Eye on Extremism
April 26, 2023
Wall Street Journal: Taliban Said to Kill Islamic State Militant Behind Attack That Killed 13 Americans
“Taliban fighters in Afghanistan recently killed an Islamic State militant who U.S. officials believe was responsible for the August 2021 suicide attack at the Kabul airport that killed 13 U.S. service members. The attack at the airport’s Abbey Gate, during the chaotic withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan that summer, also killed at least 170 Afghans and injured 40 other U.S. troops, according to U.S. officials. The senior operative of the Taliban’s sworn enemy, Islamic State Khorasan Province, also known as ISIS-K by the U.S. government, was killed by Taliban fighters within the past few weeks. The operative’s name remains classified, and U.S. officials provided little detail about the person’s death, including where and how the person was killed, how they knew the person’s identity, the nature of the person’s role in the attack.”
Voice Of America News: Signs Emerge IS Struggling to Keep Up Fight in Iraq, Syria
“…In Syria, the terror group "has generally increased or maintained a higher tempo of attacks" since an initial jump in activity last August, according to an assessment earlier this month by the Counter Extremism Project, a New York and Berlin-based non-profit. "There are increasingly many similarities between attacks over the past months and the period of initial ISIS expansion in late 2019 and early 2020," the CEP report added, though it cautioned the terror group appears to be increasingly focused on attacking civilians as opposed to security forces.”
United States
The Texan: Armed Antifa Members Arrested at ‘Family-Friendly’ Drag Brunch by Fort Worth Police
“…All three are part of the Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club, according to Ngo, and have been bailed out through donations acquired through Twitter. As described by the Counter Extremism Project, the Texas sect of the Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club has taken a “hard anti-police position, casting all police as mass shooters who harass minorities and seek out excuses to unload their weapons.” Contemporary “Antifa,” short for “Antifascist,” members belong to decentralized groups across the country.”
Iran
Al Jazeera: Iran Court Orders US, Obama To Pay $313m For ‘Terrorist’ Attacks
“An Iranian court has ruled the United States government and a number of individuals and entities, including former President Barack Obama, must pay compensation for 2017 attacks carried out by the armed group ISIL (ISIS). The court in the capital issued the verdict on Wednesday based on complaints by families of three people killed and six wounded during the June 2017 attacks in Tehran, according to the official news website of the judiciary. The building of the Iranian parliament and the mausoleum of the founder of Iran’s current establishment, Ruhollah Khomeini, were targeted during the daylight assault that killed 17 people in total. The court ruled $9.95m needs to be paid to compensate for financial damages while $104m and $199m are for moral and punitive damages, respectively, with the total nearing $313m.”
Iraq
Iraqi News: ISIS Attacks Decreased By 68% In Iraq
“The Global Coalition against Daesh (ISIS) reported a decline in the attacks in Iraq and Syria during the first quarter of 2023 when terrorists are still active despite their defeat. US Major General Matthew McFarlane, commander of the anti-jihadist coalition, stated that ISIS attacks in Iraq declined by 68 percent from the beginning of 2023 till the first week of April compared to the same period last year, i24 News reported. McFarlane also explained that the attacks in Syria declined during the same period by 55 percent, i24 News explained. The United Nations estimated in a February report that ISIS still has ‘5,000 to 7,000 members and supporters’ across Iraq and neighboring Syria, ‘roughly half of whom are fighters,’ i24 News added.”
The Arab Weekly: Anguished Yazidis In Iraq Await Fate Of ISIS-Abducted Relatives
“After paying nearly $100,000 in ransoms to free ten family members, Khaled Taalou, a member of Iraq’s Yazidi minority, is still working to free other missing relatives kidnapped by Islamic State (ISIS) extremist group fighters. Despite his efforts, five more relatives, along with thousands of other Yazidis, remain missing after being abducted by the jihadists. “We are still looking. We do not lose hope,” the 49-year-old said. In August 2014, ISIS swept over Mount Sinjar, the Kurdish-speaking minority’s historic home in northern Iraq. They massacred thousands of Yazidi men, enlisted children and seized thousands of women to be sold as jihadists’ “wives” or reduced to sexual slavery.”
Nigeria
Daily Post Nigeria: How Boko Haram Vowed To Wipe Out Family Over Son’s Refusal To Join Terrorist Group
“Over the years, the activities of daredevil Boko Haram terrorists have continued to raise concern across the world as unsuspecting members of the public, particularly northerners, continue to lose their lives and valuables to the menace. It had seemed a temporary problem to vanish soon, but many years down the line, Nigeria is still battling the security crisis. According to reports, nearly one million homes and 5,000 classrooms have been razed in the protracted onslaughts as the terrorists continue to kill citizens and destroy both private and public facilities. While the terrorists are in top gear, killing and destroying lives and properties, they also actively recruit young men as foot soldiers to continue infiltrating the nooks and crannies of various cities to perpetrate the bloodbaths.”
Mali
AFP: Al-Qaeda Group Claims Deadly Mali Attacks
“An Al-Qaeda affiliated jihadist group has claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in the centre of Mali saying dozens of soldiers and Russian "mercenaries" were killed or wounded. The Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM) made the claim in a statement authenticated on Tuesday by the US Site Intelligence Group, acknowledging the death of 15 of its fighters in the raid at Sevare on Saturday. The Mali government had announced Sunday that 10 civilians and three soldiers died and dozens of jihadists were "neutralised", meaning killed, in a wave of bloodshed the previous day that it described as a resurgence of "terrorist incidents".”
Africa
Garowe Online: US Targets Mozambique’s ‘Al-Shababaab’
“The United States has pledged to continue supporting the government of Mozambique in a bid to eliminate extremist groups within the northern province of Cabo Delgado which has been the epicenter of turmoil for the last five years as terrorists try to push for an Islamic state. Dafna Rand, the U.S. State Department's director of the office of foreign assistance said Washington will work with World Bank to help build schools and hospitals in the country following chaos in the oil-rich province, adding that there is a need for locals to embrace education. She said Washington also is trying to bolster the military to better defend vulnerable communities. The group fighting in the province is known as Ahlu Sunnah Wa-Jama [ASWJ] but locally, people refer to it as Al-Shabaab but interestingly, there is no evidence if the group is related to Somalia's Al-Shabaab or the moderate Sufi group ASWJ.”
The Star: Kenyan Arrested In Tanzania Charged With Terrorism In Nairobi
“A Kenyan man arrested in Tanzania was charged with terrorism. Shida Msanzu who has been charged a second time with terror-related activities was Monday April 24 accused of collecting information to conduct a terrorist act. He was also accused of being in possession of items connected to commission of a terrorism act. He appeared before senior principal magistrate Boaz Ombewa at Kahawa West law court.”
Europe
The National: Former Syrian ISIS Security Chief On Trial In The Netherlands
“A Syrian man appeared before a Dutch court on Tuesday in a pretrial hearing after being accused of serving as an ISIS security chief in his home country between 2014 and 2018. Ayham S, 38, with a black beard, T-shirt and tattoos on his upper arms, did not speak during the two-hour hearing at the Court of Rotterdam, which he attended with the help of an Arabic translator. Prosecutors believe that he acted as an ISIS “security chief” in the Palestinian camp of Yarmouk near the Syrian capital Damascus. The camp, which has been ravaged by fighting during the 12-year-long Syrian civil war, was stormed by ISIS in 2015 and retaken by government forces and allies in 2018.”
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