News – February 2026


  • Iraqi armed group, Yemen’s Houthis threaten to target US bases as Iran-Israel confrontation widens

    February 28, 2026

    Iraq’s Kataib Hezbollah group on Saturday threatened to begin attacking US military bases after a strike in Jurf al-Nasr area of Iraq’s Babil province killed two people and injured three others, according to Iraqi authorities. In Yemen, the Houthi group also warned of escalation. Nasr al-Din Amer, deputy head of the group’s media authority, said “the ...

  • US and Israel launch massive attack on Iran

    February 28, 2026

    The United States and Israel attacked Iran on Saturday, killing the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in an astonishing joint military operation that could dramatically shift the power dynamics in the Middle East. President Donald Trump green-lit the strikes after the Islamist regime in Tehran failed to meet his expectations in nuclear negotiations. Iran quickly ...

  • Philippines: ‘Terror group member’ deported by US arrested upon arrival

    February 27, 2026

    A suspected member of a terror group which was tagged in the 2018 bombing in General Santos City has been deported by the United States government and arrived in Manila last Feb. 25. The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said that upon his arrival at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), the suspected member of the ...

  • UK: Counter terrorism police arrest two people in Hull with ‘potentially suspicious items’ found

    February 27, 2026

    A man and a woman have been arrested in Hull following a raid by counter terror police at a property in Morpeth Street yesterday. The pair, both 23, were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder. Counter terrorism police said “potentially suspicious items” were found and bomb disposal experts were sent in “as a precautionary measure”. ...

  • Croatia declared free of landmines after 31 years

    February 27, 2026

    Interior Minister Davor Božinović announced Friday that Croatia is officially free of landmines. Thirty-one years after the end of the Homeland War, all known minefields have been cleared — a major milestone for the country. The decades-long effort came at a heavy cost. Over three decades of painstaking and dangerous work, 208 people lost their lives, ...

  • Anti-personnel mines are back in Europe

    February 27, 2026

    To mark Poland’s official withdrawal from the Ottawa Convention or the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Treaty, Julia Głębocka, Human rights researcher for Amnesty International Poland, reflects on what the return of these indiscriminate weapons means for human rights in Europe. Not so long ago, in 2020, the European Union was funding mine relief efforts in Lebanon and ...

  • Wisconsin: Police find homemade explosives, weapons in drug trafficking bust at Green Bay house

    February 26, 2026

    A man accused of dealing drugs in Green Bay is also charged with having more than a dozen different homemade bombs at his home. The improvised explosive devices were found during a police drug bust. According to a criminal complaint, a confidential informant notified law enforcement that Kenneth Louis Seay was receiving packages of methamphetamine from ...

  • Civilians face increasing harm from deadly explosive weapons

    February 26, 2026

    Dr Stacey Pizzino from UQ’s School of Public Health collated information on 105,931 casualties in 17 countries and regions across Asia, Europe, Africa and South America. “This is the first pooled casualty analysis globally using previously untapped data sources,” Dr Pizzino said. “It showed nearly one in 4 people injured by landmines and explosive ordnance die ...

  • Pakistan, Afghan forces clash after days of hostilities

    February 26, 2026

    Pakistani and Afghan border forces clashed on Thursday night after the Taliban launched what it called retaliatory strikes on Pakistani installations, sharply escalating tensions after days of cross-border hostilities. Afghan forces opened fire on posts in Pakistan’s mountainous northwest, sparking more than two hours of fighting before Pakistani troops retaliated, Pakistani officials said, speaking on condition ...

  • Winter 2026 edition of the Counter-IED Report magazine is now available to read online and in print

    February 26, 2026

    We are pleased to announce that Winter 2026 edition of the Counter-IED Report magazine is now available to read online and in print. Articles, in-depth analysis and insights by Rob Hyde-Bales, Consulting Editor, Counter-IED Report; Jose M Rufas, Subject Matter Expert in C-IED, Attack the Networks, Technical Exploitation & IED Analysis; Dr Robert Keeley, RK Consulting ...

  • Syria: Army neutralizes car bomb in Aleppo

    February 26, 2026

    A bomb disposal team affiliated with the Syrian army successfully neutralized a car bomb Wednesday in Aleppo, according to the Syrian Defense Ministry. In a statement released by the ministry’s Media and Communications Department, authorities said a vehicle loaded with explosives had been detected in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood. The statement noted that security measures were ...

  • Cambodia Reaffirms Ottawa Convention Commitments Amid Reports of Anti-Personnel Mines Along Border

    February 26, 2026

    The Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA) has called for careful, objective, and responsible handling of reports concerning the discovery of anti-personnel mines along the Cambodia-Thailand border. In a statement issued on Thursday, the CMAA reaffirmed Cambodia’s full commitment to its obligations under the Ottawa Convention, stressing that the country has not laid any ...

  • UK: WWI shell defused in Hungerford

    February 26, 2026

    A suspected bomb uncovered on a building site in Hungerford has been confirmed as a WWI shell. Police and bomb disposal experts attended the site in Charnham Street and carried out a controlled explosion. A Thames Valley Police spokesperson said: “We have been called to a suspected piece of possible WW1/WW2 ordnance at a building site ...

  • Cuba claims that the intercepted boat coming from the US had ‘terrorist purposes’

    February 26, 2026

    The Cuba’s Interior Ministry has reported that the 10 occupants of the speedboat intercepted in its territorial waters, which had departed from the United States, “intended to carry out an infiltration for terrorist purposes.” According to a previous statement from Cuban authorities, the boat had entered territorial waters illegally. It said the crew members began firing ...

  • Burkina Faso: JNIM’s use of landmines and explosive devices

    February 26, 2026

    Burkina Faso has been one of the central battlegrounds in the Sahel’s expanding jihadist conflict for more than a decade. The al-Qaeda-affiliated coalition Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM) is one of the main armed groups operating there, alongside Islamic State-linked groups. The violence has caused widespread displacement, tens of thousands of deaths, and a deteriorating ...

  • Pakistan: North Waziristan school building damaged in suspected drone strike

    February 26, 2026

    A government high school building in North Waziristan was severely damaged in a suspected drone strike late on Wednesday night, just days before educational institutions were scheduled to reopen. Fortunately, no casualties were reported. The incident occurred in the Miami Kabul Khel Dorazinda area of the Shewa tehsil. Government High School Shamazan Kot sustained extensive damage, ...

  • Michigan: Ionia corrections officer stockpiled 196 guns, explosives and stolen prison munitions

    February 25, 2026

    Newly obtained court records paint a far more alarming picture of the weapons and explosives authorities say they found at the home of an Ionia County corrections officer whose backyard blasts have terrorized neighbors for years. An eight-page transcript from a Saturday, Feb. 21 probable cause conference in 64A District Court shows detectives recovered 196 firearms, ...

  • Nigeria: ISWAP commander ‘dies from IED planted by his own faction’ in Borno

    February 25, 2026

    A senior commander of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) has reportedly been killed by an improvised explosive device (IED) planted by members of his own faction in Borno. According to a report, the incident occurred on February 24 and has “triggered internal discord” and “heightened tensions” within ISWAP ranks. The sources said a fighter ...

  • UNODC facilitates regional exchange on strengthening cross-border coordination in countering use of IEDs and drones in the Sahel

    February 25, 2026

    Terrorist violence continues to pose a serious threat to stability and security across West Africa, with the Sahel region remaining the epicentre of global terrorism-related deaths. In recent years, terrorist groups, particularly those affiliated with the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh) and Al-Qaida, have increasingly relied on asymmetric tactics, notably Improvised Explosive Devices ...

  • Syria begins mine clearance at UNESCO-listed Ruwayha site in Idlib

    February 25, 2026

    Engineering teams have begun removing mines and unexploded ordnance from the archaeological site of Ruwayha in southern Idlib, the Syrian Arab Republic’s state news agency SANA reported on Tuesday. The operation is part of a broader plan by the Idlib Directorate of Antiquities to protect and preserve historical sites across the Jabal Al-Zawiya region, which includes ...

  • Northern Ireland: Fresh appeal for information over couple killed in car bomb in 1990

    February 25, 2026

    A fresh appeal for information has been made over the killing of a former police officer and his wife by a car bomb in 1990. James Sefton, 65, and his wife Ellen, 66, were killed when a booby trap device exploded under their car in Belfast. It happened on Wednesday June 6 after the couple had ...

  • Thailand: Border patrol police arsenal explodes in Surin

    February 24, 2026

    Continuous explosions were heard as a huge wall of flames rose from the arsenal of the Border Patrol Police 21 command centre in this northeastern province bordering Cambodia on Tuesday night. The flames were so intense that firefighters were initially prevented from entering the compound. The site was unmanned and only one minor injury was reported. ...

  • Pakistan: Two policemen killed as suicide bomber targets checkpost in Bhakkar

    February 24, 2026

    Two policemen were martyred in a suicide blast at a checkpost in the jurisdiction of Punjab’s Bhakkar district on Tuesday evening, according to officials. Bhakkar District Police Officer (DPO) Shahzad Rafiq told Dawn that a suicide attack was carried out near the Dajil checkpost. He said that two policemen were martyred and one was injured, while ...

  • East Africa: Rising Al-Shabaab threats along Somali-Kenyan border

    February 24, 2026

    The Al-Azhar Observatory for Combating Extremism has warned of escalating terrorist threats along the Somali-Kenyan border during the holy month of Ramadan, citing a “bloody strategy” by the militant group Al-Shabaab to intimidate civilians and carry out cross-border attacks. In a statement on Monday, the observatory said the latest escalation began last Saturday night, when Al-Shabaab ...