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Eye on Extremism
August 16, 2021
“Taliban fighters took control of Kabul on Sunday, delivering the militant Islamist group the prize it has long sought: authority over all of Afghanistan as the Western-backed government collapsed, President Ashraf Ghani fled, and the long-dominant American presence appeared to be coming to an abrupt and chaotic end after nearly 20 years. The takeover of the sprawling capital city had been years in the making, but was ultimately accomplished in a single day. Insurgent fighters, fresh off their conquests in each of Afghanistan’s provincial hubs over the previous week, faced little to no resistance as they entered the city through its major traffic arteries Sunday morning. By evening, the Taliban was giving television interviews in the lavish presidential palace, just hours after Ghani had departed Afghanistan. A desperate exodus was underway at the airport, with thousands of people clamoring to board flights. And the Pentagon was speeding in additional troops to assist with the withdrawal of U.S. personnel after the American flag was lowered from a now-abandoned embassy. The footage of rifle-toting Taliban fighters occupying the presidential palace and rolling up the Afghan national flag stood as a defining image of a failed U.S. effort to transform Afghan society at the cost of a trillion dollars and thousands of lives lost.”
“Hate preacher Anjem Choudary is secretly posting vile messages to his followers on an encrypted smartphone app favoured by Islamic State terrorists, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. The extremist imam, who called the 9/11 hijackers 'magnificent martyrs' and radicalised the killers of soldier Lee Rigby, is sending messages on the Telegram app after he was banned by Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp for violating hate-speech rules. Choudary told his Telegram followers last week that Britain is a 'police state' and preached that Muslims are having their freedoms taken away 'under the guise of counter-terrorism'. He also told of his love of Sharia law, writing: 'I am not an advocate for liberty, freedom and democracy and believe that the Shari'ah and Islam are a perfect and better way of life.' The father-of-five, who is on a United Nations terrorist list, was jailed for six-and-a-half years in 2016 for inviting support for IS, but was released in 2018 after serving less than half the sentence. He was freed on licence under strict conditions, which included observing a night-time curfew at his home in Ilford, East London, and not using social media or the internet. But these restrictions expired last month and Choudary started preaching online again. The 54-year-old set up a new Twitter account, which immediately attracted hundreds of followers, but it was suspended after uproar from anti-extremism activists.”
United States
Associated Press: US Warns 9/11 Anniversary Could Inspire Extremist Attacks
“The upcoming 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks as well as approaching religious holidays could inspire extremist attacks, the Department of Homeland Security said in a terrorism alert issued Friday. DHS did not cite any specific threats in the National Terrorism Advisory System Bulletin. But it noted that the U.S. is in a “heightened threat environment,” fueled by factors that include violent extremists motivated by racial and ethnic hatred and resentment of restrictions imposed during the pandemic. DHS issues the warnings to alert the public as well as state and local authorities. They reflect intelligence gathered from other law enforcement agencies. The bulletin is an extension of a similar one issued in May that expired on the day the new one was issued. DHS says domestic extremists remain a national threat priority for U.S. law enforcement and will for at least the remainder of the year. The agency noted that al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula recently released the first English-language edition of its Inspire magazine in four years, apparently to mark the upcoming anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The anniversary and the approaching holidays “could serve as a catalyst for acts of targeted violence,” it said.”
Iraq
Voice Of America: Iraqi PM Vows to Target Terrorists Attacking Electricity Grid
“Iraq's top military commander and prime minister say they have a plan to stop Islamic State terrorists from creating more power blackouts. Iraqi state TV reported Saturday that four IS terrorists had been captured in the regions of Kirkuk, Nineveh, Salaheddin and Anbar province, in the wake of recent attacks on the country's electricity grid, including one Friday that left a large swath of Baghdad without water. Interior Ministry spokesman General Saad Maan told the TV service that security forces have had some success in foiling recent attacks. He said 23 attempts to damage electricity pylons had been thwarted in the past few days. Prime Minister Mustafa Kadhimi tweeted Friday that the terrorists behind the recent attacks “do not wish the country well” and are “becoming desperate in the face of Iraq's success in increasing electricity production.” Iraqi military commander General Tahsin Khafaji told journalists that a plan had been put in place to stop further attacks on the electricity network. He said that military commanders would be held responsible for the electricity lines and towers in their respective sectors. He said that any failure would be investigated and that those responsible would be held accountable.”
Afghanistan
“Thousands of inmates, including former Islamic State and al-Qaeda fighters, were released from a prison on the outskirts of Kabul as the Taliban called for a “peaceful transition” of power. Afghan government troops surrendered Bagram airbase to the Taliban early on Sunday. The base houses Pul-e-Charki prison, which has around 5,000 prisoners. It is the largest in Afghanistan and notorious for its poor conditions. A maximum-security cellblock held members of al Qaeda and Taliban, said reports. Footage published by an independent Afghan news agency, which supports the Taliban, appears to show militants letting the inmates out. Local residents say they have also heard gunfire coming from the facility, the BBC reported. The Taliban arrived on the outskirts of Kabul on Sunday, several days after capturing other major cities in the country. Acting Afghan Interior Minister Abdul Sattar Mirzakwal said the country will now have a “peaceful transfer of power” to a transitional government led by the Taliban, the Associated Press reported. Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani and Vice President Amrullah Saleh have both already left the country, according to Reuters. At the end of July, the United Nations warned that the threat from terror groups such as Islamic State and Al-Qaeda were expanding in Afghanistan.”
Pakistan
Associated Press: Pakistani Police: Attackers Target Truck In Karachi, Kill 9
“Attackers targeted a truck in the Pakistani port city of Karachi on Saturday evening, killing at least nine people and wounding nine others, police said. Javed Akbar Riaz, a senior police officer, said over 20 people, including women and children, were riding in the truck, returning from a wedding ceremony when the attack happened. Five women and four children were killed, said Qarar Abbasi, a doctor at Karachi’s main hospital. Riaz said an initial investigation suggests the attackers followed the truck and then threw hand grenades or some sort of improvised explosive devices at one side of the truck. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. The motive for the bombing was not known, though police were quick to rule out sectarian violence. Karachi police chief Imran Yaqub Minhas denounced the attack as an “act of terrorism” as Pakistan marked Independence Day on Saturday. Earlier in the day, Pakistani security forces killed three militants during a shootout following a militant attack on a security patrol in the restive southwestern Baluchistan province, the military said. In a brief statement, the military said there was an exchange of gunfire after militants opened fire on a security vehicle near Shahrig in the Loralai district.”
Egypt
Al Jazeera: Attack Kills Eight Egyptian Troops In Sinai
“A roadside bomb exploded in the restive northern part of the Sinai Peninsula, killing eight members of Egypt’s security forces, including an officer, while six others were wounded. The troops were riding an armoured vehicle when the bomb went off in New Rafah, a town on the border with the Gaza Strip, said officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media. The wounded, who suffered serious injuries, were transferred to a military hospital in the nearby Mediterranean city of el-Arish late on Thursday. The armed group ISIL (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement on an ISIL-affiliated website. In a similar attack last month, ISIL fighters ambushed a checkpoint in the town of Sheikh Zuweid, killing at least five troops and wounding at least six others. Egypt has been battling armed groups in northern Sinai for years. Violence and instability there intensified after the 2013 military coup that removed Mohamed Morsi, an elected but divisive president, amid nationwide protests against his brief rule. The fighters have carried out numerous attacks, mainly targeting Egyptian security forces, minority Christians, and those who they accuse of collaborating with the military and police.”
Nigeria
The Wall Street Journal: 1,000 Boko Haram Militants Surrender, Two Chibok Girls Walk Free
“More than 1,000 Boko Haram members and their hostages surrendered to the Nigerian government, including two high-school students who were kidnapped seven years ago from the town of Chibok, in what security officials and mediators called a new chapter in Nigeria’s decadelong conflict. Ruth Pogu and Hassan Adamu, who were abducted in 2014 along with 274 other schoolgirls in what prompted the global #BringBackOurGirls campaign, emerged from the jihadist group’s Sambisa forest hideout in recent days, alongside men who called themselves their “husbands” and children born in captivity. The fighters surrendered amid a surge in fighting between Boko Haram and its rival, Islamic State West Africa Province. Another woman, taken last year from Chibok, was with them. Now in the custody of Nigeria’s intelligence agency, the women were being debriefed. Ms. Pogu was taken to the regional capital Maiduguri on Sunday and briefly allowed to see her family. The development appears to mark a new chapter in a war that has left more than 35,000 people dead and uprooted more than two million. In May, Boko Haram’s longtime leader, Abubakar Shekau, died after a confrontation with Iswap.”
Voice Of America: Five Children Killed By Grenade Blast In NE Nigeria
“Five children were killed when a disused grenade they were playing with exploded outside the northeast Nigerian town of Ngala, near the border with Cameroon, militiamen told AFP Friday. “The five children picked up the explosive while herding in a field outside the town and it exploded in their hands as they were playing with it,” anti-jihadist militiaman Umar Kachalla said. “Two of them died on the spot while the other three died in hospital in Mada, inside Cameroon,” he said. Another militiaman, Umar Ari, gave a similar account of the incident, which happened on Thursday. In August 2014, the Boko Haram jihadist group seized Ngala along with the nearby trading hub of Gamboru. The two towns were recaptured in September 2015 by Nigerian troops with the help of Chadian forces following a months-long offensive. Ari said unexploded mines and grenades from the conflict still litter the surrounding countryside and many children had been killed or injured. In December 2019, nine people were killed and 26 injured when an explosive device went off on a crowded bridge linking Gamboru and Fotokol. Residents blamed the explosion on a grenade disguised as toy that, they said, had been given to some children as a gift by a Boko Haram insurgent.”
Africa
Voice Of America: Cameroon Creates, Trains Militias Against New Terrorism Ideology
“Cameroon’s President Paul Biya has sent his top military officials and a governor to reactivate old militias and create new ones to combat terrorism on the central African state’s northern border with Nigeria. The militias are, for the first time, to tell people about what the government says is a new strategy by the Islamic State in West Africa Province, or ISWAP, to attract supporters away from rival Boko Haram through gifts of food and money, and attacking only military positions, unlike Boko Haram, which attacked schools and other civilian targets. About 30 people, most of them youths, sing in Mora that Boko Haram is a capricious terrorist group. The singers call for caution in all villages on Cameroon’s northern border with Nigeria, where, they say, jihadist groups have relaunched activity. Abdoul Oumar is coordinator of nine militia groups fighting Boko Haram terrorism in Mora, a town on the border with Nigeria's Borno state. Nigeria says Borno is an epicenter of the jihadist group. Oumar said the number of jihadists infiltrating villages in Mora within the past three months is increasing. Oumar said militias that were discouraged by the lack of flashlights, motorcycles, telephones, bows and arrows, and guns to fight terrorists will now be able to resume work.”
Financial Times: Muhammadu Buhari: Africa Needs More Than US Military Aid To Defeat Terror
“Though some believe the war on terror winds down with the US departure from Afghanistan, the threat it was supposed to address burns fiercely on my continent. Africa is the new frontline of global militancy. Yet few expect the outlay expended here to be as great as in Afghanistan. The fight against terrorism begun under the George W Bush administration was never truly global. Despite rising attacks across Africa in the past decade, international assistance has not followed in step. Mozambique is merely the latest African state in danger from terrorism. The Sahel remains vulnerable to Boko Haram, 20 years after its formation, and other radical groups. Somalia is in its second decade fighting the equally extreme al-Shabaab. Many African nations are submerged under the weight of insurgency. As Africans, we face our day of reckoning just as some sense the west is losing its will for the fight. It is true that some of our western allies are bruised by their Middle Eastern and Afghan experiences. Others face domestic pressures after the pandemic. Africa was not then, and even less now, their priority. But the threat cannot be ignored. Covid-19 has been like oxygen for terrorism, allowing it to gain in strength while the world was preoccupied.”
United Kingdom
BBC News: Right-Wing Extremist Guilty Of Terrorism Offence
“A “right-wing extremist” is facing jail after being found guilty of possessing a bomb-making instruction manual. Ben John, 21, was convicted of having a copy of The Anarchist Cookbook on a computer hard drive. Lincolnshire Police said the “radical publication” was found alongside “a wealth of white supremacist and anti-Semitic material”. John, of Addison Drive, Lincoln, was convicted after a trial at Leicester Crown Court and is due to be sentenced on 31 August. Police said John had first come to the attention of counter-terrorism officers in 2018 after he wrote a letter entitled 'Eternal Front – Lincolnshire Fascist Underground’. He was arrested in January 2020, and later charged with offences under the Terrorism Act, including possessing documents on combat, homemade weapons and explosives. The force said John had become part of the Extreme Right Wing (XRW) online - a term for activists who commit criminal activity motivated by a political or cultural view, such as racism or extreme nationalism. He was convicted by a jury on Thursday of one count of possessing information likely to be useful to a terrorist. He was cleared of six other counts of the same offence. Addressing John, Judge Timothy Spencer said he was now “a convicted terrorist.”
Australia
The Age: The Thin Line Between Neo-Nazi Cosplay And Real Terrorism
“Terrorism has fallen down the list of global threats during the COVID-19 outbreak but in an uncertain world, it cannot be forgotten entirely. As the Herald reports today, extremist groups who identify as neo-Nazis are finding plenty of recruits here in Australia and counter-terrorism agencies are increasingly concerned. The risk from these fringe white supremacist, racist groups has moved to the fore as the danger of Islamist terrorist groups – such as Islamic State – has receded, although the Taliban’s resurgence in Afghanistan suggests the need for continued vigilance. It was only two years ago that Australian Brenton Tarrant murdered 51 people in a mass shooting at two mosques in Christchurch in New Zealand. A group of young people in a range of rich Western countries seems increasingly drawn to a poisonous narrative that immigrants, and their progressive allies, are submerging traditional white society, and that they must be stopped with violence. In 2011, Anders Breivik, a self-styled neo-Nazi, murdered 77 people in Norway. There were white supremacist overtones in the assault on the US Capitol in Washington DC on January 6. While everyone agrees that these acts of terror are appalling, it is harder to know how to respond to the wider ecosystem of ultra-right websites and the social organisations that nurtures them.”
Technology
“The Department of Homeland Security is considering hiring private companies to analyze public social media for warning signs of extremist violence, spurring debate within the agency over how to monitor for such threats while protecting Americans’ civil liberties. The effort, which remains under discussion and hasn’t received approval or funding, would involve sifting through large flows of internet traffic to help identify online narratives that might provide leads on developing attacks, whether from home or abroad. The initiative comes after the nation’s intelligence community failed to sufficiently identify and share signs of the threats that led to the assault on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of Donald Trump supporters on Jan. 6.”
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