Al Qaeda
Founded by Osama bin Laden in 1988 in Peshawar, Pakistan, Al Qaeda eventually became the leader of the global jihadist movement. After orchestrating the September 11, 2001 attacks on the Twin Towers in New York City, counterterrorism pressure from the U.S. Global War on Terror and the U.S.'s international partners severely weakened the group and diminished its ability to organize significant terror attacks. Nevertheless, Al Qaeda continues to work to reconfigure itself and threaten the U.S., Israel and the West.
Other terms tagged with Islamist
Hate Group
An organization whose goals and activities are primarily or substantially based on a shared antipathy towards people of one or more other different races, religions, ethnicities/nationalities/national origins, genders, and/or sexual identities. The mere presence of bigoted members... Read more
Colleyville Synagogu…
On January 15, 2022, a gunman entered Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, during services, taking three congregants and a rabbi as hostages. The standoff ended more than ten hours later with all hostages released, unharmed, and... Read more
Aafia Siddiqui
Siddiqui is a Pakistani woman who studied neuroscience at Brandeis and MIT in the 1990s and returned to Pakistan in 2003. She allegedly worked as a courier and financier for Al Qaeda. She was taken into custody... Read more
Black flags
Black flags are inspired by descriptions of the Prophet Muhammad's battle flag, which was reportedly a black flag with white lettering on it. Therefore, many Islamist extremist groups adopt various interpretations of this image to use as... Read more