Eye on Extremism
April 22, 2020
The
Swaddle: Neo‑Nazis Leak Emails, Passwords Of Employees From The WHO,
Gates Foundation
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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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