Pakistani militant Abdul Rehman trains new recruits, claiming they were members of the Lashkar-e-Taiba Islamist extremist group. (A claim that leaders of the group later denied.) The best recruits will be sent to a commando training camp in Kashmir, before taking up jihad in Afghanistan, India, or Iraq.
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Officer Malalai Kakar leads a special unit of policewomen in Kandahar. A mother of six children, Kakar, 41, launched the female police department in the Taliban's tumultuous hub. Initially, she worked alone, using her burqa to pass unrecognized. Today, at least 18 policewomen patrol the city, fighting crime and helping other women. In September 2008, Kakar was murdered by insurgents for her work.
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Somali pirate chief Abdul Hassan, 39, carries a rocket-propelled grenade while guiding members of his crew. He's nicknamed "the one who never sleeps," and he leads the so-called Central Regional Coast Guard. Formed in 2005, the group counts 350 men and about 100 speedboats among its ranks. In 2008, it attacked 29 ships, plundering a total of $10 million.
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Central Regional Coast Guard pirates, led by Chief Abdul Hassan (out of frame), arrive on a beach near Hobyo, on the border between the Somali states of Galmudug and Puntland. Soon after, the small crew launches an attack on a nearby ship.
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Militants working under Ateke Tom, the big chief of the MEND (Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta) oil pirates, travel to "camp nine," one of the 11 camps he rules in the delta's mangroves. Atek's main goal is to fight for the rights of the region's inhabitants, who are destitute, despite the fact that the area is rich in oil.
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Militants working under Ateke Tom, the big chief of the MEND oil pirates, continue their journey to "camp nine." At first glance, the camp might seem like a quiet fishing village, if it weren't for its caches of machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.
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A hand monkey rests on the arm of a MEND pirate.
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