“Islamist militants killed at least 25 people and wounded others in attacks on
two villages in Nigeria's northeastern Borno state, a hotbed for insurgency, a
police source and two residents said on Wednesday. The militants killed 18
herders grazing their livestock in one village and seven other people in
another village, both in Kukawa district of the state that borders neighbouring
Chad on Tuesday, the police source said. Habibu Ardo, a herder in the area,
said ‘ISWAP fighters (riding) on more than 15 motorcycles attacked our people
while grazing in Kukawa and beheaded 18 of them without firing a single bullet
on them in order to avoid the attention of security forces.’ Bakura Mustapha, a
local vigilante who helped bury the dead, said ‘about 18 of the corpses were
recovered in the bush and they have been buried today according to Islamic
rites.’”











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Eye on Extremism



July 27, 2023



Reuters: Suspected ISWAP Militants Kill 25 In Nigeria's Borno State, Residents
Say
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“Islamist militants killed at least 25 people and wounded others in attacks on
two villages in Nigeria's northeastern Borno state, a hotbed for insurgency, a
police source and two residents said on Wednesday. The militants killed 18
herders grazing their livestock in one village and seven other people in
another village, both in Kukawa district of the state that borders neighbouring
Chad on Tuesday, the police source said. Habibu Ardo, a herder in the area,
said ‘ISWAP fighters (riding) on more than 15 motorcycles attacked our people
while grazing in Kukawa and beheaded 18 of them without firing a single bullet
on them in order to avoid the attention of security forces.’ Bakura Mustapha, a
local vigilante who helped bury the dead, said ‘about 18 of the corpses were
recovered in the bush and they have been buried today according to Islamic
rites.’”



i24 News: Hamas Claims To Fire Rocket From Jenin In Response To Ben-Gvir's
Visit To Temple Mount - Report
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“Hamas' Al-Qassam Bridages claimed to have fired a rocket at the Israeli
settlement of Ram On in the Jenin area in the West Bank on Thursday, according
to Palestinian reports. ‘We were able to bomb Ram On settlement in the Jenin
area with a Qassam 1 missile in response to the aggression of the occupation
and settlers on Al-Aqsa,’ the terrorist group was quoted as saying. This comes
shortly after Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and hundreds
of Jews visited the holy site of Temple Mount in Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa
mosque is situated and Jewish prayers are prohibited, on occasion of Tisha B'Av
fasting holiday. Such visits spark anger in the Arab world and often lead to
tensions in the West Bank.”



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Listen to the Fighting Terror Podcast

Fighting Terror is a podcast that brings together counterterrorism experts and
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approaches to combating terrorism in our society. Our frank discussions cover
the lifecycle of terrorism from propaganda and recruitment, to financing,
action, and failure. Listenhere
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or wherever you get your podcasts.




Middle East



Associated Press: Kuwait Executes 5 Prisoners, Including A Man Convicted In
2015 Islamic State-Claimed Mosque Bombing
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“Kuwait said Thursday it executed five prisoners, including an inmate
convicted over the bombing of a Shiite mosque in 2015 that killed 27 people and
was claimed by the Islamic State group. The inmates were hanged at the Central
Prison, Kuwait’s Public Prosecution said in a statement. Prosecutors said the
five include the mosque attacker, three people convicted of murder and a
convicted drug dealer. One of the convicted murderers was Egyptian, another was
Kuwaiti, and the convicted drug dealer was from Sri Lanka. The statement didn’t
provide the nationality of the mosque attacker or the third convicted murderer,
saying only that they were in Kuwait unlawfully.”



Al Jazeera: US Officials To Meet Taliban Representatives In Doha
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“United States diplomats will meet with Taliban representatives in Qatar this
week, the US State Department has announced, in what will be rare, direct talks
between Washington and the ruling Afghan group. The State Department said on
Wednesday that Thomas West and Rina Amiri will hold meetings on Afghanistan in
Astana, Kazakhstan, with representatives from Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic,
Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. West, the US special representative
for Afghanistan, and Amiri, the US special envoy for Afghan women, girls, and
human rights, will then meet a delegation of Taliban representatives and other
Afghan ministry officials in the Qatari capital, Doha. The pair will discuss
‘critical interests in Afghanistan’ during the Doha meeting, the State
Department said in a statement.”



Reuters: Erdogan Meets Palestinian President, Hamas Leader Haniyeh
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“Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas
together with Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of the Palestinian Islamist group
Hamas, in Ankara on Wednesday, Erdogan's office said. Abbas is paying a visit
to Turkey and had previously met with Erdogan on Tuesday. Abbas and Haniyeh
have been unable to repair a rift since 2007, when Hamas, which opposes peace
deals with Israel, seized control of the Gaza Strip. Abbas' Western-backed
Palestinian Authority remains dominant in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.”



Somalia



Reuters: Somalia Authorities Arrest Officers Accused Of Abetting Suicide
Bombing
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“Somali authorities have arrested several military officers for allegedly
helping a suicide bomber gain entry to a military academy in the capital
Mogadishu this week and kill at least 30 soldiers, an officer said on
Wednesday. The Al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab group, which has been waging an
insurgency against Somalia's national government since 2006, claimed
responsibility for the attack at the Jale Siyaad military academy. The attack
was one of the deadliest the group has carried out in years against a military
target in Mogadishu. Colonel Abdullahi Dabow, an infantry operations officer,
has been arrested and accused of bringing the suicide bomber into the academy
in his car, Captain Hussein Farah told Reuters. He said other officers had also
been arrested in connection with the attack, without naming them. Reuters was
not able to reach Dabow or a representative for comment.”



Garowe Online: Al-Shabaab Fighters Suffer Casualties In Latest Operation In
Somalia
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“Al-Shabaab militants suffered yet again immense losses in Somalia following
the latest operations which are engineered by the Somali National Army [SNA]
along with international partners and members of the local community, who have
armed themselves in pursuit of the terrorists. According to state media, the
national army with the help of local militia, regional troops, and
international partners, conducted two separate operations in Southwest state,
leaving over 60 militants dead. The success comes a few days after the
militants killed 25 SNA trainees in Mogadishu. The operation, state media
reports, targeted militants in El-Dhun Adegow within the Bay region while the
second one focused on areas within the Goofgaduud and Waajid

areas still within the southwest. The area is prone to Al-Shabaab attacks
mostly targeting innocent civilians and security forces.”



Garowe Online: Somalia Military Re-Captures Key Town From Al-Shabaab
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“A day after losing control of a strategic village in Somalia, the national
army has recaptured it from the Al-Shabaab militants, who have been wreaking
havoc on innocent civilians and members of security forces, who are fighting to
control the region. The national army recaptured Goofgaduud Burey village
within Southwest state, in what officials termed as a ‘significant step’
towards stabilization of the Horn of Africa nation. The village, which is
situated about 30 kilometers west of Baidoa, was lost to

Al-Shabaab on Sunday before being recaptured on Wednesday. According to
locals, security officers entered the town without much resistance, an
indication that the militants have been diffused following systematic campaigns
that have left them completely dismembered. The district had fallen to
al-Shabaab after the withdrawal of Somali troops from the area.




Africa



AFP News: Morocco In Major Anti-'terrorist' Operation: Media
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“Moroccan investigators questioned around 50 people Wednesday across the
kingdom in a major operation targeting suspected jihadist supporters, local
media reported, citing security sources. Among them, 21 were arrested on
suspicion of having pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group or Al-Qaeda,
the reports said, adding anti-terrorist special forces were involved. Officers
seized knives, publications defending ‘terrorism’, and instructions for making
explosives, they added. The North African country has been largely spared acts
of violence by jihadist groups, but its security services often report
crackdowns and foiled attack plans. Last week police in Morocco and Spain said
two people, including an IS supporter, had been arrested in a joint operation
by both countries' security services targeting ‘terrorists’.”



United Kingdom



BBC: Isle Of Wight Teenager Arrested On Suspicion Of Terror Offences
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“A 16-year-old boy has been arrested by police investigating alleged terrorism
offences. The teenager, from the Isle of Wight, was detained earlier by
officers working with Counter Terrorism Policing South East (CTPSE). He is
suspected of offences including disseminating terrorist publications and
collecting information likely to be useful in terrorist acts. The boy remains
in custody, police said.”



Germany



WTOP News: The Hunt: Germany Foils A Terror Plot By ISIS Terrorists Posing As
Afghan Refugees
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“On this week’s edition of ‘The Hunt with WTOP national security correspondent
JJ Green,’ Dr. Hans-Jacob Schindler, Sr. Director at the Counter Extremism
Project, says it’s a case of ‘back to the future.’”



Europe



Arab News: British Daesh Fighter Found Dead In Spanish Jail
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“A British-Egyptian man accused of fighting for Daesh has been found dead in
prison. Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary, 32, was on trial in Madrid charged with
numerous terrorist offenses and online fraud in order to raise money for the
group. He was found dead in his cell on Wednesday at El Puerto de Santa Maria
prison in Cadiz. He was described by police as one of Daesh’s ‘most wanted
foreign terrorist fighters’ after a photograph emerged of him in Raqqa in 2014
holding the severed head of a Syrian regime soldier. The image, posted on
social media, was accompanied by the caption: ‘Chillin’ with my homie or what’s
left of him.’ He was stripped of his UK citizenship after joining the group,
and was at one stage believed to have been ‘Jihadi John,’ a notorious British
Daesh member wanted for the murder of several Western captives, later
identified as Mohammed Emwazi.”



India



Free Press Kashmir: Militant Associate Arrested With Two Grenades In
Bandipora, Says Police
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“An overground worker of Lashkar-e-Toiba militant outfit was on Wednesday
arrested in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district, officials said. They told GNS
that police in a joint operation with Army’s 26 Assam Rifles, CRPF’s 3rd
Battalion and BSF’s K2 apprehended an OGW at Turkpora Junction in Bandipora.
Identifying the apprehended militant associate as Javid Ahmad Malla, son of
Mohammad Kamal Malla, a resident of Dardpora Bandipora, the officials said two
hand grenades were recovered from the possession of the accused. ‘The accused
has been taken into custody for questioning and in the meantime a case
registered in this regard under Arms and UA(P) Act’, they further said.”



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