“A suicide attack killed at least four people and injured 20 others in
Pakistan's southwestern province of Baluchistan early Sunday, officials in the

 

 


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Eye on Extremism


September 7, 2021 

 

NBC News: Suicide Attack By Pakistan's Taliban Kills At Least 4, Injures 20
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“A suicide attack killed at least four people and injured 20 others in
Pakistan's southwestern province of Baluchistan early Sunday, officials in the
country said. A convoy of the paramilitary Frontier Corps was targeted as it
was changing duty at a security post, Azhar Akram, a senior police officer in
Baluchistan's capital, Quetta, said at a news conference. He said the attacker
used a motorcycle to get near the paramilitary force, which is in overall
charge of security in Baluchistan, a restive province in northwest Pakistan
that borders Afghanistan's south. More than 13 pounds of explosives were used,
he said, adding that body parts were found at a distance from the security
post. The militant group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, also known as the
Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility. The TTP is a separate organization
from the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan. “Our fidaee [suicide bomber] had
planted explosives on the motorbike and rammed into the military convoy in
Quetta,” TTP spokesman Mohammad Khurasani said from an undisclosed location
Sunday. “The security forces were about to leave for patrolling when they were
attacked.” Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan condemned the attack on Twitter.”

 

France 24: How The November 2015 Attacks Marked A Turning Point In French
Terror Laws
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“France's biggest ever criminal trial opens on September 8 in Paris over the
November 2015 terrorist attacks, which killed 130 people at bars, restaurants,
a football stadium and the Bataclan concert hall in the French capital. The
attacks marked a turning point in French anti-terror legislation. FRANCE 24
looks back on six years of tightening anti-terror legislative measures and
debates on civil liberties. France declared a state of emergency on the evening
of the November 13, 2015 after the deadliest terror attacks on French soil in
modern history left 130 people dead in the Paris region. The government pushed
through fresh anti-terror laws, granting police and intelligence agencies
extended powers, as the country faced a wave of further attacks in French
cities and towns, such as Nice, St-Étienne-du-Rouvray, Villejuif and
Rambouillet. The state of emergency expired in November 2017, when President
Emmanuel Macron replaced it with a tough anti-terror law. The new law
permanently legalised several aspects of the state of emergency – such as
extended police powers to search homes, restrict movement or close radical
religious sites. France has a long history of anti-terror legislation, dating
back to the 19th century, when the state adopted exceptional provisions under
wartime regulations.”

 

United States

 

NBC News: Afghan Evacuees On Terror Watchlists Stopped From Entering U.S.,
Mayorkas Says
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“Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Friday said
that some people recently evacuated from Afghanistan by the U.S. were flagged
on terror watchlists while they were in transit and not allowed to enter the
U.S. “In fact we have,” Mayorkas said, responding to a question in a press
briefing about whether the U.S. had encountered any evacuees who appear on
terror watchlists. “And we deny access to individuals whose derogatory
information is not resolved and we do not feel confident in the safety and
security of the American people.” Mayorkas was then asked what the U.S. will do
with those Afghans who have been evacuated to transit countries but denied
entry to the United States due to security concerns. “We are working with our
international allies to address the disposition of those individuals,” Mayorkas
said. He did not say whether any Afghans were deemed a security risk after
landing in the U.S. or how many of the evacuees had turned up on terror
watchlists. Appearing on U.S. terror watchlists or being stopped for
questioning does not necessarily mean that individuals pose a risk.”

 

Bloomberg: Militants May Use Afghan Chaos To Infiltrate U.S., EU, NATO Says
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“The North Atlantic Treaty Organization warned that militants could join
migrants fleeing Afghanistan, potentially adding to security threats for Europe
and the U.S. after the American withdrawal from Kabul earlier this week. “We
have put in place measures to avoid that, but in big numbers it’s a risk,”
Stefano Pontecorvo, NATO’s senior civilian representative to Afghanistan, said
in a Friday interview, referring to militants trying to use refugee flows to
infiltrate Western countries. “I am sure it’s the case.”  The European Union is
eager to stem migration from Afghanistan and has cited the potential security
threat. So far about 500,000 people have been displaced in Afghanistan this
year, but there hasn’t been evidence of people entering neighboring countries,
nor has there been significant movement toward the bloc, according to an EU
diplomatic note seen by Bloomberg. Pontecorvo, who took part in the effort to
evacuate Afghan civilians from Kabul in August, said the end of the American
presence is expected to free up ISIS-K territorial claims in the country. “That
is a risk that the Taliban will have to deal with,” he said. While NATO could
be involved in assisting with the ISIS-K threat, Pontecorvo conceded that the
role of the alliance will be subject to “a lot of soul searching and questions”
after the chaotic withdrawal of Western forces.”

 

Iraq

 

The Wall Street Journal: Islamic State Kills At Least 12 Police In Iraq Amid
Resurgence Fears
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“Islamic State militants killed at least 12 Iraqi policemen and wounded
several more in an overnight attack at an outpost near the city of Kirkuk amid
concerns that the group is expanding its attacks in Iraq and Syria. Police
officials said insurgents using pickup trucks attacked the checkpoint in Rashad
district in the early hours of Sunday and placed improvised explosive devices,
or IEDs, along the road leading to the police position to slow any support from
security forces. A firefight lasted for several hours before the insurgents
retreated as police reinforcements made their way to the area, an official
said. Three of the policemen were killed by IEDs. In a separate attack in
Nineveh province Sunday morning, Islamic State militants attacked an army
checkpoint, killing three soldiers, police said, while in Diyalla province,
north of Baghdad, militants attacked a police patrol, leaving several security
personnel wounded. Kirkuk Gov. Rakan al-Jabouri called for an emergency meeting
of Iraq’s national security council to improve and coordinate the military
response to the Islamic State threat in the area.”

 

Turkey

 

Bloomberg: Turkey Says It ‘Neutralized’ 18,500 Militants Over Six Years
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“Turkey has “neutralized” nearly 18,500 people that it calls “terrorists” over
the past six years, the Defense Ministry said Sunday. Since the start of this
year, that figure was 1,865, spokesperson Maj. Pinar Kara told journalists in
Ankara. The ministry uses the term to describe killed, wounded or captured
combatants. The vast majority of the 18,455 neutralized since July 2015 are
thought to be members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has waged
war on Turkey since 1984. A 2½-year ceasefire with the PKK – listed as a
terrorist organization by the U.S. and the European Union – broke down in 2015.
Turkey targeted the Islamic State group after launching its first operation in
northern Syria in 2016 but has since largely focused on the PKK and its
affiliates in Turkey, Syria and Iraq. Although the total figure of 40,000
deaths is often cited for the 37-year conflict with the PKK, the International
Crisis Group says “the precise figure for the overall casualty toll of the
conflict is impossible to confirm.” Turkey’s military conducted 22 operations
against suspected insurgents inside Turkey and abroad over the past month, Kara
said. Since April, it has been carrying out ground and air operations against
the PKK in northern Iraq. These resulted in 244 militants being “neutralized,”
she added.”

 

Afghanistan

 

The New York Times: U.S. Wrestles With Taliban Sanctions as Afghan Crisis Looms

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“America’s war in Afghanistan is over, but the fight over the Taliban’s
finances is only beginning. The fate of billions of dollars of international
reserves and foreign aid represents its own set of politically and legally
fraught decisions as the world comes to grips with what Afghanistan will look
like under Taliban rule. The stakes are extraordinarily high, as millions of
Afghans face the prospect of becoming collateral damage from a stranglehold of
sanctions on the Taliban that remain in place, threatening to sink an economy
that the United States has spent two decades trying to prop up. With a
humanitarian crisis looming, the Biden administration is reviewing how to
tailor that web of sanctions so that aid can continue to reach the Afghan
people. The challenge is how to let donor money continue to flow without
further enriching the Taliban, which the United States considers a terrorist
organization. Experts say that such a situation, in which a group deemed to be
terrorists takes over an entire country, is without precedent and poses a
complex test for the United States’ sanctions program. “This is a new world,”
said Adam M. Smith, a senior sanctions official in the Obama administration’s
Treasury Department.”

 

The Washington Post: Taliban Finalizes Plans For New Government Not Expected
To Include Any Former Leaders
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“The Taliban has finalized decisions on who will run Afghanistan, just days
after the last U.S. forces withdrew from the country, with the group’s most
prominent officials expected to helm a government unlikely to include any
officials from the previous regime. Taliban deputy spokesman Bilal Karimi said
the “decisions have been made,” and that an announcement was imminent. The
movement’s top political leader, Abdul Ghani Baradar, is widely expected to be
appointed as president. And the group’s shadowy commander of the faithful,
Haibatullah Akhundzada, is expected to be named the supreme leader of
Afghanistan. “We have been in consultations with the international community,
and we hope they will cooperate with us,” Karimi said. Without international
recognition, Afghanistan’s economy will probably continue to falter,
potentially plunging millions more people below the poverty line. The Taliban
captured lots of U.S. weapons. But who will they use them against?
Domestically, the group faces a number of challenges to its power, including
holdouts in the country’s north and public demonstrations against the return to
an extreme interpretation of Islamic law.”

 

Brinkwire: ‘Rejuvenation Period!’ Says The Narrator. An Ex-Al Qaeda Recruiter
Claims That Jihadist “Chatter” Has Increased “Ten-Fold.”
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“…Jesse Morton acknowledged that there has been an increase in internet
“chatter” among IS-K followers in Asia. In 2017, Morton co-founded the
anti-radicalization group Parallel Networks. He added there had been an upsurge
of 8% to 10% in jihadi “chatter” during a conference organized by the Counter
Extremism Project (CEP). “Where we find ourselves today is a vision that
ultimate victory is for the Muslims, and that will now touch not just the
thoughts and attitude of jihadists, but of Islamists,” Morton told Metro. “It
makes the very true notion that extremist Muslims can only accomplish change
through violent jihad all the more appealing. “And it will bleed into the
interpretation of prophesy and the resonance of Isis attempting to overthrow
the Taliban, because jihadists have declared that Khorosan is the same as
Afghanistan in Arabic. “The black banner of jihad will be realized in Khorosan,
and it will not be stopped until it reaches Jerusalem, according to the
prophecy. The terror strike at Kabul airport, which killed 13 US Marines and
170 civilians, was claimed by IS-k. He continued, “We have witnessed what was
in the psyche of jihadists basically a state of despair when Isis’s caliphate
was dissolved in a matter of months, really weeks, and…they weren’t in the
media, they weren’t in the Press…”

 

Middle East

 

The Wall Street Journal: Israel Launches Manhunt After Palestinian Militants
Escape From Prison
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“Israeli forces launched a search for a Palestinian militant leader and five
other inmates who staged an elaborate escape from a high security prison,
raising political pressure on Prime Minister Naftali Bennett as he attempts to
burnish his security credentials after leading a wide-ranging new coalition to
power in June. Mr. Bennett, a former commando, called the jailbreak a grave
incident as the manhunt got under way. Prison cameras showed the six
Palestinian inmates had removed flooring in their cell and broke out at around
1.30 a.m. local time, via a winding passage running through the building’s
foundation. When an emergency head count was called after several hours, the
six men were confirmed missing, a prison system spokesperson said. The escape,
just hours before Israel begins to celebrate the Jewish New Year, could be an
early test for the stability of Mr. Bennett’s government, assembled from eight
parties spanning both leftist and hard-line right-wing factions in addition to
an Arab party. The coalition has worked steadily to brush aside conflicting
view points over the Palestinian issue and the community’s claims to their own
state—particularly in the wake of an 11-day round of fighting in May.”

 

Egypt

 

Asharq Al-Awsat: Egypt Orders Execution Of 3 Condemned With Contacting ISIS In
Libya
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“An Egyptian court ordered the execution of three, and issued a life sentence
(25 years) against three others after they were condemned for joining and
making contact with ISIS. The court also issued a 15-year in prison sentence
against four others. Former Egyptian Prosecutor-General Nabil Ahmed Tawfiq
Sadek referred the condemned, including four Libyans, to the Emergency Supreme
State Security Court on charges of “dealing with the terrorist ISIS group and
the Special Deterrent Force and those who work for its interest in Libya.” The
investigations showed that the group committed terrorist crimes against
Egyptians residing in Libya. The crimes included the kidnapping and torturing
of Egyptians in exchange for ransom from their families to release them. They
also provided the group with funds and information, in addition to committing
other crimes such as human trafficking and illegal migrant smuggling. According
to the public prosecution’s investigation, the first defendant's confession,
the voice records, the testimonies of the victims and their families, he
visited Libya several times and had ties with Libyan ISIS members. He also
agreed with them on abducting Egyptian citizens to ask for ransom.”

 

Nigeria

 

All Africa: Nigeria: Dilemma In Borno As Military Releases 565 Boko Haram
Members <[link removed]>

 

“Borno government and its people are in a dilemma following the release of 565
Boko Haram members to the state by the military authorities that reportedly
profiled them. Some Maiduguri residents and people displaced by the terrorists
and now living for years in IDP camps in the state capital said they were
“rattled” by what they heard in Abuja on the release of the repentant Boko
Haram members to the government. They wondered how the repentant insurgents
could be released few weeks after they surrendered, considering that many of
them spent years in enclaves launching attacks. On its part, the state
government is yet to say anything on the latest development. However, some
sources close to the government said there was no formal communication on the
handing over. A senior government official said the repentant insurgents were
not released to the government. He said, “I have enquired about this and I was
told the insurgents were not released to the state government and in fact, none
of the repentant fighters has been released. They are all undergoing security
profiling preparatory to their disarmament and deradicalisation.”

 

Somalia

 

Reuters: Somalia's Puntland Sends Troops To Fight Al Shabaab In Neighbouring
State
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“Somalia's semi-autonomous region of Puntland said on Friday it had sent
forces to the neighbouring region of Galmudug to help the military there push
al Shabaab Islamist militants out of a strategic town they captured last month.
Al Shabaab fighters last month attacked a military base in the Galmudug town of
Amara and took control of it after battling with government special force
units, known as Danab and Darawish. Amara is a strategic town that lies on the
route to the coastal town of Harardheere, another al Shabaab stronghold. The
governor of Puntland's Mudug region, Abdilatif Muse Nuru San Yare, told Reuters
they had sent troops with experience in fighting al Shabaab to Galmudug. “We
have sent troops to Galmudug who know how to fight al Shabaab and it is an
alliance to eradicate al Shabaab,” Yare said. He did not say how many troops
had been sent. Al Shabaab has been fighting in Somalia for years in an attempt
to topple the central government and establish its own rule based on its strict
interpretation of sharia, or Islamic law. The group often carries out gun and
bomb attacks targeting both military and civilians targets.”

 

Africa

 

BBC News: Sahel Jihadists: West Africa Faces Up To Policing Its Terror Triangle
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“With Chad's withdrawal of troops and the imminent reduction in French troop
strength from the vast Sahel region of West Africa - where jihadist groups
continue to stage attack after attack, targeting civilians and soldiers without
discrimination - new anti-terror tactics are afoot. Defence ministers from the
G5 Sahel countries - Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger - are
planning more joint military operations and greater “hearts and minds”
engagement. This will target the farming and livestock herding communities of
the “three-border region”, where Burkina, Niger and Mali converge and militant
activity is at its most intense. In finalising the new approach at defence
talks this week in the Nigérien capital Niamey, the G5 nations are taking the
strategic lead. France is stepping back into a support role, after President
Emmanuel Macron recently announced that its counter-terrorism Operation
Barkhane was coming to an end with French troop numbers in the Sahel being cut
from 5,100 to 2,500-3,000 over the next few months. More immediately Niger,
Mali and Burkina have had to take account of Chad's abrupt decision in August
to reduce its force in the three borders region from 1,200 troops to just 600.”

 

France 24: At Least 30 Dead In DR Congo Massacre Blamed On Jihadists
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“Rebels shot or hacked to death at least 30 people in a new massacre in
northeastern DR Congo, local and UN sources said Monday. Members of civil
society blamed the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a group linked to the
so-called Islamic State, for the attack on Saturday in the province of Ituri.
Dieudonne Malangayi, acting chairman of the chiefdom of Walese Vonkutu,
initially said 14 people died but told AFP that more bodies had been discovered
in the bush and the toll could rise further. “The civilians who went to look
for the bodies of the victims found 16 others in the bush, which makes 30
civilians massacred,” he said. A UN source confirmed that at least 30 people
had died in the attack. One civilian who helped look for bodies said the
victims had mostly been attacked with machetes or shot. Augustin Muhindo
Musavuli, a village elder who took part in the search, said he had seen 17
dead, mostly hacked to death by machete, but also shot dead. Some had their
throats slit, others were disembowelled. “We went into the bush with young
people, accompanied by soldiers,” he told AFP by telephone from Bunia. “We
transported the bodies on motobikes... Lots of people died.” The ADF, which the
United States has deemed a terrorist group, is considered the deadliest of
scores of armed militias that roam the mineral-rich eastern DR Congo.”

 

United Kingdom

 

The Independent: British Isis Member Who Used Bitcoin To Free Jihadis From
Syrian Prisons Jailed For 12 Years
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“A man who used Bitcoin to free Isis militants from detention in Syria has
been jailed for 12 years. Hisham Chaudhary is believed to be the third person
convicted of being a member of Isis in the UK. Chaudhary, from Oadby in
Leicestershire, was also found guilty of two counts of entering terrorist
fundraising arrangements aiming to free jihadis captured in Syria. The court
heard that the number of people he was involved in freeing is not known, but in
an October 2019 he wrote: “We’ve been doing this for years but no one has been
caught by the virtue of Allah.” Following a trial at Birmingham Crown Court, he
was also convicted of four counts of disseminating terrorist material for
organising the publication of Isis propaganda. Judge Paul Farrer QC said
Chaudhary had been a member of Isis since at least 2016, and was “trusted and
respected” by fellow jihadis. “You were involved in organising funding for the
extraction of Isis supporters from detention camps in Syria and their
subsequent smuggling back to Isis-controlled areas,” he told the defendant
while sentencing him on Friday. “You were not simply an individual who raised
money, you had an organising role including contact with individuals
negotiating with smugglers on price and routes.”

 

Europe

 

The Independent: It Would Be Perilously Naive To Ignore The Renewed Potential
For Terrorist Attacks In Europe
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“While the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan is primarily a societal, security
and economic disaster for Afghanistan, it also creates a climate of extreme
danger for the West. The attack on Kabul at the end of August has starkly
underscored the growing terrorist threat in Afghanistan, which will undoubtedly
seep into neighbouring countries and beyond. UK intelligence and security
services must act now to protect British citizens from a renewal of the same
terrorist threat which led to 9/11 and the rise of Isis. It has been well known
for some time that key Taliban powerbrokers, such as the leaders of the Haqqani
network, remain intimately connected to international jihadist terror groups. A
militant Islamist movement dedicated to establishing an Islamic state in
Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Haqqani network has, in recent years,
significantly embedded itself with Al-Qaeda and is now widely regarded as a
leading insurgency force in South Asia. For the Haqqani network to be put in
charge of Kabul’s security amounts to giving a fox the run of the chicken coop.
It is delusional to think that, despite what the Taliban are saying, the
Haqqani network is willing to prevent Al-Qaeda from once again using
Afghanistan as a base from which to coordinate attacks against the West.”

 

Voice Of America: Sweden Arrests Two Women Linked to IS
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“Swedish police said Monday they had arrested two women linked to Islamic
State after they flew back from Syria, as media reported that one was being
investigated for war crimes.  Stockholm police spokesman Ola Osterling said the
prosecutor leading the investigation into the two women had ordered their
arrest.  “We executed that decision when the plane arrived in Stockholm in the
afternoon,” Osterling told AFP. A third woman had been taken in for
questioning, he added. A statement Monday from the Prosecution Authority said
multiple investigations were underway against men and women returning from
areas that had been controlled by Islamic State.  “The international crimes
that are relevant for people returning from IS-controlled areas are war crimes,
genocide and crimes against humanity,” public prosecutor Reena Devgun said in
the statement.  “Sweden has an international commitment to investigate and
prosecute these crimes,” she added.  The Prosecution Authority added that it
could not comment on individual cases or the number of investigations
underway.  But public broadcaster SVT reported that at least one of the women
arrested was being investigated for war crimes, genocide and crimes against
humanity.”

 

Technology

 

BBC News: The Taliban Embrace Social Media: 'We Too Want To Change Perceptions'
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“In early May, as US and Nato forces began their final withdrawal from
Afghanistan, the Taliban stepped up their military offensive against Afghan
national security forces. But they also did something less common in the
group's history of conflict in the country - they launched a comprehensive
social media campaign to go with it. A network of social media accounts
highlighted the alleged failures of the Kabul government while lauding the
Taliban's achievements. Tweets boasted about the group's recent victories -
sometimes prematurely - and pushed several hashtags, including
#kabulregimecrimes (attached to tweets accusing the Afghan government of war
crimes); #westandwithTaliban (an attempt to drive grassroots support) and
#ﻧَﺼْﺮٌ_ﻣٌِﻦَ_اللهِ_ﻭَﻓَﺘْﺢٌ_ﻗَﺮِﻳﺐٌ (help from God and victory is near). The
first of the hashtags at least trended in Afghanistan. In response,
Afghanistan's then-Vice President Amrullah Saleh warned his forces and the
public not to fall for false claims of Taliban victories on social media, and
called on people to avoid sharing details of military operations that could
compromise security.”



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