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Eye on Extremism
October 19, 2020
Associated Press: Grisly Beheading Of Teacher In Terror Attack Rattles France
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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'
“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
“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
“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
“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 Saudi Arabia
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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 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
“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
“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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