“In a deliberate move to help Somalia in fighting terrorism, the US Department
of Treasury has designated a chief financier of the ISIS-Somalia terror group,
which has been making inroads in the Horn of Africa, despite the rivalry with
Al-Shabaab militants. Abdiweli Mohamed Yusuf, has been the head of the
IS-Somalia revenue department, and the money collected through extortion is
used by the group to support violent extremism across Africa, the Treasury
Department noted in a statement published on Thursday. The financier, the
statement noted, has been targeting businesses and financial institutions at
times mobile money transfer firms, in a bid to raise revenue to support the
group's activities. The ISIS Somalia militants swore allegiance to the ISIS
group which is dominant in the Middle East.” Africa Command in collaboration
with the Somali National Army, leaving several other militants injured. The
attack targeted the Gal Libaax and eel Qurac areas in central Somalia, causing
huge losses to the militants.”











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Eye on Extremism



July 28, 2023



Garowe Online: US Designates The Chief Financier Of ISIS In Somalia
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“In a deliberate move to help Somalia in fighting terrorism, the US Department
of Treasury has designated a chief financier of the ISIS-Somalia terror group,
which has been making inroads in the Horn of Africa, despite the rivalry with
Al-Shabaab militants.

Abdiweli Mohamed Yusuf, has been the head of the IS-Somalia revenue department,
and the money collected through extortion is used by the group to support
violentextremism across Africa, the Treasury Department noted in a statement
published onThursday. The financier, the statement noted, has been targeting
businesses and financial institutions at times mobile money transfer firms, in
a bid to raise revenue to support the group's activities. The ISIS Somalia
militants swore allegiance to the ISIS group which is dominant in the Middle
East.”



The Washington Post: Niger Army Backs Coup, Casting Fight Against Islamist
Militants Into Doubt
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“The fight against Islamist insurgents in Africa may have suffered a
significant blow Thursday when army officers in the West African country of
Niger said they were supporting the leaders of a coup against the president, a
key ally of the United States and other Western governments. Nigerien President
Mohamed Bazoum was detained a day earlier by soldiers, who declared on national
television that they had overthrown him. Even as Bazoum said on Twitter that
his rule would be ‘protected’ by democracy-loving patriots, the army and
various law enforcement agencies coalesced Thursday behind the Presidential
Guard, which led the coup. The army said it was backing the coup leaders to
avoid bloodshed. Bazoum, who was democratically elected, and his predecessor
had worked closely with the United States, France and other Western countries
in confronting a mounting threat by Islamist militants. The United States has
stationed about 800 soldiers in Niger, operates drones from a large base in the
city of Agadez and trains Nigerien soldiers. A military spokesman for the U.S.
Africa Command said it was ‘too soon to speculate on any potential future
actions or activities’ in Niger.”




Recent CEP Press Releases

* Extremist Content Online: Twitter Allows Antisemitic Video To Generate
Nearly One Million Views
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* Hezbollah Position In Golan Heights Escalates Tensions With Israel On War's
Anniversary
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* Extremist Content Online: Pro-ISIS Propaganda Encourages Terror Attacks
Following Quran Burning
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* Hamas Claims West Bank Terror Attacks Amid Palestinian Authority's
Declining Credibility
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* New CEP Report: Violence Against Perceived Blasphemers In The West – From
Khamenei's Fatwa To The Present
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Syria



Reuters: Bomb Blast Kills Several People At Shrine Near Damascus, Syrian State
Media Report
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“A bomb planted in a vehicle exploded outside the Sayeda Zeinab shrine city
south of the Syrian capital Damascus on Thursday, killing several people and
wounding others, Syrian state media reported. A reporter for Syrian state
television said a preliminary death toll indicated as many as six people may
have died. The station broadcast footage of the charred front of a car. One
resident told Reuters he heard a loud blast around 5:30 p.m. (1430 GMT), after
which security forces sealed off the area. It was the second attack this week
at the shrine. Two people were wounded in a separate blast on Tuesday. It is
high season for the shrine as Shi'ite Muslims flock there to mark the mourning
period of Ashura.”



Iraq



Al Arabiya News: War Crime: Iraq Arrests Suspect In 2014 ISIS Massacre Of
1,700 Cadets
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“Iraq has arrested a suspect in one of the most notorious war crimes of the
ISIS group, the 2014 massacre of up to 1,700 captive cadets, authorities said
Thursday. After overrunning the air force academy at Camp Speicher where
thousands of cadets were being trained, the extremists of ISIS separated the
group by sect and religion and gunned them down one by one before dumping their
bodies in mass graves or in the nearby Tigris River. The interior ministry
identified the suspect as Abdelkhalek Khazaal Soltan and said he had been
arrested in a joint operation by the federal intelligence services and
counter-terrorism police in Sulaimaniyah, the second city of Iraq’s autonomous
Kurdish region. Ministry spokesman General Saad Maan alleged that after joining
ISIS in 2013, Soltan ‘took part in several operations targeting the security
forces... and participated in the Camp Speicher massacre of which he was one of
the perpetrators.’”



Turkey



Anadolu Agency: Police Nab 16 Daesh/ISIS, Al Qaeda Terror Suspects In Istanbul
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“Turkish security forces arrested 16 foreign nationals for their alleged links
to the Daesh/ISIS and al-Qaeda terrorist organizations, security sources said
on Thursday. Istanbul police anti-terror teams launched an operation to
apprehend suspects linked to Daesh/ISIS and al-Qaeda, the sources said,
requesting anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media. Turkish
police raided 15 addresses in eight districts across the city to arrest the
suspects identified as ‘foreign terrorist fighters,’ the sources added. In
2013, Türkiye became one of the first countries to declare Daesh/ISIS a
terrorist organization. The country has since been attacked by the terror group
multiple times, with over 300 people killed and hundreds more injured in at
least 10 suicide bombings, seven bomb attacks, and four armed attacks. In
response, Türkiye launched anti-terror operations at home and abroad to prevent
further attacks.”



Daily Sabah: Turkish Intelligence Eliminates Top PKK Terrorist In Iraq's North
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“Ahigh-ranking member of the PKK terrorist group was ‘neutralized’ by Turkish
intelligence, security sources said Friday. Photos shared on media outlets
showed a charred car in which the target was apparently traveling in Iraq's
north. The National Intelligence Organization (MIT) determined that Zagros
Cekdar, code-named ‘Mesut Celal Osman,’ forcefully recruited young people in
Syria and directed attacks on Turkish security forces, and in 2018 he crossed
over from Syria to Iraq, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity
due to restrictions on speaking to the media. According to the sources, Osman,
one of the PKK's so-called provincial commanders in Sinjar, Iraq, was assigned
by the terrorist group to seek support as it was losing power in the region,
the sources added. Osman was ‘neutralized’ while attending a meeting of the
terrorist group in Sinjar, it added. Turkish authorities use the term
‘neutralize’ to imply the terrorists in question surrendered, or were killed or
captured. PKK terrorists often hide out across the border in northern Iraq to
plot attacks. In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK
– listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the U.S. and the EU – has been
responsible for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people, including women, children
and infants.”



Pakistan



Samaa: Punjab CTD Arrests 10 Suspected Terrorists During IBO Across Province
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“According to the spokesperson, among the 10 terrorists apprehended, 7 were
arrested for their involvement in spreading hateful content on social media.
All of the suspects belong to banned organizations and were nabbed from
different locations including Lahore, Multan, DG Khan, and Attock. During the
operation, the authorities also seized explosive materials, detonators, and
weapons from the arrested terrorists. Further investigations are underway to
gather more information about the apprehended individuals and their activities.”



Arab News: Three Militants Killed In Shootout In Pakistan’s Restive Northwest
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“Three militants were killed in a shootout with Pakistani security forces
during an operation in the country’s restive northwest, the Pakistani military
said on Sunday. The shootout took place while the security forces were
conducting an intelligence-based operation in Kulachi area of Dera Ismail Khan
district, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the
military’s media wing. ‘The killed terrorists remained actively involved in
various terrorist activities against security forces, police and innocent
civilians,’ the ISPR said in a statement. ‘They were also highly wanted for
conducting a raid on a Police CP (checkpost) in Kulachi on 11 April 2022, which
resulted in Shahadat (martyrdom) of five brave police constables.’ Officials
also recovered weapons and ammunition from the scene, the military said.”



Middle East



The Times Of Israel: Senior PA Security Official: Hamas, PIJ Recruiting Youth
‘With Nothing To Live For’
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“The Palestinian Authority faces an uphill battle in its attempt to curb
terror in the West Bank, where Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad have been
recruiting impoverished youth to carry out attacks, a senior officer in the
PA’s Preventive Security Service revealed in a meeting this week, a source with
direct knowledge of the matter told The Times of Israel. Brigadier General
Hassan Asfour, who serves as director of central operations in the Preventive
Security Service, told members of the Palestinian diaspora in the US that the
PA has intensified its arrests of Hamas and PIJ fighters in the West Bank in
recent months. While interrogating those suspects, the Preventive Security
Service learned that many of them are from the poorest segments of society with
‘no food to eat’ and ‘nothing to live for,’ Asfour said, according to the
source, who requested that the exact time and location of the meeting in the US
not be shared in order to protect his identity. Asfour held several recent
meetings with Palestinian diaspora communities in Virginia and Chicago and
posted pictures from the latter gathering on Sunday.”



Nigeria



AFP News: Jihadists Kill 32 In Northeast Nigeria Attacks
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“Suspected Islamic State-affiliated jihadists have killed 32 people, including
25 herders, in two attacks in northeast Nigeria's Borno state, anti-jihadist
militia told AFP Thursday. The attacks happened on Tuesday in the Lake Chad
area, where the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) controls swathes of
territory. In the first attack, ISWAP fighters riding in pairs on more than a
dozen motorcycles killed 25 Fulani herders who were grazing their cattle in
Gudumbali forest, 95 kms (60 miles) from the regional capital Maiduguri, the
sources said. ‘The terrorists... left without taking anything’ from the dead
herders, said militia leader Babakura Kolo. The jihadists had ordered them to
vacate the area, accusing them of passing information about militant activities
to the military, Kolo said.”



Africa



The National: Sudan Conflict Allows Terrorist Groups To Find Foothold, Says
Kenyan Official
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“Kenya's top security official has warned that the war in Sudan, which has now
gone on for more than 100 days, is creating a power vacuum that may allow
terrorist groups to gain a foothold in the country. ‘When you have this level
of fragility, there is also a huge risk of extremism and a multiplication of
bands and criminal groups,’ Kenya’s National Security Adviser Monica Juma told
The National. The war, which broke out on April 15, has pitted the paramilitary
Rapid Support Forces – loyal to Gen Mohamed Dagalo – against the Sudanese
military, led by Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan. The power struggle between the
rival generals ignited a conflict that has spread throughout the country.”



India



The Times Of India: Doctor From Pune's Kondhwa Arrested By NIA For 'Sheltering
ISIS Members'
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“The National Investigation Agency on Wednesday arrested a medical
practitioner from Kondhwa in connection with the ISIS Maharashtra module case
on the charge of promoting violent activities of the proscribed terrorist
group. Adnanali Sarkar (43), the fifth person arrested in the case the National
Investigation Agency (NIA) registered on June 28, holds an MBBS and MD
(anaesthesia) degree. He was attached to several hospitals in the city as a
practising anaesthetist, the Kondhwa police said.vThe NIA had earlier arrested
four people in the case during simultaneous raids in Mumbai, Thane and Pune on
July 3. The agency identified them as Zubiar Noor Mohammed Shaikh alias Abu
Nusaiba from Pune, Tabish Nasser Siddiqui from Mumbai, and Sharjeel Shaikh and
Zulfikar Ali Barodawala from Thane.”



India TV News: Al-Qaeda Shaping Regional Affiliate AQIS In Indian Subcontinent
To Spread Operations Into J-K: UN Report
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“Terrorist outfit Al-Qaeda is shaping AQIS, its regional affiliate, to spread
its operations into Jammu and Kashmir, Bangladesh and Myanmar, according to a
United Nations report. The 32nd report of the Analytical Support and Sanctions
Monitoring Team of the 1267 ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee of
the UN Security Council, released this week, noted that ‘one Member State
assessed that Al-Qaeda is shaping AQIS (Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent) to
spread its operations into neighbouring Bangladesh, Jammu and Kashmir and
Myanmar.’ The report said that Member State also noted that certain limited
elements of AQIS are ready to either join or collaborate with ISIL-K (Islamic
State of Iraq and the Levant- Khorasan). The Al-Qaeda core in Afghanistan is
unmoved at 30 to 60 members while its fighters are estimated to be around 400,
which may reach 2,000 if the family members and supporters are included, in the
country. Whereas in the Indian subcontinent, Al-Qaeda has nearly 200 fighters
whose emir is Osama Mehmood.”



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