gunshot blew off the 4 fingers of his right hand. The terrorists then poured gasoline from jerry cans they had carried onto the school’s administrative block and one of the hostels. Dozens of children escaped into the bush. The next day, Yobe State Governor Ibrahim Gaidam ordered all schools closed to avoid jihadi attacks.

July 6—Pakistan—A time bomb went off at 11 p.m. alongside a deep freezer outside a restaurant at a Lahore bazaar, killing 4 and injuring 38.

July 6—Yemen—A roadside bomb hit a military car on morning patrol in Sanaa’s ­al-Hasaba District, killing 3 soldiers and injuring 2 others.

July 7—India—Eight bombs went off at 3 Buddhist sites in and around the famous 12-acre Mahabodhi Buddhist temple complex in Bihar State; 4 of the bombs went off in the complex. The Indian Mujahideen was suspected. A 50-year-old Tibetan and a 30-year-old Myanmar national were hurt. The temple, designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage site, features the Bodhi Tree, where Buddha was believed to have attained enlightenment. Four bombs went off inside the temple complex; 3 hit a nearby monastery, and one went off at a statute of Buddha. Two other bombs were defused. On July 8, authorities arrested one suspect and prepared sketches of 2 others. 13070701

July 7—UK—The government ended a 10-year court battle when it deported Omar Mahmoud Mohammed Othman, alias Abu Qatada, 53, to face terrorism charges in Jordan. A plane chartered by the British government flew from a military airfield outside London, 25 miles from Belmarsh Prison, where he had been kept. A new bilateral ­anti-torture treaty cleared the way for the deportation. Jordanian prosecutors charged him with twice conspiring to carry out terrorist attacks in Jordan—a foiled plot against the American school in Amman in 1999 and a plot targeting U.S. and Israeli tourists and Western diplomats during the 2000 New Year’s celebrations. He had been convicted in absentia years earlier and sentenced to life in prison. The sentences were suspended and he was to receive a new trial. He was represented by attorney Tayseer Thiab, who submitted a not guilty plea. Abu Qatada was ordered held for 15 days at Muwaqqar I prison in Sahab, a southeastern industrial suburb of Amman, pending further questioning.

July 7—Iraq—Gunmen stopped a policeman’s family driving home from a wedding near Musayyib. They killed the policeman, his parents, wife and 2 young children, and injured an 8-year-old child.

July 8—Pakistan—A suicide bomber on a motorcycle attacked the vehicle of Malik Habibullah Khan, a ­pro-government tribal elder who was not in the vehicle at the time, killing Khan’s brother and a guard and wounding 9 people in the Hangu District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province. The Pakistani Taliban was suspected.

July 8—Iraq—A bomb exploded near a Madain youth center, killing 6 and wounding 3.

A car bomb went off in a Mosul commercial area, killing a civilian and wounding 5.

A parked car bomb exploded in Mosul, killing 5 and wounding 7.

Gunmen shot to death a police officer, a provincial spokesman and a civilian in separate attacks in Mosul.

July 8—Afghanistan—A roadside bomb in Uruzgan Province killed 2 police and wounded 4 others.

July 9—Afghanistan—At 10:30 a.m., in another insider attack, Afghan soldier Lamber Khan fired from a tower at Kandahar Air Field at a passing convoy of Slovakian coalition vehicles, killing one person and wounding 6 others. Authorities later said the 5-year veteran was in contact with the Taliban. He escaped the morning of July 14, after one of his soldier guards created a ruse to spirit him out through a military hospital. The confederate escaped with him. The duo hailed from Jalalabad.

July 9—Afghanistan—A roadside bomb exploded against a cart in the Obei district of Herat Province, killing 18 people, including 12 women, one man and 4 children (some reports said 8 women and 8 children).

A roadside bomb exploded near a taxi in Helmand, killing 3 and wounding 2.

Two gunmen riding on a motorcycle shot to death a prominent tribal leader/government official in Uruzgan Province as he walked through the capital city.

July 9—Lebanon—A car bomb exploded at 11 a.m. in a parking lot next to a supermarket and the Islamic Cooperation Center in Dahya’s Bir ­al-Abed area, a ­Hizballah-controlled section of the southern Beirut suburbs, injuring 53 people. No one claimed credit for the bomb, which went off near Hizballah’s security square. The Free Syrian Army Battalion Brigade 313-Special Missions’ spokesman, Osama ­al-Homsi, later claimed credit. The group said “we will strike gatherings of the Lebanese [Hizballah] everywhere in Lebanese territory, and we will hunt down the remnants of this terrorist unit in any country until they cease their participation in the shedding of Syrian blood.” 13070901

July 9—Russia—Gunmen shot to death journalist Akhmednabi Akhmednabiyev, 53, deputy editor of the independent daily Novoye Delo, in Makhachkala, Dagestan Republic. He had survived a January 2013 assassination attempt in the same area, 50 yards from his house outside Makhachkala. The gunmen fired several shots into his car, hitting him in the head. He was the 17th journalist to be assassinated or die under suspicious circumstances in Dagestan since 1993. His name was on a hit list of people accused of supporting Islamist militants.

July 9—Somalia—Al-Shabaab set off a bomb against a police vehicle in Mogadishu, wounding 5 police officers. ­Al-Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab credited “a ­well-timed remotely controlled bomb.”

July 9—Internet—Al-Qaeda ­American-born spokes­man Adam Gadahn said in an ­hour-long ­as-Sahab video that Syria is the next battleground for jihadis. “My brothers in Syria must realize and be certain that their battle is basically and fundamentally with the Jews and those who support them from the states of the Crusader West and their agents like the Syrian regime and similar parties.” Syrian jihadis must “place Jerusalem, Jaffa, Gaza, Hebron, the Golan, and Haifa before your eyes, and hold on to the weapons and munitions which are in your hands, and do not hand them over to anyone, even after the fall of the regime, for the fall of the regime will be followed by battles and victories. And do not put aside your weapons until you have liberated all of Palestine from the sea to the river and made the banner of Islam fly high over all of the countries of the Levant.” He said jihadis should not support efforts by the U.S., France, UK, Russia, Israel and the UN to preserve their interests in Syria, using regime defectors and former government officials in a post–Assad regime. Jihadis should not allow arms support from Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Gulf states to coopt Syrian rebels. “Therefore, I call on all of the armed brigades, local coordination committees, revolutionary councils, and noble individuals in the political opposition to make it a sweeping revolution against the resolutions and interferences of America and its international community and to make their movement an Islamic jihad” to build a Muslim state, “seeing up of the Islamic state in the country of the Levant” … “A little patience and a few sacrifices, and then the war will come to an end, the dust of battle will lift, the clouds of smoke will disperse, the rivers of blood will recede, and you will see your country pervaded by security, peace, and the justice of Islam—God permitting—in direct opposition to the desires of the Crusaders and Jews.” Jihadis’ battle “is not with any other sect, group or state.”

July 10—Colombia—The Patriotic Union, founded in 1985 as the ­above-ground political party wing of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), regained its legal status after it was barred because it failed to run candidates in the 2002 elections.

July 10—Internet—Al-Qaeda spokesman Adam Yahiye Gadahn, alias Azzam ­al-Amriki, 34, posted an ­hour-long ­Arabic-language video entitled “To My Brothers in the Levant” and dated March 2013, in which he calls on Syrian rebels to turn down Western help and morph their insurgency into a global jihad. “I call on all of the armed brigades, local coordination committees, revolutionary councils and noble individuals in the political opposition to make it a sweeping revolution against the … interferences of America and its international community.” The rebels should “make their movement an Islamic jihad whose goal is to defend the weak and oppressed, set up the genuine Muslim state, and build the just and righteous society in which both Muslim and non–Muslim enjoys the justice of Islam.” “I salute the brigades, groupings and personalities which have declared their rejection of Western and Gulf conspiracies, their alignment with Islam and their coming together on the noble objective and ­long-sought-after hope, which is the setting up of the Islamic state in the country of the Levant.”

July 10—Iraq—During the evening, at the start of Ramadan, gunmen hit an army checkpoint near Barwana, killing 3 soldiers. The terrorists then went to a trailer used by oil industry police protecting a pipeline. The gunmen fired on the trailer and torched it, killing 11 police officers.

July 11—Afghanistan—A roadside bomb killed 3 civilians in a car in Helmand Province. A second bomb killed 2 police officers belonging to the Afghan National Civil Order Police (ANCOPs) rushing to help the victims. One police officer was wounded.

July 11—Pakistan—A 15-year-old suicide bomber pushed an ­explosives-laden refrigerator on a wheelbarrow to the Spin ­Boldak-Chaman border crossing, one of the 2 main border gates to Afghanistan, killing a civilian bystander and injuring 4 Pakistani border guards and 4 Pakistani civilians.

July 11—Indonesia—Nine terrorists were among more than 100 convicts who escaped from the ­medium-security Tanjung Gusta prison in Medan, across the Malacca Strait from Malaysia and southern Thailand. By July 13, police had recaptured 94, including 5 terrorists. Some of the terrorists had taken part in a terrorist training camp in Indonesia’s Aceh Province. Others made deadly bank raids in the region. Among those who escaped was Fadil Sadama, who had links a decade earlier to Jemaah Islamiyah (JI). He was serving an 11-year sentence for smuggling arms for terrorists, and had become a recruiter while in prison. He was believed to have been a leader of a foiled plan to attack the prison in 2010 to free other terrorists. Some of the escapees were linked to Jemaah Ansharut Tauhid, which was started by JI alumni.

July 11—Pakistan—A suicide bomber killed Bilal Shaikh, deputy chief of security, friend and former cellmate of Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari in Karachi. Shaikh was traveling home from President’s House when the bomb went off at a fruit stand at which he’d stopped. The terrorist set off his explosives next to the front passenger door before Shaikh could exit his white armored car, killing Shaikh, his driver, and another person, and wounding 12 people. Shaikh also handled security for Bilawal Zardari Bhutto, the president’s son and ­co-chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party.

July 11—Iraq—A suicide bomber crashed his motorcycle into a funeral tent for a Shi’ite family in Muqdadiyah, killing 13 people and wounding 24.

Two car bombs exploded outside a Shi’ite mosque in Dujail, killing 11 people and wounding 25.

Various other bombings across the country raised the death toll that day to 40.

July 12—Somalia—An ­al-Shabaab suicide bomber crashed his vehicle into an African Union peacekeeping convoy on Maka ­al-Mukarama road in Mogadishu, killing 8 civilians but no soldiers and wounding 8 other civilians, including 2 women. ­Al-Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab told Reuters that the convoy was carrying American officials. “We are behind the martyrdom explosion…. The Americans were our main target.” 13071201

July 12—Iraq—A suicide bomber hit the Classico Café, a Kirkuk coffee shop, during the night, killing 39 people and wounding 26.

A suicide car bomber hit a police patrol outside Mosul, killing 4 policemen.

Drive-by shooters armed with ­silencer-equipped pistols killed a senior police officer in Shirqat, outside Tikrit.

Drive-by shooters killed a civilian and an ­off-duty soldier in separate attacks in Mosul.

A roadside bomb in Mosul killed a police officer.

Terrorists fired on a Ramadi police station, killing 2 police officers in a morning assault.

Terrorists set off a car bomb and shot at a Fallujah police headquarters, killing 7 officers.

A roadside bomb in central Fallujah killed a police officer.

A car bomb in Karrada, a commercial district in Baghdad, killed 2 police officers and 2 civilians.

Dozens were injured in bombings in Tuz Khormato and Kirkuk.

July 12—Congo—Al-Qaeda–linked Allied Democratic Forces from Uganda attacked Kamangu in the east, forcing 18,000 refugees to flee to Uganda.

July 12—UK—A nail bomb went off near a mosque in Tipton, causing no injuries.

July 12—Nigeria—Security forces killed at least one Boko Haram terrorist in a 5-hour gun battle in Sokoto. Local news said the terrorists were planning to assassinate the Sultan of Sokoto. A captured terrorist said the group was planning to rob banks and commercial centers to get money to buy arms. The government said the terrorists used civilians as human shields. At least 2 terrorists escaped. Police seized assault rifles, grenades, rocket launchers, and homemade bombs.

July 13—Sudan—Gunmen attacked a UNAMID peacekeepers’ convoy during the morning near their base in Manawashi, north of the south Darfur state capital of Nyala, killing 8 and wounding 17, including 2 women. Most casualties were believed to be Tanzanians. No one claimed credit. 13071301

July 13—Iraq—Bombs went off outside 2 Sunni mosques in Baghdad, killing 21 people. The first bomb went off at 10 p.m. near the gate of the Khalid bin ­al-Walid mosque in the southern Dora neighborhood, killing 16 people and wounding 31. The second bomb went off at the Mullah Huwaish mosque in western Baghdad’s Hay ­al-Jami’a area, killing 5 and injuring 19.

An attack at a funeral northeast of Baghdad killed 3 people and injured 10.

July 13—Internet—Nigerian Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau posted a video on the Internet in which he praised terrorists who burn down schools and kill teachers. He said the group does not kill schoolchildren. “We support the work they did at the school, at Mamudo and Damaturu, and other attacks in other schools. We are going to burn down the schools if they are not Islamic religious schools for Allah…. We don’t touch small children, we only burn the schools. Our religion does not permit us to touch small children and women; we don’t kill children…. School teachers who are teaching Western education? We will kill them! We will kill them!” UNICEF said 48 students and 7 teachers had been killed since June. He also denied that BH was negotiating a peace agreement with the government. “We will not enter into any agreement with ­non-believers or the Nigerian government. The Quran teaches that we must shun democracy. We must shun Western education. We must shun the constitution.” He said the West tries to destroy Islam and “to tactically make the Quran insignificant and unimportant.”

July 14—Iraq—A bomb in a downtown Karbala market killed 9 and wounded 22 as Muslims were breaking their Ramadan fast in the evening.

A bomb went off in a Kut market, killing 11 and wounding 68.

Two car bombs exploded near a Babil government office, killing 4.

A car bomb exploded near a Nasiriya hotel, killing 2 and wounding 12.

Gunmen used silenced weapons to kill 2 people walking near a Falluja cemetery.

Two bombs killed 8 and wounded 15 near an office of a Shi’ite political party in Basra.

A local official and his son died when they struck a roadside bomb in Mosul.

Four police officers died when a roadside bomb exploded in Mosul.

Two soldiers died when they were shot at an army checkpoint in Mosul.

A car bomb killed 6 near a Shi’te mosque in Musay­yib.

A roadside bomb went off in Baghdad’s Dora district, killing 4 and wounding 16.

July 14—Guantanamo—Gitmo prison spokes­man said 25 prisoners had quit their hunger strike during Ramadan. Another 45 captives still required nighttime forced feedings to ward off malnutrition. Those quitting the hunger strike were to be permitted to return to communal living. Some 81 prisoners of the total of 166 in Gitmo were still on the hunger strike, down from a high of 106.

July 15—Iraq—Mortar shells exploded near swimmers in the Tigris River, killing 4, including a 10-year-old boy, and wounding 11.

A car bomb went off near a security patrol, killing a policeman and wounding 11 other people.

Gunmen fired on a checkpoint south of Baghdad, killing 2 soldiers and wounding 4 others.

July 15—Pakistan—Gunmen on a motorcycle fired at a vehicle in the Masjid road area of Quetta, killing 4 members of the Shia Hazara community.

During the night, terrorists shot to death 3 people and injured another in Quetta’s Khudaidad Chowk area.

July 16—Afghanistan—A bomb placed on a bicycle exploded in the suburbs of Jalalabad, Nangarhar Province, killing 2 civilians and wounding 3 others. The Taliban was suspected.

July 16—Lebanon—A bomb went off near the Masnaa border crossing between Lebanon and Syria, hitting 2 vehicles carrying Hizballah officials en route to Syria, killing one Hizballah member and injuring 2 people. 13071601

July 16—Iraq—A bomb went off near a Sunni mosque during the evening in Muqdadiyah, killing and wounding 17.

July 17—Germany/Netherlands/Switzerland—Police in 3 countries raided 11 homes, offices, and prison cells of suspected neo–Nazis belonging to a Werewolf Squad that was planning a terrorist attack. At least 50 German police were involved in the raids. The Squad was modeled on the Werewolf commandos that the Nazis planned to send into Allied territory at the end of World War II. Police seized computers, memory cards, and documents in apartments and offices of 4 individuals in the 3 countries.

July 17—Lebanon—Gunmen assassinated pro–­Syrian government figure Mohammed Darrar Jammo outside his Sarafand home. He often appeared on Arab tv stations, defending Syrian President Bashar ­al-Assad.

July 17—Bahrain—A gas canister in a car exploded during nighttime prayers outside a Sunni mosque in Riffa, where members of the royal family live, causing no injuries. The terrorists had placed a gas cylinder inside a vehicle parked outside the mosque. Several vehicles were destroyed. The Shi’ite opposition group Wefaq condemned the attack.

July 18—Afghanistan—Taliban gunmen shot to death 8 Afghan civilian day laborers en route to work at the U.S. Forward Operating Base Shank in Logar Province. They were forced out of their minivan, blindfolded, and shot in the head one by one.

July 19—Iraq—A bomb in a ­wall-mounted air conditioner to the left of the pulpit exploded during midday prayer in the Abu Bakir ­al-Sideeq Sunni mosque in Wijaihiya, 50 miles northeast of Baghdad, in Diyala Province, killing 26 people and injuring more than 50. A second bomb outside the mosque was rendered safe with a controlled detonation.

Attacks outside Mosul killed 4 people. Mortar shells killed 2 women outside their house. A roadside bomb killed a father and son when it exploded near their car.

July 19—Algeria—During a nighttime raid in Bouira, special forces killed 4 jihadis, including 2 deputies to Abdelmalek Droukdel, leader of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Mahgreb. Authorities seized euros to be paid as ransom for Western hostages. The dead terrorists were identified as Abu ­al-Walid Tuhami, 36, who joined AQIM in 2002 and was in charge of its communications; and Ayadh Abu Abderahmane, AQIM coordinator between several regions. Abderahmane joined AQIM in 1999.

July 20—China—Ji Zhongxing, born in 1979 and from Heze, Shandong Province, set off a bomb during the night at Beijing Capital International Airport, injuring only himself; he was already in a wheelchair. He tried to hand out fliers about his grievances against authorities but was stopped. He then set off the black powder bomb. A man by the same name posted in a 2006 blog that on June 28, 2005, he had been severely beaten by local authorities while giving rides on his scooter in Dongguan. The authorities, swinging steel batons, broke his back, paralyzing his legs. He was sentenced to 6 years on October 15, 2013.

July 20—Iraq—At least 12 car bombs went off during the night in commercial areas of Baghdad, killing 71 and wounding 125. The first bomb went off on a busy shopping street in Baghdad’s Karrada district, killing 9. Other car bombs hit northwestern Tobchi district, killing 8; western Bayaa district, killing 3; southeastern Zafaraniyah district, killing 6; southeastern New Baghdad (2 car bombs), killing 5; and western Shurta, killing 4.

Earlier in the day, gunmen in pickup trucks shot to death Bassem Mahmoud, leader of Sahwa (Awakening), a Sunni militia that fought against al-Qaeda in Iraq, and 2 of his bodyguards near Baqubah.

Another Sahwa member and 4 other people were killed by a bomb near his house in Madain.

A suicide bomber set off his explosives at a military post in Mosul, killing a woman.

July 20—Colombia—The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia ambushed an army battalion guarding oil facilities in Arauca State on the border with Venezuela, killing 15 soldiers. FARC killed another 4 soldiers in Doncello, Caqueta State. President Juan Manuel Santos ordered the military to put “the entire machinery” of war against the FARC, saying, “Just as we have extended our hand and are in negotiations, so do we have a big stick. We have decisive military force and will apply it.”

July 20—Mali—Gunmen kidnapped 4 election workers and a deputy mayor in Tessalit in the north. They were freed the next day and discovered by French soldiers outside the town. Baye Ag Diknane, a member of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad, was arrested.

July 21—Mali—French soldiers deactivated an unexploded bomb in the market in Kidal in the north.

July 21—Egypt—Gunmen killed 6 Egyptians and wounded 11 in attacks in the Sinai Peninsula. Ten attacks on police stations and checkpoints took the lives of 2 civilians, 2 army officers, and 2 policemen in Rafah and ­el-Arish during the night.

July 21—Iraq—A bomb went off during the day in a Taji fish market, killing 4 and wounding 15.

A bomb went off outside the Basmaiya home of an ­anti–al-Qaeda Sunni militia leader, killing 2 and wounding 4.

Gunmen killed 5 peshmerga Kurdish security forces during an afternoon attack on a checkpoint near Kirkuk.

Gunmen fired on a security checkpoint in Mosul, killing 2.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Al-Qaeda in Iraq) assaulted Abu Ghraib prison, freeing 500–600 extremists, including several AQI emirs. Suicide bombers breached the walls, and mortars were fired. The government said 25 security officers, 21 prisoners, and 10 attackers were killed and 38 security officers were wounded. AQI claimed it had killed 120 security officers and that only the suicide bombers died. Some prisoners were recaptured at checkpoints. Jihadi websites said some the escapees had been detained by the U.S. military in 2006–2007, and were going to participate in the fight against Bashar ­al-Assad in Syria. AQI called the operation “Conquering the Tyrants,” deeming it “a bold raid blessed by God” following attacks that “shook the pillars of the Safavid project” (a code name for Iranian influence over the Iraqi government). The group said it set off 12 car bombs, fired rockets and missiles, used suicide bombers, and was helped by prisoners who had obtained weapons. On July 24, Interpol in Paris issued an alert regarding the escape, calling it “a major threat to global security.”

Terrorists set off 2 bombs outside Taji prison, 12 miles north of Baghdad, firing mortars at prison guards while inmates torched blankets and furniture. No casualties were reported in the evening attack.

July 22—Iraq—Gunmen killed 12 security officers in an ambush in Nineveh Province.

July 22—Iraq—A suicide car bomber hit an army con­voy in Mosul, killing 13 people, including 10 soldiers.

July 22—Europe—All 28 foreign ministers of the European Union voted to designate the military wing of Lebanese Hizballah a terrorist organization.

July 22—Libya—An improvised explosive device went off inside the gate of a Sirte courthouse complex, wounding a soldier. Three people were arrested.

July 23—Libya—A ­rocket-propelled grenade crashed into a Tripoli apartment building next to the luxury Corinthia Hotel, where Prime Minister Ali Zidan has a ­government-owned apartment and Tripoli Towers, where several embassies—including those of the UK and Canada—foreign airlines, and other firms have offices. No injuries were reported. The rocket launcher was attached to a vehicle and fired remotely in ­mid-afternoon.

A bomb was thrown at a Benghazi police station, wounding 3 detainees.

July 23—Iraq—Police found the bodies of 4 ­off-duty policemen with bullet wounds in their heads.

Drive-by shooters killed 2 ­off-duty policemen who were walking down a street.

July 24—Iraq—Terrorists attacked a Bashmaya police headquarters outside Mosul, killing 9 police officers and wounding 2 others. A roadside bomb hit an ambulance responding to the attack, wounding the driver and his assistant.

A car bomb exploded as an army patrol passed by Kirkuk, killing an officer and a soldier and wounding 5 soldiers.

Baghdad police found 3 ­bullet-ridden corpses.

A bomb exploded during the night in Baghdad’s northern Qahira neighborhood, killing 3 and wounding 11.

A bomb hidden in a motorized cart went off in a residential area in Tuz Khormato, wounding 35 people.

July 24—Pakistan—Terrorists attacked an office of the ­Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate in Sindh Province, Sukkur District, killing 3 people and wounding 35. A suicide car bomber crashed his vehicle into the wall of the compound. A second suicide bomber set off his explosives inside the compound. Three other terrorists conducted an ­hour-long gun battle with security forces with guns and hand grenades. The government said all of the attackers died. The Pakistani Taliban was suspected.

July 25—Tunisia—Two gunmen shot to death leftist opposition politician Mohammed Brahmi, head of the Popular Current party, in his car outside his house in Tunis. He was hit by 11 bullets. His daughter witnessed the murder. ­Anti-government demonstrations broke out across the country; the protestors blamed the government. On February 9, 2014, the Interior Ministry announced a suspect in the murder of the ­left-wing parliamentarian was one of 4 “dangerous terrorists” arrested in an overnight raid. Ahmed Melki, alias “the Somali,” was wanted for the Brahmi murder. One of the terrorists was shot in the face. Three policemen were wounded in the clash.

July 25—Iraq—Terrorists ambushed truckers outside Sarha, killing 14 drivers and passengers in a truck convoy stopped at a fake checkpoint. All of them were Shi’ites executed with a gunshot to the head.

A bomb at a café near Muqdadiyah killed 16 people.

Another 10 people were killed in other terrorist attacks elsewhere in the country.

July 25—Libya—A ­rocket-propelled grenade was fired at the United Arab Emirates embassy in the Siahia neighborhood of western Tripoli, causing no injuries. 13072501

July 26—Philippines—A mortar round hidden in a bag went off in a bar at a shopping mall complex in Cagayan de Oro city, killing 8 and wounding 46. On August 7, Philippine police filed murder complaints against 6 Muslim terrorists from Khilafa Islamiyah Mindanao. Witnesses identified Usman Hapids as the man who planted the bomb. He was seen with 5 other individuals before the bomb went off. The group has less than 15 members and aims to bring a caliphate to the southern Philippines.

July 26—Pakistan—Two bombs killed more than 60 and injured 187 in Parachinar. Most of the casualties were Shi’ites. One bomb was planted on a motorcycle. The second went off 400 yards away 4 minutes later. No one claimed credit.

July 26—Guantanamo Bay—The White House announced that 2 detainees would be repatriated to Algeria.

July 27—Pakistan—Terrorists attacked a checkpoint in northern Pakistan, killing 2 people. Another attack on a checkpoint in the western city of Gaw-dar killed 7. Another 25 were wounded in the 2 attacks.

July 28—Afghanistan—A bomb went off in Zabul Province’s Shahjoy District, killing 11 people and wounding 12, including a local police chief.

July 29—Afghanistan—A morning bombing in Kandahar Province’s Spin Boldak District killed a mother and her 2 children.

July 29—Pakistan—Eight Taliban terrorists wearing police uniforms fired guns and ­rocket-propelled grenades and set off explosives and hand grenades at a prison in Dera Ismail Khan at midnight. The prison held 40 “high profile” inmates. Pakistani Taliban spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said the group freed 300 prisoners and that 150 militants were involved. The government said 253 prisoners, including 25 “dangerous terrorists,” escaped. The terrorists killed 6 police officers, 6 Shi’ite Muslim prisoners—beheading one—and 2 civilians.

July 29—Tunisia—Gunmen shot to death 8 Tuni­sian soldiers in an ambush in the remote Mount Chaambi area near the Algerian border. The terrorists shot the soldiers, then slit their throats. Three soldiers gave chase, but were wounded by a land mine.

July 29—Nigeria—Bombs exploded at a bar and entertainment area in a Christian quarter in Kano, killing 24 and wounding scores of people. Ten bodies were brought to the mortuary of Murtala Mohammed Specialists Hospital. One bomb went off in a car parked beside a kiosk selling alcohol and soft drinks. The military blamed Boko Haram.

July 29—Iraq—Some 18 car bombs exploded in marketplaces, parking lots, and crowds of pedestrians, killing 58 people in Baghdad, Mosul, and Basra. One of the car bombs went off at a Shi’ite mosque in the Bayaa neighborhood of Baghdad. Twelve car bombs exploded in Baghdad. The government blamed al-Qaeda, which later claimed credit, saying it was supporting “oppressed Sunnis.”

July 30—Internet—Ayman ­al-Zawahiri issued an audio message on jihadi websites. It was believed to have been recorded on June 5. He denounced Pentagon treatment of the Gitmo hunger strikers and pledged to free them. He called on Muslims to join together for jihad. “Every Muslim in every spot on Earth must work to defend the blood of Muslims that is being shed by America and its allies, and their sanctities that they are violating, and their villages and homes that they are destroying, and their wealth that they are stealing,” he said.

July 30—Syria—A car bomb killed Kurdish Democratic Union Party leader Issa Hisso in the northeast. He had spoken out against Jabhat ­al-Nusra and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, and was imprisoned by the Assad regime.

July 30—Syria—Paolo Dall’Oglio, an Italian Jesuit priest, was reported missing during a trip to the ­rebel-held ­north-central city of Raqqa, on a mission to meet members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The Assad opponent had lived in Syria for 30 years before being expelled in 2012. It was not clear whether he had been abducted. By November 2014, AFP reported that authorities believed the Islamic State was involved. 13073001

July 31—Syria—Italian aid workers Greta Ramelli and Vanessa Marzullo, from Italy’s Lombardy region, disappeared in Aleppo Province in late July or early August. The duo appeared in an ­al-Nusra Front video in early January 2015, asking the Italian government to help bring them home. Ramelli said in English, “We are in big danger and we could be killed. The government and its militaries are responsible [for] our lives.” Marzullo held a piece of paper dated December 17, 2014. On January 15, 2015, AP reported that Ramelli, 21, and Marzullo, 20, were freed. They had worked for the aid group Horryaty. The BBC reported unconfirmed rumors of a $15 million ransom following negotiations facilitated by Qatar. Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni told the lower house of Parliament that these reports “were void of any basis in reality” and expressed surprise “that these sources were given credit without any verification…. We are against paying ransom.” 1373101

July 31—Thailand—Masked jihadis posted an Internet video in Arabic, Urdu, and English threatening to kill former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. A member of the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) Region 4 Front said one unmasked speaker looked similar to a suspect facing arrest warrants on incidents in 2004–2006 and that the video involved Malaysians. The speakers claimed al-Qaeda affiliation.

August—Afghanistan—On September 1, 2013, the government announced that the ­bullet-riddled bodies of 7 Afghan soldiers had been found dumped in Andar District in Ghazni Province. They had been kidnapped at various times, some while visiting their families. Their hands were chained behind their backs. The Taliban was suspected.

August—Syria—On September 2, 2014, the Islamic State released a video of one of its members beheading U.S. freelance journalist Steven Sotloff. In August 2014, his mother released a video pleading for her son’s release. The ­British-accented killer said on the video, “I’m back, Obama, and I’m back because of your arrogant foreign policy towards the Islamic State,” warning, “just as your missiles continue to strike our people, our knife will continue to strike the necks of your people.” The terrorist in the video then threatened to kill British citizen David Caw­thorne Haines. On September 3, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Paul Hirschson announced that Sotloff was also an Israeli citizen. On September 9, 2014, CNN reported that Sotloff’s family claimed IS paid $50,000 to moderate rebels who alerted IS that the journalist had entered Syria. The White House said it had no information that Sotloff had been “sold” to the IS. 13089901

August—Syria—On February 6, 2015, the Washington Post reported that the Islamic State claimed that Kayla Jean Mueller, 26, a Prescott, Arizona woman who had been taken hostage in August 2013, was killed by a Jordanian airstrike of a building in Raqqa where she was being held. The claim came after Jordan began a retaliatory strike against IS for burning to death a Jordanian pilot who was taken hostage on December 24, 2015. IS released her phone numbers and other personal information, saying, “The criminal Crusader coalition aircraft bombarded a site outside the city of ­ar-Raqqah today at noon while the people were performing the Friday prayer. The air assaults were continuous on the same location for more than an hour.” Her name had not previously been disclosed by the media. She had moved to an area along the Turkish border with Syria in late 2012, working for Support to Life, which helped families fleeing the violence in Syria. In August 2013, she was working at an Aleppo hospital with Spanish Doctors Without Borders in when she was kidnapped. Her family received ­proof-of-life and a demand for several million euros. IS threatened to kill her if they did not receive the money by mid–August. Prescott’s Daily Courier reported that she was a volunteer with the Save Darfur Coalition since high school. She graduated from Northern Arizona University on Flagstaff in 2009, then moved to India, where she worked in an orphanage and taught English to Tibetan refugees. She moved back to Arizona in 2011, working at an AIDS clinic and volunteering at a women’s shelter. She then went to France, working as an au pair, learning French, and hoping to work in Africa. In May 2013, she spoke at the Prescott Kiwanis Club about helping Syrian refugee children.

On August 14, 2015, ABC News reported that IS leader Abu Bakr ­al-Baghdadi raped Kayla Mueller repeatedly when she was held inside the home of Abu Sayyaf, a Tunisian in charge of oil and gas revenue for IS. The Associated Press said the story came from a 14-year-old Yazidi who was held with Mueller, escaped in October 2014 and made her way to Iraqi Kurdistan. On May 16, 2015, the U.S. Army’s Delta Force killed Abu Sayyaf. 13089902

August—Egypt—On April 29, 2015, CNN reported that an Egyptian court sentenced 71 people to life in prison for their role in the August 2013 burning and looting of the Coptic Christian Virgin Mary Church in the Giza Province village of Kafr Hakim. During that month, mobs attacked 42 churches, including the St. George Church in Sohag and Prince Tadros Church in Fayoum. At least 52 defendants were tried in absentia. Egynews added that 2 minors were sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined 10,000 Egyptian pounds (about $1,300), Egyptian officials reported.

August 2—Middle East/U.S.—The U.S. Department of State announced that it would close on August 4 all Middle Eastern embassies and consulates normally open on a Sunday because of an al-­Qaeda–related threat. At least 22 facilities were included, among them Sana’a, Yemen; Tel Aviv, Israel; Khartoum, Sudan; Dhaka, Bangladesh; Kuwait City, Kuwait; Sana’a, Yemen; Ankara, Turkey; Muscat, Oman; Cairo, Egypt; Kabul, Afghanistan; Baghdad, Iraq; Amman, Jordan; Abu Dhabi; Algiers, Algeria; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Manama, Bahrain; Tripoli, Libya; Riyadh, Dhahran and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; and Doha, Qatar. August 4 was President Barack Obama’s 52nd birthday, and the day Iran inaugurated Hassan Rowhani as its new president. A worldwide alert was issued for all Americans traveling abroad. The UK said it would close its embassy in Yemen on August 4–5. Some observers suggested that the threat could be attributed to the recent succession of AQAP leader Nasir ­al-Wuhaysi, alias Abu Bashir, to be Zawahiri’s deputy.

On August 5, 4 U.S. embassies in Africa were added: Antananarivo, Madagascar; Bujumbura, ­Burundi; Kigali, Rwanda; and Port Louis, Mauri-tius.

On August 6, the U.S. urged all Americans to leave Yemen.

On August 9, the U.S. announced that all diplomatic facilities, save Yemen—and Lahore, Pakistan, which was closed in a separate announcement—would reopen.

August 2—Tunisia—An Interior Ministry spokes­man said a suspected jihadi killed himself and seriously wounded his pregnant wife while he was making a bomb in a home he was renting in Jedaida, 12 miles from Tunis.

Meanwhile, an extremist was arrested after he blew off his hand while handling explosives in Menzel Bourguiba, 43 miles from Tunis.

A week earlier, a bomb exploded beneath an unmarked police car in Tunis, causing no injuries.

August 2—Internet—Al-Qaeda leader Ayman ­al-Zawahiri issued a 14-minute audio on jihadi websites in which he criticized the treatment of ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi and called on Muslims to join to prevent Egypt from being divided. It was Zawahiri’s second message of the week. He observed, “The crusaders, the seculars, the Americanized army, Mubarak’s thugs and some members of Islamic parties with the support of Gulf money and American plotting, all agreed to topple Mohamed Morsi’s government.” They wanted a “secular, pro–American president to rule Egypt so they can continue with their plotting—along with the Americans and Zionists—to divide Egypt, just like what happened in Sudan.”

August 3—Afghanistan—A suicide bomber killed another suicide bomber and 9 children and seriously injured 25 people in Jalalabad in Nangarhar Province. Three suicide bombers clad in explosive vests were on their way to the Indian Consulate when security services stopped their Toyota sedan. Two terrorists jumped from the car and fired their guns down the street. The driver then set off his vest inside the vehicle, killing himself and a colleague and injuring the third terrorist. The Taliban denied involvement. 13080301

August 3—Iraq—Ambushers attacked the motorcade of Lieutenant General ­Abdul-Amir ­al-Zaidi in Adeim, 100 kilometers north of Baghdad, killing 6 bodyguards and wounding 4 others. Al-Zaidi commands some government forces in Diyala and Sala­huddin provinces. He was unhurt.

Gunmen broke into the Baqouba house of a Sahwa ­anti–al-Qaeda militiaman, killing his wife and 2 daughters; he was not in the house.

Gunmen shot to death 2 Sahwa fighters working on their farm near Baqouba.

Gunmen in a ­drive-by attack killed 2 ­off-duty policemen near Mosul.

A roadside bomb killed a father and son in Tikrit.

In western Baghdad, a bomb went off near a line of car parts stores in western Baghdad, killing 2 and wounding 7.

A bomb in southeastern Baghdad missed a police patrol but killed 2 civilians.

August 3—Russia—An unknown gunman shot to death Sufi Muslim cleric Imam Ilyas Ilyasov as he was getting into his car in Dagestan. The assassin badly wounded Ilyasov’s driver before getting away. Ilyasov had earlier received threats.

August 3—Yemen—France, Germany and the UK temporarily closed their embassies in Sana’a after Interpol issued an alert regarding potential attacks.

August 4—Iraq—A roadside bomb hit an army patrol near Mosul, killing 3 soldiers.

A car bomb killed Judge Sajid ­Abdul-Amir as he was driving to work in Tikrit.

Two people died in an explosion in a commercial street in eastern Baghdad, while mortar rounds hit houses in western Baghdad, killing 2.

August 4—Tunisia—A dawn raid by special forces in Tunis’ El-Ouardia neighborhood led to an intense firefight in which one terrorist was killed, another wounded, and 6 suspects were arrested.

August 4—Yemen—The government announced a $23,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of any of 25 wanted AQAP suspects. They included Saudi nationals Ibrahim Mohammed ­el-Rubaish—who had been released from Guantanamo in 2006 and served as AQAP’s theological advisor—and Ibrahim Hassan ­el-Assiri.

August 4—Syria—The Islamic State kidnapped a 26-year-old female American aid worker. As of October 26, 2014, the New York Times reported that she was still being held. NBC News reported on November 18, 2014, that the group demanded a $6.6 ransom or the release of Aafia Siddiqui. 13080401

August 5—Yemen—On the day on which U.S. Embassy staffers were militarily airlifted out of the country after Ayman ­al-Zawahiri had ordered AQAP to carry out an attack, a drone fired a missile at a car carrying 4 men in Marib Province’s ­al-Arqeen District, killing all of them, including Saleh Jouti, a senior ­al-Qaeda member.

August 5—Pakistan—During the night, dozens of gunmen disguised in tribal police uniforms pulled 13 people off a convoy of 5 buses near Quetta en route to Punjab Province, killed them, and dumped their bodies in a ravine near Machh, 6 miles away from the checkpoint where the attack took place. They had also kidnapped 9 tribal policemen, but dropped them off a few miles away because they were locals. Baluchistan separatists were suspected. Gunmen had districted a military protective detail by shooting at a nearby oil tanker. Two gunmen entered each bus to check IDs of passengers. A paramilitary soldier who tried to enter the area was shot to death.

August 5—Venezuela—A gunman firing from the back of a motorcycle killed Pablo Uzcategui, the leader of the small opposition Proyecto Venezuela Party in Barinas, the state capital of the home state of the late President Hugo Chavez. Uzcategui was hit by 2 shots during the night as he drove with his son. His wife was driving behind her husband with their 2 daughters.

August 5—Mexico—Leftist activists Raymundo ­Velazquez Flores and Samuel Vargas Ramirez were found shot to death in Coyuca de Benitez, a town west of Acapulco on the southern Pacific coast. Their hands were bound and they sustained gunshot wounds to their heads. A third was reported missing. The Emiliano Zapata Revolutionary Agrarian League said they were members of the group.

August 5—Philippines—A car bomb killed 8, including a police officer, and wounded 33 during ­afternoon rush hour on Sinsuat Avenue in Cota-bato city as a bulletproof SUV carrying city administrator Cynthia ­Guiani-Sayadi was passing by. One of her police bodyguards was killed, although she was ­unharmed. She is a younger sister of Mayor Japal Guiani, and had been receiving threats in recent days. An ensuing fire damaged power and ­telephone cables, causing power outages. The Bang­samoro Islamic Freedom Movement was suspected.

August 6—Pakistan—At 1:30 a.m., gunmen killed 3 senior security officials—an army colonel, a captain and the district police chief—in their vehicle in ­Gilgit-Baltistan’s Diamer district. The officials had left the house of Ajmal Bhatti, the district’s deputy commissioner, where they had been meeting. The vehicle crashed into a ravine. The Taliban was suspected.

August 6—Pakistan—A motorcycle bomb targeting provincial government minister Javed Naghori killed 11 people and injured 24, mostly young boys, just before dawn at a soccer field in Karachi’s Lyari neighborhood. Naghori was not hurt. Attacks throughout the country killed 28 people.

August 6—Guatemala—Radio journalist Jesus Lima, 68, was found shot to death in his car parked outside Zacapa’s Sultana Radio station where he was about to go inside to work. He was shot twice.

August 6—Iraq—Bombs mostly targeting Baghdad markets killed 36 people.

In southeastern Baghdad’s Shi’ite Zafaraniyah neighborhood, a car bomb killed 3 and wounded 10 near an outdoor market where shoppers were preparing for iftar, the evening meal that breaks Ramadan’s daily fasts.

Before sunset, a car bomb exploded near a market in Baghdad’s southeastern Nahrwan suburbs, killing 6 and wounding 17.

Soon after, a car bomb exploded in a busy market in Baghdad’s downtown Karradah neighborhood, killing 5 and wounding 18, including pharmacy owner Isam Mohammed, who sustained head injuries.

At night, a car bomb went off near a cafe in Baghdad’s northeastern Husseiniyah suburb, killing 5 and wounding 15. Minutes later, another car bomb exploded in Husseiniyah, killing 3 and wounding 10.

A bomb in a Dora commercial street in southern Baghdad killed 4 and wounded 11.

A car bomb exploded near a market before sundown in southwestern Baghdad, killing 5 and wounding 15.

A late night car bomb exploded near an ice cream shop in the Abu Dashir area in southwestern Baghdad, killing 5 and wounding 16.

August 6—Italy—A building housing the U.S. Consulate in Milan and several Italian radio stations’ offices was temporarily evacuated during the evening after the diplomatic mission received a letter containing a bomb threat. The letter included a symbol used by Italian anarchists. Police found no bomb. 13080601

August 6—Yemen—The U.S. urged all Ameri-cans to leave Yemen because of a possible terror threat. The UK Foreign Office also evacuated embassy staff.

A military helicopter was shot down in Mareb while inspecting the country’s main oil pipeline, killing 8, including the commander of the 107th Brigade, 6 army escorts, and a crew member. AQAP was suspected.

August 7—Afghanistan—The Taliban ambushed the convoy of female Senator Rouh Gul Khirzad on a main highway in Gazni Province’s Muqur District, killing her 8-year-old daughter and a bodyguard and wounding her, her husband, son, and another daughter. The group was traveling from Kabul to her Nimroz Province home.

August 7—Pakistan—A bomb outside a shopping center in southwestern Mastung District killed a 13-year-old girl and wounded over 20 people.

August 7—Yemen—The Prime Minister’s office announced that it had stopped an AQAP plot to capture oil and gas facilities and 2 key southern ports in Mukalla city and Shabwa Province earlier in the week. A senior Interior Ministry official said “a few” AQAP members had arrived in Sana’a over the past 3 days.

August 7—Philippines—Three bombs went off. One roadside bomb wounded 7 soldiers in a pass-ing army truck in Maguindanao Province near Cotabato city. They were returning to camp after buying supplies from a Shariff Saydona Mustapha town market. Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement claimed credit. A second bomb in Maguindanao’s Datu Piang town damaged a bridge but caused no injuries.

August 7—Iraq—In the morning, a roadside bomb struck a police patrol in Mosul, killing 3 policemen and wounding 2 others. A second bomb in Mosul missed a police convoy but killed a civilian ­passer-by and wounded 2 others.

A bomb attached to a car killed 2 people in Musay­yib.

Gunmen attacked a policeman’s home during the late night in Tikrit, killing 13 people, including the policeman, his wife, 2 sons, and one daughter. Af-ter neighbors gathered around the house, a car bomb 10 yards away exploded, killing 8 and wounding 30.

August 7—Indonesia—Two gunmen on a motorbike killed a police officer in Tangerang Selatan on Jakarta’s western outskirts.

August 8—Tanzania—Two men riding a small motorcycle threw acid on the faces and arms of British citizens Kirstie Trup and Katie Gee, both 18, who were volunteer teachers at a primary school affiliated with the Anglican Church on Zanzibar island. The girls had been working for Art in Tanzania, an educational organization. The women were walking in Stone Town, a tourist area. They sustained burns on their faces, hands, legs, backs and necks. Five men were being questioned. Katie Gee had posted on Facebook on July 24, “A Muslim woman just hit me in the street for singing on Ramadan. Is that normal?” 13080801

August 8—Afghanistan—A remotely-detonated mine hidden in a cemetery in rural Nangarhar Province’s Ghany Khel District killed 14 members of a single extended family, including 7 women and 7 children, and wounded 3 other family members visiting the tomb of a relative. The family was marking the start of Eid ­al-Fitr, the end of Ramadan. Family members blamed the Taliban. The entombed man had worked for a security company before the Taliban killed him 8 months earlier.

August 8—Pakistan—A suicide bomber attacked a police officer’s funeral in an open field outside a mosque in Quetta, killing 21 police officers and 9 civilians and wounding 55 of 250 people mourning a police officer shot dead earlier that day in front of his children, 2 of whom were wounded in the attack on their vehicle. Fayaz Sumbal, head of police operations in Baluchistan, spotted the bomber near the gate of the mosque before he detonated his explosives. Sumbal called on officers to question the bomber, who then blew himself up. Sumbal died in the blast.

August 8—Saudi Arabia—Authorities arrested 2 foreign residents believed planning suicide bombings. Investigators were looking into their AQAP links. One suspect was a Yemeni; the other was a Chadian who had been deported from Saudi Ara-bia but returned using a different passport. The Interior Ministry said the duo communicated with AQAP over the Internet using several coded names to discuss “imminent suicide operations in the region.”

August 8—U.S.—A Florida teen was accused of trying to join al-Qaeda when he flew to Jordan in 2012 to try to meet terrorists. Shelton Bell faced 30 years in prison; arraignment was scheduled for August 12.

August 8—Ecuador—Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels killed an Ecuadorean army lieutenant, Diego Maldonado, and wounded a corporal in a 4-hour gun battle at a river bordering the 2 countries. Five FARC members died in the dawn battle in Puerto Mestanza in Ecuador’s Sucumbios state. Some 120 Ecuadorean soldiers encountered the rebels on their side of the San Miguel River and demanded they surrender. The FARC fired on the soldiers, and their colleagues on the river’s Colombian side chipped in with ­rifle-launched gre­nades and sniper fire. The dead lieutenant was shot in the head while pursuing a fleeing rebel and the wounded corporal had shrapnel in his head and shoulder. The rebels were from the FARC’s 48th Front. 13080802

August 9—Egypt—A drone fired from the Israeli side of the border killed 5 terrorists preparing to fire rockets at Israel from 3 miles inside Egypt. However, Egypt’s state media quoted an anonymous senior security official saying the strike was conducted by Egyptian helicopters against terrorists planning to hit Egyptian targets. Ansar Jerusalem said 4 of its men died in the drone strike and blamed Israel.

August 9—Pakistan—The U.S. Consulate in Lahore was shut with emergency staff remaining on duty following “specific threats.” The State Department advised U.S. citizens against traveling to Pakistan.

Meanwhile, gunmen attacked a mosque in Quetta during Eid prayers, killing 9 and injuring 15.

August 9—Lebanon—At 3 a.m., Turkish Airlines pilots Murat Akpinar and Murat Agca were kidnapped by armed men who forced them from a bus driving from Beirut airport. Families of Lebanese Shi’ite prisoners kidnapped by Syrian rebels were among the suspects. On August 12, Lebanese citizen Mohammed Saleh was arrested after allegedly contacting the kidnappers. On August 17, Lebanese authorities arrested another 3 people. On August 20, a Lebanese prosecutor charged 13 people, including the trio arrested on August 17, in the case. Most of the defendants were relatives of the 9 Lebanese Shi’ites held by Syrian rebels since May 2012 en route from Iran to Lebanon via Turkey and Syria. Ten remained at large. The 2 pilots were released on October 19 as part of a complex prisoner release agreement in which 9 Lebanese Shi’ite pilgrims were freed in Syria. The 9 were held by Syrian rebels who had demanded that Hizballah end its involvement in the Syrian civil war, then demanded the release of women held by the Syrian government. At least 61 women were freed from Syrian government jails. The Associated Press reported that the release was mediated by Qatar and Palestinian officials.

On October 18, 2013, the remaining 9 Lebanese Shi’ite pilgrims were freed and reported to be in Turkish territories, according to Lebanese Interior Minister Marwan Charbel. Two of the pilgrims who had been kidnapped in May 2012 were released soon after with Turkish assistance. It appeared to be part of a deal for the release of 2 Turkish pilots, Murat Akpinar and Murat Agca, who were kidnapped by the Zuwaar ­al-Imam Rida group after flying into Beirut from Istanbul on August 9, 2013, and women held in Syrian prisons. Rebels led by Ammar ­al-Dadikhi, who held the pilgrims, told the Associated Press in September 2012 that he was trying to stop Hizballah from supporting the Syrian regime. Qatar’s Foreign Minister Khalid bin Mohamed ­al-Attiyah told Al-Jazeera that his country negotiated the release of the 9 pilgrims. The Palestinian Authority was also involved in the negotiations, according to AP. By October 24, 2013, Syria had released 61 female detainees. 13080901

August 9—Pakistan—Gunmen attacked former pro­vincial minister Ali Madad Jatak, killing 6 and wounding 15, outside a Quetta mosque. Jatak, who was unharmed, was coming out of a mosque with his supporters following sunrise prayers marking Eid ­al-Fitr, the end of Ramadan.

August 9—Pakistan—Guards at a Shi’ite mosque outside Islamabad shot and killed a ­would-be suicide bomber before he could set off his explosives. He had fired on the guards, wounding 3, before he was killed. One of the guards died en route to the hospital.

August 9—Indonesia—A police raid in Yogyakarta on main Java island netted Muhammad Syaiful Syahbani, 26, a suspected fund raiser in an alleged plot to attack the Myanmar Embassy to protest that country’s treatment of Muslims.

August 10—Iraq—At least 77 people—57 in Baghdad alone—died and more than 190 were injured in car bombings in the country, marking the end of Ramadan fasting. Ten bombs went off in Baghdad markets, shopping streets, and parks where families were celebrating Eid, the end of Ramadan. Al-Qaeda in Iraq claimed credit, saying it was retaliating for the arrests of hundreds of Muslims by Iraqi security forces.

At least 22 people died and more than 40 were injured when 8 car bombs went off in Shi’ite neighborhoods in Baghdad.

A car bomb exploded near an outdoor market in the southeastern Jisr Diyala neighborhood shortly before sunset, killing 7 people and wounding 20.

A car bomb went off inside a parking lot in the New Baghdad neighborhood, killing 3.

A car bomb exploded in a busy street in the Amil neighborhood, killing 3 and wounding 14.

A car bomb killed 4 and wounded 15 near a cafe in Baghdad’s Shi’ite neighborhood of Abu Dashir.

A car bomb hit a restaurant in the Shi’ite area of Khazimiyah in northern Baghdad, killing 5 and wounding 14, authorities said.

A car bomb killed 5 near a café in Baghdad’s southwestern neighborhood of Baiyaa.

Six people died and 15 were wounded in a car bomb explosion in northeastern Baghdad’s Shi’ite neighborhood of Shaab.

A car bomb exploded near a restaurant in Baghdad’s northeastern suburb of Husseiniyah, killing 7 and wounding 15.

A car bomb in a commercial street in the Dora area in southern Baghdad killed 5 and wounded 15.

Elsewhere in Iraq, 2 car bombs went off in Nasiri­yah, killing 4 and wounding 41.

A suicide bomber detonated a bomb in a car on a busy street in Tuz Khurmato, 105 miles north of Baghdad, killing at least 10 and wounding 45. Police suggested he was trying to reach the local headquarters of a Kurdish political party.

Car bombs went off near a bus station and a café in Karbala, killing 4 and wounding 15, and a Shi’ite mosque in Kirkuk, killing one worshipper and wounding 20.

Eight people died and 12 were wounded when 2 bombs went off in Mosul.

Four people, including 2 children, were killed when a bomb exploded near a park south of Baghdad.

August 10—Afghanistan—Fariba Ahmadi Kakar was kidnapped while driving from the outskirts of Ghazni city to her Kandahar constituency to celebrate the Eid holy day that marks the end of Ramadan. The Taliban later released her 3 children and a driver. They demanded the release of 4 Taliban commanders. Kakar is one of 69 female deputies in the 249-seat lower house of parliament. The Taliban earlier said that government employees, Afghan troops and those who work for the ­NATO-led international coalition are legitimate targets. The Taliban freed her on September 7 at 5 p.m. in exchange for several prisoners, claiming they were “4 innocent women and 2 children.” Zholina Faizi, secretary of the Ghazni provincial council, said 7 male insurgents and a woman were freed. The government cited the mediation of tribal elders and clerics in Ghazni.

August 10—Afghanistan—Three bombs in Char­cheno District in southern Uruzgan killed 4 people and wounded 3.

August 10—Egypt—Three Egyptian helicopter gunships killed 12 terrorists and wounded another dozen in the desert town of Sheik Zuweyid in the Sinai Peninsula. The terrorists were wanted for the attack that killed 16 Egyptian soldiers in 2012, and the kidnapping of 7 soldiers in 2013.

August 11—France—The Interior Ministry announced the arrest of a 23-year-old military serviceman who was planning to fire on a mosque. He was stationed at an air base near Lyon and was “close to ideas of the extreme, radical right.”

August 11—Iraq—Two bombs at an army checkpoint and a convoy near the Iraqi capital killed 5 soldiers. A roadside bomb hit a military convoy near Musayyib, killing 3 soldiers and wounding 10. Shortly before sunset, a suicide bomber drove his ­explosive-laden car into an army checkpoint in Baghdad’s western Abu Ghraib suburbs, killing 2 soldiers and wounding 9.

August 11—Afghanistan—Three NATO service members were killed in eastern Afghanistan.

August 11—Peru—Peruvian security forces announced that they killed 2 of the 4 leaders of Shining Path rebels during combat in a ­coca-growing region in the Apurimac and Ene river valley region in the southeast. The duo were identified as Alejandro Borda Casafranca, alias Comrade Alipio, the group’s military chief, and Marco Antonio Quispe Palomino, alias Comrade Gabriel, youngest of 3 brothers from the Quispe Palomino clan that commands 500 fighters. The duo were among 3 terrorists killed during a nighttime gun battle. The Quispe Palomino Shining Path faction controls much of Peru’s cocaine trade. A smaller Shining Path remnant that operated in another ­coca-growing region—the Upper Huallaga valley—was dismantled in early 2012 with the capture of its leader, Comrade Artemio, who was sentenced to life in prison in June 2013 for terrorism, drug trafficking and other crimes.

August 11—Yemen—Suspected AQAP gunmen killed 5 soldiers early Sunday in the Radhum area of Shabwa Province. The ambushers attacked during the morning at a post guarding oil and gas projects close to the Balhaf liquefied gas export terminal, which was a target for a failed car bomb attack on June 2.

August 12—Sweden—Peter Mangs, who was sentenced to life in prison for a nearly ­decade-long string of shootings of immigrants in Malmo, confessed to shooting and killing a 20-year-old woman and injuring her 22-year-old friend. In July 2012, a court found him guilty of 2 counts of murder and 4 counts of attempted murder. He said he was punishing criminals and the duo’s car “gave a criminal impression.”

August 12—Internet—Nasser ­al-Wahishi, leader of AQAP, posted on a website that AQAP prisoners should not be “lured by their jailers” and said “victory is imminent” in freeing them.

August 12—Nigeria—Jihadis wearing army camouflage uniforms gunned down 44 people praying at a mosque in Konduga in Borno State. ­Twenty-six worshippers at the mosque were hospitalized at Maiduguri Teaching Hospital with gunshot wounds. Four members of the Civilian Joint Task Force militia were killed when they responded and were attacked by heavily armed terrorists.

Another 12 civilians died in an apparently simultaneous morning attack in Ngom village. Boko Haram was suspected.

Later that day, Boko Haram leader Shekau sent a video to journalists in which he observed in Hausa, “You soldiers have claimed that you are powerful, that we have been defeated, that we are mad pe-ople. But how can a mad man successfully coordi-nate recent attacks in Gamboru, in Malam Fatori, slaughter people in Biu, kill in Gwoza and in Bama, where soldiers fled under our heavy fire power? We have killed countless soldiers and we are going to kill more.” He claimed BH “strength and firepower has surpassed that of Nigeria…⁠. We can now comfortably confront the United States of America.” He said the army is lying to the world” about its ­casualties. “They lied that they have killed our ­members, but we are the ones that have killed the soldiers.”

August 12—Iraq—Three bombs killed 26 people in evening attacks in central and western Iraq.

A suicide bomber set off his explosive belt inside a cafe in Balad, killing 15 and wounding 30. Two hours later, 6 people died and 17 were wounded in a restaurant bombing in Baqouba.

Later that night, a suicide car bomber drove into an army checkpoint near Fallujah, killing 5 sol-diers.

August 12—Somalia—Al-Shabaab released a 40-minute video called “The Path to Paradise,” featuring 3 fighters, including Troy Kastigar, alias Abdurahman the American, who died in 2009, 10 months after arriving in Somalia. The former Minneapolis resident observed, “This is the best place to be, honestly. If you guys only knew how much fun we have, this is the real Disneyland. You need to come here and join us, take pleasure in this fun.” The others were Mohamud Hassan and Dahir Gure, native Somalis who lived in Minnesota before joining al-Shabaab. The narrator called the trio “Minnesotan martyrs.” The video was pulled from youtube.

August 13—Israel—Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system shot down a rocket launched toward Eilat, a Red Sea resort town near the border with Egypt. Ansar Jerusalem, an ­al-Qaeda–inspired group based in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, claimed credit for launching the rocket in an email to the Associated Press.

August 13—Pakistan—Two hand grenade attacks 30 minutes apart on minority Ismaili (a Shi’ite sect) prayer houses in Karachi killed 2—a woman and child—and wounded 30, many of them women and children.

August 13—Yemen—AQAP killed 3 Yemeni soldiers and wounded 4 in Hawtah in Lahj Province, where government tanks had surrounded 70 terrorists taking cover in local homes.

August 13—Syria—U.S. freelance journalist Steven Joel Sotloff disappeared in Syria while covering Syria’s civil war. On August 19, 2014, Sotloff appeared in an Islamic State video that had shown the beheading of fellow hostage journalist James Foley. The terrorist spokesman said “the life of this American citizen, Obama, depends on your next decision.” The group also posted a Twitter note on Sotloff, a Miami native who wrote for Time, The National Interest, and the Christian Science Monitor. 13081301

August 14—Somalia—Doctors Without Borders announced its withdrawal from Somalia after 22 years because of killings, assaults, and abductions of its aid workers, which armed groups and civilian leaders in Somalia “support, tolerate or condone.”

August 14—Iraq—A bomb exploded inside a cafe in Baqouba, killing 10 and wounding 16. A police officer was killed when a bomb attached to his car exploded as he was driving in eastern Baghdad.

August 14—Nigeria—Two Nigerian military commanders, Joint Task Force spokesman Lt. Col. Sagir Musa in Bama, Borno State and state Joint Task Force commander Lt. Col. Beyidi Marcus Martins in Mubi, 112 miles south of Bama, individually claimed that their teams had killed Momodu Bama, deputy chief of Boko Haram. He had a $156,250 bounty on his head.

August 15—Yemen—MSNBC reported that AQAP bombmaker Ibrahim ­al-Asiri was seriously injured in a drone strike on a vehicle carrying 4 AQAP members. The strike killed 2 terrorists, wounded a third, and seriously wounded the 4th, possibly ­al-Asiri.

August 15—Iraq—Car bombs in Baghdad killed 33 and wounded dozens.

A car bomb went off near a bus station in Khazimiyah, a northern Shi’ite neighborhood, killing 8 and wounding 18.

A car bomb went off among day laborers in the Green Zone’s Allawi neighborhood, killing 6 and wounding 13.

A car bomb went off near a traffic police office in eastern Baghdad’s Baladiyat neighborhood, killing 7 and wounding 15.

A car bomb killed 4 and wounded 12 in Bab ­al-Muadham shops.

A sticky bomb attached to a cart selling gas cylinders killed 3 and wounded 8 in western Baghdad.

A car bomb killed 4 and wounded 15 near car repair shops in Husseiniyah, Baghdad.

A car bomb wounded 7 near shops in the Shi’ite neighborhood of Sadr city.

A car bomb missed a police patrol but killed a civilian ­passer-by and wounded 4 in Baghdad’s southeastern suburbs.

Imad Younis, 22, was killed in a car bomb attack in the Shi’ite holy city of Najaf.

August 15—Nigeria—Suspected jihadis killed 13 people in a nighttime attack on a police station and a military post in Damboa, a northeast village near where a massacre occurred at a mosque. The terrorists firebombed 20 homes.

August 15—Lebanon—A car bomb went off on a street in the Rweiss district south of Beirut controlled by Hizballah, killing 27 and wounding more than 300. Among those injured was Ghaleb Ismail, 59, who was bruised on the leg when he was knocked off his motorcycle. In a youtube video, 3 armed masked men claimed credit for the Brigade of Aisha, Mother of Believers. They stood before a large Arabic sign saying, “There is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is the messenger of Allah.” They said Hizballah were aggressors. Aisha was Muhammad’s last wife. The group called Hizballah leader Hassan Nasral-lah a “pig” who works for of Iran and Israel. “A message: To our brothers and sisters in Lebanon: Stay away from anything to do with Iran—whether in Beirut or outside Beirut.” Hizballah blamed extremists.

Hizballah’s reconstruction arm, Jihad ­al-Bina, soon started to repair damaged buildings.

August 16—Kenya—Al-Shabaab claimed credit for a nighttime ­cross-border attack by 40 terrorists that killed 4 police officers and wounded a local chief and a school teacher at a police post in Galmagalla village in Garissa County in northeast Kenya. ­Al-Shabaab, in Twitter postings, said it seized dozens of weapons and communication equipment before torching the police post. 13081601

August 16—Morocco—The government announced the arrest of 4 members of a terrorist cell with links to al-Qaeda in Syria, which had directed the detain-ees to recruit Moroccans for ­anti-government attacks.

August 16—Indonesia—During the night, 2 gunmen on a motorbike killed 2 police officers in Tange­rang Selatan in Jakarta’s western suburbs a few days after the arrests of several suspects and the death of terrorists in several raids. One officer was on his way to a police precinct in Tangerang in the Jakarta ­suburbs. A police car pursued the motorcyclists and hit the bike before crashing into a drain. The gunmen shot to death another officer in the car. Police fired back and injured one of the terrorists, but both fled in a motorbike that they stole from a vil-lage. Police identified 2 attackers as suspected terrorists.

August 16—Pakistan—Terrorists fired a rocket at a train near Dozen in the southwestern mountains, killing 2 passengers and wounding 19. The train was en route to Sibi in Baluchistan Province. Baluch separatists were suspected.

August 16—Iraq—During the night, a bomb went off while people left a soccer field in western Baghdad, killing 5 and wounding 15. Earlier that day, a roadside bomb killed 2 soldiers in an army patrol in Mahmoudiyah, 20 miles south of Baghdad.

August 17—Egypt—Egyptian authorities at a check­point in Giza arrested Mohammed ­al-Zawahiri, leader of the ultraconservative Jihadi Salafist group and the brother of ­al-Qaeda chief Ayman ­al-Zawahiri.

August 17—Afghanistan—Just before dawn, gunmen fired ­rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons at a construction camp in western Herat Province, killing 10 people, including 9 construction workers and a police officer. The workers were in a 32-mile road project run by an ­Afghan-German company and managed by the public works ministry. The road runs from Herat’s Karukh district to ­Qala-i Now, capital of Badghis Province.

A roadside bomb killed 5 members of a family—3 children, a woman and a man—in a ­mini-van in the Marjah district of southern Helmand Province.

A roadside bomb killed 3 women in Helmand’s Sangin District.

Three people, including a local police commander, died when a suicide bomber detonated his explosive vest inside a private medical clinic in Farah Province. 13081701

August 17—Iraq—In the early morning, gunmen fired on an army checkpoint south of Baghdad, killing 4 soldiers and wounding 4 more.

Gunmen killed 3 soldiers and wounded another at a checkpoint near Muqdadiyah, 60 miles north of Baghdad.

Gunmen killed 2 soldiers at an army checkpoint in Tikrit.

A car bomb caused no casualties when it went off in the southern port of Um Qasr.

August 17—Somalia—Two gunmen dressed in student uniforms shot to death Ahmed Sharif, a technician for the ­state-run Radio Mogadishu, outside his home in the Shibis neighborhood of Mogadishu during the morning. The fired 4 times, hitting him in the chest and abdomen. He died at Keysaney Hospital. The attackers escaped.

The same day, Aden Sheikh Abdi was executed by firing squad for the murder of Hassan Yusuf Absuge, a reported for the private Radio Maanta station. Abdi was accused of membership in ­al-Shabaab. A lower military court convicted him in March and ­sentenced him to death. A senior military court turned down his appeal in July. It was the first execution of a terrorist murderer of a journalist in Somalia.

August 17—Egypt—Jihadis set alight a Franciscan school, then paraded 3 nuns through the streets before a Muslim woman offered them sanctuary. Two other women working at the school were sexually harassed by a mob. In the previous 4 days, Islamists attacked dozens of Coptic churches and the homes and businesses of Christians. Some 40 churches were torched; another 23 were heavily damaged.

Islamists shot to death a Christian man in southern Sohag Province.

August 17—Bahrain—A bomb wounded 5 policemen, 2 seriously, during the evening in the ­al-Diar area on the island of Muharraq.

August 18—Iraq—A bomb exploded during the morning rush hour in Baghdad’s Amiriyah neighborhood, killing 2 pedestrians and wounding 9 others. A second roadside bomb went off in the nearby Khadra neighborhood, killing 2 civilians and wounding 8.

August 18—Yemen—The UK and Germany reopened their embassies, which had been closed for a fortnight due to a terrorism threat.

August 19—Egypt—Jihadis attacked 2 ­mini-buses carrying ­off-duty policemen near Rafah in the northern Sinai, killing 25 of them ­execution-style in a daylight incident. The terrorists forced the vehicles to stop, had the policemen exit, forced them to lie on the ground, and executed them. The policemen were not in uniform. Two policemen were wounded. On August 31, 2013, Egyptian security forces arrested 3 suspects, including Adel Mohammed, alias Adel Habara, who is suspected of leading an ­al-Qaeda–affiliated group in the ambush. He was earlier sentenced to death in absentia for killing soldiers in the Nile Delta in 2012. On October 14, 2014, a homemade bomb exploded in the night near a Cairo courthouse and a subway station, injuring 12, just after a court was sentencing 7 jihadis, all but one in absentia, to death for killing 25 soldiers in 2013. The jailed jihadi was Adel Ibrahim, who was previously convicted in connection to bombings in the Red Sea resort of Taba in 2004. Authorities said he was a senior member of Ansar Beit ­al-Maqdis. A final ruling was scheduled for December 6.

August 20—Russia—Police killed 9 terrorists, including Bammatkhan Sheikov, 50, a senior warlord who was competing to run all militant operations in Dagestan, at a house in Buinaksk, Dagestan. He was sentenced to 3 years in prison for insurgency in 2008, after he turned himself in and laid down arms.

August 20—China—Chinese police raided a terrorist cell in Xinjiang, killing 22 terrorists. A week later, the official Kashgar Daily newspaper said policeman Yan Xiaofei, 32, a SWAT team deputy commander, was killed in the clash. A police helicopter had monitored the group at a house in Yilkiqi township in the southwestern Xinjiang prefecture of Kashgar for a week. Police found 6 axes and knives at the scene. A few days later, the website of the official People’s Daily announced the sentencing of 9 men to up to life in prison on charges of inciting ethnic hatred, ethnic discrimination, and conducting illegal religious activities.

August 20—Europe—German authorities announced an al-Qaeda threat against ­high-speed trains in Europe, citing an ­NSA-intercepted call between senior al-Qaeda members several weeks earlier. Newspapers suggested the attacks could include sabotage on rail infrastructure or bombings on trains.

August 20—Afghanistan—A suicide bomber attacked a security vehicle in Puli Alam, Logar Province, killing 3 people, including a police officer, and wounding 8 people.

Gunmen killed a NATO officer in the east.

August 20—Iraq—Car bombs in 3 southern cities killed 10 and wounded dozens. A car bomb exploded in a commercial area in Amara, killing 4 and wounding 42. Two car bombs exploded in a parking lot in Iskanadariyah, killing 3 and injuring 18. A car bomb went off near a power plant in Nasiriyah, killing 3 and wounding 21.

August 20—Nigeria—Gunmen drove up to a divisional police headquarters in the north and killed a superintendent, a sergeant, and a female officer, before freeing suspected criminals held at the station. On September 3, thousands of people demonstrated in Kajuru against arbitrary arrests by the police following the attack. Two suspects had been arrested on September 1, and another 7 from their homes on September 2. The local community had handed over 2 cooperating suspects to the police.

August 21—Iraq—In a nighttime attack, 3 bombs went off next to the pipeline exporting oil through the Turkish port of Ceyhan. 13082101

August 22—Iraq—Attacks across the country, including a suicide bombing of a Shi’ite wedding party, killed at least 24. The suicide belt attack occurred in the northern town of Dujail, killing 9 civilians and wounding 27.

A suicide bomber crashed his ­explosives-laden fuel tanker into a military barracks in Anbar Province, killing 9 soldiers and wounding 11.

Gunmen in 2 cars killed a local ­anti–al-Qaeda militia leader in Madain along with 2 of his guards, and wounded a third guard.

A bomb went off next to a police patrol in Mosul, killing 2 police officers. Gunmen shot to death a tribal sheik in a second attack.

August 22—Israel—Gunmen fired 4 rockets from a location south of the Lebanese port city of Tyre into Israel. Three rockets landed in the north (2 rockets landed in populated areas, a third in an open field); a 4th was shot down by the “Iron Dome” rocket defense system. No one was injured. The Abdullah Azzam Brigades, an ­al-Qaeda–inspired group based in Lebanon, claimed responsibility for the attack in a post on the Twitter account of Sirajuddin Zurayqat, a prominent Islamic militant leader.

August 22—U.S.—In a ­months-long sting operation, Las Vegas authorities arrested local couple David Allen Brutsche, 42, and Devon Campbell Newman, 67, for plotting to abduct and kill local police officers. The duo were members of the Sovereign Citizens’ Movement, which federal authorities call domestic terrorists who believe that police are illegitimate. The 2 shopped for guns, found a vacant house where they planned to bind captives to cross beams and torture them during interrogation, try the officers for civil rights violations, then kill them. Police arrested them in an apartment a few miles away from the Vegas Strip.

August 23—Lebanon—Two car bombs exploded during midday prayers outside the packed ­al-Taqwa and ­al-Salam Sunni mosques in Tripoli, killing 47 and wounding more than 500. A day later, 300 people remained in the hospital; 65 of them were in critical condition. Lebanon’s ­second-largest city is predominantly Sunni. Residents conducted a street protest and gunmen attacked an army checkpoint. No one claimed credit. The mosques’ imams are opponents of the Syrian regime. The ­al-Salam bomb weighed 220 pounds. Lebanese security forces arrested Sheik Ahmad ­al-Ghareeb at his home in the Miniyeh region outside Tripoli the next day. Authorities said he has ties to a Sunni organization that enjoys good relations with Hizballah and that he was seen in surveillance video at the site of one of the explosions.

On August 30, 2013, Lebanese authorities charged 5 men, including Syrian Army Captain Mohammed Ali, Sheik Ahmad ­al-Ghareeb, Syrian civilian Khodr ­al-Aryan and Lebanese Sheikhs Hashem Minkara, variant Menkara, and Mustafa Ahmad Gharib. The latter 3 were charged with installing car bombs and killing. Ali and ­al-Aryan were charged with preparing the explosives. Hashem Minkara, Ahmad ­al-Ghareeb and Mustafa Houri, who are tied to the Islamic Unification Movement, a Sunni organization that cooperates with Hizballah, faced charges of orchestrating the bombings. 13082301

August 23—Iraq—A suicide bomber struck a park in the Qahira neighborhood of Baghdad in the late night, killing 26 and wounding 55. No one claimed credit.

Later that night, gunmen in Baghdad’s northern Azamiyah neighborhood killed 4 pedestrian males.

Gunmen broke into a Shi’ite merchant’s house in Dujail at dawn, killing him, his wife, and elderly mother.

Bombs exploded near Sunni mosques in 2 Bagh­dad neighborhoods following Friday’s sermon, kill­ing 3 and injuring 18.

August 23—Libya—Gunmen in a car shot to death Colonel Mostafa Oukeila, a senior criminal investigator in Benghazi.

August 23—Yemen—A suicide car bomber killed 2 soldiers and wounded 6 others at a checkpoint at the entrance to the Shibam, in Hadramawt Province.

August 25—Iraq—Terrorists killed 41 people in attacks on targets including a coffee shop, a wedding party convoy and a carload of ­off-duty soldiers.

In Mosul, terrorists at a fake security checkpoint captured and shot to death 5 soldiers who were dressed in civilian clothes and riding back to base in a taxi.

In Mosul, ­drive-by gunmen shot to death a grocer who was a member of the Shabak ethnic group.

A car bomb exploded as a judge drove past in Balad, killing 3 nurses and a male pedestrian, and wounding 13, including the judge, his brother, and a driver.

In Madain, a car bomb killed 4 and wounded 12. A second bomb in the city hit young people playing soccer, killing 4 and wounding 13.

In Baqouba, a bomb exploded near a police officer’s house, killing his 8-year old son and wounding 11 others. The police officer was unharmed. Later that day, a parked car bomb in the city killed 7 and wounded 34. A 3rd bomb exploded next to a wedding party convoy, killing 4 and wounding 17.

In Baghdad, a car bomb at an ­al-Ameen neighborhood market killed 3 civilians and wounded 13. A bomb attached to a car killed 3 and wounded 6 when it exploded while the car was passing through Baghdad’s eastern Zayona neighborhood. A bomb went off in a commercial area in the western Ghazaliya area, killing 2 and wounding 7. In the evening, a device exploded at a coffee shop in the Shaab neighborhood, killing 3 and wounding 16.

August 24—Nigeria—Boko Haram was suspected in the murders of 14 anti–BH Civilian Joint Task Force vigilantes in Bama, 54 miles from Maiduguri. The attackers wore military uniforms and stabbed the vigilantes to death, then decapitated them. Nine other young men were wounded.

Boko Haram used the same method the previous week in Dumba, Borno State.

August 25—Afghanistan—The Taliban kidnapped 6 aid workers working on government projects, killing them after negotiations failed. Six bodies were found in the Gulran district of western Herat Province on August 27. Five victims worked for an international ­non-governmental organization; one worked for an Afghan government ministry. 13082501

August 25—Yemen—A bomb believed stuck under a bus carrying senior Yemeni air force personnel to air force headquarters exploded in Sana’a, killing 3 and wounding 23, 5 critically. The wounded including 13 majors, lieutenant colonels and colonels. AQAP posted a video saying killings in Muslim nations are a “stimulus” to draw more into fighting.

AQAP spokesman Sheik Harith ­al-Nadhari earlier posted an online video message regarding suspected U.S. drone strikes in Yemen and killings of Egyptian terrorists, observing, “The killings for the sake of God … is a stimulus to us Muslims for jihad for the sake of God.” He said drone strikes punish for “mere suspicion…. Suspicion is enough a justification for America to kill whomever she wishes among the Muslims. She is exempted from questioning. Let Muslims be killed, then be said: suspected of association.”

Criminal court Judge Helal Hamed began the trial of 4 AQAP members charged with planning an assassination attempt against President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and the U.S. ambassador to Yemen. Prosecutors said the defendants belonged to AQAP between 2011 until early this year and plotted to kill the president with 2 car bombs. They were also charged with planning to kidnap foreigners for ransom. A hearing was scheduled for September 8.

August 26—Iraq—Terrorists disguised in military uniforms kidnapped 6 farmers from their houses in an agricultural area in the Sunni town of Tarmiyah, north of Baghdad. The hostages’ bodies were found hours later in a nearby orchard with shots to their heads and chests.

August 26—Nigeria—Four Boko Haram gunmen shot 6 anti–BH Civilian Joint Task Force vigilantes sleeping in Damasak, a northeastern village. The dead were also jewelry vendors who worked at the weekly Damasak Market. The male victims ranged in age from 20 to 36 years old.

August 26—Afghanistan—Five Taliban suicide bombers wearing explosive vests attacked an army base in Kapisa Province’s Tagab District, killing 2 Afghan soldiers and wounding several others. One terrorist crashed his car bomb into the base’s main gate. The others ran through the resulting hole. Another dozen terrorists fired at the base from afar; 10 were wounded while escaping.

A bomb killed a soldier serving with the international military coalition in southern Afghanistan.

August 27—Tunisia—Tunisian Prime Minister Ali Larayedh told a press conference that the Salafi group Ansar ­al-Shariah is a terrorist group, based on seized documents, confessions and weapons captured. Membership in the group is thus a crime. Authori-ties believed the group helped in the Septem-ber 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. Embassy in Tunisia in which 4 assailants were killed. The government also said Ansar was involved in the murder of 2 opposition politicians, and that the group was working with gunmen fighting the army along the Algerian border.

August 27—India—Maoist rebels blew up a vehicle of a paramilitary patrol traveling through Koraput district in Odisha, killing 5 people and wounding 2.

August 27—Afghanistan—Gunmen shot to death 12 civilians, including 6 aid workers working on government projects, in 2 separate incidents. Six bodies were found in the Gulran district of western Herat Province; another 6 were found by a roadside in eastern Paktia Province.

August 27—Pakistan—Around midnight, 4 Pakistani Taliban gunmen attacked an army camp in the South Waziristan tribal area near the Afghan border, killing at least one soldier. The gunmen tried to enter the camp, but were repulsed in a ­shoot-out. Three terrorists died in the ­shoot-out; the 4th set off his suicide vest. One security official said one soldier was killed; another said the tally was 2 dead and 9 wounded. Taliban spokesman Asimullah Mehsud claimed credit.

August 28—Congo—UN MONUSCO soldiers and the Congolese army deployed helicopter gunships, armored personnel carriers and a ground troops in attacks on rebel positions 9 miles from Goma, which had been held by the M23 in 2012.

August 28—Iraq—Eighty people died and 250 were wounded in car bombings and other explosions in parking lots, outdoor markets and restaurants in Shi’ite areas around Baghdad during the morning rush hour.

One bomb went off in Baghdad’s Hurriyah neighborhood.

A parked car bomb went off in a commercial area in Baghdad’s northern Shaab, killing 9.

Parked car bombs exploded in Sadr City (5 dead, 20 wounded), the northeastern neighborhood of Shula (3 dead, 9 wounded), the southeastern Jisr Diyala district (8 dead, 23 wounded) and the eastern New Baghdad area (3 dead, 12 wounded). Two parked car bombs exploded in Jisr Diyala. A video was released of a man getting out of a car after the first bomb went off, then running away when his car exploded. A mob caught him, beat him to death, strung up the shirtless body and set it alight. A tire beneath the body fanned the flames.

Bombs went off in Bayaa, Jamila, Hurriyah and Saydiyah neighborhoods, killing 12.

During the evening, a car bomb went off in Baghdad’s southwestern Amil neighborhood, killing 4.

Two bombs went off in a parking lot in Kazimiyah, site of a ­gold-domed Shi’ite shrine. A suicide car bomber then targeted responders. At least 10 were killed and 27 wounded.

Gunmen shot to death a Shi’ite family—including the 2 parents, an uncle, and 4 children, aged 8 to 16—while they slept at their home in the Sunni town of Latifiyah, 20 miles south of Baghdad. The family had fled after receiving threats and had returned 3 weeks ago.

A suicide bomber hit a restaurant in Mahmoudi­yah, 20 miles south of Baghdad, killing 5.

A roadside bomb hit a passing military patrol in Madain, 15 miles southeast of Baghdad, killing 4 soldiers and wounding 6.

Sunnis were also hit. A parked car bomb exploded at a mosque in Baghdad’s western Yarmouk neighborhood, killing 4.

A parked car bomb went off at a coffee shop in the Sunni neighborhood of Azamiyah, killing 6.

August 28—Nigeria—Federal High Court Judge Ahmed Mohammed ordered the extradition of Ni­gerian citizen Lawal Olaniyi Babafemi, alias Abdullah Ayatollah Mustapha 33, to the U.S., which cited a federal indictment charging he provided support to ­al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. He admitted to the FBI that he traveled to Yemen with AQAP members and received $8,600 to return to Nigeria and recruit English speakers to radicalize others.

August 28—India—Indian intelligence agencies arrested Yasin Bhatkal, one of the leaders of the Indian Mujahideen, a domestic terror group blamed for a series of bombings in the nation’s cities, in a nighttime raid on the eastern border with Nepal. The group was linked to the banned ­Pakistan-based jihadi ­Lashkar-e-Taiba, which claimed responsibility for terrorist attacks in India. The government outlawed the Indian Mujahideen in 2010 following an attack in Pune that killed 17. The government also said the group bombed a Bangalore cricket stadium that injured 5 people that year, a shooting and bombing attack outside a famous New Delhi mosque that injured 2 foreigners in 2010 and a dual bomb attack that killed 16 people outside a movie theater and a bus station in Hyderabad in 2013.

August 28—Afghanistan—Taliban attacks around the country killed 35 and wounded 73.

A suicide car bomber set off a station wagon next to a U.S. military convoy, killing 4 civilians and injuring 15 in ­Laskar-Gah, Helmand Province.

At dawn, a Taliban rocket attack at a parking lot filled with tankers carrying fuel for NATO killed 6 Afghan drivers and wounded 10 in western Farah Province. The fire destroyed 35 of the 40 trucks in the lot.

The Taliban rammed a truck full of explosives into the eastern perimeter wall at a NATO base housing a Provincial Reconstruction Team run by the Poles in Ghazni. Ten terrorists wearing suicide vests ran through the hole; they were soon killed. Another suicide bomber went off at the western perimeter wall; an Afghan quick reaction force killed the 5 Taliban on that side. The attack killed a U.S. soldier and 7 Afghans—4 civilians and 3 police officers—and wounded 52, including 12 women, 12 children and 10 Polish soldiers, one of them seriously. The force later defused 2 other car bombs near the base.

In Helmand, a suicide bomber rammed a car into an Afghan army base in the Nad Ali district, killing 3 soldiers and wounding 4.

During the night, the Taliban ambushed an Af­ghan police convoy of 40 officers patrolling the main trade route at a mountain pass, killing 15 officers and wounding 10 in Farah Province.

August 28—Guantanamo/Algeria—Detainees Nabil Hadjarab and Mutia Sadiq Ahmad Sayyab were returned to Algeria and detained pending interrogation by a prosecutor. On September 6, an Algerian judge put the 2 under “judicial control,” a type of supervised parole. The duo had been cleared for release years earlier and joined the 2013 Gitmo hunger strike. Hadjarab was represented by French lawyer Joseph Breham, who was trying to get him resettled in France, where his family lives.

August 29—Iraq—Bombings in northern Baghdad and its suburbs killed 29 and wounded 8.

August 30—Iraq—Bombings by al-Qaeda in Iraq (the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant), mostly in Shi’ite areas of Baghdad, killed at least 82 people and injured more than 200 in retaliation for the execution of 17 Sunni prisoners by the Shi’ite-led government on August 19. Car bombings and other attacks hit parking lots, outdoor markets and restaurants during the morning rush hour.

A gunman on a motorbike fired on Sunnis heading to a mosque for Friday prayers in the Adel neighborhood in western Baghdad, killing 2 and wounding 2.

During the night, terrorists set off a ­non-lethal stun bomb to attract a crowd in a Kurdish neighborhood in Tuz Khormato before detonating an explosive that killed 12 and wounded 10.

August 30—Yemen—Yemeni security and military officials said a drone strike on a car in the mountainous region of ­el-Manaseh in central Bayda Province killed 3 ­al-Qaeda members, including Qaid ­el-Zahab, believed to be the head of AQAP in Bayda.

August 30—Afghanistan—A suicide bomber hit a memorial service at a mosque in the Dashi Archi District of Kunduz Province, killing 8, including district chief Sayed Sadruddin, and wounding 11, including several civilians.

August 30—India—Soldiers and police killed 5 suspected rebels in a morning raid in a forested area in Kangan region in ­Indian-controlled Kashmir. No troops were harmed.

August 30—Nigeria—Boko Haram terrorists wearing military uniforms were suspected of ambushing and killing 24 members of the Civilian Joint Task Force youth vigilante group who planned to find and fight BH in their camps around Kaleri, Shuwari, Maganari and Nannari villages around Monguno’s local government area in northeast Nigeria. Another 36 vigilantes were missing. At least 100 vigilantes were involved in the operation near Monguno town, 100 miles from Maiduguri. The military usually provides an escort for the vigilantes, but did not arrive at the ­agreed-upon time. The vigilantes were approached by 3 vehicles of ­military-garbed individuals they thought were their escorts; they were BH.

August 30—Egypt—Gunmen shot in the chest and killed a riot police officer on patrol in ­El-Arish in the Sinai.

Gunmen shot to death 2 police officers in a ­drive-by shooting at their Cairo police station.

August 31—Afghanistan—A suicide bomber set off his explosives at a police checkpoint near a branch building of the New Kabul Bank, killing 6—including 4 civilians, a police officer, and a security guard—and injuring 24, mostly civilians.

Gunmen set off a roadside bomb as part of an evening ambush that killed 12–11 men and a woman—in Sangin District in Helmand Province.

August 31—Egypt—Authorities foiled an attempt to disrupt traffic on the Suez Canal by targeting a ­Panama-flagged ship. 13083101

August 31—Yemen—During the evening, gunmen fired on the motorcade of Prime Minister Moham­med Salem Basindwa as he returned home from his office. No one was hurt. His guards spotted the license plates of the getaway car.

Five AQAP leaders died in an air strike in ­al-Bayda Province. They were from the same family, and were identified as Qa’ed ­al-Dahab, Ali Jalloud ­al-Dahab, ­al-Hamdani ­al-Arbaji ­al-Dahab, Deifallah Ahmed Deifallah ­al-Dahab and Mohammed ­al-Doukhi ­al-Dahab. The news media said Qa’ed ­al-Dahab was the commander of an ­al-Qaeda–linked group in ­al-Bayda who had escaped at least 2 previous drone strikes.

August 31—Iraq/Egypt—Abu Mohammed ­al-Adnani, a leader of a branch of al-Qaeda in Iraq, posted a 32-minute Internet audio in which he called for Egyptians to fight their army and said the Muslim Brotherhood was “evil” for seeking power through democracy. He said the Brotherhood was “a secular party with an Islamic cloak, worshipping power and parliaments, and their jihad is for democracy and not for God’s sake … more evil and malevolent than the secularists, and if seizing power necessitates bowing to the Devil, they will bow without hesitation.” Egyptians, Syrians and Iraqis should “renounce peaceful calls and to carry weapons and join jihad for the sake of God…. We advise those in the Egyptian army to repent and to defect.” Arab governments’ armed forces are “armies of the oppressors,” ‘‘renegades” and “infidels,” especially the Egyptian army “which tries to prevent God’s rule and establish secular rules.” He claimed the 2011 Arab Spring erred by focusing on rallies vice armed struggle. “Muslims who came out unarmed to remove injustice missed their way when they thought that redemption is achieved by getting rid of rulers and that change comes through demonstrations.” Dignity and freedom from oppression “can only be achieved through the rattle of the swords, shedding blood and sacrifice of life.” Addressing the Brotherhood, he observed, “You have suffered yourselves from the reality of democracy and the loss of your power that you have sought for a century when the army snatched your power within one night and left you either arrested, dead or homeless.”

August 31—Egypt—On September 29, the previously unknown ­Sinai-based ­al-Nusra Battalion, attached to the Furqan Brigades, said in a video posting on a jihadi website that it had targeted a carrier ship in the Suez Canal, but Canal authority chairman Mohab Mamish said that while a “terrorist element” had tried to disrupt navigation in the waterway by targeting a ­Panama-flagged ship, the attempt was “completely unsuccessful.” Furqan posted a video showing a man firing a ­rocket-propelled grenade from land toward a ship. An ­al-Nusra Battalion video showed a gunman killing a man wearing an Arab robe, identified by subtitles as an “apostate.” It also showed men in a car firing at a passing vehicle, claiming all 3 occupants of the car, including Air Force Col. Mohammed ­el-Kumi, were killed.

September—Libya—Gunmen kidnapped Mohammed Abduallah ­al-Theni, 26, son of the defense minister, in Tripoli. He was freed on January 13, 2014. Some observers believed militias were involved.

September—Mali—On December 31, 2013, United Nations peacekeepers announced the discovery in September of a cache of 5.7 metric tons of ammonium nitrate and nearly 40 grenades while on patrol near Kidal. Spokesman Olivier Salgado said that amount of ammonium nitrate could make 20 to 25 suicide car bombs.

September—Dubai—On March 5, 2014, a UAE court sentenced Zulfiya Hamraeva, 33, an Uzbek woman, to 7 years for claiming that she was wearing an explosive belt, sparking a 13-hour standoff in a government building in September 2013. She demanded to talk to officials regarding a paternity dispute with an Emirati man. She was ordered deported after serving her sentence.

September—Syria—The Islamic State kidnapped Spanish war correspondent Marc Marginedas. He was freed in March 2014 after payment of a ransom. 13099901

September—Syria—The Islamic State kidnapped Spanish journalist Javier Espinosa and Spanish photojournalist Ricardo Garcia Vilanova. They were freed in March 2014 after payment of a ransom. 13099902

September—Yemen—AQAP kidnapped U.S. freelance photographer Luke Somers, 32, off a busy street in Sana’a as he left a supermarket. Somers was born in the UK. He worked as a copyeditor for the Yemen Times. On December 3, 2014, AP reported that AQAP threatened in a Twitter video to kill him after U.S. Special Operations commandos and Yemeni troops launched a rescue operation to free him the previous week in Hagr ­al-Saiaar on the Saudi border. He was being held in a remote part of the country. The operation freed several hostages, including Yemenis, a Saudi, and an Ethiopian, but Somers, a British citizen, and 3 other hostages had been moved. In the video, Somers said, “It’s now been well over a year since I’ve been kidnapped in Sana’a. Basically, I’m looking for any help that can get me out of this situation. I’m certain that my life is in danger. So as I sit here now, I ask if anything can be done, please, let it be done. Thank you very much.” Local AQAP commander Nasser bin Ali ­al-Ansi added that “the American hostage held by us will meet his inevitable fate” if the United States failed to meet the group’s unspecified demands in 3 days. The demands were not outlined in the video. “We warn Obama and the American government of the consequences of proceeding ahead in any other foolish action.” He complained that an “elite group of mujahedeen” were killed in the raid and warned against more “stupidities.”

A tribal leader in Hagr ­al-Saiaar said local tribal mediators told him that the U.S. turned down their mediation offers. A second tribal leader said outreach to Qatar as a mediator failed.

The body of Rashid ­al-Habshi, a Yemeni hostage who had been held captive with Somers, was found in the district of ­al-Qatn in Hadramawt on December 3, 2014.

NPR and AP reported that on December 6, 2014, at 5 p.m., Somers and South African hostage Pierre Korkie were murdered by AQAP during a second ­rescue attempt in a compound of buildings in the Nisab District of Shabwah Governate ordered by President Barack Obama. AQAP had threatened to kill Somers by December 6 if undisclosed demands were not met. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said there were “compelling reasons to believe Somers’ life was in imminent danger.” The rescuers landed at 4 a.m. in 2 Osprey aircraft a few miles from the village of Abadan, then walked in. Hagel said 40 U.S. special forces soldiers killed 6 terrorists (local residents claimed 11 people died; AP later quoted U.S. officials as saying 10 AQAP terrorists and 4 Yemeni soldiers died). A dog apparently tipped off the terrorists, one of whom ran back inside the building and shot the hostages. The rescuers put the gravely wounded hostages on helicopters that took them to the waiting USS Makin Island. One died en route, the other on the ship’s operating table.

The Gift of Givers aid group claimed that Korkie was scheduled to be released on December 7. He left behind a wife, Yolande, and 2 children. The Korkies were abducted in Taiz in May 2013. She was released in January 2014 after negotiations by Gift of the Givers.

AQAP spokesman Nasr bin Ali ­al-Ansi posted a video on Twitter blaming President Barack Obama for the deaths of the hostages, saying the rescue mission “caused things to go in a completely different way than we wanted…. They could have at least negotiated with us about some clauses or show sincerity.” He vowed that AQAP will “put the lives of all Americans in danger inside and outside of America … in the air, on the ground and in the sea.” 13099903

September 1—Pakistan—A roadside bomb hit a passing Pakistani army convoy in a village near Miran Shah, in the North Waziristan tribal area, killing 9 soldiers.

September 1—Greece—A letter bomb made of gunpowder and stuffed inside a large envelope addressed to appeals court prosecutor Dimitris Mokkas exploded at his home. He was away on vacation when it arrived and upon his return, it was part of the mail his neighbor gave him. Mokkas decided the envelope, with a return address of the Greek chapter of an international NGO, looked suspicious and he threw it down. The envelope ignited, but did no damage. On September 3, the Greek anarchist Conspiracy Nuclei of Fire (SPF) claimed credit and called on other anarchists for more attacks against the judiciary, ranging from bodily assault to bombings and “executions.” It targeted Mokkas to avenge recent arrests over another letter bomb sent to a former police ­anti-terrorism chief. SPF posted on a website that many judges lack police guards and are “easy to find.” SFP was behind ­non-lethal bombings that began in 2008.

September 2—Afghanistan—At 6:30 a.m., 3 Tali­ban attackers wearing suicide vests died in an ambush on a U.S. base in the Torkham area near the Pakistan border. During the 3½ hour battle, the gunmen detonated bombs—including one car bomb—torched vehicles and closed down a key road used by NATO supply trucks between Jalalabad city and Torkham. The trio was hiding under a small canal bridge when they were shot dead by NATO helicopters.

September 2—Iraq—Turkish diplomat Ozturk Yilmaz, who heads the Turkish consulate in Mosul, was uninjured when a roadside bomb hit his convoy in Mosul as he was beginning a trip to Irbil. One vehi-cle was damaged, but no injuries were reported. 13090201

September 2—Iraq—Two suicide bombers attacked the motorcade of ­anti-al-Qaeda Sahwa militia leader Wisam ­al-Hardan near his house in Baghdad’s western Harthiyah neighborhood. He was not injured but 6 bodyguards and a civilian died and 8 people were wounded. On September 13, ­al-Qaeda in Iraq claimed credit, saying that 3 suicide bombers were involved.

A suicide car bomber crashed into a security check­point near Baqouba, killing 4 and wounding 12.

During the night, gunmen using weapons fitted with silencers fired on a commercial street in southeastern Baghdad, killing 2 and wounding 3.

A man was shot dead as he walked near his home in Baghdad’s western Baiyaa area.

September 3—Iraq—Nighttime bombings through­out the country killed 67 people. Car bombs detonated in a 2-hour period in 11 Baghdad neighborhoods killed more than 50 people.

Two car bombs exploded near restaurants and shops in Baghdad’s Shi’ite neighborhood of Husseiniyah, killing 9 and wounding 32.

A car bomb went off at a row of restaurants in the eastern Baghdad’s Shi’ite neighborhood of Talibiyah, killing 7 and wounding 28.

A car bomb hit Sadr City, killing 3 and wounding 8.

Back-to-back car bombs went off near a police station in western Baghdad’s Sunni neighborhood of Sadiyah, killing 6 and wounding 15.

A bomb killed 6 and wounded 14 at a central square in Karradah’s commercial district. The bomb shattered the windows of Karim Sami’s nearby clothing shop.

Car bombs hit shopping streets in Shurta, killing 5 and wounding 12; Zafaraniyah, killing 4 and wounding 11; Abu Dashir, killing 2 and wounding 9; New Baghdad, killing 6 people and wounding 17; and Dora, killing 2 and wounding 5.

A car bomb exploded near an outdoor market in Maamil, in the eastern Baghdad suburbs, killing 3 and wounding 41.

In the morning, Baghdad authorities found 4 bodies with gunshot wounds to the back lying in the streets.

Gunmen shot dead 2 people in Dora.

Gunmen attacked the southern Baghdad home of a member of the Sahwa Sunni militia opposed to ­al-Qaeda, killing him and his wife and 3 children.

A car bomb went off at a Jbala restaurant, killing 2 and wounding 7.

Gunmen shot dead Sunni cleric ­Abdul-Karim Mus­tafa as he was walking near Basra’s ­al-Taqwa mosque.

During the night, terrorists fired on the homes of 2 Shi’ite families in Latifiyah, south of Baghdad, then set off bombs, killing 6 children, 5 women, and 5 men and wounding 9 people.

September 3—South Africa—Police investigated a possible arson in a reception room at Chief Albert Luthuli House, the Johannesburg headquarters of the ruling African National Congress. During the evening, a hidden bottle filled with chemicals set a couch on fire.

September 3—Yemen—In 2 firefights, 6 AQAP terrorists and 6 civilians were killed when the group tried to take over the small cities of Yafaa and Lawder in southern Lahj and Abyan provinces.

September 3—Afghanistan—A roadside bomb went off as the convoy of Nazer Mohammad Neyazi, mayor of Faiz Abad city, traveled through the Barak district of Badakhshan Province, killing 4 police guards and injuring one. He was returning from a visit to a road project. He was the apparent target.

September 4—Iraq—Three bombs exploded at a military convoy in Tarmiyah, killing 5 soldiers and wounding 9.

A suicide car bomber crashed into a Tarmiyah police barracks, killing 5 officers and wounding 2 civilians.

Gunmen used pistols fitted with silencers to kill a mechanic and his son in Baghdad’s eastern Basmaya district.

September 4—Nigeria—Boko Haram was suspected when individuals disguised as traders invaded an open market and opened fire in Gajiram, killing 15. They then torched the local government secretariat, police station and a clinic.

September 4—Yemen—A state security court began the trial of 5 Saudis—3 from the same family—charged with involvement in armed attacks and having links to AQAP. They were accused of “planning criminal and terrorist acts” in 2013 that targeted military and security officials. The trial was postponed until September 11. On September 12, the court convicted the 5 Saudis of entering the country illegally, sentencing 3 of them to 18 months in jail. The other 2 received time served and faced deportation to Saudi Arabia. The 5 were acquitted of AQAP membership.

September 4—Syria—Spanish newspaper El Periodico de Catalunya reporter Marc Marginedas, a special correspondent for El Periodico, was kidnapped near Hama by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. They accused him of spying for the West. He was moved often during captivity before being freed and crossing into Turkey on March 2, 2014. The paper did not say whether a ransom was paid. 13090401

September 5—Afghanistan—Terrorists shot to death Sushmita Banerjee, an Indian woman from Kolkata, India, whose 1997 memoir A Kabuliwala’s Bengali Wife about life under Taliban rule was turned into a 2003 Bollywood film Escape from Taliban. The terrorists arrived before dawn at her Paktika Province home, which lies in Afghanistan’s east—a region where the Taliban are especially influential. They quickly bound and blindfolded her husband, Jaanbaz Khan. The gunmen dragged her outside to a nearby road and shot her 15 times. She was in her 40s and lived in Daygan Sorqala village. She worked as a medical worker in the area, with special training in gynecology. 13090501

September 5—Afghanistan—The National Directorate of Security said 2 Pakistani ­Lashkar-e-Jhangvi terrorists wearing police uniforms and carrying Kalashnikov assault rifles and other weapons conducted a 4:30 a.m. ­shoot-out at a Shi’ite mosque in western Kabul as worshippers gathered for morning prayers. When the terrorists entered the mosque, they were shot down by Afghan security forces. NDS initially said 3 civilians were wounded, but later backed away from that figure. NDS observed, “The enemies of the prosperity and stability of the people of Afghanistan include circles inside Pakistan’s intelligence service and the Punjabis.”

September 5—Egypt—A bomb went off in the late morning, hitting the convoy of Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim as it passed through Nasr City in eastern Cairo. Although he was unharmed, the bomb wounded 22, including seriously injuring 2 policemen and a child. No deaths were reported. The bomb badly damaged 5 vehicles and several stores. He said the bomb was likely remotely detonated. Gamaa Islamiya condemned the attack. Ibrahim had earlier received death threats. On October 26, 2013, ­al-Qaeda–inspired terrorists said the suicide attacker was Waleed Badr, a sacked major. He said in a confessor video that the Egyptian army is “bent on fighting religion” and “loves America” more than Egyptians. A voiceover narrator said the terrorist, who graduated from the military academy in 1991, was fired from the army and joined militants in Afghanistan and Syria. He had tried to go to Iraq but was arrested and spent a year in prison in Iran.

September 6—U.S.—Twitter, for the second time in 2013 (January 2013 was the first), shut down ­al-Shabaab’s account.

September 6—Nigeria—The Nigerian armed forces announced that in the past 2 days it had conducted air strikes and raided a Boko Haram camp, killing 50 terrorists.

Boko Haram killed 9 people on a highway in ­Bulabulin-Ngabura village, 31 miles north of Maiduguri. The terrorists also kidnapped a married couple and their 2 children.

September 6—Nigeria—Gunmen kidnapped Church of Nigeria Archbishop Ignatius Kattey and his wife Beatrice Kattey near their Port Harcourt home in the Niger Delta. She was freed after a few hours. The Archbishop, the No. 2 cleric in Nigeria’s Anglican church, was released on September 15 in Eleme in Rivers State. No ransom was paid.

September 6—Yemen—AQAP gunmen on a motorcycle shot to death Yemeni intelligence officer Lt. Col. Omar Mahmoud as he was walking to his car af­ter midday prayers in ­al-Qatn, Hadramawt Province.

September 6—Iraq—Iranian-backed Shi’ite militias threatened to attack U.S. interests if Washington conducted strikes against the Syrian government for its chemical weapons program. Cleric Wathiq ­al-Batat, leader of the ­Iranian-backed Mukhtar Army militia, said hundreds of potential targets included U.S. official and corporate interests. ­Al-Batat was a senior official in Iraq’s Hizballah Brigades. The Hizballah Brigades said that U.S. and allied interests “must be removed from the region.” Asaib Ahl ­al-Haq said action against Syria “will set the region on fire. The interests of the Western countries will not be saved from this fire.” The U.S. State Department ordered nonessential personnel to leave Lebanon.

September 6—Pakistan—Local officials announced that a drone strike killed Sangeen Zadran, a key Afghan commander wanted by the U.S., and 5 other suspected terrorists at a suspected Haqqani network compound near Ghulam Khan, North Waziristan tribal region. Zabiullah Mujahid, spokesman for the Afghan Taliban, denied that Zadran had been killed. In August 2011, the State Department said he was targeting U.S. forces in Afghanistan, observing, “Sangeen Zadran helps lead fighters in attacks across southeastern Afghanistan, and is believed to have planned and coordinated the movement of hundreds of foreign fighters into Afghanistan.”

September 7—Pakistan—The Pakistani government announced it was releasing 7 Taliban prisoners as a goodwill gesture to move along peace talks. Among them was Mansoor Dadullah, a commander in southern Afghanistan captured in February 2008 in Baluchistan Province. British special forces killed his brother in Helmand Province in 2007; his brother was behind kidnapping and beheading victims.

September 7—Somalia—An al-Shabaab car bomber and a pedestrian bomber killed 15 and wounded 20 at The Village restaurant. The second bomber posed as a first responder. Guards fired on the terrorists. Two suicide bombers had hit The Village in November 2012, killing themselves and a guard.

September 8—Iraq—The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Iraqi (aka al-Qaeda in Iraq) claimed credit for car bombs that killed more than 50 people in Baghdad, saying it was retaliating for the arrests of Sunnis in a recent crackdown. In its Internet posting, the group said, “About half a million security members failed to prevent this huge wave of attacks in Baghdad.”

Two suicide bombers hit a police station in Jalula, killing 3 police officers and a civilian and wounding 10 people, including 6 officers. The first terrorist set off a suicide belt at a security checkpoint at the gate of the station. The second bomber tried to get inside the station, but was killed by guards.

A bomb exploded near a parking lot in Jisr Diyala in southeastern Baghdad, killing one person and injuring 6.

September 8—Afghanistan—At 1 p.m., the Taliban set off a car bomb outside an Afghan intelligence service office near Kabul. In the ensuing gun battle, 4 soldiers and 6 terrorists were killed. Most of those wounded by the bomb were government employees working in neighboring offices.

September 8—Central African Republic—Weekend fighting in Bossangoa in the west between the Seleka coalition of fighters loyal to newly installed President Michel Djotodia and individuals backing ousted President Francois Bozize killed 60 while 30,000 residents fled to the forest. Clashes in Bouca and Paoua also displaced thousands.

September 8—Nigeria—Boko Haram was believed responsible for a 12:30 a.m. attack on the Civilian Joint Task Force vigilante group in Benisheik, 45 miles west of Maiduguri, that killed 18 and injured 17, including Zannah Fannami, 27, a vigilante. Fannami said his group killed 5 Boko Haram members and seized 4 AK-47 rifles. Also injured was operative Muhammed Abuwar, 32. The Army said 5 Boko Haram members were killed by ­Civilian-JTF members wielding machetes.

September 9—Iraq—Gunmen fired on a police patrol near Tikrit, killing 5 policemen.

A sticky bomb attached to the car of a government employee killed him in eastern Baghdad.

Authorities found a body with gunshot wounds in the back near a western Baghdad school.

A bomb went off in a commercial street in a town south of Baghdad, killing one and injuring 8.

September 9—Jordan—A Palestinian and 3 Jordanians believed linked to Jabhat ­al-Nusra pleaded not guilty to charges of undermining relations with Syria, which is punishable by up to 5 years in jail. A prosecutor said they claimed to be Syrian refugees when they separately crossed the border during the summer.

September 9—Tunisia—The Ministry of Interior announced that counterterrorism units killed 2 terrorists and arrested 2 other suspected terrorist leaders believed linked to recent assassinations of opposition politicians. The state news agency earlier said the 4 died in a dawn raid in Tunis. One of the detainees was Mohammed Awadi, whom the government said led the military wing of Ansar ­al-Shariah, which it said supports the Oqba ibn Nafaa Brigade, which pledged allegiance to ­al-Qaeda.

September 9—Philippines—A Naval Special Forces member was killed and 6 others wounded in a ­pre-dawn clash between a Philippine Navy patrol and suspected Moro National Liberation Front Muslim rebels, led by Nur Misuari, aboard a large motorboat and 8 smaller vessels off Rio Hondo off southern Zamboanga. Police were tipped off that the group planned to hoist its flag at the Zamboanga city hall. They arrested 5 MNLFrs clad in combat uniforms and carrying pistols in Rio Hondo. The battle spread; 9 people died, including a policeman, 2 rebels, and 4 civilians, while 24 civilians, rebels and soldiers were wounded. The 200 MNLF members took nearly 300 people hostage in 5 coastal villages, holding them in a mosque and homes. The siege went on for a week, during which the MNLF demanded that troops and tanks withdraw or they would kill hostages. They demanded international mediation, and lobbed the occasional mortar at government and civilian positions. At least 24,000 people were displaced by the violence.

Gunfire broke out on September 12 in ­rebel-held Santa Catalina village, where fire destroyed 30 houses.

Meanwhile, government forces battled 150 ­al-Qaeda–linked Abu Sayyaf gunmen, who tried to set fire to a village and a wharf near predominantly Christian Lamitan city on Basilan Island. A government militiaman and several terrorists died and 2 soldiers were wounded.

By September 13, 22 people, including 15 rebels, had been killed.

Fighting continued in Santa Catalina. Rebels fired a mortar that landed in front of a government hospital, wounding 6 people, including 4 Red Cross personnel and 2 soldiers.

By September 14, the siege had killed 56 , including 47 rebels, 4 civilians, 2 soldiers, and 3 police officers, and displaced more than 62,000. Several hostages escaped. The government said that the rebels had violated a ­self-declared ceasefire of the previous day.

The government announced on September 15 the death of 51 rebels and capture of 42. Zamboanga City Mayor Isabelle ­Climaco-Salazar said the rebels were still holding up to 40 hostages in one community.

By September 16, Philippine troops had recaptured 70 percent of the coastal areas and rescued 116 hostages. That morning, 64 hostages were freed or escaped during military operations. Another 14 snuck off elsewhere. Interior Secretary Mar Roxas said some 850 houses had been destroyed by gunfire, fire, mortar rounds and grenades. Continuing clashes with the rebels led to the deaths of 3 soldiers and injuries to 10, bringing the tally to 9 soldiers, 7 civilians, and 3 police killed.

On September 16, the rebels kidnapped police Senior Superintendent Jose Chiquito Malayo and 3 police officers. He persuaded his 20 captors to surrender. Some 82,000 people remained displaced.

On September 18, troops conducted a ­house-to-house search. At least 178 hostages were reported safe, but the death toll included 14 soldiers and police, 7 civilians, and 86 rebels, with another 93 rebels captured. Another 30–40 rebels, led by Habier Malik, were reported holed up in 2 communities with 21 hostages.

Mop-up operations on September 19 led to the deaths of an army commando and 6 rebels, with gunmen torching houses in Santa Catalina. Another 15 rebels surrendered.

Fighting continued into September 21, leading to 5 rebels dead and a 71-year-old woman killed by a ­rebel-fired mortar shell. Another 2 soldiers were wounded.

The siege ended on September 28, with all 195 remaining hostages reported safe. Soldiers were searching for a few holdout rebels. The government said 183 rebels, 23 soldiers and police, and 12 civilians died during the siege, which displaced 130,000 people. Another 169 soldiers were wounded. About 10,000 houses were burned by the rebels or destroyed in the fighting. Police said they might need 2 weeks to clear unexploded bombs, guns, grenades and possible booby traps. The military operation cost the army $7 million.

The government said it would prosecute the 292 captured rebels and ­at-large faction leader Nur Misuari for rebellion and violating international humanitarian laws that forbade taking civilians hostage for use as human shields. On October 3, Philippine police filed a complaint of rebellion and violation of international humanitarian law against Nur Misuari and 80 followers. In 2011, Misuari’s followers also seized hostages. He was charged with rebellion, escaped to Malaysia but was arrested and extradited to the Philippines. He later posted bail and was acquitted for lack of evidence.

September 9—Yemen—Two bombs went off against 2 buses carrying soldiers in Sana’a, causing no casualties. Authorities released a photo of a suspected AQAP operative in his 20s believed planning suicide car bombings with 2 other terrorists.

September 9—Pakistan—Dozens of terrorists conducted an attack in the Bara area of the Khyber tribal area, beheading 3 members of an anti–Taliban militia and kidnapping 3 others.

Police battled suicide terrorists outside a court in Kohat. Two terrorists wearing explosive vests and a police officer died, 13 people were wounded, one terrorist escaped.

September 10—Germany—Police in Freiburg seized a “functional” bomb and several model airplanes that neo–Nazis planned to use in an attack against “political enemies,” according to the prosecutor’s office. Police arrested a 23-year-old man linked to ­far-right extremists on suspicion of commissioning the flying bomb. A suspected 42-year-old bombmaker was detained but later released on bail. Two others with ­far-right links were being investigated.

September 10—Iraq—At least 2 dozen civilians died in bombings and a shooting.

Gunmen attacked a house in Youssifiyah, south of Baghdad, shooting to death 2 women and 4 men who were ritually cleansing the body of a Sunni man ahead of his funeral.

A bomb went off in a coffee shop in Latifiyah, killing 4 and injuring 14.

Three car bombs went off at outdoor markets in Baqouba, killing 10 and injuring 34.

Shortly before sunset, a bomb went off near a soccer field in Baghdad’s Nahrwan suburb, killing 3 and injuring 14.

A sticky bomb exploded on a car in Mosul, killing the owner.

September 10—Indonesia—Two men riding a motorcycle fatally shot police detective Sukardi, who was riding a motorbike in front of Indonesia’s ­anti-graft commission in Jakarta.

September 10—Afghanistan—A bus swerved to avoid a roadside bomb in Muqur District of Ghazni Province, but ran over another, killing 7, including 3 children, and injuring 17 other people. The bus was en route to Kabul from Helmand Province.

A suicide car bomb exploded at an Afghan National Army security post in Logar Province’s Khushi District, injuring 4 Afghan soldiers.

September 10—Egypt—Army troops and helicopter gunships, attacked hideouts of Islamic militants in Sinai, killing 9 and arresting 10. Authorities found explosives, weapons and ammunition in the villages of ­el-Mahdiya and Naga Shabana, south of Rafah near the Gaza border.

September 11—Thailand—Five or 6 suspected jihadis followed a pickup truck carrying undercover policemen on a road in Thung Yangdaeng District in Pattani Province. When the police stopped their car and tried to find cover, the terrorists fired into the vehicle, killed 5 officers, stole their weapons, and escaped in a pickup truck.

September 11—Egypt—Two ­near-simultaneous suicide car bombs hit military targets in the Sinai, killing 9 soldiers and wounding 17 people. One bomb in Rafah collapsed a 2-storey building of the local branch of military intelligence, burying several troops. Five nearby homes were damaged. The bomb wounded 10 soldiers and 7 civilians, including 3 women. Another hit an armored personnel carrier at an army checkpoint.

September 11—Libya—At 6 a.m., a car bomb exploded near the Foreign Ministry building in Benghazi, slightly wounding several passersby and blowing out a side wall. The bomb also damaged a branch of the Libyan Central Bank. The building once housed the U.S. Consulate under the rule of King Idris, whom Moammar Qadhafi overthrew in 1969.

September 11—Iraq—A suicide bomber set off 2 bombs near a Shi’ite mosque in northern Baghdad’s Kasra section following evening prayers, killing 35 people and wounding 52. He walked up to the gate of the mosque and blew himself up. His car bomb was apparently on a timer, and blew up soon after.

September 12—Somalia—Gunmen in southern Somalia’s Bay region shot to death rapping jihadi Omar Hammami, 29, alias Abu Mansoor ­al-Amriki, a lapsed ­al-Shabaab member from Daphne, Alabama. The FBI in March 2013 offered a $5 million reward for his capture. He was charged with providing material support to terrorists. The hit was ordered by Godane, the group’s leader. ­Al-Shabaab spokesman Sheik Abu Mohammed told the Associated Press that 2 of Hammami’s colleagues, including a Briton of Somali descent, were also killed. 13091201

September 12—Philippines—Filipino rebels attacked a second southern town while holding hos­tages in a nearby city.

September 13—Kenya—Magistrate Kiarie Waweru Kiarie said a Kenyan court acquitted UK citizen Jermaine Grant of robbery charges related to a 2008 attack on a police post near Garissa during which he escaped from police custody. Grant still faced terror charges for a 2011 ­al-Shabaab plot to conduct an attack in Kenya. He was ­re-arrested in 2011 in Mombasa and as of September 2013 was serving a 3-year sentence for immigration offenses and lying to a government official.

September 13—Pakistan—Jihadis were suspected of firing ­rocket-propelled grenades before dawn at trucks carrying NATO oil supplies in Sorab in Balu­chistan Province, killing a driver. Nine oil tankers caught fire.

September 13—Iraq—A bomb hidden inside an air conditioner exploded in a Sunni mosque during Friday prayers in Umm ­al-Adham on the outskirts of Baqouba, killing 33 and wounding 45.

A roadside bomb killed 2 soldiers and wounded 2 others in Mosul.

Gunmen shot to death Khalaf Hameed, a municipal official in Shora District.

September 13—Tanzania—Jihadis were suspected when a terrorist threw acid in the face, chest, thighs, and legs of Catholic priest Rev. Joseph Anselmo Mwagambwa, who was coming out of an Internet café in Mlandenge at a busy business area of Stone Town on Zanzibar at 4 p.m. On September 16, Zanzibar police announced the arrest of 15 people, including terrorism suspects with links to al-Qaeda and ­al-Shabaab. Police seized 29 liters of acid from several suspects.

September 13—India—A bomb exploded at a market in Imphal, capital of Manipur State, killing at least 8, including 2 police officers, and injuring 7.

September 13—Afghanistan—At 6 a.m., the Taliban used car bombs, ­rocket-propelled grenades and firearms in an attack on the U.S. Consulate in Herat, killing an Afghan interpreter and 3 Afghan security force members, and injuring 17, but failing to breach compound security. Seven terrorists, including 2 suicide bombers driving an SUV and a van, were killed. Among the dead were an Afghan police officer and an Afghan security guard. Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi phoned the news media to take credit.

Later that morning, a suicide truck bomber wounded 7 Afghans in Paktika Province’s Sar Hawza District. Police warned the driver to stop, then opened fire, but he set off his explosives, wounding 4 police officers and 3 Afghan Army soldiers. 13091301

September 13—Cambodia—Police in Phnom Penh found 3 rocket grenade shells near the park where the Cambodia National Rescue Party was scheduled to conduct a rally to protest July 28 election results. Authorities also found a barrel of explosive material near the main gate of the National Assembly building.

September 13—Croatia—Croatian authorities seized large quantities of rocket launchers and ­anti-aircraft rockets in a shipment from Serbia in a container at a customs terminal in Rijeka. The shipment originated in Italy. Local media said the weapons were en route to Abu Dhabi or Sudan.

September 13—Internet—Al-Qaeda leader Ayman ­al-Zawahiri posted an audio message saying “we must watch and wait to seize any opportunity to direct a large strike on (America), even if that takes years of patience for this.” Jihadis should keep the U.S. in “a state of tension.” He offered the Boston Marathon attack as an example of such an attack, and said his group had won in Yemen, Iraq and Afghanistan. “We should bleed America economically by motivating it to continue its huge expenditure on its security as America’s weak point is its economy, which already has begun stumbling because of the military and security expenditure. America is not a mythic power and the Americans, after all, are humans who can be defeated, felled and punished.” Muslims should “abandon the dollar and replace it with a currency of other countries that are not taking part in the aggression against us.” He claimed the U.S. intended to use “the Muslim people as a means to topple the pro–Iran Baathist [Syrian] regime and install a secular government and peaceful to Israel … will try to push the mujahedeen to compromise with the secular factions and the enemies of Islam. I warn my brothers in Syria against any compromise with those factions. They have to learn the lesson of Egypt.” Speaking of Egypt, he complained of “massacre” and “savage crimes” in the crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood and “the Islamic orientation” in general, because “our American enemies realize the dangers of raising the Islamic banner.” He complained that ousted Egyptian President Morsi had not implemented shariah law.

September 13–14—Rwanda—Two grenades killed 2 and wounded 22 in the Kicukiro suburb of Kigali, before the September 16 parliamentary elections. The first grenade exploded during the night of September 13 at a marketplace, killing one and wounding 14. Three people were arrested. The second exploded the next day, killing one and wounding 8. Three similar explosions took place in March and July.

September 14—Iraq—A suicide bomber set off his explosive belt at a funeral held by members of the Shabak minority in Arto Kharab near Mosul in Nineveh Province during the afternoon, killing 21 and wounding 35. Shabaks are ethnic Turkomen and Shi’ite Muslims.

September 14—Afghanistan—A suicide car bomber’s explosives went off early, killing 3 or 4 civilians and wounding several people on a highway near Kandahar Airport. He apparently hoped to hit a ­NATO-Afghan convoy.

September 14–15—Nigeria—The Civilian Joint Task Force vigilante group helped arrest 11 Boko Haram members on September 14 in Michika, Adamawa State. Four suspects died in custody. Six suspects were brought to Maiduguri; 5 were brought to Mubi. Four of the Mubi suspects died from beatings by the vigilantes when the BH members tried to resist arrest.

September 15—UK—British police arrested 2 male British citizens arriving at Dover from Calais, France, on suspicion of “being involved in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism” in Syria. Authorities seized ammunition and searched addresses in east London and 2 vehicles. On September 22, British police charged Mohommod Hassin Nawaz, 29, and Hamza Nawaz, 22, with conspiring to attend a terrorist training camp and with the unlawful possession of 5 rounds of AK-47 ammunition. Nawaz’s charge sheet included possession of a computer containing documents or records “useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.”

On September 18, police in Essex arrested a 26-year-old woman and 27-year-old man as part of the investigation. They were held at a London police station.

On May 27, 2014, British brothers Hamza Nawaz, 24, and Mohommod Nawaz, 30, pleaded guilty to conspiracy for planning to attend a terrorist training camp in Syria. The duo was arrested in September 2013 in Dover after arriving from France carrying ammunition. They had flown to Turkey before arrival in Syria. Sentencing was scheduled for June 9, 2014, in the UK.

On November 26, 2014, the brothers pleaded guilty. Hamza, 23, was sentenced to 3 years in prison. Mohommod, instigator of the plan, was sentenced to 4½ years.

September 15—Afghanistan—During the morning, 2 gunmen on a motorbike shot in the neck Negar, 35 (other reports said 38 and 41), most senior female police officer in Helmand Province, as the 5-year police veteran was buying grass for her lambs outside her home. Her bodyguards fired back, but the gunmen escaped. She is a ­sub-inspector in the police criminal investigation department in Lashkar Gah city, having replaced Islam Bibi, 37, who was shot dead in July as she headed to work. Bibi had told reporters she had been threatened by male members of her family for her job. Negar died at 1 a.m. on September 16. She left behind a son and daughter.

September 15—Iraq—Car bombings and other attacks killed 58 people in 7 cities.

A car bomb went off near an outdoor market and parking lot in Hillah, killing 9 and wounding 15. A few minutes later, a second car bomb exploded nearby, killing 6 civilians and wounding 14.

In Iskandariyah, a car bomb killed 4 civilians and wounded 9.

A car bomb exploded in an industrial area in Karbala, killing 5 and wounding 25.

A car bomb went off among construction workers and food stalls in Kut, killing 2 and wounding 14.

Four parked car bombs exploded in Suwayrah and Hafriyah, killing 7 civilians and wounding 31.

A car bomb exploded in Baghdad’s Azamiyah neighborhood near the convoy of the head of the city’s provincial council, killing 3 and wounding 8. He was unharmed.

Two car bombs exploded in Basra and Nasiriyah, killing 8 civilians and wounding 26.

A bomb exploded in a police patrol in Abu Ghraib, killing 2 civilians and wounding 9.

Gunmen killed 3 Sunni farmers at a farm in Abu Sayda village.

Gunmen burst into a house in Baghdad’s southern Youssifiyah suburb, kidnapping 4 Sunni men, all relatives. Police found their bodies, killed with gunshots to the head.

A car bomb exploded during the night in a commercial street in Baghdad’s Mashtal neighborhood, killing 5 and wounding 15.

September 15—Pakistan—A roadside bomb placed by the Pakistani Taliban in the Upper Dir district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province killed Maj. Gen. Sanaullah Khan, the commanding officer in the Swat Valley, and 2 other officers.

September 16—Egypt—Jihadis were suspected when a remotely-detonated roadside bomb near ­el-Arish in the Sinai hit a bus full of police conscripts traveling from Rafah, wounding 9 people, including one civilian. The bus was escorted by an armored police car. The terrorists then kidnapped and killed with a headshot a 21-year-old conscript who jumped from the moving bus.

September 16—Mauritania—The Mauritanian ANI website said it received an AQIM video showing proof of life for 7 foreign hostages it kidnapped 2–3 years earlier. Four French hostages were kidnapped on September 16, 2010, from the ­French-operated Areva uranium mine in Arlit, Niger. ANI said messages from the French captives were made in June. Three other hostages—Sjaak Rijke from the Netherlands, South ­Africa-UK dual national Stephen Malcolm and Johan Gustafsson from Sweden—were kidnapped from Timbuktu, Mali in November 2011. French hostage Daniel Larribe, 61, said that French military intervention was endangering his life. ANI quoted him as saying, “I am in good health but threatened with death.” The 3 other French hostages are Pierre Legrand, Thierry Dol and Marc Feret. The Dutch hostage is Sjaak Rijke, the Swedish hostage is Johan Gustafsson, and the South African hostage is Stephen Malcolm, who holds dual British citizenship.

September 16—U.S.—At 8:20 a.m., Aaron Alexis, 34, originally of Fort Worth, Texas, walked into the headquarters of the Naval Sea Systems Command at the Washington Navy Yard with an assault rifle, shotgun and handgun, according to news services. He killed a security guard, taking his 9mm semiautomatic pistol. He opened fire on people in a cafeteria, killing 12 and wounding 16 before a SWAT team killed him after a 30-minute firefight. The 4-year Navy reservist recently began working as a civilian contractor. Among the wounded was a naval security guard who was hit in both legs, a Washington city police officer, a woman hit in the head and hand, and a woman hit in the shoulder.

Alexei Pushkov, chair of the Russian Duma’s international affairs committee, tweeted that “nobody’s even surprised anymore” by these attacks, deeming the shooting “a clear confirmation of American exceptionalism.”

Alexis was honorably discharged as an aviation electrician’s mate 3rd class from the Navy on January 31, 2011. He later became an hourly tech employee for The Experts, a ­Hewlett-Packard subcontractor that updates computer systems at Navy and Marine Corps installations worldwide, obtaining a security clearance that was updated in July 2013. However, he had an arrest record in 3 states. In 2004, he fired 3 shots from a Glock into the tires of a Honda Accord in Seattle, for which he was arrested but not charged. He fired a bullet through the ceiling of his apartment in September 2010, leading to a complaint to police by his upstairs neighbor, and another through the wall of his room in 2012. He was studying for an online bachelor’s degree in aeronautics at ­Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

The dead included:

• Michael Arnold, 59, who worked on amphibious assault ship design. He was a pilot hobbyist and was building a light airplane. He left behind his wife of 30 years and 2 grown sons.

• Martin Bodrog, 54

• Arthur Daniels, 51, father of 5 and grandfather of 9, who installed office furniture in federal gov­ern­ment buildings as a subcontractor for District Furniture Repair in Arlington County.

• Sylvia Frasier, 53, a network security administrator with the Naval Sea Systems Command.

• Kathleen Gaarde, 62, a financial analyst who was married for 38 years

• John Roger Johnson, 73, a civilian who worked for the Navy

• Mary Frances DeLorenzo Knight, 51, an information technology professional for the Naval Sea Systems Command, who left behind 2 daughters. She earned degrees from Campbell University, Webster University, and National Defense University, and traveled around the world. She was adjunct assistant professor at Northern Virginia Community College.

• Frank Kohler, 50, who was married with 2 daughters

• Vishnu “Kisan” Pandit, 61, a civilian who worked for the Navy for a quarter century. He completed graduate studies at the University of Michigan. He left behind a wife and 2 sons. He was born in Bombay, India in November 1951, and attended a marine engineering college in Calcutta.

• Kenneth Bernard Proctor, 46, a civilian utilities foreman at the Navy Yard and 22-year federal employee. He left behind 2 sons.

• Gerald L. Read, 58, an information assurance specialist with the Navy Sea Systems Command who was married for 35 years. He earned 2 master’s degrees from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army. He left behind a wife, daughter, and 3 grandchildren.

• Richard Michael Ridgell, 52, a former Maryland State Police officer who left behind 3 daughters.

On September 17, a survivor was released from hospital treatment for gunshots to the head and hand.

The Washington Post quoted the FBI on September 25 as indicating that Alexis believed he was being controlled by low frequency radio waves, and scratched “end the torment” on his Remington 870 shotgun. He had posted on the Internet, “An ultra low frequency attack is what I’ve been subject to in the past 3 months and to be perfectly honest, that is what has driven me to this.”

September 16—Iraq—A roadside bomb killed 4 soldiers in an army convoy in Mosul.

A suicide bomber set off his explosive belt against the motorcade of a local military intelligence officer, killing a soldier and wounding 6. The intelligence officer was not hurt.

September 16—Russia—Two car bombs killed 3 Russian policemen and wounded 6 others. A third attack—on a police station—failed. At dawn, a suicide car bomber crashed into a barrier outside a police station in Sernovodsk, Chechnya, killing 3 police officers and wounding 4. Police chased a suspicious car in Ingushetia. The occupants fired, then blew up the vehicle, wounding 2 officers. A man brandishing an automatic weapon and wearing an explosive belt walked to a police station in Ordzhonikidzevskaya, Ingushetia, but was persuaded to surrender by police.

September 16—Libya—A car bomb hit the car of Imrajae ­el-Ereybi, head of a criminal investigation unit in Benghazi, killing him. A second passenger was wounded in the attack in the ­el-Selmani neighborhood.

September 16—Spain/Ceuta—Spain’s Interior Ministry announced the arrest in the Spanish north African enclave of Ceuta of Spanish citizen Yassin Ahmed Laarbi, suspected leader of a terrorist recruitment network that sent 50 recruits to conduct attacks for ­al-Qaeda affiliates in Syria. Police said he also intended to go to Syria. Authorities said the group trained and financed the recruits at bases in Ceuta and Morocco.

September 16—Syria—The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria kidnapped veteran El Mundo newspaper reporter Javier Espinosa, freelance photographer Ricardo Garcia Vilanova, and 4 members of the Free Syrian Army rebel group at the Tal Abyad checkpoint in Raqqa Province. On December 10, 2013, AP reported that El Mundo revealed the kidnapping. On March 29, 2014, the 2 Spanish journalists were freed or escaped. Javier Espinosa and Ricardo Garcia were in the care of the Turkish military. Espinosa was wounded in February 2012 when the Syrian government shelled Homs, killing French photojournalist Remi Ochlik and an American reporter working for a British newspaper, Marie Colvin. 13091601

September 17—Iraq—Gunmen killed 17 Sunnis in Basra during the previous fortnight. Many of the killings were preceded by letters that came with bullets in the envelopes and text messages threatening revenge for attacks against Shi’ites across Iraq. Among the dead was a 70-year old grocer who was standing in his store at night.

Meanwhile, car bombs in Baghdad commercial districts and elsewhere killed 33 people. One went off in Husseiniya suburb in the late afternoon, killing 5 and wounding 14. Just before sunset, a bomb exploded near a juice shop, killing 3 and wounding 21. Yet another car bomb near a restaurant killed 2. In western Baghdad, 2 car bombs killed 6 and wounded 20. Two bombs in southeast Baghdad killed 7 and wounded 71.

Terrorists attacked a police station in Fallujah, killing 2 policemen before the 4 attackers died.

Gunmen stopped a ­mini-bus carrying soldiers to their Mosul base, then shot 6 in the head, killing them.

September 17—Syria/Turkey—A car bomb went off at the Baba ­al-Hawa (“Gates of the Winds” in Arabic) border crossing between Syria and Turkey, hospitalizing a dozen people.

September 17—Nigeria—An army private told the press that on September 17, at 7:45 p.m., terrorists wearing military fatigues attacked Benisheik in about 20 pickup trucks and 2 light tanks firing ­anti-aircraft guns at soldiers carrying only automatic rifles and ­rocket-propelled grenades. The terrorists stole 4 military patrol trucks and 2 light armored tanks after setting alight hundreds of homes. Environmental Protection Agency workers on September 19 found the bodies of 143 civilians, 2 soldiers, and 3 police officers killed by suspected jihadis. Villagers returning from the bushes found the beheaded bodies of 14 young men, most of them members of the vigilante group that works against Boko Haram.

September 18—Greece—Police raided the offices of the rightwing Golden Dawn party after a 45-year-old man claiming membership was arrested in the fatal stabbing outside a cafe in the Keratsini area west of Athens of Pavlos Fyssas, 34, a ­hip-hop singer and ­anti-fascist activist. Golden Dawn denied responsibility. The suspect was jailed after appearing before an examining magistrate and a prosecutor.

September 18—Iraq—Bombs killed at least 6 and wounded scores across the country.

A suicide car bomber set off his explosives in Tuz Khormato, killing a civilian and a ­5-year old child, and wounding 26 people.

A parked car bomb exploded in a commercial area in central Baghdad’s Bataween area, killing one and wounding 5. A second car bombing in the same area killed 3 and wounded 10.

September 18—Afghanistan—A Taliban gunman on a motorbike in a Kunduz city bazaar killed Amanullah Aman, head of a provincial election commission, with 3 shots to the chest.

September 18—Afghanistan—The Interior Ministry announced that 13 policemen were killed and 18 wounded in a Taliban ambush in the remote Wurduj District of Badakshan Province. The Ministry said 47 Taliban were killed in the area during a police operation.

September 19—France—France 24 reported that French security forces in Calvados, Normandy arrested “Romain,” 26-year-old webmaster of the al-Qaeda–linked Ansar al Haqq website, on charges of “provoking” terrorism. Prosecutors said he converted to Islam at age 20, was administrator of the website, a “reference” for the radical Islamist movement, and was a translator of magazines, including the 10th and 11th editions of Inspire, put out by AQAP. Meanwhile, French Interior Minister Manuel Valls announced that more than 300 French nationals or residents were either fighting in Syria, planning to go or had recently returned.

September 20—Turkey—Terrorists fired rockets at 2 Ankara police buildings, damaging one building but causing no injuries. Police fired back at the 2 terrorists at a nearby university campus, killing one terrorist and injuring another. Authorities found an unexploded rocket in nearby bushes.

September 20—Sri Lanka/UK—Essex County Police arrested 2 men suspected of endangering a Sri Lankan Airlines flight from Colombo, Sri Lanka carrying 267 passengers and crew after it made an emergency landing during the evening at Stansted Airport. Police said it was a criminal, vice terrorism, matter. The plane was scheduled to land at London’s Heathrow Airport.

September 20—Iraq—Two bombs hidden inside air conditioners exploded at midday in the Sunni Musaab Bin Omair mosque in Samarra, killing 18 and wounding 21.

September 20—Yemen—Under cover of heavy fog, at 6 a.m., AQAP attacked 3 military barracks in separate areas of Shabwa Province, setting off car bombs that killed 38 troops and wounded dozens of soldiers. Two camps were in ­al-Mayfaa; the third is in the ­al-Ain area. In ­al-Mayfaa, terrorists overpowered the barracks guards, allowing a suicide car bomber to crash into a site, causing most of the casualties. The base houses soldiers guarding local oil wells. The attack at the second ­al-Mayfaa site led to injuries to 5 soldiers. In ­al-Ain, a car bomb went off prematurely, followed by a gun battle in which the terrorists kidnapped 6 soldiers and stole several military vehicles. Eight terrorists died in the fighting in ­al-Ain. On September 24, a security official and a tribal leader from Mahfad in Abyan Province said AQAP had released 21 soldiers who had been held hostage after the government threatened air strikes.

September 20—Nigeria—Police and Boko Haram conducted a morning gun battle in Abuja, injuring several people. BH gunmen fired on a security team trying to unearth buried weapons after 2 BH detainees led police to a residential compound for legislators. Authorities arrested a dozen people.

September 20—Pakistan—In a late night attack, terrorists killed 3 and wounded 20 when they threw grenades into a Sufi mosque in Achini Bala village near the Khyber tribal region. Three were in critical condition. The Pakistani Taliban was suspected.

September 20—West Bank—Nidal Amar, 42, a Palestinian, talked Israeli Sgt. Tomer Hazan, 20, into coming to Beit Amin village near the city of Qalqiliya in the northern West Bank, where he killed him in hopes of trading the corpse for his brother who was in jail for terrorist attacks. Amar and his brother were arrested. Amar admitted that he picked up Hazan in a taxi, killed him in an open field, and hid the body in a well. Amar and Hazan worked at a restaurant in Bat Yam. The third brother had been jailed since 2003 for involvement in shootings and bombings. Hazan had a ­non-combat position in the air force.

September 20—Philippines—A bomb placed inside a bag exploded in a parked bus in Zamboanga, killing the bus conductor and wounding the driver.

September 21—Afghanistan—An Afghan wearing an Afghan National Security Forces uniform fired on foreign troops, killing 3 in an Afghan Army base in Gardez, capital of eastern Paktia Province.

September 21—Egypt—A roadside bomb hit an armored military vehicle in the northern Sinai, wounding 2 conscripts.

Meanwhile, security forces in the Sinai arrested 16 suspects, including Ismail Abu Shita, who was wanted in the kidnapping of 6 policemen and a border guard earlier in the year in hopes of getting police to release his imprisoned brother.

September 21—Iraq—Just before sunset, 2 suicide bombers hit funeral tents packed with 500 members of mourning ­al-Fartousi families in a Shi’ite neighborhood of Sadr City in northeastern Baghdad, killing 104 and wounding more than 120. One bomber drove near the tent, the other walked to it.

Two hours later, a car bomb killed 9 and wounded 14 on a commercial street in the nearby Ur neighborhood.

Gunmen killed 4 people at a shop that was quietly selling liquor in Baghdad’s Sunni Azamiyah neighborhood.

Suicide bombers attacked a police commando headquarters in Beiji, an oil refining center 115 miles north of Baghdad. Guards killed one suicide bomber, but the 3 others set off their explosive belts inside the compound, killing 7 policemen and wounding 21. Most members of the commando unit were carrying out a security operation outside the city.

Gunmen shot to death 2 prison guards at their houses in a village near Mosul.

A roadside bomb hit a military convoy in Mosul, killing 2 soldiers and wounding 4.

September 21—Kenya—At noon, ­al-Shabaab terrorists threw grenades and fired at 2 entrances to the upscale 5-storey Westgate Premier Shopping Mall in Nairobi’s affluent Westlands district, killing at least 62 people and wounding 175, including Americans and several other foreigners, then seized dozens of hostages, several of whom were held for 4 days until a 2-day government rescue operation ended the siege. The terrorists told Muslims to leave, and that they were targeting non–Muslims and conducting the attack in revenge for Kenyan participation in the African Union attacks against ­al-Shabaab in Somalia.

The mall opened 6 years earlier and featured 80 shops, including anchors Samsung, Adidas, Bose and Nike. Authorities had issued a warning to the expatriate community to avoid it when a threat against it was received.

The gunmen shot at least one man inside his car and hit 2 more pedestrians before entering the mall. Three security officers were hospitalized following the attack.

Police surrounded the 350,000-square-foot complex and conducted an ­on-and-off gun battle with the terrorists, who still held dozens of hostages. An Army helicopter and 2 armed vehicles joined police efforts. At least one terrorist died during the initial confrontation. Another was hospitalized under police custody; he later died.

Initial reports said some of the terrorists were wearing masks; others said that some had worn burkas to hide their identities. Twitter postings from ­al-Shabaab indicated that all of the terrorists were males, although there were some media reports that the attackers included a white ­English-speaking Brit­ish woman believed to be Samantha Lewthwaite, 29. She was the “white widow” of suicide bomber Germaine Lindsey, who died in the July 7, 2005, attack on London’s transportation system. Kenyan authorities wanted ­Buckinghamshire-born Lewthwaite for financing ­al-Shabaab and al-Qaeda. News services showed Samantha Lewthwaite’s 2011 fake South African passport for “Natalie Faye Webb.” Some surviving shoppers said a woman had given orders in English, which were translated into Swahili, spurring the terrorists to more killing.

At least 1,000 people escaped from the mall, and were checked by authorities for weapons before being allowed to depart. Several people, including wounded children, were pulled out on shopping carts. Among the initial escapees were Rob Vandijk, a Dutch embassy staffer who was one of 7 Dutch citizens who were uninjured, and Sara Head of Washington, D.C. Several shoppers reported the smell of tear gas. Some shoppers heard gunfire inside the mall and ran outside, but heard shots there, too, so they ran back inside the 5-story mall. Several hid in restrooms and stairwells. At least one woman climbed through an air vent to safety. Uche ­Kaigwa-Okoye hid with 20 others for 5 hours in a women’s restroom before fleeing. Manish Turohit, 18, who hid in a parking garage for 2 hours, said that the gunmen were armed with AK-47s and wore vests with hand gre­nades on them. Kamal Kaur, a journalist for Radio Africa, said a bullet missed her son, bounced off a wall, and killed a nearby child. The terrorists went from store to store, questioning the shoppers before shooting and throwing grenades. Three area hospitals treated at least 293 people, ranging in age from 2 to 78.

Among the dead were at least 18 foreigners. The dead included

• numerous Kenyans, including Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta’s nephew, Mbugua Mwangi, and his nephew’s fiancee, Rosemary Wahito. Kenyatta vowed early in the siege, “We shall hunt down the perpetrators wherever they run to. We shall get them, and we shall punish them for this heinous crime.” He later added, “They shall not get away with their despicable, beastly acts. Like the cowardly perpetrators now cornered in the building, we will punish the masterminds swiftly and indeed very painfully.” Also killed was Kamal Kaur’s friend Ruhlia ­Adatia-Sood, who was 6 months pregnant and the wife of Ketan Sood, a U.S. Foreign Service national working for the U.S. Agency for International Development. She was a radio and television personality. Malti Vaya, wife of Ramesh Vaya, was also killed. The wife of Ramesh’s brother also died. Also dead was a Kenyan friend of Annamaria Watrin, a U.S. aid worker from Minnesota, who said that he and his 13-year-old daughter were at the mall for a birthday party. As they parked their car, 5 gunmen shot him to death. The girl was injured, and hid in the car for hours before Kenyan authorities could safely get her to an ambulance. Calan Munyaka, 27; Johnny Mutinda Musango, 48; the father of a boy named Stephen; the 22-year-old son of Charles Njenga; Wendy Zhang’s ­sister-in-law who was shot in the arm and later died; and the father of Ann Gakii died.

• 6 British citizens, including the wife and 8-year-old daughter of UK businessman Louis Bawa

• Russ Langdon, an ­Australian-British dual national

• 2 French women

• 2 Canadians, including diplomat Anne­marie Desloges who served in the High Commission’s (Embassy’s) Department of Citizenship and Immigration office as a liaison officer with the Canada Border Services Agency

• Kofi Awoonor, a Ghanaian poet and professor who had served as an ambassador in Brazil, Cuba and at the U.N. Awoonor’s son was hospitalized.

• 2 Indians, including Parmashu Jain, 8, and Sridhar Natarajan, 40

• a South African citizen

• a Peruvian

• Elif Yavuz, 33, a pregnant Dutch woman found dead in the arms of her partner

• a 38-year-old Chinese woman whose son was injured and hospitalized

The injured included

• 5 Americans, including Elaine Dang, 26, from San Diego, a University of California, Berkeley, graduate who worked as the general manager for Eat Out Kenya; and Bendita Malakia, 30, of Elizabeth City, North Carolina, who had moved to Nairobi in July to work at a financial company (or the World Bank; reports differed). The Harvard grad hid for 5 hours until she was rescued by what she claimed was an American security team.

• one Israeli citizen; 3 others escaped from the mall, which is owned by an Israeli

• 4 Indian citizens

• New Zealander Andrew McLaren, 34, who managed a Kenyan factory for the Olivado avocado oil company

The terrorists, via Twitter posts, said they would not negotiate with the government because the group was retaliating “for the lives of innocent Muslims” killed by Kenyan forces leading an African Union offensive against ­al-Shabaab that began in 2011. “We’ll not negotiate with the Kenyan govt as long as its forces are invading our country, so reap the bitter fruits of your harvest.” “When justice is denied, it must be enforced. Kenyans were relatively safe in their cities before they invaded us & killed Muslims #Westgate” It also noted, “The Mujahideen are still strong inside #Westgate Mall and still holding their ground. All praise is due to Allah!” Twitter closed down 5 ­al-Shabaab accounts, but a sixth popped up. ­Al-Shabaab said that the operation was “far greater than how the Kenyans perceive it.” “There are countless number of dead bodies still scattered inside the mall, and the mujahideen are still holding their ground.” The hostages are “still alive looking quite disconcerted but, nevertheless, alive.” The group told the government, “You could have avoided all this and lived your lives with relative safety. Remove your forces from our country and peace will come.” Al-Shabaab spokesman Muhammad Rage later said, “We will make them suffer what we suffer in southern Somalia, we are giving a warning to the Kenyan government and to all those who support it…. If not, know that this is just a taste of what we will do … you should expect black days.”

The government countered over the ­several-day siege that it was in control, and simply conducting ­mopping-up operations against the terrorists.

The group posted the names of 9 attackers, including 3 Americans, 2 Somalis, and singletons from Canada, Finland, Kenya and the UK. Kenyan authorities said the Americans were of Somali extraction, aged 18 or 19. However, ­al-Shabaab’s media office later told Reuters, “Those who describe the attackers as Americans and British are people who do not know what is going on in Westgate building.”

U.S. law enforcement, military and civilian personnel and Israeli special forces operatives arrived to assist Kenyan colleagues during the crisis. Four mall restaurants were Israeli-owned.

Large explosions rocked the mall the second day of the siege. Some shoppers trapped in the mall managed to leave after the initial mass escape. They included Cecile Ndwiga, who had hidden under a car in the basement parking garage.

Kenya launched what it deemed a “major” rescue operation on September 22, freeing several hos­tages—many suffering from dehydration—to the sound of loud explosions and gunfire. Kenya’s National Disaster Operation Centre tweeted, “This will end tonight. Our forces will prevail. Kenyans are standing firm against aggression, and we will win.” Nine bodies were recovered. On September 23, 4 more explosions were heard at the mall during gun battles in which 3 terrorists were killed, 10 were arrested, and 11 Kenyan soldiers were wounded. Smoke billowed from the mall’s main department and grocery store, Nakumatt.

Al-Shabaab spokesman Sheik Ali Mohamud Rage posted an Internet audio file saying that the hostage takers had been ordered to “take punitive action against the hostages” in the event of a rescue operation. The BBC in Somalia interviewed an Abu Ammar, who claimed credit for organizing the attack. Rage later threatened further attacks like the “blessed Nairobi operation” if Kenyan soldiers did not leave Somalia. “If you refuse, you saw what happened, and this is just the beginning.”

On September 24, the government began its final push. An explosion went off at 6:30 a.m., 2 more at noon. A body was carried from the mall, which was on fire. Three floors of the mall collapsed, trapping several people. ­Al-Shabaab tweeted that “having failed to defeat the mujahideen inside the mall, the Kenyan govt disseminated chemical gases to end the siege” and that 137 people were crushed by the rubble or killed by shots from government troops. The government denied the claim but said that one terrorist’s body was found in the debris. The government initially said the collapse of the top level of the parking lot was caused by a fire set by the terrorists. A senior Kenyan official said on September 27 that Kenyan soldiers fired an RPG that tore a large hole in the building’s roof.

At the end of the siege, the government said 61 civilians, 6 members of the security forces, and 5 terrorists—possibly including Lewthwaite—died during the 4 days. Eleven terrorists were detained in addition to 7 people earlier arrested at the airport and 3 elsewhere. Among those detained at the airport was a British man believed to be in his 30s. He was attempting to board a flight to Turkey when authorities noticed that his face was bruised and he was acting suspiciously. Another 65 people were reported missing. It was unclear whether any terrorists managed to escape by changing clothes and mingling with the fleeing hostages. Police said they were defusing booby traps.

Investigators looked into possible connections of the terrorists with the Somali refugee community in Nairobi’s Eastleigh neighborhood and Somali diaspora in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Fatou Bensouda, a prosecutor for the International Criminal Court, offered to work with Kenya in the case. She said that while Kenya had principal jurisdiction, the Court could have secondary jurisdiction. The Court adjourned the trial of Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto, who flew to Nairobi to help handle the crisis. He had been on trial for orchestrating violence following Kenya’s 2007 presidential election.

Kenyan officials were examining reports that the terrorists had rented a shop inside the mall, where they had stored guns and explosives, a year before the attack.

On September 26, Interpol issued a “Red Notice”—an internationally wanted persons alert—for Samantha Lewthwaite, alias Sherafiya, alias White Widow, believed by some observers to have snuck out of the mall early during the siege. Kenya wanted her on charges of possession of explosives and conspiracy to commit a felony in December 2011.

On September 27, authorities picked up 3 suspects near the Ugandan border. Another 3 detainees were released. A man who tried to escape with the victims was detained when a gun magazine fell from his pocket.

Al-Shabaab sent an ­e-mail to the Associated Press, observing, “The Mujahideen carried out a meticulous vetting process at the mall and have taken every possible precaution to separate the Muslims from the Kuffar (disbelievers) before carrying out their attack…. Our target was to attack the Kenyan govt on it’s soil [sic] and any part of the Kenyan territory is a legitimate target … and Kenya should be held responsible for the loss of life, whether foreigners or local.”

Despite the Kenyan Foreign Minister’s initial suggestion that 2–3 Americans were in the attack squad, passport and refugee databases did not provide corroborating evidence.

On September 30, Kenyan security services arrested a 12th suspect; 3 had been freed. They also found the gunmen’s car, filled with “an assortment of illegal weapons,” according to a police spokesman.

On October 5, Kenyan military spokesman Major Emmanuel Chirchir tweeted that 4 terrorists were named Abu Baara ­al-Sudani, Omar Nabhan, Khattab ­al-Kene and Umayr. On October 6, a spokesman for the Kenya Defense Forces said Khattab ­al-Kene was an American Somali. The Associated Press quoted Matt Bryden, former head of the UN Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea, as indicating that ­al-Kene and Umayr were members of ­al-Hijra, the Kenyan arm of ­al-Shabaab. Nabhan might be related to Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, alleged plotter in the 1998 bombings at U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, who himself was killed in a 2009 Navy SEAL strike in Barawe, Somalia.

On October 5, the news media reported that U.S. Navy SEALS conducted a ­pre-dawn raid on a ­2-storey beachside house in Barawe, Somalia, looking for but not finding a “high-profile” target connected to the Westgate attack. Some observers suggested it was ­al-Shabaab leader Ahmed Godane, also known as Mukhtar Abu Zubeyr. ­Al-Shabaab told the Associated Press that it was searching for the individual that tipped off the international authorities to Ba­rawe.

On October 10, Norway’s PST security service told the Associated Press that a Norwegian of Somali origin “was involved in planning and carrying out the attack.” He was identified on October 18 as Hassan Abdi Dhuhulow, 23, who died when part of the mall collapsed on him. Norwegian tax records showed an individual of that name was born in 1990 and lived in Larvik, Norway, as late as 2009. PST chief Marie Benedicte Bjoernland told reporters that the service had tried to prevent him from joining ­al-Shabaab 3 years earlier. His family had moved to Norway in 1999; he returned to Somalia in 2010. Norway put out an international alert for 2 Somali sisters, aged 16 and 19, who had left their family to fight in Syria.

By October 18, authorities digging through the rubble had found 4 AK-47 rifles and 11 magazines of ammunition attributed to the attackers and a ­rocket-propelled grenade believed from the security forces. Kenyan authorities also believed they had found the charred remains of the gunmen. A Kenyan Standard Group investigative TV report noted that only 4 bodies had been found, and suggested that some of the terrorists—originally believed to number 10–15—had escaped.

The news media ran video showing Kenyan Defense Forces looting many of the mall shops during the siege. On October 29, General Julius Karangi told the press that soldiers Victor Otieno and Victor Ashiundu had been dismissed and detained for stealing mobile phones, cameras and chargers during the siege and a third soldier was being investigated.

On October 21, 400 mourners planted saplings at a memorial ceremony in Karura Forest, a sprawling urban park, for those who were killed.

On November 4, 2013, Kenyan prosecutors charged 4 Somali men—Mohamed Ahmed Abdi, Liban Abdullah Omar, Hussein Hassan Mustafah, and Adan Dheq—with harboring a fugitive and illegally registering as a Kenyan. Prosecutors charged Abdi, Omar and Mustafah with knowingly supporting Mohammed Abdinur Said and Hassan Dhohullow and other perpetrators of the attack. Prosecutors charged Dheq with harboring terror suspects. Authorities said an Eastleigh mosque knowingly harbored terror suspect Abdikadir Hared Mohammed. They pleaded not guilty and were ordered imprisoned until a court hearing on November 11.

On November 11, a Kenyan security official told the Associated Press that mall attacker Mohammed Abdinur Said had lived in the ­UNHCR-run Kakuma camp of 50,000 Somali refugees in northwestern Kenya. A second security official told AP that more than one attacker passed through the camp.

AP quoted a Western official on November 18, 2013, as saying that the 4 terrorists were all ethnic Somalis who entered Kenya in June and lived in Nairobi’s ethnic Somali Eastleigh neighborhood, working out at the Andalus Gym. None had been to the U.S. or UK.

CNN reported on October 2, 2013, that Kenyan military doctors said ­al-Shabaab terrorists amputated hostages’ hands and noses and hanged some victims.

On February 6, 2014, AP reported that a senior Kenyan security official said the other 2 ethnic Somali terrorists were Ahmed Hassan Abubakar and Yahye Ahmed Osman. They reportedly conducted the attack with Abu Barat ­al-Sudani, alias Mohamed Hassan Dhuhulow, who lived in Norway, and Mohamed Abdinur Said.

On March 31, 2014, AP reported that a Kenyan police official said 2 men arrested with a car bomb aimed at a Mombasa shopping mall on March 31, 2014, were in contact with the Westgate Mall plotters. The vehicle carried 381 pounds of explosives. The 2 men had spoken on the phone with ­Somalia-based terrorists connected with the Westgate attack. 13092101

September 21—Pakistan—Pakistan released Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the former Taliban government’s Defense Minister and deputy commander, who was arrested in Karachi in 2010. The Afghan government had requested his release to facilitate peace negotiations with the Taliban.

September 22—Yemen—Yemeni security officials announced that fighting between tribes and ­al-Qaeda killed 7 people and wounded 8 from both sides. AQAP fired on members of the ­el-Maely tribe in Obeida Valley in central Marib Province, east of Sana’a. Three tribesmen and 4 AQAP members died. The ­el-Maely tribe had called on the Obedia tribe to stop harboring AQAP members, some of whom are from the valley.

September 22—Afghanistan—During the night, Taliban gunmen attacked a border police checkpoint in the Shorabak district of Kandahar Province, killing 11 policemen. Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi claimed responsibility.

September 22—Syria—A mortar round crashed into the grounds of the Russian Embassy compound in Damascus, injuring 3 workers. 13092201

September 22—Iraq—During an evening funeral in Baghdad’s Dora neighborhood, a suicide bomber set off an explosive belt among Sunni mourners in a tent, killing 16 and wounding 35.

In the morning, a suicide car bomber drove into a Kirkuk residential section, wounding 35 people in an attack on a Kurdish educational office and an adjacent house for a Christian lawmaker. Seven of his family were wounded.

A roadside bomb hit a security convoy near Mosul, killing 2 soldiers and wounding 2.

September 22—Pakistan—Two suicide bombers entered the main gate and set off their bombs at the Protestant All Saints Church of Pakistan in Pesha­war’s Kohati Gate district, killing 85, including choir members, 34 women, and 7 children attending Sunday school, and wounding 141, including 37 children. The worshippers were leaving the service and congregating on the lawn for a free meal of rice. Ahmad Marwat, spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban’s Jundallah faction, told the Associated Press, “All non–Muslims in Pakistan are our target, and they will remain our target as long as America fails to stop drone strikes in our country.” The bombs contained ball bearings and other metal objects. Among the wounded was John Tariq, whose father died in the blasts. On January 21, 2014, the Pakistani military announced that it was conducting airstrikes against suspected terrorists in North Waziristan, and had killed at least 40 jihadis, including those who bombed a Christian church in Peshawar that killed 85 people in September 2013.

September 23—Pakistan—A bomb exploded near a police patrol in Pashin District in Baluchistan Province, killing 4 people, including 3 policemen.

September 23—Mali—The Mauritanian ANI news agency website reported that AQIM had chosen 2 replacements for deceased commanders. Algerian Saeed Abu Muqatil would replace Abou Zeid, while Mauritanian Aderrahmane would replace Muhammad ­al-Ameen Ould ­al-Hasan. Aderrahmane was involved in controlling Timbuktu after jihadis took over northern Mali following the March 2012 military coup.

September 23—Afghanistan—During the night, the Taliban attacked a border post in the Shorabak district of Kandahar Province, killing 11 police officers.

Gunmen assassinated district intelligence chief Abdul Hussain as he was riding on his motorcycle to his work in Chardara District during the morning near Kunduz.

Romanian authorities said 2 Romanian soldiers—Vasile Popa, 28, on his second mission to Afghanistan, and Adrian Postelnicu, 34, who was on his first mission—died after stepping on a bomb during a patrol in eastern Afghanistan.

September 23—Philippines—Members of the Bang­samoro Islamic Freedom Fighters opposed to peace talks with the Philippine government attacked an outpost of unarmed government militiamen in Midsayap, North Cotabato Province, then took 15 villagers hostage a southern town. Army troops chased the rebels, who used the hostages as human shields. Four soldiers and 4 rebels died in the firefight. All of the hostages escaped or were rescued, but another 10 teachers were reported missing, either trapped in a school during another firefight or also taken hostage. On September 24 at 4:45 a.m., the rebels released 9 teachers and 4 village officials.

September 23—Yemen—Yemeni security officials said 2 AQAP ­drive-by shooters on a motorcycle assassinated Air Force Colonel ­Abdel-Wahab Azzan at noon.

September 23—Russia—A suicide car bomber set off his explosives during a morning attack on a police station in Khuchin, Dagestan, killing 2 police officers and injuring more than 24 other people, including 6 police officers. Islamist separatists were suspected.

September 23—Iraq—In an early morning attack, gunmen broke into a Shi’ite family’s home in Youssifiyah, killing the parents and their 16-year old son, and wounding 2 other children, aged 12 and 14 years.

Two bombs went off at a Sunni funeral tent in Baghdad, killing 14 mourners for one of 4 people killed on September 21 when gunmen fired on a store selling liquor in Azamiyah neighborhood. Another 35 mourners were wounded. Sunni terrorists were suspected.

September 24—Iraq—At dawn, 30 gunmen set off a car bomb to begin an attack on Ana, a small Sunni town in western Anbar Province on the road to the Syrian border. The terrorists seized the mayor’s home and planted bombs in his house; none exploded. The ensuing 2-hour gun battles killed 6 terrorists, Mayor Waqas Adnan’s brother, and 4 policemen.

September 24—Yemen—A Yemeni military spokes­man said an AQAP gunman on a motorcycle fired a weapon with a noise suppressor to assassinate Colonel Ali ­al-Deilami, head of finance at Sana’a’s military hospital, while he was on his way to work.

September 25—Kenya—A gunman killed one person and injured 4 when he fired and threw grenades in Wajir, on the Somali border.

September 25—Netherlands—Haarlem Mayor Bernt Schneiders announced the arrest of an individual in connection with a threat posted on Twitter that led to the closure of 2 V&D department stores, a “La Place” restaurant, and a school. No bombs were found. The Twitter poster warned of a “bloodbath” at the V&D department store, which would end in a suicide. The poster said he had been fired, a story echoed by Schneiders, who said the individual “had a labor conflict not so long ago.”

September 25—Nigeria—Boko Haram leader Abu­bakar Shekau posted a video in which he denied August reports of his demise. “The world should know that I cannot die except by the will of Allah.” He claimed credit for recent attacks in Benisheik, Mon­guno and nearby villages.

September 25—Tunisia—Interior Minister Lotfi Ben Jeddou told Mosaique FM Radio that authorities had arrested 300 terrorists and foiled a plot by Salafis to divide the country into 3 caliphates, assassinate political figures, and conduct bombings near Tunis. Detainees told police that another 30 terrorists were hiding in the western mountains. They included Kamel Gadhgadhi, wanted for the murder of ­left-wing opposition legislator Chokri Belaid on February 6, 2013.

September 25—Yemen—A Yemeni military spokes­man said AQAP planted a bomb in the car of an army officer. It killed him and wounded 2 people when it exploded while he was driving from work in Ataq, Shabwa Province.

September 25—Iraq—Three car bombs went off at the local council building in Hawija, sparking an ­hour-long gun battle. One car bomb was driven by a suicide bomber. At least 7 civilians and 2 soldiers died and 21 others were wounded. Four terrorists died; the others escaped.

Gunmen broke into a home in Baghdad’s northern Shaab neighborhood, firing silenced weapons that killed an Interior Ministry employee, his wife, ­mother-in-law and 3 children, aged 3, 6 and 8 years old.

Gunmen ambushed a car carrying ­off-duty soldiers traveling through Taji, killing 2, and wounding 3.

A bomb went off during the night near a Mosul market, killing 3 and wounding 23.

A car bomb went off on a commercial street in western Baghdad, killing 5 and wounding others.

September 25—Jordan—On January 13, 2014, Jordan’s military court found 6 Salafi jihadi men guilty of shooting 2 Jordanian soldiers manning the border with Syria on September 25, 2013. The court sentenced 4 to 4–10 years in jail; they used machineguns to shoot and seriously wound 2 Jordanian border patrol officers who spotted them near a board fence. A fifth received 5 years; a sixth received a ­one-year sentence. Prosecutors said they were trying to illegally enter Syria to join the ­anti-regime fighting.

September 25–26—India—Indian soldiers intercepted dozens of insurgents whom Indian army commander Lt. Gen. Gurmeet Singh said had crossed into Indian Kashmir from Pakistani territory in the Kupwara region. In 2 days of firefights, the army killed 10 terrorists near the Line of Control dividing Kashmir between India and Pakistan.

September 26—Nigeria—Boko Haram was suspected of killing a pastor, his son and a village head and setting alight a church and several homes.

September 26—Belgium—The Spanish Interior Ministry said Belgian police had arrested Ismail Abdelatif al-Lal, in Vilvoorde, north of Brussels, on a Euro­pean Arrest Warrant issued by Spain. Al-Lal was a suspected financial head of a terrorist recruitment network based in Spain that allegedly sent recruits to carry out attacks, including suicide bombings, for ­al-Qaeda–linked groups in Syria. The group was believed to have trained the recruits at bases in Ceuta and Morocco.

September 26—India—The Shohada Brigade (Mar­tyrs Brigade) claimed credit for an attack on an Indian Kashmir police station in which 3 terrorists shot to death 4 police officers and 2 civilians and wounded 3 police officers and a civilian. The terrorists hijacked a truck, then drove another vehicle to an army camp 15 miles away. There they killed 4 soldiers, including the deputy chief of the army’s cavalry unit, and critically wounded 2, including the unit’s commanding officer. Authorities killed the 3 terrorists after 6 hours of fighting at the army camp. The terrorists were dressed in Indian army uniforms and carried guns and grenades. Shohada Brigade spokesman ­Shams-ul-Haque phoned the ­English-language daily Kashmir Monitor to say, “We have full contact with militants and all the 3 militants are locals.”

September 27—Egypt—Two gunmen killed a young Egyptian police officer in ­El-Arish in the north­ern Sinai Peninsula as he was driving home. He took 20 bullets to the head and chest.

Elsewhere in the Sinai, gunmen set off a roadside bomb against 2 armored military vehicles, hospitalizing a soldier.

Attackers riding a motorbike threw a grenade at a police checkpoint in Qalioubiya Province, injuring 2 police officers and 2 civilians.

September 27—Iraq—Attacks throughout the coun­try, including at 2 Sunni mosques in Baghdad, killed 10 people.

A bomb at the Sunni ­al-Tawheed mosque in southern Baghdad’s Dora neighborhood killed 5 and injured 21. A similar bombing in western Baghdad killed 2 and wounded 11.

A suicide car bomber hit an army checkpoint in Mosul, killing 2 soldiers and wounding 11.

Gunmen killed police Colonel Ghazi Ahmed at his house in Hawija.

September 27—Pakistan—A bomb on a bus carrying 70 Peshawar government employees back to their homes in Charsadda killed 17 people and injured 42. Police believed the bomb was remotely detonated and hidden in a tin can containing 13 to 18 pounds of explosives.

September 27—Mali—Kidal zone commander Mamary Camara told the media a grenade was thrown at a bank in Kidal, injuring 2 soldiers.

September 27—Syria—The ­UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a car bomb near the ­al-Sahel mosque in Rankous north of Damascus killed at least 30 and wounded dozens leaving Friday prayers.

September 27—Russia—The National ­Anti-Terrorist Committee said it killed 5 terrorists, including a prominent leader, Sherif Akhmedov, at a safehouse in Derbent, Dagestan after the terrorists refused to surrender and instead started a gun battle. Akhmedov’s group was blamed for attacks on police and other authorities and running an extortion racket targeting local businesses. Rasul Temirbekov, spokes­man for Dagestan’s Investigative Committee, told the Associated Press that Akhmedov was behind 20 terrorist attacks in Derbent in the past 2 years, including bus bombings and the July 2013 attack on the rabbi of a local synagogue.

September 28—Afghanistan—Two roadside bombs killed 5 civilians in the east and south. A bomb hit a minivan driving from Dayak District to Ghazni city, killing 3 people and injuring 8, including 2 women and 2 children. A car ran over a bomb in Uruzgan Province, killing 2 men.

September 28—Egypt—A sniper fired from a building in Sheikh Zuweiyd town, killing a soldier on a rooftop of a nearby government building in the northern Sinai Peninsula.

September 28—Iraq—Terrorists set off bombs at 4 homes of police officers and government employees in Tarmiyah, killing 4 civilians and wounding 14. Another bomb went off at an outdoor market in Baghdad’s southeastern suburb of Nahrawan, killing 2 and wounding 15.

September 28—Mali—Zone commander Colonel Keba Sangare told the press that suicide bombers set off a vehicle by a military camp in Timbuktu, killing the 2 terrorists and injuring 7 soldiers. The attack was near the Djingareyber Mosque, which is on list of UNESCO World Heritage sites.

September 29—Libya—Gunmen assassinated 3 army officers in Benghazi. Two officers, one a lieutenant colonel, were killed by bombs attached to their cars. Gunmen shot to death a colonel.

September 29—Mali—A bomb went off during the afternoon at an aid supply storage facility in Kidal used by United Nations World Food Program, damaging the building’s roof and walls.

September 29—Pakistan—A car bomb loaded with 485 pounds of explosives killed 40 and injured 100 at Peshawar’s Qissa Khawani bazaar (also known as the storytellers’ market). At least 10 shops and several vehicles were destroyed. Pakistani ­Tehrik-i-Taliban spokesman Shaidullah Shaid denied involvement, saying, “We are targeting the government machinery and the law enforcement agencies but not general public.” One family in town to attend a wedding instead lost 18 members.

September 29—Iraq—Several bombings throughout the country killed 46 people.

A suicide bomber linked to al-Qaeda in Iraq set off his explosives belt inside a Shi’ite mosque in Musay­yib, killing 18. Large crowds were at the mosque to attend a funeral for victims of a roadside bombing.

Two suicide car bombers hit a complex housing the regional Interior Ministry and other security agencies in Irbil, killing at least 6 Kurdish troops and wounding more than 30 others.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant said in a website posting that it was retaliating for statements by regional President Massoud Barzani who said he was ready to help the government in Baghdad in its fight against insurgents, and to assist Kurdish militias in neighboring Syria.

September 29—Bahrain—A Bahrain court sentenced 50 people to 5–15 years for links to the February 14 faction, a group blamed for bombings and other ­anti-government attacks.

September 29—Nigeria—Boko Haram was suspected in a 1 a.m. attack on the College of Agriculture in Gujba, Yobe State, shooting dozens of students aged 18–22 sleeping in their beds and setting alight several classrooms. BH drove up in 2 ­double-cabin pickup ­all-terrain vehicles and motorcycles. Some were dressed in Nigerian military uniforms. They attacked the 4 male hostels, staying away from the women’s hostel. At least 44 students died and 18 were sent to Damaturu specialist Hospital. Most of the dead were Muslims. On October 6, 2013, the Nigerian human rights group ­Socio-Economic and Rights Accountability Project asked the International Criminal Court to investigate the attack as crimes against humanity. The Nigerian military conducted bombing runs against a camp, killing scores of terrorists believed involved in the school attack. It arrested 15 suspects.

September 29—Egypt—Gunmen shot at the ­el-Arish post office, wounding a 14-year-old girl. Two roadside bombs exploded near army vehicles on the main road to ­el-Arish; no one was hurt.

September 30—Egypt—Gunmen ambushed policemen on their way to work in ­el-Arish in the northern Sinai Peninsula, killing 2 policemen and one soldier and wounding another officer before getting away in a car.

Gunmen attacked army checkpoints in ­el-Arish and Sheikh Zuweyid, wounding 5 soldiers—one later died—and a civilian.

September 30—Afghanistan—Afghan police said 4 Taliban gunmen killed 2 officers at a checkpoint and 3 farmers in a field in Herat Province’s Obey district before they were killed in the following gun battle.

September 30—Iraq—A dozen car bombs went off during rush hour in Shi’ite areas of Baghdad, killing 51 and wounding 100. The Interior Ministry blamed ­al-Qaeda.

A parked car bomb exploded at a small Sadr City vegetable market and its parking lot, killing 7 and wounding 16. Soon after, 10 parked car bombs exploded in the Shi’ite neighborhoods of New Baghdad, Habibiya, Sabaa ­al-Bour, Kazimiyah, Shaab, Ur, and Shula, plus the Sunni neighborhoods of Jamiaa and Ghazaliyah, hitting outdoor markets and parking lots, killing 44 and wounding 139.

October—Syria—The Islamic State was believed to have kidnapped 3 workers for the International Committee of the Red Cross near Saraqeb in Idlib Province in October 2013. 13109901

October—Egypt—Late in the month, Egyptian authorities arrested ­Abdel-Fatah Hassan Salem, a senior member of Takfir ­wil-Hijra, an ­al-Qaeda-inspired group.

October 1—U.S.—The Florida ­Times-Union and First Coast News reported that at 5:35 p.m., Zeljko Causevic, 39, ran past TSA agents at Jacksonville International Airport and claimed to have a bomb in his backpack. JAX was shut down, passengers and employees were evacuated, and 23 flights were canceled or diverted. Police announced at 11 p.m. that the package was rendered safe, there was no bomb (the item was a luggage scale with batteries, a microchip, and a cellphone), and the airport was reopened. Causevic was detained and booked into Duval County Jail at 1:30 a.m. on charges of false report about planting a bomb or explosive and manufacture/possess/sell/deliver or mail hoax bomb, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office jail log. Duval County Judge Russell Healey set a $1 million bail. Causevic faced 15 years. He had lived in Jacksonville for 15 years; police had visited his home 7 times in the previous 5 years. He was born in ­Bosnia-Herzegovina. He was formally indicted on federal charges on October 22 and faced 5 years in federal prison. The state charges were dropped. In mid–November, U.S. Magistrate Judge James Klindt ruled that Causevic was incompetent to stand trial because of mental illness. On July 31, 2014, the Florida ­Times-Union reported that psychiatrists would evaluate whether he had since become competent to stand trial. He was represented by assistant federal public defender Susan Yagzi. On August 27, 2014, doctors at the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Caro­lina said Causevic was competent to stand trial if he took his medication. Assistant U.S. Public Defender Susan Good Yazgi requested an independent evaluation.

October 1—France—France 24 reported that France’s Central Directorate of Homeland Intelligence (DCRI) arrested at 6:30 a.m. a 21-year-old Parisian woman at her Belleville apartment in northern Paris for “criminal association in connection with a terrorist enterprise” regarding her alleged links to AQAP. The investigation had begun in March 2013. She was a reader of AQAP’s Inspire ­e-magazine.

October 1—Syria—NBC News reported on October 6, 2014, that ­Abdul-Rahman Kassig, 25, nee Peter Kassig, a former Army Ranger in Iraq who became an aid worker, was kidnapped on October 1, 2013, by the Islamic State (al-Dawla ­al-Islamiya fi ­al-Iraq wa ­al-Sham, also known as Daesh or Da’ish) in Syria while he was undertaking a project for Special Emergency Response and Assistance (SERA) on his way to Deir Ezzour. He sent a letter to his parents on June 2, 2014, saying that he was “pretty scared to die,” but added “I am in a dogmatically complicated situation here, but I am at peace with my belief.” The group threatened to kill him at the end of the video that showed them beheading British hostage Alan Henning on October 3, 2014. Kassig was an Islamic convert who had traveled to Lebanon to work as a medic. He founded an organization to help Syrian refugees.

He was believed to be alive as of October 26, 2014, according to the New York Times, although the IS said he would be the next hostage to be executed. On November 16, 2014, the Washington Post reported that the Islamic State beheaded him in Dabiq in northern Syria, releasing a 15-minute video of the execution of a dozen captured Syrian government soldiers. An individual held up a head identified as Kassig’s. The narrator had a British accent and said, “We say to you, Obama: … You claim to have withdrawn from Iraq 4 years ago. Here you are: You have not withdrawn. Rather, you hid some of your forces behind your proxies.” He said Kassig was murdered because he “fought against the Muslims in Iraq, while serving as a soldier.” Kassig, from Indianapolis, Indiana, served in the U.S. Army’s 75th Ranger Regiment. After being medically discharged from the military, Kassig founded the Special Emergency Response and Assistance (SERA) in Turkey to aid Syrian refugees. He began delivering food and medical supplies to Syrian refugee camps in 2012, providing trauma care to wounded Syrian civilians.

On November 17, 2014, Interior Minister Ber-nard Cazeneuve said there was a “strong presumption” that western Parisian Islamic convert Maxime Hau­chard, 22, was among the IS murderers on the video. France’s BFM TV interviewed Hauchard in July 2014, when he claimed he was involved in the IS capture of Mosul, Iraq. He told his interviewers, “From a personal point of view, my objective is to be a martyr.” Authorities believed Hauchard arrived in Syria in 2013. He had also visited Mauritania in 2012.

AP added that Hauchard was joined in the video by 2 young men from Wales and England. The Welsh­man was believed to be Nasser Muthana, 20, a Cardiff medical student.

The French government announced on Novem-ber 19 that another Frenchman brandishing a knife in the video was Michael Dos Santos, 22, who was wanted on an October 2013 warrant after he left the Paris sub­urbs for Syria in August 2013. The next day, French authorities backpedaled on the claim. 13100101

October 2—Libya—An armed mob broke into the Russian Embassy compound and shot in the air. An attacker was killed in the gunfire, and 4 more were wounded. No Russian diplomats were injured. The gunmen did not enter the buildings. Libyan officials attributed the attack to the death of a Libyan air force pilot at the hands of a Russian woman. Libyan authorities said she wrote anti–Tripoli regime graffiti in his blood, and also stabbed his mother. Russia evacuated its diplomats and their families from Libya on October 3.

October 2—Somalia—CNN reported that ­al-Shabaab had given a threatening message to regional media, saying more attacks were coming.

October 2—Yemen—AQAP was suspected of killing 4 soldiers at a military checkpoint in Hadramawt Province.

October 2—Libya—Libyan security officials said gunmen in Benghazi fired on the car of coast guard Col. Saleh ­el-Hudeiry, killing him and mortally wounding his 7-year-old son.

October 2—Spain—A small camping gas canister bomb exploded at 1:50 p.m. in a central aisle close to the main altar of the Basilica of Our Lady of the Pilar in Zaragoza, causing some damage but no injuries. The annual Pilar festival, which attracts tens of thousands, was to begin on October 5. The next day, the anarchist Mateo Morral Commando said on an anarchist website that it was protesting the Church’s links with Spain’s fascist past. The group claimed it had sent warnings to 2 Zaragoza newspapers, which denied the claim. On November 13, 2013, police arrested 5 people, including 2 Chileans and an Italian woman, for the bombing. Spanish Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz said they were believed to be part of an “extremely dangerous” anarchist group with international connections. On November 17, Spanish National Court Judge Eloy Ve­lasco charged 2 Chileans, Monica Andrea Cabal­lero Sepulveda, 23, and Francisco Javier Solar Do­min­guez, 34, with belonging to a terrorist organization, detonating an explosion, and conspiring to stage a similar attack at a basilica within the monastery of Montserrat, near Barcelona, that would have caused “terrorist havoc.” 13100201

October 2—Lithuania—The Vilnius Appeals Court cleared of charges and released Irish citizen Michael Campbell, who was convicted of trying to purchase guns and explosives for the Real IRA following his 2008 arrest in a sting involving UK agents. In 2011, a lower Vilnius court sentenced him to 12 years.

October 2—Afghanistan—A roadside bomb in Nawa District, Helmand Province, hit an Afghan Army patrol vehicle, killing 3 soldiers and wounding 4.

October 2—Pakistan—A roadside bomb hit an army vehicle, killing 2 soldiers and wounding 3 other soldiers doing relief work near Mashkay village in Baluchistan Province, where a magnitude 7.7 earthquake killed 376 people the previous week. Gunmen conducted 2 attacks on troops distributing aid in the area.

A bomb went off in Chaman in Baluchistan Province near the Afghan border, killing 6 civilians and wounding 11, including 6 Pakistani border guards and 5 civilians.

Gunmen fired at a checkpoint that had been set up as part of relief efforts by troops delivering supplies. No one was hurt. Baluch separatists were suspected.

October 3—Kenya—Gunmen killed Muslim cleric Sheik Ibrahim Ismael (also identified by the press as Sheik Ibrahim Rogo Omar) and 3 others riding in a car in Mombasa. In August 2012, Aboud Rogo Mohammed, his predecessor at the Masjid Musa Mosque, was gunned down in the same manner on the same road. Violent youths who blamed the police took to the streets the next day, partly burning the Salvation Army Church, putting burning tires on the road. Four people died and 7 were injured in the violence; one person died from gunshot wounds. Some observers suggested that Ismael’s killing was retaliation by Kenyan security forces for the Westgate Mall attack by ­al-Shabaab. Rogo Mohammed had been sanctioned by the U.S. and UN for recruiting youths for ­al-Shabaab.

October 3—Iraq—A bomb exploded near a soccer field where teens were playing in Madain, south of Baghdad, killing 5 people and injuring 13.

Gunmen killed 2 police officers at checkpoint in Mosul.

Gunmen shot to death a person at a Mosul drug store.

October 3—Nigeria—Nigeria’s armed forces announced that it had killed “scores” of Islamic extremists in aerial bombardments on a “terrorist camp” in the northeast. Spokesman Captain Eli Lazarus said 15 detainees had provided information that could lead to further arrests.

October 3—Pakistan—Pakistani Taliban gunmen fired at the compound of Nabi Hanfi, a rival militant commander in Balandkhel village in northwest Pakistan. A suicide car bomber then crashed into the compound, killing 15 people and wounding 6. Hanfi was not present. Pakistani Taliban spokesman Shahidullah Shahid claimed credit, saying 5 terrorists were responsible. “Mullah Nabi had been our target, and he will remain on our target list.”

October 4—Greece—In the early morning, a bomb went off outside the Petralona, Athens offices of a fan club for the Premier League Panathinaikos soccer club, damaging the building and several nearby parked cars but causing no injuries.

October 4—India—Authorities killed 3 rebels on the Kashmir border.

October 5—Afghanistan—The Afghan Army detained Pakistani Taliban commander Latif Mehsud as he was driving along a main highway at the Ghulam Khan border crossing in the Khost Province. Arsallah Jamal, governor of Logar Province, announced the arrest on October 11.

October 5—India—The Indian Army announced that it killed 7 suspected rebels in 2 clashes near the line dividing the disputed Kashmir region between India and Pakistan. Four rebels were shot crossing from ­Pakistani-held territory into the Indian portion of Kashmir in Kupwara region. Indian Army Lt. Gen. Gurmeet Singh, a commander in Kashmir, said that Indian soldiers clashed with 40 rebels on Septem-ber 24 in Shala Bhata, where 12 rebels died and 5 Indian soldiers were wounded.

October 5—Afghanistan—A gunman shot to death a member of the international coalition in the south before he was killed. A coalition statement said he was an “alleged contracted security guard,” but did not note his nationality or the nationality of the victim.

October 5—Iraq—A suicide bomber hit a pedestrian checkpoint for Shi’ite pilgrims walking to a shrine near a graveyard in the largely Sunni neighborhood of Azamiyah in northern Baghdad, killing 51, including 4 policemen, and injuring 80. Nasser Waleed Ali’s back was hit by shrapnel.

Gunmen in Mosul shot to death reporter Mohammed Karim ­al-Badrani and cameraman Mohammed Ghanem who were working on a report for the private al-Sharqiya TV channel.

A roadside bomb went off at a checkpoint manned by Sahwa Sunni militiamen opposed to ­al-Qaeda in Youssifiyah, killing 3 people and injuring 5.

A bomb exploded in Baghdad’s Baiyaa neighborhood, killing 3 people and wounding 13.

A suicide bomber detonated his explosives inside a Balad café, killing 13 and wounding 22. The café was hit by a suicide bomber in August.

At least 6 members of Sunni militias opposed to ­al-Qaeda were also killed. The militiamen were members of the Sahwa, which joined U.S. troops in the fight against ­al-Qaeda at the height of the Iraq war. Its members have since been frequently tar-geted by Sunni insurgents, who consider them traitors.

Gunmen attacked the 2-car convoy carrying local Sahwa (an ­anti–al-Qaeda militia) leader Issa ­al-Sabeel in Hawija, killing 3 of his bodyguards. He survived.

October 5—Spain—Several thousand people marched in Bilbao to call for jailed ETA prisoners to serve their sentences in Basque area prisons.

October 5—Israel—Some observers believed a Palestinian sniper seriously injured a 9-year-old Jewish girl who was playing outside her home in the Psagot settlement in the West Bank. Others suggested it was a knife attack. She said she was attacked by a man with a black mask.

October 5—Somalia—CNN and the Associated Press reported that in Barawe in southern Somalia, U.S. Navy SEALs in a ­pre-dawn raid targeted Abdulkadir Mohamed Abdulkadir, alias Ikrima, a Kenyan operative of ­al-Shabaab believed involved in the September 21, 2013, attack on the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya. The team came under fire and could not confirm whether it had killed the target. The Associated Press quoted a Somali intelligence official who said “high profile” foreigners were in the targeted house. AP cited a Kenyan government intelligence document that said core al-Qaeda in Pakistan had approved his foiled plans in 2011–2012 to attack Kenya’s parliament building, the UN office in Nairobi, Kenyan Defense Forces camps, and an Ethiopian restaurant frequented by Somali government officials, and assassinate senior Kenyan political and security officials.

October 5—Libya—CNN and the Associated Press reported that in Tripoli, Libya, U.S. Army Delta Force soldiers captured core al-Qaeda member Nazih ­Abdul-Hamed ­al-Ruqai, alias Abu Anas al-Libi, 49, suspected in the August 7, 1998, bombings of U.S. embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; and Nairobi, Kenya. The U.S. had issued a $5 million reward for information leading to him. He had been indicted in 2001 by a federal court in the Southern District of New York on charges of conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, murder, destruction of American buildings and government property, and destruction of national defense utilities of the United States. His family said gunmen in a 3-car convoy grabbed him outside his home while he was parking after dawn prayers. He was believed to be a computer specialist who studied electronic and nuclear engineering, graduated from Tripoli University, and was an anti–Qadhafi activist. The press said he was in Sudan when Osama Bin Laden was based there in the 1990s. He arrived in the UK in 1995 and was granted political asylum. He lived in Manchester, but left the UK in 2000 after being listed on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorist List. The AP said the U.S. held him on the USS San Antonio in the Mediterranean, where he was questioned by members of a ­high-value detainee interrogation team, before bringing him to New York on October 12 under law enforcement custody. On October 15, he pleaded not guilty in a New York federal court. His attorney said he had been treated for 3 days in a local hospital for Hepatitis C and swollen limbs. ­Al-Libi faced life in prison.

On October 7, the Revolutionaries of Benghazi, ­al-Bayda and Darna posted on their website a warning that “this shameful act will cost the Libyan government a lot.”

October 6—Yemen—Two gunmen killed a German Embassy guard when he resisted their kidnapping attempt in an attack on a diplomatic vehicle outside a supermarket in Sana’a. They fled in a car.

Tribesmen kidnapped a Sierra Leone employee of UNICEF in a northwestern suburb of Sana’a. The employee was in his car with his Yemeni driver. Gunmen pushed the driver out and drove off with the car and employee. 13100601, 13100602

October 6—Nigeria—The ­Socio-Economic and Rights Accountability Project, a Nigerian human rights group, asked the International Criminal Court to investigate the killings of schoolchildren and teach­ers by Boko Haram in northeast Nigeria as crimes against humanity. The petition was signed by SERAP executive director Adetokunbo Mumuni. Amnesty International said scores of pupils and 70 teachers were killed, 50 schools were burned down or damaged, and more than 60 other schools were forced to close in 2013.

October 6—Iraq—At 9:30 a.m. in the Shi’ite Turko­men village of Qabak, outside Tal Afar, a car bomb hit an elementary school while children aged 6 to 12 were in class. The blast killed 12 children, the school principal, and 2 policemen, and injured 90 people (only 200 people live in the village). A second suicide car bomb hit a nearby police station.

A suicide bomber walked into a group of Shi’ite pilgrims in the largely Sunni neighborhood of Waziri­yah in northern Baghdad and set off his explosives, killing 12 and wounding 23.

A bomb went off in a parking lot in Baghdad’s ­al-Jadidah neighborhood, killing 6 and wounding 12.

October 7—Nigeria—Boko Haram was suspected of forcing a muezzin to issue his call to prayer at 4 a.m. before the service at 5 a.m., then killing 7 elderly male Muslims entering the mosque in Damboa village. Military spokesman Captain Aliyu Danja said soldiers responded, killing 15 terrorists.

October 7—Maldives—Six masked men on motorbikes chased away a security guard before torching the studio of a ­pro-opposition Maldivian Democratic Party television station.

October 7—Mali—The Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) was suspected of firing mortars in Gao at 6:30 a.m., injuring a Malian soldier when 2 shells hit residential areas.

October 7—Pakistan—The Pakistani Taliban issued a new threat against Mala Yousafzai, 16, whom the group shot in the head a year earlier for publicizing the plight of schoolgirls. She was the youngest person ever nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, which went to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

October 7—Pakistan—A bomb killed a police officer and a member of a volunteer peace committee riding in a van of guards who were protecting ­anti-polio workers in the village of Malikhel, 12 miles outside Peshawar.

October 7—Iraq—At least 45 people died in terrorist attacks. Bombs went off after nightfall in 8 Baghdad neighborhoods.

A car bomb in the Bab ­al-Sharji neighborhood killed 4 and wounded 11.

A car bomb and a roadside bomb exploded in a market and nearby parking lot in Baghdad’s Husseiniya area, killing 7 and wounding 21.

Shi’ite neighborhoods hit by car bombs included Zafaraniyah, with 4 killed and 11 wounded; Alam, with 2 dead and 10 wounded; Obeidi, with 5 killed and 8 wounded. A second bomb hit a Zafaraniyah coffee shop, killing 3 and wounding 10.

A roadside bomb exploded on a commercial street in Kam Sarah, killing 3 and wounding 8. A similar bomb hit eastern Baghdad’s ­al-Jadidah area, killing 5 and wounding 14.

A car bomb went off in a shopping area in the mainly Sunni neighborhood of Dora, killing 4 and wounding 8. Another hit the mostly Sunni area of Sadiyah, killing 3 and wounding 10.

Bombs hit patrols of ­pro-government, ­anti– al-Qaeda Sunni militia members outside Baghdad, killing 5 and wounding 10.

October 7—Egypt—Masked ­drive-by gunmen killed 6 Egyptian soldiers, including a lieutenant, who were on patrol in a pickup truck near the Suez Canal city of Ismailia.

A remotely-detonated car bomb exploded at the 4-storey security headquarters in ­el-Tor near the tourist resorts of southern Sinai, killing at least 3 people, wounding 55, including a senior police commander, and seriously damaging the building. The ­Sinai-based Ansar Jerusalem claimed credit.

Before dawn, gunmen believed hiding in nearby buildings fired 2 rocket-propelled grenades or some other projectiles at a compound of Egypt’s main satellite earth station in southern Cairo’s Maadi suburb, causing minor damage to a satellite dish but not disrupting telecommunications. It was the first attack on civilian infrastructure in the capital since the July 3 overthrow of President Morsi.

The radical Salafiyah Jihadiya group had threatened in a website posting on October 4 to kill collaborators with the military’s offensive against militants in northern Sinai. “To all who are dealing with the army forces, forwarding information to them or spying for their account … we tell them: ‘You are taking part in a war against Islam and Muslims, and you are fighting God and his Prophet.’”

October 8, 10—Northern Ireland—Suspected IRA gunmen in separate attacks killed 2 men. The “New IRA” claimed credit for shooting to death Kevin Kearney, 46, an Irish Catholic, in a Belfast park. ­Police found his body floating in a lake the next day. Detective Chief Inspector Justyn Galloway said the victim had done prison time for drug offenses. On October 10, a second man was fatally shot in his Londonderry apartment. Police and politicians suggested he was also involved in narcotics trafficking. Since 2009, IRA members in Londonderry had conducted scores of shootings and issued death threats against drug dealers. In 2012, 4 groups, including the ­Londonderry-based Republican Action Against Drugs, merged into “the IRA,” renamed “New IRA” by the Irish media to avoid confusion with the Continuity IRA, and the older Provisional IRA.

October 8—Belgium—On October 9, Spain’s Interior Ministry told the media that Belgian police in Ghent had arrested Natividad Jauregui Espina, a suspected ETA Vizcaya cell member wanted regarding the killing of 4 police officers and 2 army officers in 1981. The ministry said she had been at large since 1979.

October 8—Iraq—A car bomb went off in the evening in front of a restaurant in Baghdad’s Shi’ite Zafaraniyah neighborhood, killing 3 and wounding 10.

Gunmen ambushed a convoy after setting off a bomb south of Mosul. The bomb killed a policeman, while the ambush on the police patrol killed 2 and injured 3.

October 8—Mali—Suspected jihadis bombed 2 bridges in Gao, near the Niger border.

October 9—Nigeria—The military raided a Boko Haram bomb factory where terrorists were plotting attacks on Kano during a major Muslim holiday the next week. Brig. General Ilyasu Abba told the media that one suspect was killed in 2 raids near Kano, but the rest escaped. He said soldiers seized a suicide backpack, assault rifles and ammunition, bows and arrows, and improvised explosive devices, including detonators and remote control devices.

Meanwhile, BH leader Abubakar Shekau released a video threatening more attacks “soon” as part of “a big war” to overturn democracy and install a cal­iphate in Nigeria. He said BH would use heavy weap­ons taken in battles with the Nigerian military. The video showed ­rocket-propelled grenades, ­anti-aircraft guns, AK-47s (the latter are not in the Nigerian army inventory) and ammunition. The ­Hausa-speaking Shekau said “This war is not a Nigerian government war…⁠. It is a war to uplift Islam and get all non–Muslims to repent their ways and embrace Is­lam.”

Also that day, 50 BH members attacked Itiku village in Adamawa State, killing 8 people.

October 9—Afghanistan—A suicide car bomber set off his explosives next to a police patrol, killing 2 civilians and 2 policemen and wounding 3 civilians and a police officer in Gareshk in Helmand Province.

A fuel truck hit a roadside bomb in Gramsir District, Helmand Province, killing 2 people.

October 10—Libya—Some 150 militia gunmen who officially work in a government body and claiming to have an arrest warrant kidnapped Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zidan from his Tripoli hotel. The gunmen arrived in pickup trucks at the luxury Corinthia Hotel, then stormed his residence on the 21st floor, pushing out guards and seizing him at 5:15 a.m. They apparently were retaliating for a U.S. Delta Force capture on October 5 in Tripoli of Nazih ­Abdul-Hamed ­al-Ruqai, alias Abu Anas ­al-Libi, an al-Qaeda member. Zidan was rescued several hours after his kidnapping by a rival militia that stormed the kidnappers’ safehouse and exchanged fire briefly with the kidnappers. His rescuers were identified by the Associated Press as the Reinforcement Force, which is affiliated with the Interior Ministry. The AP said the suspected kidnappers included 2 ­state-affiliated agencies connected to the Revolutionaries Operation Room and the ­Anti-Crime Department, which have been set up by Nouri Boushameen, president of the National Congress, who said he visited the captive Zidan.

October 10—Pakistan—A bomb exploded outside a police station in a Quetta market, killing 6 and wounding 30. Mureed Baluch, spokesman for the small separatist group United Baluch Liberation Army, phoned an AP reporter to say that the group was retaliating for the government restricting aid to Baluchistan areas hit by the September 24 7.7-magnitude earthquake that killed 376 people.

A bomb exploded in a restaurant in a Lahore market area, killing one person and wounding 11. The Pakistani Taliban was suspected.

A roadside bomb exploded next to the vehicle of a tribal police force outside Peshawar, injuring 5 of them. They were returning from protecting polio vaccine workers.

October 10—Iraq—The Justice Ministry announced that during the previous 2 days, the government hanged 42 prisoners, including a woman, convicted of “terrorist crimes, killing dozens of innocents in addition to other crimes aimed at destabilizing the country, causing chaos and spreading horror.”

October 10—Egypt—A suicide car bomber killed 3 soldiers and a police officer who were searching his vehicle and wounded 5 people at a checkpoint outside ­el-Arish in the Sinai.

October 10—Northern Ireland—Police and British Army bomb experts responded to 2 suspected IRA bomb hoaxes in Belfast.

October 11—Internet—Zyman ­al-Zawahiri posted a 17-minute video on a jihadi website calling on Egyptians to battle the military in its war against Islam. He said the Egyptian military leader is “the Americanized butcher of the military coup,” observing that the “secular military” was colluding with the U.S., Israel, secular movements and Christians against Islam. He said the Egyptian secularists had cooperated with former President Hosni Mubarak and took money from Gulf countries as part of a “dirty conspiracy.” “Here is the tragedy in Egypt unfolding before your eyes, showing the extent the hatred of the seculars, the U.S. agents, have for Muslims and Islamist groups…. The secular military and its allies, the enemies of Islam, want to eradicate anyone who raises the banner of Islam.” He complained about the Muslim Brotherhood, who “compromised” with secular groups in Egypt and Tunisia, but were later persecuted because the conspirators do not discriminate between jihadis and democratic Muslims. “They held on to secularism, fought for it, turning against the ­so-called democracy idol they asked Muslims to submit to in place of the rule of Shariah.” The solution would be to unite and conduct a “popular” religious uprising “to rid Egypt of this criminal gang that jumped over power with fire and iron.”

October 11—Libya—A car bomb was remotely detonated during the morning outside the Benghazi building housing the honorary consulates of Finland and Sweden, badly damaging the building’s façade and windows, but causing no casualties.

October 11—Yemen—Gunmen on a motorcycle killed an army colonel who was walking to his car in Mukkala, Hadramawt Province.

October 11—West Bank—At 2 a.m., Palestinians armed with axes and iron bars killed Seraiah Ofer, a 50ish retired Colonel in the Israeli Reserves who was investigating suspicious noises outside his home in the Israeli resort of Brosh HaBiq’a in the Jordan Valley. His wife, Monique Mor, escaped through a back door. She underwent surgery after she tripped on barbed wire while running away. Channel 10 TV said he had served as commander of the Gaza district and in several elite combat units. Authorities arrested 5 suspects. On October 13, Shin Bet announced the arrest of 2 young Palestinian men from the southern West Bank who had admitted to killing Ofer. Shin Bet recovered the murder weapon.

October 11—Myanmar—A bomb exploded at a guesthouse in Taungoo, killing 2 people.

October 12—Afghanistan—A car bomb went off outside the entrance to the Jalalabad provincial police chief’s office, killing a civilian and 2 police officers and wounding 3 civilians and 2 police officers.

October 12—Iraq—A pickup truck exploded at the entrance of a wholesale fruit and vegetable market in Samarra during the night, killing 17 people, wounding 35, and damaging several shops.

October 12–13—U.S.—A dry ice bomb in a soda bottle exploded in an employee restroom in Terminal 2 of Los Angeles International Airport. Another exploded bomb originally hidden in a 20-ounce plastic bottle was found on a tarmac outside the Tom Bradley International Terminal. No one was injured but some flights were delayed. On October 13, workers found 3 dry ice bombs near a plane parked at Gate 148 in the Tom Bradley International Terminal. One bomb went off at 8:30 p.m., causing no injuries. On October 16, MSNBC reported that authorities arrested baggage handler Dicarlo Bennett, 28, who worked for Servisair, a ground handling company, on possession of a destructive device near an air-craft. He was held on $1 million bail for this and a subsequent dry ice bombing. Police said Bennett had moved the dry ice from a plane and put it in the restroom during the night. On October 20, police arrested a second individual who claimed the bombs were “a funny joke.”

October 12–13—Ethiopia—A bomb went off at a home in the predominantly Somali Bole neighborhood of Addis Ababa. State TV suggested it was an accidental detonation by 2 Somali bombmakers who wanted to hit a soccer game. The country’s ­anti-terrorism task force seized a gun, grenades, explosives, a detonator, a belt, and a jersey of Ethiopia’s national soccer team at the scene. The bomb also damaged the wall of a home used by U.S. Embassy personnel, but caused no U.S. casualties. 13101201

October 12—Sudan—A Zambian military observer with the UNAMID peacekeeping force was stabbed to death during the hijacking of his vehicle in North Darfur. 13101202

October 13—Iraq—Bombs across the country killed 42 and wounded dozens.

Two car bombs went off at an outdoor market in a busy commercial area in Hillah, killing 8 and wounding 22.

Two parked car bombs hit a commercial area in Suwayrah, killing 5 and wounding 14.

Two car bombs went off simultaneously in Kut, killing 4 and wounding 16.

Two car bombs exploded in Samawah, killing 4 and wounding 13.

Two car bombs went off in Diwaniyah, killing 3 and wounding 13.

A car bomb exploded near a group of mourners at a funeral for some of the previous day’s 17 dead in Samarra, killing 2 and injuring 15. Another suicide car bomber hit a security checkpoint near a Samarra shrine, killing 4 and wounding 10.

Attacks killed 5 people and wounded 34 in Basra, Mahmoudiyah and Madain.

A bomb exploded near a row of shops in Baghdad’s western Sadiyah neighborhood, killing 2 and wounding 9.

A bomb exploded near a soccer field in Baghdad’s mainly Shi’ite southeastern suburb of Nahrwan, killing 2 and wounding 10.

October 13—UK—Buckingham Palace guards arrested a man carrying a knife as he tried to sneak through a gate. David Belmar, 44, was charged with trespassing on a protected site and possession of an offensive weapon, according to the Associated Press.

October 13—UK—Police, including the London firearms unit, announced the arrest of 4 British men in their 20s suspected of planning a shooting attack similar to the September 21 Westgate Mall attack in Nairobi. The Metropolitan Police said they were held on suspicion of the “commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.” Police raided 6 London locations and searched 2 vehicles. Metropolitan Police said the men were between the ages of 25 and 29, with roots in Turkey, Pakistan, Algeria and Azerbaijan. Counterterrorist police arrested one on a street in a west London neighborhood. Police shot out the tires of a car near the Tower of London and arrested 2 25-year-olds. Another was detained in southeast London. On October 20, 2 25-year-old men—one of Turkish descent and one of Algerian descent—were charged with terrorism offenses. They appeared in a London court the next day on charges of possession of a computer file including information on bomb making. One was charged with preparing a terrorist act. They were ordered detained pending their November 18 court hearing. The other 2 suspects were released without charge.

October 13—Syria—At 11:30 a.m., gunmen kidnapped 6 International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) workers and a Syrian Arab Red Crescent volunteer from their convoy near Saraqeb in Idlib Province, where they were delivering medical supplies. The gunmen fired on the ICRC’s 4 vehicles as they were returning to Damascus. The Associated Press said the hostages were taken at a checkpoint run by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, an ­al-Qaeda affiliate, although there was no claim of responsibility. The team had been in the field since October 10, assessing medical needs in the area. On October 14, the kidnappers released 3 ICRC staffers and a Red Crescent volunteer, but held the other 3 Red Cross workers. 13101301

October 13—Afghanistan—A gunman wearing an Afghan national security forces uniform killed a NATO service member in eastern Afghanistan.

A mosque bombing in eastern Ghazni killed 2 civilians and wounded 4.

October 13–14—Myanmar—A small time bomb went off before midnight at the 22-storey Trader’s Hotel, renamed the Sule ­Shangri-La, in Yangon, wounding a 43-year-old American woman and destroying a 9th floor guest room’s restroom. Her husband and their 5- and 7-year old children were not harmed. Within a week, terrorists set off bombs at a restaurant, 2 bus stops, Buddhist temples, and a market. Police officer Myint Htwe announced the arrest of 3 suspects. A 4th suspect, Saw Myint Lwin, 26, was arrested in Mon State after crashing his motorcycle through a barricade in Belin township. He had been under surveillance on suspicion of placing another bomb at a restaurant the next morning. On Octo-ber 18, Police Chief Zaw Win said the bombers were against current economic reforms. He told the press that a businessman affiliated with the Karen National Union (KNU) promised Saw Myint Lwin a gold mine permit for setting off bombs at luxury hotels and restaurants. Saw was given $500, a bag of explosives, and instructions on how to use them. He was one of 8 people arrested for the attacks. The police said Saw rented a car, drove to Yangon, checked into room 921 at the Traders Hotel, and set the bomb to go off 48 hours later at the back of the toilet. When it detonated, a family of 4 had moved into the room.

Police Chief Zaw said Saw Myint Lwin joined the KNU at age 16 and left 5 years later in 2008. After that, he worked at a mine, where he met “Nato,” who recruited him in September 2013 for the bomb plot.

The police chief said the recent series of 9 bombings that killed 3 and injured 10 were designed to discourage foreign investment. They included a bomb attached to the bottom of a truck parked outside an eastern Yangon market that wounded 3 civilians. Another bomb exploded at a bus stop in western Yangon, causing no casualties.

On July 3, 2015, AP reported that a court sentenced to life imprisonment and hard labor Saw Myint Lwin, 26, on 3 charges related to the bombing. The other detainees were acquitted. Police said the alleged mastermind, a member of the Karen National Union, remained at large. Investigators said the defendant was paid for the bombing by a businessman tied to the rebels who was unhappy with reforms. 13101302

October 14—Sudan—During the morning, gunmen ambushed members of a Senegalese police peacekeeping unit that was escorting a water convoy from El Geneina to the force’s regional headquarters in West Darfur, killing 3 Senegalese and injuring one. The joint United ­Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission later recovered a hijacked vehicle 4 miles away. 13101401

October 15—Myanmar—Two bombs exploded before dawn in Saggaing. The first hit a hotel restaurant and the second went off at the Taw Oo Pone Nya Shin Pagoda. No one was injured, police officer Tin Maung Aye said.

October 15—Afghanistan—A bomb hidden in a microphone exploded in a mosque in Puli Alam at 8:45 a.m., killing Logar Province Governor Arsala Jamal, 47, an ethic Pushtun and close associate of President Hamid Karzai, and injuring 15 people, 5 critically, who were listening to Jamal’s remarks at an Eid celebration. Jamal was Karzai’s deputy presidential campaign manager in 2009. He had earlier served as Minister of Tribal and Frontier Affairs. Suicide car bombers hit his convoy in August 2007 and suicide bombers hit his office in Khost, where he was governor, in May and July 2009. No one claimed credit, although the Taliban was suspected.

October 15—Yemen—Two AQAP gunmen on a motorcycle fired at soldiers at a checkpoint in front of a security base in Lajh Province, killing 2 guards and wounding 4 others.

October 15—Iraq—A bomb near a Sunni mosque in northern Iraq killed 12 people and injured 24.

October 15—Russia—Russia’s Investigative Committee arrested 2 jihadis, aged 19 and 21, from the North Caucasus, on suspicion of planning to attack the Maradykovsky chemical weapons storage and disposal facility in Kirov. RIC authorities found “components for the preparation of explosive materials” and “extremist literature” in the men’s Kirov safehouse.

October 16—Netherlands—Authorities cancelled Transavia flights from Amsterdam to Sharm ­al-Sheikh for the next fortnight after the Dutch intelligence service received information that terrorists were planning to attack a Dutch flight to Egypt . AP reported that the Dutch service shared the information with Transavia and ArkeFly.

October 16—Canada—Police detained a man who tried to leave a suspicious package in the Langevin Building, which houses Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s office. Harper was not in the office at the time.

October 16—Pakistan—A gunman shot a guard at the home of Minister of Law for Khyber Pakhtun­khwa Province Israullah Gandapur, then set off his 17-pound suicide bomb in the guest room, killing Gandapur and 7 others and wounding 30 people who were celebrating Eid near Dera Ismail Khan. Among those injured was Hameedullah Khan, an aide to Gandapur, and Gandapur’s brother, Ikramullah. The Pakistani Taliban was suspected.

October 16–17—Myanmar—Three bombs in down­town Namkham, Shan State, went off late in the night and in the early morning, killing one person and wounding 6. One bomb went off before midnight, causing no injuries. The other 2 went off at 7:30 a.m. The ­low-intensity bombs caused little damage.

October 17—West Bank—Israeli troops shot to death a Palestinian on a tractor who was trying to break into an army base in Ramallah. He crashed through the gate, then was fired upon.

October 17—Tunisia—Ten gunmen ambushed a police vehicle that was passing in front of a house in Goubellat, killing 2 police officers and wounding a third. On October 19, the Tunisian military announced that it had killed 9 suspected Ansar ­al-Sharia terrorists and captured 4, all of whom were believed to be involved in the attack. The military seized rifles, explosives, and plans for terrorist attacks and assassinations.

October 17—Indonesia—National Police spokes­man Brigadier General Boy Rafli Amar announced that the country’s ­anti-terrorism squad shot to death one suspect and detained 2 others during a raid on their van in Bone district in South Sulawesi Province. Police confiscated 2 guns, ammunition and 4.4 pounds of fertilizer. Authorities believed they were connected to individuals behind recent attacks on police in Poso, Central Sulawesi.

October 17—Iraq—Car bombs and suicide bomb­ers killed 61 people throughout the country.

In the early morning, a suicide car bomber hit houses in ­al-Mouafaqiyah, an ethnic Shabak minority village, killing 15 and wounding 52.

Hours later, a suicide bomber detonated his explosive belt inside a Tuz Khormato cafe, killing 3 and wounding 28.

At nightfall, 9 car bombs hit Shi’ite areas of Baghdad. One car bomb near a Sadr City playground killed 5, including 2 children, and wounded 16. Bombs 2 blocks apart in Husseiniyah neighbor-hood killed 11 and wounded 22. Other car bombs killed 4 and injured 12 in New Baghdad; and killed 7 and wounded 14 near a Gareat neighborhood restaurant. A suicide car bomber hit a police checkpoint in Dora, killing 5, including 3 police officers, and wounding 9. Two parked car bombs went off near an outdoor market and shops in Garage ­al-Amana, killing 8 and wounding 15. A car bomb went off in a Shurta commercial street, killing 3 and wounding 12.

October 17—Pakistan—Terrorists killed a soldier in South Waziristan near the Afghan border.

October 17—Yemen—The official SABA news agency reported that AQAP hit military checkpoints in Bayda Province during the night, killing one soldier and wounding 2.

October 18—Uganda—MSNBC reported that the U.S. Embassy in Uganda warned Americans of an imminent attack similar to the Westgate Mall attack of September 21 in Nairobi.

October 18—Yemen—An AQAP suicide car bomber killed 6 soldiers and wounded 10, including the brigade’s commander, during morning muster at an army headquarters in Lawder, Abyan Province.

Two AQAP gunmen on a motorcycle fired at the car of Col. Mohammed Abdullah ­al-Habshi during the night in Sayoun, Hadramawt Province, killing Habshi and his driver.

October 18—Afghanistan—A suicide car bomber hit 2 vehicles near the heavily fortified Green Village private residential compound used by hundreds of foreigners in suburban Kabul, killing 2 ­passers-by. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed credit.

October 18—Egypt—Gunmen shot to death a police officer walking near his ­el-Arish home.

October 18—Libya—Masked gunmen in a car killed Col. Ahmed Mostafa ­el-Barghathy, head of the regional military police, at his house in Benghazi. He was walking to a mosque for Friday prayers when he was shot in the chest and head. He was one of the first army officers to join the rebels during the Qadhafi regime.

October 19—Thailand—Two bombs injured 8 soldiers and 5 journalists. One bomb exploded on a road in ­Ra-ngae District, Narathiwat Province, injuring 6 soldiers, 3 seriously, on foot patrol. Another bomb went off 300 feet away as a bomb squad and journalists were arriving. Those injured included 2 Explosive Ordnance Disposal officers and 5 journalists, among them Madaree Tohlala, 44, a Thai photographer for Agence ­France-Presse and 2 reporters from Thai television stations.

Later that day in Narathiwat Province, ­drive-by shooters killed 4 villagers riding on motorcycles.

Gunmen on motorcycles fatally shot a 35-year-old farmer on the road in Panarae District, Pattani Province. 13101901

October 19—Iraq—A morning car bombing in Baghdad’s Qahira neighborhood killed 3, injured 11, and damaged shops and cars.

October 19—Somalia—A suicide bomber walked into a small but crowded restaurant in Beledweyne, took a seat, then set off his explosives tied around his waist, killing himself and 12 people and wounding 10 others. Most of the victims were civilians. Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud blamed ­al-Shabaab.

October 19—Egypt—A car bomb wounded 6 soldiers near an Egyptian military intelligence compound in Ismailia. The bomb collapsed the compound’s wall and damaged a commercial building belonging to the Suez Canal Authority. The ­Sinai-based Ansar Jerusalem said it was retaliating for the army’s oppressive practices in Sinai.

October 20—Iraq—At least 51 people died in attacks around the country.

A suicide car bomber hit a café in Baghdad’s Amil neighborhood during the night, killing 41 and wounding 65.

A car bomber attacked the house of a police officer in a village north of Baghdad, killing the office’s father, brother and 5 nephews aged 7 to 11 years old. Six others were wounded. The officer was not at home.

A car bomber attacked a local Rawah council building, killing 10. Five suicide bombers in police uniforms conducted the attack. Two were shot by ­authorities while the other 3 set off their explosives outside, killing 2 policemen and an official and wound­ing 20 others.

October 20—Egypt—Two masked gunmen riding on a motorcycle fired at a wedding party in Cairo’s Waraa neighborhood as guests left the Virgin Mary Coptic church, killing 4 people, including a woman and an 8-year-old girl, and injuring 17.

October 20—Nigeria—Boko Haram terrorists disguised as soldiers killed 19 at a checkpoint, mostly by slitting their throats. They also set alight 5 trucks. Among the injured was trader Adamu Mallam, who was pulled from his vehicle and forced to lie face down. One of the attackers answered a cell phone call, then the group rode off on motorbikes, sparing Mallam.

October 21—Afghanistan—A magnetic bomb stuck on a car killed a civilian in Kabul; it was unclear whether terrorists or criminals planted it.

October 21—Russia—Suicide bomber Naida Akhi­ya­lova, variant Asiyalova, 30, from Dagestan, hit a passenger bus near a timber storage site in Volgograd, killing 7 and injuring 33, according to Vladimir Markin, the spokesman for the Investigative Committee, Russia’s main investigative agency. Eight people were in serious condition. Among the injured were several students, including Dmitry Yudin, who suffered a concussion and arm wound.

Rasul Temirbekov, spokesman for the Investigative Committee in Dagestan, said she was married to a Russian, Dmitry Sokolov, alias Abdul Jabbar, whom she had met while both were studying at a Moscow university. She talked him into becoming a jihadi. He soon became an explosives expert. Temirbekov said that she suffered from a fatal bone illness. Investigators suggested that Sokolov, now at large, had built her ­shrapnel-filled bomb. Investigators also believed he had built the bomb for a woman who blew herself up outside the regional branch of Russia’s Interior Ministry in Dagestan in May 2013 that killed a dozen people. He was last seen leaving his Moscow suburban home in the summer of 2012. Markin said she took a ­Moscow-bound bus from Dagestan, but left it in Volgograd and took a local bus, which her explosives destroyed. Russian police killed Sokolov and 4 other jihadis in a gun battle on November 16 in a village near the Dagestan capital of Makhachkala. He admitted during negotiations before he died that he built his wife’s bomb. His mother participated in negotiations by phone. The terrorists released a woman and child who were in the house before it was surrounded.

October 21—Russia—In an apparent retaliation for the bus bombing, attackers firebombed a Muslim prayer house in Volgograd.

October 21—Philippines—Some 50 New People’s Army guerrillas set off a buried explosive and fired on an army truck, killing 8 soldiers and militiamen and wounding a soldier in Tulunan, North Cotabato Province. The soldiers were delivering pay to rural militiamen.

An hour later, a truckload of soldiers hunting the attackers hit a bomb and was fired on by the guerrillas in Makilala, North Cotabato, killing one soldier and injuring 4.

October 21—Spain—The European Court of Hu­man Rights ruled that Spain must release Ines del Rio Prada, an ETA prisoner held for multiple attacks in the 1980s that killed 24 people. She was to be released in 2008, but the government said sentence reduction was applicable to her full 3,828-year sentence imposed in 1987 rather than to her 30-year maximum time in jail. Spanish authorities worried that more than 100 other prisoners, including terrorists and murderers, could demand the same Court treatment. On October 22, Spain’s National Court ordered her release. She walked out of prison hours later. On October 27, thousands protested in Madrid against the release from jail of ETA terrorists.

October 21—Pakistan—A remotely-detonated bomb planted on railroad tracks near Dera Murad Jamali, Naseerabad District, Baluchistan Province killed 7 people and wounded 10 on the Jaffar Express passenger train. Four cars derailed.

October 21—Iraq—Two suicide bombers and 23 gunmen attacked Fallujah police headquarters, kill­ing 7 policemen. The first suicide bomber set off his explosives belt at the main checkpoint. The second set off his explosives near the building gates during a ­shoot-out with police. The gunmen grabbed 2 police officers and 2 guards as hostages while fleeing to an electricity department building. After a ­several-hour siege, the hostages were freed, 2 terrorists died, and 3 were arrested.

October 22—Libya—LANA quoted Col. Abdullah ­al-Zaidi, spokesman for the Joint Operation Room, that the Libya Martyrs militia captured 7 Libyan and 3 Chadian members of a “terrorist cell” as they were trying to carry out an armed robbery in a Benghazi suburb. They were accused of assassinations and bombings in Benghazi.

October 22—Bahrain—The government said Ali ­al-Sabagh, 17, died while carrying explosives in Manama. Bahrain News Agency said that officers found a gun and ammunition near his body. Authorities said he was wanted for earlier attacks. His funeral the next day led to mourners rioting near the cemetery.

October 22—Nigeria—The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) claimed credit for setting a fire at the Warri oil refinery. Spokeswoman Tumini Green of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation said no injuries were reported. MEND said it was beginning a campaign against the government’s “unsustainable and fraudulent” amnesty program.

October 22—Iraq—At night, a suicide car bomber crashed into a checkpoint at Rutba, killing 5 police officers and wounding 5 others. Thirty minutes later, gunmen attacked 3 other Rutba checkpoints, killing 4 police officers and wounding 9. Another car bomb drove into a bypass where police were standing, killing 4 police officers and 3 civilian truck drivers. Other attacks in Anbar Province killed 7 more police officers.

October 22—Egypt—The local government said terrorists fired 3 ­rocket-propelled grenades at an armored military vehicle and a troop carrier in a military convoy on a key highway near ­el-Arish in northern Sinai, killing a soldier and a civilian bystander and wounding 7 soldiers. The gunmen fired on the soldiers before escaping.

October 22—Somalia—Gunmen in a car attacked Somali journalist Mohamed Mohamud, alias Ti­ma’ade, 26, shooting him 6 times in the neck, chest, and shoulder as he was driving to work in the morning in Mogadishu’s Wadajir district. Mohamud reported for the private ­UK-based Universal TV. He died on October 27. He was the 7th journalist killed in Somalia in 2013. 13102201

October 23—Tunisia—Jihadi gunmen were suspected of killing 6 Tunisian National Guard members who were raiding a home in Sidi Ali Bououn, where they believed that a suspicious group was hiding, according to Lotfi Hidouri, spokesman for the Ministry of Interior. During the gun battle, one terrorist died and one was wounded, along with 4 police officers.

Meanwhile, a policeman was killed in the northern town of Beja.

October 23—Mali—A 10 a.m. suicide attack on a checkpoint in Tessalit, Kidal Province, site of a Chadian base, killed 2 Chadian peacekeepers and injured 6 other soldiers and 3 civilians, including a child. Four peacekeepers were seriously injured, according to a UN spokesman.

October 23—Netherlands—A Rotterdam court found 2 men guilty of preparing to travel to Syria to fight with anti–Assad rebels. One individual was convicted of making preparations for murder; the other was guilty of preparing to detonate explosives. One was sentenced to a year in prison. The other was sent to a psychiatric hospital for a year. Their names were not released.

October 23—Iraq—Bombings at Baghdad marketplaces and commercial streets killed 16 and wounded dozens.

A bomb exploded during morning rush hour in a commercial street in Baghdad’s Amariyah neighborhood, killing 4 people and wounding 10.

A bomb exploded at an Abu Ghraib outdoor market, killing 2 shoppers and injuring 8.

Gunmen shot to death 2 police officers going to work in Ramadi.

During the afternoon, a bomb hit a Madain market, killing 5 and injuring 13.

A bomb went off at a small restaurant in Mosul, killing 2 and wounding 6.

October 23—Afghanistan—The Taliban attacked a security outpost in the Bla Murghab District, Badghis Province, during the night, killing 4 police officers and wounding 3 other policemen in a 3-hour gun battle.

October 23—Nigeria—The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta said it kidnapped the captain and chief engineer of the U.S.-flagged C-Retriever offshore supply vessel. On November 17, 2013, AP reported that MEND said that it received a $2 million ransom, mostly from Nigerian authorities, for the 2 American hostages. 13102301

October 24—Libya—Gunmen shot to death Air Force Colonel Adel Khalil ­al-Tawahi from Benghazi’s Beninah air base as he left his Benghazi home. He was hit in the chest and head.

October 24—Iraq—Ten people, including a TV cameraman, were killed in attacks across the country.

During the night, gunmen fired from a car at a fast food restaurant in Baghdad’s western Amariyah neighborhood, killing 4 and wounding 7.

An hour later, a bomb hit a Madain café, killing 2 and wounding 7.

In Mosul, gunmen killed Bashar ­al-Nuaimi, a cameraman working for local TV channel ­al-Moussilyah, as he was walking near his house.

A suicide bomber set off his explosive belt at an army checkpoint in Mosul, killing 3 soldiers and wounding 7.

October 24—Egypt—Sinai authorities said jihadis were suspected in the ­drive-by shooting death of Kamel Kareem, 30, a police officer who was walking to work in ­el-Arish. He was a member of a police force tasked with the protection of ­state-owned electricity facilities.

October 23–24—Nigeria—A 5-hour gun battle between Boko Haram and army soldiers at an army barracks in Yobe State killed 127 people, 125 of them combatants, according to the army and police. Most bodies were taken to the morgue of the Damaturu Specialist Hospital. The gunmen attacked at dusk, overpowering guards, stealing an armored car, grabbing weapons from the armory, and setting the barracks alight with improvised explosive devices. The gunmen crashed the armored car through the gates of the Police ­Anti-Terrorist Squad headquarters and burned down 3 buildings. While gunmen fired on police, others in the armored car and ­all-terrain pickup trucks and on foot fired on the police Criminal Investigation Department offices and 4 other police offices. At the Mobile Police Base, the gunmen fled the armored car after it caught fire. The terrorists next attacked the local hospital, stealing drugs and bandages, according to the Associated Press. Army spokesman in Damaturu, Ibrahim Attahiru, said that the gunmen attacked an army checkpoint along the road from Damaturu to Benisheikh at 3 a.m., but that the government quickly got the upper hand, killing 70 terrorists. “Fleeing insurgents” then “regrouped to carry out attacks on Damaturu town,” according to Attahiru. Security forces killed another 25 gunmen in Damaturu. Colonel A. O. Abdullahi said 22 soldiers were killed.

In a November 4 video entitled “The Battle of Damaturu,” BH leader Abubakar Shekau said that he commanded the attack. The video showed him speaking Arabic, Hausa and Kanuri, observing, “My brethren, this is the story I want to tell my brothers and the whole world: All this weaponry that you are seeing—it is Allah who gave this to his worshippers who are fighting for Jihad—all this ammunition was obtained in just one place.”

October 25—Russia—The State Duma unanimously passed stricter punishment for terrorism and required terrorists’ relatives to pay for the damages caused in attacks. Terrorism training carries a 10-year sentence. Local courts may declare a group a terrorist organization. Participation in a militant group abroad carries a 6-year sentence.

October 25—Nigeria—Nigeria’s military announced it had killed 74 terrorists in an air and ground assault against 2 “terrorist camps” near Benisheik, Borno State. Spokesman Lt. Col. Muhammad Dole said that 2 soldiers and several terrorists were wounded.

However, at 6 p.m., gunmen in vehicles including an armored personnel carrier attacked Damaturu in Yobe State, hitting a police ­anti-terrorist squad residence, the mobile police base, the police Criminal Investigation Department office, and police commander’s office. The military declared a 24-hour curfew. A police sergeant told the Associated Press that security forces killed 35 jihadis and arrested 25 for the deaths of 17 soldiers and 10 police officers.

October 25—Syria—Syrian ­state-run TV reported the death in Latakia of Abu Mohammad ­al-Golani, head of Jabhat ­al-Nusra (the Nusra Front), an ­al-Qaeda–linked ­anti-regime group. The ­UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said senior Nusra Front leaders denied the report. ­Al-Golani fought previously in Iraq. In April he resisted the attempted takeover of his group by Abu Bakr ­al-Baghdadi, leader of the Islamic State in Iraq, who had said that the 2 groups had merged into the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Instead, he allied himself with Ayman ­al-Zawahiri.

October 25—Iraq—Bombings of a market, a café and the homes of police officers killed 13.

Early in the morning, bombs went off outside several homes of police officers in Baqouba, killing 4 people, including a woman, and injured 10.

Later that morning, a bomb exploded in an outdoor market in Youssifiyah, killing 5 and wounding 15.

A bomb went off during the night at a café in Baghdad’s eastern Basmaya district, killing 4 and wounding 15.

October 25—Iran—IRAN, a ­state-owned daily news­paper, said Revolutionary Guards killed 3 members of the PEJAK Kurdish rebel group near the Kurdish town of Baneh near the Iraqi border, killing 3.

Local media also said an armed group near the town of Saravan on the Pakistan border killed 14 border guards. Iranian State TV said the rebels crossed from Pakistan and returned their following the gun battle. Authorities hanged 16 of its members the next day.

October 25—Afghanistan—A roadside bomb went off when struck by an Afghan National Army vehicle in western Herat Province’s Adraskan District, killing 2 officers and 4 soldiers from a unit based at the Shindand military airport.

The military killed 10 Taliban gunmen in the Nad Ali district of southern Helmand Province in a 4-hour gunfight. No Afghan soldiers were killed, according to the Army.

A tractor hit a road mine in the Jani Khil district of eastern Paktika Province, killing one person and wounding 4.

October 26—Nigeria—The Nigerian military hosted a news conference in Maiduguri in which a 22-year-old Boko Haram detainee said that the group included terrorists from Chad, Niger and Cameroon. AP quoted him as saying, “We have qualified doctors who are active members. They were not forced to be in the group, they are more elderly than us…. We have mechanics, we have welders, we have carpenters, we have professional drivers, we have butchers, security experts, gun instructors and so on.” However, he downplayed the importance of religion to BH, observing, “I did not see any act of religion in there. We are just killing people, stealing and suffering in the bush.”

October 26—Afghanistan—A gunman wearing an Afghan uniform fired on colleagues at an Afghan National Army building near Kabul before being shot to death by an Australian soldier. A New Zealand soldier was wounded in the foot and an Australian soldier suffered a minor wound. 13102601

October 26—India—Gunmen fired on Indian soldiers on patrol in a mountain village of Hushenpura in Kashmir. A rebel died and a civilian was wounded in the gun battle.

October 26—Iraq—Gunmen attacked the Dora, Baghdad home of 2 Sahwa ­anti–al-Qaeda militiamen, killing 7 people—their entire household, includ-ing a father and son in the movement and 5 fam-ily members, including 2 women, as they were sleeping.

October 27—India—Six bombs exploded in Patna, capital of Bihar State, killing 7 people and injuring 83. The attacks came before a speech by Narendra Modi of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, the main opposition prime ministerial candidate, in a nearby park. One bomb went off in a public toilet building on a railway platform. Another went off near a movie theater. Four exploded outside the park. Authorities defused 2 more bombs at the railway station.

Police detained 3 men in Bihar State and 3 in Jharkhand, where authorities found explosives and ­bomb-making materials in a home. Two suspects were charged with criminal conspiracy and mass murder. Four others were released after questioning.

The next day, authorities were investigating involvement by the banned Indian Mujahideen after a detainee told police that the group told him and others to conduct the bombing “to create panic and cause a stampede,” according to senior Patna police official Manu Maharaj.

October 27—Philippines—Police announced that at least 22 candidates and supporters were killed and 27 wounded in ­election-related violence during the past month ahead of the week’s village polls across the Philippines. Another 588 people were arrested for violating an elections gun ban, with police confiscating nearly 500 firearms, 4,000 rounds of ammunition, 191 knives and 68 grenades.

October 27—Afghanistan—A bomb exploded under vegetables in a shop in a Kabul market as military personnel waited for a vehicle to take them to work. The bomb killed the 10-year-old daughter of Ziaudin, a civilian, and wounded 5 soldiers and 4 civilians.

Just before dusk, a roadside bomb hit a small bus coming from a wedding the Andar District of Ghazni Province, killing 14 women, 3 men and a child, and wounding 5 women, 2 critically.

October 27—Canada—Police at Montreal’s Tru­deau International Airport detained a 71-year-old man heading to Los Angeles after finding parts of a potential explosive device in his ­carry-on luggage during the evening. No explosives were found.

October 27—Iraq—Car bombings, a market explosion, and a suicide attack killed 66 people across the country.

Nine car bombs parked in Baghdad hit commercial areas, police checkpoints and parking lots, killing 42. In the southeastern Nahrwan district, 2 car bombs killed 7 and wounded 15. Two bombs hit the northern Shaab and southern Abu Dshir neighborhoods, each killing 6. Bombs also went off in the neighborhoods of Mashtal, Baladiyat and Ur in eastern Baghdad, the southwestern Bayaa district and the northern Sab ­al-Bor and Hurriyah districts.

A suicide car bomber crashed into soldiers who were sealing off a Mosul street leading to a bank where troops were receiving salaries, killing 14 and wounding 30.

Drive-by gunmen shot dead 2 ­off-duty soldiers in Mosul.

An afternoon bombing of a Tarmiyah outdoor market killed 4 and wounded 11.

During the night, mortar shells hit homes in Madain, killing 4 and wounding 9.

October 28—Algeria—The state news agency announced the arrest of 20 people accused of supporting armed jihadis near the town of Tlydjen along the Tunisian border. The suspects were aged from 25 to 80.

October 28—Somalia—Al Shabaab and the government said a military strike on a Suzuki car near the town of Jilib, in the Middle Juba region, killed 2 al-Shabaab leaders, including top explosives expert Ibrahim Ali Abdi, alias Anta, who also coordinated suicide bombings. He said a drone targeted a car carrying ­al-Shabaab rebels in Somalia’s Middle Juba region. A senior U.S. military official later told MSNBC that a Hellfire strike killed the terrorists. The ­al-Shabaab members were apparently going to intervene in a clan dispute. ­Al-Shabaab said on Twitter that the Predator attack killed a man, a woman, and 4 children.

October 28—Bahrain—A bomb hit a police patrol in Demistan, 6 miles southwest of Manama, wounding several police officers, 2 seriously.

October 28—Egypt—Gunmen killed 3 policemen at a security checkpoint in Mansoura. Jihadis were suspected.

October 28—Iraq—A bomb exploded on a commercial street in Abu Ghraib, killing 3 and wound-ing 5.

Hours later, a bomb exploded during the night inside a southwestern Baghdad café, killing 6 and wounding 16.

Gunmen fired on a Fallujah checkpoint, killing 2 police officers.

October 28—Israel—Two rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip toward Israel. One was shot down by the Iron Dome missile defense battery above Ash­kelon. The military was searching for the second rocket. No injuries were reported.

October 28—China—At noon, an SUV crashed into pedestrians at Tiananmen Square, killing 5 people, including the 3 occupants (the driver, his wife and ­mother-in-law), a male Chinese tourist and a Philippine female tourist, and injuring 38, including 3 Philippine tourists and a Japanese tourist. The SUV crashed through security barriers around the square, veered into pedestrians, then hit a stone bridge leading to the Forbidden City, bursting into flames beneath the portrait of Mao Zedong hanging from Tiananmen Gate. Meng Jianzhu, chief of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the ruling Communist Party, told Hong ­Kong-based Phoenix Television that “the violent terrorist incident in Beijing was a ­well-organized and plotted act…. It was orchestrated by the Eastern Turkestan Islamic Movement terrorist organization that is entrenched in central and west Asian regions.” The ­state-controlled Global Times reported that police directed Beijing hotel staffs to search for suspicious guests and vehicles, including 2 residents with Uighur names from counties in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The list included 10 names, 9 of them Uighur. On October 30, state media called it an act of terrorism and said 5 Uighurs had been arrested 10 hours later for helping plan and execute the attack. Police found jihadi flags and long knives in their safe house. A Beijing police blog said the attackers were a man with an ethnic Uighur name, his wife and his mother. Police found knives, iron rods, gasoline and a flag with religious slogans in the SUV. On May 31, 2014, China indicted 8 people on terrorism charges for the attack. The 8 were arrested within days of the crash. They were to stand trial at the intermediate court in Urumqi for organizing, leading and participating in a terrorist organization, and endangering public security. They faced the death penalty. On June 16, 2014, a court in Urumqi sentenced 3 to death for funding and planning the attack. The court sentenced 4 people to 5–20 years; another received a life sentence. The Xinhua news service said the defendants traveled to Beijing on October 7, 2013, delivering money to buy a jeep, gasoline, knives and other materials used in the incident. Death sentences in China are automatically forwarded to the Supreme People’s Court for appeal. 13102801

October 28—Northern Ireland—A letter bomb was found in a Londonderry office complex housing the British state prosecutor’s office.

October 29—Northern Ireland—A letter bomb addressed to Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers was defused after being detected inside Stormont Castle in Belfast. She was on business in Lon­don. The IRA was suspected.

October 29—South Africa—Judge Eben Jordaan sentenced 21 members of the white Afrikaner supremacist group Boeremag (white farmer force) to jail terms ranging from 5 to 35 years for high treason, terrorism, setting off explosions, culpable murder from the late 1990s to 2002, and plotting to kill Nelson Mandela. They included former engineers, medical doctors and military officers. In 2012, twenty defendants were found guilty in the Mandela plot. The group had claimed credit for bombings that killed a woman and caused damage in Johannesburg’s Soweto township in 2002. The 35-year term was given to group leader Mike Du Toit and 4 others who planted a bomb on a road Mandela was going to take for a visit to a school in Limpopo Province; Mandela instead took a helicopter. The trial in Pretoria High Court lasted more than a decade and cost $3.6 million. South African TV channel EnCA said some sentences were suspended due to time served. Two defendants died during the trial. One was sentenced to 12 years in a plea bargain. Mandela died on December 5, 2013.

October 29—Libya—Gunmen killed 2 and wounded 3 in a 5-man ­sit-in in Benghazi that was protesting the 2011 assassination of former army chief ­Abdel-Fatah Younis, who served as Qadhafi’s interior minister before defecting to the rebels.

October 29—Pakistan—Gunmen killed ­pro-government tribal elder Dhara Khana and 6 members of his family—2 other men, 2 women and 2 in Loti village in Dera Bugti District in Baluchistan Province.

October 29—Iraq—Two nighttime suicide attacks killed at least 20 people.

Two suicide bombers set off their ­explosives-laden belts among a group of soldiers and Sahwa (Awakening Council) militiamen in the orchard of a local Sahwa leader in Tarmiyah, killing 12, including 9 soldiers, among them a brigade commander, and 3 militiamen, and injuring 23. One suicide bomber hit the gathering, the second set himself off at the compound gate as people tried to flee.

In a village outside Mosul, a suicide car bomber hit a checkpoint leading to a police station, killing 3 policemen and 4 civilians, another police officer said. Gunmen fired on an arriving ambulance, killing one and wounding 3 crew.

October 30—Tunisia—The official Tunisian news agency reported that a Tunisian man died when he walked off the beach and set off his belt of explosives in front of the seaside Riadh Palm Hotel in Sousse, a Mediterranean resort town. No one else was hurt. Police believed it was the country’s first suicide bombing.

Police in Monastir arrested a man carrying explosives near the mausoleum of the country’s first ­post-independence president, Habib Bourguiba.

October 30—Mozambique—State radio reported that fighters from RENAMO, the main opposition party, attacked a convoy of vehicles in central Sofala Province, wounding 4. The gunmen stole food from the cars and fled.

October 30—Iraq—A bomb exploded near an Abu Ghraib outdoor market in the afternoon, killing 3 and wounding 9.

Drive-by gunmen shot dead an interior ministry employee in northern Baghdad.

October 30—Russia—The National ­Anti-Terrorism Committee announced that explosives went off in 2 adjacent liquor stores at a busy intersection in downtown Makhachkala, killing a man and wounding 8, including 3 police officers.

October 30–31—Yemen—Serour ­al-Wadie, a spokes­man of the Salafi movement, said that Houthi rebels shelled their district in Damaj, Saada Province, in a 2-day gunfight that killed 30 people.

October 31—U.S.—During the afternoon, United Express Flight 5573 carrying 40–50 passengers from San Francisco to San Antonio was diverted to Phoe­nix’s Sky Harbor International Airport after discovery of a threat.

October 31—Iraq—Two car bombs went off during the afternoon in Tuz Khormato, killing 3, wounding 35, and damaging several houses.

Police in northeastern Baghdad reported finding the bodies of 3 women with gunshots to the head in the Ur neighborhood.

A roadside bomb hit an army patrol Mosul, killing a soldier.

Two car bombs during the night hit a car dealership in Baqouba, killing 5 and wounding 11.

October 31—Somalia—CNN reported that Kenyan warplanes at 2 p.m. hit an ­Al-Shabaab training camp in Diinsoor, in southwestern Somalia. Colonel Cyrus Oguna, spokesman for the Kenyan Defense Force, said that the training camp had about 300 recruits

November—Syria—Gunmen believed linked to al-Qaeda kidnapped Turkish Milliyet newspaper photographer Bunyamin Aygun, 43, in northern Syria. He had won awards for his photographs of the Syrian conflict. He was freed on January 5, 2014. 13119901

November—Syria—Gunmen, apparently Syrian rebels, kidnapped 12 Greek Orthodox nuns and at least 3 other women who work in the convent’s orphanage, from the Greek Orthodox Mar Takla convent when they took over Maaloula, a mainly Christian village north of Damascus. They were taken to the Syrian ­rebel-held town near the Lebanese border. On January 25, 2014, Syria’s Greek Orthodox Patriarch John Yazigi told the media in Beirut that the 12 nuns “are fine.” He said his office was in contact with the nuns “several days ago…. They were then in a house in Yabroud and they are well but that is not enough. We hope that they will be released soon.” Yazigi said. On March 9, 2014, Lebanon’s official NNA news agency reported that ­al-Qaeda–linked Nusra Front Syrian rebels released the 13 Greek Orthodox nuns and 3 female helpers. The nuns were believed to be mostly Syrian and Lebanese. They had been held in Yabroud. The international news media reported that they were traded for 150 female prisoners and 3 children at a prison held by the Da­mascus government; Syrian Information Minister Omran ­al-Zoubi later said only 25 were freed. In a video showing the release, one gunman said to the freed nuns, “I was so happy to be in communication with you and I hope that we can stay in communication, if God decides that. Please say hello to your families for me, and I hope you arrive safely.” Qatar and Lebanon were involved in the mediation.

On March 14, 2014, the ­UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that Abu Azzam ­al-Kuwaiti, a leader of the Nusra Front, was killed during the evening near Yabroud while battling the government and Hizballah. He reportedly was a mediator for the nuns’ release. 13119902

November—Malaysia—Suspected Abu Sayyaf gunmen killed a Taiwanese tourist and kidnapped his wife from a resort in the Semporna district of eastern Sabah State on Borneo Island. She was released a month later in the southern Philippines. It was unclear whether a ransom was paid. 13119903

November—Bahrain—On April 27, 2014, a court sentenced 8 people to life in prison for the November 2013 murder of a policeman and an attempt to kill others in a bomb blast near the capital city.

November—Bahrain—On May 26, 2014, a Bahrain court sentenced 4 Bahrainis to life in prison and a fifth to 10 years in prison regarding a November 2013 bombing in the capital’s financial district. They were found guilty of setting off the explosion with the intent of terrorizing people and damaging the country’s image. No casualties were reported.

November—Egypt—In mid–November, Ansar Je­ru­salem shot to death Lt. Col. Mohammed Mabrouk as he drove in Cairo’s eastern Nasr City district. The group said in an Internet posting that it was retaliating for the arrest of female supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi.

November 1—U.S.—The AP and New York Times reported that New Jersey native Paul Anthony Ciancia, 23, carrying ­anti-government and anti–New World Order conspiracy materials, pulled a semiautomatic Smith & Wesson M&P15 .223-caliber assault rifle from his bag and fired at 9:20 a.m. at a Terminal 3 security checkpoint at Los Angeles International Airport at unarmed Transportation Security Administration agents, killing El ­Salvador-born TSA travel document checker Gerardo I. Hernandez, 39, with 12 bullets and wounding 9-year TSA veteran Tony Grigsby, 36, who was grazed near his foot; and 5-year TSA veteran James Speer, who was shot in the shoulder; and passenger Brian Ludmer, a Calabasas High School teacher, hit in the leg. Police wounded Ciancia in the leg, chest and face several times in a gun battle around Gates 35 and 36. He was taken into custody and hospitalized in stable condition. A law enforcement officer quoted witnesses as remembering Ciancia asked people, “Hey, are you TSA?” Authorities found more than 100 rounds of unused ammunition. Hernandez was the first TSA employee killed in the line of duty.

At least 46 planes scheduled to arrive at LAX were diverted to nearby airports and at least 1,550 flights with about 167,050 passengers were affected.

On November 2, federal prosecutors charged Ciancia with murdering a federal officer and committing violence at an international airport; the charges involve a death penalty. Authorities cited a note in his bag saying that he wanted to kill TSA agents in a suicide mission, according to MSNBC. “Black, white, yellow, brown, I don’t discriminate,” according to a law enforcement official quoted by the AP.

Ciancia graduated from Salesianum High School in Wilmington, Delaware in 2008 and the University Technical Institute in Orlando, Florida in December 2011 with a motorcycle repair diploma. His family had phoned the police, alarmed at his mental state, but the officers missed him at his apartment by 45 minutes.

By November 19, Ciancia was out of the hospital and in the custody of U.S. Marshals. His first court hearing was a December 3 arraignment at a San Bernadino county jail facility. He was held without bail at the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga, California.

On January 2, 2015, federal prosecutors said in a 6-page filing in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles that he would face the death penalty because he planned to terrorize federal workers and terrified passengers. Ciancia pleaded not guilty to murder and other charges. Another court hearing was scheduled for January 5, 2015.

November 1—Iraq—Gunmen kidnapped 2 police officers near Mosul. The next day, police found their bodies near Mosul. They had been shot in the head.

November 1—UK—Home Secretary Theresa May said on November 4 that while the search continued for ­Somali-born terrorism suspect Mohammed Ah­med Mohamed, 27, he did not pose a threat to the nation’s security. Lawmakers questioned police over how he was able to avoid surveillance by changing into a niqab, a garment worn by conservative Muslim women, at a London mosque. He was one of 9 people subjected to restrictive surveillance under the govern­ment’s Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures when he disappeared on November 1. Some press reports said he had attended terrorist training camps.

November 1—Greece—Two gunmen on a motorcycle killed Giorgos Fountoulis, 27, and Manolis Kapelonis, 22, members of the ­Nazi-inspired Golden Dawn party and wounded another outside a party office in the northern Athens suburb of Neo Iraklio during the night. One man hopped off the motorcycle, shot them at ­point-blank range, then jumped back on to escape. A 29-year-old man was hospitalized with severe gunshot wounds; Golden Dawn said he was a “fellow citizen.” A fourth Golden Dawn member was fired on, but ran to safety in the Golden Dawn building. Police initially believed the far left or anarchist scene was involved. Police recovered 12 bullet shells at the scene. The Zastava Tokarev type ­semi-auto pistol had not been used in previous attacks recorded in police files. Police later found the getaway motorcycle, which was stolen a fortnight ­earlier. On November 16, the previously unknown Fight­ing Popular Revolutionary Forces said it was retaliating for the September stabbing by a Golden Dawn member of a ­left-wing rapper. The FPRF threatened to continue killing Golden Dawn members and supporters. The group had phoned the Zougla (Jungle) news website to say its message was on a USB stick in a plastic bag in Athens.

November 1—Pakistan—Four ­motorcycle-riding gunmen attacked a truck carrying coal miners from a Shi’ite Hazara community in the Machh District of Baluchistan on their way to residential camp after work, killing 6 workers and injuring the driver. ­Lashker-e-Jhangvi had previously attacked Hazaras.

November 1—Gaza Strip—The Israeli military said it had conducted an airstrike on a ­concrete-lined, ­mile-long Hamas “terror tunnel” in Gaza. Hamas said 3 of its fighters were killed. The military said 5 of its soldiers were wounded on October 31 when an explosive went off while they were trying to destroy a similar Hamas tunnel; a Hamas gunman was killed in that clash.

November 1—Lebanon—During the night, gunmen kidnapped 2 Germans en route to the towns of Shleifa and Deir ­al-Ahmar in the Bekaa Valley. The Germans were released early the next day. At dawn, a soldier and a kidnapper died in gun battle between the kidnappers and security forces in the nearby village of Deir ­al-Wasaa. The AP cited Lebanon’s official news agency and a security official as indicating that the Germans quarreled with drug dealers over a payment. A second security official said the gunmen demanded that the Germans provide $3,000 from their debit card, then demanded another $5,000. The Germans were held for questioning.

November 2—Mali—Four gunmen kidnapped and shot to death production technician Claude Verlon, 58, and senior correspondent Ghislaine Dupont, 51, 2 French Radio France International journalists who had just interviewed Ambeiry Ag Rhissa, a Tuareg separatist and acting leader of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad, at his Kidal home. The turbaned, ­Tamashek-speaking gunmen beat the duo with rifles and forced them into a beige truck during the 1 p.m. attack. Their bodies, with their throats slit, were found on the road leading to Tinessako, 8 miles outside Kidal, a few yards from the getaway vehicle. Dupont was shot twice in the chest; Verlon thrice in the head. The terrorists escaped into the nearby hills after their car broke down. The French Defense Ministry said that it had warned the reporters not to go to Kidal on October 29, and would not transport them there.

Four days earlier, 4 French hostages kidnapped by AQIM in September 2010 were released; the press reported that a $34 million ransom was paid, which might have encouraged the Kidal kidnappers. Stratfor reported that AQIM had conducted 18 kidnappings of foreigners in the last decade, scooping up $89 million in ransoms.

French forces arrested 6 suspects on November 4.

Mali’s President named Dupont and Verlon post­humously to the Order of the Chevalier of the Legion of Honor, the highest honor in Mali.

AQIM claimed credit via a jihadi website on November 6, saying it was retaliating for the “daily crimes” committed by French and Malian forces in northern Mali. “The organization considers that this is the least of the price which President Francois Hollande and his people will pay for their new crusade.” The website credited Malian AQIM member Abdelkarim ­al-Targui as having led the hit team. Targui, a Kidal native, was also believed behind the kidnappings of 2 French nationals, Philippe Verdon and Serge Lazarevic, in Hombori in northern Mali in 2011. Lazarevic remains in captivity. Verdon was executed earlier in 2013.

The key suspect in the kidnap/murder was identified by Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins on November 13 as Baye Ag Bakabo, a Tuareg drug trafficker, who was arrested and jailed circa 2009 after allegedly stealing the vehicle of an army lieutenant in Kidal. He allegedly was part of a car theft ring that resold dignitaries’ vehicles to AQIM. Upon his 2010 release from prison, he joined an AQIM platoon led by Abdelkarim ­al-Targui. Bakabo, now armed with the alias Abdelnasser, joined the brigade that invaded Diabaly, Mali. The press said he then stole money from AQIM and escaped to Kidal, where he found sanctuary with the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad.

Malian authorities said a second suspect was Ahmed Ag Mohamed Lamine Fall, a Tuareg from Mauritania. Bakabo had recruited him and 2 others to capture the journalists to raise funds to erase his indebtedness to AQIM. 13110201

November 2—Iraq—In the morning, gunmen fired from a car, killing 2 Sahwa militiamen and wounding 4 at a Sahwa checkpoint in Samarra.

November 2—Nigeria—Boko Haram was suspected in an attack on a wedding convoy on the highway between Gama and Gwoza towns in Borno State. Military spokesman Lt. Col. Muhammed Dole said 5 people were killed, but a state government spokes­man increased the number to more than 30, including the groom. A minibus driver said he saw many bodies with their throats slit; many had been killed by gunshots.

November 3—Afghanistan—Gunmen attacked a police checkpoint in the Dehrawod district of southern Uruzgan Province in the morning. One policeman and 4 gunmen died; 4 people were wounded.

In Kandahar, 2 gunmen on a motorbike killed a police officer.

November 4—Mali—Four people died when their truck hit a landmine on the road to Menaka.

November 4—Nigeria—Thirty Boko Haram members attacked Mbitiku village, which had earlier received threatening letters ordering young men to join Boko Haram. A survivor said the terrorists went ­house-to-house, slicing the throats of 10 young men, then burning the homes.

November 4—Czech Republic—A man carrying 3 guns opened fire in Raskovice in the afternoon, killing a man and a woman and seriously injuring a woman. The gunman was arrested.

November 4—Norway—A man brandishing a knife hijacked a bus in Sogn and Fjordane county and killed 3 people, including the Norwegian bus driver in his 50s, a Swedish passenger in his 50s, and a 19-year-old Norwegian woman. Fire department first responders detained the attacker, who was not an ethnic Norwegian. Police later said he was a local resident originally from South Sudan. No one else was on the bus. The attacker was hospitalized for treatment of minor cuts. The 31-year-old was due to be deported to Spain on November 5. He had lived at a reception center for asylum seekers in neighboring Aardal. His motive remained unclear.

November 4—Yemen—Serour ­al-Wadie of the Salafi movement claimed that Houthi rebels broke a 2-day ceasefire and shelled his district in Damaj in Saada Province. Ensuing gun battles killed 4 people.

November 4—Iraq—Attacks throughout the country killed a dozen people.

A roadside bomb near Taji killed 4, wounded 3, and destroyed 2 civilian cars.

Two suicide bombers set off their explosive belts at a police station gate in Hawija, killing 2 police officers and wounding 7 people.

Gunmen fired on government employees waiting for their bus in Mosul, killing 3.

Gunmen with silenced pistols killed a judge in a Mosul restaurant.

A hand grenade killed 2 soldiers at a security checkpoint in a northern Baghdad suburb.

November 5—Syria—A mortar shell hit the Vatican’s diplomatic mission in the upscale Damascus district of Abu Roummaneh in the morning, damaging the roof. No injuries were reported. No one claimed credit.

November 5—Iraq—Nine people, mostly security forces, died in terrorist attacks.

Two soldiers died when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb near Mosul.

In the evening, a suicide car bomb crashed into a Fallujah police checkpoint, killing 4 police officers and wounding 7.

Drive-by gunmen killed an ­off-duty policeman in Baghdad.

A bomb exploded at night in a commercial street in western Baghdad’s Jihad district, killing 2.

November 5—India—Some 30 gunmen carrying AK-47 assault rifles and other weapons ambushed police officers near the village of Bangajakona in Meghalaya State as they were traveling to collect a prisoner for transfer in northeastern India. Five officers died in the attack in the western Garo hills. No one claimed credit, although the government noted the presence of the Garo National Liberation Army, believed responsible for a November 4 attack that killed 7 members of the Rabha tribe in Assam State.

November 5—Congo—M23 President Bertrand Bisimwa announced the end of the rebellion. He told M23 commanders to “prepare troops for the process of disarmament, demobilization and social reintegration on terms to be agreed upon with the Congolese government.”

November 5—Afghanistan—A suicide car bomb killed a British soldier from the 3rd Battalion of the Mercian Regiment who was on patrol in Kamparak, east of Lashkar Gah.

November 6—Afghanistan—Afghan authorities found the bodies of 7 soldiers, believed to have been kidnapped by the Taliban in southern Zabul Province.

November 6—Egypt—The Army said it had killed 3 jihadis in the northern Sinai. A military official said an armored vehicle also blew up the jihadis’ car.

November 6—Mozambique—The ­state-run Mo­zam­bique News Agency said opposition RENAMO fighters killed 4 soldiers in 2 attacks. Three troops died in an ambush. Gunmen then killed a soldier and injured 3 civilians, including a pregnant woman.

November 6—China—The official Xinhua News Agency said 8 small homemade bombs in 2 locations killed one person and injured 8, one seriously, at 7:40 a.m. outside the Shanxi provincial headquarters of the ruling Communist Party in Taiyuan. A street cleaner said the explosives were planted in flower beds. The bombs contained nails and steel balls.

November 6—Iraq—A suicide bomber drove his truck bomb into the concrete blast walls outside the police headquarters in ­al-Salam early in the morning, killing 7 policemen and wounding 14.

November 7—Colombia—The government and FARC, following a year of peace talks, came to a partial agreement on a political role for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

November 7—Iraq—Bombs killed 11 people through­out the country.

A suicide car bomber hit an army post in Ana, killing 3 soldiers and wounding 6.

A bomb went off at a tent serving food to Shi’ite pilgrims on their way to Karbala, killing 4 and wounding 6.

A bomb killed 2 persons in a town south of Baghdad.

A bomb hit a Mosul outdoor market during the evening, killing 2 and wounding 8.

November 7—Libya—Some 50 Berber militiamen took control of the Mellitah Oil and Gas complex near Zwara in the early morning. They demanded closure of the natural gas complex and an end to gas exports to Italy. The complex is a joint venture between Libya’s National Oil Corporation and Italian oil firm Eni SpA. 13110701

November 8—Somalia—A bomb planted in a laptop computer went off during the evening at a Mogadishu restaurant. Soon after, a car bomb killed 2 people and injured 5 at a nearby hotel frequented by government officials.

November 8—Somalia—Al-Shabaab was suspected when 20 gunmen attacked a Bossaso, Puntland prison in an attempt to free prisoners. Prison guards repelled the night attack but 2 guards were wounded.

November 8—Northern Ireland—A former police officer, who quit the force several years earlier, found a bomb beneath his car outside his Belfast home. He was about to drive his daughter, 12, to school. Police blamed the Irish Republican Army.

November 8—Iraq—Terrorist attacks killed 19 people.

A bomb exploded after Friday prayers at the Ali Bin Abi Talib mosque in Baghdad’s western Shurta district. A second bomb further down the street went off seconds later, hitting worshippers trying to flee. The 2 bombs killed 5 and wounded 15.

A bomb exploded on a commercial street in Mosul, killing 12 people and wounding 30.

Gunmen killed 2 police officers and wounded 2 at a Fallujah security checkpoint.

November 8—Afghanistan—A bomb destroyed a bus along a main highway near Qalat, the provincial capital of Zabul Province, killing all 9 on board.

Two men and a child were killed when their motorcycle hit a roadside bomb in Ghorak District in Kandahar Province.

November 9—Nigeria—Morning ­shoot-outs killed 2 soldiers and 5 jihadis near Kano. Joint Task Force spokesman Army Captain Ikedichi Iweha said the suspects were planning simultaneous suicide attacks in Abuja and Kano. Security forces also confiscated nearly 50 AK-47 rifles and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

November 9—Iraq—At dusk, a roadside bomb hit an army patrol in Jurf ­al-Shkakr, killing 3 soldiers and wounding 2.

Baghdad police said 2 government employees died when bombs attached to their cars exploded.

November 9—Libya—Gunmen killed 2 policemen on a security patrol in a Benghazi commercial area in.

A bomb hit a car carrying public attorney Mohammed Khalifa ­al-Naas in Darna.

November 10—Pakistan—During the night, gunmen on a motorcycle in residential Bhara Kahu on the outskirts of Islamabad shot dead Nasiruddin Haqqani, a key financier of the Haqqani Network. Haqqani was buying fresh bread at a local bakery. The Network was led by Nasiruddin’s brother, Sirajuddin Haqqani. Their father, Jalaluddin Haqqani, founded the group.

The U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on Nasiruddin in 2010 as a specially-designated global terrorist. The ­Arabic-speaking Nasiruddin, according to Treasury, visited Saudi Arabia and the UAE to raise money for the Haqqani Network, ­al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

A drone strike killed one of his brothers, Badruddin, in North Waziristan in August 2012.

November 10—Iran—IRNA reported that a gunman killed Deputy Industry Minister Safdar Rahmatabadi, who was hit twice in the head and chest in a nighttime attack in eastern Tehran. Police believed that the gunman was traveling with Rahmatabadi in his car.

November 12—Tunisia—The Interior Ministry announced that National Guard special forces units killed a suspected jihadi and arrested 8 others at a house near the remote desert town of Kebili. The ministry confiscated 5 vehicles, 30 mobile phones, a grenade and computers and found a truck that was to be rigged with explosives.

November 12—Lebanon—Two masked gunmen on a motorcycle assassinated Sunni Sheik Saad ­el-Deen Ghieh as he was driving his car in Tripoli.

November 12—Somalia—Al-Shabaab’s online propa­ganda magazine focused on the September 21 Westgate attack. The group said the attackers assumed they would die. The group said further attacks would follow until Kenyan soldiers left Somalia.

November 12—South Africa—A 5:30 p.m. explosion at the Moneypoint gold and jewelry store next to the Eastgate Mall in Johannesburg killed 2 people and injured 3.

November 13—U.S.—The U.S. designated Boko Haram and Ansaru as foreign terrorist organizations, freezing their assets and making it a crime to provide them with material support.

November 13—Syria—The Islamic State of Iraq and ­al-Sham posted a video in which one of its members beheaded an individual in front of a crowd in Aleppo, saying, “This is an Iraqi Shi’ite who fights for the army of Bashar (Assad).” Two ISIS members then brandished the bearded head in the video, with one holding a knife. The ISIS soon learned that he was Mohammed Marouf, variant Mohammed Fares, alias Abu Abdullah ­al-Halaby, a fellow Ahrar ­al-Sham rebel who had been wounded in a gun fight with the Syrian army earlier that day. When Fares arrived at a hospital, he apparently called out the names of 2 Shi’ite saints, leading Sunnis to assume he was with the government. ISIS leader Omar ­al-Qahatani asked for Allah’s “understanding forgiveness” in a November 15 website posting. He cited a Koran passage in which Mohammed said Allah would forgive a man who erroneously killed a believer. On November 16, a rebel website ran a poster attributed to Ahrar ­al-Sham that showed a close-up of the 2 ISIL rebels, with the word “wanted” on their faces and “Two killers wanted for judgment in the Islamic court” in the text.

November 13—Israel—A 16-year-old Palestinian from Jenin, West Bank, stabbed an Israeli soldier to death on a Tel ­Aviv-bound bus at a bus station in Afula, northern Israel. The victim sustained wounds in the neck and upper body and died in the hospital. The Palestinian was working illegally in Israel. He was detained and his knife was seized.

November 13—Nepal—Attackers threw a gasoline bomb at a passenger van in Kathmandu during a 9-day transport blockade, injuring 9 people, most with burns on their faces and body. The injured included 2 women and a 4-year-old. Oppositionists torched buses, trucks and cars during the previous 2 days.

November 13—Iraq—Terrorist attacks killed 21 people during Ashoura, which commemorates the death of Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, at the Battle of Karbala in the 7th century.

Terrorists attacked Shi’ites marking Ashoura in Baquoba, killing 8, including 2 children, and wounding 35.

Gunmen on foot assassinated Fallujah’s mayor, Adnan Hussein, who was supervising a ­clean-up project, and wounded 2 of his guards.

A suicide car bomber crashed into a Tikrit police checkpoint, killing 5 police officers and 3 civilians and injuring18 people.

Terrorists set off bombs near police officers’ homes in Karmah, killing 4 and wounding 24 people.

A bomb hit a police patrol in Abu Ghraib, killing an officer and wounding 7.

November 13—UK—Devon and Cornwall police counterterrorism officers arrested Lyes Outiren, 43, on “possession of material for a terrorist purpose.” He was scheduled to appear the next day at London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court.

November 13—Afghanistan—A roadside bomb killed 2 boys who were coming out of a school in Farah Province. Three other students were injured.

A teenager died in Uruzgan Province when a bomb exploded near him as he was bicycling home.

November 13—Cameroon—Boko Haram was suspected in the 11 p.m. kidnapping of French priest Georges Vandenbeusch from his northern Came­roon parish house in Koza, 18 miles from Nigeria. Sister Francoise Mukarabayire said a dozen masked gunmen wore civilian clothing and came inside the residence; another dozen were outside. Rev. Henri Djongyang told Europe 1 Radio that the heavily armed gunmen wanted money from the resident nuns. The English- and Hausa-speaking gunmen stole a few items, but were unsuccessful in opening the facility’s safe. They instead fled on their motorbikes, firing in the air, with their hostage. On November 15, priest Gilbert Pali said the kidnappers sent a representative to demand the release of arrested Boko Haram members. On December 31, 2013, Vandenbeusch was freed. No one claimed credit. Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said no ransom was paid. 13111301

November 13—U.S.—A bomb went off at the Jackson County District Attorney’s Office in Medford, Oregon. Police said they considered the attack an act of domestic terrorism. A week later, Alan Leroy McVay, 47, of Medford, Oregon, pleaded guilty to malicious destruction of property by explosion. Just before dawn, he rigged a propane gas tank to a detonator and threw the bomb against a window of the building, shattering glass and damaging the brick exterior. No one was injured. On August 18, 2014, a court sentenced McVay to 15 years in federal prison. He attempted to delay prosecution on unrelated burglary charges. He had also been charged with 4 residential burglaries and a firearms offense. U.S. District Judge Owen Panner ordered McVay to pay more than $14,000 in restitution to Jackson County for damage to the district attorney’s office.

November 14—Libya—A remotely-detonated car bomb killed Muslim cleric Farag Muftah ­al-Fitouri, a former military officer and a follower of a Sufi mystical Muslim order, in a morning attack in Benghazi.

November 14—Iraq—Bombs targeting Shi’ites marking Ashoura killed 41 and wounded more than 100 across the country.

A suicide bomber struck Shi’ites in ­al-Saadiyah, killing 32 people and wounding 75.

Two bombs went off simultaneously near tents serving food and drinks to Shi’ite pilgrims walking through Hafriyah en route to the ­gold-domed shrine in Karbala.

November 15—Nigeria—Army spokesman Lt. Col. Muhammed Dole announced that the Army had killed 20 Boko Haram terrorists in a raid on a safehouse about 55 miles south of Maiduguri. A soldier died and 3 soldiers and several BH members were wounded during the gun battle. Soldiers seized arms, ammunition and 3 vehicles, and destroyed 2 pickup trucks, 50 motorcycles, and “scores” of other vehicles.

November 15—France—An armed man with a rifle threatened journalists in the Paris lobby of news network BFM-TV, then ran off, leaving behind unused cartridges and vowing to witnesses, “Next time, I won’t miss.”

November 15—Malaysia—Gunmen wearing ski masks kidnapped vacationing Taiwanese tourist Evelyn Chang from a villa on Pom Pom Island in eastern Sabah State after killing her husband. The kidnappers dragged her to a boat and went to the Philippine island of Jolo. They then handed her off to the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group. On December 21, 2013, the captors released her; Philippine police and marines found her in a Jolo village. 13111501

November 16—China—Nine terrorists and 2 auxiliary police officers died during an afternoon attack on a police station in Bachu county’s Serikbuya township, near the historic city of Kashgar, Xinjiang Province. Two police officers were injured. The Xinjiang regional government blog said that the attackers wielded knives and axes. The official China Daily newspaper said one attacker was Abula Ahat, a Uighur name.

November 16—Afghanistan—Saeed Kabuli, a Taliban suicide car bomber, killed 12, including 3 members of the National Security Force, wounded 22, and damaged a dozen cars and several shops in Kabul near where 3,000 elders were scheduled to meet in a Loya Jirga on November 21 to discuss a draft Bilateral Security Agreement with the U.S. The bomber crashed into an armored vehicle 200 yards from the tent where the Loya Jirga was to be held after he was detected by local guards.

November 16—Central African Republic—Security Minister Josue Binoua told reporters that former members of the Seleka rebel group shot to death Modeste Martineau Bria, director of judiciary services at the Justice Ministry, in a nighttime attack in Bangui. Three gunmen were killed in a gun battle with arresting officers the next day.

November 16—Russia—Police killed Dmitri Sokolov, husband of a suicide bomber Naida Asiya­lova, who killed 6 people and wounded more than 30 on a bus in Volgograd on October 21, and 4 other terrorists during a siege of a safehouse in a village near Makhachkala, Dagestan. During negotiations in which his mother participated, Sokolov admitted having built his wife’s bomb. Investigators believed Sokolov made the bomb used by a suicide bomber outside the regional branch of Russia’s Interior Ministry in Dagestan in May 2013 that killed 12 people. The gunmen allowed a woman and child to leave the house during the ­stand-off. Sokolov had been at large since leaving his suburban Moscow home in the summer of 2012.

November 17—Iraq—A parked car bomb targeted at a police patrol in the New Baghdad neighborhood instead killed 3 civilians and wounded 10.

A car bomb in Sadr City killed one and wounded 11.

A bomb hit a commercial area in Baghdad’s Radwaniyah suburb, killing 3 civilians and wounding 10.

A bomb went off near a military patrol in Tarmi­yah, killing 2 and wounding 5.

Terrorists conducted a dawn raid on the Madain home of a Sahwa leader, killing his brother and wounding a guard. During the battle, 2 terrorists died and 2 were wounded.

A car bomb killed 3 civilians and wounded 12 in a vegetable market in Baghdad’s Dora neighborhood.

A bomb exploded inside a Baghdad car showroom, killing 4 and wounding 11.

A car bomb exploded near liquor stores in Baghdad’s Karrada area, killing 3 and injuring 11.

November 17—Afghanistan—Kandahar villagers found the beheaded bodies of 6 police officers in civilian clothes (they were initially reported as government contractors who had been building police compounds and checkpoints). The Taliban was suspected of kidnapping them in Zabul.

A suicide bomber targeted the deputy governor of Balkh Province, who was unhurt. A civilian died in the attack.

A roadside bomb killed a NATO service member in the south.

November 18—Yemen—Gunmen killed 8 soldiers patrolling oil pipelines in their vehicle in Ataq, Shabwa Province.

November 18—Afghanistan—Two roadside bombs killed 9 children. The first bomb killed 7 children and wounded 3 other children from the same family in Paktika Province. The victims were playing on a road near their home. Another bomb hit a vehicle and killed 2 children in Zabul Province. The family was traveling on a road to Qalat to shop. The father and a third child were wounded.

Kandahar police tried to stop a tractor hauling bombs near the Pakistan border. The resulting firefight set off the bombs, killing the driver and a passenger.

November 18—France—Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins said authorities believed the same ­at-large gunman was responsible for

• gravely wounding a 27-year-old (some reports said he was 23) freelance photographer’s assistant in the heart and arm at the daily newspaper Liberation at 10 a.m. He was hospitalized in an intensive care unit.

• a shooting at news network BFM-TV on November 15

• 3 shots fired at noontime at French bank Societe Generale in the Paris suburb of La Defense

• a 1 p.m. ­hostage-taking in Puteaux, near La Defense, when a man was forced to drive 3.5 miles back to the ­Champs-Elysees in Paris

Molins said the gunman used a ­pump-action rifle and wore a black vest, green shoes with white soles, and a cap.

French police detained Abdelhakim Dekhar, a man who appeared heavily medicated, on November 20 in an underground parking garage in ­Bois-Colombes, 6 miles north of Paris, and took him to a nearby hospital. Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins said Dekhar had attempted to kill himself with the medication, and was arrested in a “semi-conscious state.” The next day, police said he had written a suicide note and a “confused” letter complaining about media manipulation, capitalism, “fascist plots” and something about Syria. The letter said the media was “participating in the manipulation of the masses, journalists are paid to make the citizens swallow lies with a little spoon.” He wrote that government neglect of suburban housing projects constituted “an enterprise of dehumanization of a population forgotten by the capitalist elite.”

Dekhar had lived in the UK for several years. He was held on suspicion of attempted murder and kidnapping. Police said he was part of a 1994 anarchist plot involving a robbery and car chase in Paris that killed 3 police officers, a taxi driver, and an anarchist. He was convicted as an accomplice and served 4 years in the “Rey-Maupin affair,” according to Interior Minister Manuel Valls. Psychiatrists in the 1990s said Dekhar had “storytelling tendencies” but “no specific anomaly in the psychiatric sense.” His 1990s attorney, Emmanuelle ­Hauser-Phelizon, said Dekhar had claimed to work for the French and Algerian secret services.

On November 23, the prosecutor charged Dekhar with several attempted murders and a kidnapping.

November 19—Lebanon—At ­mid-morning, 2 suicide bombers hit the Iranian Embassy in upscale Janah, Beirut, killing 23, including the Lebanese head of the embassy’s security, Radwan Fares, and Iranian cultural attaché Sheik Ibrahim Ansari, 54—who had arrived a month earlier—and wounding 146, including a South Asian migrant worker. The first attacker drove his motorcycle to the large black main gate of the mission, then set off his 4.4 pounds of explosives, damaging the 3-story facility. Two minutes later, the second attacker set off his car bomb carrying 110 pounds of explosives 10 yards away. A Lebanese ­al-Qaeda–linked group, the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, said the attack was in retaliation for Hizballah support for Syrian President Bashar Assad and said more bombings would come unless Hizballah withdrew from Syria. The claim was posted on a website and the Twitter account of Azzam Brigades spokesman Sirajuddin Zurayqat. Hizballah’s Al-Manar reported that Iranian diplomats and their families live on the same street.

On November 22, Lebanese investigators said a DNA test established that one of the suicide bombers was Mouin Abu Daher, from Sidon in southern Lebanon. His father said he was involved. A Lebanese judicial official told the press that authorities believed Abu Daher followed a charismatic Sunni preacher in Sidon, Ahmad ­al-Assir, who often denounced Hizballah.

The next day, investigators said the second bomber was Adnan Mousa ­el-Mohammed, a Palestinian car mechanic from Sidon.

In a December 3 interview on Lebanon’s private OTV network, Hizballah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah accused Saudi Arabian intelligence of involvement.

On December 30, 2013, Lebanese authorities arrested Majid bin Muhammad ­al-Majid, Saudi commander of the ­al-Qaeda–linked Abdullah Azzam Brigades since mid–2012. Lebanese police confirmed his identity by sending his DNA to Saudi Arabia to match against family members. The group claimed credit for several bombings, including the November 19, 2013, bombing of the Iranian Embassy in Beirut that killed 23 people. Saudi Interior Ministry spokes­man Mansour ­al-Turki said that ­al-Majid was number 70 on the kingdom’s 85 most wanted ­al-Qaeda suspects. On January 4, the Lebanese army announced that Majid “died this morning while undergoing treatment at the central military hospital after his health deteriorated.” The army earlier said he died from kidney failure. 13111901

November 19—Somalia—Al-Shabaab attacked a Beledweyne building housing Somali police and Djiboutian and Ethiopian troops near the Ethiopian border with a car bomb, assault rifles and ­rocket-propelled grenades. Ten terrorists, including 2 suicide bombers, 5 soldiers, and 4 civilians were killed by the car bomb. Gunfire forced their way into the police station, starting a ­one-hour gun battle. 13111902

November 19—Nepal—A homemade bomb went off outside a Kathmandu polling station, injuring 3, including 2 women and an 8-year-old boy who was seriously wounded when he picked it up, thinking it was a toy. His uncle said he would likely lose several fingers.

November 19—Pakistan—Gunmen on a motorcycle killed Shi’ite University of Gujrat director Shabbir Shah and his driver as he was heading to work.

November 20—Jordan—Raed Hijazi, alias Abu Ahmad, a ­Jordanian-American militant sentenced to 20 years in 2004 for plotting ­al-Qaeda terror attacks during New Year 2000 celebrations but then pardoned in 2011, was arrested in the western city of Salt. He was initially sentenced to death in absentia. In 2004, he was captured in Syria and extradited. On December 4, 2013, his father told journalists of the arrest.

November 20—Yemen—Security officials arrested women suspected of AQAP ties in Hadramawt Province following a gun battle in which women fired assault rifles and ­rocket-propelled grenades at authorities in the city of ­al-Shahr, killing 4 soldiers. Male motorcyclists later joined the fight. The women were believed to be Saudis. They were sent to Sana’a for interrogation. 13112001

November 20—Iraq—At least 35 people died in terrorist attacks, involving 5 car bombs and 3 remotely detonated bombs, on Shi’ite commercial areas around Baghdad.

A bomb went off in a café in Baghdad’s Bayaa neighborhood, killing 6 and wounding 16.

A parked car bomb hit an outdoor market in Baghdad’s Sadria neighborhood, killing 5 and wounding 15.

Bombs also went off in the Hurriyah, Shaab, Tobchi, Azamiyah and Amil neighborhoods of Baghdad and the Abu Ghraib suburb.

An Electricity Ministry employee died when a sticky bomb attached to his car exploded in Baghdad’s Baladiyat neighborhood.

A bomb in Karrada in Bagdad killed 4 civilians, wounded 14, and damaged 4 cars.

A bomb attached to a minibus exploded in Najaf, killing 2 commuters and injuring 9.

November 20—Mali—A bomb went off near the armored vehicle of French troops on patrol near the entrance to Kidal, wounding 3 soldiers. 13112002

November 20—Egypt—A suicide car bomber crashed into one of 2 buses carrying ­off-duty 2nd Field Army soldiers on the road between Rafah and ­el-Arish in the northern Sinai, killing 11 and wounding 37.

At dawn, a grenade exploded at a police checkpoint in a northern Cairo suburb, injuring 4 policemen.

November 20—Northern Ireland—Two masked suspected members of the IRA told a Translink bus driver to deliver a bomb to police headquarters in Londonderry. She instead parked her vehicle and called police. Police found a bomb in a bag on the bus. Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, a former IRA commander in Londonderry, tweeted “the courage of the bus driver who last night prevented a bomb attack on the peace process in Derry.”

November 20—Saudi Arabia—Wathiq ­al-Batat, leader of the Mukhtar Army, said his group had fired 6 mortar shells in an uninhabited area in Hafar ­al-Batin bordering Iraq and Kuwait in retaliation for religious decrees that insult Shi’ites and encourage killing them. He told the ­Beirut-based Iraqi satellite news channel al-Sumaria that “If they continue their provocations, we will carry out armed operations inside Saudi territories.” The mortars caused no damage.

November 20—Afghanistan—A nighttime explosion inside a Kandahar restaurant killed 3 and injured 14. The Taliban were suspected.

November 21—Syria—State-run SANA said gunmen set off a bomb against a bus carrying visiting Jordanian Writers Syndicate members in southern Daraa Province, lightly wounding Jordanian writers Issa Shattat and Jihad Obeidat. The bus was returning to Jordan. 11211101

November 21—Nigeria—Thirty jihadi gunmen driving ­all-terrain vehicles and motorbikes yelled “God is great!” before killing 12 civilians and torching homes in Sandiya village in Borno State.

November 21—Mali—Several rockets hit Gao, causing no casualties. The Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa was suspected. The rockets missed hitting a military post.

November 21—Pakistan—Pakistani police and intelligence officials told the press that a U.S. drone at 7 a.m. fired 4 missiles at the ­Taleem-ul-Quran seminary in the Thall garrison town in Khyber Pakhtun­khwa Province’s Hangu District—a facility frequented by the Haqqani Network—killing 6 people, including 3 senior Afghan militants, and wounding 8. The seminary was run by Qari Noor Ullah, who has Haqqani affiliations. Pakistani intelligence told the press that the dead included Ahmad Jan, a deputy of the Haqqani network’s leader, Sirajuddin Haqqani; Gul Sher, leader of the Afghan Taliban in Paktia Province; and Maulvi Hamidullah, leader of the Afghan Taliban in Khost Province.

November 21—UK—Britain’s Foreign Office told the press that it was investigating reports that Britons with al-Qaeda links had been killed in the fighting in Syria.

November 21—Iraq—Terrorist attacks around the country killed 50 people.

A man parked a truck in a Sadiyah market, then asked workers to help unload vegetables. The truck bomb exploded, killing several people and injuring 45.

A suicide bomber walked up to a Taji army checkpoint and set off his explosive belt, killing 4 soldiers and wounding 10.

A sticky bomb on an army officer’s car in Baghdad’s northern Kasra neighborhood killed his son and wounded 5 pedestrians. The officer was not in the car.

Gunmen hit a supermarket in Baghdad’s southeastern Bayaa neighborhood, killing the 2 brothers who owned it, and wounding 2 shoppers.

November 21—Turkey—Turkish police fired 2 shots and subdued Tugrul B., 53, a man carrying a fake bomb near Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s office. Interior Minister Muammer Guler said, “He had cables around his waist that looked like an explosive device. We believe he had psychological problems.” Tugrul B. had phoned the police 5 minutes earlier warning of a suicide bombing. Private NTV television said he wanted to call attention to his credit card problems.

November 22—Italy—Italian prosecutors requested a prison sentence of 6 years and 8 months for Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, known as Abu Omar, an Egyptian cleric being tried in absentia on terrorism charges stemming from an investigation begun in 2002 that included a 2005 arrest warrant. He remained in Egypt. Italy charged him with criminal association with the goal of terrorism and with aiding illegal emigration with the goal of terrorism, for helping organize false documents to help bring recruits to Islamic terror camps. The press said the CIA kidnapped him off the streets of Milan in 2003. He was represented by attorney Carmelo Scambia.

November 22—Yemen—Two motorcyclists shot to death Abdel Karim Gadban, a representative of Ansar Allah, the political arm of the Shi’ite Houthi rebels, who was leaving a Sana’a mosque.

November 22—Mali—The French Embassy said a French military adviser was hit by gunfire in Bamako. 13112201

November 22—Iraq—Two bombs went off in a commercial area of Baghdad’s Dora neighborhood, killing 7 and wounding 18.

A bomb in Baghdad’s southeastern Nahrawan suburb killed 3 and wounded 10.

Another bomb killed 3 and wounded 9 worshippers leaving a Sunni mosque after Friday prayers in Baghdad’s southwestern Saydiyah neighborhood.

Elsewhere in Baghdad, a sticky bomb killed a doctor when it exploded on his car and a police officer was shot to death while driving.

A bomb killed one and wounded 6 worshippers near a Sunni mosque in Abu Ghraib.

A bomb hit an Awakening Council/Sahwa patrol in Tarmiyah, killing 3 and wounding 2.

Gunmen killed 2 police officers and 2 soldiers and injured 7 troops in attacks on a police station and an army patrol near Mosul.

November 23—Bahrain—Authorities arrested 2 former Guantanamo Bay detainees while carrying forged passports to cross the border from Saudi Arabia. They were held on charges of plotting attacks in Bahrain.

November 23—Syria—Two Swedish journalists trying to leave Syria were abducted. Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter identified them as the newspaper’s stringer in Paris, Magnus Falkehed, and freelance photographer Niclas Hammarstrom. The duo were released on January 8, 2014, according to the Swedish Foreign Ministry, which said they were receiving assistance from Swedish diplomats in Beirut, Lebanon. 13112301

November 24—Northern Ireland—Belfast police discovered an unexploded 130-pound bomb under the city’s largest shopping center. An IRA splinter group was suspected.

November 24—Iraq—Two bombs went off at dusk at the entrance to a downtown Baghdad outdoor market, killing 16 and wounding 35.

A roadside bomb hit a passing police patrol in a commercial street in Mosul, killing 3 civilians and a police officer and wounding 30.

At noon, a suicide car bomber crashed into a police checkpoint in southern Baghdad, killing 3 police officers and a civilian and wounding 4 other police officers.

Drive-by shooters killed a Justice Ministry employee who was driving home from work in western Baghdad’s Baiyaa district.

A roadside bomb hit a car carrying 2 Sahwa militiamen in Baghdad’s northeastern Husseiniyah, killing both.

November 25—China—The Turkistan Islamic Party released an 8-minute, 11-second video praising the October 28 vehicle attack at Tiananmen Gate, warning of possible additional attacks in Beijing, including the Great Hall of the People. TIP leader Abdullah Mansour called the attack a “jihadi operation” and said the man, his wife and her mother were Islamic warriors. “Oh Chinese unbelievers, know that you have been fooling East Turkistan for the last 60 years, but now they have awakened. The people have learned who is the real enemy and they returned to their own religion. They learned the lesson.”

November 25—Northern Ireland—A suspected Irish Republican Army car bomb failed to explode during the night at the entrance to the underground parking lot of Belfast’s biggest shopping center at the Victoria Square complex. The car contained 130 pounds of explosives.

November 26—Nigeria—Nigeria’s military announced that gunmen killed 37 people during the night at 4 villages in the central Plateau State’s Bar-kin Ladi area, scene of battles over land rights between Christian farmers and Muslim nomadic herdsmen.

November 26—Pakistan—The government released Mullah Abdul Ahad Jahangirwal, a former adviser to Taliban leader Mullah Omar; Mullah Abdul Manan, a former Taliban governor in the Afghan Province of Helmand; and Mullah Younus, a former military commander, to jumpstart peace negotiations with the Afghan government. Pakistan had released nearly a dozen less senior Taliban prisoners the previous month.

November 26—Egypt—Soldiers killed Moham­med Hussein Muhareb, 62, alias Abu Mounir, a leader of the ­al-Qaeda–inspired group Takfir ­wil-Hijra, and his son in a firefight after troops surrounded his motorcade in the northern Sinai Peninsula. Muhareb was wanted for the August attack that killed 25 Egyptian police conscripts. Muhareb, known as the “sheik of Takfiris,” had preached in an ­al-Muqatta village mosque. Another gunman on a motorcycle was killed. One officer was wounded. Four terrorists were arrested. Several others fled in a car between ­al-Joura and ­al-Muqatta village, south of Sheikh Zuweid.

November 26—Yemen—Two motorcyclists shot to death a Belarussian military expert and wounded his Belarussian colleague as they left their hotel on Sana’a’s Benoun Street. The duo worked for the Defense Ministry on what the Russian Embassy called a private contract. 13112601

November 26—Yemen—Two motorcyclists shot to death Army Major Ahmed ­al-Jahdari, head of the training department at the Sana’a police academy, in Sanaa’s Kholan Street.

November 26—Iraq—Two suicide bombers killed 9 soldiers and wounded 24 people at a military base in Tarmiyah during the night. The first bomber set off his explosives at the gate. The second bomber set off his explosive belt among soldiers responding to the attack.

November 26—Syria—Turkish Milliyet newspaper photographer Bunyamin Aygun, 43, was kidnapped after telling his paper that he was going to interview an opposition commander. On December 17, 2013, the paper said he was kidnapped by groups linked to ­al-Qaeda that also held Spain’s El Mundo reporter Javier Espinosa and freelance photo journalist Ricardo Garcia Vilanova. 13112602

November 27—Russia—Russian police in Moscow detained 14 suspected members of the banned Takfir ­wil-Hijra and seized weapons, ammunition and “extremist literature.” The group was formed in Egypt in the 1970s. The Russian Supreme Court banned it in 2010.

November 27—Iraq—Baghdad police found 13 corpses of men with gunshot wounds to their heads. Eight corpses of men aged 25 to 35 were found in farmland in the Arab Jabour district, 15 miles south of Baghdad. Another 5 corpses with their hands and legs tied and with gunshot wounds in their heads and chests were found in a vacant lot in a residential area of Baghdad’s northwestern Shula neighborhood.

Gunmen with silenced pistols broke into the home of a Sunni family in the Shi’ite neighborhood of Hurriyah in northern Baghdad, killing the parents, 2 sons and a daughter.

A bomb hit a commercial district of Baghdad’s southern Dora neighborhood, killing 2 civilians and wounding 5.

Three mortar rounds hit a street in Baghdad’s southwestern Albu Eitha neighborhood, killing 2 and wounding 5.

Gunmen who fired into a crowd killed a civilian and wounded 3 in Baghdad’s southeastern Bayaa neighborhood.

A suicide car bomber crashed into a Kurdish peshmerga checkpoint in Khanaqin, killing 3 and wounding 12.

A suicide bomber detonated his explosive belt at the gate of a Habbaniyah police station. A second suicide bomber then ran inside the building and set off his bomb, killing 5 police officers and wounding 8.

Terrorists fired 2 mortar rounds on a Ramadi police station. A suicide bomber and gunmen then attacked the station, killing 4 officers and wounding 12 before police killed 2 gunmen.

Drive-by shooters killed 2 school teachers in Hadra.

After sunset, a suicide bomber set off his explosive belt inside a tent at a Sunni funeral in Baghdad’s western suburbs of Abu Ghraib, killing 11 mourners and injuring 25 others.

Gunmen killed a government employee as he was walking near his Mosul home.

November 28—Libya—An explosion at a storeroom housing tank ammunition at an air base in Barek ­al-Shati killed 10 and wounded 20. One official said looters were trying to steal the ammunition.

Gunmen attacked a marine checkpoint in Benghazi, killing 3 and wounding 3.

November 28—Central African Republic—Ugandan Army Deputy Spokesman Major Robert Ngabirano told the press that Ugandan forces killed Colonel Samuel Kangul, believed to be the fourth in command of the Lord’s Resistance Army, and 13 of his followers in the CAR.

November 28—Mali—French soldiers in the north arrested 4 people, including Cheibani Ould Hamaa, true name Alhassane Ould Mohamed, a ­low-ranking Malian member of AQIM wanted in a carjacking and shooting death of William Bultemeier, a U.S. Department of Defense attaché in Niger on December 22, 2000. Hamaa was among 22 prisoners who escaped in June from the Niamey central prison during an attack by the Nigerian Boko Haram. In March 2013, a Niger court sentenced Hamaa to 20 years in prison for involvement in the killing of 4 Saudi tourists in 2009. In September 2013, a federal court in Brooklyn unsealed an indictment against Hamaa for murdering Bultemeier, an internationally protected person. Bultemeier was scheduled to return home to North Carolina. He dined at La Cloche restaurant with Marine Staff Sgt. Christopher McNeely and other embassy employees. Bultemeier was driving a Toyota Land Cruiser with diplomatic license plates at midnight when Hamaa and another gunman assaulted him with a pistol and an AK-47 assault rifle. Hamaa demanded the SUV’s keys, then shot Bultemeier in the chest with the pistol. The second gunman shot the AK-47 into Bultemeier and McNeely, according to the indictment. The gunmen escaped in the SUV. Hamaa was arrested in Mali on December 24, 2000. He escaped from custody in 2002. The U.S. had offered $20,000 for information leading to his capture. 00122201

November 28—Afghanistan—Two roadside bombs killed 6 civilians in Nangarhar Province’s Achin District. One bomb killed the driver of a car that rolled over it. A second remotely-detonated bomb killed 5 people who came to help the victim.

November 28—Iraq—Gunmen garbed in Iraqi military uniforms and driving 4 cars kidnapped 18 Sunnis from their homes. The ­bullet-riddled bodies were found the next day in a farm near Mishahda, near Baghdad. The dead included 2 Army officers, a local Sunni tribal sheik, his son, and Mishahda’s mayor.

November 28—Iraq—Terrorist attacks killed 29 people throughout the country.

Three car bombs exploded within 5 minutes during the afternoon at 2 outdoor markets and on a street full of shops in Hillah, killing 9 and wounding 21.

A car bomb hit a commercial area in Suwayrah, killing 5 and wounding 14.

A suicide bomber hit a Samarra police checkpoint, killing 3 officers and wounding 4 officers and 5 civilians.

A roadside bomb hit a Sahwa patrol in Tarmiyah, killing 3 and wounding 7.

A bomb on Baghdad’s Palestine Street killed 2 civilians and wounded 8.

A nighttime car bombing killed 7 and wounded 12 in Najaf.

November 28—Japan—CNN reported 2 small explosions at 11 p.m. outside the U.S. Yokota Air Base near Tokyo caused no injuries. Authorities discovered 2 metal tubes and a simple timing device which U.S. investigators said was an “improvised launch device.” 13112801

November 29—Iraq—Police officers found the beheaded bodies of 3 men in eastern Baghdad suburbs.

That afternoon, a bomb went off at a sheep market in Nahrawan, a Baghdad suburb, killing 3 and wounding 6, police said.

A roadside bomb killed one and wounded 5 in Abu Ghraib.

November 30—Lebanon—Firefights between pro- and anti–Syrian regime gunmen killed 3 people, including a Sunni mosque’s guard and a 16-year-old, in Tripoli, trapping dozens of schoolchildren in their Luqman School classrooms. Gunmen from the Sunni Bab Tabbaneh neighborhood shot the legs of the brother of the head of an Alawite militia. Residents of the Alaite Jabal Mohsen neighborhood responded with gunfire. Later, a woman died from sniper fire. The Tripoli firefights escalated the next day, killing 9 and wounding 70.

November 30—Internet—Adam Gadahn, ­American-born ­al-Qaeda spokesman, complained in an Internet audio posting of the U.S. special forces detention of Abu Anas ­al-Libi, saying he was not involved in the 1998 U.S. African embassy bombings, and that this U.S. piracy against ­al-Libi should lead Libyans to attack American interests worldwide. Gadahn said ­al-Libi had already left ­al-Qaeda to form a new group. “The kidnapping is a new episode in a series of U.S. crimes of piracy … stand up for revenge.”

November 30—Pakistan—Gunmen fired on 2 police officers protecting polio working in Peshawar, killing one and wounding one.

November 30—Pakistan—Gunmen fired on a security convoy taking food supplies to a checkpoint in the Bazai area near the Afghan border, killing 3 soldiers and injuring 2. Pakistani Taliban spokesman Sajjad Mohmand said the group had killed 4 soldiers and injured several others.

November 30—Iraq—In a morning attack, a car bomb killed 4 commuters and wounded 7 at a bus stop in Mahmoudiya.

December—Germany—On March 14, 2014, authorities announced the December 2013 arrest of Kreshnik B., 19, a German citizen suspected of fighting for jihadis in Syria during a stay there in 2013. He was kept in custody pending a possible indictment on charges of membership in a terrorist group. He was suspected of going to Syria in July 2013 and undergoing weapons training with the ­al-Qaeda breakaway Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, then participating in fighting and doing guard duty. He was initially held on suspicion of planning an act of violence. Prosecutors say evidence then solidified of his connection to the group. On June 24, 2014, German prosecutors filed terrorism charges against the man accused of joining and fighting in Syria for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which they say he joined in July, and of conspiring to commit an attack, having taken weapons training, acquired a firearm and participated in fighting in Syria.

December 1—Iraq—A suicide bomber ran into a funeral procession for Sunni tribal sheikh Mudhher Ali ­al-Shalal in Muqdadya, killing 10 and wounding 25. He was shot to death the previous day. Among the dead was Firas Ahmed, a relative of ­al-Shalal, who was hit in the leg. ­Al-Shalal’s father, another tribal sheik, had founded a Sahwa militia.

Gunmen intercepted a car on its way to a protest camp and killed Sunni sheikh Khalid Hammoud ­al-Jumaili and his driver and wounded ­al-Jamaili’s son. Jumaili led ­anti-government demonstrations in Falluja in December 2012.

December 2—Mexico—The International Atomic Energy Agency reported the theft of a white 2007 Volkswagen 2.5-ton truck carrying cobalt-60, which is used for radiotherapy treatment of cancer. Some authorities worried that the thieves might want to use the isotope to make a dirty bomb. The driver and his assistant worked for a licensed private company, and were driving from a Tijuana public hospital to a radioactive waste storage facility in central Mexico when the truck was stolen at a gas station in Tepojaco, Hidalgo State, north of Mexico City. Two gunmen jumped the contractors, beat them, tied the driver’s hands and feet and left him in a vacant lot, and drove off. Authorities issued a lookout across 6 states. The truck with a moveable platform and an integrated crane was found on December 4. The cobalt pellets, removed from their casing, were found in an empty lot near Hueypoxtla, 25 miles from the theft. Authorities said the thieves probably had no idea that the truck was carrying dangerous material, which was sealed in the back, and would probably die from inadvertent exposure because they had opened the box. IAEA said the material had an activity of 3,000 curies, or Category 1, observing “it would probably be fatal to be close to this amount of unshielded radioactive material for a period in the range of a few minutes to an hour.” On December 6, Hidalgo State Police arrested 6 suspects and took them to the Pachuca general hospital for observa-tion and testing for radiation poisoning. Hidalgo State Health Minister Pedro Luis Noble told the press that the suspects had skin irritations and dizziness; one was vomiting, a symptom of radiation poisoning. The 6 men, aged 16 to 38, were released from the hospital but remained in detention for interrogation. Only the 16-year-old showed radiation exposure.

December 2—Nigeria—At 2:30 a.m., hundreds of jihadis in trucks and a stolen armored personnel carrier attacked an air force base outside Maiduguri. Three aircraft and several vehicles were damaged. On December 12, Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau claimed credit and threatened attacks on the U.S., saying, “Don’t think we will stop in Maiduguri. Tomorrow you will see us in America itself.”

December 2—Yemen—AQAP was suspected in an attack on a military checkpoint in Sayoun, Hadramawt Province in which 3 terrorists and 2 soldiers were killed and 4 terrorists and a soldier were wounded.

Elsewhere in Hadramawt, 2 gunmen on a motorcycle killed army officer Colonel Ahmed ­al-Merfidi and Yasser, his son, in a ­drive-by attack on his car.

December 2—Iraq—A bomb near the house of an Abu Ghraib municipal official killed 2 of his neighbors and wounded 4 others. Another bomb hit the Abu Ghraib house of a Health Ministry employee, killing one person and injuring 5.

Two sticky bombs attached to their cars killed 2 senior security officers near Sulaimaniyah in the Kurdish region.

During the night, gunmen entered the home of a Sahwa militiaman in Nibaee, killing him and his entire family, including his wife, 2 sons and 2 daughters with gunshots to the head.

December 2—India—Police in ­Indian-controlled Kashmir say suspected rebels fired automatic weap­ons in a crowded Chadoora marketplace, killing a senior counterinsurgency police officer and wounding 2 constables and a shopkeeper.

December 2—Afghanistan—A Taliban suicide truck bomber attacked during the morning, killing 4 police officers, wounding 17, 4 critically, and destroying the police headquarters in Nirkh District, Wardak Province.

December 3—India—Maoist rebels were suspected when a roadside bomb went off in a culvert near a police patrol near Tandwa village, Aurangabad District, Bihar State, killing 6 police officers and their driver.

December 3—Afghanistan—A remotely-detonated motorcycle bomb killed 2 civilians and wounded 10 in a Marjah market in Helmand Province. Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahamdi denied responsibility.

Another roadside bomb killed 4 civilians and wounded 2 in Gareshk, Helmand Province.

Another bomb killed 3 police officers and wounded 4 in Zabul.

December 3—Iraq—Attacks throughout the country killed 24 people.

Terrorists fired mortars while a suicide bomber set off his explosive belt at the gate of the mayor’s office in Tarmiyah. Other terrorists then fired on the building. Ten people, including 6 police officers, died and 18 were wounded. The gunmen escaped into nearby orchards.

A car bomb hit a car dealership in the Baghdad neighborhood of Baiyaa, killing 5, wounding 14, and setting several cars alight.

A bomb hit an outdoor market in Abu Ghraib, killing 2 and wounding 6.

A car bomb hit a Samarra police station, killing 2 police officers and wounding 8.

Two suicide bombers set off explosive belts at a Tikrit police administrative building, killing 2 policemen and 3 civilians and wounding 25 other people.

December 3—Syria—The Nusra Front kidnapped 2 Swedes. On April 25, 2015, AP reported that the 2 Swedish hostages were freed near the Jordanian border. The terrorists drove them to an agreed ­drop-off location, pushed them out of the car, and escaped. No ransom was paid. The Swedish Foreign Ministry thanked the Jordanian government and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who was “crucial” in the release. The Palestinians had obtained video of the 2 hostages in April 2015, showing the duo in track suits and standing near trees. 13120301

December 4—Syria—The ­UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the ­Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said Iraqi freelance journalist Yasser Faysal ­al-Jumaili was shot dead at a rebel checkpoint between Saraqib and Maaret Musreen in Idlib Province. ­Al-Jumaili came from Fallujah and had earlier worked for al-Jazeera TV and Reuters. The press reported that authorities believed the killers were “foreign fighters” associated with ­al-Qaeda’s Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. 13120401

December 4—UN—The UK sponsored a UN Security Council resolution calling on countries not to pay ransoms that are then used to finance terrorist groups.

December 4—Iraq—A car bomb went off at the gate of Kirkuk’s Police Intelligence Department. A suicide bomber entered the building and set off his explosive belt amongst police officers. Security officers fired on the rest of the attackers. Four people died and 46 were wounded in the confrontation.

December 4—Lebanon—Gunmen used a ­silencer-equipped pistol to kill Hassan ­al-Laqis, a Hizballah founder, as he parked his car in the parking garage outside his home in Beirut’s Hadath suburb as he returned from work around midnight. Hizballah blamed Israel, which denied involvement. He was hit by 5 bullets in the neck and head.

December 4—Algeria—Army helicopters killed senior AQIM Mauritanian operative Khalil Ould Addah, alias Abu Bassen, and 4 associates as they drove their 2 4-wheel-drive vehicles through Tamanrasset Province north of Ain Salah. They were coming from northern Mali for an AQIM meeting. An Algerian newspaper said he was #3 in AQIM; others said he was a regional leader.

December 5—Pakistan—A bomb exploded outside a Chaman mosque, killing one person, injuring 17, and destroying nearby shops and vehicles.

December 5—Northern Ireland—On December 17, 2013, Colin Duffy, reputed IRA commander in the town of Lurgan, was charged with conspiring to possess weapons and kill police and soldiers in connection with a December 5 shooting at a Belfast police patrol. He was acquitted earlier of murdering 2 policemen in Lurgan in 1997, 2 soldiers in Antrim in 2009, and a Protestant ­ex-soldier in Lurgan in 1993. He offered no plea during arraignment in a Belfast court. Alex McCrory, 52, and Henry Fitzsimmons, 48, were charged with shooting at the Belfast police patrol.

December 5—Iraq—A car bomb exploded at the gates of Kirkuk’s Police Intelligence Department. Another suicide bomber walked into the station and set off his explosives, killing 5 officers and 2 civilians and wounding 70 others. Gunmen threw grenades and fired from the roof of the 6-storey Jawahir Mall at police and civilians. Police stormed the mall during a ­several-hour gun battle in which 3 terrorists died. Al-Qaeda in Iraq posted on a jihadi website that “A suicide bomber exploded his car bomb at the gate of the headquarters, paving the way for his brothers. Then, 3 attackers stormed the headquarters and started to reap the heads of the tyrants by using assault rifles and hand grenades … then they set off their explosive belts.”

Gunmen wearing military uniforms attacked the Arej village home of a police major, killing him and his 2 sons.

A bomb went off on a commercial street in western Baghdad, killing 2 and wounding 6.

An explosion near Madain shops killed 2 and wounded 6.

December 5—Somalia—A suicide car bomber attacked 2 ­pick-up trucks carrying Puntland Marine Forces in Bossaso, killing 9 people, including a woman and a child, and wounding 37 others. ­Al-Shabaab was suspected.

December 5—Yemen—A suicide car bomb packed with 1,100 pounds of explosives went off at an entrance gate, killing 18 soldiers and badly damaging a hospital at the Defense Ministry in Sana’a. A car filled with gunmen dressed in army uniforms and armed with assault rifles and grenades then crashed into the compound in a morning attack. After killing the guards, the gunmen split into 2 groups, then walked through the hospital and a laboratory, firing at soldiers, doctors, nurses, and patients, bringing the death total to 56. Wounded soldiers said the terrorists separated out the foreigners and shot everyone in the head. Hospital officials said at least 10 foreigners were killed and 40 soldiers were wounded. The Supreme Security Commission later said more than 200 people were injured. German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said 2 Germans and a Yemeni working for the German GIZ aid organization were killed. Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez said 7 Filipinos, including a doctor and 2 nurses, were killed and 11 other Filipinos were wounded. (On December 9, Manila banned its workers from going to Yemen.) Yemen’s Supreme Security Commission added that the dead included 2 Vietnamese doctors and an Indian nurse. The firefight destroyed an armored vehicle and destroyed 3 civilian cars. The Defense Ministry said 11 of the 12 gunmen, including the suicide bomber, were killed by 4:30 p.m. A search throughout Sana’a led to gun battles that killed 5 terrorists and a Yemeni commando. Other suspects were arrested. AQAP’s media arm, ­al-Mallahem, said on that the Defense Ministry building “accommodates drone control rooms and American experts” and such headquarters thus are “legitimate targets.” On December 6, Yemeni authorities said a preliminary inquiry established that Saudi terrorists were involved. On December 22, Qassim ­al-Rimi, AQAP commander, apologized for the attack on the hospital, saying that one of its fighters disobeyed orders to leave the hospital and the prayer area alone. ­Al-Qaeda’s media arm ­al-Mallahem posted, “We offer our apology and condolences to the victims’ families. We accept full responsibility for what happened in the hospital and will pay blood money for the victims’ families…. We rid ourselves of what our brother did…. We did not order him to do so and we are not pleased with what he did.” The specific terrorist died in the attack. 13120501

December 5—Libya—Gunmen shot to death an American teacher who was jogging near the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi. He taught chemistry at the local International School. Three soldiers were also shot to death in Benghazi. 13120502

December 6—Italy—A court convicted in absentia Egyptian cleric Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, alias Abu Omar, of criminal association with the goal of terrorism and with aiding illegal emigration with the goal of terrorism, for helping organize false documents to help bring recruits to jihadi terror camps. The court sentenced him to 6 years in prison. Nasr remained in Egypt. He was represented by attorney Carmelo Scambia. Authorities issued an arrest warrant for Nasr in 2005.

December 6—Pakistan—Motorcyclists fired on a vehicle carrying Shamsur Rehman, provincial president of the ­hard-line Sunni Ahle Sunnat Waljamaat group, as he was returning home following prayers at a Lahore mosque, killing him and wounding a ­passer-by. The group is linked to the outlawed ­Sipah-e-Sahaba.

December 7—Colombia—Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said a Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia attack on a police post in Inza in Cauca Department killed 9, including civilians, soldiers, and a police officer, and injured 23 civilians, 12 police officers and 3 soldiers. He offered $26,000 for information for leading to the capture of the attackers. Lt. Col. Mauricio Cardenas said FARC fired mortars at the station from a truck.

December 7—Iraq—A bomb went off during the afternoon inside a Mosul market, killing 2 and wounding 15.

An hour later, a roadside bomb went off in Mi­shahda, killing 2 and wounding 7.

Gunmen in 2 cars fired on a row of liquor stores in Baghdad’s northern neighborhood of Waziriyah, killing 9 and wounding 4.

Gunmen in Ramadi killed the son of a local Sahwa leader, along with a son’s friend.

December 9—Iraq—A car bomb killed 12 and wounded 24 outside a Buhriz café.

A roadside bomb hit an army patrol south of Baghdad, killing a soldier and wounding 2 others.

A bomb at an outdoor market in Baghdad’s eastern Basmaya district killed 3 and wounded 7.

A car bomb exploded near a police checkpoint in a village north of Baghdad, killing 3 police officers and wounding 10.

A roadside bomb hit a car carrying Sahwa militia members outside Baghdad, killing 2 and wounding 3.

December 9—Philippines—The government and the 11,000-strong Moro Islamic Liberation Front signed a ­power-sharing accord, which outlines the powers of a Muslim autonomous government in a region to be called Bangsamoro. The autonomous government would be responsible for agriculture, trade, tourism and education, and could contract loans and establish free ports. Malaysia brokered the deal.

December 9—Libya—Gunmen killed Benghazi police officer Nagi Hussein Hamad with 7 bullets to his head. He had just finished his shift.

December 9—Libya—Gunmen killed senior Sirte police officer Col. Ramadan ­al-Turouk in his car. ­Al-Turouk ran the local passport and immigration office.

December 9—Mali—Hubert de Quievrecourt, spokes­man for the French force in Mali, said it had killed 19 jihadis in an operation 120 miles northeast of Timbuktu.

December 10—Jordan—The trial began in Jordan’s military State Security Court of Omar Mahmoud Mohammed Othman, alias Abu Qatada, 53, who pleaded not guilty to conspiring to carry out terrorist attacks against Israelis, Americans and other Westerners in Jordan in 2 foiled plots in 1999 and 2000.

December 10—Kenya—Gunmen fired at a police car 5 miles from the Somalia border, killing 8 people, including 5 policemen.

December 10—Iraq—Two bombs went off during the afternoon inside the Imam Idris Shi’ite shrine near Baqouba, killing 10, wounding 20, and partially damaging the shrine.

Gunmen fired from their car on Sunni relatives from the same tribe who were building a house in Abara, killing 7.

December 10—Philippines—Philippine judge Eleuterio Bathan acquitted 3 Indonesians suspected of membership in Jemmah Islamiyah and ordered their deportation, saying they were illegally arrested without warrants for carrying TNT, a grenade and a pistol in December 2004 after arriving by ferry in Zamboanga city. He said the arms could not be used as evidence because they were part of an illegal search. Mohammad Yusuf Karim Faiz, Mohammad Nasir Hamid and Ted Yolanda had pleaded innocent in 2008.

December 11—Afghanistan—A Taliban car bomb exploded before dawn near a gate used by NATO troops in Kabul airport, causing no casualties. The German military said 2 vehicles in one of its convoys were damaged.

December 11—Libya—Gunmen assassinated Colonel ­Abdel-Moneim ­al-Dallal in front of his Darna house in the evening.

A bomb exploded at a Darna polling center in a school.

December 11—Saudi Arabia—The official Saudi Press Agency reported that a court convicted a man of being an ­al-Qaeda operative and plotting to assassinate senior state officials. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison and 40 lashes, and ordered to seek psychological treatment at the kingdom’s Prince Mohammed bin Nayef rehabilitation center for Islamic militants. He had obtained an Iraqi passport and planned to recruit others and collect money for terrorist attacks. Other ­state-linked media said he wanted to kill the kingdom’s highest cleric, the grand mufti.

December 12—Egypt—A bomb buried in the ground outside the entrance gate of a Central Security Forces camp in Ismalia exploded, killing a member of the CSF and wounding 18 people, including 6 civilians.

December 12—Yemen—A clash between Salafis and Houthis involving artillery fire, mortar shells and machine guns in ­al-Fagga killed more than 40 people.

December 12—Kenya—A hand grenade failed to explode after hitting a window of a van carrying British tourists in Mombasa. 13121201

December 12—Congo—The government and the M23 rebels signed a peace agreement to demobilize M23’s military wing and transform it into a Tutsi political party. The M23 members were to be granted an amnesty, and refugees could return.

December 13—Albania—Hektor Pustina and the Associated Press reported that Albanian police found 200 grams of C4 explosive, 2 detonators and a cell phone under the car of prefect Besnik Dervishi, a senior executive official of southwestern Vlore District, as he was entering the Tirina compound of the office of Prime Minister Edi Rama.

December 13—U.S.—CNN and the Associated Press reported that a 6-month FBI sting operation led to the 6:40 a.m. arrest of Terry Lee Loewen, 58, an avionics technician who worked for Hawker Beech­craft on charges of driving what he thought was an ­explosives-filled vehicle to the tarmac of Wichita ­Mid-Continent Regional Airport in support of ­al-Qaeda. U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom told the media Loewen was detained “when he attempted to open a security gate with his pass.” The Justice Department said, “He planned to pull the trigger on the explosives himself and die in the explosion.” Grissom added, “In fact, these explosives were inert, and it was not a bomb that would ever explode … no one was placed in any jeopardy.” Loewen was charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction, attempting to damage property by means of an explosive and attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization. The complaint noted that he told an FBI undercover agent online “hey I read Inspire magazine; I believe in staying informed.” The complaint alleged that he had claimed to have downloaded tens of thousands of pages of material on jihad, martyrdom operations, and Sharia law, and printed out an ­al-Qaeda manual. The Bureau said he surveilled the airport’s layout for months, taking photos of access points, examining flight schedules and obtaining bomb materials. He faced a life sentence.

December 13—Northern Ireland—Following a telephoned bomb warning to a media organization that misidentified the location as outside a hotel rather than a restaurant, a bomb hidden in a backpack went off during the night in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter city center, which was filled with shoppers, but caused no injuries. IRA ­die-hard faction Oglaigh na hEireann (pronounced “OG-luh nuh ­ER-in,” “Irish Army” in Gaelic) claimed credit.

December 13—Iraq—In a nighttime attack, gunmen killed 15 Iranian gas pipeline workers and 2 Iraqi guards and wounded 2 Iranians and 2 Iraqis in the ­al-Nida area 90 miles northeast of Baghdad. 13121301

December 13—Iraq—Some 22 Iraqis facing terrorism charges escaped from northern Baghdad’s ­al-Adela after killing a security guard who was lured into a cell while his colleagues were sleeping. They claimed an inmate was critically ill. They stabbed him to death before fleeing. Authorities arrested 13 escapees later that day. One escapee was killed. Authorities also questioned several guards suspected of aiding the jailbreakers.

A car bomb exploded near a Ramadi checkpoint, killing 5 policemen and wounding 7 others.

Drive-by gunmen killed 2 government employees in their car in western Baghdad.

A bomb went off near a Madain outdoor market, killing one and wounding 4.

A car bomb went off during the afternoon inside a fish market in Baghdad’s Nahrwan suburb, killing 4 and wounding 14.

December 13—Nigeria—Military spokesman Colonel Muhammed Dole said air raids killed scores of Boko Haram attending a jihadi funeral in northeast Nigeria.

December 13—Pakistan—Gunmen conducted 2 attacks on polio teams in the northwest, killing a polio worker and 2 police officers protecting the teams.

In one attack, gunmen fired on 2 officers on a motorcycle in Swabi, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province. Hours later, a gunman shot to death a polio worker going home after vaccinating children in Jamrud, a tribal area near Peshawar.

December 14—Iraq—A bomb exploded at an outdoor market in Nahrawan, a suburb outside Baghdad, killing 3 and wounding 11.

A bomb went off in a restaurant in Husseiniyah suburb, killing 2 and injuring 7.

Gunmen killed the owner of a grocery store who was walking near his house in Baghdad’s Hurriyah neighborhood.

A car bomb exploded during the night near a tent in western Baghdad serving Shi’ite pilgrims en route to Karbala, killing 6 and wounding 15.

December 14—Kenya—A bomb exploded in a minibus traveling from Nairobi’s Eastleigh neighborhood, which has a large Somali population, to the city center, killing 4 people and injuring 25.

December 14—Mali—A truck bomb went off at a Kidal bank guarded by UN peacekeepers, killing 2 Senegalese soldiers—Corporal Ousmane Fall and Cheikh Tidiane Sarr—and seriously wounding several other peacekeepers. 13121401

December 14—Venezuela—Venezuelan authorities grounded and searched Air France flight 385, scheduled to leave from Caracas’s Simon Bolivar international airport for Paris at 7:25 p.m., after French security officials said that a terrorist group might be planning to set off a bomb in midair.

December 15—Afghanistan—A police pickup truck hit a roadside bomb in Nangarhar Province’s Agam District, killing 4 police officers, including the district’s police chief, and wounding 7.

Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, spokesman for Nangarhar Province, told the press that a suicide bomber fired at an intelligence service office near the Pakistan ­border, wounding a guard before setting off his ­explosives, wounding 2 intelligence service officials and damaging the building.

Four civilians died and one was injured when their car rolled over a roadside bomb in Kunar Province’s Shegal District.

December 15—Yemen—Kidnappers stabbed Japanese diplomat Katsusuke Sotomini in the forearm and shoulder when he fought back against ­would-be abductors near the Japanese Embassy in Sana’a. The attackers escaped in Sotomini’s car. 13121501

December 15—Iraq—Gunmen armed with silenced guns broke into the Sadiyah home of a Health Ministry employee and killed him, his wife, 2 sons, and their 10-year-old daughter as they slept.

A sticky bomb attached to a bus killed 2 and wounded 7 in Baghdad’s northern Waziriyah neighborhood.

A roadside bomb missed an army patrol in Mosul but killed 2 civilians and wounded 4.

December 16—Iraq—At least 70 people died in terrorist attacks across the country.

Two car bombs went off during the night amongst Shi’ite pilgrims walking from the ­al-Rasheed suburb of Baghdad to the holy Shi’ite city of Karbala, killing 23 and wounding 55. The pilgrims were commemorating Arbaeen, the end of 40 days of mourning the anniversary of the death of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Imam Hussein.

Gunmen in Mosul fired on a bus carrying Shi’ite pilgrims to Karbala, killing 11, including 4 women, and wounding 8.

Suicide bombers hit a Beiji police station, killing 8 police officers and wounding 5. A suicide car bomb crashed into the station’s main gate, opening a hole through which 3 other suicide bombers ran, then got inside the building and blew themselves up.

A parked car bomb exploded in a parking lot in Baghdad’s Bayaa neighborhood, killing 6 and wounding 12.

A parked car bomb exploded in Baghdad’s Salhia neighborhood near the Green Zone, killing 5 and wounding 14.

A parked car bomb exploded in an outdoor market in Baghdad’s Sadriyah neighborhood, killing 4 and wounding 11.

A bomb exploded near a bus station in Baghdad’s ­al-Nahda area, killing 3 and wounding 7.

A bomb in Baghdad’s Hussainiyah suburb killed a civilian and wounded 7.

A car bomb killed 2 and wounded 7 in Baghdad’s Jisr Diyala suburb.

Three suicide bombers set off explosive belts in an attempt to break into the building housing Tikrit’s city council, killing 2 civilians and wounding 7.

December 16—Pakistan—A roadside bomb went off in Peshawar’s Shaikh Mohammadi suburb, killing a 3-member bomb disposal team consisting of bomb disposal expert Abdul Haq and his 2 aides on its way to defuse another bomb in Peshawar’s Suleman Khel district. Police later defused a third bomb in the Shaikh Mohammadi area.

December 16—China—Chinese state media reported that 16 people were killed in attacks on police in western China.

December 17—Egypt—A bomb exploded near a school in the Nasr City residential area in Cairo, causing no injuries or damage.

December 17—Egypt—Military spokesman Colonel Ahmed Mohammed Ali said on Facebook that special forces killed Selmi Mohammed Musabah Zayed, alias Abu Khaled, a member of an ­al-Qaeda–linked group in the northern Sinai. Ali said Zayed was behind the killings of 16 Egyptian soldiers in Sinai in August 2012.

December 17—Iraq—A suicide bomber set off his explosive belt among Shi’ite pilgrims near Mahmoudiya, killing 6 and wounding 16.

Two hours later, a bomb hit Shi’ite pilgrims in Baghdad’s New Baghdad neighborhood, killing 4 and wounding 11.

December 17—Lebanon—A suicide car bomber set off his explosives in an open field near a Hizballah base near Sbouba in the Baalbek region of eastern Lebanon during the morning. Reports differed regarding casualties. The Lebanese army found 4 badly damaged vehicles.

December 17—Bahrain—A small bomb exploded in the morning in Demistan village, injuring 2 police officers, one critically.

December 18—Pakistan—A suicide bomber crashed his car into a checkpoint outside an army camp in Mir Ali, North Waziristan, killing 4 soldiers and injuring 25 soldiers. The military said when first responding troops were fired on, soldiers killed 23 terrorists while 3 security personnel were wounded.

A bomb killed one and wounded 8 during the night at a Quetta ice cream parlor.

December 18—Somalia—Police Captain Moha­med Hussein said ­al-Shabaab ambushed a convoy carrying doctors in a ­semi-forested area outside Mogadishu, killing 6 people, including 3 Syrian doctors, a Somali doctor and 2 Somali aides, who were on their way to Fiqi hospital in Elasha Biyaha settlement near Mogadishu, and wounding a Syrian doctor. 13121801

December 18—Iraq—A suicide bomber attacked Iraqi Shi’ite pilgrims in Khalis, killing 6 and wounding 16.

A suicide car bomber killed 2 policemen and wounded 5 at a Ramadi checkpoint.

Gunmen fired on a bus carrying Pakistani Shi’ite pilgrims outside Samarra, killing 3 Pakistanis and wounding 12, plus the Iraqi driver and Iraq translator. 13121802

December 18—Afghanistan—Three Taliban suicide bombers attacked NATO fuel trucks in Nangarhar Province near Torkahm border crossing with Pakistan. The bombers set off their car at the parking lot, allowing others to rush the compound, where they died. The ensuing firefight killed an Afghan police officer and injured 3 others.

December 18—Guantanamo Bay—The Pentagon said it had sent 2 Sudanese Gitmo prisoners back to Sudan. They were identified as Noor Uthman Mu­hammed and Ibrahim Idris. Muhammed pleaded guilty in February 2011 to terrorism offenses; his plea agreement led him to being sentenced to 14 years with all but 34 months suspended. Idris had been in Gitmo for 11 years, mostly in psychiatric treatment. Idris told the Sudanese press that he had been “systematically tortured.”

December 19—South Sudan—The UN reported that Nuer youth militia from the country’s ­second-largest ethnic group chased 30 Dinka ­refuge-seeking civilians into a UN peacekeeping mission base in Jonglei State. UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said it was unclear how many fatalities occurred. Indian UN Ambassador Asoke Mukerji said 3 Indian UN peacekeepers were killed. 13121901

December 19—Israel—The Israeli military said that during a nighttime army operation in Jenin, West Bank, Palestinians threw explosives at soldiers who opened fire, killing Nafea Saadi, 22, and wounding several Palestinians.

Separately, soldiers raided Qalqilya to arrest Saleh Yasin, reputedly a Palestinian intelligence officer who the Associated Press said had fired on Israel troops on several occasions. He fired on arresting officers, who killed him.

Gunmen opened fire at the office of Palestinian Religious Affairs Minister Mahmoud Habbash, a Fatah member, then sped off in a car.

December 19—Iraq—A suicide bomber set off his explosive belt near Shi’ite pilgrims in Baghdad’s southern district of Dora, killing 14 and wounding 28. They were on their way to the shrine of Karbala.

Gunmen in military uniforms broke into the home of a former Sahwa member in Abu Ghraib, killing him, his wife, his 2 children and his ­brother-in-law, and wounding 2 other children.

A roadside bombing in Mishahda killed 2 soldiers and wounded 4.

Shortly after sunset, a suicide bomber attacked Shi’ite pilgrims in Youssifiyah, killing 8 and wounding 28.

At night, a suicide bomber killed 7 Shi’ite pilgrims and wounded 25 in Latifiyah.

December 20—Egypt—Two Egyptian soldiers died and 8 were wounded in a battle with wanted ­al-Qaeda-inspired Ansar Jerusalem gunmen in ­el-Mahdiya in northern Sinai. Among those sought was Shadi ­el-Manaei, a suspected mastermind of previous attacks. The military said it killed 3 terrorists. During the fighting, the gunmen grabbed a soldier’s corpse, hung it from a pole, and paraded it through Nagaa Shabana village. They later dumped the body outside ­al-Mokatta village’s mosque.

December 20—Nigeria—Judge Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court sentenced Kabiru Sokoto, alias Kabiru Umar, 30, to life in prison for “facilitating the commission of terrorist acts” in northern Sokoto State between 2007 and 2012, including the 2012 bombing of the police headquarters in Sokoto city. Sokoto was sentenced to another 10 years for knowing that Boko Haram planned the 2011 Christmas car bombing of St. Theresa’s Catholic Church that killed 44 people, and failing to warn police. He had pleaded not guilty. One witness said he was Boko Haram’s most senior leader in Sokoto State, and had provided logistics, planning and 3 assault rifles for the attack. The judge said “This court found as a fact … that the accused person was the mastermind of the terrorist act at Mabera in Sokoto State,” regarding the police headquarters’ bombing.

In a ­pre-dawn attack, Boko Haram crossed the border from Cameroon and fired ­anti-aircraft rockets and ­rocket-propelled grenades in an attack on a tank battalion barracks in Bama, setting the entire complex on fire and killing 15 soldiers and 5 civilians. The military responded with an air raid and ground assault, chasing off the attackers after several hours of firefights. Many people on both sides were killed. On December 24, the Nigerian government announced that the terrorists had kidnapped the soldiers’ wives and children during the attack. Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Chris Olukolade said at least 50 attackers were killed during the pursuit.

December 20—Iraq—In the morning, 2 bombs went off at a Tuz Khormato sheep market, killing 6 people and wounding 10.

December 20—Philippines—At 11:20 a.m., a gunman fired outside Terminal 3 of Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport, killing Ukol Talumpa, the mayor of Labangan, a town in the southern Philippines, his wife, his 25-year-old nephew, and an 18-month-old boy, and wounding 5 people, including a 28-year-old niece, a 3-year-old girl, and a member of the mayor’s security detail. His guards were unarmed, waiting to retrieve their weapons from the flight. The gunman ran to a waiting motorcycle driven by an accomplice who might have been wearing a police uniform. The mayor had survived earlier assassination attempts in Manila in 2010 and a 2012 grenade attack in Zamboanga del Sur Province.

December 20—Bosnia-Herzegovina—The Council of Judges sentenced Islamic extremist Haris Causevic to a record 45 years in prison for planting and setting off a powerful improvised bomb behind a police station in Bugojno on June 27, 2010, that killed a police officer, injured several others, and seriously damaged nearby buildings and vehicles. He was also convicted of plotting to kidnap police officers and their children to force the government to introduce sharia. Alleged accomplice Naser Palismanovic, variant Palislamovic, was acquitted. Both are Wahhabis.

December 20—Libya—Gunmen killed Colonel Fatallah ­Abdel-Rahim ­al-Qazeri, head of military intelligence in Benghazi, in front of his Darna house as he arrived home from a relative’s wedding. Darna is a stronghold of Ansar ­al-Shariah.

December 20—South Sudan—Local officials told the news media that gunfire hit a UN helicopter in Jonglei State. 13122001

December 20—Central African Republic—Gunmen attacked Congolese troops at a checkpoint, killing 3. One soldier told the Associated Press that 2 carloads of Seleka Muslim gunmen backing President Michel Djotodia fired on the troops. 13122002

December 21—Pakistan—Gunmen attacked an ­anti-polio vaccination center run by the party of ­cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan in Ghundi in the Khyber tribal region of northwestern Pakistan, killing medical technician Ghilaf Khan. The Taliban had threatened attacks.

December 21—South Sudan—Four American soldiers were wounded, one seriously, by gunfire when rebels hit 3 U.S. CV-22 Ospreys heading to Bor, capital of Jonglei State, in an operation to evacuate American citizens. The Ospreys flew to Uganda and aborted the mission. South Sudan military spokes­man Colonel Philip Aguer said, “Bor is under the control of the forces of Riek Machar.” 13122101

December 21—Iraq—Major General Mohammed ­al-Kurawi (the New York Times listed him as a Lt. General), commander of the Iraqi Army’s 7th Division, a colonel and 5 soldiers were killed and 4 soldiers were wounded during a raid on a ­booby-trapped Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (al-Qaeda) hideout near Rutba, in Anbar Province. The group had been training recruits in making roadside bombs. The armed forces said a total of 18 were killed, including 4 senior army officers and 14 soldiers, and another 32 were wounded when 2 suicide bombs set off explosive vests and 14 roadside bombs exploded. The army had fired rockets from helicopters, scattering the 60 terrorists at the camp.

Drive-by gunmen fired from their car at a Fallujah police checkpoint, killing 4 police officers and wounding 3 others.

Two mortar shells hit a Kirkuk military camp, killing an army officer and a soldier.

A mortar shell hit amongst Shi’ite pilgrims in Latifiyah, killing 3 and wounding 7.

At sunset, gunmen attacked a western Baghdad food store, killing the owner and his son and wounding 3.

Near Kirkuk, gunmen in SUVs bombed 2 homes, then pulled 5 Sunnis, including a 70-year-old woman and an Iraqi soldier, from the homes and executed them.

December 21—Yemen—Drive-by gunmen killed 3 soldiers and kidnapped 4 others at a checkpoint in Hadramawt Province.

December 22—Thailand—Three bombs went off in Songkhla Province, injuring 27 people, 4 seriously. A car bomb outside a hotel caused extensive damage. Two other bombs on motorcycles exploded outside 2 police stations. Jihadis were suspected.

December 22—Israel—At 2:30 p.m., moments after passengers evacuated, a pipe bomb hidden in a suspicious bag exploded on a bus in Bat Yam, a Tel Aviv suburb. A bomb tech was examining the device when it went off; he was taken to the hospital for observation. Authorities blamed Palestinian terrorists.

December 22—Libya—A suicide car bomber attacked a checkpoint at an army base in Barsis, 30 miles away from Benghazi, killing 13 people, including soldiers, and wounding 3 soldiers. Other reports said the bomb killed 6 and wounded 15.

December 22—Central African Republic—The ­anti-balaka Christian militia trying to overthrow the CAR’s Muslim president hacked to death a UN peace­keeper from the Republic of Congo in Bossangoa. 13122201

December 23—Iraq—Five gunmen attacked the Tikrit offices of a TV station owned by the Salaheddin provincial government, killing 6 channel staffers and injuring another 6 station workers. One set off his suicide car bomb at the gate. Two others set off their suicide belts inside. Two others died in a gunfight with police.

Mortar rounds hit a military base near Abu Ghraib, killing 3 officers and 3 soldiers and injuring 7 soldiers.

Hours later, a bomb hit a passing military patrol in Abu Ghraib, killing an officer and a soldier and wounding 2 soldiers.

Gunmen killed 4 men in a pet shop in Baghdad’s Dora neighborhood.

A bomb exploded in an outdoor market in Baghdad’s Tobchi district, killing 3 and wounding 9.

Drive-by gunmen fired at a bus on a highway in eastern Baghdad, killing 2 commuters and wound-ing 9.

Gunmen fired on a bus in Baqouba, killing 3 passengers and wounding 6.

Gunmen stole 3 trucks carrying 2 dozen SUVs on the main highway to Jordan, kidnapping the drivers.

December 23—Afghanistan—An International Security Assistance Force service member died from gunfire in the east; another died in the south. 13122301–02

December 23—Egypt—Ansar Jerusalem (Ansar Beit ­al-Maqdis) said on jihadi websites that Egyptian troops are infidels answering to a secular government and should desert or be killed.

December 23—Nigeria—Gunmen kidnapped Leb­a­nese businessman Hassan Zein from the compound of the M.C. Plastic Co. factory in Kano. On December 27, police found Zein unharmed on the outskirts of Kano. His family claimed no ransom was demanded or paid. As of December 27, no arrests had been made. 13122303

December 23—West Bank—An Israeli policeman was stabbed outside a settlement.

December 24—Gaza Strip—A suspected Hamas sniper killed an Israeli civilian laborer working on the border fence. The Israeli military said its aircraft, tanks and infantry retaliated against “terror sites” in Gaza, including a ­weapons-manufacturing facility, “terror infrastructure” and a concealed rocket launcher.

December 24—Egypt—At 1:10 a.m., a pickup truck bomb and a second bomb collapsed parts of the 5-storey Dakahlia security headquarters of the Interior Ministry in Mansour Province in the Nile Delta, killing 15 police officers and a civilian, injuring 130, and destroying dozens of cars. The ­al-Qaeda–inspired Ansar Beit ­al-Maqdis (Champions of Jerusalem) said on a jihadi website it was avenging “shedding of innocent Muslim blood” by Egypt’s “apostate regime.” It said the bomber was Abu Mariam. It noted, “To the soldiers and officers we repeat our advice that you should leave service with the militias of [Defense Minister Gen. ­Abdel-Fattah] ­el-Sissi and [Interior Minister] Mohammed Ibrahim. We call on you to stay clear from the security headquarters of this renegade regime to protect your own lives. Let everyone in this regime know that they are fighting against God and his prophet.” The government blamed the Muslim Brotherhood and arrested an MB member, Adel Younis Rashid, 22, who runs a Mansoura computer shop, as he was trying to fly to Turkey with his mother and a friend. Rashid’s father is a leading MB member who was a parliamentarian from Mansoura.

The next day, the government designated the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization.

On January 2, 2014, Egyptian Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim released at a news conference a video of Yahia Mongi, son of a senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood, admitting that he had joined the Ansar Beit ­al-Maqdis (Champions of Jerusalem) group. Ibrahim said Mongi was a member of a 7-person cell that conducted the Ansar suicide bombing at a Mansoura provincial security headquarters on December 24, 2013.

December 25—Iraq—Car bomb attacks on Christians in Baghdad killed 38 people and wounded 70.

A car bomb went off near a church in Baghdad’s southern Dora area, killing 27 and wounding 56.

Two bombs exploded at a nearby outdoor market in the Christian section of Athorien, killing 11 and wounding 14.

December 25—Afghanistan—At 6:40 a.m., the Taliban fired 2 “indirect fire” rounds at the U.S. Embassy compound. No one was injured. “Indirect fire” usually refers to mortars or rockets.

A bicycle bomb was remotely detonated at a bazaar restaurant in Puli Alam, capital of Logar Province, killing 2 policemen and 4 civilians and wounding 13, including several children.

A roadside bomb went off in eastern Kabul, wounding 3 Afghan policemen. Police arrested a suspect.

Eastern Kabul police defused an unexploded bomb. 13122501

December 25—Syria—Nusra Front leader Abu Mohammed ­al-Golani shared plans with his aides to kidnap UN workers and Iraqi and Syrian civilians, as well as his succession plans, according to letters which the Associated Press said were provided by Iraqi intelligence. He wanted Hajj Rashid to be his temporary successor “until there is a Syrian man qualified to take the position.”

December 25—Central African Republic—In a noon ambush in Bangui’s Gobongo neighborhood, gunmen killed 6 Chadian African Union peacekeepers and wounded 15. 13122502

December 26—Egypt—At 9 a.m., a bomb hit a public bus in the eastern Cairo district of Nasr City at an intersection near schools, wounding 5 people. Police defused another ­remote-control bomb stuck to an advertising billboard, apparently targeting first responders. The bomb went off near student dormitories of ­Al-Azhar University.

December 26—Morocco—The government said it had dismantled the year’s fifth terrorist cell, which had been active in several cities. Several detainees “have trained with terrorist organizations in the handling of various weapons and explosives.” A lawyer for detained Salafists said 50 returnees from Syria had been arrested.

December 26—Libya—Drive-by gunmen killed Lieutenant Colonel Ahmed Sweiry in Benghazi’s ­al-Birkah district. He worked in the military’s data department.

Gunmen in Benghazi shot a member of the commandos in another attack.

December 26—India—A bicycle bomb near Jalpaiguri killed 5 and wounded 6. Authorities were investigating possible involvement of the Kamatpur Liberation Organization, which was observing a “Martyrs’ Day” for colleagues killed by authorities.

December 26—Iraq—A rocket attack on Camp Liberty, which houses members of the ­Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, the militant wing of the ­Paris-based anti–Tehran National Council of Resistance of Iran, killed 3 and injured 50, according to the group, although the Baghdad government said only 2 people were injured in the attack near Baghdad. 13122601

December 26—Syria—The Islamic State kidnapped British citizen Alan Henning, nicknamed Gadget, 47, a former taxi driver who had joined an aid convoy. He was grabbed 30 minutes after crossing the border from Turkey. He had cashed in his savings to purchase a used ambulance to assist in his aid work. On September 23, 2014, his wife, Barbara, said that she had received an audio message from Henning, pleading for his life. She was told that he was tried in a sharia court, which found him innocent of spying. On October 3, 2014, an Internet video showed the IS beheading him. A masked man in the video then threatened to kill U.S. hostage Peter Kassig, saying, “Obama, you have started your aerial bombardment of Shams [Syria], which keeps on striking our people, so it is only right that we continue to strike the neck of your people.” 13122602

December 26—Germany—German citizen Kreshnik Berisha, 20, was arrested at Frankfurt airport after spending 6 months in Syria, apparently fighting for the Islamic State. He had entered Syria via Istanbul, Turkey in July 2013. On September 15, 2014, his Frankfurt trial began, on charges of membership in the Islamic State. He once played for a Jewish football club, Makkabi Frankfurt, Germany’s largest Jewish sports club. Berisha was born in Frankfurt to Kosovan parents. German media reported that he was radicalized while studying construction engineering in college.

Days earlier, Germany banned Islamic State symbols and propaganda. Prosecutors said that in 2013 he went with 6 others to Syria, where he underwent combat training and fought with IS near Hama before returning to Germany 5 months later. He faced 10 years in prison for membership of a foreign terrorist organization. He was represented by attorney Mutlu Guenal at the higher regional court in Frankfurt. The local press said Judge Thomas Sagebiel had offered a more lenient sentence than usual in exchange for a confession and information about ISIS. Berisha was expected to be sentenced to 3 to 4½ years for membership in a terrorist organization. On December 5, 2014, German news agency DPA reported that the Frankfurt regional court convicted and sentenced him to 3 years and 9 months in prison.

December 27—Russia—A car bomb exploded on a Pyatigorsk street, killing 3 people.

December 27—Afghanistan—A Taliban suicide car bomber hit a convoy of International Security Assistance Force troops a half mile from NATO’s Camp Phoenix base in eastern Kabul, killing 3 service members, including an American, and wounding 6 Afghans. 13122701

December 27—Central African Republic—Two Congolese peacekeepers were killed while on patrol in Bangui during the night. 13122702

December 27—Lebanon—A remotely-detonated car bomb killed former finance minister Mohammed Chatah, 62, his driver, and 4 other people and wounded more than 70. A woman in her car lost her hand. Teenager Mohammed Shaar died the next day, raising the death toll to 7. The 130 pounds of explosives went off as he drove his SUV through a business district near Beirut’s waterfront. His allies blamed Hizballah. He had served as Lebanese Ambassador to the U.S., worked at the International Monetary Fund, and was a senior aide to former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, whose father, Rafiq, also a prime minister, was killed in a Beirut assassination on Febru-ary 14, 2005. Hizballah denied involvement.

December 27—Yemen—Four artillery shells hit a funeral tent in Dali, killing 19, including 6 children. The mourners were attending services for a man killed in a gun battle between the government and southern irredentists.

December 27—Libya—Three ­drive-by gunmen killed Major Mohammed Faraj ­al-Ziwi from the military’s air defense unit in Benghazi’s ­al-Salam district.

December 28—Nigeria—Boko Haram leader Abu­bakar Shekau released a video taking credit for the December 20 attack on a tank battalion barracks and said Allah said his fighters must decapitate and mutilate. He said his followers would have eaten their enemies, but that was forbidden by Allah. He denigrated the $312,500 Nigerian reward and $7 million U.S. reward for his capture.

December 28—Nigeria—Boko Haram was suspected when gunmen attacked a nighttime wedding reception in the largely Christian village of Tashan Alede in Borno State, killing 8 people.

December 28—Pakistan—Two gunmen on a motorbike attacked an ­anti-polio vaccination center in Matni, a suburb outside Peshawar, killing Zahid Gul, a medic on duty, and wounding another 2—a man and a woman. The clinic is run by the party of cricketer/politician Imran Khan. The Taliban was suspected.

December 28–29—Bahrain—Public Security Chief Tareq ­al-Hassan said 2 days of security raids including arrests of 13 people wanted in security cases; seizures of plastic explosives, detonators, automatic rifles and ammunition; and the defusing of a car bomb in the Hoora area of Manama. The detainees were found on a boat believed to be smuggling them out of the country. The weapons were found in a warehouse and a second fleeing boat.

December 29—Nigeria—Boko Haram was suspected when gunmen attacked the largely Christian village of Kwajffa, Borno State, killing 4 people.

December 29—Russia—A suicide bomber (reports conflicted on the attacker’s gender) set off explosives at a metal detector at the Volgograd railway station, killing 15 people, including a police sergeant, and wounding 50, including 3 police officers. At least 40 people were hospitalized, many in grave condition. The death toll reached 18 on December 31. Authorities said the bomb contained shrapnel and 22 pounds of TNT. An unexploded hand grenade was found at the site. Chechen terrorists loyal to Doku Umarov, who had called for attacks to stop the upcoming Sochi Olympics, were blamed. Lifenews.ru ran an image of the severed head of the “black widow,” whose 2 husbands were killed by Russian security forces in the Caucasus. Interfax reported that police believed the bomber can from the Mari El region along the Volga, and was an emergency room nurse and Muslim convert. MSNBC added that Pavel Pech­yon­kin, 26, had ignored his parents’ call to leave the insurgency in Dagestan and come home. He became a jihadi in 2011 and went underground. Pechyonkin posted a video in which he said, “It is not easy to go this way, the way of jihad. But Allah makes us strong.”

On January 19, 2014, Vilayat Dagestan, a jihadi group in the North Caucasus, released a 49-minute Internet video in which it claimed credit for the 2 Volgograd bombings and threatened to attack the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Two Russian speakers told President Vladimir Putin “if you hold these Olympics, we will give you a present for the innocent Muslim blood being spilled all around the world: in Afghanistan, in Somalia, in Syria … for the tourists who come, there will be a present, too.” The group claimed that Suleiman and Abdurakhman were the suicide bombers.

On January 30, 2014, Russia’s National ­Anti-Terrorism Committee said the suicide bombers were named Asker Samedov and Suleiman Magomedov, and were members of a terrorist group in Dagestan. They had earlier been identified only as Suleiman and Abdurakhman. The same day, authorities arrested brothers Magomednabi and Tagir Batirov in Dagestan as accomplices.

On February 5, 2014, Russian security forces killed Dzhamaldin Mirzayev, 30, who was suspected of training the 2 Volgograd suicide bombers and sending them to the city. Mirzayev died when authorities raided them in Izberbash, Dagestan.

December 29—Egypt—A car bomb went off at a military intelligence building in rural Anshas village in Sharqiya Province, wounding 4. Other reports suggested the explosive was a hand grenade.

Egyptian state television reported that a bomb was defused outside the medical school of ­al-Azhar University’s branch in the Nile Delta city of Damietta. Governor Mohammed ­Abdel-Latif said that the bomb was made out of a sauce can, ball bearings and wires. Two other bombs were defused at another university branch.

December 29—Iraq—Drive-by gunmen fired at a Sahwa checkpoint in Abu Ghraib, killing 4 and wounding 3.

A bomb exploded at an outdoor market in Baghdad’s western Jihad neighborhood, killing 2 and wounding 8.

December 29—Israel—Two rocket shells fired from Lebanon hit the northern Israel town of Kiryat Shmona but caused no injuries or damage. Israel fired back at the Lebanese border area of Rachaya.

December 29—Sudan—Gunmen killed a Jordanian and a Senegalese UN peacekeeper in a convoy travel­ing near Greida, South Darfur. Peacekeepers fired back, killing a gunman and wounding a second. 13122901

December 29—Libya—In a nighttime attack, gunmen killed police Lieutenant Colonel Hamad ­al-Amami in his car near his home in Benghazi’s ­al-Salam district, and wounded his guard and another officer.

Gunmen seriously wounded another police officer in ­al-Salam district.

December 30—Greece—Gunmen fired 2 AK-47s at the official Athens residence of German Ambassador Wolfgang Dold, 55, just before dawn. No injuries were reported in the attack in the Halandri area. No one was hurt in the attack. Police recovered more than 60 bullet casings. Police detained, questioned, and released without charge 6 people. Police found a stolen car near the scene.

On February 12, 2014, the Popular Fighters Group sent a 20-page manifesto claiming responsibility. The group told the weekly satirical newspaper To Pontiki that the shooting was a response to Greece’s financial crisis and Germany’s role in enforcing Greek financial reforms. The attack commemorated a destitute man who had committed suicide in Athens’s main Syntagma Square in April 2012. 13123001

December 30—Russia—NPR reported that a second suicide bomber attacked an electric trolley bus in Volgograd 24 hours after the previous day’s attack, killing 15 people, including several students, and injuring 28. Those injured in the morning rush hour attack included a baby boy who went into a coma after sustaining multiple skull injuries, according to CNN. Investigators believed that the male bomber carried 9 pounds of explosives in a bomb similar to that used the previous day.

By December 31, 3 more victims of the 2 Volgograd bombings had died, bringing their total to 34—18 from the rail station bombing and 16 from the bus.

On January 19, 2014, Vilayat Dagestan, a jihadi group in the North Caucasus, released a 49-minute Internet video in which it claimed credit for the 2 Volgograd bombings and threatened to attack the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Two Russian speakers told President Vladimir Putin “if you hold these Olympics, we will give you a present for the innocent Muslim blood being spilled all around the world: in Afghanistan, in Somalia, in Syria … for the tourists who come, there will be a present, too.” The group claimed that Suleiman and Abdurakhman were the suicide bombers.

On January 30, 2014, Russia’s National ­Anti-Terrorism Committee said the suicide bombers were named Asker Samedov and Suleiman Magomedov, and were members of a terrorist group in Dagestan. They had earlier been identified only as Suleiman and Abdurakhman. The same day, authorities arrested brothers Magomednabi and Tagir Batirov in Dagestan as accomplices.

On December 5, 2014, a Volgograd court convicted 4 Dagestani men for their roles in the twin suicide bombings. AP reported that Alautdin Dadayev and Ibragim Magomedov were found guilty of complicity in terrorism for sheltering the 2 suicide bombers as they prepared the explosives used at a train station and on a crowded electric trolleybus. The duo were sentenced to 19 years in prison. Brothers Magomed and Tagir Batirov were convicted of transporting the suicide bombers to Volgograd in a heavy truck by hiding them inside a load of hay. They were sentenced to 5 years and 10 months.

A week after the trial, security forces surrounded a group of suspected militants hiding in Magomedov’s home in the Dagestani town of Izberbash. Four men inside refused to surrender and were killed, but Magomedov gave himself up and also implicated Dadayev, who was arrested 2 weeks later, according to a court spokesman.

December 30—Pakistan—A bomb squad defused 4 small bombs planted in separate plastic shopping bags a half mile from the Islamabad farmhouse of former president and army chief Pervez Musharraf, 2 days before his treason trial. The bombs had 6.6 pounds of explosives.

December 30—China—The Xinjiang government news portal Tianshan Net said that police fatally shot 8 of 9 “terrorists” who had attacked them with knives and explosives and burned police cars in Shache county. Police arrested one attacker.

December 30—Russia—RIA Novosti reported that the National ­Anti-Terrorist Committee announced the deaths of a jihadi leader and 2 accomplices in a ­several-hour gun battle with law enforcement officers in Chegem in the North Caucasus. The Committee added, “The gunmen were planning terror acts during the New Year and Christmas holidays to destabilize the situation in the republic” of ­Kabardino-Balkaria. The dead were suspected of involvement in the killings of 2 Russian police officers in December.

December 30—UK—British counterterror police arrested British chemistry teacher Jamshed Javeed, 30, for supporting the Islamic State. On October 27, 2014, he pleaded guilty to 2 counts of engaging in conduct in preparation of terrorist acts. He planned to travel to Syria to join the jihad. He began to support IS in the summer. Sentencing was set for December 2014.

December 31—Yemen—Just before dawn, a suicide car bomb exploded outside security headquarters in Aden’s Khormaksar neighborhood, killing 2 guards and wounding 6 people. The explosion destroyed much of the building and blew out doors and shattered windows of 2 hotels and several nearby buildings. Two suspects were arrested.

A car bomb exploded in Aden’s nearby ­al-Maalla neighborhood, causing no casualties or material damage.

Gunmen set off a bomb under an oil export pipeline in Shabwa Province, setting it alight.

December 31—Indonesia—During a 9-hour ­shoot-out that stretched over 2 days, an ­anti-terrorist police squad killed 6 terrorist suspects and arrested a 7th at a hideout in Ciputat, a Jakarta suburb. National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar said police were investigating a plot to bomb the Myanmar Embassy and a Buddhist temple. One policeman was injured in the leg when the suspects refused to surrender, and instead fired at police and threw bombs. The suspects were also suspected of involvement in robberies that funded terrorist attacks against police. Police found 6 bombs, 5 pistols, a revolver, 200 million rupiah ($16,500) in cash, addresses of 20–30 Buddhist temples that might have been targets, and bombmaking materials at the house. Police linked the suspects to terrorists led by Abu Wardah Santoso in Poso.

December 31—Pakistan—More explosives and a detonator were found near former president Pervez Musharraf’s suburban farmhouse.

2013—Iraq—On January 1, 2014, the UN announced that 7,818 civilians were killed in violence in 2013. Adding Iraqi security forces brought the annual total to 8,868.