“Armed assailants killed around 30 people in an attack on a village in eastern
Burkina Faso on Monday, four security sources said. The attack took pla

 

 


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Eye on Extremism


May 4, 2021

 

Reuters: Around 30 Killed In Attack On Village In Eastern Burkina Faso,
Security Sources Say
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“Armed assailants killed around 30 people in an attack on a village in eastern
Burkina Faso on Monday, four security sources said. The attack took place in
the village of Hantoukoura near the border with Niger in Est region, an area
hit by rising insecurity as jihadist groups with links to al Qaeda and Islamic
State seek to gain control over once peaceful territories. In a statement, Est
Governor Saidou Sanou said more than 10 civilians and two members of a civilian
defence militia were killed by the unidentified attackers, who also torched a
number of shops and ransacked the health centre. But the four sources, speaking
on condition of anonymity, said the death toll stood at around 30, making it
one of the deadliest single attacks in Burkina Faso in the past year or more.
It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the attack. Jihadist
groups have also fuelled religious and ethnic tensions between farming and
herding communities in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger in order to boost
recruitment among marginalised communities. The worsening violence in the wider
Sahel region has led to one of the world's most acute humanitarian crises, U.N.
agencies said last week. Twenty-nine million Sahelians are in need of aid and
protection - an all-time high and 5 million more than last year, they said.”

 

Yahoo News: 2 Former Sri Lankan Top Security Officials Charged Over Easter
Sunday Terror Attacks
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“Sri Lanka’s Attorney General on Monday slapped 800 charges against two top
former security officials for their failure to prevent the deadly 2019 Easter
Sunday bomb attacks in which over 270 people, including 11 Indians, were
killed. The charges were unveiled in the Colombo High Court by the country's
top law officer Dappula de Livera against former official in the defence
ministry Hemasiri Fernando and former chief of police Pujith Jayasundera. The
duo has been accused of neglecting the prior intelligence input on the
impending attacks, thereby failing to prevent the loss of life. Nine suicide
bombers, belonging to local Islamist extremist group National Thawheed Jamaat
(NTJ) linked to ISIS, carried out coordinated blasts that tore through three
churches and as many luxury hotels in Sri Lanka on the Easter Sunday in 2019. A
special presidential panel recently recommended that criminal action be taken
against both Fernando, Jayasundera and several other senior defense officials,
including former president Maithripala Sirisena. The trial of Fernando and
Jayasundera is to be held before a 3-member bench for murder and attempted
murder. The probe panel appointed by Sirisena himself has found him culpable
for the attacks.”

 

United States

 

CNN: Biden Team May Partner With Private Firms To Monitor Extremist Chatter
Online
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“The Biden administration is considering using outside firms to track
extremist chatter by Americans online, an effort that would expand the
government's ability to gather intelligence but could draw criticism over
surveillance of US citizens. The Department of Homeland Security is limited in
how it can monitor citizens online without justification and is banned from
activities like assuming false identities to gain access to private messaging
apps used by extremist groups such as the Proud Boys or Oath Keepers. Instead,
federal authorities can only browse through unprotected information on social
media sites like Twitter and Facebook and other open online platforms. A source
familiar with the effort said it is not about decrypting data but rather using
outside entities who can legally access these private groups to gather large
amounts of information that could help DHS identify key narratives as they
emerge. The plan being discussed inside DHS, according to multiple sources,
would, in effect, allow the department to circumvent those limits. In response
to CNN's story, DHS said it “is not partnering with private firms to surveil
suspected domestic terrorists online” and “it is blatantly false” to suggest
that the department is using outside firms to circumvent its legal limits.”

 

Syria

 

Kurdistan 24: Kurdish-Led Security Forces Capture ISIS Leader In Syria’s Deir
Al-Zor
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“The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced on Monday
counterterrorism units had captured a ranking ISIS leader Syria’s in Deir
al-Zor province. The SDF’s Coordination and Military Operations Centre on
Twitter claimed that the detainee was actively planning assassinations,
recruiting members, and facilitating ISIS sleeper cell operations in Deir
al-Zor. The SDF noted that the Internal Security Forces of northeast Syria,
commonly known as Asayish, led the operation, carried out in al-Shafaa in Deir
al-Zor’s eastern countryside with air support from the US-led anti-ISIS
Coalition. Col. Wayne Marotto, the Spokesman for the Coalition, also known as
the Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTFOIR), said in a
tweet on Monday said that the operations conducted by SDF aim to “degrade Daesh
capabilities and lead to their enduring defeat.” Although the SDF and the
Coalition announced the territorial defeat of the Islamic State in Syria in
March 2019, sleeper cell attacks persist, especially in liberated territories,
in what appears to be a deliberate campaign to destabilize the area. According
to the latest report by the Syria-based Rojava Information Center, ISIS carried
out 40 attacks in northeast Syria in March.”

 

Iraq

 

Voice Of America: Following Deadly Attack, Iraqi Kurds Call For Better
Coordination In Countering IS
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“Iraqi Kurdish officials blamed the lack of proper coordination between the
country's federal and regional security forces for a major Islamic State (IS)
attack over the weekend that left three Kurdish military officers dead and two
wounded. The attack Saturday targeted a unit for the Kurdish peshmerga forces
in Altun Kupri, a district in the oil-rich Kirkuk province, which is part of
the so-called disputed territories between Baghdad and the autonomous Kurdistan
Regional Government (KRG) in the north. “We have repeatedly warned Iraq's
federal government and the International Coalition Against ISIS of a resurgent
ISIS and of the continued threats by the terror group taking advantage of a
security vacuum in the disputed territories,” KRG's President Nechirvan Barzani
said in a statement following the attack, using an acronym for IS. He urged his
federal counterparts and the international partners “to accelerate the
formation of the joint forces” in the disputed territories to prevent “real
threats” posed by the terror group. In what appeared to be a response to
Barzani's calls, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi on Sunday met with top
regional and federal security officials to discuss joint efforts to counter IS.”

 

Al Monitor: Iraqi Authorities Nab Islamic State 'Governor' Of Fallujah
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“Iraq’s intelligence services captured the Islamic State’s governor of
Fallujah in an operation coordinated with security forces of the country’s
Kurdistan Region, Iraq’s military said Monday. The US-led coalition to defeat
IS confirmed the arrest following an statement by Iraq’s Security Media Cell.
Iraqi police named the so-called governor as Abu Ali al-Jumaili. He was
captured in the city wearing an explosive suicide belt, Iraqi authorities said.
The security forces said he confessed to working with IS in both Iraq and Syria
and admitted involvement in IS attacks against Iraq’s security forces and
civilians. Al-Jumaili was previously imprisoned in Iraq in 2005 for affiliation
with al-Qaeda before being released in 2011, having served only six years of a
15-year sentence, Rudaw news reported. Upon returning from Syria, he was
appointed IS’ deputy governor of Mosul before being given command of Fallujah
in Anbar province. Al-Jumaili’s arrest coincides with the capture of another IS
figure across the border in Syria. An IS official responsible for recruitment,
networking and local assassinations was arrested in Syria’s eastern Deir ez-Zor
province with aerial surveillance provided by the US-led coalition. Two years
after the US-backed capture of IS’ final holdout along the Euphrates River on
Syria’s border with Iraq, Arav-majority Deir ez-Zor province continues to
suffer assassinations by suspected IS sleeper cells.”

 

Sky News: 'Dambusters' Squadron To Join Fight Against Islamic State In Iraq
And Syria
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“The renowned “Dambusters” squadron is set to fly stealth fighter jets to
support operations against the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria. The RAF's
617 Squadron - famously known for its role in attacking German dams during the
Second World War - will be part of a mission designed to prevent IS from
“regaining a foothold in Iraq”. The Ministry of Defence said the F35B Lightning
fast jets will join Operation Shader from the Carrier Strike Group to fight the
“remnants” of IS, also known as Daesh. Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston said
he was in no doubt “violent extremism and the toxic ideology underpinning it is
still rooted” in the region. He added: “We're going to conduct operations in
support of the government of Iraq, fighting the remnants of Daesh in Iraq and
Syria - and continuing to take the fight to them in their sanctuary where
otherwise they would be threatening the streets of the United Kingdom and our
allies. “It's something that air power has been doing very effectively now
since 2014 and the Royal Air Force has played a considerable part in that
success. “Daesh is no longer the ground-holding force, the occupying force,
that it was in 2015 and 2016. “For the last two years we have been identifying
pockets where they have dug in to strongholds in the mountains in remote areas,
and have been helping the government of Iraq to clear out those remnants.”

 

Turkey

 

Reuters: Turkish Police Remove Followers Of Islamist Figure From Mosques
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“Turkish authorities forcibly removed followers of an Islamist figure from
three mosques in southern Turkey, saying their prayer gatherings were a
provocation against COVID-19 lockdown restrictions. Footage showed police
scuffling with a group of people in a mosque in the province of Gaziantep on
Sunday and forcibly taking them out, while some yelled: “We are reading the
Koran.” One officer could be seen using pepper spray. Turkey has imposed a full
lockdown until mid-May to try to cut rates of COVID-19 infection which have
soared in recent weeks. Prayer in mosques is not prohibited under the measures,
but authorities in Gaziantep said the groups were trying to confine themselves
in the mosques for the final days of Ramadan without prior permission. The
Gaziantep governor's office said on Monday that the 76 people who entered the
three mosques had previous terrorism investigations launched against them. It
said police had detained them after they engaged in civil disobedience and
started swearing, adding that judicial processes were launched for threatening
and insulting behaviour and for violating the lockdown.”

 

The Defense Post: Turkish Police Capture Key Islamic State Figure: Report
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“A senior figure in the Islamic State group described as the slain leader’s
“right-hand man” has been captured by police in Istanbul, local media reported
Sunday. Officers detained the Afghan man, whose codename is “Basim,” during a
joint raid with Turkish intelligence agents in the Atasehir district on the
city’s Asian side. IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in 2019 in a US
special forces raid carried out with the help of Kurdish fighters in the
northwestern Syrian province of Idlib. Turkish media reported that the man
captured had helped Baghdadi hide in Idlib. The suspect was also apparently
responsible for the extremist group’s “so-called military wing,” the
broadcaster NTV reported. He arrived in Istanbul with a fake passport and
identity card, the channel said, while DHA news agency said he was detained on
April 28. Turkey has stepped up the fight against IS extremists who have
carried out deadly attacks in the country, including the mass shooting at an
elite Istanbul nightclub in 2017. That attack killed 39 people, including 27
foreigners. Since then, there have been regular police raids to detain suspects
across the country.”

 

Afghanistan

 

ABC News: Bomb Explodes Near A School In Western Afghanistan
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“A bomb exploded near a school in Farah, in western Afghanistan on Monday and
wounded 21 people. At least 10 of those injured were students as young as 7, a
provincial official said. No group has immediately claimed responsibility for
the attack, but the Taliban are active in the area, according to the Associated
Press. US Marines board a C-130J Super Hercules transport aircraft headed to
Kandahar as Bri...The attack comes two days after the U.S. began withdrawing
the remaining 2,500 to 3,500 troops from Afghanistan, following President Joe
Biden's plan to be out of the country by Sept. 11 at the latest. In the last
two days there have been almost 300 Taliban attacks in more than two dozen
provinces across Afghanistan, according to the Afghan Ministry of Defense.
Former defense minister Tamin Asey told ABC News that the Taliban have not
changed, as many fear the group's violent resurgence amid troop withdrawal.
“The ideology haven't changed. Their global claim to jihad haven't changed.
They are more confident of their victory and they think that they have defeated
the United States and NATO,” Asey said. Top U.S. military officer General
Austin Miller, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces, warned the Taliban that
they'll respond forcefully to any type of attack, according to the Associated
Press.”

 

Reuters: At Least 7 Killed In Taliban Attack On Southwest Afghanistan Army
Outpost -Officials
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“Taliban insurgents attacked an army outpost in Afghanistan's southwestern
Farah province killing at least seven soldiers, local officials said on Monday,
as the country braces for violence after May 1, a previously agreed deadline
for foreign troop withdrawal. In a video message to media, Farah Governor Taj
Mohammad Jahid said the Taliban had blown up an army outpost after digging a
400-metre (0.25 miles) tunnel to access it from a nearby house. He added that
one soldier had also been captured by the insurgents. Two local officials, one
speaking on condition of anonymity, said dozens of military including elite
commando forces had been killed. Provincial council member Khayer Mohammad
Noorzai said that around 30 had died in the attack and that the base was in the
hands of the Taliban. A Taliban spokesman did not immediately respond to a
request for comment. Officials said a blast in the province's capital on Monday
had wounded 21 people, including five children. Farah Public Health Director
Abdul Jabar Shayeq said three of the injured were in hospital in critical
condition.”

 

Voice Of America: Afghanistan To Discuss Fate Of Foreign IS Prisoners With
Their Countries
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“The Afghan government said it plans to begin talks with 14 countries to
discuss what to do with hundreds of their citizens who have been captured while
fighting alongside the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP).   Ahmad Zia
Seraj, the head of Afghanistan's intelligence agency, National Directorate of
Security (NDS), said last week that his government wanted to “find an
acceptable solution to the problem.” The foreign nationals in Afghan custody
are 408 ISKP members, including 173 women and children. According to the Afghan
government, 299 of them are from Pakistan, 37 from Uzbekistan, 16 from China,
13 from Tajikistan, 12 from Kyrgyzstan, five from Russia, five from Jordan,
five from Indonesia, four from India, four from Iran, three from Turkey, two
from Bangladesh and two from Maldives. Abdul Wahid Taqat, a former senior
intelligence official in the Afghan government, predicted a ‘difficult’ legal
and political process for the repatriation of the ISKP prisoners, saying Kabul
will likely need to use international bodies to convince those countries take
back their citizens. “Returning these fighters would not be easy because
Afghanistan has no treaties to extradite or exchange terrorists with most of
these countries,” Taqat told VOA, adding that “a reasonable option for
Afghanistan is to involve the United Nations Human Commission on Human Rights
to find a solution.”

 

The National: Taliban And Afghan Army Locked In Fierce Combat As Militants
Warn US Forces
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“More than 100 Taliban insurgents have been killed in the past 24 hours in
fighting between the Afghan army and the militant group, the defence ministry
said on Sunday. The violence follows the US conducting an airstrike in
Kandahar, often dubbed the Taliban's “birthplace.” Violence escalated as Afghan
forces took control of a US military base in the restive southern province of
Helmand. The US military handed over Camp Antonik to Afghan forces, a day after
it formally began withdrawing its remaining troops from the country. The
Taliban and government forces clashed across several provinces, the ministry
said, including in the former insurgent bastion of Kandahar where the US
military carried out a “precision strike” on Saturday as it began the final
troop pullout. Another 52 Taliban fighters were wounded in the clashes, the
ministry said, without giving details of any casualties suffered by government
forces. The Taliban did not offer any comment on the fighting, but both sides
are known to exaggerate casualties inflicted on the other. Fighting on the
ground has continued unabated in recent months as peace efforts aimed at ending
the 20-year conflict have faltered. The US military formally began withdrawing
its remaining 2,500 troops from the violence-wracked country on Saturday, as
ordered by President Joe Biden last month.”

 

Nigeria

 

Reuters: More Than A Dozen People Killed By Islamist Militants In Northeast
Nigeria -Sources
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“More than a dozen people, including seven soldiers, were killed by Islamist
militants in an attack in northeast Nigeria, four sources told Reuters. The
militants arrived in the Ajiri community in the Mafa local government area of
Borno state on motorcycles early on Sunday, killing an army commanding officer
and six soldiers, the sources said. The assailants also killed six civilians,
burned down nine housing blocks and carted away valuables, the sources - one
soldier, one civilian fighter and two local government officials - told
Reuters. In a statement, the military said troops repelled the attack but that
militants killed some residents and two military personnel. Attacks by Islamist
militants have been intensifying in northeast Nigeria in recent months, with
dozens of soldiers killed and thousands of Nigerians displaced. Army spokesman
Mohammed Yerima said the military on Saturday repelled another attack on Rann,
capital of the Kala Balge local government area of Borno. Two sources, one
soldier and one local resident, said troops killed nine militants. Yerima said
in the statement that the troops also captured weapons including an
anti-aircraft gun barrel, an AK-47 rifle and different calibres of ammunition.”

 

Africa

 

The Defense Post: Niger Army Killed 24 ‘Suspected Terrorists:’ Government
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“Niger troops killed 24 “suspected terrorists” after they sought to escape
after being captured in the west of the country, the government said Sunday.
The suspects had been planning an attack on the market town of Banibangou but
the army was alerted and, after an exchange of fire, 26 people were arrested on
April 28, the defense ministry said in a statement. One of the “suspected
terrorists” died later from gun wounds. As they were awaiting transfer to
nearby Chinegodar, where there is a military base “the prisoners tried to
escape” overnight on Thursday and managed to disarm a guard, the ministry said.
“After ignoring warning shots, 24 prisoners were fatally wounded and one of
them was able to escape,” it said, adding that an inquiry had been launched.
Chinegodar and Banibangou are in the Tillaberi region which is on the borders
of both Mali and Burkina Faso. It is regularly attacked by jihadist groups
affiliated with Al-Qaeda or Islamic State. On March 15, suspected jihadists
killed 66 people when they attacked a bus carrying shoppers from the
Banibangou, and then raided the village of Darey-Daye. On January 2, 100 people
were killed in attacks on two villages in the Mangaize district of Tillaberi.”

 

Germany

 

Deutsche Welle: Germany: Police Arrest Far-Right Threats Suspect
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“Police in Berlin arrested the alleged author of more than 100 far-right
threats during a raid on his apartment on Monday. Public prosecutors in
Frankfurt said the suspect had a series of prior convictions for extremist
activities. The arrest came after an extensive joint probe between prosecutors
and investigators in the western state of Hesse. The suspect's hard drives have
been seized by police and are currently being evaluated.  What are the
accusations? Authorities say they have reason to believe the 53-year-old German
citizen had been sending a series of letters with “race-baiting, insulting and
threatening” content since August 2018. The targets of the threats included
national and regional lawmakers, a Frankfurt attorney, artists and human rights
activists. The letters were signed by the “NSU 2.0,” a neo-Nazi moniker. Peter
Beuth, the state interior minister of Hesse, reported in mid-March that there
had been 115 threatening letters attributed to the “NSU 2.0” signature. They
had been addressed to 32 people and 60 institutions in nine German states, with
the letters also sent to neighboring Austria. The letters were typically sent
by email, but were also delivered by fax and text message.”

 

Canada

 

The Washington Post: Canadian Chapter Of The Proud Boys, Designated A
Terrorist Group By The Government, Says It Has ‘Dissolved’
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“Nearly three months after Canada declared the Proud Boys a terrorist entity,
the Canadian chapter of the militant far-right group claims it has “officially
dissolved.” But analysts warned that the organization could still rebrand, and
its radicalized members could find new homes. Members of the Proud Boys,
founded in the United States by a Canadian, joined the violent mob that stormed
the U.S. Capitol in January. In a statement posted on social media on Sunday,
the group said “there is officially no longer any Proud Boys in Canada.” It
cited the financial difficulties of mounting a legal challenge to overturn the
government’s terrorist entity designation. The designation in February did not
make it illegal to belong to the group, but it did carry financial and legal
consequences. Authorities can add members to the no-fly list. Banks can freeze
their assets, and police can seize their property. It’s a crime to knowingly
provide assistance to the group, including by purchasing merchandise. “The
truth is we were never terrorists or a white supremacy group,” the Canadian
chapter said in its statement, posted to the main Proud Boys channel on the
Telegram messaging app. “As a fraternity of men we had thought of pursuing the
case legally but we have no financial support, given we are not funded by the
rich.”

 

Europe

 

Arab News: Europe Set For African Migration Spike As Thousands Flee Jihadists
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“Thousands of migrants have set sail from Libya for Europe in recent days, as
intensifying conflicts in parts of Africa have forced more people to flee their
countries, the UN has said. Hundreds of people that were crammed into
overcrowded boats were rescued by the Italian coastguard, navy and NGO vessels
over the weekend. Carlotta Sami, a spokesperson for the UN’s refugee agency,
said: “About 2,000 people set sail from North Africa in recent days, and thanks
to jihadist activity in Mali, Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso and northern Nigeria,
we can expect sailings to increase.” Conflict in the Sahel region — a vast
expanse of land from Chad to Mauritania on Africa’s western coast — between
Islamists and regional governments has intensified in recent years. Terrorist
groups in the region, the UN said, “exploit latent ethnic animosities and the
absence of the state in peripheral areas to advance their agenda.” Millions of
people have already been displaced from their homes across the region, and in
2019 the UN warned that the situation was “extremely volatile.” Some of those
who flee the violence make the journey to Libya and onward to Europe — making
the perilous journey across the Mediterranean aided by smugglers and often in
dangerously overcrowded boats.”



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