|
Eye on Extremism
November 4, 2020
Reuters: Islamic State Claims Responsibility For Vienna Attack
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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.”
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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.”
| |
Click here to unsubscribe.