“Italian police announced on Monday they had broken up an online neo-Nazi group
dedicated to antisemitic and racist propaganda that encouraged young p

 

 


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Eye on Extremism


June 8, 2021

 

Deutsche Welle: Italy: Police Dismantle Antisemitic Neo-Nazi Group Planning
NATO Facility Attack
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“Italian police announced on Monday they had broken up an online neo-Nazi
group dedicated to antisemitic and racist propaganda that encouraged young
people to carry out extreme acts of violence against Jews and foreigners.
Italian postal police and Carabinieri paramilitary police said individuals aged
between 26 and 62 were allegedly involved in the group. What caused the
crackdown? Twelve people were present on Facebook and Russian social network VK
under the name, “Ordine Ario Romano,” which is believed to be a reference to
the racist writings of fascist author Julius Evola, a Carabinieri police
statement said. The group's social media postings were “inspired by Nazi,
antisemitic and Holocaust-denial ideologies, as well as by anti-Jewish
conspiracy theories,” the statement added.  Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese
said the online network “exploited the fragility” of young people, and
“[incited] youths to carry out extreme gestures.” Under investigation since
2019, the 12 suspects belonged to “an antisemitic and racist group particularly
active on social media,” Lamorgese added. The crackdown included blacking out
the networks website, which claims to have over 17,000 members, including many
users abroad.”

 

The New York Times: Boko Haram Leader Really Did Kill Himself, Audio Message
Says
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“The head of Nigeria’s best-known terrorist group, Boko Haram, has been
reported dead many times before. But now evidence that this time he might
really be dead has emerged via an audio message, apparently recorded by the
head of a rival extremist group. In it, the leader of Islamic State West Africa
Province, known as ISWAP, appeared to confirm that Abubakar Shekau, Boko
Haram’s violent and erratic leader, killed himself rather than be taken
prisoner in May. “Shekau preferred to be humiliated in the hereafter than on
earth,” the voice in the recording says. “He killed himself instantly by
detonating an explosive.” Mr. Shekau was best known for the kidnapping of
hundreds of schoolgirls from a boarding school in Chibok in 2014. But his
fighters kidnapped, killed, raped and robbed many thousands more, and sent
untold numbers of Nigerians to their deaths as suicide bombers. Millions have
been displaced in the region as a result of the violence. Abubakar ShekauThe
notorious leader of Boko Haram in Nigeria had been reported to be dead several
times before. The death of Mr. Shekau, if true, marks the end of a brutal era
for northeast Nigeria and its neighboring countries in the Lake Chad region.
But it could also signify the beginning of a new era, in which ISWAP takes new
territory after getting rid of its chief rival, and amps up confrontations with
the Nigerian state and its military.”

 

United States

 

The New York Times: U.S. Seizes Share Of Ransom From Hackers In Colonial
Pipeline Attack
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“The Justice Department said on Monday that it had seized much of the ransom
that a major U.S. pipeline operator had paid last month to a Russian hacking
collective, turning the tables on the hackers by reaching into a digital wallet
to snatch back millions of dollars in cryptocurrency. Investigators in recent
weeks traced 75 Bitcoins worth more than $4 million that Colonial Pipeline had
paid to the hackers as the attack shut down its computer systems, prompting
fuel shortages, a spike in gasoline prices and chaos at airlines. Federal
investigators tracked the ransom as it moved through a maze of at least 23
different electronic accounts belonging to DarkSide, the hacking group, before
landing in one that a federal judge allowed them to break into, according to
law enforcement officials and court documents. “The sophisticated use of
technology to hold businesses and even whole cities hostage for profit is
decidedly a 21st-century challenge, but the old adage ‘follow the money’ still
applies,” Lisa O. Monaco, the deputy attorney general, said at the news
conference at the Justice Department.”

 

The New York Times: F.B.I. Investigates Cyber Attack That Targeted N.Y.C. Law
Department
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“An early clue that something was amiss with the computers at New York City’s
Law Department — the 1,000-lawyer agency that represents the city in court —
emerged on Monday when a lawyer for the department wrote to a federal judge in
Manhattan, asking for a short delay in filing court papers because of
“connectivity” problems. “No one is currently able to log on to the Law
Department’s computer system,” the lawyer, Katherine J. Weall, wrote. Later in
the day, city officials revealed the cause of the problem: They had been forced
to disable the Law Department’s computer network on Sunday afternoon after
detecting a cyber attack. That attack is now under investigation by the
intelligence bureau of the New York Police Department and the F.B.I.’s cyber
task force, the officials said. Mayor Bill de Blasio said during a NY1
television appearance on Monday evening that city officials were not aware of
any information being compromised or a ransom demand. But he cautioned that the
situation was “emerging.” “We’ll have more to say as we get more information,”
he said. “So far we believe the defenses have held and the Law Department’s
information was not compromised.” The hack was first reported by The Daily
News.”

 

Syria

 

Arab News: Qatar ‘Funneled Millions Of Dollars’ To Al-Qaeda-Affiliate
Terrorists In Syria: British Media
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“Nine Syrians are accusing several Qatari figures and institutes of funding
terrorist fighters in Syria in a case filed at a UK court, according the Times
of London. In a claim issued this week from the High Court in London, the
Syrian individuals are claiming damages for financial losses, torture,
arbitrary detention and threats of execution endured as part of a scheme or at
the hands of Nusra Front, which is an Al-Qaeda affiliate. The files at the case
allege that some top Qatari politicians, businessmen, charities and civil
servants used one of the emir’s private offices and two banks to funnel
hundreds of millions of dollars to the Nusra Front. The Times said that
according to the court papers, which they have seen, the Qatar state along with
the Muslim Brotherhood group have come up with a plan to “actively support and
facilitate” Nusra Front extremists during the Syrian civil war. Over-priced
construction contracts, property purchases and payments helped moved the money,
according to the allegations. Qatar National Bank and Doha Bank are accused of
facilitating the transactions, according to the report. All the accused have
strongly and categorically denied the allegations.”

 

Iraq

 

The National: Senior Iraqi Intelligence Officer Assassinated In Baghdad
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“A senior Iraqi intelligence officer was shot dead near his home east of
Baghdad on Monday, according to state media. This is the latest in a wave of
targeted killings that has swept the country in recent years. Col Nebras Abu
Ali was assistant director of the Intelligence Service’s Monitoring Department,
according to local news reports. “Unidentified gunmen opened fire on the
officer in the Al Baladiyat area, east of Baghdad early on Monday. He died
immediately,” Iraq’s state-run National Iraqi News Agency said quoting a
security source. In March, another senior intelligence officer was assassinated
in the Iraqi capital. Gunmen carrying a pistol fitted with a silencer
assassinated Lt Col Mahmoud Laith Hussein in Baghdad’s western neighbourhood of
Mansour. The gunman shot Hussein in the head after running up to him from
behind and kicking him in the leg; he was wearing a white cap, according to
CCTV footage. The officer worked at the Intelligence Service Counter-Espionage
Department. Targeted killing is not a new phenomenon in Iraq. The country has
witnessed dozens of high-profile assassinations since operations against ISIS
and other extremist groups were launched. Some militias, which are backed by
Iran, have accused Iraq’s intelligence services of collaborating with the US
forces against them.”

 

Afghanistan

 

The Wall Street Journal: Afghan Soldiers Gird For Taliban To Attack Cities
After The U.S. Leaves
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“The Taliban are encircling Afghan police and army positions and encroaching
on government-held territory, positioning themselves for large-scale offensives
against major population centers while waiting for the last American troops to
depart Afghanistan. The insurgents are pushing their advantage on the
battlefield ahead of a full U.S. exit, even as they continue peace talks with
the Afghan government in Doha, Qatar. President Biden has said the withdrawal
would be completed by Sept. 11. Other American officials indicate the remaining
U.S. presence—and the vital air support they provide Afghan government
forces—will be gone much sooner, maybe as early as next month. In the ebb and
flow of the Afghan war, government troops sometimes still manage to retake
areas like Arghandab, a fertile valley on the western edge of Kandahar, the
country’s second-largest city. Taliban fighters fled parts of Arghandab in
early April, after strikes from U.S. war planes made the difference following
months of intense ground fighting. But with air support ending within weeks,
government forces will lose a pivotal edge in the conflict.”

 

NBC News: As U.S. Troops Leave Afghanistan, The Taliban Say They Won't Harm
Afghans Who Worked For The U.S.
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“The Taliban on Monday called on Afghans who worked as interpreters or in
other jobs for U.S.-led forces to show “remorse” for their actions but said
they were not in danger now that American troops are leaving the country. The
Taliban have a long track record of threatening and killing Afghans who worked
for the United States and NATO allies or with Western-backed organizations.
Since 2014, at least 300 Afghans who served as interpreters have been murdered
by the Taliban, according to No One Left Behind, a veteran-led nonprofit
devoted to helping Afghan and Iraqi interpreters. But amid growing calls in
Washington for an evacuation of the thousands of Afghans who served alongside
U.S. troops and diplomats, the Taliban issued an unusual statement. The group,
which has portrayed Afghans who cooperated with the NATO troop presence as
traitors and infidels, said that these former U.S. partners had nothing to
fear. Afghans who worked with NATO troops “should show remorse for their past
actions and must not engage in such activities in the future that amount to
treason against Islam and the country,” the Taliban statement said, referring
to themselves as the “Islamic Emirate.”

 

Lebanon

 

The Jerusalem Post: What Role Will Hezbollah Play In Lebanon’s Future
Government?
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“Lebanon’s endless political crisis continues. It has lacked a government
since prime minister Hassan Diab resigned last year after the Beirut Port
explosion. Since then, the country has lurched from crisis to crisis, with
Hezbollah being the main benefactor of these crises. Lebanese President Michel
Aoun has held discussions with Saad Hariri, the prime minister-designate.
Hariri’s father, Rafik, was murdered by Hezbollah in 2005. In March, there was
a failure to agree on a new cabinet. Aoun wants Hariri to step aside. Hezbollah
has refused suggestions that the cabinet be made up of technocrats. “A
government of technocrats that is not backed by political groups won’t save the
country,” Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said in March. In May, the crisis
continued. At the time, Nasrallah was getting sick with an undisclosed illness.
According to media reports, Hariri told parliament: “The truth of what is
happening is that the president of the republic tells the deputies in his
message: ‘You named a prime minister. I do not want him, and I will not allow
him to form a government. Please, get rid of him.’ This is an attempt to
absolve the president of the republic from the accusation of obstructing the
formation of the government.”

 

Middle East

 

The New Arab: Hamas' Coffers Filled Up With Bitcoin During Israeli Bombing
Campaign
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“Bitcoin has found its way into Hamas' coffers in increased quantities from
the beginning of May's escalation in the Gaza Strip. This is helping the
organisation bypass global restrictions and acquire money for its armed
efforts, The Wall Street Journal reported last week. A high-level Hamas insider
told the US paper Hamas' military branch began receiving increased numbers of
online visitors amid the Israeli bombing campaign against Gaza and Hamas rocket
fire on Israel. He also explained that more Bitcoin started coming in. “There
was definitely a spike. “Some of the money gets used for military purposes to
defend the basic rights of the Palestinians.” However, the source refused to
reveal the amount that has been given. Over $1 million worth of crypto linked
with Hamas' military branch was confiscated by US federal agencies in 2020.
According to expert Ari Redbord, formerly of the Treasury and an ex-US
prosecutor: “Terrorist organizations have traditionally used those sorts of
rallying cries to drive engagement to their site, which drives fundraising
During the Israeli bombing campaign, user statistics for alqassam.ps, the main
site of Hamas' military branch, known as the Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades,
rose significantly, the Counter Extremism project said.”

 

Nigeria

 

The Defense Post: Death Toll Rises To 88 In Attack In Northwest Nigeria: Police

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“Police in northwest Nigeria’s Kebbi state told AFP Sunday that the death toll
from an attack by a gang of cattle thieves on seven villages Thursday had risen
to 88. The region has struggled with decades-long communal clashes over
resources but more recently some groups have become more violent, looting,
killing, and kidnapping for ransom. “Initially 66 bodies were recovered but 22
more have been found,” Kebbi state police spokesman Nafiu Abubakar said, adding
that the search for more bodies was ongoing. Dozens of assailants on
motorcycles attacked seven neighboring villages in Danko-Wasagu district on
Thursday, Abubakar said. The gunmen targeted the villages of Koro, Kimpi, Gaya,
Dimi, Zutu, Rafin Gora, and Iguenge, he said. Many people were still
unaccounted for Sunday after fleeing the attacks. “The search is still going on
and more bodies could be found. So, the toll is not conclusive yet,” said
Abubakar. Policemen were deployed to the area over the weekend to forestall
further attacks, he said. The assailants were believed to have launched the
attacks from neighboring Zamfara or Niger states where criminals are known to
maintain camps.”

 

Africa

 

The Washington Post: The Islamic State Has ‘Provinces’ In Africa. That Doesn’t
Mean What You Might Think.
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“In March, militants from the Islamic State’s Central Africa Province (ISCAP)
attacked the city of Palma in Mozambique. They destroyed parts of the
infrastructure, killing and beheading civilians and overrunning sections of the
city for days. Global headlines soon percolated that claims that the Islamic
State was involved in the violence were overblown. This analysis centered on
arguments that the Islamic State’s central leadership — “IS Central” and based
in Iraq, security experts believe — had no command and control over the
Mozambican group. The violence in Palma, some argued, was primarily motivated
by unemployment and government grievances, not extremist ideology. The Palma
attack raises some questions: What connections do IS Central’s designated
provinces in Africa have with the Islamic State Central? How much importance
should observers place on the fact that a particular insurgency carries the
Islamic State name? Here’s what it means to be an Islamic State province in
Africa. Africa’s Islamic State provinces first emerged 2014 in Libya, Algeria
and Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. In subsequent years, the West Africa Province of
northeastern Nigeria emerged and, in 2019, it had added to it an offshoot wing,
IS‐Greater Sahara.”

 

Associated Press: Death Toll Rises After Burkina Faso Village Attack
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“The death toll from the deadliest attack in Burkina Faso in years has risen
to at least 132 people and countless others wounded, security officials said
Monday. Jihadis on Friday night launched an assault on civilians in Solhan
village in the Sahel’s Yagha province, shooting people and burning down homes
and the market, the government said. Many of the wounded were taken to
hospitals in Dori town and the country’s capital, Ouagadougou. Nearly 800
people have fled to the nearby town of Sebba, according to an internal report
for aid workers seen by The Associated Press. An aid worker in Sebba said there
were more than 40 people with bullet wounds and burns from fleeing the attack.
The aid worker spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t permitted to
speak to the media. A local journalist, who also didn’t want to be named for
fear of his safety, told the AP he saw wounded people in Dori’s hospital lying
all over the floor. For five years, Burkina Faso’s ill-equipped and
undertrained army has been struggling to stem a jihadi insurgency linked to
al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, often arriving late or not at all to
attacks.”

 

Arab News: Sudanese Authorities Arrest 9 Al-Qaeda Militants Who Planned
Attacks Against Gulf Countries
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“Authorities in Khartoum arrested nine Al-Qaeda militants, who had entered
Sudan to participate in attacks targeting Gulf countries. Anti-Extremism
Prosecutor Ahmed Suleiman Al-Awad said investigations were carried out by the
police in coordination with the General Intelligence Service. The members are
accused in their countries of committing and participating in extremist crimes,
Al-Awad told TV news channel Al-Arabiya. He added that some entered Sudan
illegally to take part in operations targeting Gulf countries. Some names of
those arrested are published on the list of the United Nations Security
Council, Al-Awad said. He added that among those are Syrian passport holders of
Tunisian and Chadian origin. One of the Al-Qaeda members is also accused of
planning an attack against tourists in Tunisia's city of Sousse, and is wanted
by the country, Al-Awad said. Former President Omar Al-Bashir’s regime has,
over the past years, harbored a number of extremist commanders, who established
training camps in the country.”

 

United Kingdom

 

The Independent: Shamima Begum Says She Joined Isis To Avoid Being The Friend
Left Behind
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“Shamima Begum has claimed she fled to join Isis in Syria because she did not
want to be left behind by her friends. The 21-year-old, who left east London
with two classmates, Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase, said she was “young and
naive” and wanted to help people in Syria. Ms Begum told the Sky documentary
The Return: Life After Isis that the three schoolgirls had been preyed upon by
Isis supporters online. The Bethnal Green schoolgirls, then aged 15 and 16,
took a Turkish Airlines flight from Gatwick to Istanbul before crossing into
Syria. She said the recruiters preyed upon their guilt at seeing Muslims
suffering in Syria and encouraged them to become “part of something”. “I knew
it was a big decision but I just felt compelled to do it quickly. I didn’t want
to be the friend that was left behind,” Ms Begum said. The former child bride
is being held at the al-Roj camp in northern Syria after her British
citizenship was revoked. In the documentary, she sobs while discussing the loss
of her three children during the Syrian civil war. She speaks of wanting to
kill herself because of the grief she feels, adding: “The only thing keeping me
alive was my baby I was pregnant with. I felt like it was my fault for not
getting them out sooner even though I didn’t know why they died.”

 

The Independent: Police Firearms Officer ‘Feared Terrorist’s Suicide Bomb
Would Collapse London Bridge’, Inquest Hears
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“A firearms officer feared London Bridge would collapse if a terrorist
detonated what appeared to be a real suicide vest, an inquest has heard. Senior
Metropolitan Police commanders gave officers the authorisation to shoot Usman
Khan dead because they believed he posed an imminent threat to life. The
inquest into his death heard that police shot at the 28-year-old 20 times, in
several bursts. Khan had been chased onto London Bridge after murdering two
victims in a knife rampage at Fishmongers’ Hall on 29 November 2019. An
inspector codenamed TC82, because of an anonymity order, told Monday’s hearing
that Khan was believed to be reaching for what looked like a real suicide vest
when the second barrage of shots were fired. TC82, who was a Tactical Firearms
Commander in the control room during the attack, said that while watching live
footage of the incident he believed Khan could be holding a trigger. “I feared
the IED deonating,” he added. “Obviously because he’s on a bridge,that bridge
could collapse and I could see members of the public walking – just going about
their day-to-day business – underneath the bridge.”

 

France

 

The Times Of Israel: Four Suspects Tried In Paris Over 2017 Jihadist Murder Of
Cop
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“Four men go on trial in Paris today over the Islamist murder of a police
officer on the Champs-Elysees avenue on the eve of France’s 2017 presidential
election. Xavier Jugele was sitting at the wheel of a parked police bus when
Karim Cheurfi pulled up in a car, got out and shot him dead through the
windscreen on April 20, 2017. Cheurfi, a 39-year-old French jihadist who became
radicalized in prison while serving time for robbery and attacks on the police,
was himself shot dead by police minutes later. The brazen assault, which
Cheurfi carried out on behalf of the Islamic State terrror group, caused
outrage in France, which was already reeling from a wave of attacks by radical
Islamists. Shortly after Jugele’s death it emerged that he had been among the
first responders at the Bataclan theatre in Paris on November 13, 2015, where
IS gunmen massacred 90 concertgoers. One of the four men put on trial today,
31-year-old Nourredine Allam, is accused of taking part in a terrorist
conspiracy. He is suspected of having sold Cheurfi the assault rifle that he
used in the attack, charges he denies. The three others are accused of the
lesser offenses of illegally owning or selling weapons.”

 

Canada

 

The New York Times: Truck Attack That Killed A Muslim Family In Canada Was
Planned <[link removed]>

 

“The driver of a pickup truck in London, Ontario, who ran down five
pedestrians, killing four of them, chose his victims because they were Muslim,
the police said on Monday. “There is evidence that this was a planned,
premeditated act and that the family was targeted because of their Muslim
faith,” said Detective Superintendent Paul Waight of the London Police at a
news conference. Mayor Ed Holder of London, which is midway between Detroit and
Toronto, called it “an act of mass murder perpetrated against Muslims, against
Londoners and rooted in unspeakable hatred.” The killings happened on one of
the first summerlike weekends of the year in London. The police told reporters
that a man in a black pickup drove up on a curb and mowed down a family
standing on the sidewalk and waiting to cross a busy suburban road. The victims
were identified by the family in a statement as Salman Afzaal, 46; his wife,
Madiha, 44; their 15-year-old daughter, Yumna; and Mr. Afzaal’s 74-year-old
mother. The statement said that their 9-year-old son, Fayed, remained in
hospital “on the road to recovery from serious injury.” “Everyone who knew
Salman and the rest of the Afzaal family know the model family they were as
Muslims, Canadians and Pakistanis,” the statement added.”



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