Islamic State claimed responsibility on Tuesday for a deadly attack in Vienna,
in a statement issued through its Amaq News Agency along with a picture

 

 


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Eye on Extremism


November 4, 2020

 

Reuters: Islamic State Claims Responsibility For Vienna Attack
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“Islamic State claimed responsibility on Tuesday for a deadly attack in
Vienna, in a statement issued through its Amaq News Agency along with a picture
and video purporting to show the gunman. The picture, released on Telegram,
showed a bearded man identified as “Abu Dagnah Al-Albany”. The accompanying
statement said he had attacked crowds in central Vienna on Monday with a pistol
and machine gun before being shot dead by police. In the photo, Albany carries
a pistol, a machine gun and a machete and is wearing a ring stamped with a
sentence saying “Mohammed is the messenger of Allah”. Amaq posted a video of
Albany minutes later in which he pled allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu
Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Quraishi. He was speaking Arabic in the video. Albany
would normally be used to refer to someone with Albanian origins. The statement
did not identify the man by any other name. Austrian officials have identified
the attacker as Kujtim Fejzulai, a dual citizen of Austria and North Macedonia,
who had been sentenced to 22 months in jail in April 2019 for attempting to
travel to Syria to join Islamic State. The gunman, who was killed by police
minutes after opening fire on crowded bars, had been released from jail less
than a year ago.”

 

The Wall Street Journal: Vienna Shooting Suspect Had Previous Terrorism
Conviction
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“The gunman suspected of killing four people in a terrorist attack in Vienna
was convicted on terrorism charges last year after trying to join Islamic State
in Syria but was released from prison after serving part of his term,
authorities said Tuesday. In a statement, the terrrorist group Islamic State
claimed responsibility for the attack carried out by Kujtim Fejzulai, a
20-year-old who authorities say opened fire on passersby and people enjoying a
last night out Monday before Austria’s coronavirus lockdown came into effect.
The group posted a video of the assailant’s pledge to its leader on online
channels, according to the SITE Group that monitors extremists. “He was a
dedicated Islamist terrorist who had pledged his allegiance to the Islamic
State terror organization,” Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz told The Wall
Street Journal in an interview. Fourteen members who police said were part of a
network supporting Mr. Fejzulai—some of whom police say are Islamists with
criminal records—were arrested and will stay in detention under a judge’s order
while the investigation continues, Mr. Kurz said. The arrests were made
following raids on nearly two dozen houses across Austria on Tuesday. Two
people were are arrested in the Swiss canton Zurich in relation to the Vienna
attack, according to Swiss and Austrian authorities.”

 

Gulf News: Bahrain Jails 51 For Setting Up Terrorist Organisation
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“Bahrain’s High Criminal Court sentenced 51 defendants to jail terms ranging
between five years and life imprisonment after convicting them of establishing,
organising and joining a terrorist group. The court also convicted the
defendants of committing crimes as part of the terrorist group’s activities,
Bahrain News Agency reported. It also fined 17 convicts 100,000 dinars each and
ordered three others to pay 52,400 dinars in compensation for the damages they
caused and the confiscation of seized items. The court acquitted one suspect.
Earlier, the Public Prosecution conducted extensive investigation that found
defendants guilty of organising themselves within a terrorist group established
by some of them to commit terrorist acts in Bahrain on the orders of the
Iranian Revolutionary Guards. The convicts were assigned to form and organise
armed groups consisting of domestic elements to plan and carry out terrorist
and sabotage operations in Bahrain. The group members who are in Bahrain were
arrested late last year by the General Department of Investigation and Criminal
Evidence. Further investigation and intelligence revealed that the 52
defendants, including 27 fugitives abroad, received financial support and
funding from the Revolutionary Guards and that they were supplied with weapons,
explosives, equipment and tools necessary to commit terrorist operations in
Bahrain.”

 

United States

 

USA Today: Concerns About Extremist Violence, Voter Intimidation At Polls Fail
To Materialize
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“Voters around the U.S. registered just a few complaints of alleged
intimidation at polling places by late Tuesday, leaving experts and voting
rights advocates thankful that threats by extremist groups to converge on
polling places did not materialize. But they were still on guard for the hours,
days and weeks to come. Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, which runs a national voting
complaint hotline, told reporters late Tuesday afternoon there were “very
isolated and sporadic” reports of alleged intimidation, including armed
individuals at polling places. “Fortunately this hasn’t been a systematic or
widespread issue,” she said. “We certainly were prepared for this being a
bigger problem than it proved to be today.” She said voters in Virginia
reported poll workers were wearing Trump masks. In Florida, one voter reported
that a man was yelling into a megaphone “threatening to kill babies,” and
another complained about a man with a concealed weapon. Clarke said voters in
Pennsylvania reported an armed man in uniform appeared to be blocking access to
a polling site, while another armed individual in fatigues was apprehended in
North Carolina.”

 

Afghanistan

 

Agence France-Presse: Afghanistan Mourns After 22 Killed In University Attack
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“Stunned students demonstrated outside Kabul University on Tuesday after at
least 22 people were killed in a brutal, on-campus attack claimed by the
Islamic State group. Holding banners stating: “Stop Killing Us”, the small
gathering came as Afghanistan observed a national day of mourning and the first
funerals were expected. Monday's assault at the popular university near central
Kabul saw three attackers -- one of whom blew himself up -- rampage through the
campus, shooting students in their classrooms. IS also claimed a similar attack
on an educational centre in Kabul less than two weeks ago that killed 24
people. Afghan security forces have been grappling with surging violence that
has only worsened in recent months despite the government holding peace talks
with the Taliban in Qatar. The insurgent group have said they were not involved
in Monday's attack, but Vice President Amrullah Saleh blamed them and their
supporters in Pakistan. The Taliban have in turn blamed “evil elements” that
have “sought refuge” with the Kabul administration, accusing the government of
harbouring and assisting militants. Fraidoon Ahmadi, a 23-year-old student,
told AFP on Monday he was in class when gunfire broke out.”

 

The Guardian: ‘We Live In Constant Fear’: Kabul Buries Its Dead After Isis
Attack On University
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“At a mountainside graveyard, surrounded by dusty brown hills specked with
colourfully painted houses, 20 year-old Marziah Tahery was laid to rest on
Tuesday; a light breeze in the warm autumn air, echoes of children’s play in
the distance. The morning before – as on most other days – she had gone
enthusiastically into Kabul University where she had been studying public
administration and policy. At least 35 people were killed in Monday’s attack on
Afghanistan’s most prestigious university. Dozens more were injured; many are
fighting for their lives in the hospitals of the Afghan capital, relatives
waiting outside intensive care units, wrapped in blankets against the cold of
the night. Three gunmen stormed the university’s gated campus in west Kabul on
Monday morning, throwing grenades and riddling classrooms with bullets. Dozens
of students jumped out of the upper-storey windows, fleeing for their lives.
The attack, claimed by Islamic State, lasted for six hours and was countered by
Afghan forces and US commandos. A convoy of Humvees only left the university’s
premises at dusk when the three attackers had been killed. Throughout the
afternoon, sustained gunfire could be heard and several loud explosions had
people running for cover.”

 

The Defense Post: Deadly Afghanistan Attack Points Towards Drone-Use By Taliban
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“An unspecified explosion carried out by the Taliban in Afghanistan’s Kunduz
province that left four security officers dead has sent the war-torn country’s
security officials into a tizzy. The strike targeted the governor’s compound in
Kunduz on Sunday when the governor’s bodyguards were playing volleyball, The
New York Times reported. “It is not clear that it was an explosion or a missile
or drone attack,” said Ghulam Rabbani Rabbani, a member of Kunduz’s provincial
council, to the paper. Fazal Karim Aimaq, a member of the province’s
parliament, further fueled the speculation by writing on Facebook that the
explosion is “a new method of attack. Although a Taliban spokesman did not
respond to a request for comment to the US daily, British newspaper The Times
wrote, quoting a Taliban member, that the group had a “fun new weapon” at its
disposal. Taliban have reportedly been using small unmanned aircraft to monitor
US forces at their bases. The US Army is making efforts to explore ways to
counter them, specifically through solid-state lasers and high-power microwave
directed energy weapons. Apart from that, however, there have also been
unreported instances of the remote-controlled devices being used by the Taliban
to drop munitions, The New York Times said, citing unmanned US army officials.”

 

Egypt

 

Gulf News: Egypt Cleric Faces Prosecution For Inciting Terror
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“Egyptian Islamic authorities have referred a preacher to prosecution after he
voiced backing for killing those who defame or lampoon Prophet Mohammed (PBUH)
and praised a perpetrator of a recent fatal attack in France, an Awqaf official
has said. The case involves Ahmed Hammam, a preacher at the Awqaf directorate
in Egypt’s Mediterranean city of Alexandria, who defended the recent knife
attack in France and praised the perpetrator as a “descendant” of Islam’s
seventh century warrior Khaled Bin Al Walid, head of the Awqaf Ministry’s
Religious Sector Jaber Taya was quoted as saying in the local media Tuesday. In
May, a committee of Islamic scholars recommended that Hammam be barred from
delivering public sermons and transferred to a research job, accusing him of
failing to comply with “moderate, enlightened” discourse, Taya added. “His file
will be presented to administrative prosecution to take a decision against his
continued incitement,” said the official. On Thursday, a knife-wielding man
believed to be a Tunisian killed three people in a church in Nice in southern
France.Calls have mounted in the Muslim world for boycotting the French goods
after French President Emmanuel Macron was quoted as saying that his country
would not give up the caricatures depicting Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) and
defended the right to publish them.”

 

Nigeria

 

Premium Times: Nigeria: Boko Haram - Nigerian Troops Kill 75 Terrorists, Lose
3 Soldiers In One Month - Official
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“The Defence Headquarters says the troops of Operation Fire Ball have
eliminated 75 Boko Haram/Islamic State for West African Province (ISWAP)
terrorists within one month in North-East. The Acting Director, Defence Media
Operations, Benard Onyeuko, a brigadier-general, disclosed this while giving an
update of the activities of the troops between September 28 and October 31 on
Tuesday. Mr Onyeuko said that Operation Fire Ball was a subsidiary operation
under Operation Lafiya Dole meant to clear the remnants of the Boko Haram/ISWAP
terrorists from their identified enclaves in the North-East. He added that
several equipment including four gun trucks, one Bedford truck and three
anti-aircraft guns were destroyed during the period. According to him, other
weapons captured include six fun trucks, four anti aircraft guns, one PKT gun,
four GPMG, one automatic grenade launcher, Dushka gun, one LMG, 48 AK47 rifles,
one locally made pistol and 10 AK47 magazines. He added that a large cache of
ammunition including 36 hand grenades, 567 rounds of 7.62mm special ammunition,
448 rounds of 12.7mm ammunition, 50 rocket-propelled grenade bombs and 17
locally manufactured rounds were recovered.”

 

United Kingdom

 

Associated Press: U.K. Raises Terror Threat Level To 'Severe' After Europe
Attacks
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“Britain raised its terror threat level to “severe” on Tuesday, its
second-highest level, following recent attacks in Austria and France. The
threat level of severe means an attack in the United Kingdom is considered
highly likely. The level had previously been at “substantial”, meaning an
attack is thought to be likely. The decision announced by Home Secretary Priti
Patel came after a man who had previously tried to join the Islamic State group
stormed through the center of the Austrian capital of Vienna armed with an
automatic rifle Monday night, killing four people before police shot and killed
him. “We have already taken significant steps to amend our powers and
strengthen the tools for dealing with the developing terrorist threats we
face,″ Patel said in a statement. “That process will continue, and the British
public should be in no doubt that we will take the strongest possible action to
protect our national security.″ Patel said the increased security alert was a
“precautionary measure and is not based on any specific threat.” The U.K.
government's Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre, which was established in June
2003, sets the terror level.”

 

France

 

Sky News: Terrorism Has Been Resurgent In France For The Past Few Weeks. Now,
It Is Spreading
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“For the past few weeks, terrorism has been resurgent in France. Now, its
tentacles have spread in a grim fashion. Before this attack, Vienna had not
suffered a terrorist incident for decades. How quickly that record disappeared,
with a crackle of gunfire and cries of horror. The day before new lockdown
restrictions come into place, and one of Europe's most beautiful cities fell
prey to that most ghastly of experiences. Expressions of sympathy came fast -
from Germany, Austria's closest neighbour, and also from other European
nations. The Presidents of the European Council and the European Commission
were both quick to express shock and sympathy. The Austrian prime minister,
Sebastian Kurz, promised “decisive action against the perpetrators of this
hideous terrorist attack”. But the most important response came from another
president, the French leader Emmanuel Macron. It is his government that has
recently wrestled with the challenge of how to balance free speech with
religious respect. It was a debate caused by the magazine Charlie Hebdo
choosing to publish - once again - those notorious caricatures of the Prophet
Mohammed. For some among France's six-million-strong Muslim population, the
cartoons were grossly offensive - an offence exacerbated, in the mind of some,
by Mr Macron's refusal to condemn, in any way, their publication.”

 

Daily Mail: Children As Young As Eight Are Investigated In France After
Several Cases Of Youths Interrupting Memorials To Beheaded Teacher To Say He
Deserved To Die
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“Children as young as eight are being investigated in France after several
youths were reported to have interrupted memorials to beheaded teacher Samuel
Paty. Prosecutors in Strasbourg said they are investigating two 12-year-old
school students on suspicion of supporting terrorism after they made comments
during a nationwide minute of silence Monday for the teacher. The pair
apparently suggested that Paty deserved to die for showing the controversial
cartoons that had been republished by the satirical weekly. They added that two
similar incidents were also reported involving children aged eight and nine,
prompting a social welfare inquiry.  Paty became the subject of an online hate
campaign over his choice of lesson material - the same cartoons of the Prophet
Mohammed which unleashed a bloody assault by Islamist gunmen on the offices of
satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo five years ago. Paty was killed on his way
home from work after school in October by 18-year-old Chechnya-born Abdullakh
Anzorov, who published an image of the teacher's severed head on Twitter before
he was himself shot dead by police. Interior Minister Gerard Darmanin said
Monday that 66 inquiries into alleged support of terrorism had been opened
since Paty's death on October 16, after alerts to France's online extremism
watchdog Pharos.”

 

Germany

 

Deutsche Welle: German Elite Military Force Fights Far-Right Extremism In Its
Ranks
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“The 2nd company of the KSK was disbanded in July. There was one last roll
call at Graf-Zeppelin Barracks in the southwestern town of Calw and a brief
address by the commander, and then the second of a total of four companies was
no more.  The disbandment of the company was the most drastic step so far in a
range of reforms set in motion by Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer,
who said she was giving most of the KSK troops some time “to press the reset
button.” But with the exception of the 2nd company — which she considered
beyond reform. The defense minister said soldiers in the company had covered up
extreme right-wing activities by their comrades “out of a false sense of esprit
de corps.” She ordered the rapid reorganization of the remaining forces —
threatening to disband the entire KSK if necessary. That threat has now been
averted. According to a first status report, delivered on Monday by the General
Inspector of the Bundeswehr, the reforms are advancing apace. “I think we are
going in the right direction,” said Kramp-Karrenbauer. In early 2020, there
were reports on far-right tendencies within the Bundeswehr's special forces.
The KSK, founded in 1996, is shrouded in secrecy.”

 

Europe

 

The National: Fear Of A Fresh ISIS Attack Strategy Grips Europe
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“A string of ISIS terrorist attacks across Europe, which have left at least
seven dead, is thought to be part of a carefully-planned pre-lockdown strategy
by the group. At least four people were killed on Monday and many more
seriously injured in a series of shootings across Vienna, which came only days
after three people were killed in Nice and a further three plots were thwarted
in France. Terrorism experts have told The National that an ISIS plot to target
Europe cannot be ruled out and say the group is taking advantage of the
pre-lockdown focus in many parts of the continent … Hans Josef Schindler,
director of think tank the Counter Extremism Project, told The National the
Vienna attacks were well-planned. The intention of the terrorists, he said, was
to exploit the pre-lockdown period to target people gathering on their last
night of freedom. “The attack in Vienna seems to have been fairly well
co-ordinated,” he said. “It took advantage of the large amount of civilians
being in bars and restaurants during the last evening before a new national
lockdown was taking effect.” Mr Schindler said the latest incident had all the
hallmarks of meticulous preparation, more so than the recent attacks in France.
“The attacker used a firearm and seemed to have had a certain level of
competency in using it,” he said.”

 

Voice Of America: Austrian Police Hunt For Terror Accomplices
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“There were just a few hours to go before a coronavirus curfew was due to go
into effect in Austria. And that was when the gunmen chose to strike in Vienna,
unleashing a deadly rampage Monday that left four dead and at least 15 wounded
in multiple locations in the city in what Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz
labeled a “repulsive terror attack.” Officials in the Austrian capital say
they’re still unsure how many assailants were involved in an attack apparently
planned to take advantage of people thronging bars and restaurants to enjoy a
final night out before the lockdown. Witnesses said they thought several men
fired into bars and restaurants around Schwedenplatz on the Danube canal. One
video posted online by a witness showed a gunman wearing a white tracksuit
shooting at a man several times with an automatic weapon, before returning
seconds later to shoot him with a handgun. One suspected killer was shot dead
by police. According to Interior Minister Karl Nehammer, he was Kujtim
Fejzulai, a 20-year-old Islamic State sympathizer with dual Austrian and
Macedonian nationality, who’d been convicted previously of a terror offense for
trying to travel to Syria to join the group.”

 

Australia

 

The Sydney Morning Herald: When An Isis Soldier Returns To Sydney's Western
Suburbs
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“Jamal Alamein has returned to his family home in Sydney’s western suburbs to
see his dying mother. But first he has to run the gauntlet — a series of
lacerating encounters with loved ones he betrayed with his decision to go to
Syria and join Isis. First up is his older brother, Omar (Danny Elacci), an
academic who subjects him to a long and bitter interrogation. Then, pushed to
exhaustion, Omar reluctantly agrees to try smuggling him inside without anyone
else knowing. This means that he must corral everybody into the back garden so
Jamal (Tyler de Nawi) can have a few minutes alone with their mother in her
darkened bedroom. These manoeuvrings take on the black comic aspect of a human
chess game, and it’s clear from the start that they’re doomed. Director Serhat
Caradee’s dogged but punchy script is expressly designed to tease out the
family schisms that led to Jamal’s defection and he’s not going to be let off
lightly. Before the day is done, all main players have their say and the shaky
foundations of his resolve is tested to its limits. Partly crowd-funded and
shot in just 10 days, the film is a companion-piece to Caradee’s Cedar Boys
(2009), about a trio of young Lebanese-Australians whose resentments and
frustrations at the prejudices they face lead them to become drug runners.”

 

Technology

 

The National: ISIS Turns To Social Media Platform Rocket Chat to Celebrate
France Terrorist Attacks
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“ISIS supporters have used the social media platform Rocket Chat to celebrate
the terrorist atrocities in Nice, which left three people dead. Researchers at
the Counter Extremism Project (CEP) think tank said they had monitored Rocket
Chat media pages in the aftermath of the attacks last week and discovered posts
showing bodies of the victims, two of whom were partially beheaded in the
attack at a church. Rocket Chat uses its own servers, which allows users to
administer their own social-media networks. The CEP found ISIS supporters
shared images of the Nice attacker, Brahim Aioussaoi, and a video allegedly
showing emergency personnel recovering a body. There were also further posts
calling for the group’s supporters to renew their pledge to its leader. Rocket
Chat is insulated from outside attack, “which means that it's a place where
conversations and content can be really interesting,” said Charlie Winter, of
the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation at King’s College
London. “There will be further evolution and innovation in the next six months
to a year as ISIS tries to figure out a new more sustainable model. “The
platform that ISIS will be using in six months’ time might not yet exist." Last
year, a report by Europol said ISIS has been turning to the "decentralised web"
to find new sites after a crackdown by Facebook, Twitter and Telegram.”

 



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