Brian

**__Al Qaeda__**  GOALS: Establish a pan-Islamic Caliphate throughout the world by working with allied Islamic extremist groups to overthrow regimes it deems "non-Islamic," and expelling Westerners and non-Muslims from Muslim countries.   MAIN ANTI-U.S. Activities: Is suspected of involvement in the October 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Aden, Yemen. Conducted the bombings in August 1998 of the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, that killed at least 301 persons and injured more than 5,000 others. Claims to have shot down U.S. helicopters and killed U.S. servicemen in Somalia in 1993, and to have conducted three bombings that targeted U.S. troops in Aden, Yemen, in December 1992. Sept. 16, Yemen: a car bomb and a rocket strike the U.S. embassy in Yemen as staff arrived to work, killing 16 people, including 4 civilians. At least 25 suspected Al-Qaeda militants are arrested for the attack.  **Dec. 11, Algeria:** more than 60 people are killed, including 11 United Nations staff members, when Al Qaeda terrorists detonate two car bombs near Algeria's Constitutional Council and the United Nations offices.    __**Taliban**__   GOALS: The initial goals of the Taliban were to disarm the country, end lawlessness and enforce the Islamic law or the Sharia on a united Afghanistan.


 * Sept. 13 Tues. 2011:** Heavily armed insurgents wearing suicide vests struck at two of the most prominent symbols of the American diplomatic and military presence in Kabul, the United States Embassy and the nearby NATO headquarters.



__**Jaish-e-Mohammed**__ <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; display: block; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"> <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; display: block; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"> <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">GOALS: JEM seeks to overthrow Indian rule in Kashmir and unite the province with Pakistan under shari’a, or Islamic law. The group also aims to eradicate Hindus and other non-Muslims from the Indian subcontinent and to expel foreign troops from Afghanistan. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">The group was designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the U.S. State Department in January 2002.

__**Recent Activity**__

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">**July 2008:** JEM claimed the killing of 47 Indian troops in Kashmir on a Web site commonly used by Islamic militants.