WASHINGTON - The al-Jazeera Arab television network has aired what it says is a new audio message from al-Qaida terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, in which he claims responsibility for the failed Christmas day airliner bombing attempt in the United States.
In the message broadcast Sunday, bin Laden said al-Qaida would launch further attacks against the […]

WASHINGTON - A top Yemeni official confirms that the Nigerian man suspected of trying to blow up an airplane last month met with an extremist Muslim cleric linked to other violence in the U.S.  But the official says that although the suspect lived for a while in Yemen, he was radicalized in Britain. 
Yemen’s deputy prime […]

WASHINGTON - One of America’s top military leaders says Yemen-based terrorists helped plan the Christmas Day, December 25, plot to blow up a U.S. bound airplane.
General David Petraeus told reporters in Baghdad Friday that the U.S. and Yemen have been sharing information about al-Qaida in the country, including activity that “resulted in the failed attack […]

WASHINGTON - Authorities in Yemen say the Nigerian man accused of trying to destroy a U.S. jetliner last week lived in Yemen for months, and was in the country as recently as this month.
The Yemeni Foreign Ministry says 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was in Yemen from early August to early December.  The ministry says he […]

WASHINGTON - The United States is increasing security for air travel across the country after a Nigerian man set off a small explosion aboard a flight bound for the U.S. city of Detroit.  White House officials are calling it “an attempted act of terrorism.”
The incident happened just about 20 minutes before Northwest Airlines Flight 253, […]

MOSCOW - Officials in Russia say a train crash that killed at least 26 people and injured at least 50 late Friday may have resulted from an attack.
Prosecutors said Saturday they have begun a criminal investigation that could result in terrorism charges, but did not identify suspects.  Investigators near the town of Bologoye are looking […]

WASHINGTON - When it comes to battling terrorism, most public attention has focused on Pakistan and Afghanistan. But officials are concerned that al-Qaida has found alternative accommodation in the troubled nation of Yemen.

Counter-terrorism officers liken battling a group like al-Qaida to the children’s game Whack-a-Mole. The object of the game is to knock out the […]

SYDNEY - An Australian court has convicted five Muslim men of plotting to commit an act of terrorism. The men were found guilty of stockpiling bomb-making instructions and purchasing explosive chemicals in pursuit of what prosecutors called “violent jihad.”  Each face a maximum sentence of life in prison.
The New South Wales Supreme Court heard that […]

WASHINGTON - U.S. counterterrorism officials say a man released from the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba has resurfaced to become the deputy leader of al-Qaida’s Yemeni branch.
Officials on Friday confirmed an al-Qaida Internet statement which says the former Guantanamo detainee now holds the terrorist group’s number two position in Yemen.
The man, identified as […]

WASHINGTON - The United States Department of Defense says the number of former Guantanamo Bay detainees returning to terrorist activities is on the rise.  
Pentagon Spokesman Geoff Morrell told reporters on Tuesday that 61 former detainees from the U.S. military facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba have returned to the fight against the United States and […]

WASHINGTON - A U.S. counterterrorism official says the head of al-Qaida’s operations in Pakistan, and his top aide were killed by a CIA missile strike on New Year’s Day.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on Thursday the two were believed to be Kenyan nationals.
The men, identified as Usama al-Kini and his aide, Sheikh […]

PARIS - Belgium police detained Thursday 14 people suspected of having ties to al-Qaida. Reports suggest they may have been planning a terrorist attack - possibly timed to coincide with an EU summit in Brussels.
The 14 suspected extremists were arrested in raids in the Belgium capital in an the eastern part of the country. Wire […]

NEW DELHI - The terror attacks in Mumbai have heightened tensions between India and Pakistan as Indian officials blame a Pakistan-based militant group for the attack. The attacks could reverse the gains from a five-year peace process between South Asia’s nuclear armed rivals.  
Indian investigators say that a gunman captured during the attacks on Mumbai admits […]

WASHINGTON - Al-Qaida’s first reaction to Barack Obama’s election as U.S. president refers to him by a derogatory racial term and attacks his policies as anti-Islamic. 
In an posting on a militant Web site Wednesday, a voice identified as the terror network’s second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri, says President-elect Obama’s plan to increase the U.S. military presence in […]

WASHINGTON - The director of the U.S. intelligence agency says al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden appears to be isolated from the terrorist group’s day-to-day operations and has been forced to devote much of his energy to his own security.
Michael Hayden said in a speech Thursday in Washington that hunting down bin Laden remains at the […]

WASHINGTON - Terrorism experts have told a congressional hearing in Washington the search for al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden is likely to be a long one.  The hearing came as it was revealed that a top al-Qaida operative, Abu Obaidah al-Masri, is believed to have died some time ago in Pakistan. 
Author and journalist Peter Bergen […]

ISLAMABAD - A leading al-Qaida operative apparently was among those killed in Pakistan recently by a missile reportedly launched from a U.S. military drone. However, the Pakistani government says it does not know the source of the explosion or who was killed. The tribal region where Abu Laith al-Libi was reportedly killed, has seen frequent […]

WASHINGTON - A top official of the leading U.S. law enforcement agency says al-Qaida’s September 11, 2001 terror attacks in the United States initiated what he calls “a very high tempo of terrorist activity” that continues today.
FBI Assistant Director John Miller told ABC’s This Week program he believes al- Qaida operates on two tracks - […]

ISLAMABAD - NATO and Afghan officials say the Taleban’s top military commander, Mullah Dadullah, has been killed in Southern Afghanistan. From Islamabad, the death is a major setback for the five-year old Taleban insurgency.NATO officials confirmed Mullah Dadullah’s death Sunday.
In a brief written statement NATO says the Taleban commander was killed in a U.S.-led coalition […]

WASHINGTON - The U.S. State Department says both the number of terrorist attacks worldwide and their victims soared last year.In its annual global survey of terrorism released Monday, the State Department says about 14,000 terror attacks occurred in 2006, a rise of 25 percent over the previous year. More than 20,000 people were killed, a […]

WASHINGTON - Saudi Arabia announced Friday the roundup of 172 suspected terrorists for plots to attack Saudi installations. Those arrested are believed to be local members of al-Qaida. In this background report, there are disagreements among Western intelligence analysts about the organization of today’s al-Qaida on the global and local level.
The Taleban was ousted from […]

WASHINGTON - News of the confession of an al-Qaida operative of involvement in the 1998 East Africa embassy bombings and the attack on the USS Cole in October, 2000 has surfaced this week in a newly released Pentagon transcript.  During a March 12 hearing at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Waleed bin Attash told American military investigators […]

ISLAMABAD - Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has apparently confessed to masterminding the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States during a military hearing at the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Officials in Pakistan, where Mohammed was captured in 2003, say the confession is a step forward in the fight against the al Qaida terror network. 
According […]

PENTAGON - The U.S. Defense Department says it held hearings on Friday and Saturday at the Guantanamo Bay detention center for three of the most notorious terrorism suspects it is holding, including the alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks.
Spokesman Bryan Whitman says Saturday’s hearing reviewed the status of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who U.S. officials […]