For the second time in three weeks, terror struck France, this time with the
gruesome beheading of a history teacher in a street in a Paris suburb.

 

 


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Eye on Extremism


October 19, 2020

 

Associated Press: Grisly Beheading Of Teacher In Terror Attack Rattles France
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“For the second time in three weeks, terror struck France, this time with the
gruesome beheading of a history teacher in a street in a Paris suburb. The
suspected attacker was shot and killed by police. French President Emmanuel
Macron denounced what he called an “Islamist terrorist attack” and urged the
nation to stand united against extremism. The teacher had discussed caricatures
of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad with his class, authorities said. The French
anti-terrorism prosecutor opened an investigation for murder with a suspected
terrorist motive. Four people, one a minor, were detained hours later, the
office of anti-terror prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard said without elaborating.
Police typically fan out to find family and friends of potential suspects in
terror cases. Macron visited the school where the teacher worked in the town of
Conflans-Saint-Honorine and met with staff after the slaying. An Associated
Press reporter saw three ambulances at the scene, and heavily armed police
surrounding the area and police vans lining leafy nearby streets. “One of our
compatriots was murdered today because he taught ... the freedom of expression,
the freedom to believe or not believe,” Macron said.”

 

Reuters: France To Expel 231 Suspected Extremists After Attack On Teacher -
Source
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“France is preparing to expel 231 foreigners on a government watch list for
suspected extremist religious beliefs, a police union source said on Sunday,
two days after a Russian-born Islamist beheaded a teacher. France’s interior
ministry, responsible for expelling foreigners, was not available to confirm
the information, which had been initially reported by Europe 1. France defines
extremists as “people who, engaged in a process of radicalisation, are likely
to want to go abroad to join terrorist groups or take part in terrorist
activities”. President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist government has been under
pressure from conservative and far-right parties to take a tougher stance on
non-nationals deemed to pose a security threat. Interior Minister Gerald
Darmanin asked local prefects to order the expulsions at a meeting on Sunday
afternoon, according to the source and Europe 1. Of the total number of
suspects, 180 people are currently in prison and 51 were due to be arrested in
the next hours, the police union source said. Darmanin also asked his
ministry’s services to examine more closely the requests of people wishing to
obtain the status of refugee in France, the source said.”

 

United States

 

The Washington Post: FBI: Suspect In Alleged Extremist Plot Deleted Video Made
Near Mich. Governor’s Home
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“A Wisconsin man charged in connection with an investigation of alleged
extremists plotting to kidnap Michigan's governor told the FBI after his arrest
that he destroyed video taken of some of the men conducting surveillance for
their scheme, an FBI agent testified Friday. Special Agent Richard Trask
testified in federal court here about the arrest of Brian Higgins, who was
charged a day earlier by state officials with providing material support for an
act of terrorism. Higgins is accused of loaning night-vision goggles to the
alleged conspirators and took dash-cam video of a “reconnaissance” mission to
the vacation home of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Federal authorities have charged
six men with conspiring to kidnap Whitmer, a Democrat, before Election Day.
Trask has said they were angry about coronavirus-related restrictions imposed
by the governor. Another eight men, including Higgins, have been charged in
state court with providing material support to acts of terror. Higgins, 51,
apparently became reluctant to carry out the plot, according to evidence
discussed in court Friday. After his arrest, Higgins allegedly told FBI agents
he decided after helping conduct surveillance on the governor’s home, he wanted
“nothing to do with it” and deleted a video he had made of the surveillance,
Trask said.”

 

Syria

 

Asharq Al-Awsat: Inmate Released From Kurdish Prison: ISIS Used Us As Human
Shields
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“A Syrian man released this week from the Kurdish-led Autonomous
Administration prisons in northeast Syria admitted that ISIS forced him to
collaborate with the organization, saying he was unable to escape from areas
controlled by the group. “I was placed in prison for being an ISIS fighter.
However, I was a civilian employee working with the organization. They forced
us to leave with their fighters every time they lost new territory, the last
time in the Baghouz area,” Khodr, 23, told Asharq Al-Awsat on Friday. After
spending 19 months in prison, the young Syrian who is from the village of
Shaddadi, south of Hassakah, was released as part of an amnesty deal issued by
the Autonomous Administration last Saturday for a number of ISIS militants from
prisons in northern Syria. “ISIS used us as human shields and they prevented us
from escaping,” Khodr, 23, said. Amid tight security measures, hundreds of
prisoners were seen Friday leaving the Sanaah Prison in the city of Hassakah.
Some were carrying small handbags and others were walking on crutches. Family
members waited to welcome them. Hussein, from the town of Bassira in the
countryside of eastern Deir Ezzor, was waiting with the crowd for the release
of his brother.”

 

Iran

 

U.S. News & World Report: A Trial In Europe Examines Iran’s Terror Ties
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“Nov. 3 will be an important date for the American people, since they will
elect their next president. Another day in November that will be important in
the context of the next presidency's battle against terrorism will be Nov. 27.
A trial is currently scheduled to begin in Belgium on that day for a senior
sitting Iranian diplomat who was arrested as the mastermind behind what would
have been one of the largest-ever terrorist attacks on European soil.
Assadollah Assadi was stationed at the Iranian Embassy in Vienna in June 2018
when two Iranian-Belgian operatives allegedly attempted to carry 500 grams of
TAPT high-explosives to a large international gathering of Iranian dissidents
near Paris. It was later reported that Assadi had personally provided the
couple with the explosives and a detonator in Luxembourg, thus confirming his
intimate relationship to a plot that could have killed hundreds of people,
wounding many more. Alongside tens of thousands of Iranians from throughout the
world, the target event was also attended by hundreds of international
dignitaries, including lawmakers, scholars, military experts, and security
professionals from the United States and Europe. Many of my colleagues were
among a senior U.S. bipartisan delegation that took part in the event.”

 

Iraq

 

Al Jazeera: Baghdad: Kurd Party Offices Torched By Hashd Al-Shaabi Supporters
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“Supporters of Hashd al-Shaabi, an Iraqi paramilitary network dominated by
Iran-backed factions, burned down the main Kurdish party’s headquarters in
Baghdad after criticism from a Kurdish ex-minister. Hundreds of Hashd
demonstrators swept past a security detail on Friday and stormed into the
offices of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), which runs the Kurdish
autonomous region in northern Iraq, and torched them. Protesters burned Kurdish
flags while others carried posters of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and his
Iraqi lieutenant Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who were killed in a US drone strike in
Baghdad in January 2020. The Hashd paramilitaries were formed in 2014 from
mostly-Shia armed groups and volunteers to fight the ISIL (ISIS) group. Hashd
has since been formally integrated into Iraq’s armed forces and has
representation in parliament, and it has spawned several ideologically
affiliated armed groups. Earlier this month, Hoshyar Zebari, Iraq’s longtime
former foreign minister and a key Kurdish power-broker, said the government
needed to “clean up the Green Zone [in Baghdad] from the presence of Hashd
militias”. They were operating “outside the law”, Zebari, a KDP member, said in
comments to the US-funded Al-Hurra television.”

 

Al Jazeera: Sold, Whipped And Raped: A Yazidi Woman Remembers ISIL Captivity
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“Layla Talu never imagined that her neighbours would betray her. But when
former friends from the villages surrounding her home in the Sinjar district of
northern Iraq gave away her location, her family was forced to flee. At 7am on
the morning of August 3, 2014, Layla, her husband, Marwan Khalil, and their two
children, who were aged four and 18 months, left their home. Like tens of
thousands of other Yazidis, they hoped to take shelter on Mount Sinjar. But
they never made it. Within a matter of hours, the Islamic State of Iraq and the
Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) had encircled the city of Sinjar and its
surrounding villages. Layla’s family was captured on the road and taken with
dozens of other Yazidis who had tried to escape. The men were separated from
the women and children. That evening, Layla and her children were transported
with others to Baaj district, southwest of Mosul, where they were held for four
days. From there, they moved to Tal Afar, where they were detained in a school
before being transferred again a week later to Badush prison. When the prison
was bombed by coalition aircraft, they were sent back to Tal Afar. The women
and children were beaten, insulted, threatened and starved, Layla says.”

 

Turkey

 

Daily Sabah: Turkey Arrests Foreign Daesh Terrorist Wanted By France
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“Daesh terrorist Soumaya Raissi, wanted by France with a Red Notice, was
arrested in southern Turkey's Adana province Friday. On Oct. 14, security
forces in Adana captured Raissi, who is also wanted by Interpol, at her house
where she was hiding. Originally from Tunisia, 30-year-old Raissi was living in
the province's Namık Kemal neighborhood with a fake Syrian identity. After
being taken into custody, the woman was interrogated for two days by security
forces. Raissi denied everything in her statement and claimed that she escaped
France due to domestic violence committed by her husband. Raissi was a fugitive
and wanted by France for four years. It was revealed that she entered Turkey
five months ago from Syria. Her first husband, Richard Raissi, was captured and
arrested in southeastern Gaziantep province back in 2016. He was then evicted
and deported from Turkey. It was also determined that Raissi's brother-in-law
is also a Daesh member. After escaping to Syria, the terrorist group picked a
member for Raissi to marry. She then had a child from this second marriage.
Interpol released a notification on Raissi, expressing that she is capable of
committing “dangerous actions” and should be detained as soon as possible.”

 

Afghanistan

 

Reuters: U.S. Military Defends Air Strikes As Taliban Warns Of 'Consequences'
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“The U.S. military on Sunday defended its air strikes against Taliban fighters
last week as the insurgent group accused Washington of violating their signed
agreement and warned of consequences if such actions continued. The Taliban
launched a major offensive in the southern province of Helmand in a bid to take
the provincial capital, prompting U.S. air strikes in support of Afghan
security forces, which were being overrun. “American forces have violated the
Doha agreement in various forms by carrying out excessive air strikes following
the new developments in Helmand province,” Taliban spokesman Qari Muhammad
Yousuf Ahmadi said in a statement on Sunday. The U.S.-Taliban agreement, signed
in Doha, provides for foreign forces to leave Afghanistan in exchange for
security guarantees and a pledge from the insurgents to sit down with the Kabul
administration to find a peaceful settlement to decades of war. “Responsibility
and consequences from continuation of such actions shall fall squarely on the
shoulders of the American side,” Ahmadi warned, adding that air and drone
strikes had also been carried out in other provinces.”

 

The New York Times: A Storied Female Warlord Surrenders, Taliban Say, Exposing
Afghan Weakness
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“In a long conflict waged by men, she’s been a rare female warlord, defending
her fief in northern Afghanistan against the Taliban, her own relatives and
even against the American-backed central government she allied with. As she
grew into her 70s, ailing and bedridden with bad knees, the warlord, Bibi
Ayesha, took pride in having an undefeated record in decades of war. She is
popularly known by a nom de guerre: Commander Kaftar, which means “pigeon” in
Farsi, “because she moved and killed with the elegance of a bird,” as one
profile put it. On Thursday, the Taliban declared the end of her high-flying
days: Commander Kaftar, along with her men, had surrendered to them, they said
in a statement. “The officials of our Invite and Guidance Commission welcomed
them,” the statement said. Local officials in restive Baghlan Province, where
she is based, and her relatives confirmed the commander’s surrender and said it
was an act of survival. Her valley was so surrounded, with other neighboring
militias already switching sides to the Taliban, that she had no choice.
Mohammad Hanif Kohgadai, a member of Baghlan provincial council representing
Commander Kaftar’s district, said she had reached a deal through a Taliban
commander related to her family.”

 

Voice Of America: Car Bombing Kills 15 Afghans; Taliban Accuse US Of Deal
Violations
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“A suicide bomber has detonated his explosives-packed vehicle outside a
provincial police headquarters in central Afghanistan, killing at least 15
people and wounding more than 150 others. Afghan officials condemned Sunday’s
attack in Firozkoh, the capital of Ghor province, as an act of terrorism,
saying mostly civilians were among the victims. The powerful blast also damaged
nearby government offices, they said. Mohammad Omer Lalzad, the head of the
provincial hospital, told VOA that “a number of injured people are in critical
condition.” Lalzad said he expected the death toll to rise. No group has
claimed responsibility, although the Afghan Interior Ministry blamed Taliban
insurgents. The acting U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan condemned the attack.
“Innocent Afghans were again killed today through a senseless bombing in
#FerozKoh in #Ghor province. This destruction and bloodshed must stop. Afghans
deserve to live their lives in peace,” Ross Wilson tweeted. Meanwhile, the
insurgent group Sunday accused the U.S. military of violating a February peace
deal between the two sides by carrying out “excessive airstrikes” in
Taliban-held areas in southern Helmand province and elsewhere in the country.”

 

India

 

The Tribune: 15 Jailed In ISIS Conspiracy Case
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“The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday said a special court had
sentenced 15 persons to rigorous imprisonment of five to 10 years, who were
earlier convicted in the ISIS conspiracy case. The case pertains to the
recruitment of Indian Muslim youth by Syria-based IS media chief Yusuf-Al-Hindi
to work for the terror organisation and commit acts of terrorism in India at
its behest. “A Delhi court on Friday pronounced the sentence to 15 accused
persons in the ISIS conspiracy case,” said a spokesperson for the agency,
adding that the NIA had filed chargesheets against 16 persons in 2016-2017. The
special NIA court sentenced Nafees Khan to 10-year rigorous imprisonment with a
fine of Rs 1,03,000, Mudabbir Mushtaq Sheikh to seven-year rigorous
imprisonment with a fine of Rs 65,000, Abu Anas to seven-year RI with a fine of
Rs 48,000, Mufti Abdus Sami to seven-year RI with a fine of Rs 50,000, Azhar
Khan to six-year RI with a fine of Rs 58,000 and Amzad Khan to six-year RI with
a fine of Rs 78,000, the spokesperson said. The court also sentenced Mohammad
Shariff Moinudeen, Asif Ali, Mohammad Hussain, Syed Mujahid, Najmul Huda,
Mohammad Obedullah, Mohammad Aleem, Mohammad Afzal, Sohail Ahmad to five-year
rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs 38,000 each.”

 

Saudi Arabia

 

Reuters: Islamic State Tells Supporters To Target Westerners, Oil Pipelines In
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“An Islamic State spokesman called on the militant group's supporters to
target westerners, oil pipelines and economic infrastructure in Saudi Arabia.
“Targets are plenty ... Start by hitting and destroying oil pipelines,
factories and facilities which are the source (of income) of the tyrant
government,” the spokesman, Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, said in a recorded speech on
the militant group's official telegram channel. He said the kingdom had
supported normalisation with Israel by opening its airspace for Israeli flights
to neighbouring Gulf states. The threats surfaced as Bahrain has followed the
United Arab Emirates in agreeing last month to normalise ties with Israel.
Saudi Arabia, which has Islam's holiest sites and is the world's largest oil
exporter, has stressed the need to step up efforts to reach a lasting and
sustainable peace agreement among the Palestinians and the Israelis.”

 

Nigeria

 

Agence France-Presse: Jihadists Kill 14 Soldiers In Attack On Nigerian Army
Base
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“Jihadists linked to the Islamic State group have killed 14 Nigerian soldiers
in an attack on an army base, military sources have said. Two sources told
Agence France-Presse on condition of anonymity that fighters from the Islamic
State West Africa Province (ISWAP) group had attacked the base in Jakana on
Friday evening, firing machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades. “We lost 14
soldiers in the fight, including the commanding officer and another officer,”
one source said. Several other soldiers were missing and presumed to have
either escaped or been captured by the militants, said the second source who
gave the same toll. The sources asked not to be identified as they were not
authorised to speak. The insurgents seized four trucks fitted with machine guns
in the raid, the sources said. Jakana, 25km (15 miles) from regional capital
Maiduguri in north-east Nigeria, lies on a known crossing route for ISWAP
fighters moving between their camps in the Benisheikh forest area of Borno and
their hideouts in the Buni Yadi area of Yobe. The village and the base have
been repeatedly raided by the jihadist fighters who splintered from the main
Boko Haram group four years ago. Since the split, ISWAP has intensified attacks
on military targets, raiding bases and ambushing soldiers.”

 

Somalia

 

Reuters: Dozens Reported Killed In Clashes Between Somali Government, Fighters
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“Dozens of soldiers and insurgents were killed in two days of fighting between
Somali government forces and al Shabaab militants northwest of the capital
Mogadishu, a witness told Reuters on Friday. Somalia’s state news agency Sonna
said the military had killed about 50 fighters from the al Qaeda-allied
Islamist group. No immediate account of the battle was available from the
militants. Hussein Ali, a farmer in the Afgoye area, told Reuters he and other
civilians had been trapped in the crossfire during two nights of fighting. “The
Somali government transported dozens of dead bodies. Likewise, al Shabaab took
dozens of their bodies. They both suffered blows,” he said, adding he had
counted at least 20 bodies on both sides. Sonna, the state news agency, said
that among the insurgents killed was a commander it identified as Osman il
Fidow. “Al Shabaab buried its dead bodies in another village called Bulo
Yarey,” it said. Neither the Somali military nor al Shabaab could be reached
for comment. Both sides often give sharply different figures of fatalities in
skirmishes. Al Shabaab has been fighting for more than ten years to dislodge
the country’s central government and establish rule based on its strict
interpretation of Islam’s sharia law.”

 

Africa

 

The Washington Post: ISIS Attacks Surge In Africa Even As Trump Boasts Of A
‘100-Percent’ Defeated Caliphate
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“On Aug. 5, militants carrying the black flag of the Islamic State launched a
daring land-and-sea assault on the strategic port city of Mocimboa da Praia in
northern Mozambique. In less than a week, they routed government forces and
captured the entire town, declaring it the capital of a new Islamic province.
Days later, a different band of Islamist gunmen rampaged through a famous
wildlife park for giraffes in Koure, Niger, just 35 miles from the country’s
capital. Firing from motorbikes, they killed eight people, including six French
humanitarian workers. The two attacks on opposite sides of Africa are among the
scores of violent episodes to shake the continent in what experts are calling a
breakout year for extremist groups affiliated with al-Qaeda or the Islamic
State. Less than two years after the fall of the Islamic State’s self-declared
caliphate in Syria and Iraq, the terrorist group is attempting a comeback in
Africa, with far-reaching implications for a region already beset by poverty,
corruption and the novel coronavirus. At least three Islamist insurgencies are
surging across broad swaths of territory, from the deserts of the Sinai, to the
scrublands of the western Lake Chad basin, to picturesque Indian Ocean villages
and resort islands in the Southeast.”

 

Voice Of America: Schools In Northern Cameroon Close As Boko Haram Steps Up
Attacks
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“Cameroon says it has again closed more than 60 schools on its northern border
with Nigeria to protect children and teaching staff from increasing Boko Haram
attacks. Many people have fled the region and are now displaced. The Islamist
group has stepped up its use of suicide bombers, even as the country’s military
has drastically reduced the jihadists’ firepower. The central African country
has deployed its military to assure the safety of the remaining civilian
population in the affected regions. Ousmanou Garga, Cameroon’s basic education
official on the northern border with Nigeria, says recent Boko Haram attacks
have made many schools unsafe. Garga says several dozen schools in Cameroon’s
Mayo Sava, Mayo Tsanaga and Logone and Chari administrative units that border
Nigeria’s Borno state, the epicenter of Boko Haram’s activities, no longer
function. “Sixty-two schools have been closed. The children have to be either
scholarized (educated) in other schools very far from their own villages or to
abandon schools. Thirty-four-thousand-and-fifty-four students have been
registered as IDPs. We have the students of the host communities; we have even
refugee students,” he said.”

 

The Republic: Jihadist Attacks Increase In Burkina Faso’s Sahel Region
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“At least 20 people were killed, injured or remain missing after attacks by
extremist rebels on three villages in Burkina Faso’s Sahel region, the
government announced. The attacks occurred in Bombofa, Peteguerse, and Demniol
towns, in Seno province and the army is searching the area, government
spokesman Remis Fulgance Dandjinou said. The victims were internally displaced
people attacked on the road while trying to return to their villages, the Emir
of Liptako Dicko Ousmane Amirou whose home is near the attacks, told The
Associated Press on Friday. One of the victims was the son of a chief, he said.
“It’s concerning for everyone,” said Amirou. “The government no longer has a
monopoly on security … It is only once security and justice are guaranteed that
displaced people can be asked to return to their villages,” he said. Burkina
Faso’s army is struggling to stem jihadist violence that has spread across the
country, killing almost 2,000 people so far this year and causing more than 1
million to flee their homes. This week’s attacks come after one last week in
the Center-North region where extremist rebels killed 25 displaced people also
trying to return home to collect their belongings, according to three survivors
of the attacks.”

 

United Kingdom

 

The Independent: Review Of Security Around Terrorist Prisoners After First
Isis-Inspired Attack In UK Jail
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“The government has launched a review of the way terrorists are handled inside
UK jails amid fears for the lives of prison officers from Isis-inspired terror
attacks, The Independent can reveal. Two inmates were jailed earlier this month
for trying to murder a prison officer at HMP Whitemoor using improvised weapons
and wearing fake suicide vests – one of four terror attacks allegedly carried
out by serving or released prisoners in the past year. Both men had access to
Isis propaganda, a smuggled SD card and mobile phone inside the high-security
Cambridgeshire prison. One of the attackers, Brusthom Ziamani, was already
known to be a terrorism risk after being originally jailed for plotting to
behead a British soldier, while his accomplice Baz Hockton was radicalised on
the inside. Experts warn the review must lead to urgent action, or else risk
the death of a prison officer at the hands of extremist inmates. The Ministry
of Justice says it has safeguards in place to prevent and monitor extremism,
but neither man had raised concerns and Ziamani was about to be given a
“certificate of achievement” after apparently complying with a deradicalisation
programme for eight months. The justice secretary launched an internal review
of the custodial management of terrorist prisoners, including looking at
deradicalisation courses, after the attack in January.”

 

BBC News: Stansted Airport: Man, 22, Arrested On Terror Charges
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“A man has been arrested at Stansted Airport on suspicion of terror-related
offences. The Metropolitan Police said the 22-year-old was stopped at the Essex
airport on Monday at about 17:30 BST. He was arrested on suspicion of
encouraging terrorism and dissemination of terrorist publications and taken to
a London police station. Westminster Magistrates' Court granted permission for
him to be detained until Monday. On Wednesday, he was arrested again on
suspicion of collecting information of a kind likely to be useful to a person
committing or preparing an act of terrorism. Magistrates granted a warrant for
detention relating to the inquiry into all the suspected offences.”

 

Technology

 

National Public Radio: TikTok Tightens Crackdown On QAnon, Will Ban Accounts
That Promote Disinformation
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“TikTok is toughening its stance against the QAnon conspiracy theory,
expanding its ban to all content or accounts that promote videos advancing
baseless ideas from the far-right online movement.The action hardens the
video-sharing app's previous enforcement against QAnon that targeted specific
hashtags on the app that QAnon supporters have used to spread unfounded
theories. Now, users that share QAnon-related content on TikTok will have their
accounts deleted from the app … Hany Farid, a UC Berkeley computer science
professor who is a member of TikTok's committee of outside content moderation
experts, said there is tension within social networks over how to respond to
misinformation without also amplifying the underlying theories. "When you ban
it, you give it credibility. You give it attention," Farid told NPR. "But the
movement got big enough and dangerous enough that people were looking at the
landscape and saying, 'Yeah, this is completely out of control,' " he said.
"Were they slow to do it? Probably. But platforms get criticized when they act
too quickly. So there is a dilemma there."



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