“A man with ties to a far-right extremist group advocating the overthrow of the
U.S. government has been sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of
parole for his role in a plot to firebomb a Black Lives Matter protest in Las
Vegas in 2020. A state judge in Las Vegas sentenced Stephen Parshall on Tuesday
as part of a plea agreement, court records show. Prosecutors have said he was
one of three white men who planned to firebomb and damage federal buildings at
the protests against racism and police violence. They described the trio as
part of the boogaloo movement — a loose, far-right alliance that says it is
preparing for another American Civil War. Parshall pleaded guilty in June to
assisting, socializing or conspiring to commit an act of terrorism, according
to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. In March, Parshall was sentenced to 33 years
in federal prison with lifetime supervision upon release after pleading guilty
to sexually abusing a young girl. That abuse was uncovered in 2020 while police
and federal authorities were investigating Parshall’s plot to cause violence at
the Black Lives Matter protests in Las Vegas. The abuse started when the victim
was younger than 10, according to federal prosecutors.”











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Eye on Extremism



September 7, 2023



Associated Press: Vegas Man Tied To Extremist Group Gets Life Sentence For
Terrorism Plot Targeting 2020 Protests
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“A man with ties to a far-right extremist group advocating the overthrow of
the U.S. government has been sentenced to life in prison with the possibility
of parole for his role in a plot to firebomb a Black Lives Matter protest in
Las Vegas in 2020. A state judge in Las Vegas sentenced Stephen Parshall on
Tuesday as part of a plea agreement, court records show. Prosecutors have said
he was one of three white men who planned to firebomb and damage federal
buildings at the protests against racism and police violence. They described
the trio as part of the boogaloo movement — a loose, far-right alliance that
says it is preparing for another American Civil War. Parshall pleaded guilty in
June to assisting, socializing or conspiring to commit an act of terrorism,
according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. In March, Parshall was sentenced to
33 years in federal prison with lifetime supervision upon release after
pleading guilty to sexually abusing a young girl. That abuse was uncovered in
2020 while police and federal authorities were investigating Parshall’s plot to
cause violence at the Black Lives Matter protests in Las Vegas. The abuse
started when the victim was younger than 10, according to federal prosecutors.”



Voice Of America: Somalia Shifts Military Tactics In Fight Against Al-Shabab
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“The Somali government says it plans to shift military tactics against
al-Shabab amid increased resistance and threats coming from the militants,
senior officials confirmed to VOA Somali. The tactic gives local community
fighters the lead role in the fight against al-Shabab with federal government
forces playing a supportive role, said two senior government officials who did
not want to be identified. The officials also confirmed that the federal
government will register the local fighters and pay monthly stipends as an
incentive for their participation, with a view to integrating them into the
army in the longer term. The national intelligence agency is tasked with
leading the registration and vetting fighters to prevent infiltration of
militants, officials said. This is a return to the strategy that helped the
government and local fighters seize vast areas from al-Shabab between August
2022 and January 2023. Former national intelligence chief Brigadier General
Abdirahman Turyare, who is now helping mobilize the local fighters, confirmed
the tactical changes to VOA Somali in an interview.”



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Listen to the Fighting Terror Podcast

Fighting Terror is a podcast that brings together counterterrorism experts and
practitioners from Europe, the United States, and beyond to address different
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.




United States



ABC: To Help Curb Terrorism And Violence Threats, DHS Awards $20m To Local
Communities
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“The Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday announced $20 million in
grant funding aimed at preventing targeted violence and terrorism in the United
States. The grant money, provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency,
is aimed at helping local communities prevent and combat targeted violence in
the U.S. by offering money that can be used for trainings, equipment, hiring
threat analysts and other resources to better protect from domestic violent
extremism, according to a news release from the agency. "As the recent
racially-motivated shooting in Jacksonville made painfully clear, targeted
violence and terrorism can impact any community, anywhere," said Secretary of
Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas. "The Department of Homeland Security
is committed to confronting this threat. Through the partnership and
collaboration this grant program helps build, the department will continue to
work with communities to prevent such abhorrent targeted acts from occurring.””



The New York Times: Ex-Leader Of Proud Boys Sentenced To 22 Years In Jan. 6
Sedition Case
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“Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the Proud Boys, was sentenced on
Tuesday to 22 years in prison for the central role he played in organizing a
gang of his pro-Trump followers to attack the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and stop
the peaceful transfer of presidential power. Mr. Tarrio’s sentence, stemming
from his conviction this spring on charges of seditious conspiracy, was the
most severe penalty handed down so far to any of the more than 1,100 people
charged in connection with the Capitol attack — and was likely to remain that
way, given that no other defendants currently face accusations as serious as
the ones he did. Until now, the longest prison term connected to Jan. 6 had
been 18 years. That sentence was issued last week to Ethan Nordean, one of Mr.
Tarrio’s co-defendants.”



Pakistan



Associated Press: Pakistan Shuts Key Crossing Into Afghanistan After Border
Guards Exchange Fire
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“Pakistan closed a key northwestern border crossing with Afghanistan after
border guards from the two sides exchanged fire Wednesday, while elsewhere near
the border in northern Pakistan clashes killed four Pakistani soldiers and 12
militants, authorities said. Separately, mortar fire hit a house in Pakistan
near the Afghan border, killing five Pakistanis— a mother and her four
children. It was not immediately clear who fired the mortar and police were
investigating the attack in the North Waziristan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
province, local authorities said. Militants often target security forces
deployed in the region with mortars, which also has caused civilian casualties
in recent years. The exchange of fire across the border also took place in the
province, in the town of Torkham, and it was not immediately clear what
prompted the gunfire, said Nasrullah Khan, an official in Torkham. He said
Pakistani government and military officials were in contact with Afghan
counterparts to defuse tensions.”



Middle East



The Times Of Israel: Hamas Goal Is To Expel Israel From West Bank, Says Top
Official In Rare International Interview
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“Saleh al-Arouri, the head of the Hamas terror group’s West Bank operations,
gives a rare interview to a news outlet that isn’t affiliated with his or other
jihadist groups, telling the Qatar-based Al Jazeera website that the group’s
current political goal is to expel Israel from the West Bank by means of
attacks. “The resistance is not merely an expression of anger at the
occupation, but rather it has a political goal,” al-Arouri, who also serves as
the terror group’s deputy political chief, says in a transcript provided by the
Hamas-affiliated Shehab news outlet. He later explains this goal to be the
expulsion of the “occupation” authorities from the West Bank. Al-Arouri also
boasts that the group today constitutes the backbone of the Palestinian
“resistance,” thanks to its guerrilla operations and its war of attrition in
the West Bank, under the steering of its political leadership.”



United Kingdom



WTOP: The Hunt: UK To Label The Wagner Mercenary Group A Terrorist Organization

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“On this week’s episode of “The Hunt with WTOP national security
correspondent JJ Green,” Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler, senior director of the
Counter Extremism Project, talks about the impact of a move to label the Wagner
mercenary group a terrorist organization.”



The New York Times: U.K. Police Hunt Terror Suspect Who Escaped London Prison
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“A former British Army soldier facing terrorism-related charges escaped from
a prison in southwest London on Wednesday morning, prompting a nationwide
manhunt by the police, who appealed to the public for help apprehending him.
The prisoner, Daniel Abed Khalife, is scheduled to go on trial in November on
charges that he breached the Official Secrets Act and terrorism statutes. He
was charged in late January after a police investigation found that he had left
fake bombs at a military base to stir fears of a terrorist attack. The
Metropolitan Police said they believed Mr. Khalife, 21, who escaped from the
Wandsworth prison around 7:50 a.m., was still in the London vicinity, where he
has ties to the Kingston area. The police described him as being 6 feet 2
inches tall, and said he had been last seen wearing a white T-shirt, red and
white checkered pants and brown steel-toe cap boots. “I also want to reassure
the public that we have no information which indicates, nor any reason to
believe, that Khalife poses a threat to the wider public, but our advice if you
do see him is not to approach him,” said Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the
police’s counterterrorism command.”



Southeast Asia



Associated Press: Sri Lanka Will Investigate Allegations Of Intelligence
Complicity In 2019 Easter Bombings
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“Sri Lanka’s government will appoint a parliamentary committee to investigate
allegations made in a British television report that officials with the South
Asian country’s intelligence had complicity in the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings
that killed 269 people, including 42 foreigners from 14 countries. The attacks,
which included simultaneous suicide bombings, targeted three churches — two
Catholic and one Protestant — and three tourist hotels during Easter
celebrations. Junior defense minister, Pramitha Tennakoon, told Parliament
Wednesday that the Cabinet has decided to appoint a committee to probe the
allegations in the British Channel 4 report. He said the committee will also
help witnesses come forward and testify even if living abroad. Channel 4
interviewed a man interviewed who said he arranged a meeting between a local
Islamic State-inspired group, National Thowheed Jamath, and a top state
intelligence official to hatch a plot to create insecurity in Sri Lanka and
enable Gotabaya Rajapaksa to win the presidential election later that year.”



India



The Times Of India: NIA Arrests Absconding Leader Of ISIS Thrissur Module From
Tamil Nadu
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“The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday arrested the absconding
head of the ISIS Thrissur module in Chennai before he could execute his plan to
flee the country via Nepal. Siyed Nabeel Ahammed, the Ameer (leader) of
Thrissur-based ISIS module, was apprehended by NIA’s fugitive tracking team,
which had been tracking him for the past few weeks. Ahammed, who was on the
run, had been hiding out at various places in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu for the
past several weeks and had planned to escape abroad, using Nepal as a transit
point, with the aid of forged & fraudulent documents. Incriminating documents
and digital devices have been seized from the possession of Ahammed, who is the
third accused to be arrested since July in the case relating to ISIS activities
in Kerala. In July this year, NIA had tracked and arrested one Ashif @
Mathilakath Kodayil Ashraf from his hideout near Sathyamangalam, Tamil Nadu.”



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