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Eye on Extremism
May 14, 2021
The Jerusalem Post: Austria Outlaws Lebanese Terrorist Group Hezbollah
“Austria banned Hezbollah in its entirety this week, going beyond the European Union policy of outlawing the Lebanese terrorist group’s so-called military arm. “This is a very clear signal,” said Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg, after parliament approved the proposal to include Hezbollah in a law banning the use of certain symbols. “This step reflects reality. The group itself makes no distinction between the military and the political arm.” Schallenberg said Hezbollah “poses a serious threat to the stability in the region and to the security of Israel. Israel’s right to exist must not be called into question.” The Austrian foreign minister also said it was unfortunate that there has not been any progress on the UN Security Council’s call to disarm Hezbollah. The Israeli Foreign Ministry said they “praise the decision, which is important in the fight against terrorism.” Austria banned the symbols of other Islamist groups, too: Hizb ut-Tahrir, the Caucusus Emirate and the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front. The European Union outlawed activities by Hezbollah’s military arm while allowing its political wing, even though the Shi’a terrorist group does not consider them to be separate.”
Reuters: Bombs Kill 11 Afghan Civilians On First Day Of Three-Day Ceasefire
“At least 11 civilians were killed and 13 others wounded in four separate bombings in Afghanistan on Thursday, hours after a three-day ceasefire began across the country to mark the Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr, local officials said. Although there were no reports of direct fighting between Taliban insurgents and government forces as they observe the temporary ceasefire, roadside bombs continued to inflict casualties on civilians. A roadside bomb struck a car in the Panjwai district of southern Kandahar province, killing five civilians, including a woman and children, said Jamal Naser Barekzai a spokesman for the provincial police. In another incident, two children were killed and three adults wounded when a roadside bomb exploded beneath a taxi in the Maiwand district of the same province, Barekzai added. In northern Kunduz province, a sticky bomb attached to a civilian car exploded, killing two civilians and wounding 10 more, said Enhamuddin Rahmani, a spokesman for the province’s police chief. Two civilians were also killed by a roadside bomb in central Ghazni province, officials said.”
United States
NBC News: Man Admits To Helping Create Bomb-Making Videos For Islamic State
“A man who believed he was giving instructions to the Islamic State on how to create a bomb-making video and then posted it online pleaded guilty to a terrorism charge Thursday, federal prosecutors said. Romeo Xavier Langhorne, 31, of St. Augustine, Florida, and then Roanoke, Virginia, pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to provide material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida said. A plea agreement does not spell out a recommended prison term, but the charge carries a maximum of 20 years in prison. A request for comment from his attorney was not immediately returned Thursday evening. The charge centers around videos about how to use TATP, an explosive, in bombs. Langhorne admitted pledging allegiance to the Islamic State, which is also known as ISIS, and then in late 2018 expressing an interest in Internet chat rooms on making a video to help people make bombs out of TATP, an explosive. He then gave instructions to someone he thought was working with the Islamic State — but who was actually with the FBI — about what should be in the videos and how to word it to avoid having them taken down, according to court documents.”
“A Marine Corps officer was arrested Thursday and charged with assaulting police officers at the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, making him the first service member on active duty charged for his role in the deadly riot, the Justice Department said. Maj. Christopher Warnagiris is accused of forcing his way inside the Capitol by pushing through a line of officers guarding the building's East Rotunda doors. Video footage showed Warnagiris keeping the door open for others to get in and later pushing a Capitol Police officer who tried to close it, the Justice Department said. Warnagiris, 40, of Woodbridge, Va., is facing several charges, including assaulting, resisting or impeding officers, obstruction of law enforcement, and obstruction of justice. He is among several dozen people with ties to the military who are facing charges related to Jan. 6. The Justice Department said it has charged more than 40 veterans, guardsmen and reservists. Christopher Warnagiris, an active-duty Marine stationed at Quantico, is among those arrested and charged with participating in the Capitol riot. The U.S. Marine Corps, which confirmed Warnagiris is on active duty, said: “The Marine Corps is clear on this: There is no place for racial hatred or extremism in the Marine Corps.”
“John Katko (R-N.Y.), ranking member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, told CNBC that the ransomware cyberattack on Colonial Pipeline appears to be part of an escalating series of cyberattacks against the U.S. “This is probably the most significant ransomware attack on one of our critical infrastructures ever, a very significant attack,” Katko said. “We’ve got to understand that even though it wasn’t an attack on the operation of a pipeline, it was an attack on the business entity connected to the pipeline.” The Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack crippled gas delivery systems in Southeastern states. Nearly 70% of gas stations in North Carolina are still empty, and around half are dry in Virginia, Georgia, and South Carolina, according to GasBuddy.com. Colonial restarted operations Wednesday afternoon but said the delivery schedule won’t return to normal for several days. Colonial Pipeline paid a $5 million ransom to hackers. Katko told CNBC’s “The News with Shepard Smith” that he doesn’t “think it’s a great move” for companies to pay the ransom, but if they do, it is critical to follow the money trail.”
New York Post: Accused COVID Relief Fraudster Belongs To Extremist Group, Feds Say
“A man who allegedly worked with two cohorts in an attempt bilk the US government out of $14 million in COVID-19 relief funds is a self-described “Moorish sovereign citizen” who doesn’t recognize the authority of the US government, federal prosecutors wrote in court papers Thursday. The suspect, Amos Mundendi, was charged in April in Manhattan for allegedly working with straw companies in an attempt to get millions from the Small Business Association’s payment protection program amid the coronavirus pandemic. The alleged fraudsters successfully siphoned $4 million out of the program, according to an indictment against them. Mundendi, who was living in Texas at the time, was brought by US Marshals to face a judge in Manhattan on Wednesday — and was granted release on $200,000 bail on the condition that his travel be restricted and he surrender his passport, according to court documents. But prosecutors filed an appeal of the bail decision Thursday, highlighting that he claims to be a “Moorish sovereign citizen” who does not believe federal laws in the US apply to him.”
News 4 Jax: St. Augustine Man Accused Of Supporting ISIS Enters Guilty Plea
“A St. Augustine man arrested in Nov. 2019 has pleaded guilty to charges of attempting to provide material support to ISIS, according to a news release from the Department of Justice. According to court documents, Romeo Xavier Langhorne, 31, pledged his allegiance to ISIS at some point in 2014, knowing that ISIS was a designated terrorist organization, the news release states. The DOJ said that throughout 2018 and 2019, Langhorne posted his support for ISIS on social media accounts and posted ISIS-produced videos to his YouTube account. In December 2018 and January 2019, the DOJ said, Langhorne was in a chat room where he shared an interest in creating a video that would demonstrate the making and use of an explosive. In 2019, Langhorne started talking with an FBI agent who was posing as someone working on behalf of ISIS. Langhorne and the FBI agent engaged in multiple conversations, which were detailed in his arrest affidavit. In the conversations, the affidavit said, Langhorne directed the agent in the production of a video that would give instructions on how to discreetly acquire the materials to make the explosive TATP. Langhorne was arrested at his residence in Roanoke, Virginia, on Nov. 15, 2019.”
Syria
Asharq Al-Awsat: Russia Says It Killed Over 300 Terrorists In Syria In 2 Weeks
“The Russian army announced that it has killed over 300 terrorists in Syria in two weeks since April 23. A spokesman for the Russian forces in Syria declared that the Syrian government forces, with the support of Russian forces, have managed to kill 338 terrorists. “The Syrian army, backed the Russian forces, is continuing its reconnaissance and search operations in the Syrian desert,” he said. The army also arrested 44 terrorists, seized 6 vehicles and 38 weapons, and destroyed 45 hideouts. During the operation, the army inflicted heavy losses among terrorists, damaged dozens of their equipment, and managed to limit the number of terror attacks against civilians and the Syrian army. Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said that three fighters were injured after their vehicle was targeted by a guided missile on the Dama Road, in the western countryside of Idlib. The Observatory recorded several violent clashes in al-Fatira village, in the southern countryside of Idlib, between Operation Fath al-Mobin on one hand, and the regime forces and loyal militants on the other. The regime forces launched the attack, and the factions responded by bombing positions in Al-Dar al-Kabera.”
Iraq
The Washington Post: ISIS Used Chemical Weapons On Iraqi Prisoners, U.N. Investigators Find
“The Islamic State used Iraqi prisoners as human test subjects in experiments with chemical and possibly biological weapons, United Nations investigators conclude in a report that sheds new light on the terrorist group’s forays into making a weapon of mass destruction. The previously unknown experiments happened sometime after 2014, when the Islamic State seized control of Mosul and commandeered the city’s main university as a research center for new kinds of weapons, according to the report by a panel appointed by the U.N. Security Council to investigate war crimes by the extremist group. At least some of the prisoners died, the report said. The investigators examined reports of prisoners being exposed to thallium, a highly toxic chemical used historically as a rat poison, as well as nicotine, which is lethal in high doses. U.N. officials also are exploring the Islamic State’s efforts to weaponize chlorine and manufacture sulfur mustard, the chemical weapon commonly known as mustard gas that was used to kill and maim thousands of soldiers in World War I. The new evidence came to light through an examination of computers and cellphones from killed or captured Islamic State operatives, according to the report presented to Security Council officials this week by the U.N. Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Da’esh.”
Afghanistan
Foreign Policy: Terror Attacks Surge In Afghanistan As U.S. Withdraws
“Even by its own standards, Afghanistan has seen a horrifically violent few weeks. Nearly 400 security forces and civilians were killed in April, according to New York Times data—the largest monthly total since November 2020. And the violence appears to be getting worse: Nearly 200 people were killed during the first week of May alone, including students killed near their school this week in the worst attack in 2021 so far. On April 30, a car bomb near a guesthouse in Logar province killed 27 people, many of them high school students. On Sunday, a roadside bomb ripped through a passenger bus in Zabul province, killing at least 11 people. And last Saturday, the country suffered its deadliest terror attack in months when a blast outside a school in Kabul killed 85 people, most of them young girls. With dozens more injured, the death toll is expected to rise. Increasing violence is not a new trend: The number of civilian casualties in Afghanistan has increased in the last year, and the last six weeks have been especially brutal. What makes these attacks even more terrifying is no group has claimed responsibility. The Taliban and the Islamic State are possible candidates as are other actors trying to disrupt the already troubled peace process. Many Afghans have taken out their anger on the government for not protecting them—discontent that benefits insurgents and others seeking to undermine Kabul.”
Middle East
“Hundreds of rockets fired by militant groups in the Gaza Strip have streaked above Israel in recent days, most repelled by Israel’s Iron Dome interceptors, but some have crashed down into Israeli cities. The rocket fire came in response to a police raid of the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem on Monday, and escalated as Israel retaliated against the opening salvo with a bombing campaign in Gaza. Hamas, the Islamist militant group that rules the Gaza Strip, and the smaller group Islamic Jihad have fired more than 1,000 rockets and mortar shells into Israel since Monday. These projectiles have killed seven people, including a teenage boy and a young girl, according to the Israeli army. The casualties are a fraction of the 83 Palestinians killed and 487 wounded by Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, according to local authorities. Since early May, Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes in Gaza and Palestinian militants have fired rocket salvos in the most intense fighting in years. But the militants’ strikes have destroyed cars and houses and sent Israeli citizens scrambling for shelters. Analysts said the barrage appears aimed at intimidating Israel by showcasing Hamas’s expanded arsenal and testing the Iron Dome system.”
Mali
Yahoo News: UN Offers To Help Catch Mali Jihadists Behind Amputations
“UN peacekeepers in Mali on Thursday offered to help bring to justice jihadists behind the amputation of suspected thieves' hands and feet, an apparent revival of a practice that had all but vanished. Speaking on condition of anonymity, local sources in Tin-Hama in eastern Mali said armed men drummed up a crowd on May 2, a market day, and cut the right hands and left feet off three men they paraded as thieves. The gunmen are believed to have belonged to Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS), one of the main jihadist groups active in the Sahel region, the UN's Minusma force said in a statement. “This kind of corporal punishment carried out by armed groups outside of any legal order is a serious infringement of human rights,” Minusma chief El-Ghassim Wade said. UN forces stand ready to “support continuing enquiries by Malian authorities to fight impunity and ensure that the perpetrators of these acts are brought to justice,” he added. Minusma also said it was deploying “significant security resources in the affected areas to step up protection of populations”. The amputations “recall the horrors of the 2012 crisis” when jihadists and Touareg rebels took control of much of Mali's north, the UN statement added.”
Africa
Africanews: Niger: 5 People Killed During Ramadan Celebrations In Tillabéri Region
“Five people were killed Wednesday in Niger in an attack on the village of Fantio, in the western region of Tillabéri near Mali, as the country celebrated the Eid al-Fitr holiday that marks the end of the Muslim Ramadan. “The attack took place this (Wednesday) morning in the village of Fantio. The toll is five dead and two seriously injured,” the local official reported. This attack was carried out “by a horde of terrorists who came on motorcycles,” explained another local source to AFP, without giving further details. Fantio is a rural commune in the Téra department where a contingent of 1,200 Chadian soldiers has been deployed in the so-called “three borders” zone between Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali to fight jihadist groups as part of the G5 Sahel multinational force. The G5 includes five Sahelian countries - Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger - which have been working since 2017 to cooperate in the fight against jihadist groups. “G5-Sahel soldiers have been dispatched to Fantio and will stay in the village for a few days at the request of the governor of the region,” a source close to the authorities in Tillabéri said.”
United Kingdom
Financial Times: MI5 Had Warning Fishmonger’s Hall Terrorist Might Commit Attack
“MI5 did not seek to prevent convicted terrorist Usman Khan from travelling alone to a conference in central London at which he murdered two people despite a warning that he might carry out an attack, an inquest has heard. Khan, who targeted attendees at a prisoner rehabilitation event at Fishmongers’ Hall in November 2019, had been released from prison 11 months before the incident. During the attack, Khan, wearing a hoax suicide vest, killed Cambridge graduates Saskia Jones, 23, and Jack Merritt, 25, with knives and was later shot dead by police on London Bridge. In evidence to the inquest on Thursday, a senior officer at the UK’s domestic intelligence agency, MI5, said that police and security service officers had opened an investigation into Khan in August 2018 in anticipation of his release from prison in December that year. Speaking from behind a screen, the MI5 officer said the agency had received intelligence in November 2018 that Khan intended to “return to his old ways” after leaving jail, including potentially aspiring to commit a terrorist attack. However, she said this intelligence was “of unknown validity and it was uncorroborated.”
Germany
The National: Germany Will Ban 'Enemies Lists' In Campaign Against Far Right
“Germany will strengthen its security services, clamp down on “enemies lists” and convene a special task force on hatred targeting Muslims as part of a major package of measures against far-right extremism. The set of 89 proposals was signed off by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Cabinet on Wednesday after a series of far-right atrocities that rattled Germany. The package includes tighter gun laws, measures to tackle online hatred and closer co-operation between security services. There will also be more funding for education and civil society groups and a new government-commissioned study into racism in Germany. “Never before has the government done so much to tackle right-wing extremism, racism and anti-Semitism,” said Interior Minister Horst Seehofer. “It is a central ambition of this government to strengthen the defences of our democracy.” One of the specific proposals is for the distribution of enemies lists, also described by the government as “death lists”, to be made a specific criminal offence. The lists are used by extremists to intimidate their enemies into silence because they fear reprisals from the far right, the government said. Reforms to the security services will include closer co-operation between criminal investigators and a military counter-intelligence service.”
Deutsche Welle: Ex-Maldives President Flies To Germany After Bomb Attack
“Mohamed Nasheed's family on Thursday said the former president had flown to Germany for recovery after being released from hospital in the Maldives capital, Male. The 53-year-old underwent surgeries to his head, chest and abdomen after an assassination attempt a week ago. What happened to the ex-president? The democracy pioneer and climate activist was targeted with a remote-controlled bomb rigged to a motorbike parked near the former president's car. Doctors performed 16 hours of surgery on him to remove shrapnel from the liver, lungs and abdomen. Male's AKD hospital discharged Nasheed on Thursday, allowing for his medical evacuation to Germany. “We have released President Nasheed from hospital today. As he travels overseas for rehabilitation and recovery the management and employees of the hospital wish him a quick return to full health,” the hospital said. There was heavy security surrounding the ambulance that took Nasheed to the airport to be put aboard a special flight. “A special thanks to the health sector of the Maldives,” said Nasheed in comments thanking hospital and emergency staff.”By the grace of Allah, I remain committed to delivering democratic good governance for the people.”
Southeast Asia
Voice Of America: Indonesian Villagers Demand ‘Firm Action’ After Terror Attack Kills 4
“Hundreds of Christians attended a mass funeral in a remote village of Indonesia’s Central Sulawesi province Wednesday to mourn four people killed by militants linked to the Islamic State group. Indonesian police told VOA that five militants attacked coffee farmers during harvest Tuesday and killed four of them in Kalemago village in Poso regency. “These five people, one of whom is recognized by the witness, are in the Wanted List [for their membership] in the East Indonesian Mujahedeen,” said Didik Supranoto, a senior commissioner and spokesperson for Central Sulawesi Regional Police. The East Indonesian Mujahedeen, also known as Mujahedeen Indonesia Timur (MIT), has been active in mountainous Poso district since 2010. The United Nations, Indonesia and the United States have labeled MIT a terrorist organization. The group’s founder, Abu Wardah Santoso, pledged allegiance to IS in 2014. Indonesian forces killed Santoso during a jungle gunbattle in July 2016. Ali Kalora replaced him to keep MIT active in Poso district, an area that has been a hotbed for religious conflict for years. While there are no official data on the number of MIT members, the group is known to operate with a small group of recruited fighters.”
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