The U.S. State Department has officially named specific groups as being responsible for the 2012 Benghazi attack.
According to State Department officials, Ansar al-Sharia in Benghazi and Darnah are now officially terrorist organizations designated in part because of their roles in the Benghazi attacks. The heads of the two organizations, Sufian bin Qumu and Ahmed Abu Khattalah, were also designated as most wanted terrorists.
Both groups have been accused of also attacking civilian targets, frequent assassinations and attempted assassinations of security officials.
The State Department tried to downplay any connection with Al-Qaeda saying the groups acted alone but Fox News was able to confirm that the leaders have been trained in al-Qaeda camps.
Security for the February Sochi Russia Olympic Games is being called into question after back-to-back days of terror attacks in a major transportation hub north of the Olympic city.
A deadly homicide bombing on a bus in Volgograd has killed at least 11 and wounded dozens the day after a female homicide bomber detonated a backpack of explosives and shrapnel at the security checkpoint for the city’s main train station. At least 17 people are dead from that attack and hospital officials say the number of critically wounded patients means the death toll is likely to rise.
No group has claimed responsibility for the terror attacks.
Investigators say there is strong evidence linking the two attacks.
Volgograd is a major railroad hub for the region and thousands pass through the city every day heading to Moscow. The town is expected to be a major route for international visitors who will fly into Moscow and then travel to Sochi for the 2014 Winter Olympics.
At least one terrorist group has vowed to carry out attacks on the Winter Olympics.
Leaders within Egypt’s security forces are reportedly meeting in private over concerns that the Islamic militancy growing under the Muslim Brotherhood could be a major disruption in moving the country forward.
The concern has been heightened by a bus bombing in Cairo and homicide car bombing at a police headquarters in Mansoura that killed 16 people.
“If this battlefront for militants becomes Cairo and urban centers, then the prospect for the security situation and the human toll becomes pretty grim,” Michael Hanna, an Egypt expert at the New York-based Century Foundation, told the Wall Street Journal.
While the government did not publicly blame anyone for the Thursday attack on the Cairo bus, the unspoken allegation ties it to the Muslim Brotherhood who was designated a terrorist organization by the Egyptian government on Wednesday.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called Egypt’s foreign minister to express his concern about the Muslim Brotherhood being designated a terrorist group.
The Taliban attempted an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan on Christmas Day.
Two rockets struck the compound before dawn on Christmas Day. Officials at the Embassy report that no one was injured and there was no damage to consular buildings. A U.S. Embassy official called the rockets “indirect fire” in an apparent attempt to show the insignificance of the assault.
The Taliban immediately issued a claim of responsibility that said four rockets struck the compound and caused mass casualties despite the evidence showing the opposite.
The Taliban also detonated a bicycle bomb outside a restaurant in Puli Alam, killing 6 and wounding 13 including several children.
The Taliban has been ramping up attacks as the U.S. and other nations continue to withdraw troops before a deadline at the end of 2014 for all troops to leave the country.
It was another bloody Christmas for Christians in the Iraqi capital city.
Two separate bombings in Christian parts of the city left at least 37 people dead and hundreds wounded, some critically.
A car bomb placed outside a Catholic church was detonated as parishioners were leaving Christmas mass. Officials at the bombing site say 26 people died at the scene and over 40 others were rushed to hospitals. Witnesses say it appears the bomb was remotely detonated by someone who could see the crowd leaving the building.
Two bombs also ripped through a market in the Christian section of Athorien leaving 11 people dead.
There have been no immediate claims of responsibility for the attack but the rapidly dwindling Christian community in Iraq has been a major target for Islamic extremist terrorist groups like al-Qaeda.
At least 441 people have died from terrorist attacks in Iraq this month.
A Kansas man is under arrest after plotting to blow up Wichita Mid-Continent Airport.
Terry Loewen, an aviation tech at the airport, reportedly spent months planning the attack to destroy the airport. The plot involved using his access card to drive a vehicle loaded with explosives to a terminal and then planned to die in the attack.
FBI agents arrested Loewen was arrested early Friday morning while trying to gain access to a tarmac with the vehicle he thought was loaded with explosives. Authorities said that the car had been filled with fake explosives and the public was never in danger.
He faces life in prison on federal charges including attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction.
Loewen was under investigation since summer after making statements he wanted to commit an act of violent jihad against the United States.
The United States has officially designated the Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram as a “foreign terrorist organization” in a step designed to help Nigeria eliminate the group.
The move means that U.S. regulatory agencies can block business and financial transactions with the group. They can also seize assets of the organization that are found in U.S. owned companies or banks.
The state department said in a press statement that this is “only one tool in what must be a comprehensive approach by the Nigerian government to counter these groups.”
The group had not been given the official designation because the U.S. had considered the group only a domestic terror group. The move by the state department comes from the belief that the group has been working on an international agenda since connecting with al-Qaeda.
A blast in the center of Damascus has left at least 8 people dead.
Police officials saw at least 50 were wounded in the explosion at Hijaz Square outside the offices of a railway company.
A second blast happened in the town of Suweida outside the headquarters of the Air Force’s intelligence headquarters, killing 8 including the head of the intelligence branch.
The government blamed the attack on “terrorists,” their code word for the rebels attempting to overthrow the government of President Bashir al-Assad.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights disputed the government’s account of the Damascus bombing saying that it could not be determined if the attack was from a bomb or a mortar shell. No group has claimed responsibility for the bombings.
Just a week after Islamic terrorists attacked Tiananmen Square killing two pedestrians and three terrorists, another attack took place on the provincial government headquarters in Taiyuan.
Police say the blasts struck just after 7:40 a.m. local time from what appeared to be “home-made explosive devices” that were filled with ball bearings.
State broadcaster CCTV reported one person was injured and two cars seriously damaged. The bombs were reportedly hidden inside flowerbeds by the roadside.
Police have sealed the area and are restricting access in a manner similar to last week’s closure of Tiananmen Square. Witnesses claimed hearing as many as seven blasts.
The Pakistani Taliban have confirmed that their leader has been killed as the result of a U.S. drone strike.
Hakimullah Mehsud, who masterminded the Taliban attack on a CIA base in Afghanistan and multiple missions that lead to the deaths of thousands of Pakistani civilians, died Saturday when he was targeted by a U.S. drone. Mehsud was also believed to be the plotter of the failed Times Square bombing in 2010.
The U.S. had a $5 million bounty on Mehsud’s head.
Pakistan’s government expressed outrage over the U.S. strike saying they were working on peace talks with the Taliban at the time of the strike. Government officials summoned the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan to government offices for protests. Pakistan’s interior minister said the death of Mehsud was “the death of all peace efforts” although he said they would not be breaking off relations with the U.S. because of the attack.
The Taliban has been meeting to decide on a new leader.
This is not the first time that Mehsud was reported to be killed in a drone strike, however, this is the first time the Taliban acknowledged that he had been killed.
