Handbook of Terrorist and Insurgent Groups: A Global Survey of Threats, Tactics, and Characteristics
The Handbook of Terrorist and Insurgent Groups: A Global Survey of Threats, Tactics, and Characteristics (Edited By Scott N. Romaniuk, Animesh Roul, Amparo Pamela Fabe, János Besenyő, CRC Press, 2024) is an ambitious and wide-ranging edited volume on contemporary terrorism and insurgency. It examines how violent non-state actors have evolved since the September 11, 2001, attacks and how their ideologies, organizational structures, financing methods, operational tactics, and territorial ambitions have changed across regions.
At least two incidents in 2026, including an explosion in Bhubaneswar’s Sundarapada locality that killed two people and the arrest of Sheik Imran from the same city for conspiring to wage war against India in a separate incident, highlight more than isolated security breaches.
The trajectory of jihadist activity in India is shifting. High-impact attacks, such as the April 22, 2025, Pahalgam assault in Jammu and Kashmir attributed to Lashkar-e-Taiba/The Resistance Front, and the November 2025 suicide bombing near Delhi’s Red Fort linked to a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) affiliated “Doctors network”, still mark the threat landscape. However, early 2026 indicates a change in direction. The pattern is moving from episodic, high-visibility violence to sustained, low-level radicalization within digital and local networks.
Mauritius, an African island nation known for its multiethnic and multicultural society, is increasingly grappling with Islamist extremism. Islamist preacher and activist Javed Meetoo—also known by his Arabic nom de guerre, Abu Junaya—is central to this dynamic. His rhetoric and activities demonstrate how transnational jihadist ideas can become influential even in historically peaceful and diverse countries, such as Mauritius.
Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif’s remarks during a live news interview, that his country has been doing “dirty work” for the West for the last three decades, was a stunning admission on Islamabad’s long history of supporting, training and funding terrorist organisations. A decade ago, former army chief and president General Pervez Musharraf made a similar confession on public television, bragging about Pakistan’s role in supporting and training militant groups in Kashmir’s freedom struggle.