April 22, 2020

The Swaddle: Neo‑Nazis Leak Emails, Passwords Of Employees From The WHO, Gates Foundation <[link removed]>

“Far-right extremists leaked email addresses and passwords belonging to employees of the Gates Foundation, World Health Organization, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and a virology center in Wuhan, China. The data is not a new, but rather a compilation of previous data leaks, meaning that most of these emails and passwords are possibly defunct by now. This data dump, according to a report by Vice, first surfaced on the anonymous posting board 9chan on Monday, April 20th, and then spread to multiple social media platforms today. A U.S.-based private terrorism watchdog, SITE Intelligence, then traced the migration of the data to neo-Nazi terrorist organizations. The motive behind this data dump, according to researchers from anti-terrorism watchdogs like SITE and Counter Extremism Project, seems to be to sow discontent, misinformation, and resentment amid a population already reeling under the socio-economic duress of quarantines and lockdowns.”

The National: Europe's Most Wanted ISIS Terrorist Used Coronavirus Masks To Hide <[link removed]>

“One of Europe’s most wanted ISIS terrorists, British former rap artist Abdel Majed Abdel Bary, has been caught in Spain. Spanish anti-terror police raided a rental apartment in Almeria on Tuesday and arrested Abdel Bary, who had recently entered the country. He and two associates used the coronavirus outbreak to sneak into the country and wore surgical masks to disguise their appearance, officials said. Video of the raid shows armed police outside the apartment before apprehending the men and leading them out with their heads covered. The General Directorate of Police said the man was a “high-ranking”, Egyptian-born member of ISIS. “National police officers have carried out an anti-terrorist operation that has culminated in the arrest in Almería of one of the most wanted foreign terrorist fighters in Europe,” it said. “The detainee spent several years in the Syrian-Iraqi conflict zone and has both very peculiar personality traits and an extremely violent criminal profile, which caught the attention of the European police and intelligence services.” Abdel Bary, 28, once posed with a severed head in Syria and promised death to all westerners. He was raised in London and left Britain to join ISIS in 2013.”

Syria

Associated Press: Spain Arrests Ex-Rapper As Islamic State Fighter In Syria <[link removed]>

“A former London rapper who stopped making music not long after his father’s extradition to face terror charges in the bombings of two U.S. embassies was arrested Monday in southern Spain on suspicion of joining Islamic State fighters in Syria. Two sources close to the investigation told The Associated Press that police arrested Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary and two other men at a rented apartment. Abdel Bary is the son of an Egyptian operative of al-Qaeda who was convicted for events related to the 1998 bombings at U.S. embassies in Africa that killed 224 people. A media release from Spain’s National Police didn’t name Abdel Bary. It described him as an Egyptian national who left Europe to fight in Syria and Iraq. The police statement also called him “one of the most sought terrorists in Europe, both because of his criminal trajectory in the ranks of Daesh (Islamic State) and because of the high danger that he represented.” He and the two other men were arrested overnight at the apartment in Almería, a port city in southeastern Spain, the AP learned from officials on the ground and interviews with local residents. The three were being interrogated on Tuesday and were scheduled to appear before a National Court judge in Madrid on Wednesday, according to a spokesman for the court that usually handles terror-related case.”

The New York Times: Syrian War Monitor Says Israeli Strike Near Palmyra Kills 9 <[link removed]>

“An Israeli airstrike in central Syria killed nine fighters, including six who were not Syrians and some who were loyal to the militant Hezbollah group, an opposition war monitor said Tuesday. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights gave no nationalities for the foreigners who were killed on a military post in the desert near the historic central town of Palmyra. It said the dead included some fighters loyal to Lebanon's Hezbollah group. Israel says it has been behind a series of airstrikes mainly targeting Iranian and Hezbollah forces in Syria that have joined the country’s war fighting alongside the government. It rarely confirms the attacks and did not comment on Monday's airstrike. Syrian state TV reported the country’s air defenses shot down several missiles launched by Israeli warplanes Monday night. The station gave no further details about the attack, the latest of several to hit central Syria in the past three weeks. The Observatory said late Monday the Israeli strikes targeted Iranian and Iran-backed fighters in the desert near Palmyra. It added that Israeli warplanes were also flying over neighboring Lebanon.”

Iraq

Kurdistan 24: ISIS Violence Grips Central Iraq; Fresh Attacks Target Civilians, Security Forces <[link removed]>

“At least three new attacks suspected to have been carried out by members of the so-called Islamic State on Tuesday targeted civilians and Iraqi security forces in multiple provinces, mostly in the country’s central areas that have seen a recent increase in such incidents. A roadside improvised explosive device (IED) blew up under an army vehicle in the vicinity of the Um Hanta village in Diyala province, killing two soldiers, local security sources said. The incident occurred just four kilometers south of the town of Kulajo, close to where multiple attacks claimed by the Islamic State have lately taken place. In an attack in the provincial center of Baqubah, a sniper killed a police officer near a public university campus, according to a statement from Iraq’s military communications center, the Security Media Cell. It was not immediately clear what group carried out this attack. Two civilians also were killed by a second bomb that had been planted on the road connecting Quneitra and al-Lazakah villages in Nineveh province, along the border with neighboring Salahuddin. The rural communities are located outside the town of Shirqat, which Iraqi forces freed from the terrorist Islamic State in 2016.”

Afghanistan

The New York Times: 3 Policemen Die In Attacks On Afghan Police Chief, Governor <[link removed]>

“Two separate bombings in Afghanistan targeted a senior police chief and a provincial governor on Tuesday, killing three policemen and wounding several people, including the police chief, local officials said. In the first attack, police chief Ghulam Sakhi Ghafoori was on his way to inspect the security situation in the volatile district of Paato in the central Day Kundi province when his car struck a roadside bomb. Three policemen in his convoy were killed and the police chief was wounded, along with two others, according to police spokesman Gul Aqa Sujadi. In the second attack, a suicide car bombing struck by Gov. Mohammad Halim Fidai's car in eastern Khost province, wounding two of his bodyguards and 12 civilians, said the governor’s spokesman, Talib Mangal. Shortly after the attack, Fidai, who was unharmed in the explosion, appealed on the Taliban in a Facebook live video asking them to stop such attacks and join the peace process. There was no claim of responsibility for either of the attacks and the Taliban did not immediately respond to the governor's appeal. Since the signing of a peace agreement between the U.S. and the Taliban in February, the insurgents have stopped attacking U.S. and NATO troops but have struck Afghan forces in outlying areas.”

The Defense Post: Afghan Government Releases 71 More Taliban Prisoners Under Peace Deal Terms <[link removed]>

“The Afghan government on Tuesday, April 21 released an additional 71 Taliban prisoners in seven provinces, even as the group continues deadly attacks across the country. The 71 men were released based on their age, health, and the amount of their sentences still remaining, and as part of efforts to combat the spread of COVID-19 in the country, Pajhwok Afghan News reported. Prisoners in Nangarhar, Loghman, Kunar, Nuristan, Faryab, Uruzgan and Baghlan provinces were released. The releases are part of a deal between the U.S. government and the insurgent group that is supposed to include talks on a comprehensive ceasefire. The releases, which were suposed to have been completed, have been hampered by what the government claims are Taliban demands that some of its top commanders be included in the release. The Taliban have continued attacks despite the deal, including a number of assaults on government checkpoints this week that saw at least 23 Afghan troops along with police officers and civilians killed in three different provinces. U.S. forces are to leave the country by next July under the terms of the deal, provided the Taliban adhere to security guarantees and hold peace talks with the Afghan government.”

Yemen

Long War Journal: Houthis Capture Al Qaeda Base In Northern Yemen <[link removed]>

“In a recent video, the Iranian-backed Houthi insurgents claim to have captured a base belonging to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in the Khasaf region of Yemen’s northern al Jawf governorate. Houthi fighters are shown touring the captured base, which includes underground housing components and an alleged prison. Explosive belts, ammunition, AQAP flags, and other material are paraded by the insurgents for the camera. The insurgents also go through the library of AQAP’s base, though most of its contents appear quite dated. This includes religious material, weapons and ballistics manuals, a book written by former al Qaeda general manager Atiyah Abd al Rahman (or Atiyah Allah), several editions of AQAP’s former Al Masrah newsletter (which ceased in late 2018), and internal statements produced by the group. The latter statements include a undated document entitled “Advice for the users of chat forums” and another document dated for Feb. 26, 2013, which refers to a “statement gathered by the Yemeni ulema [religious scholars] on the endeavor to mediate between the mujahideen and the Sana’a regime.” The latter statement offers little substance but chastises the “shameful position of the Sana’a government,” which it blames on “projects of the Americans and Gulf scholars.”

Middle East

Foreign Policy: After Coronavirus, Terrorism Won’t Be The Same <[link removed]>

“As the coronavirus pandemic has spread, terrorist groups have reacted in different ways. Traditional terrorist groups such as the Islamic State and al Qaeda and its many affiliates are for the most part confused in their response to COVID-19. Some see chaos that they can take advantage of (in places such as West Africa), others divine retribution on nonbelievers (as the Islamic State and the Turkistan Islamic Party, a Uighur group, have suggested), while others an opportunity to show their governance capabilities (such as the Taliban and Hezbollah). Governments have redeployed some counterterrorism capabilities to support the coronavirus response while contorting legal definitions of terrorism to prosecute people committing antisocial acts such as coughing on others. So far, the number of acts that could reasonably be called terrorism have been quite limited. It is for the most part generic anti-establishmentarianism fed by conspiracy theories. Fear of 5G technology being linked to the spread of the disease has led to the burnings of cell-phone towers across Europe. In the United States, fear of big government has resulted in a bomb plan targeting a Kansas City, Kansas, hospital preparing for virus response and an attempt to derail a train in the Port of Los Angeles shipyard.”

Egypt

The North Africa Journal: Egypt Accuses Former Lawmaker Zyad Al-Elaimy Of Terrorism <[link removed]>

“Egypt added on Saturday 13 people, including former lawmaker Zyad al-Elaimy, on the country’s “terrorism list” for collaborating with the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. The decision, published in the official gazette, stated that their “placement on the terrorism list will be for a period of five years”.  Elaimy — a key figure of Egypt’s 2011 popular uprising that toppled longtime president Hosni Mubarak  — was arrested in June 2019. Also put on the list was Ramy Shaath, a prominent activist and the son of veteran Palestinian politician Nabil Shaath, who holds Egyptian citizenship and was arrested two months after Elaimy. Since their arrest, the pair have been charged with joining a “terrorist group” — namely the Brotherhood which has been outlawed following the 2013 overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi. In its ruling Saturday, the court said that Brotherhood members had tasked “other members of the group… including Ramy Shaath and Zyad al-Elaimy” with carrying out activities against the state. Defence lawyer Khaled Ali told AFP that the decision was taken in the absence of the lawyers and would be appealed.  Hundreds of people have been added to Egypt’s terrorism list in recent years, including fugitives and people detained by authorities.”

Nigeria

Brookings Institute: As Conflict Intensifies In Nigeria’s North East, So Too Does A Reliance On Troubled Militias <[link removed]>

“Since 2009, Boko Haram has caused devastating insecurity, impoverishment, displacement, and other suffering in Nigeria’s poor and arid North East region. Although the Nigerian government and military mobilized against the group between 2015 and 2018, intense insecurity and violence not only persist, but have actually increased since 2018. In the past two years, the Nigerian military has been put on the defensive. A Boko Haram splinter faction, the Islamic State’s West Africa Province (ISWAP), has become politically entrenched and military powerful, and poses an even larger challenge to the Nigerian military than the remainder of Boko Haram. The shortcomings of the Nigerian state have created a fertile environment for the emergence of anti-Boko Haram militias. More than a decade into the conflict, these militias are at the forefront of operations against Boko Haram and ISWAP, and constitute a core component of security provision in the North East. As I detail in a new fieldwork-based United Nations University report — which also includes cases of Iraq and Somalia, and provides key takeaways on militia advantages, risks, and policies toward them — developing an appropriate policy response to this crisis requires understanding the diverse effects the militias have on Nigeria’s battlefield, security landscape, human rights situation, politics, and economy.”

Africa

The Guardian: Islamist Group Kills 52 In 'Cruel And Diabolical' Mozambique Massacre <[link removed]>

“An Islamist group terrorising northern Mozambique has killed 52 villagers after locals refused to be recruited to their ranks, according to police cited by local media. Villagers were “massacred” in an attack in Xitaxi in Muidumbe district, police said on Tuesday, with most either shot dead or beheaded. “The criminals tried to recruit young people to join their ranks, but there was resistance. This provoked the anger of the criminals, who indiscriminately killed – cruelly and diabolically – 52 young people,” police spokesman Orlando Mudumane told the state-owned broadcasting service. An operation was under way to track down the killers after the attack on 7 April. Militants have in recent weeks stepped up attacks as part of a campaign to establish an Islamist caliphate in the gas-rich region, seizing government buildings, blocking roads and briefly hoisting their black-and-white jihadist flag over towns and villages across Cabo Delgado province. The unrest has forced hundreds of thousands of locals to flee and raised concern among energy giants operating in the region. More than 200,000, according to a local Catholic archbishop, Dom Luiz Fernando, have escaped. Some have sought refuge among friends and relatives in the port city of Pemba, the capital of Cabo Delgado.”

United Kingdom

The Independent: Coronavirus: Terror Threat To Hospitals As Extremists Call For Attacks During Lockdown <[link removed]>

“Terrorists are calling for attacks on UK hospitals and other “vulnerable places” during the coronavirus outbreak, a senior police officer has revealed. Protective security advice is being distributed to NHS trusts by counterterror officers, amid warnings that extremists are exploiting the pandemic to radicalise new recruits. The national coordinator for the Prevent counter-extremism programme told The Independent that Isis supporters were “encouraging people to target the places that appear most vulnerable”. Chief Superintendent Nik Adams said jihadis were calling for attacks during lockdown in the hope that police and security services would be “distracted and overwhelmed”. “We’re seeing the exploitation of the circumstances to encourage acts of violence,” he added. “The reality is we’re very prepared for any such eventuality, and monitoring any literature being disseminated around the world. “We are working closely with colleagues across the Five Eyes countries, with academics and community advisory networks to monitor how that information is playing out, and making sure that protective security advice is being adapted for the places that might be considered more vulnerable now.”

The National: Widow Of Officer Stabbed Outside UK Parliament In Terror Attack Is To Sue Police Chiefs <[link removed]>

“The widow of a police officer who was stabbed to death in a terror attack outside the UK parliament is to sue Scotland Yard over their failure to protect him. PC Keith Palmer,48, was one of five people murdered by Khalid Masood in the Westminster Bridge terror attack in London in 2017. Masood had driven a vehicle at pedestrians before arming himself with two 12inch knives and attacking PC Palmer inside the grounds of the Palace of Westminster. PC Palmer's wife Michelle is now to sue the Metropolitan Police force over its failure to protect him. An inquest ruled in 2018 he could still be alive if firearms officers had been closer. The inquest was told that the nearest armed officers were 80 yards away. Two years prior to the attack, a senior officer had raised concerns about the positioning of marksmen around the venue. Scotland Yard has apologised to PC Palmer's family but has not admitted liability for his death. Mrs Palmer has criticised the force for leaving her husband on guard on his own. “How could Keith have been left alone, unarmed, guarding an open gate at one of the most iconic buildings in the world and one of the country’s top terrorist targets?,” she has said in a statement. “He was left at a vulnerable location, with no protection, to die. The fact there were no firearms officers there for nearly an hour is hard to believe.”

Germany

NBC News: Murder Charges Filed Against German Synagogue Attack Suspect <[link removed]>

“German prosecutors said Tuesday they have charged the suspect in last year’s botched attack on a synagogue in the eastern city of Halle with murder and attempted murder, among other offenses. The German man in his late 20s attempted to attack a synagogue on Oct. 9, which was Yom Kippur, Judaism’s holiest day. He later killed two people. The attack stoked concern about anti-Semitism and far-right violence in Germany. The man, who was previously unknown to police, posted an anti-Semitic screed before the attack and broadcast the shooting live on a popular gaming site. The attacker tried but failed repeatedly to force his way into the synagogue as 52 worshipers were inside. He then shot and killed a 40-year-old woman in the street outside and a 20-year-old man at a nearby kebab shop, which prosecutors say he picked as an “appropriate target” to kill people with immigrant roots. Federal prosecutors said the suspect, whom they identified only as Stephan B. in line with German privacy rules, was indicted on two counts of murder and 68 counts of attempted murder, along with other charges including bodily harm and incitement.”

Europe

Republic World: Arrests As Spanish Police Crack Down On Extremism <[link removed]>

“A suspected Egyptian-born Islamic State fighter described by police investigators as a “dangerous extremist” and two other people who are being investigated for possible links to religious extremist groups have been arrested in southern Spain, the country's National Police announced Tuesday. Police described the Islamic State fighter as a man who had gone from Europe to fight in Syria and Iraq and said he is “one of the most sought terrorists in Europe, both because of his criminal trajectory in the ranks of Daesh (Islamic State) and because of the high danger that he represented.” The three were arrested in the early hours of Monday at a rented apartment in a central area of Almería, a southeastern Spanish port city, The Associated Press has learned from police contacts and interviews with local residents. They were being interrogated on Tuesday and were due be sent before a National Court judge in Madrid on Wednesday, said a spokesman from the court that usually handles terror-related cases and who was not authorized to be named in media reports. In a press release that didn't identify those arrested, police said the operation was the result of “international cooperation” between agents specialized in fighting terrorism who suspected that the foreign fighter could be traveling through Spain as he tried to return to Europe.”

Southeast Asia

The New York Times: Vietnam Jails Man For 11 Years For 'Terrorist' Tax Office Bombing <[link removed]>

“A Vietnamese court jailed a man for 11 years on Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to setting off a bomb in an act of terrorism, the Ministry of Public Security said. Truong Duong, 40, exploded the bomb at the tax department of the southern province of Binh Duong in September, the ministry said in a news release. The office was damaged but no one was killed. It said Duong had received money from an exiled organisation which Vietnam regards as a terrorist group to carry out the attack. The ministry said Duong had admitted his guilt and asked for leniency. Reuters could not reach his lawyer for comment.”

BBC News: Sri Lanka Attacks: Easter Sunday Bombings Marked One Year On <[link removed]>

“Church bells have rung out across Sri Lanka, marking one year since 269 people were killed by a group of suicide bombers. But there are no other large-scale events planned to remember the men, women and children - from worshippers celebrating Easter in church to tourists enjoying breakfast in hotel restaurants - whose lives were ended 12 months ago. Sri Lanka has been observing a curfew since March, as it tries to contain the spread of coronavirus, which has so far killed seven on the island nation. But the day is not going unnoticed - not least for those whose lives were changed forever by the violence. People pray outside St Anthony's Church marking one year since the attacks Saranya, 25, was nine months pregnant when a bomb went off at St Anthony's Church in the capital Colombo last year. Her husband was killed in the attack. Just a day later, she gave birth to their son. “My husband never saw his son,” she told AFP news agency. “My baby will be one year old on the 22nd, but how can we celebrate. It is a day after his father's death anniversary. It is a sad day for us.” Anusha Kumari, whose family were caught up in the attack on St Sebastian's Church in Negombo near the capital, told the BBC's Jane Corbin earlier this year: “My husband and my two children were killed only once. I die every second.”

Canada

Vice: Neo-Nazis And Conspiracy Theorists Are Seizing Upon The Nova Scotia Shooting <[link removed]>

“As is the case following many mass shootings, far-right social media networks are already percolating with posts glorifying the mass killer in Nova Scotia who killed at least 23 people in a shooting rampage over the weekend. Neither police nor media have linked the shooter to any organization or political belief system at this point, but that has not stopped far-right supporters from co-opting the deadly shooting.  While some online extremists have floated the idea the shooter, 51-year-old Gabriel Wortman, was an agent provocateur performing a false flag attack on behalf of the government or yet another character in the outlandish QAnon conspiracy, propaganda celebrating the shooter as a domestic terrorist success story has also appeared online. One well known neo-Nazi propaganda account known for its connections to extremist organizations and to ‘accelerationism’—a hyper violent political doctrine seeking to hasten the collapse of society through terrorist acts—released a stylized image of Wortman comparing him to Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber whose infamous attack occured 25 years ago to the day on Sunday. “Picking up where Timothy left off,” reads the image which shows Wortman’s face beside the bombed out Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, the location of McVeigh’s terrorist attack that killed 168 people in 1995.”



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The Counter Extremism Project - United States
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