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 […]

WASHINGTON - The director of U.S. National Intelligence, Admiral Mike McConnell, says terrorism remains the preeminent threat to American security.  But McConnell told the Senate Armed Services Committee that other threats endanger not only America and Americans, but people in many other parts of the world.
National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell says that despite elimination of […]

WASHINGTON - The New York Times is reporting that U.S. intelligence officials believe senior al-Qaida leaders operating from Pakistan have re-established a chain of command over their worldwide terror network.
The newspaper cites anonymous U.S. intelligence and counter-terrorism officials, saying there is mounting evidence that Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, have been building […]

JERUSALEM - Israeli police say a suicide bomber attacked a bakery in the southern Israeli resort city, Eilat, early Monday. Three Israelis and the suicide bomber were killed in the attack. At least two different Palestinian militant groups are claiming responsibility for the attack.
Police say the bomber struck a small bakery in a residential neighborhood […]

MANILLA - Philippine military officials say troops have killed a top leader of the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group, which is linked to a number of bloody attacks in the country.
General Hermogenes Esperon, the chief of the Philippine military, said Wednesday that army special forces killed Abu Sulaiman in a gun battle on the southwestern island […]

LONDON - Gunmen fired a rocket at the American embassy in Athens early Friday morning, causing damage but no injuries. Greek police are calling it terrorism and authorities blame a leftist Greek militant group.
The rocket hit the heavily fortified embassy building shortly before 6:00 am local time.
U.S. Ambassador Charles Ries told journalists damage was not […]

WASHINGTON - Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Osmani, who was an associate of Taliban head Mullah Omar, was killed on Tuesday following a U.S. air strike in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan. He is the highest ranking Taliban official to have been killed or captured since the invasion in 2001.
Colonel Tom Collins claims that this is a […]

CAIRO - Al-Qaida’s second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri, has vowed continued terrorist attacks and says the United States is negotiating with the wrong people in its quest to end the violence in Iraq.  In excerpts of a videotape broadcast on al-Jazeera television, Zawahri also said that elections will not free Palestinian land from Israeli occupation. 
In the latest […]

LONDON - Britain’s top domestic intelligence chief says authorities are investigating dozens of terror plots and warns of future attacks, which she says could involve chemical or even nuclear devices.  
The head of Britain’s domestic spy agency, MI5 rarely speaks out publicly, but Eliza Manningham-Buller told a select invited audience that the authorities are currently tracking […]

HANOI - A Vietnamese court has convicted seven people, three U.S. citizens and four Vietnamese, on terrorism charges. They will all be out of jail in a month, however, and the Americans will be required to leave Vietnam quickly. The case had become a stumbling block to US-Vietnamese trade relations on the eve of next […]

Pakistani Army Says Raid at Terrorist Training Facility Kills 80 Militants 
ISLAMABAD - The Pakistan military says its gun ship helicopters have destroyed a terror training facility near the border with Afghanistan, killing up to 80 suspected militants.
Officials in Pakistan say Monday’s early morning raid in the Bajaur tribal region targeted an Islamic school, known as […]

Terrorism in the Nuclear Age 
WASHINGTON - Nuclear materials have a wide range of characteristics.  Enriched uranium or plutonium have awesome explosive potential.  Cesium emits deadly radiation, while isotopes of some radioactive substances, such as thalium, can be safely injected into patients undergoing medical procedures.  But as VOA’s Peter Fedynsky reports, any kind of nuclear material […]

Filipino Muslim leaders call for shun terror  
By Santosh Digal
Special to ASSIST News Service
COTABATO CITY, THE PHILIPPINES (ANS) – Filipino Muslim Religious leaders urged fellow Muslims to shun terrorism in any form in the world.
Filipino Muslim Religious leaders urged fellow Muslims to shun terrorism in any form in the world.In a khutba (sermon) Ustadz Abdulrauf Guialani, […]

Indonesia to Free Bali Bomber as Muslims Celebrate Eid al-Fitr
Indonesian officials say they will release at least two Islamic militants in jail for involvement in the 2002 terrorist bombings on the resort island of Bali, to mark the end of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan. 
As Indonesians prepare to celebrate the holiday, Eid al-Fitr, prison […]

Iraqi Terrorists Kill 11 Employees at Baghdad TV Station 
IRBIL, IRAQ - Iraqi authorities say gunmen stormed a new Iraqi satellite television station in eastern Baghdad early Thursday killing 11 employees. At least eight other people perished elsewhere in a series of attacks.
The executive manager of the Shaabiya satellite channel said the masked raiders struck about […]

JAKARTA - Philippine soldiers have arrested the wife of a top Indonesian terrorist, wanted in connection with the 2002 bombings on the Indonesian island of Bali that killed 202 people.
The Indonesian wife of Dulmatin, one of southeast Asia’s most wanted terrorists, was arrested in the town of Patikul on the southern island of Jolo, around […]

WASHINGTON - U.S. counterterrorism officials say Lebanon-based Hezbollah terrorists remain a threat to the survival of Lebanon’s government, Israel’s security, and regional stability following its month-long war with Israel. The officials told Congress Thursday that Hezbollah has an increasing global reach and is capable of harming U.S. and other western interests around the world.
The 34-day […]