Latest Al Qaeda news

PARIS (Reuters) - French anti-terror judges ordered the detention on Saturday of a man on suspicions he aided an al Qaeda-inspired gunman prepare for a shooting spree last year, a judicial source said. Mohamed Merah killed four Jews and three soldiers in and around the southern city of Toulouse in March 2012 before he was …

ADEN (Reuters) - At least four people were killed and a number of others wounded in a drone strike on a vehicle carrying suspected al Qaeda members in southern Yemen, a local official said on Saturday. The official said the strike took place at dawn on Saturday on a road to the north of Jaar in Abyan Governorate, near Aden. …

Tunisian security forces deployed in strength on Saturday to head off clashes after Salafist movement Ansar al-Sharia called on its hardline Islamist supporters to defy a government ban on its annual congress.

RAMADI, Iraq (Reuters) - Suspected Sunni Muslim militants killed four state-backed Sunni fighters in Iraq on Saturday, security sources said, apparently viewing them as collaborators with the Shi'ite-led government of a nation plagued by sectarian hatred. Sunni-Shi'ite tensions in Iraq have been amplified by the conflict …

By Tim Cocks LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigeria's military said on Saturday it had killed 10 insurgents and arrested 65 more as part of an offensive meant to wrest back control of parts of its remote northeast from an Islamist group seen as the main security threat to Africa's top oil producer. President Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian …

Violence in Iraq killed 11 people on Saturday including a police officer, his wife and two children, while gunmen kidnapped up to 10 people, among them police, officials said.

An apparent US drone attack has killed four suspected Al-Qaeda militants in southern Yemen and destroyed an explosives-packed truck, tribal sources said on Saturday.

By David Lewis BAMAKO (Reuters) - Fighting has broken out in northern Mali between Tuareg separatists and local Arab-led gunmen, only days after the African country won a $4.2 billion aid pledge to help it recover from a conflict with Islamists affiliated to al Qaeda. Rebel and military sources both confirmed the clashes, …

Hundreds of gunmen gathered near the headquarters of a provincial security command in Iraq on Saturday, while others ambushed a patrol and kidnapped 10 security force personnel, police said.

Suspected Al-Qaeda gunmen shot dead a Yemeni intelligence officer in a drive-by attack in the southern city of Mukalla, capital of the southeastern Hadramawt province, a police source said on Saturday.

ADEN (Reuters) - Gunmen shot dead a senior Yemeni military intelligence officer who had been targeted for assassination by al Qaeda-linked militants, a local security official said. Colonel Abdullah al-Rabaki was walking home in the city of Mukalla in Hadramawt Province late on Friday when the gunmen shot him six times …

Bombs targeting Sunnis, including two near a mosque and one at a funeral procession, killed 67 people in Iraq, officials said, after dozens died in two days of attacks on Shiites.

By Erika Solomon BEIRUT (Reuters) - The United States chided Russia for sending missiles to the Syrian government as plans for a peace conference promoted by Washington and Moscow were hit by diplomatic rifts over its scope and purpose. Sectarian bloodshed in neighbouring Iraq during Friday prayers, a hacking attack on …

By Phil Stewart WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top U.S. military officer on Friday condemned Russia's shipment of advanced anti-ship missiles to Syria, saying it could embolden President Bashar al-Assad's forces to keep fighting a bloody civil war. "It's at the very least an unfortunate decision that will embolden the regime …

By Lanre Ola MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigerian warplanes struck militant camps in the northeast on Friday in a major push against an Islamist insurgency, drawing a sharp warning from the United States to respect human rights and not harm civilians. Troops used jets and helicopters to bombard targets in their biggest …

By Jim Finkle and Jennifer Saba (Reuters) - The Financial Times' website and Twitter feeds were hacked on Friday, renewing questions about whether the popular social media service has done enough to tighten security as cyber-attacks on the news media intensify. The Syrian Electronic Army, an online group that supports Syrian …

By Tarek Amara TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia's government on Friday barred the radical Islamist group Ansar al-Sharia from staging a weekend rally in the central city of Kairouan, saying the organisation, which openly supports al Qaeda, posed a "threat to public security." But the group, under fugitive leader Saif-Allah Benahssine, …

BAQUBA, Iraq (Reuters) - Two bombs exploded outside a Sunni Muslim mosque in the Iraqi city of Baquba as worshippers left Friday prayers, killing at least 43 people in one of the deadliest attacks in a month-long surge in sectarian violence. Several other bombings claimed lives around the country - with 19 killed near a …

Nigeria's military on Friday attacked Boko Haram Islamist strongholds across the northeast, launching air strikes on insurgent camp with dozens of militants killed in the fighting, the military said.

The Tunisian government on Friday banned hardline Salafist group Ansar al-Sharia from holding its annual congress at the weekend, saying it posed a threat to public order and setting the scene for a possible showdown.

British construction worker Chris McManus was "unlawfully killed" by his captors minutes into a rescue operation to save him.

At least 43 people have died in two explosions outside a Sunni Muslim mosque in Baquba, about 30 miles northeast of Baghdad.

By Lanre Ola MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigerian forces used jets and attack helicopters to bombard militant camps in the northeast on Friday, their biggest offensive since Boko Haram began an insurgency almost four years ago to try create a breakaway Islamic state. A military source said at least 30 insurgents had …

Dear Mr Blair,