“Two attackers detonated a bomb in front of Turkish government buildings in
Ankara on Sunday, leaving both of them dead and two police officers wounded,
and a Kurdish militant group claimed responsibility for the attack. Authorities
called it the first terrorist attack in the capital in years. CCTV footage
obtained by Reuters showed a vehicle pulling up to the Interior Ministry's main
gate and one of its occupants quickly walking toward the building before being
engulfed in an explosion, while the other remains on the street. The blast
killed one of the attackers and authorities "neutralised", or killed, the
other, the interior minister said of the incident that rattled a central
district that is home to ministerial buildings and nearby parliament. In a
speech at the opening of a new parliamentary session hours later, President
Tayyip Erdogan called the morning attack "the latest attempt" to inflict terror
on Turks. "Those who threaten the peace and security of citizens have not
achieved their goals and never will," he said.”











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Eye on Extremism



October 2, 2023



Reuters: Attackers Set Off Bomb At Turkish Government Building, Both Die
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“Two attackers detonated a bomb in front of Turkish government buildings in
Ankara on Sunday, leaving both of them dead and two police officers wounded,
and a Kurdish militant group claimed responsibility for the attack. Authorities
called it the first terrorist attack in the capital in years. CCTV footage
obtained by Reuters showed a vehicle pulling up to the Interior Ministry's main
gate and one of its occupants quickly walking toward the building before being
engulfed in an explosion, while the other remains on the street. The blast
killed one of the attackers and authorities "neutralised", or killed, the
other, the interior minister said of the incident that rattled a central
district that is home to ministerial buildings and nearby parliament. In a
speech at the opening of a new parliamentary session hours later, President
Tayyip Erdogan called the morning attack "the latest attempt" to inflict terror
on Turks. "Those who threaten the peace and security of citizens have not
achieved their goals and never will," he said.”



Times: Dozens Dead After A Blast In Southwestern Pakistan
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“A powerful bomb exploded near a mosque at a rally celebrating the birthday of
Islam's Prophet Muhammad in southwestern Pakistan on Friday, killing at least
52 people and injuring nearly 70 others, police and a government official said.
The bombing occurred in Mastung, a district in Baluchistan province, where
around 500 people had gathered for a procession to celebrate the birth
anniversary of the prophet. Muslims hold rallies and distribute free meals to
people on the occasion, which is known as Mawlid an-Nabi. TV footage and videos
on the social media showed an open area near a mosque strewn with the shoes of
the dead and wounded after the bombing. Some of the bodies had been covered
with bedsheets, and residents and rescuers were seen rushing the wounded to
hospitals, where a state of emergency had been declared and appeals were being
issued for blood donations. Baluchistan has witnessed scores of attacks by
insurgents and militants, but they usually target security forces. The Pakistan
Taliban have also repeatedly said that they do not target worship places and
civilians.”





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United States



BBC: Michigan School Killer Could Spend Life In Prison
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“Ethan Crumbley, 17, pleaded guilty to terrorism and murder charges last year.
He was 15 when he opened fire at Oxford High School, around 30 miles (48km)
north of Detroit, in November 2021. The sentencing is set for December. He
faces a minimum term of 25 years in prison. Automatic life sentences for
criminals aged under 18 have been ruled unconstitutional by the US Supreme
Court - even for murder - but they can be imposed by a judge based on the
seriousness of the crime, the maturity of the child and other factors. During
an online hearing Friday, Judge Kwamé Rowe cited psychological evaluations and
said that the attacker's planning, work and social life "does not illustrate
the hallmark immaturity of a child". The judge noted that before the attack the
attacker wrote 22 pages in his journal about school shootings and conducted
significant research online about other school shootings and potential maximum
sentences. He killed four students and wounded seven others during the rampage.
The shooter pleaded guilty last year to 24 charges, including terrorism,
murder, assault and possession of a firearm.”



Turkey



Reuters: After Ankara Bombing, Turkey Hits Back In Iraq And At Home
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“Turkey said it unleashed air strikes on militant targets in northern Iraq and
detained suspects in Istanbul overnight, hours after Kurdish militants
sabÇıbıvid they orchestrated the first bomb attack in the capital Ankara in
years. On Sunday morning, two attackers detonated a bomb near government
buildings in Ankara, leaving them both dead and wounding two police officers.
The outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group claimed
responsibility. The defence ministry said many militants were "neutralised", a
term mostly used to mean killed, in air strikes that destroyed 20 targets -
caves, shelters and depots used by the PKK in Iraq's Metina, Hakurk, Qandil and
Gara regions. Turkey has stepped up military action against the PKK in northern
Iraq over the last few years in operations it says are conducted under
self-defence rights arising from Article 51 of the United Nations charter. The
PKK is designated a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and
European Union. It launched an insurgency in southeast Turkey in 1984 and more
than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict.””



Afghanistan



Reuters: Afghan Embassy In Delhi To Cease Operations From Oct. 1
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“The embassy of Afghanistan in India's capital New Delhi will cease operations
from Oct. 1, due to a lack of support from India and a reduction in personnel
and resources, the embassy said in a statement on social media platform X. The
embassy also said a failure to meet expectations in serving Afghanistan's
interests is another key factor in shutting of the embassy. "Given these
circumstances, it is with deep regret that we have taken the difficult decision
to close all operations of the mission with the exception of emergency consular
services to Afghan citizens till the transfer of the custodial authority of the
mission to the host country," the embassy said in the statement dated Sept. 30.
India does not recognise the Taliban government, and closed its own embassy in
Kabul after the Taliban took control in 2021, but New Delhi had allowed the
ambassador and mission staff appointed by the Western-backed government of
ousted Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to issue visas and handle trade matters.”



Reuters: No Current Talks With Taliban, Afghanistan's Massoud Says, Promising
Guerrilla Warfare
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“There are no talks with the Taliban to negotiate a peace settlement, Afghan
anti-Taliban leader Ahmad Massoud said on Thursday, vowing to step up
"guerrilla warfare" to bring the hardline Islamists to the negotiating table.
Speaking in an interview in Paris, Massoud, the exiled leader of the National
Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRF), said that the only way for the Taliban
to achieve legitimacy would be to hold elections, but there was no prospect of
that happening for now. "The Taliban are refusing any talks of negotiation and
they just want the world and the people of Afghanistan to just accept that this
is the only way going forward, which it is not," said Massoud, son of the
former anti-Soviet mujahideen commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, said late on
Thursday. The NRF groups opposition forces loyal to Massoud. It opposed the
Taliban takeover and clashes have occurred since August 2021 between the two
sides in the resistance movement's stronghold of Panjshir, north of the capital
Kabul.”



Associated Press: Russia Hosts The Taliban For Talks On Regional Threats And
Says It Will Keep Funding Afghanistan
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“Moscow will keep helping Afghanistan on its own and through the U.N. food
agency, Russian officials said Friday as they hosted Taliban representatives
for talks on regional threats The talks in the Russian city of Kazan came as
Moscow is trying to maintain its influence in Central Asia even as it wages war
on Ukraine. The discussions focused on regional threats and creating inclusive
government, Russian state news agency Tass reported. President Vladimir Putin’s
special representative for Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov attended the gathering
and said Russia is inclined to keep helping Afghanistan independently and
through the World Food Program.”



Pakistan



Voice Of America: Report: Surge In Terrorism Kills More Than 700 Pakistanis
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“Militant attacks have surged in Pakistan, killing more than 700 security
forces and civilians in the first nine months of the year, according to a
report released Saturday. The Islamabad-based independent Center for Research
and Security Studies, or CRSS, published the report a day after suicide
bombings and insurgent raids in southwestern Baluchistan and northwestern
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces killed at least 69 people. No group has claimed
responsibility for Friday's deadly violence. The report noted that the number
of fatalities from terrorist attacks this year has increased by 19 percent
compared to 2022, with the two Pakistani provinces bordering Afghanistan
suffering 92% of all fatalities. "Pakistan's security forces lost at least 386
personnel, 36% of all fatalities — including 137 army and 208 police personnel
— in the first nine months of 2023, marking an eight-year high," the CRSS said.
The report said 33 paramilitary forces, supervised by the army, also were among
the fatalities.”



ABC: Pakistani Taliban Attack A Police Post In Eastern Punjab Province,
Killing 1 Officer
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“Pakistani Taliban fighters attacked a police post in eastern Punjab province
early Sunday, killing one officer and injuring three others, and triggering a
shootout that killed two of the attackers, officials said. The attack occurred
in the Mianwali district of Punjab province and led to an intense exchange of
fire as reinforcements arrived at the besieged police post, said Imran Nawaz, a
spokesman for the counterterrorism police. A group of 10 to 12 militants
attacked the Kundal police post in the Easa Khel area of Mianwali, close to the
northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, after midnight, Nawaz said. The
exchange of gunfire continued for hours, during which two of the attackers were
killed and a third was wounded but escaped with the others, Nawaz said. A
search operation was underway in the area to find the attackers, he said.
Mohammad Khurasani, a spokesman for Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, claimed
responsibility for the attack.”



Yemen



Reuters: Yemen's National Airline To Suspend Flights From Sanaa To Jordan
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“Yemen's national airline will suspend the only international commercial
flight from Yemen's capital Sanaa in response to the Houthi administration
blocking the carrier from withdrawing its funds in Sanaa banks, four company
executives, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters. Yemenia will halt
six weekly flights to Jordan in October, the company officials said, after
negotiations with the Houthis failed to secure the release of airline funds
which executives at the carrier said amounted to $80 million. Yemenia had
proposed the Houthi administration take 70% of the funds while the remaining
30% would go to the internationally recognised government, the sources said.
The Houthi administration rejected the offer which was when the airline decided
to suspend flights to Jordan, they added. Yemenia said in a statement that it
had been unable to withdraw its funds in Sanaa banks for several months and
called on the Houthi authorities to lift restrictions "illegally" imposed on
its assets. Reuters could not reach the Houthi Ministry of Transport for
comment.”



Middle East



Reuters: Israeli Troops Kill Hamas Man Who Army Says Attacked Post In West Bank

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“Israeli soldiers on Friday killed a member of the Hamas Islamist group who
the army said was among assailants who threw fire bombs at a military post in
the occupied West Bank. The military said the attack on the post was near
Psagot, an Israeli settlement. "Soldiers conducting routine activity at the
scene identified the suspects and responded with live fire. Two assailants were
neutralized and transferred to receive medical treatment," it said. The
Palestinian Health Ministry said one of the men later died of his wounds.
Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip but has strong support in the West Bank as
well, claimed the man as a member. Violence in the West Bank has raged for more
than a year, amid stepped-up Israeli military raids, increased settler assaults
on Palestinian villages, and a spate of Palestinian attacks on Israelis.”



The Times Of Israel: Gaza Terrorist Group Announces Resumption Of Border Riots
After Three-Day Break
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“A Gaza group called “Revolutionary Youth,” affiliated with Hamas, announces
that it will resume disturbances at the security barrier with Israel today,
after a three-day break it had announced Thursday. The group has been carrying
out rallies on the border since mid-September, which have often escalated into
clashes with Israeli soldiers. Rioters have launched grenades and incendiary
balloons across the security fence and placed explosive devices along the
barrier. In a statement, the group says it intends to “expand the scope of the
confrontation and add fuel to the fire, and ignite our eastern borders with
flames and the blast of our bombs,” in response to Israel’s alleged
“intensified desecration” of the al-Aqsa compound. The group says it made its
decision after a visit by dozens of Jews to the Temple Mount on Sunday, where
the al-Aqsa mosque is located, during Sukkot. Palestinian media sources from
various factions, including the official Wafa agency, have condemned the visit,
claiming that Jews have entered the compound to “perform Talmudic rituals”
under the pretext of celebrating Sukkot.”



Somalia



Reuters: Suicide Bomber Kills At Least 7 In Somali Tea Shop; Al Shabaab Claims
Responsibility
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“A suicide bomber set off an explosion at a shop selling tea in Somalia's
capital on Friday, killing at least seven people, a witness and medical
personnel. Police put the number of dead at five. Al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab
group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement on its Arabic media
unit Shahada News Agency, the SITE Intelligence Group reported on Friday. It
put the number of dead at 11 and wounded at 18; its numbers on casualties in
attacks often differ from government figures. The Friday afternoon blast
occurred at a checkpoint on a road leading to the parliament and the
president's office and the shop is frequented by soldiers, the witness said.
The witness and medical personnel who were at the scene put the number of dead
at seven and the wounded at up to eight. Sadik Ali, the police spokesperson,
said the blast killed five people and wounded six others, adding the bomber was
a member of al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab group.”



Mali



BBC: Mali Crisis: Fierce Fighting Erupts After Tuareg Rebels Kill 'More Than
80 Soldiers' <[link removed]>



“It comes after the separatist fighters said they had killed more than 80
soldiers in the centre of the country. The government confirmed an army base in
the Mopti region had been targeted on Thursday, but gave no details. The
upsurge in violence comes as UN peacekeepers, deployed to Mali in 2013,
withdraw on the orders of the junta. Thursday's raid on the town of Dioura is
the most southerly one since Tuareg rebels renewed hostilities in August after
the collapse of a 2015 peace deal. This has coincided with growing violence
from Islamist militant groups, despite the deployment in December 2021 of
Russian Wagner Group mercenaries. The army had already been targeted in Bamba
earlier in September by al-Qaeda-linked jihadists. In a social media post, the
military said the clashes in Bamba on Sunday had begun at 06:00, describing
them as "intense". It did not name the fighters involved, only describing them
as "terrorists". An alliance of Tuareg groups, including the Co-ordination of
Azawad Movements (CMA), said in a statement that it had now taken control of
the area around Bamba, a town on the left bank of the River Niger between the
cities of Timbuktu and Gao.”



Africa



BBC: Niger Attack: Soldiers Killed By Hundreds Of Jihadists In Kandadji
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“Seven soldiers were killed in combat, while five others died in a road
accident responding to the attack. The defence minister said over 100 militants
had been killed in a counter-offensive. Jihadist attacks on the army have risen
since the military seized power in July. The army said it had staged the coup
so it could better fight the militants, some of which are linked to al-Qaeda
and the Islamic State group. The junta has ordered French troops stationed in
the country to help fight the jihadists to leave - last week, French President
Emmanuel Macron agreed to withdraw them. The French ambassador left Niger
earlier this week after living under a blockade ordered by the junta for
several weeks in the embassy. Now back in Paris, Sylvain Itté told French TV
that the aim was to "break me down". Reports say soldiers from across the
country have been recalled to the capital, Niamey, to guard the coup leaders,
leaving large areas vulnerable to militant attacks. At least 17 soldiers were
killed last month in another attack near the border with Burkina Faso. This was
the deadliest known attack in the country since the coup.”



North Korea



Reuters: North Korea Blames US For 'Grave Terrorist' Act Against Cuban Embassy
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“North Korea accused the United States on Sunday of letting a "terrorist" act
against Cuba take place on U.S. soil, saying a recent attack against the Cuban
embassy in Washington was the result of "despicable anti-Cuban" U.S.
intentions. The United States has neglected to ensure the safety of the Cuban
mission and was only keen to put countries it dislikes, such as Cuba, on its
list of state sponsors of terrorism, a spokesman of North Korea's foreign
ministry said in a statement. Along with Cuba, North Korea, Syria and Iran are
on the State Department list. An assailant attacked the embassy on Sept. 24
with two Molotov cocktails. No one was hurt and there was no significant
damage. The incident was "a grave terrorist attack", the North Korean spokesman
said, adding there was a pattern as it followed a 2020 incident at the same
embassy in which someone fired a rifle at the building. "This goes to prove
that the above-said incidents were committed evidently at the tacit connivance
of the U.S. administration," the unnamed spokesman said in the statement
carried by the official KCNA news agency.”



India



The Times Of India: Delhi Police Arrest NIA's Most Wanted And Suspected ISIS
Terrorist Shahnawaz
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“In a major crackdown, a special cell of Delhi police arrested National
Investigation Agency's (NIA) most wanted and suspected ISIS terrorist Shahnawaz
alias Shafi Ujjama and two others. The anti-terror agency had placed a reward
of Rs 3 lakhs on the arrested terrorist Shahnawaz. Shahnawaz, who hails from a
neighbourhood in south-east Delhi, was also wanted in the Pune ISIS case. An
engineer by profession, Shahnawaz had escaped from Pune police custody and was
living in Delhi,. reported ANI quoting Delhi police. Shahnawaz was briefly
caught by Pune Police on the intervening night of July 17-18 when he was trying
to steal a motorcycle in the Kothrud area of Pune. He escaped from custody
while he was being taken to his hideout for further questioning. Police later
caught two of Shahnawaz's associates - Imran and Yunus - in Pune and realised
the men are likely part of an IS-inspired module During investigation, it came
to light that a foreign-based handler had possibly put Shahnawaz in touch with
Imran and Yunus in February, with instructions to execute a terror strike.”



Technology



Reuters: Court To Weigh State Laws Constraining Social Media Companies
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“The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to decide the legality of
Republican-backed state laws in Texas and Florida that constrain the ability of
social media companies to curb content on their platforms that these businesses
deem objectionable. The justices took up two cases involving challenges by
technology industry groups who argued that these 2021 laws restricting the
content-moderation practices of large social media platforms violate the U.S.
Constitution's First Amendment protections for freedom of speech. Lower courts
split on the issue, striking down key provisions of Florida's law while
upholding the Texas measure. The industry challengers to the laws are NetChoice
and the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA), industry groups
whose members include Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc (META.O), Alphabet
Inc's Google (GOOGL.O), which owns YouTube, as well as TikTok and X, formerly
called Twitter. CCIA President Matt Schruers called the court's decision to
tackle the case encouraging. "It is high time that the Supreme Court resolves
whether governments can force websites to publish dangerous content. Telling
private websites they must give equal treatment to extremist hate isn't just
unwise, it is unconstitutional, and we look forward to demonstrating that to
the court," Schruers said.”



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