Middle East
Associated Press: Kuwait Executes 5 Prisoners, Including A Man Convicted In 2015 Islamic State-Claimed Mosque Bombing
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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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