Word: qaeda
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Pakistan, which once supported the Taliban government in Afghanistan, is now suffering an insurgency of its own. Militants aligned with al-Qaeda have not only attacked security forces in the ungoverned tribal areas; they have also sent suicide bombers to major urban areas such as Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad. The Pakistani army has been unable to contain the militants, and has already lost around 1,000 soldiers trying. In an attempt to gain stability, the military embarked last December on peace negotiations with militant groups. The newly elected government in Islamabad is backing the talks, and militants have agreed...
...Founded in the late 1980s by Filipino Muslims who fought with al-Qaeda during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, Abu Sayyaf (Arabic for "Father of the Sword") aims to create an Islamic state in the southern islands of the mostly Catholic Philippines. Its bombings, kidnappings and assassinations have killed some 300 people and wounded hundreds more. Abu Sayyaf first caught the world's attention in 2000, when it used speedboats to snatch 21 tourists from a Malaysian beach resort within reach of Jolo. The following year it seized 20 more people from a resort on Palawan, in the southwest Philippines...
...Sayyaf maintained ties with al-Qaeda, which provided large sums of money. It also forged links with Jemaah Islamiah (J.I.), the Indonesian group that carried out the Bali bombings in 2002, and gave sanctuary to some of the J.I. terrorists in return for cash, guns and bombmaking lessons. In 2004 Abu Sayyaf was blamed for one of the world's deadliest maritime terror attacks, when a Manila ferry exploded, killing 116 people. Last November the group was blamed for a Manila bombing that killed three people, including a Muslim congressman, and wounded a dozen more...
...Retreating and Regrouping Officials claim their program has destroyed command structures and smashed morale and that Abu Sayyaf no longer publicly names its leaders for fear that they will be killed. The program has also cut off funding from al-Qaeda and other allies. "It was Janjalani who established connections with al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiah," says Sabban. "Now that he is killed there is nobody to replace him [as a go-between]. That's why we believe the organization is so weak. If we push it more, maybe we can finally eliminate it." Abu Sayyaf members are now said...
...hapless leader, including industrial action this weekend by tanker-truck drivers that could cause fuel shortages. Even as Brown breathed a sigh of relief over his narrow escape in the Commons, civil servants were briefing him about an embarrassing security breach in which secret government documents about al-Qaeda were left on a commuter train...