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Middle East
TGD coverage of terrorism, militant actors, and security developments across Middle East.
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Abdullah Ocalan
Founder of the PKK, imprisoned since 1999, and later prison-era theorist whose writings shifted Kurdish militant and political debate toward democratic confederalism.
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Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
Iraq-born leader of Islamic State from 2010 until his death in Syria in October 2019. Central architect of the group's caliphate project across Iraq, Syria, and affiliated networks.
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Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
Jordanian militant who founded Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad, later al-Qaeda in Iraq. His campaign of mass-casualty attacks against Iraqi Shia laid the doctrinal foundation for what became the Islamic State.