The Shabab, the Somalia-based militant group that is Al Qaeda’s most powerful
ally in Africa, is not only collecting millions of dollars in tariffs

 

 


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Eye on Extremism


October 12, 2020

 

The New York Times: Feared Shabab Exploit Somali Banking And Invest In Real
Estate, U.N. Says
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“The Shabab, the Somalia-based militant group that is Al Qaeda’s most powerful
ally in Africa, is not only collecting millions of dollars in tariffs and
payoffs but moving the money through local banks and even investing it in real
estate and businesses, according to a new United Nations Security Council
report. The report describes how the Shabab, known for suicide attacks and a
severe interpretation of Islam that bans music and other pleasures, have
diversified their funding streams. Although financial dealings with the Shabab
are prohibited under Security Council sanctions, the report said the group had
found ways to expand from strictly cash transactions into utilizing bank
accounts and electronic mobile services to save, transfer and invest money. A
Security Council panel of experts that monitors Somalia produced the report,
which has not yet been made public. The New York Times obtained an advance
copy. The Shabab’s deadly attacks have wreaked havoc in Somalia and across East
Africa. The group sustains an estimated 4,000 fighters, and expands its power,
by collecting money from around south and central Somalia, including in the
capital, Mogadishu, the report said.”

 

Reuters: Iraqi Militias Say They Have Halted Anti-U.S. Attacks
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“An array of Iran-backed Iraqi militia groups have suspended rocket attacks on
U.S. forces on condition that Iraq’s government present a timetable for the
withdrawal of American troops, one of the groups said on Sunday. A spokesman
for Kataib Hezbollah, one of the most powerful Iran-backed militia groups in
Iraq, said the groups were presenting no set deadline, but that if U.S. troops
“insisted on staying” they would unleash much more violent attacks. Washington,
which is slowly reducing its 5,000 troops in Iraq, threatened last month to
shut its embassy unless the Iraqi government reins in Iran-aligned militias
that have attacked U.S. interests with rockets and roadside bombs. The U.S.
warning caused alarm in Iraq, where it was seen as a step towards air strikes,
potentially turning Iraq into a battleground in a proxy war between the United
States and Iran. A broad array of politicians called on the militia to stop
provoking the Americans. “The factions have presented a conditional ceasefire,”
Kataib Hezbollah spokesman Mohammed Mohi told Reuters. “It includes all
factions of the (anti-U.S.) resistance, including those who have been targeting
U.S. forces.” On Saturday, militia groups calling themselves the “Iraqi
Resistance Coordination Commission” published a statement suggesting they would
suspend attacks in return for a clear plan for U.S. troops to leave.”

 

United States

 

Associated Press: Case Against Man Linked To Extremist Group Could Be Near End
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“Federal prosecutors and defense attorneys may be close to resolving the
criminal case against a Maryland man whom the FBI linked to a violent white
supremacist group, a court filing says. In Friday's status report, Assistant
U.S. Attorney Thomas Windom said efforts to resolve the case against William
Bilbrough IV have been “slowed somewhat” by defense attorneys' ability to
confer with their jailed client and “the timing of facility mail,” an apparent
reference to the jail. “The parties expect disposition in this case within the
next month. If no such disposition is achieved, the parties propose setting a
deadline for an additional status report (on Nov. 9),” Windom wrote.
Bilbrough's attorney, Robert Bonsib, declined to comment Sunday on the status
of the case or WIndom's court filing. Bilbrough, of Denton, Maryland, was 19
when FBI agents arrested him and two other men in January as part of a broader
investigation of The Base. Authorities said the three men were members of the
group and that its goal was to accelerate the overthrow of the U.S. government
and replace it with a white supremacist regime. Authorities in Georgia and
Wisconsin also arrested four other men linked to The Base.”

 

Agence France-Presse: British-Born Isis Suspects Plead Not Guilty Over Deaths
Of US Hostages
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“Two British-born men accused of belonging to a notorious Islamic State
kidnapping cell have pleaded not guilty in a US court to charges of conspiring
to murder four American hostages. El Shafee Elsheikh, 32, and Alexanda Kotey,
36, were flown to the US from Iraq on Wednesday to face trial for involvement
in the murders of the American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and
relief workers Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller. Appearing from prison by
videolink, they both pleaded not guilty during a hearing in US district court
in Alexandria, Virginia, and waived their right to a speedy trial. Judge TS
Ellis described the case as “complex and unusual” and set the next hearing for
15 January. “Time is required in order to achieve the ends of justice in this
case,” Ellis said. Besides the deaths of the four Americans, Elsheikh and Kotey
are also suspected of involvement in the killings of two Britons, Alan Henning
and David Haines, and several other hostages including two Japanese nationals.
The two former British nationals had been in the custody of US forces in Iraq
since October 2019 after being captured in January 2018 by Syrian Kurdish
forces. Kotey and Elsheikh’s four-member Isis cell was dubbed the “Beatles” by
their captives due to their British accents.”

 

Syria

 

The National: Former Diplomat Says Wives Of ISIS Members Need To Face Justice
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“A former top diplomat has called for wives of ISIS terrorists to “face the
full force of the law” after it was disclosed that funds raised in Europe were
helping them tp escape Syrian detention camps. International laws should also
be brought in to force financial, messaging and social media platforms to stop
helping terrorists. “Failure to do so will hand a significant victory to ISIS
and extremist organisations,” Sir Ivor Roberts said. The former head of
counter-terrorism at Britain’s Foreign Office said reports of ISIS supporters
across Europe using fund-raising apps to smuggle the women and their children
back home showed the terrorists “are not fading into history”. Mr Roberts urged
the British government to take firm action. “These women were either party to,
or aware of, the atrocious acts committed by the caliphate and need to be held
accountable,” he wrote in The Sunday Times. Female supporters of the terrorist
group have used the funds from sympathisers to pay fixers and people smugglers
to help them escape the Syrian camps, it was reported last week. Mr Roberts, a
senior adviser at the Counter Extremism Project, insisted that the British
authorities rapidly address the problem of overseas funding for ISIS, but said
the priority should be bringing the women to justice.”

 

Iran

 

The Hill: America Needs To Stop Iranian-Controlled Militias In Our Hemisphere
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“Iranian-controlled Popular Mobilization Units (PMUs) are coming to the
Western Hemisphere. According to Radio Farda, Iranian military commander Yahya
Rahim Safavi, the former head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, is
helping Venezuela to form PMUs and transferring Iran’s experience to Venezuela
to stand “against America.” In 2014, the Wall Street Journal’s  Mary Anastasia
O’Grady reported that the “West underestimates the growing threat from radical
Islam (Iran) in the Americas,” through an Iran-Cuba-Venezuela nexus, with the
help of regional allies Nicaragua, Bolivia and Ecuador. PMUs are multinational
Islamist militias under the control of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,
which have helped Iran project its power and influence beyond its borders and
to dominate Iraq. They have helped Syria’s Bashar al-Assad to remain in power.
Iran and its terrorist proxy Hezbollah, the model Iranian militia, have had
decades-long involvement in finding the soft underbelly of the United States’s
South American neighbors through narco-terrorism and support of anti-U.S.
regimes.”

 

Afghanistan

 

The Washington Post: With U.S. Troops Gone, Taliban Expands Influence In One
Afghan Province
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“Months after the Americans withdrew from this province in southeast
Afghanistan, what little they left behind still lies scattered across the small
military base: rations packaging for chicken pesto pasta, Rice Krispies cereal
boxes, instant chocolate milk packets. Inside trailers, the floors are littered
with Christmas decorations and letters from schoolchildren addressed “Dear
soldier.” The U.S. military vacated Forward Operating Base Lightning in March,
less than a month after American and Taliban leaders signed a peace deal that
set in motion a complete withdrawal of U.S. forces. On a recent day this month,
only trash, splintered plywood, crushed metal trailers and mounds of twisted
wire remained where hundreds of American troops once trained Afghan forces,
launched joint operations and conducted surveillance missions. But outside the
base, Afghan officials say, the U.S. withdrawal has had an outsized impact.
Targeted killings are on the rise, school attendance is down, and Taliban
fighters are expanding their areas of influence, according to residents and
officials. What has happened in Paktia province, just a few hours’ drive from
Kabul, in the months since the departure of U.S. forces in March provides a
glimpse into what might await other parts of the country as the Trump
administration looks to pull out thousands more troops in the coming weeks —
and possibly to withdraw completely by Christmas.”

 

Asian News International: 11 Afghan Security Force Members Killed In Taliban
Attacks In Kunduz, Helmand
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“At least 11 security force members were killed in Taliban attack in Kunduz
and Helmand provinces on Thursday evening, Tolo News reported citing security
sources. Taliban attacked security outposts in Ali Abad district in the
northern province of Kunduz on Thursday evening, a security source said, adding
that eight security force members, including four policemen and four army
soldiers, were killed. The source said five army soldiers and two policemen
were wounded in the attack. Four other forces were taken hostage by the
Taliban, the source said. Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack by
posting photos from the hostages. The group attacked two areas in Helmand on
Thursday night: the Helmand highway and Nahri Saraj district, according to
provincial governor's spokesman Omar Zwak. Zwak said that three security force
members were killed and three others were wounded in the Taliban attacks in the
province. However, a security source said that at least 10 soldiers were killed
in the attacks.”

 

Nigeria

 

Daily Trust: 4 Suspected Boko Haram Logistics Suppliers Arrested In Borno
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“The Borno Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has
arrested four suspected Boko Haram logistics suppliers with 34 jerrycans of
fuel. The state Commandant, Mr Ibrahim Abdullahi, made the disclosure on Friday
in Maiduguri while parading the suspects. Abdullahi said that one of the
suspects, Usman Bapetel is the manager of a filling station in Husara village
of Askira/Uba Local Government of Borno. He said that the rest comprising
Alphonsus John, Nicholas Benjamin and Isaac Clement were arrested on Sept. 12,
at Wastilla village in Michika Local Government Area in neibouring Adamawa. He
said that exhibits recovered from the suspects included 34 yellow jerrycans
loaded with about 880 liters of fuel concealed in sacks and three motor cycles.
Abdullahi also disclosed that the command had recorded a total of 1,318 cases
this year, with 734 treated while 468 are ongiong at various stages.”

 

Africa

 

BBC News: Kenya's Westgate Trial: Man Cleared Of Terrorism ‘Seized By Armed
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“A man who was cleared of terrorism charges over the 2013 Westgate shopping
mall attack in Kenya has been abducted by unknown gunmen. On Wednesday, two men
were convicted over the attack in the capital, Nairobi, which saw more than 71
dead. The third on trial, Liban Abdullahi Omar, whose brother was one of the
attackers killed in the raid on the mall, was found not guilty. But witnesses
say the next day gunmen stopped his taxi and abducted him. Mr Omar, a Somali
refugee in Kenya, had just left anti-terror police offices in Nairobi when he
was seized, according to Khelef Khalifa, the director of the NGO Muslims for
Human Rights. He had been released from the Kamiti Maximum Prison and was going
through clearance at the anti-terror office, as is the procedure with terror
suspects. Mr Khalifa said hooded gunmen dressed in black intercepted Mr Omar's
taxi. His lawyer, Mbugua Mureithi, told the Kenyan TV channel NTV that the men
identified themselves as security agents. Police have declined to comment.”

 

United Kingdom

 

Arab News: UK Terrorist Watched Daesh Videos In Jail Before Trying To Kill
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“A convicted terrorist in the UK who tried to hack a prison guard to death
watched and transcribed smuggled extremist propaganda videos in the months
leading up to the attack. Brusthom Ziamani, 25, wore a fake suicide vest and
used a makeshift knife during the attack on a prison guard in January this
year. He admitted to obtaining a memory card while in prison that had Daesh
propaganda videos on it. Ziamani was already serving a 19-year sentence for
plotting to behead a soldier in 2015, and was on Thursday sentenced to life
with a minimum of 21 years for the January attack and for obtaining extremist
material. Investigators found a four-page “martyrdom note” in his pocket, which
featured comments from Daesh propaganda videos, after he was restrained
following the attack. He had used his cell’s DVD player to watch smuggled
propaganda videos, and had transcribed at least one lecture by an Al-Qaeda
preacher while in jail. The Times newspaper reported that Ziamani had
previously plotted to kill non-Muslims while in jail. He is said to have
converted to Islam after a youth spent as a practicing Jehovah’s Witness, and
was radicalized following a stint committing violent robberies as part of a
London gang.”

 

France

 

Radio France Internationale: France Charges Jihadist With Alleged Islamic
State Murders In Iraq, Syria
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“The judicial authorities in France have charged a man with murder days after
his expulsion from Turkey, holding him in custody over crimes alleged to have
taken place in jihadist-controlled areas of Iraq and Syria. Under the pseudonym
“Abou Salman al Faransi”, 26-year-old Othman Garrido is believed to have
arrived in the region in 2012, where anti-terror prosecutors (PNAT) say he
committed “murder in connection with a terrorist undertaking” and joined a
“terrorist conspiracy”. He is believed to have played an important role in and
have information on the French jihadist scene. A judge on Friday ordered him to
be jailed provisionally after he had spent the week in police custody. “Based
on photographs of abuses where he is visible,” Garrido “was probably involved
in other murders in Iraq and Syria” being probed in a separate investigation,
PNAT said. Prosecutors suspect him of three murders in total, although they
have not been able to precisely date the crimes. France has had an arrest
warrant out since 2016 for Garrido, a native of the southern city Montpellier.
Turkish forces captured him near the Syrian border in July, and handed him over
under a Paris-Ankara deal covering the return of French jihadists.”

 

Southeast Asia

 

Al Jazeera: Philippines Arrests Woman Suspected Of Planning Suicide Attack
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“An Indonesian woman suspected of planning a suicide bomb attack in the
southern Philippines was arrested on Saturday in a pre-dawn raid, the military
said. The arrest comes less than two months after 15 people were killed and 74
others wounded when two suicide bombers, both of them women, blew themselves up
on Jolo island in the southern province of Sulu. Security forces blamed the
August 24 attack on the Abu Sayyaf armed group. The Indonesian woman was
identified as Rezky Fantasya Rullie and was the widow of an Indonesian who was
killed in Sulu in August, the Joint Task Force said in a statement. She is also
believed to be the daughter of two suicide bombers who killed 21 people in an
attack on a Catholic cathedral in Jolo early last year, it added. That attack
was blamed on a group linked to Abu Sayyaf. “We have been pursuing foreign
terrorist suicide bombers in Sulu after the twin bombing of Jolo town (in
August),” said Brigadier General William Gonzales. “Rullie was first on our
list since we have received intelligence reports that she is going to conduct
(a) suicide bombing.” A vest rigged with pipe bombs was seized along with other
improvised explosive device components from the Jolo island house that is
believed to be owned by an Abu Sayyaf leader, the military said.”

 

Technology

 

The Guardian: Michigan Terror Plot: Why Rightwing Extremists Are Thriving On
Facebook
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“In a year of escalating political violence in the United States, Facebook has
served as a key organizing tool for violent extremists. An alleged plot to
kidnap the Michigan governor, Gretchen Whitmer, was planned in part on
Facebook, with one leader of the scheme broadcasting a video of his
frustrations with Whitmer to a private Facebook group, and participants later
sharing footage of their paramilitary exercises and bomb-making training,
according to an FBI affidavit. A related Michigan militia group facing
terrorism charges also used Facebook to recruit new members, according to the
Michigan state police. Before Michigan, there was the militia group in Kenosha,
Wisconsin, that used a Facebook event to encourage armed citizens to take to
the streets, and the anti-government “boogaloo” cop-killer in California this
May allegedly met his accomplice on Facebook. The deadly neo-Nazi rally in
Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, was originally organized as a Facebook
event. Facebook has defended itself as working hard to keep users safe and to
adapt to emerging threats on its platform, as well as coordinating closely with
law enforcement. But evidence has mounted for years that Mark Zuckerberg’s goal
of using Facebook to “bring the world closer together” and to “give people the
power to build community” has also built powerful tools for radicalization and
coordinated violence.”

 

Vice: How Facebook Allows Misinformation To Spread Even After It’s Flagged
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“With just weeks to go to the election, a new study has revealed major flaws
in Facebook’s ability to automatically detect and flag misinformation, allowing
pages to continue to spread content even after the company’s own fact-checking
partners have labeled it misinformation. A new study by the digital rights
group Avaaz, published on Friday morning, found hundreds of pieces of
misinformation that have been tweaked slightly to prevent Facebook’s artificial
intelligence system from placing a warning label on them … Facebook faced
similar criticism in the wake of the Christchurch shooting last year, when
multiple versions of the horrific video posted by shooter Brenton Tarrant
continued to spread on the network for up to six months after the incident. At
the time, the company promised to do better, but Avaaz’s report suggests its
system is still not working the way Facebook claims it is. “This is both
pathetic and not surprising,” Hany Farid, a professor at the University of
California, Berkeley, who helped develop PhotoDNA, a technology for detecting
online child abuse imagery. “The technology to detect these simple variants
absolutely exists, but Facebook continually is unable or unwilling to be more
aggressive with reining in misinformation.”

 



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