Eye on Extremism

May 20, 2021

 

Reuters: Armed Men Kill 15 At Baptism In Northern Burkina Faso

 

“Unidentified assailants killed 15 people who were gathered for a baptism at a village in northern Burkina Faso on Tuesday night, the government said on Wednesday. The attack took place in Adjarara, about 7 km (4 miles) from the town of Tin-Akoff in Oudalan province, very close to the border with Mali, according to a statement from the governor of Burkina Faso's Sahel region. It was unclear who carried out the attack, but Islamist groups control large swathes of the area. The governor, Colonel-Major Salfo Kabore, offered his condolences to the families and urged people to report any suspect movements to the army. Attacks by armed groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State in the West African Sahel have been rising sharply since the start of the year, particularly in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, with civilians bearing the brunt. At least one person was killed and two gravely wounded in a separate incident on Wednesday when a military vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Tialbonga, in eastern Burkina Faso, according to a security source who said the death toll was provisional.”

 

Kurdistan 24: Five Tajiks On Trial In Germany For Planning ISIS Attacks

 

“Five Tajik men went on trial in Germany Wednesday accused of belonging to an ISIS cell that planned jihadist attacks on German soil. The opening hearing of the trial at the higher regional court in Duesseldorf, which is taking place under high security, was dedicated to the reading of the charge sheet. The suspects, aged 24 to 33, are accused of playing various roles in an ISIS terror cell including recruitment, fundraising and plotting the murder of an Islam-critical YouTuber based in Neuss in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia. A sixth member, Ravsan B., was already sentenced to seven years in January after being prosecuted separately. “The aim of the cell members, who were in contact with ISIS leaders in Syria and Afghanistan, was to take up the armed struggle against what they saw as 'infidels' and to commit attacks in Germany,” the indictment said. The men had been planning to attack targets including US army bases in Germany, prosecutors said on arresting four of them in April 2020. The fifth – Komron B. – was transferred from Albania before being arrested in August 2020.”

 

United States

 

NBC News: House Passes Bill To Create Jan. 6 Commission Amid Strong GOP Opposition

 

“The House on Wednesday voted 252-175 to create an independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, but the bill faces a different landscape in the Senate, where it needs at least 10 Republicans and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell opposes it. Republican opposition coalesced against the bipartisan legislation hours before the House vote, which passed largely along party lines. But 35 GOP House members voted in favor of the bill, showing that divisions remain within the party on issues related to former President Donald Trump. During a House debate, Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, had called for existing congressional powers to investigate the attack and to work with the Justice Department. McConnell, R-Ky., echoed comments by his GOP counterpart in the House on Wednesday morning by urging his party's members to oppose the legislation to create the independent commission. At least 10 Republicans are needed in the Senate. The opposition to an independent probe into the deadly attacks that were, just four months earlier, broadcast on screens across the U.S. underscores the deep partisan divisions in Washington.”

 

The Epoch Times: Pentagon Pushes Back On Report Of Anti-Extremism Social Media Tracking Program

 

“The Department of Defense (DOD) on Tuesday denied a report that alleged Pentagon officials plan to launch a program to screen social media content for extremist material. “I think there’s some misreporting on this. Actually I don’t think there’s been misreporting, I know there’s been misreporting. There’s no pilot program run by Mr. Garrison or the extremist working group to examine social media,” John Kirby, the Pentagon’s press secretary, told reporters in Virginia. “There’s no effort inside this extremist working group to somehow spy on every individual in the military or spend hours and hours just gleaning through social media activity, just for the sake of doing it. This isn’t about some sort of surveillance program of our own people,” he added later. The Intercept, citing internal DOD documents, reported this week that Bishop Garrison, a top adviser to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, was designing a social media screening program, which would “continuously” monitor members of the military for “concerning behaviors.” The House Armed Services Committee said it was aware that the Pentagon was “exploring a means of implementing social media screening in conjunction with background investigations.”

 

Syria

 

Vice: They've Faced 10 Years Of Bombs And Bullets. But They're Still Hopeful

 

“Mohammad Walid Jabas has been protesting for a decade. Back in March 2011, Jabas was one of the thousands of young people who took to the streets of Syria to demand the end of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. For his trouble, in 2012, 80 percent of Jabas’ body was burned when he was struck by shelling from Syrian forces as he filmed clashes between government troops and opposition militants in the northwest. It took months of medical attention and rehabilitation in neighbouring Turkey for him to recover. Today, aged 30, he is back in his hometown of Kafr Takharim, north of Idlib, where he runs a Local Coordination Committee (LCC), one of the dozens of informal networks of dissident groups in the country that are still pushing for the removal of Assad. “We believed we could break that wall of fear,” Jabas told VICE World News. “We thought we were entitled to have a free, democratic state, and we really thought things were about to change.” He is continuing the fight, he said, in honour of the estimated 500,000 Syrians – including several relatives and close friends – who have died, and the millions injured or internally displaced as a result of this 10-year civil war. At his town’s LCC branch, Jabas plans protest events and instructs teams to come up with new slogans and banners.”

 

Iraq

 

Kurdistan 24: Iraqi Security Forces Arrest Six ISIS Militants In Kirkuk

 

“Iraq’s Security Media Cell announced the arrest of six ISIS terrorists in Kirkuk, including one of the participants in the Speicher airbase massacre. “The Federal Intelligence and Investigations Agency forces at the Ministry of Interior managed to arrest six terrorists in separate areas of Kirkuk province, wanted in accordance with the provisions of Article 4 of terrorism law, for their affiliation with ISIS terrorists,” read a statement by the Security Media Cell, an Iraqi military press office. According to the statement, one of the suspects had been working to providing logistical support to ISIS cells throughout Kirkuk while another was among the participants in the infamous Speicher Massacre. During the grizzly incident, named after Speicher Air Force Base outside Tikrit where it occurred, ISIS fighters fatally shot over 1,500 Shia Muslim cadets in the wake of the extremist group's takeover of Mosul in 2014. “This morning, the security forces, at the headquarters of the Joint Operations Command in disputed Kirkuk province, embarked on a wide-ranging security operation to pursue ISIS elements, especially after witnessing recent security breaches,” the statement continued, adding that the operation took place with the support of the Iraqi Air Force and Army Aviation.”

 

Afghanistan

 

France 24: Islamic State Remains 'Potent' Force In Afghanistan, Says US Envoy

 

“The jihadist Islamic State group remains a “potent” force in Afghanistan and was responsible for a recent attack that killed dozens of schoolgirls, Washington's top envoy to Kabul told AFP. But Charge d'Affaires Ross Wilson chiefly blamed the Taliban for the rising violence across the war-torn country, accusing them of breaching agreements in peace talks even as American forces continue their withdrawal. “ISIS remains a potent force here -- that is among many reasons why we continue to provide security and counter-terrorism assistance to the Afghan authorities,” Wilson said in an interview. He blamed the group for the May 8 bombs outside a girls' school in Kabul that killed more than 50 people, as well as a blast at a mosque on the outskirts of the capital at the weekend in which 12 worshippers died. No group has admitted responsibility for the school attack, but IS claimed the mosque bombing. Despite Taliban denials -- and IS claims of responsibility -- the Afghan government routinely blames the former for attacks against civilians, insisting IS was largely crushed two years ago in its main base of Nangarhar province. The group first emerged in Afghanistan in 2014 as NATO combat troops withdrew from the country and handed over responsibility to domestic security forces.”

 

Lebanon

 

ABC News: Top US General Monitoring Israel-Hamas Conflict In Case It Spreads To Lebanon

 

“Gen. Frank McKenzie, the top U.S. general in the Middle East, said he is closely monitoring the conflict between Israel and Hamas in case it widens into Lebanon. McKenzie, who is overseeing the withdrawal of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, also said that he would present a plan in early June to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin for how the U.S. would carry out its “over-the-horizon” operations after all 2,500 American troops have left. The U.S. Central Command commander talked with a small group of reporters traveling with him to the Middle East Wednesday about how CENTCOM will soon incorporate Israel into its area of responsibility, assuming the primary U.S. military relationship that for decades has been undertaken by U.S. European Command. McKenzie said the current conflict between Israel and Hamas has not affected the planned transition in any way, but he said CENTCOM is “closely monitoring” the conflict in case it should widen further. “I think a conflict on that scale isn't good for any kind of stability anywhere,” said McKenzie. “There is a danger any time that a conflict like this drags on -- of it widening -- that would be dangerous.” “We certainly don't want that to happen, I'm sure that Israel doesn't want that to happen,” he added.”

 

Al Jazeera: Lebanon’s FM Asks To Quit After ISIL Comments Anger Gulf States

 

“Lebanon’s foreign minister has asked the president to be relieved of his duties, the presidency said, after his televised comments appearing to blame Gulf states for the rise of ISIL (ISIS) caused a diplomatic firestorm. “Those countries of love, friendship and fraternity, they brought us Islamic State,” Charbel Wehbe, who is a minister in the caretaker government, told Alhurra TV on Monday, without naming the countries. Wehbe made the comment during a verbal duel with a Saudi guest on the show, who blamed Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun for “handing over” his country to the Lebanese Shia movement, Hezbollah, which is backed by Riyadh’s rival Tehran. Wehbe stormed off the TV set saying he would not be “insulted by a Bedouin”. Wehbe apologised on Tuesday, saying he did not mean to offend “brotherly Arab countries”. After meeting President Michel Aoun, Wehbe said he had submitted a request to step down “in light of the recent developments and the circumstances that accompanied the interview I gave to a television station”. The comments have threatened Lebanese efforts amid a deep economic crisis to improve ties with Sunni Muslim Gulf states, which have been reluctant to offer the kind of financial help they once did because of their frustration at the rising influence of Hezbollah.”

 

Middle East

 

The New York Times: New Political Pressures Push U.S. and Europe to Stop Israel-Gaza Conflict

 

“A diplomatic flurry from the White House and Europe added pressure on Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza on Wednesday to halt their 10-day-old conflict before it turned into a war entangling more of the Middle East. President Biden spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel — their second phone call in three days — telling the Israeli leader he “expected a significant de-escalation today on the path to a cease-fire,” administration officials said. Although they portrayed the call as consistent with what Mr. Biden had been saying, his decision to set a deadline was an escalation. And in Europe, France and Germany, both strong allies of Israel that had initially held back from pressuring Mr. Netanyahu in the early days of the conflict, intensified their push for a cease-fire. A senior Israeli official familiar with the negotiations said that Israel and Hamas will most likely reach a cease-fire agreement within the next two days. Two others corroborated that account. A cease-fire would include halting all Israeli attacks on Hamas infrastructure, and stopping Israeli attempts to kill senior Hamas members. Hamas would agree to halt all operations, including rocket fire at Israeli cities, the officials said.”

 

Reuters: Netanyahu, Gaza Militants Vow To Fight On As Biden Urges ‘De-Escalation’

 

“Israel and Gaza militants vowed to keep fighting after U.S. President Joe Biden urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to seek a “de-escalation” on Wednesday on the path to a ceasefire in the 10-day-old conflict. An Egyptian security source said the two sides had agreed in principle to a ceasefire after help from mediators, although details were still being negotiated in secret. A senior Hamas official, Moussa Abu Marzouk, also said late on Wednesday in an interview with Lebanon's al-Mayadeen TV that he expected Israel and the Gaza militants to reach a ceasefire “within a day or two”, ending the cross-border violence. Since the fighting began on May 10, Palestinian health officials say 228 people have been killed in aerial bombardments that have worsened Gaza's already dire humanitarian situation. Israeli authorities put the death toll at 12 in Israel, where repeated rocket attacks have caused panic and sent people rushing into shelters. Regional and U.S.-led diplomatic efforts to secure a ceasefire have intensified but so far failed. Cross-border fire continued unabated after Biden's latest call for calm, and Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas and other militants vowed defiance. Netanyahu has repeatedly hailed what he has described as support from the United States, Israel's main ally, for a right to self-defence in battling attacks from Gaza, home to two million Palestinians.”

 

Voice Of America: US, UN Officials Hail Uzbekistan's Repatriation Of IS Families

 

“U.S. and U.N. envoys to Uzbekistan have praised the country's repatriation of Islamic State wives and children in the Middle East, saying other nations should follow suit as a part of a global effort to reduce the risk of IS reemergence in Syria and Iraq. “They have done a very credible, excellent job,” Daniel Rosenblum, U.S. ambassador to Uzbekistan, told VOA. Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev's government began Operation Mehr, or Compassion, in 2019 to return noncombatant citizens from camps in northeast Syria held by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. Five operations since May 2019 have repatriated 435 women and children, mostly from Syria but also from Iraq and Afghanistan, including 343 minors ages 1 to 15. The Uzbek government does not provide data on how many people have joined extremist militants overseas. Government studies estimate thousands, however. Following recapture of the last IS pocket in Syria, Mirziyoyev announced a national priority in May 2019 of returning IS Uzbek families. “That set the tone and was the right thing to do,” Rosenblum said, adding that Washington supported the effort from the beginning. VOA confirmed that the U.S. assisted the latest repatriation of 93 women and children from Syria in late April.”

 

Nigeria

 

The Epoch Times: Boko Haram Terrorists Merge With Bandits In Nigeria

 

“Both the Islamic-state linked insurgency known as Boko Haram and the Ansaru terror group have merged with bandit gangs in Nigeria’s northern states close to the nation’s capital, The Epoch Times has learned. This alliance threatens to worsen the violence afflicting this African nation. Cooperation between bandits and Boko Haram terrorists in the state of Kaduna was reported by controversial Sheik and kidnapping mediator Ahmad Gumi on Sunday when he summarized hostage releases in four different mass kidnappings of students since December 2020. The abduction of 22 students from Greenfield University on April 17 remains in a state of negotiation after five of the students have been murdered and one released as a result of a ransom negotiation with some of the parents. “The Greenfield abduction is unique because for the first time we saw a cooperation between some bandits and Boko Haram elements which confirm that Boko Haram are encroaching into the field,” Gumi told Channels TV on Sunday. Gumi, a former captain in the Nigerian army, is the senior cleric of a mosque in the state capital of Kaduna city, a two-hour drive north of the federal capital of Abuja. Gumi went on to say that Boko Haram terrorists attempted to take over the hostage negotiation for 27 schoolboys abducted Feb. 17 in Niger State but were rebuffed by the bandit gang.”

 

All Africa: Nigeria: Buhari Seeks France's Help In Terror Fight

 

“Abuja. Worried about the recent escalation of terror incidents and general insecurity in the country, President Muhammadu Buhari has called on France to deepen its anti-terror cooperation with Nigeria in order to defeat terrorists in the Sahel region and beyond. The 78-year-old Head of State, who is currently in Paris for a visit, was quoted in an opinion article he penned for Le Point, a Paris-based magazine. The Sahel region includes parts of northern Senegal, southern Mauritania, central Mali, northern Burkina Faso, the extreme south of Algeria, Niger and the extreme northern part of Nigeria. Other areas covered are the extreme northern part of Cameroon and Central African Republic, central Chad, central and southern Sudan, northern South Sudan, Eritrea and northern of Ethiopia. President Buhari said jihadists had taken advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic to unleash terror on innocent people and organisations across the Sahel, especially across Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger as well as around the Lake Chad Basin. According to him, the Lake Chad Basin is where Boko Haram's terror has festered and spread back into Nigeria, as well as launching attacks in Chad, Cameroon and Niger.”

 

Africa

 

Associated Press: Seven Kenyan Soldiers Killed In Jihadi Ambush In Lamu County

 

“A Kenyan police official says that seven soldiers have been killed and one is missing in Lamu county after a bomb and ambush by Islamic extremist al-Shabab rebels from neighboring Somalia. The attack happened just days before President Uhuru Kenyatta is to launch a multi-million dollar port in Lamu county on Thursday. The police officer, speaking on Wednesday, insisted on anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press, as Kenya’s military does not like to make public reports of significant losses. The military had said that the soldiers were on routine duty in the Baure area of Lamu county were attacked Tuesday morning after their vehicle ran over an explosive device along the Bodhei-Kiunga road. No deaths were reported or details about the attack. Al-Shabab has vowed revenge on Kenya for sending its troops to support the Somali government against their jihadi rebellion. Kenya has had soldiers in Somalia since 2011, when it deployed its military to fight the extremists after several visitors from Western countries were kidnapped on Kenyan soil, threatening the country’s tourism industry, a key pillar of the economy.”

 

Africanews: Algeria Labels Opposition Movements As Terrorist Groups

 

“Algerian authorities on Tuesday labelled separatist group MAK and an opposition movement as terrorist organisations. The High Council for National Security said the Movement for the Autonomy of Kabylie (MAK) and the Rachad opposition group were illegal and terrorist entities. In April, the MAK, was accused by the Algerian authorities of planning attacks during the anti-government protests in the streets of Algiers. The Mak is based in Paris and wants to split the ethnic Berber region of Kabylie from the rest of Algeria. It is accused by Algerian authorities of having separatist aims and anti-Arab sentiment. On Wednesday, the head of Mak Ferhat Mehenni denounced the Algerian government's “obsession” to qualify the organisation as a terrorist group. Mehenni also denounced police holding him in custody for a few hours as part of an investigation for money laundering in an organised gang. “The MAK is not a terrorist organization and will never commit acts of violence. If there is violence, it can only be done by the Algerian services,” he said. The Rachad group is based in London and is an opposition political movement, which calls for a regime change in Algeria. Members of these groups will now be convicted under a new law that punishes any Algerian joining an organisation abroad that “damages the interests of the country.”

 

Stars And Stripes: Chad Says Libya Fighters Risk Undermining Terrorism Fight

 

“Chad's deputy foreign minister warned the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday that mercenaries and foreign fighters from Libya are crossing into the Sahel, threatening to undermine gains in fighting terrorism by five West African nations and plunge the region into violence that will be difficult to control. Oumar Ibn Daoud also said a worsening situation in the Sahel would be harmful to Africa as a whole and could turn the continent into “a battlefield and base for international terrorism.” The incursion of mercenaries from Libya into Chad that led to last month's death of the Chadian president of three decades, Idriss Deby Into, “is a perfect illustration of what could happen throughout the Sahel” if appropriate measures aren't taken by the international community. He said more than 400 people have been killed in attacks in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger since March. One instrument “to defeat the terrorists in the Sahel” is the five-nation African force fighting terrorism in the region, which Daoud said needs sustained financing and a U.N. logistical and operational support office financed by assessed contributions from the U.N.'s 193 member nations.”

 

United Kingdom

 

BBC News: Manchester Arena Inquiry: Bomber's Brother Demands Immunity

 

“The elder brother of the Manchester Arena bomber has demanded his evidence be barred from use in a criminal prosecution before he will appear at the public inquiry into the atrocity. Ismail Abedi, 27, from Manchester, has previously refused to answer any of the inquiry's questions. He claimed a general privilege against self-incrimination. His lawyers have now asked the chairman to seek a formal undertaking from the Attorney General. They want it to prevent the use of evidence by Ismail to the inquiry being used against him in any future criminal proceedings. The application was opposed by lawyers representing bereaved families. Twenty-two people were killed and hundreds were injured on 22 May 2017 when Salman Abedi detonated a bomb at the end of an Ariana Grande concert. The bomber's younger brother Hashem Abedi, who was part of the conspiracy, was jailed last year after being convicted of murdering all those who died. Ismail Abedi was arrested under the Terrorism Act the morning after the bombing but later released under investigation. At the inquiry on Wednesday, Jeremy Hawthorn - representing Ismail Abedi - said his client appearing without an undertaking from the attorney general “may land him in the dock.”

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