Eye on Extremism
April 14, 2023
Voice Of America News: Taliban Foreign Minister Joins Regional Huddle On Afghanistan
“Uzbekistan is hosting a conference Thursday of foreign ministers of regional countries, including Russia and China, to review the situation and cooperation with Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. The event in the Uzbek city of Samarkand comes as the United Nations reviews its presence in the strife-torn South Asian nation after the radical Taliban barred female staff from working for the world body, the latest in a series of curbs placed on Afghan women. Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi is attending Thursday's meeting with counterparts from Russia and six neighbors of Afghanistan, including China, Pakistan, Iran, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. Muttaqi’s office confirmed his arrival in Samarkand on Twitter, saying Uzbek officials received him ‘warmly.’”
AFP News: Burkina Faso Declares 'General Mobilisation' Over Jihadist Attacks
“Burkina Faso's military junta declared Thursday a ‘general mobilisation’ to give the state ‘all necessary means’ to combat a string of jihadist attacks since the start of this year. The goal is to create a ‘legal framework for all the actions to be taken’ against the insurgents, a statement from the presidency said. Captain Ibrahim Traore, Burkina's transitional president who staged the most recent coup on September 30, has set a goal of recapturing 40 percent of the country's territory, which is controlled by jihadists affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group. ‘Faced with this security situation, the health of the nation depends on a surge of national spirit by all its daughters and sons in order to find a solution,’ Defence Minister Colonel Major Kassoum Coulibaly said in a statement.”
United States
Anadolu Agency: US Personnel Targeted In Iraq Drone Strike Were On Mission To Defeat Daesh/ISIS: Pentagon
“US personnel in Iraq's Kurdistan region were there as part of the mission to defeat Daesh/ISIS when the convoy they were traveling in was targeted last week, Pentagon spokesman Patrick Ryder said Thursday. The convoy of YPG/PKK ringleader Ferhat Abdi Sahin, codenamed Mazloum Abdi, was targeted on April 7 by a drone strike near Sulaymaniyah International Airport. Three US personnel were in the convoy. The United States Central Command (CENTCOM) reported no injuries. ‘On April 7, a convoy, including US personnel, was fired upon while in transit within the Iraqi Kurdistan region in the area near Sulaymaniyah,’ Ryder confirmed, adding that US forces are in Iraq and Syria in support of the ‘defeat ISIS mission.’”
Turkey
Anadolu Agency: France's Hosting Of PKK Terrorists 'Best Example Of Hypocrisy' In Counter-Terrorism: Türkiye
“Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Thursday condemned France for hosting ringleaders of the YPG/PKK terror group, saying it is ‘best example of hypocrisy’ in the fight against terrorism. ‘The PKK is on the EU terror list. It has been recognized as a terrorist organization. It is also a terrorist organization in France. Unfortunately, in France, senators and deputies come together with these terrorists, the representatives of the bloody terrorist organization. They give rewards. ‘This is the best example of hypocrisy in the fight against terrorism,’ Cavusoglu said at a news conference with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry in the capital Ankara.”
Afghanistan
Associated Press: Taliban Share Rare, Months-Old Audio From Reclusive Leader
“The Taliban have shared a rare, months-old audio message from their reclusive supreme leader in which he purportedly says that Afghanistan would be ‘ruined’ without justice handed out by the country’s new rulers. The Taliban leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, an Islamic scholar, almost never appears in public and hardly ever leaves the Taliban heartland in southern Kandahar province. He surrounds himself with other religious scholars and allies who oppose education and work for women. Only one known photo of him, years old, exists. He was named the Taliban leader in 2016, after a U.S. airstrike in Pakistan killed his predecessor, Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour.”
Dawn: Asif Warns Of Strikes At Terrorist Hideouts In Afghanistan
“Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has warned Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers that Islamabad will strike terrorist hideouts inside the neighbouring country if the latter were unable to rein in anti-Pakistan militants, Dawn.com reported. The minister’s remarks in an interview with Voice of America, published on Wednesday. He said that during his visit to Afghanistan in February, he reminded the Afghan Taliban administration of their commitments to prevent terrorists from using Afghan soil to plan and conduct attacks on Pakistan. ‘If that is not done, at some point we’ll have to […] resort to some measures, which will definitely — wherever [terrorists] are, their sanctuaries on Afghan soil — we’ll have to hit them,’ he said. ‘We’ll have to hit them because we cannot tolerate this situation for long.’”
Pakistan
Dunya News: CTD Arrests Six Terrorists Involved In Takhta Baig Check Post Suicide Attack
“The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD), Peshawar Region, on Thursday arrested six terrorists involved in suicide attack at Takhta Baig police check post in Khyber District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Dunya News reported. According to the CTD spokesperson, the mastermind of the suicide attack had already been killed in an encounter with security forces last week. Arms and explosive material was also recovered from him. The spokesperson also informed that operation to arrest two more terrorists involved in the attack is underway in the area. It is pertinent to mention here that terrorists had carried out a suicide attack at Takhta Baig police check post on January 19 in which two policemen and a civilian were martyred.”
Dawn: Two TTP Militants Shot Dead In Lower Dir
“Briefing the local journalists at his office, Lower Dir district police officer Tariq Iqbal said that both the terrorists identified as Burhanuddin and Hafeezullah alias Umar, residents of Alladand, Malakand, were involved in the murder of a traffic police officer, Bakht Zamin, who was martyred in Talash Bazaar on April 4. The DPO said that police were informed about the presence of the two suspects at Khat Kalay in Talash Wednesday night. He said when the police team reached the place, the accused hurled a hand grenade on a police van which did not explode. The militants also fired at the police personnel but they remained unhurt. In retaliation both the terrorists were killed on the spot. The DPO said the bodies were brought to the THQ hospital Talash and later dispatched to Malakand district.”
Lebanon
Jewish News Syndicate: IDF Detains Infiltrator From Lebanon
“The Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday night detained a suspect who crossed over the Lebanese border near Rosh Hanikra. The unarmed suspect was placed under surveillance and apprehended before being taken for interrogation, the military said. ‘The IDF will continue to act to prevent any attempt to cross the border and violate Israeli sovereignty,’ it added. The IDF last week struck Hamas assets in Southern Lebanon after the Palestinian terrorist group fired 34 rockets towards northern Israel. On Sunday, the military struck targets in Syria in response to six rockets fired towards the Golan Heights.”
Middle East
Iran International: Iran Military Say Israel On Verge Of Collapse As Rhetoric Continues
“Iran’s Armed Forces issued a statement on Thursday claiming that the countdown to the collapse of Israel has begun. It is the latest in a stream of anti-Israel propaganda released by the regime which is at fever pitch in rallying the Muslim world against its archenemy. ‘Experience has shown that any compromise plan, including the normalization of ties between the Zionist regime and some Islamic countries, has failed, and the Islamic resistance is the only solution to the Palestinian issue,’ reads the statement. It was likely referring to the internal political division in Israel, with protests against the government's legislative reforms. Iranian proxies in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria have all recently attacked Israel with rockets as tensions simmer during the holy month of Ramadan.”
Somalia
Garowe Online: Cuba Negotiates For Release Of Doctors Abducted By Al-Shabaab
“Cuba is keen to have two doctors abducted by Al-Shabaab released from their captors, over three years later, even with reports that the medics are in ‘good condition’ and are helping the group to treat people and offer medical care in an undisclosed location. According to Prensa Latina, President, Miguel Diaz-Canel informed the country that deliberate efforts have been undertaken to rescue the doctors who were kidnapped by the militants from Mandera County in northeastern Kenya where they were stationed at the time of the incident. In Kenya, the driver of the vehicle has been sentenced for being an ‘accomplice’ in an attack where a police officer attached to the medics was killed. Miguel said Havana is keen to have the doctors released by the Al-Shabaab, a group that has been causing havoc in the federal republic of Somalia.”
Garowe Online: Somalia: Puntland Police Subtly Validate Claims Of Terrorists Targeting Bosaso Businesses
“Puntland security agencies announced today that they had obtained information about the individual responsible for the recent terrorist attack at the Al-Macaruf Company headquarters in Bosaso port city. The attack raised questions about the outgoing government's failure to ensure regional security. Puntland Police Chief Brigadier General Mumin Abdi Shire attended a closed-door security meeting in the Bari Region to discuss the terror incident. The meeting was also attended by the governor of the Bari region, his deputy, the mayor of Bosaso, the commander of the Darwish force, the deputy minister of internal affairs, and other officials.”
United Kingdom
Daily Mail: EXCLUSIVE: Extremist, 30, Who Called Himself 'The Father Of Terrorism' Is Walking The Streets Free - Despite Being Previously Turned Down For Parole For Being 'Too Risky'
“A British terrorist who was turned down for parole was automatically released just two months later at the end of his sentence and is now walking the streets of the UK. Khuram Iqbal, now 30, who once called himself the 'father of terrorism,' was rejected for release by the Parole Board in October 2022, but was allowed to leave prison in December 2022. Under current law, convicted terrorists like Iqbal who are on a fixed determinate sentence and have behaved in prison will be released with a limited number of restrictions. For Iqbal, originally from Cardiff, these restrictions are unlikely to be more than a police notification order, which requires those given more than 12-months for terror offences to advise the police of practices such as unauthorised travel.”
Europe
AFP News: Dutch Court Sentences Four Women On IS Terror Charges
“Dutch judges on Thursday sentenced four women to jail sentences of up to three years on terror charges, after they were repatriated from a Syrian refugee camp last year. They were among five Dutch women and 11 children who arrived back in the Netherlands last February after an operation by the Dutch government to extradite them from the Al-Roj refugee camp in north-eastern Syria. The women went on trial shortly afterwards in the Rotterdam District Court, facing charges of joining fighters of the now defunct Islamic Caliphate during the height of the Syrian civil war, and planning acts of terror. ‘The women travelled to the battlefields in Syria and Iraq knowing that a war was going on there,’ the judges said in a statement issued by the Rotterdam court.”
The Guardian: ‘It’s Worrying’: Greek Election Ban On Extremist Party May Be Too Little, Too Late
“For two years Ilias Kasidiaris, a convicted leader of the now disbanded neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party, has used social media to address supporters from Domokos prison in central Greece. Month after month the former MP has railed against the inability of the ‘corrupt political regime’ to govern the country in a stream of hate-filled speeches. For his 134,000 subscribers on YouTube, the exhortations are a lifeline to Kasidiaris and the Hellenes, the small nationalist party he set up shortly before being handed a 13-and-a-half-year prison term for his role in Golden Dawn. And they seem to be paying off. Thirty months after the violent neo-fascist group was found to be a criminal gang that had masqueraded as a political organisation – targeting immigrants, killing a Greek rapper and lashing out at leftists – the appeal of the famously short-tempered Kasidiaris does not appear to have faded.”
Southeast Asia
Associated Press: Indonesia Police Kill 2 Suspected Jemaah Islamiyah Militants
“Indonesia’s counterterrorism police squad fatally shot two men suspected of ties to Jemaah Islamiyah, an al-Qaida-linked group blamed for a string of past bombings, police said Thursday. The two men, identified only by their initials, BA and ZK, were killed Wednesday in a shootout with police during a raid in Lampung, a province at the southern tip of Sumatra island, said Aswin Siregar, the spokesperson of the squad, known as Densus 88. An officer was seriously injured in the shootout and was hospitalized, he said. Siregar said at a news conference that the raid was part of a broader nationwide crackdown on Jemaah Islamiyah following tips that it is recruiting and training new members. The shadowy network is blamed for attacks in the Philippines and Indonesia, including the 2002 bombings on the Indonesian resort island of Bali that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists. The U.S. has designated it a terrorist group.”
Technology
Fox News: Israel Military Builds Up AI Battlefield Tech To Hunt Hamas Terrorists, Protect Against Iran Threat
“The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) believes that integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into military operations presents ‘a leap forward,’ but researchers have raised concerns about the potential escalation AI would create on the battlefield. ‘There is an understanding in the IDF that there is a great potential for a leap forward,’ Col. Uri, head of the Data and AI Department, Digital Transformation Division, told Fox News Digital. ‘Anyone who wants to make such a change faces a huge challenge.’ The IDF announced in February that the force has started utilizing AI in its operations, saying that new digital methods helped produce ‘200 new target assets’ during a 10-day operation in 2021 to successfully target at least two Hamas commanders, the Jerusalem Post reported. ‘Remember breaking the human barrier – there were times when this took us almost a year,’ Data Science and AI Commander Col. Yoav said about the operation.”
ABC News: Discord, Used By Suspect Accused Of Leaking Classified Docs, Has Become More Popular With Extremists
“Discord, the social media platform on which U.S. classified documents appearing to pertain to the Ukraine war and other parts of the world were leaked over the last several months, is one of a number of platforms that have become popular with far-right extremists, experts say. In its infancy, Discord was built by founders Jason Citron and Stan Vishnevskiy to help people around the world chat while playing video games online. Launched in 2015, the platform today is home to 150 million active users around the world with communities of interest that extend into education, music, tech, and science. Discord is organized by servers; a Discord user can create their own server or can join another server. Servers are comprised of multiple text channels where users can communicate in real-time text, voice, or video.”
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