Of note was the expansion of the al Qaeda franchise to the Horn of Africa, where al-Shabaab initially established a beachhead in the failed state of Somalia, already overrun by seafaring pirates. The group expanded its scope of operations, killing scores of World Cup fans in Kampala, conducting operations in Kenya, and attacking Ethiopian and other African peace keepers. At least one faction of the fissiparous al-Shabaab expressed formal fealty to al Qaeda Central. Meanwhile, Chechen terrorists, many with contacts with the remaining members of al Qaeda Central, continued their depredations on Russian turf. As of this writing, they had not expanded their targeting out of the motherland. Western responses to terrorists overseas moved from concentration on capturing detainees and holding them for trials, which might not come for years, to conducting unmanned aerial vehicle (drone) operations designed to kill individual terrorists. Two major successes in taking terrorist leaders off the streets entailed the U.S.
What do You think about The 50 Worst Terrorist Attacks?
