Free Republic

TEL AVIV – A top Islamic State-tied jihadist in the Gaza Strip claimed in an interview on Sunday that he “knows” that Omar Mateen, the Orlando club shooter, was a member of a terrorist organization. Abu al-Ayna al-Ansari, a Salafist movement senior official in the Gaza Strip, claimed he was told that Mateen was a member of one of the groups that fall under the jihadiya Salafiya franchise, meaning the network of loosely-based Salafist jihadist groups such as the Islamic State, Al-Qaeda, and the Al Nusra Front. Ansari made the claim in a pre-recorded interview to air in full tonight...

Pakistan said the United States drone strike that reportedly killed a Taliban leader violated its sovereignty, The Guardian reported . Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour was killed in an airstrike on Saturday in Pakistan, CNN confirmed , according to sources within al Qaeda and the Taliban. U.S. officials said the drone strike was authorized by President Obama. But Pakistan said Sunday the U.S. government didn't tell Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of its plans ahead of the strike. “This is a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty,” Sharif told reporters in London, according to The Guardian. The Guardian reported that the American government...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States carried out a drone strike on Saturday against the leader of Afghan Taliban, likely killing him on the Pakistan side of the remote border region with Afghanistan in a mission authorized by U.S. President Barack Obama, officials said.

Senior Afghan Taliban sources on Sunday confirmed the death of their chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour in a US drone strike in Pakistan, adding a shura or council is underway to decide his successor. “I can say with good authority that Mullah Mansour is no more,” a senior Taliban source told AFP. Mansour’s death was confirmed by two other senior figures, who said the group’s top leaders were gathering in Quetta to name their future chief. Earlier, Reuters quoted a US official as saying that Mansour was “likely killed” along with another combatant.

Russia's foreign minister said Washington has asked Moscow not to target the al-Qaida's branch in Syria, the Nusra Front, but the U.S. insisted Friday that it only wants Russia to carefully select it targets to avoid hitting civilians and legitimate opposition groups. Sergey Lavrov said that Russia has long insisted that the moderate, U.S.-backed opposition groups should leave the areas occupied by Nusra. He said in televised remarks that Russia and the U.S. have engaged in close dialogue on how to secure a cease-fire in Syria, but added that fighting the Islamic State group and Nusra should be a top...

#Russia resumes its airstrikes vs #AlQaeda in #Syria, near #Turkey border#WarOnTerrorhttps://t.co/U0sFA3V8cn pic.twitter.com/uVUc6gO2Vq— маяковский (@moscow_ghost) May 27, 2016

A senior figure from a Syrian rebel group with links to al Qaida was allowed into the United States for a brief visit, raising questions about how much the Obama administration will compromise in the search for partners in the conflict. Labib al Nahhas, foreign affairs director for the Islamist fighting group Ahrar al Sham, spent a few days in Washington in December, according to four people with direct knowledge of the trip and who spoke on condition of anonymity. His previously undisclosed visit is a delicate matter for both sides – the conservative Salafist insurgents risk their credibility with...

The Russian defense minister proposed on Friday that Russia and the U.S.-led coalition launch joint action against al-Qaida's branch in Syria, known as the Nusra Front. A spokesman for the U.S. State Department said no agreement on such action has been made with Russia. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that Moscow had proposed to Washington that the coalition call on all factions eager to abide by a cease-fire in Syria to leave the areas where the al-Qaida branch is active by May 25. Then Russia and the U.S.-led coalition could conduct joint strikes against the Nusra Front and any other...

Two top nuclear scientists of Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) are currently in Taliban custody. The two were working at PAEC’s facility in North West Frontier Province. Zee News investigations reveal that the two scientists were kidnapped about six months ago. To avoid international embarrassment Pakistan Government has kept this information under wraps. According to information available with Zee News, nuclear scientists have been kidnapped by Taliban at the behest of Al-Qaeda.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has just published its latest issue of Inspire magazine. It contains some items of particular interest and concern to Westerners: • AQAP is now advising Muslims in the West to target people in their homes. • They suggest using technology to plan home assassinations, such as Google Earth, small drones and cameras. • The magazine contains new detailed instructions on new types of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) inside of books, attached to automobiles with magnets and attached to doors in homes. • AQAP calls on “Knife Revolutionaries” to conduct knife attacks specifically on Americans,...

(Screen shot from AQAP's Inspire magazine issue 15) Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's new issue of Inspire magazine includes a shout out to the "Clock Boy" while slamming President Obama's programs to counter violent extremism. Ahmed Mohamed, 14, was arrested at his Texas high school in 2015 for bringing a homemade clock to school encased in what resembled a small briefcase. The device was seized by his English teacher and the cops were called. He was not charged with any crime. "Cool clock, Ahmed. Want to bring it to the White House? We should inspire more kids like you to...

they are considering arming and training the new unity government in Libya so it can fight the spread of terrorist groups in the country and counter the smuggling of migrants to Europe. In a joint communique following a lengthy meeting on ways to rein in chaos in Libya, the diplomats said they would support Libya’s request to be exempted from a United Nations embargo that was put in place five years ago to keep arms out of the hands of Islamist militants and rival militias locked in a power struggle. Other parts of the embargo would be reinforced, the communique...

The latest issue of Al Qaeda’s online magazine Inspire released Saturday calls on would-be jihadis to undermine the American economy by targeting business leaders and entrepreneurs, according to analysts who monitor web chatter from the jihadist organization. AND the magazine also features a section on bomb-making and encouraging radical Islamic terrorists to emulate the Palestinian stabbings of Israelis by walking up to Americans and stabbing them to death.

The United States under the Obama administration has halted the practice of blacklisting domestic organizations that pose as charities to raise money for terrorist groups. The tool was central to former president George W. Bush’s counterterrorism strategy, but Bloomberg reported Thursday that federal officials haven’t listed an American charity as a facade for terrorist fundraising since the first month of President Obama’s presidency. Osama bin Laden was still a fugitive Feb. 11, 2009, when the Treasury Department blacklisted the Maryland-based Tamil Foundation for allegedly raising funds for Sri Lankan terrorist group the Tamil Tigers. Bloomberg reported: An examination of the...

Saddam Hussein's son Uday planned to carry out an attack in London to assassinate the leader of an Iraqi opposition group in April 2000, it is being reported. According to the U.K.'s Times of London newspaper, a new Pentagon study based on documents seized during the Iraq war reveal an aborted plot by Uday Hussein's elite paramilitary group — the Fedayeen — to kill London-based Ahmed Chalabi, head of the Iraqi National Congress. Documents show that Fedayeen's orders were to carry out assassinations and bombings in London, the Times reported. While the study showed no link between Saddam Hussein's regime...

The valorous dead of the USS Cole have been betrayed too many times to count by each administration On Thursday morning, sailors on board the USS Cole were lining up for an early lunch. Seventeen of them died as an Al Qaeda bomb on board a fishing boat tore through the hull outside the galley. The dead included 15 men and 2 women, one of whom had a young child. For three weeks the crew of the USS Cole struggled to keep their ship from sinking while working waist deep in water with bucket brigades, sleeping on the deck and...

Al Qaeda’s Yemen branch remains a powerful force and poses a growing risk to merchant ships in vital waterways nearby despite efforts by Yemeni government forces and their allies to push back the group, a top officer in an international naval force said.

The man at the helm of the USS Cole when it was attacked by an Al Qaeda cell in 2000 said last month's release of a Guantanamo Bay detainee linked to the bombers denies justice to the 17 people killed aboard the ship. Kirk Lippold, who was commanding officer of the U.S. Navy guided missile destroyer when suicide bombers aboard a small fishing boat blew a hole in the side of the ship, told FoxNews.com Mashur Abdallah Ahmed al Sabri's release was a mistake. "I would have liked to have seen him receive a military commission where he was tried,...

Obama Frees USS Cole Bombing Terrorist American lives don’t matter. May 2, 2016 Daniel Greenfield    Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is a New York writer focusing on radical Islam. On Thursday morning, sailors on board the USS Cole were lining up for an early lunch. Seventeen of them died as an Al Qaeda bomb on board a fishing boat tore through the hull outside the galley. The dead included 15 men and 2 women, one of whom had a young child. For three weeks the crew of the USS Cole struggled to keep...

<p>Secretary of State John Kerry said Friday that Russia had moved heavy artillery into position outside Aleppo in northern Syria, raising new concerns that a partial cease-fire will come undone.</p> <p>Russia’s military buildup, described by Mr. Kerry in a meeting with The New York Times editorial board, came on the same day that talks in Geneva aimed at finding a political resolution to the years of civil war began to break down.</p>