• Uganda mandates mobile phone users register phones to fight terrorism

    In an effort to combat terrorism and reduce crime, the Ugandan government is urging all mobile phone users to register their SIM cards; beginning in March, all new and existing mobile phone numbers must be registered before they can be activated; according to the Ugandan Communication Commission, the move will allow law enforcement agencies to identify owners and track down malicious actors who use phones to conduct illegal activities

  • Wanted terrorist turned away from Tokyo police station

    One of Japan’s most wanted men was sent away from a police station in Tokyo on New Year’s Eve after he tried to turn himself in; Makoto Hirata, a former member of Aum Shinrikyo, the doomsday cult that perpetrated the 1995 Sarin gas subway attacks, is wanted in connection with the kidnapping and death of a civil servant whose sister attempted to leave the cult; Hirata was arrested only after he walked to another police station; the officer at the first station did not believe Hirata, thinking it was a prank, and instructed him to go to another station

  • U.K. requests return of terrorism suspect held by U.S. for seven years without charge

    The British government has requested that the United States return Yunus Rahmatullah, a twenty-nine year-old Pakistani originally captured by British troops in Iraq; Rahmatullah is suspected of being a member of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the group behind the Mumbai attacks; the British military handed him over to American troops, which have kept him in detention in Afghanistan for more than seven years without trial; last month a British Court of Appeal granted Rahmatullah a habeas corpus request and ruled that Britain should ensure that he is released

  • Finland to close embassy in Pakistan over security concerns

    On Wednesday, it was rumored that Finland plans to close its embassy in Pakistan, citing security concerns as the primary reason; officials say the decision was made because Pakistan did not house the Finnish delegation in the diplomatic enclave, which is heavily guarded and considered to be safer than the rest of Islamabad; officials spoke anonymously to Dunya, a local Urdu TV channel in Pakistan, for fear that the decision to close the embassy would affect bilateral relations

  • Three al Qaeda leaders killed in Yemen

    Last Friday, three leaders of al Qaeda on the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) were killed in heated battles with government security forces in Zinjibar, the capital of the southern Abyan province; government forces also killed at least six other al Qaeda operatives in the clashes that began when the terrorist group attacked an army barrack; the fighting comes amidst mounting calls for outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh to be prosecuted; amidst the political turmoil, al Qaeda has taken control of several regions in southern Yemen

  • Syria accuses terrorists of blowing up gas pipeline

    On Tuesday, the Syrian government blamed terrorists for an explosion that struck a gas pipeline; since the political protests began last March, there have been several attacks on pipelines throughout the country; so far, there has been no indication pointing to who is behind the attacks; the government insists they are the work of saboteurs and terrorists; state security forces continue to violently repress protestors often with fatal results, despite the presence of foreign monitors

  • Mumbai forms special terror financing investigation units

    Mumbai’s home department recently formed two special cells to investigate terror funding; the move comes shortly after the creation of two similar terrorism financing units by the National Investigation Agency; according to senior law enforcement official most financing for terrorism comes from neighboring countries; “Preliminary probes have revealed that many terrorist groups received fake notes from Bangladesh and Nepal and the state has submitted specific information on fake currencies to the Centre,” the anonymous official said

  • India home minister frustrated with slow progress of bombing investigation

    Over the weekend India’s home minister P Chidambaram voiced his mounting frustration with the lack of progress on the investigation into the serial bombings that took place in Mumbai last July; India’s Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) maintains that it has made several breakthroughs, but politicians find these claims spurious; on 13 July three blasts rocked Mumbai; attackers hit the Zaveri Bazaar, the Opera House, and Dadar

  • India completes $1.2 billion deal with French defense firm

    On Wednesday India completed a $1.2 billion deal with France to purchase 500 air-to air missiles from French defense contractor MBDA; the missiles are for the Indian Air Force’s fleet of 2,000 Mirages; currently fifty-one of the planes are being upgraded at French facilities under a $1.9 billion deal and those same planes will be equipped with the missiles; as part of the deal, MBDA will have to invest 30 percent of the $1.2 billion into India’s growing defense sector

  • Sarkozy pledges support for Nigeria following wave of terrorist attacks

    Last week French President Nicolas Sarkozy expressed his support for Nigeria in their fight against terrorism; Sarkozy’s pledge comes in the wake of a series of deadly attacks on Christmas Day that killed more than forty people; in his letter, Sarkozy condemned the attacks writing, “In this symbolic day, terrorists have killed those who prayed for peace in the world”; Nigeria is France’s largest trading partner in sub-Saharan Africa