The group's presence and connections in Yemen's Islamist militias and movements dates back about two decades.

In the course of the conflict the MNLA lost their control to Islamist militias.

The Islamist militias had been slowly gaining control over the capital for weeks.

The man was described as a 28-year-old Somali linked to the Islamist al-Shabab militia.

He was executed by an Islamist militia for alleged apostasy.

Contrary to the conventional wisdom, Hezbollah is principally neither a political party nor an Islamist militia.

The most serious violence occurred between 1999 and 2001 on the once peaceful island, with heavy involvement of Islamist militias such as Laskar Jihad.

The power struggles between warlords and, latterly, Islamist militia bred the chaos which today allowed famine to take hold.

But the Islamist militias, instead of joining the government, began a hit-and-run guerrilla war against government and Ethiopian forces.

Russia must now explain how its weapons ended up in the hands of an Islamist fundamentalist militia.