The Taliban on Thursday rejected a top American general’s assessment that the
al-Qaida leadership is still based in Afghanistan, insisting that no for

 

 


<[link removed]>
<[link removed]>
Eye on Extremism


June 12, 2020

 

Voice Of America: Taliban, US Spar Over Al-Qaida Presence In Afghanistan
<[link removed]>

 

“The Taliban on Thursday rejected a top American general’s assessment that the
al-Qaida leadership is still based in Afghanistan, insisting that no foreign
fighters linked to the group are present in the country. The contention,
analysts say, underscored a long-running trust deficit between the Afghan
insurgency and the United States despite their February 29 landmark agreement
aimed at ending the nearly 19-year-old war in Afghanistan. “Those Arab or other
(foreign) fighters who were based in Afghanistan under the banner of al-Qaida
during the rule of the Islamic Emirate (the Taliban) are no longer here,” said
a statement published on the Taliban’s official website. The Taliban reaction
comes a day after the commander of the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said
al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was still based in the war-ravaged country,
though he did not mention him by name. General Kenneth McKenzie told a forum
hosted by the Washington-based Middle East Institute on Wednesday that he was
not sure if the Taliban would be able to prevent groups like al-Qaida from
using Afghan soil for future terrorist attacks against the United States.”

 

Arab News: US Is Pushing To Stop Iranian Funding To Houthis: Brian Hook
<[link removed]>

 

“The US is pushing to stop Iranian funding to Yemen's Houthis, the special
representative for Iran Brian Hook said on Thursday. During an interview with
Al Arabiya, he added that the US is happy with the results of the sanctions
imposed on Iran and that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has laid out conditions
for negotiations with Iran. Hook continued by saying that US policy toward Iran
has weakened the country and has affected its support for Lebanon’s shiite
militia Hezbollah.  He also said that the US did not want to see a copy of
Hezbollah on Saudi Arabia’s border, in reference to the Houthi militia which is
backed by Iran. Hook added that he had seen Iranian weapons provided to the
Houthis during a visit to Saudi Arabia.”

 

United States

 

NBC News: Man Charged In Deputy Ambush Scrawled Extremist 'Boogaloo' Phrases
In Blood
<[link removed]>

 

“Steven Carrillo, a California man who was charged with murder after he
ambushed two Santa Cruz County deputies, scrawled phrases tied to an online
far-right extremist movement in blood on a car shortly before he was detained.
Carrillo killed Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller, critically injured another deputy and
threw pipe bombs at police on June 6th, Santa Cruz District Attorney Jeffrey S.
Rosell alleged on Thursday. Before he was apprehended, Carrillo scrawled the
word “boog” and “I became unreasonable” in blood on the hood of a car. “Boog”
is short for boogaloo, a far-right anti-government movement that began on the
extremist site 4chan and aims to start a second American civil war. The phrase
“I became unreasonable” has become a meme in public Boogaloo communities on
Facebook, which discuss weapons and fantasize about a second civil war. One
recent meme on Facebook shows a man holding a Boogaloo flag at a protest, along
with the phrase “Become unreasonable.” “I became unreasonable” is a reference
to a quote written by Marvin Heemeyer, an anti-government extremist who
bulldozed 13 buildings in Granby, Colorado, in retribution for a zoning
dispute. Heemeyer killed himself after the rampage, which occurred on June 4,
2004, almost 16 years to the day of Carrillo’s attack.”

 

Associated Press: US Holding 3 Accused Of Terror Attack Against Vegas Protests
<[link removed]>

 

“Three Nevada men accused of planning a terror attack during recent Las Vegas
protests are now in federal custody on firearms and explosives charges,
authorities said. U.S. Magistrate Judge Nancy Koppe decided Wednesday that
Stephen Parshall and William Loomis, both of Las Vegas, should remain in
federal custody. The judge gave attorneys for Andrew Lynam, of Henderson, until
next Tuesday to prepare arguments for his release pending trial. The three
defendants appeared by video conference from a federal detention center in
Pahrump, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. They were arrested May 30 by
police and the FBI while allegedly preparing gasoline-and-glass-bottle
firebombs on the way to a protest in Las Vegas of the death in Minneapolis of
George Floyd, a black man who died after a white officer pressed his knee into
his neck for several minutes. Each had been held on $1 million bail each at the
county jail in Las Vegas. Parshall’s lawyer has said he’ll challenge accounts
of a confidential informant involved in the investigation. Authorities tie the
men to the right-wing extremist “boogaloo” movement, a loosely organized
internet-rooted network of gun enthusiasts expressing support for overthrowing
the U.S. government.”

 

Iraq

 

The Washington Post: U.S. And Iraq Begin Talks On American Troop Presence As
Militant Threat Grows
<[link removed]>

 

“U.S. and Iraqi officials began talks Thursday over the future of the
relationship between the two countries, weighing the future of American troops
in Iraq as Islamic State militants pose a renewed threat here. The U.S.-led
military coalition has been under pressure to withdraw forces from Iraq since
January, when President Trump’s decision to kill senior Iranian general Qasem
Soleimani in Baghdad prompted a call from Iraqi lawmakers for an end to the
American troop presence. U.S. troops are stationed in Iraq as part of an effort
to defeat the Islamic State group. The killing of Soleimani by an American
drone on Iraqi territory had plunged the U.S.-Iraqi relationship to its lowest
ebb in years. But relations have improved since the selection last month of a
new prime minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi. As the country’s former intelligence
chief, Kadhimi has good relations with U.S. officials but emphasizes his desire
to wrest back sovereignty from foreign powers. “The main principle in these
dialogues is to put Iraqi sovereignty first,” he said in a news conference
Thursday. “We don’t want Iraq to become a conflict arena. We want Baghdad to be
a city of peace.” Travel restrictions caused by the novel coronavirus forced
Thursday’s participants to trade a planned two-day meeting for a two-hour Zoom
call instead.”

 

Turkey

 

Reuters: Turkish Court Jails U.S. Consulate Worker On Terrorism Charges
<[link removed]>

 

“A Turkish court jailed a local employee of a U.S. consulate for nearly nine
years on Thursday for aiding a terrorist organisation, a ruling the United
States said would undermine the trust underpinning bilateral relations. Metin
Topuz’s trial has been a major source of tension between the two NATO allies,
which are also at odds over Ankara’s purchase of Russian missile defence
systems and U.S. support for Kurdish fighters in northeast Syria. Topuz, a
translator for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) at the consulate
in Istanbul, was sentenced to eight years and nine months for aiding a network
Turkey blames for a 2016 coup attempt, state-owned Anadolu agency said. He has
already been in jail for 2-1/2 years while on trial, accused initially of
espionage and trying to overthrow the government. A prosecutor said in March he
should be acquitted on those charges and instead face up to 15 years in prison
for membership of a terrorist organisation. Two lawyers for Topuz were not
immediately available for comment. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in
a statement there was no credible evidence to support the court’s decision and
the conviction “undermines confidence in Turkey’s institutions and the critical
trust at the foundation of Turkish-American relations.”

 

Afghanistan

 

Reuters: Four Killed And 'Many Injured' In Blast In Kabul Mosque - Ministry Of
Interior
<[link removed]>

 

“A blast in a Kabul mosque during Friday prayers killed at least four people
and wounded many more, Afghanistan’s interior ministry said on Friday.
“Explosives placed inside the Shir Shah-E-Suri Mosque exploded during Friday
prayers,” said a Ministry of Interior statement, adding that the West Kabul
mosque’s mullah was among those killed. No group immediately claimed
responsibility for the attack. The United States is attempting to broker peace
talks between the Afghan government and the insurgent Taliban to end 18 years
of war. The Islamic State group also has a presence in the country and has
carried out large-scale attacks in Kabul in recent months.”

 

Voice Of America: Afghan Leader Vows Taliban Prisoner Release To Be Completed
<[link removed]>

 

“Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced Thursday that his government will
soon release remaining Taliban prisoners to help a U.S.-led peace process
remain on course.  Ghani told a forum hosted jointly by the Washington-based
Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center and the United States Institute of Peace
that 3,000 insurgent inmates have already been set free. “My colleagues and I
have made the decision to release an additional 2,000 prisoners within a very
short period. We will announce the date soon,” the Afghan president said. Ghani
noted that Taliban members were in Kabul identifying their prisoners being
released from jails in exchange for 1,000 Afghan security personnel being held
by the insurgents. The prisoner swap, stipulated in the agreement the U.S.
sealed with the Taliban in February, must be completed for building mutual
confidence before Afghanistan’s warring sides open long-awaited peace talks. “I
think now we are on course, and next week we should be able to inform the world
of the next step,” said Ghani, who started his second term in March after a
controversy-marred presidential election. ”

 

Lebanon

 

CNN: Nationwide Protests Grip Lebanon As Currency Tanks
<[link removed]>

 

“Anti-government protesters took to the streets in multiple Lebanese urban
centers on Thursday, setting up burning barricades and forcing road closures as
the country's currency fell rapidly. Demonstrators hurled stones at military
forces and some protesters attempted to scale a security fence outside the
prime minister's office in the capital city Beirut. Protesters chanted against
the country's political elite, which many hold responsible for the country's
economic woes. Lebanon's main coastal highway was closed by burning tires in
the north and south of the capital, as protests were staged in areas that
rarely see demonstrations, such as Hezbollah strongholds in the capital's
southern suburbs. In the northern city of Tripoli, protesters pelted the army
with rocks and threw Molotov cocktails at the city's Central Bank office.
Protests also erupted in the southern cities of Saida and Nabatieh. In recent
days, Lebanon's currency has taken a nosedive, losing around 70% of its value
since October. The currency's collapse has stirred panic in a country that
relies heavily on imports for its basic needs.”

 

Nigeria

 

Vice: Nigeria's Military Vow Revenge On Islamic State-Linked Jihadis Who
Massacred 81 People
<[link removed]>

 

“Nigeria's president instructed his military Wednesday to “extract a heavy
price” from suspected Boko Haram militants who killed 81 people in a massacre
in the country's remote northeast, kidnapping seven others before they fled.
The militants drove into Faduma Koloram village in Gubio district in the
northeast state of Borno on Tuesday, opening fire on residents, who said the
onslaught lasted for more than two hours. The Nigerian military said many women
and children were among the dead. One survivor told CNN that the attackers had
told the villagers they were going to deliver a religious sermon, and asked
them to hand over any weapons before they started firing. “Suddenly, they
started shooting at will. Even children and women were not spared. Many were
shot at close range,” said the villager. Malam Bunu, the leader of a local
defence group, told the Associated Press that the fighters had returned on
Wednesday morning to kill a local who had escaped the massacre, and set the
village on fire as they left. Banu said he believed the attackers had launched
the assault in retaliation for an earlier clash, in which locals had killed two
militants while fighting off a raid on their herd.”

 

Africa

 

France 24: Ivory Coast Soldiers Killed In Attack At Border Post Near Burkina
Faso
<[link removed]>

 

“Dozens of suspected jihadists attacked a frontier post on Ivory Coast's
border with Burkina Faso before dawn on Thursday, killing around 10 soldiers,
security sources said. It is the first assault by Islamist extremists on
Ivorian soil since March 2016, when a raid on the southeastern beach resort of
Grand-Bassam left 19 people dead. Thursday's shooting attack “targeted an
Ivorian frontier post at Kafolo,” where an anti-jihadist operation had just
ended, one Ivorian source said, in an account confirmed by a Burkinabe source.
An Ivorian source said 12 people were killed -- 11 soldiers and a gendarme --
while six people were injured and two were listed as missing. Another Ivorian
source put the toll at nine dead, while a Burkinabe source said 10 troops, a
gendarme and an assailant had been killed, and two people were missing. “There
were sounds of rifles toward the river,” an anonymous Kafolo resident said in a
telephone interview. “There were sounds of military cars speeding through the
village. We are afraid. The sounds of guns have been going on since early this
morning. And it's still going on.” “We are hiding in the houses with our
families. The military has forbidden us to go out. Everything is closed,” he
said, adding that residents are normally in the fields growing cotton and
peanuts in the arid area.”

 

Agence France-Presse: ‘Capture Not Possible’: France’s Desert Operation
Against Al-Qaeda Chief
<[link removed]>

 

“In a desert wilderness in Mali, close to the Algerian border, pitted with
isolated rocks and weighed by oppressive heat, French special forces and combat
helicopters begin an operation. At its climax, they claim one of the greatest
successes of France’s deployment in the Sahel region of north Africa -- the
killing of the head of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) Abdelmalek
Droukdel. The French military, for the first time, provided details on Thursday
of how late last week it “neutralised” the man it has called “the third deputy”
of Al-Qaeda’s leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri. Officials describe the death of the
Algerian Droukdel as the fruit of meticulous intelligence work. This was
concluded by a military intervention in broad daylight, about ten kilometres
(6.2 miles) from the Algerian border, east of the Malian town of Tessalit. A
source close to the operation said about fifteen French special forces were
dropped by at least two transport helicopters, as well as a Tiger combat
helicopter and a Gazelle multipurpose helicopter, with a drone in support. “The
capture of Droukdel was not possible,” said the source, who asked not to be
named. “The goal is not necessarily to kill,” said the official. But “in
combat, the men see just rocks” with combatants cowering behind them.”

 

United Kingdom

 

Evening Standard: Jihadi Bride Shamima Begum Who Fled East London To Join ISIS
Fights Decision To Revoke British Citizenship
<[link removed]>

 

“ISIS bride Shamima Begum was denied a fair hearing when she was stripped of
her British citizenship and refused permission to fly back to the UK to fight
her case, the High Court heard today. Ms Begum was 15-years-old when she left
Britain with two friends to join Islamic State in February 2015, marrying a
jihadi fighter in Syria and spending more than three years in terrorist-control
territory. After news broke in February last year that she was now in a Syrian
refugee camp, then-Home Secretary Sajid Javid revoked her citizenship on
national security grounds. A Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) then
ruled that Ms Begum, who grew up in east London, had not been rendered
stateless by Mr Javid’s decision as she is “a citizen of Bangladesh by
descent”. The tribunal also found Ms Begum, who has been denied permission to
fly back to the UK to fight her case, could not play a “meaningful part in her
appeal”. Taking her case to the Court of Appeal today, Tom Hickman QC said the
Home Secretary’s decision to revoke citizenship should be declared “unlawful”
as he would have known Ms Begum could not properly take part in any appeal.”

 

Germany

 

Associated Press: Blood Trail Leads German Police To Suspected Neo-Nazi Bomber
<[link removed]>

 

“Police in Germany say they have tracked down a suspect in an explosives
attack on an anti-fascist activist by following a trail of blood that led to
his apartment. The attack in the early hours of Wednesday caused considerable
damage, and blew fragments of the activist's mailbox into her house in Einbeck,
near the central German city of Goettingen. Lower Saxony state's interior
minister, Boris Pistorius, condemned the attack Thursday. Police said the
26-year-old suspect, who has been detained, appeared to have badly injured his
hand when the explosives detonated early. Officers seized evidence, including
weapons, at his home. Authorities say the suspect is linked to the far-right
scene. The 41-year-old woman who was targeted had been active in so-called
Antifa campaigns against neo-Nazis. Left-wing groups are planning a protest
Friday following the attack. German authorities have warned of the growing
threat of far-right extremism. Next week sees the start of the trial against
two men suspected of involvement in the killing of Walter Luebcke, a member of
Chancellor Angela Merkel's party who was gunned down outside his home last
year. One of the suspects in the Luebcke case has a long history of neo-Nazi
violence.”

 

Europe

 

Los Angeles Times: Norwegian White Nationalist Gets 21 Years For Slaying,
Mosque Attack
<[link removed]>

 

“A white nationalist Norwegian who killed his stepsister and then stormed an
Oslo mosque and opened fire, hitting no one, was found guilty Thursday and
sentenced to 21 years in prison, the longest jail term under Norwegian law.
Philip Manshaus, who had said in court that he regretted not having caused more
damage, “has proven to be an extremely dangerous person,” prosecutor Johan
Oeverberg said as he demanded the maximum penalty. On Aug. 10, 2019, Manshaus,
22, killed his 17-year-old stepsister, Johanne Zhangjia Ihle-Hansen, by
shooting her four times with a hunting rifle at their home in the Oslo suburb
of Baerum. Ihle-Hansen was adopted from China as a 2-year-old, and her mother
later married Manshaus’ father. Manshaus then drove to a nearby mosque where
three men were preparing for Eid al-Adha celebrations. Manshaus fired four
shots from a rifle at the mosque’s glass door before he was overpowered by one
of the men, Muhammad Rafiq. Manshaus wore a bulletproof vest and a helmet with
a video camera in the attack and was armed with a hunting rifle and a shotgun.”



Click here to unsubscribe.
<[link removed]>