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Eye on Extremism
May 24, 2021
The Wall Street Journal: Boko Haram Leader, Responsible For Chibok Schoolgirl Kidnappings, Dies
“Abubakar Shekau, the fundamentalist warlord who turned Boko Haram from an obscure radical sect into a jihadist army whose war with the Nigerian state has left tens of thousands dead across four nations, has died, according to officials, mediators, phone calls intercepted by a West African spy agency and internal intelligence memos seen by The Wall Street Journal. His death, which Nigeria’s military has erroneously reported at least three times before, was confirmed by five Nigerian officials who detailed how he detonated a suicide vest during a confrontation with rival insurgents to avoid being taken alive. It removes one the world’s most brutal and effective terrorists, who plunged four nations, including Africa’s most populous, into a religious war. Globally, he was best known for kidnapping nearly 300 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok on the night before their final exams, an abduction that sparked the world-wide social-media movement #BringBackOurGirls. There was no official confirmation from Nigeria’s government, Boko Haram or the media arm of Islamic State. The Journal was able to review transcripts of geolocated, intercepted calls between insurgents discussing his suicide, alongside an audio message from a longtime mediator between Shekau and the government reporting him dead.”
Reuters: Pakistan Blast Kills Six, Wounds 13 At Pro-Palestinian Rally
“A bomb blast killed six people on Friday at a pro-Palestinian rally in southwest Pakistan and wounded 13, including the leader of a hardline religious party that organised the event, police said, but there was no immediate claim of responsibility. The motorcycle bomb exploded as people dispersed at the end of the rally held in the city of Chaman near the Afghan border in the province of Balochistan, the region's police chief, Jafar Khan, told Reuters by telephone. He added that the bombing also wounded Maulana Abdul Qadir Luni, a cleric and leader of the religious party, which has a history of supporting Afghan Taliban militants. The mineral-rich province bordering Iran and Afghanistan has long been convulsed by a nationalists' insurgency seeking a greater share in the profits from exploitation of regional resources. Other operators included Islamist militants linked to the Afghan and local Taliban as well as the Islamic State group. The province is home to the newly expanded Gwadar deepwater port, the centrepiece of a planned $65-billion investment in China's Belt and Road Initiative economic corridor. In April, a car bomb exploded in the parking area of a luxury hotel in the provincial headquarters of Quetta, killing four and wounding 11.”
United States
“Rabbi Shaoul Hamaoui's synagogue, the Persian Hebrew Congregation in suburban Chicago, had never been defaced while he's served as spiritual leader for more than a decade. But that changed Sunday afternoon when a window was shattered and surveillance video captured two people, one carrying a stick and another holding a “Freedom for Palestine” sign. No one was at the synagogue at the time, and police in Skokie, Illinois, said they are investigating the vandalism as a hate crime as the search for its perpetrators goes on. The incident has jolted Skokie's Jewish community, which makes up nearly 30 percent of the town's population, and members of the Illinois Jewish Legislative Caucus condemned it as an “attack” targeting a congregation that is a “visible symbol of Jewish life.” The incident, however, isn't an outlier. From New York to Los Angeles, an apparent uptick of antisemitic vandalism and incidents have been reported to police and shared on social media as deadly fighting escalated over the past two weeks in the Gaza Strip between Israelis and Palestinians. Mosques in the United States have reported damage in recent days, as well.”
The Independent: US To Increase Tracking Of Domestic Extremism On Social Media
“The Department of Homeland Security plans to ramp up social media tracking as part of an enhanced focus on domestic violent extremism. While the move is a response to weaknesses exposed by the deadly U.S. Capitol insurrection, it's raising concerns about undermining Americans’ civil liberties. President Joe Biden s top appointees have called white supremacists the greatest security threat to the country and are pushing for bolstered intelligence gathering. Closely watching are advocates for communities of color and groups that have previously been the focus of intensified surveillance, sometimes unlawfully. DHS in recent weeks has announced a new office in its intelligence branch focusing on domestic extremism and a new center to facilitate “local prevention frameworks” that, according to a statement, can better identify people “who may be radicalizing, or have radicalized, to violence.” The overall effort is in its early stages. The department is exploring partnerships with tech companies, universities, and nonprofit groups to access publicly available data. DHS will also train analysts on tracking social media and how to distinguish a threat from the exercise of free speech.”
Iran
“A judge in Ontario has ruled that Iran intentionally shot down a passenger airliner in January 2020 causing the deaths of 176 people including dozens of Canadians. The decision adds judicial weight to allegations that the crash of the Ukrainian International Airlines plane, shortly after it departed Tehran for Kiev, was not an accident. A total of 55 Canadians and 30 permanent residents of Canada died in the tragedy. Now a civil jury of six of their fellow nationals — ordinary members of the public — will decide how much compensation the Iranian government must pay for their deaths. The plaintiffs are asking for $1.5bn and the jury hearing on damages is likely to occur in the next three months, The National Post reports. In reviewing the suit, Justice Edward Belobaba of Ontario’s Supreme Court said that it did not allege negligence on the part of the Iranians, but that the incident had been a deliberate attack. As such it falls under the remit of the Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act. Perhaps the biggest challenge will be the collection of the damages decided by the jury, as Iran does not recognise Canada’s legal jurisdiction over the crash. Iran did not defend the suit and the court declared the Middle Eastern nation to be “in default.”
Iraq
The National: Militias Threaten To Increase Attacks On US Assets In Iraq
“A group of influential Iran-backed Shiite militias has threatened to escalate attacks against American troops in Iraq. It said the outcome of the ongoing strategic dialogue with the US lacked explicit commitments for the forces’ withdrawal. For more than a year, Baghdad and Washington have been holding talks to clarify the nature of their relationship, including the US military presence in Iraq. The talks also cover security, counterterrorism, economics and energy, political matters and educational and cultural co-operation. The Iraqi Resistance Co-ordination Committee said it gave the current Iraqi government the opportunity to decide the fate of the foreign troops in three rounds of negotiations with the US. “But the outcome of the last two rounds – especially the farce during the second round – was very bad and regrettable,” the committee, which includes the Kataib Hezbollah, Asaib Ahl Al Haq, Sayyid Al Shuhada and Al Nujaba militias, said in a statement issued on Saturday. The latest round of talks, on April 7, was the first with the administration of US President Joe Biden. After that meeting, led by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, both countries agreed on the “redeployment” of combat troops, transitioning the mission of the US and coalition forces to one focusing on training and advisory tasks.”
The National: Iran Forming Secretive New Militias In Iraq
“Iran has hand-picked hundreds of trusted fighters from among the cadres of its most powerful militia allies in Iraq, forming smaller, elite and fiercely loyal factions in a shift away from relying on large groups with which it once exerted influence. The new covert groups were trained last year in drone warfare, surveillance and online propaganda and answer directly to officers in Iran's Quds Force, the arm of its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) that controls its allied militias abroad. They have been responsible for a series of increasingly sophisticated attacks against the US and its allies, according to accounts by Iraqi security officials, militia commanders and western diplomatic and military sources. The tactic reflects Iran's response to setbacks – above all the death of Quds Force chief Qassem Suleimani, who closely controlled Iraq's Shiite militias until he was killed last year by a US drone strike. His successor, Esmail Ghaani, was not as familiar with Iraq's internal politics and did not exert the same influence over the militia as Suleimani. Iraq's large pro-Iran militias were also forced to adopt a lower profile after a public backlash led to mass demonstrations against Iranian influence in late 2019.”
Afghanistan
Reuters: Taliban Attacks End Short-Lived Local Ceasefire In Eastern Afghanistan
“Taliban insurgents launched attacks in a district of eastern Afghanistan where local elders had brokered a one-month ceasefire, dashing hopes of a temporary truce, residents and officials said on Friday. The ceasefire - a rare event as fighting ramps up around the country - had begun on Tuesday to allow local people to harvest wheat and students to sit exams. read more “Unfortunately the Taliban could not keep their promise, they started attacks against Afghan security forces checkpoints,” said Malik Wares, a tribal elder in Laghman province's Alingar district. “They will always be guilty before the tribes in Laghman.”The Taliban did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The head of Laghman's provincial council said the fighting had started late on Thursday and the Taliban had also captured another district in the province. “It is very sad seeing that our efforts are wasted,” said Jaber Alkozai, a resident of Alingar. “Initially people, especially farmers, were very happy when the Taliban and local government accepted people's demand for a ceasefire, but now it looks like we have to expect very bad days ahead.” Clashes have escalated in Afghanistan as the United States and NATO forces withdraw troops.”
Middle East
BBC News: Israel-Gaza Ceasefire Holds Despite Jerusalem Clash
“A ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip appeared to be holding hours after coming into effect. It began early on Friday, bringing to an end 11 days of fighting in which more than 250 people were killed, most of them in Gaza. Both Israel and Hamas claimed victory in the conflict. Fresh clashes broke out at the al-Aqsa mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem on Friday, testing the truce. Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP news agency that Palestinians had thrown stones at officers, and that “riot” suppressing measures had been taken in response. But the ceasefire seemed to be holding on Friday night. Israel has temporarily opened a crossing into Gaza, allowing food, fuel and medicine into the territory. The country has also lifted emergency restrictions inside its own borders. The fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza began on 10 May after weeks of rising Israeli-Palestinian tension in East Jerusalem that culminated in clashes at al-Aqsa, a holy site revered by both Muslims and Jews. Hamas began firing rockets after warning Israel to withdraw from the site, triggering retaliatory air strikes. At least 243 people, including more than 100 women and children, were killed in Gaza, according to its health ministry.”
Africa
Associated Press: Burkina Faso’s Unofficial Truce With Jihadis May Be Fraying
“When the jihadis started coming to the town in northern Burkina Faso just to buy food — and not kill people — nervous residents didn’t know what to think. “We don’t know if it is a pause in fighting or if it will resume. We are just waiting,” said one resident of Djibo, the arid, remote town regarded as the current epicenter of the country’s extremist violence. While Burkina Faso’s government never confirmed negotiating with Islamic extremists, others said the lull in fighting earlier this year was a sign that a cease-fire of sorts had been reached with the militants blamed for thousands of deaths in recent years. Now, though, there are growing signs that that truce might be short-lived. While Djibo remains relatively calm, fighting has surged across the country. More than 50 people died in multiple attacks in a single week in April, including two Spanish journalists and an Irish conservationist. The attacks have continued in May. Suspected jihadis killed 15 people attending a baptism near the town of Tin-Akoff, marking the fourth time this month that the area has been targeted by militants. “While some factions might be negotiating and sticking to the agreements, others are not and could torpedo these negotiations,” said Assane Diallo, mediation advisor for The Center for Humanitarian Dialogue, a Swiss-based organization.”
New Europe: Terrorist Threat Moves To North And Central Africa
“The current situation in North and Central Africa is highly explosive and poses certain risks not only to regional security but to Western Europe as well. There is a concentration of armed groups of terrorists, and militants, mainly of non-Arab origin in Fezzan (the south of Libya), with mercenaries being transferred from Niger, Nigeria and Sudan. The Chadian opposition groups FACT and CCMSR are also concentrated there. Worryingly, the presence of members of ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Boko Haram and other terrorist organizations is also evident in the ranks of the militants. A new zone of instability is being created in Libya, shifting the focus of terrorist activity from the centre of Africa (Lake Chad) and bringing it closer to Europe. Another region that currently faces the threat of destabilization is the Republic of Chad. The death of the recently re-elected President Idriss Déby has pushed Chad into a period of high vulnerability to foreign interference as the current transitional government does not have either well-established ties and partnerships in place or the unanimous support of its population.”
United Kingdom
The National: MI5 Chief: Stronger Encryption Will Weaken Intelligence Capacity To Counter Extremists
“Security services will struggle to investigate hundreds of British extremists who fought for ISIS after social media companies introduce stronger encryption services, the new head of MI5 has said. Companies such as Facebook are providing end-to-end encryption potentially used by child abusers and criminals as well as terrorists, Ken McCallum said in his first interview as MI5’s director general. He said 80 per cent of terrorist plots are attributed to Islamist extremists with more people being indoctrinated online during the pandemic. But it is the surveillance of radicals who returned from fighting for ISIS that present a major concern for Britain’s domestic intelligence service. “Over the past decade, in Syria there were more than 950 UK-based individuals who headed out there to join the Islamic State and other groups, with a huge set of consequences for the risk that we've been seeking to manage ever since,” Mr McCallum told Times Radio. He said events in the Middle East over the past few decades had “massively influenced” people living in Britain, potentially radicalising some, although MI5 had foiled at least 19 major terrorist attacks over the past four years.”
BBC News: Internet Troll John Nimmo Jailed For String Of Terrorism Offences
“An internet troll who encouraged the murder of Muslims has been jailed for a string of terrorism offences. John Nimmo also distributed the Anarchist Cookbook - a terrorist manual on how to make explosives. At Newcastle Crown Court, he admitted seven offences including encouraging terrorism and distributing material likely to stir up religious hatred. Nimmo, 32, of Osborne Avenue, South Shields, was jailed for 10 years and two months. He also admitted possessing and disseminating terrorist material, possessing a prohibited firearm and breaching a Criminal Behaviour Order linked to a previous offence. Nimmo served prison sentences in 2014 and 2017 for sending abuse online aimed at Liverpool Wavertree Labour MP Luciana Berger, among other victims. The court heard how he encouraged the murder of Muslims on his Gab social media account. Judge Robert Adams said: “Nimmo has a racist and Islamophobic mindset - clearly, he's dangerous”. Prosecutor Matthew Brook told the court officers from Northumbria Police were tasked to regularly inspect Nimmo's computer and devices as a result of the Criminal Behaviour Order. He said Nimmo had posted illegal material in 2019 on social media, including calling Muslims “scum” and saying “a spring clean is in order.”
France
Euronews: Albanian Man Accused Of Aiding Nice Terror Attack Extradited To France
“An Albanian man accused of supplying weapons to a Tunisian terrorist who killed 86 people in Nice is back in France after extradition from Italy. Endri Elezi is suspected of aiding Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, who rammed a truck into a crowd in the French coastal city on July 14, 2016. The incident became known as the Bastille Day attack. Elezi, 28, was arrested on April 21 on a warrant from France in the southern Italian town of Sparanize, north of Naples. Also known as “Gino,” Elezi is accused of providing Bouhlel with an assault rifle, according to French judicial sources. Bouhlel was shot dead by police at the wheel of the truck he drove through crowds on Nice’s waterfront, killing 86 and wounding more than 400 people. The so-called Islamic State claimed responsibility for the Nice attack, although prosecutors said there was no evidence that Bouhlel had sworn allegiance to the extremist group. The attack came less than a year after the deadly assaults in November 2015 that saw 130 people killed in bombings and shootings across Paris, including the victims at the Bataclan concert hall. A court in Naples approved Elezi’s extradition to France late Thursday, the news agency AGI reported.”
Germany
Reuters: Syrian Man Gets Life For 'Infidels' Knife Attack In Germany
“A Syrian man was sentenced to life in prison on Friday for murdering a tourist and seriously injuring another in an Islamist-motivated knife attack in the eastern German city of Dresden last year, the court said. The man, identified as Abdullah A. H. H. under privacy laws, was found guilty of murder, attempted murder and grievous bodily harm, a spokeswoman for the Higher Regional Court in the state of Saxony said. He would have to spend at least 15 years behind bars, the spokeswoman added. At the start of the case, prosecutors said the 21-year-old man had intended to kill both men in the attack on Oct. 4 because he saw them as “infidels”. The Syrian man had come to Germany in 2015 along with thousands of his countrymen who had fled the civil war. Authorities stripped him of his refugee status after he was sentenced to more than two years in prison for terrorism activities in 2018 in a separate case. Security officials said he had been classified as a radical Islamist and was under observation on the day of the knife attack.”
Europe
“A weeklong manhunt for a Belgian soldier whom authorities suspect of planning a terrorist attack is highlighting concerns over right-wing extremism in Western militaries. Jurgen Conings, who was on a security watch list for his extremist views, disappeared Monday after taking weapons including rocket launchers from his army base and making threats against public figures and institutions, Belgian authorities said. Belgian media said he had threatened to kill a prominent virologist, who was placed under police protection after Mr. Conings was spotted near his house. The discovery of Mr. Conings’s SUV near a national park Tuesday sparked a search involving hundreds of police and soldiers. Authorities called off the search Friday, saying they had been unable to locate the 46-year-old in the more than 30,000 acres of pine forests, heathlands and lakes in Hoge Kempen, a national park near Belgium’s borders with the Netherlands and Germany. Western militaries are grappling with far-right extremism in their ranks.”
Reuters: Lithuania Launches Terrorism Investigation Into The Plane Diversion
“Lithuanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation into the forced landing of a Ryanair flight to Vilnius in Minsk, the General Prosecutors office said in a statement on Sunday. The charges under investigation include hijacking of a plane for terrorism purposes and treatment of humans in violation of international treaties, it said in the statement. Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte told reporters several people arriving on the plane were asked to give evidence immediately after arriving on Sunday. “The unprecedented situation will have to be investigated very thoroughly,” she said, speaking at the airport after meeting with the passengers on the diverted airplane. Belarusian authorities scrambled a fighter jet and flagged what turned out to be a false bomb alert to force a Ryanair plane to land on Sunday and then detained an opposition-minded journalist 5who was on board, drawing criticism from across Europe.”
New Europe: To Protect Free Speech, Europe Must Answer The Christchurch Call
“The 2019 Christchurch massacre was a ‘performance crime’ perpetrated by Brenton Tarrant. The Australian was first radicalised in a series of far-right online echo chambers and infamously chose to livestream his shootings, with the clip he posted attaining more than 4,000 views before it was eventually taken down. Various reuploads can still be found on the internet to this day, where they continue to inspire extremists worldwide. Christchurch was not the first mass terrorist incident with links to online platforms. In the years leading up to it, Europe alone had endured five deadly terror attacks in Brussels, London, Paris, Nice, and Berlin, which were all either coordinated via social media or perpetrated by attackers who had been radicalised online. Clearly an international problem, it required an international solution. Exactly two months following the Christchurch attacks on May 15, 2019, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and French President Emmanuel Macron brought together leaders from around the world to adopt the Christchurch Call to Action. The Christchurch Call was a commitment by governments and tech companies to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online while ensuring that the internet remained otherwise free and secure for all.”
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