“Afghanistan’s capital could be plunged into darkness as the winter sets in
because the country’s new Taliban rulers haven’t paid Central Asian electr

 

 


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Eye on Extremism


October 4, 2021 

 

The Wall Street Journal: Kabul Faces Blackout As Taliban Don’t Pay Electricity
Suppliers
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“Afghanistan’s capital could be plunged into darkness as the winter sets in
because the country’s new Taliban rulers haven’t paid Central Asian electricity
suppliers or resumed collecting money from consumers. Unless addressed, the
situation could cause a humanitarian disaster, warned Daud Noorzai, who
resigned as chief executive of the country’s state power monopoly, Da
Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat, nearly two weeks after the Taliban’s takeover on
Aug. 15. “The consequences would be countrywide, but especially in Kabul. There
will be blackout and it would bring Afghanistan back to the Dark Ages when it
comes to power and to telecommunications,” said Mr. Noorzai, who remains in
close contact with DABS’s remaining management. “This would be a really
dangerous situation.” Electricity imports from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and
Turkmenistan account for half of Afghanistan’s power consumption nationwide,
with Iran providing additional supplies to the country’s west. Domestic
production, mostly at hydropower stations, has been affected by this year’s
drought. Afghanistan lacks a national power grid, and Kabul depends almost
completely on imported power from Central Asia. Currently, power is abundant in
the Afghan capital, a rare—if transient—improvement since the Taliban takeover.”

 

Associated Press: Officials: Clashes Among Separatists In South Yemen Kill 10
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“Clashes between Yemeni separatists backed by the United Arab Emirates and a
rival splinter group in the southern port city of Aden killed at least 10
people including four civilians Saturday, security officials said. The fighting
has taken place in Aden’s residential neighborhood of Crater, where the
presidential palace and other government buildings are located, they said. It
pits forces of the secessionist Southern Transitional Council against an armed
religious group that was once part of the council, according to the officials.
The armed group is led by Brig. Imam al-Noubi, a Salafi officer who commanded a
faction of the separatist militia known as the Security Belt. He fell out with
the council leader two years ago, according to one official. The officials said
a dozen fighters were also wounded in the clashes, which had subsided by
Saturday evening after the Security Belt deployed reinforcements, including
armored vehicles, to the neighborhood. The Security Belt called for Crater’s
residents to remain at their homes, as “Aden’s security forces and
counter-terrorism forces clear the area from some groups and terrorist
hotbeds.” Residents reported hearing heavy gunfire and shelling that hit
apartment buildings.”

 

United States

 

The Washington Post: For Years, The Voice Behind ISIS Propaganda Was A
Mystery. Now A Canadian Faces Criminal Charges.
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“A Canadian who U.S. prosecutors allege is behind influential English-language
propaganda videos for the Islamic State has been brought to Virginia to be
prosecuted. Mohammed Khalifa, 38, was captured by Kurdish forces in Syria in
2019. At that point, according to prosecutors, he had been with the Islamic
State for six years. He started as a fighter, according to court documents,
before becoming involved in the translation and dissemination of
English-language propaganda. He ultimately led ISIS’s English-language media
arm, prosecutors allege, whose output included videos, audio statements and an
online magazine. Prosecutors say Khalifa narrated over a dozen ISIS recruitment
videos, including two of the group’s most influential efforts at luring
Westerners: “Flames of War: Fighting Has Just Begun,” in 2014, and “Flames of
War II: Until the Final Hour,” in 2017. In the videos, according to court
records, Khalifa encouraged supporters to try to join the Islamic State abroad
or, if they could not, to launch attacks in their home countries. One video
included a voice recording of the man who declared his allegiance to ISIS
before committing a massacre at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando in 2016.”

 

Los Angeles Blade: Amazon Is Selling Books That Promote Violence From A
Neo-Nazi Publisher
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“…The publisher of the books, the American Futurist, describes itself as
seeking “to spread the message and ideas of James Mason” through “the promotion
of books, articles and all other forms of media.” Mason, a neo-Nazi writer
whose work is cited in The Movementarian Menace, is also a major influence
behind Atomwaffen Division, a violent white nationalist terrorist group. As
noted by the Counter Extremism Project, the American Futurist is associated
with Atomwaffen Division (also known as the National Socialist Order) and
multiple ex-members of the group have contributed content to American Futurist.
One such contributor is the author of The Movementarian Menace, Vincent Snyder,
whose real name, the American Futurist notes, is John Cameron Denton. Denton,
himself the former leader of Atomwaffen Division, was sentenced to 41 months in
prison in May for taking part in a conspiracy that involved hate crimes
targeting a historic African American church, an Islamic Center, and various
other minority groups across the United States. American Futurist states that
all proceeds from the sale of Denton’s book on Amazon will go to his “prison
commissary fund.” As Amazon has already purchased the books as part of its
inventory, the company has already contributed directly to Denton.”

 

Syria

 

Kurdistan 24: SDF Prevents Massive Bombing In Former ISIS Capital
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“The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced on Sunday that they prevented a
massive bombing in Raqqa by ISIS cells last Friday. During the operation, two
ISIS suspects were killed. The SDF press centre said in a statement that SDF
special units conducted a qualitative security operation against a “dangerous
Daesh (ISIS) cell north of Raqqa city.” “Based on the intelligence gathered by
our competent agencies, we confirmed that the cell was preparing to conduct a
massive bombing in Raqqa city using a car bomb,” the SDF said. The SDF added
that during the operation clashes erupted with the terrorist suspects resulting
“in (the) killing two of them, destroying the car bomb, and arresting three
others. One of the killed terrorists was responsible for the IEDs and
bombings.” “The security operation saved Raqqa from a big attack, and it is
considered a heavy blow to Daesh’s (ISIS) attempts to realign its terrorist
cells in the region.” Raqqa was liberated from ISIS in October 2017 by the SDF
with support from the US-led coalition. Despite the SDF and the US-led
coalition announcing the defeat of the extremist group’s so-called caliphate on
March 23, 2019, Islamic State sleeper cell attacks continue in areas that were
liberated from the militants.”

 

Afghanistan

 

Associated Press: Bomb At Kabul Mosque Kills 5 Civilians, Taliban Say
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“At least five civilians were killed in a bomb blast outside a Kabul mosque
Sunday, a Taliban official said. It was the deadliest attack in the Afghan
capital since U.S. forces left at the end of August. There was no immediate
claim of responsibility, but suspicion fell on Islamic State extremists who
have stepped up attacks on the Taliban in recent weeks, particularly in an IS
stronghold in eastern Afghanistan. An apparent roadside bomb went off at the
gate of the sprawling Eid Gah Mosque in Kabul at a time when a memorial service
was being held for the mother of chief Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.
Five people were killed, said Qari Saeed Khosti, the spokesman of the Interior
Ministry. The explosion underscored the growing challenges the Taliban face
just weeks after they took control of Afghanistan in a blitz campaign,
culminating in their takeover of Kabul on Aug. 15.”

 

Associated Press: Gunmen Kill 2 Taliban, 2 Civilians In Eastern Afghan City
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“Gunmen shot and killed two Taliban fighters and two civilians on Saturday in
the eastern city of Jalalabad, a Taliban official said. Two other civilians
were wounded in the attack, said Mohammad Hanif, a cultural official for the
city’s surrounding province, Nangarhar. No one claimed responsibility for the
shooting, but the Islamic State group, which has a strong presence in Nangarhar
and considers the Taliban an enemy, has previously claimed several attacks
against them, including several killings in Jalalabad. The two civilians killed
were Sayed Maroof Sadat, a former spokesman for the Nangarhar department of
agriculture, and his cousin, Sharif Sadat told the AP. Sadat’s son was among
the two wounded, he added. Since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in
mid-August, attacks by IS militants against them have increased. The rise has
raised the specter of a wider conflict between the two extremist groups. On
Friday, Taliban fighters raided a hideout of the Islamic State group north of
Kabul, killing and arresting an unspecified number of militants, a Taliban
spokesman said. IS activity in Nangarhar province has also led to Taliban
crackdowns there.”

 

Associated Press: Taliban Say They Have Raided IS Hideout North Of Kabul
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“Taliban fighters raided a hideout of the Islamic State group north of the
Afghan capital on Friday, killing and arresting an unspecified number of
militants, a Taliban spokesman said. Since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan
in mid-August, there has been an increase in attacks by IS militants targeting
Taliban members. The Taliban and IS are enemies, and the attacks have raised
the specter of a wider conflict between the long-time rivals. In late August,
an IS suicide bomber targeted U.S. evacuation efforts outside Kabul
international airport in one of the deadliest attacks in the country in years.
The blast killed 169 Afghans and 13 U.S. service members. Taliban spokesman
Bilal Karimi told The Associated Press that Friday’s raid took place in the
city of Charikar in Parwan province. He did not provide more details and his
statement could not be independently verified.”

 

Pakistan

 

The New York Times: Pakistan In Talks With Taliban Militants, Even As Attacks
Ramp Up
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“Pakistan is holding talks with factions of the Pakistani Taliban, a banned
militant group responsible for some of the country’s worst terrorist attacks,
and would forgive members who lay down their weapons, Prime Minister Imran Khan
said on Friday. Although details of the talks were unclear, negotiations with
the group known as Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, or T.T.P., would be the most
significant development since similar efforts failed in 2014 and Pakistan
turned to a massive military operation to diminish the group. “There are
different groups which form the Pakistani Taliban, or T.T.P.,” Mr. Khan said in
an interview with the Turkish state television station TRT World. “We are in
talks with some of them on a reconciliation process. We might not reach some
sort of conclusion or settlement in the end, but we are talking.” In a
statement soon after Mr. Khan’s interview, the T.T.P. called on its fighters to
continue their attacks. It denied divisions in its ranks and made no
acknowledgment of the ongoing talks. It also claimed responsibility for a
deadly assault on a Pakistani military convoy on Friday, the latest in a spate
of such attacks.”

 

The Hill: ISIS Takes Credit For Killing Sikh In Pakistan
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“The Islamic State said in a statement on Friday that it was behind the fatal
shooting of a Sikh in Pakistan on Thursday, the Associated Press reported.
Several men, whom ISIS identified as its gunmen, fatally shot Satnam Singh, 45,
who sold herbal medicine at a clinic in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's provincial capital
near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, according to the news outlet. The ISIS
statement called Singh a “polytheist,” or a person who believes in more than
one deity. Sikhism is a monotheistic religion. A local community leader, Sardar
Harpal Singh, who is not related to the victim, called for the individuals who
shot Singh and fled the scene to be arrested. In the last few years, the
Islamic State has claimed responsibility for attacking religious minority
groups, religious sites and political protests though officials in the country
have claimed that the members of the militant group are officially situated in
Pakistan. In late August, 11 ISIS members were killed by Pakistan’s
counterterrorism units after ISIS members had recently murdered two police
officers. The group, which has operated in both Pakistan and Afghanistan, has
conducted attacks in the provincial capital of Balochistan in past years.”

 

Nigeria


AFP: Nigeria: Islamic State Attacks Surrendered Rivals, Boko Haram
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“Lake Chad region, where multiple national borders meet, is struggling with
inter-factional jihadist fighting Islamic State-allied jihadists have attacked
a camp housing surrendered rivals from Boko Haram in the country's northeast,
the military said on Sunday. Saturday's attack on Damboa in Borno State came
after several thousand Boko Haram militants and their families surrendered in
recent months following the death of their leader in May. Islamic State West
Africa Province (ISWAP) has emerged as the dominant force in Nigeria's 12-year
conflict, but factions of Boko Haram are still fighting against their control.
The army said troops drove back ISWAP fighters who tried to attack the camp
where surrendered Boko Haram jihadists were being held, but the statement did
not give any casualty figures. “This antic of terror within terror is being
employed by ISWAP to discourage intending surrendering terrorists in their
ranks,” it said. ISWAP has been consolidating in areas it controls in northeast
Nigeria since May when Boko Haram chief Abubakar Shekau killed himself to avoid
capture by jihadist rivals. But infighting between ISWAP and a pro-Shekau
faction in the Lake Chad region left scores of fighters dead last week,
according to security and civilian sources in the area.”

 

Reuters: Boko Haram Moves Into North-Central Nigeria In Apparent Expansion –
Officials
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“Boko Haram insurgents have taken over multiple communities in Nigeria's
north-central Niger state, offering villagers money and incorporating them in
their ranks to fight the government, a local government official and the
state's information commission told Reuters. The Islamist group is typically
concentrated in the northeast of Africa's most populous nation, and its
presence in Niger, a state that borders the federal capital territory, could
indicate a concerning spread at a time the military says its counter-insurgency
efforts are working. Suleiman Chukuba, chairman of Shiroro local government
area in Niger state, which borders Abuja, said Boko Haram fighters were now
present in at least eight wards out of a total 25.”

 

Somalia

 

Reuters: Somali Militia, Former Government Ally, Captures Two Towns From
Federal Forces
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“A militia previously allied to the Somali government in its fight against
militant group al Shabaab has captured two towns in central Somalia from
federal forces, saying it was taking control where the government had failed to
end the insurgency. On Thursday, Somali federal forces attacked the Ahlu Sunnah
Wal Jama'a (ASWJ) militia in Galmudug state, culminating in fighting that saw
its troops ousted from the towns of Mataban and Guriceel, spokespeople for both
ASWJ and the Somali National Army (SNA) told Reuters. The army accused the ASWJ
of planning to attack its troops, which the group denied. “Yesterday, we
attacked ASWJ ... because we knew they were planning to attack us,” Captain Nur
Abdullahi, an officer for the SNA told Reuters from the Galmudug capital.
Sheikh Ismail Farah, a spokesman for ASWJ, said the group had had no such plans
and did not want to fight the government. “We are ready to eliminate al
Shabaab. Al Shabaab is our common enemy,” he said. The group has not denied the
army's accusation that ASWJ fighters had been fighting al Shabaab unilaterally.
The ASWJ says the government has failed to put an end to al Shabaab's
insurgency and that the situation in Galmudug state in particular is
precarious.”

 

Mali

 

Associated Press: UN Says 1 Peacekeeper Killed, 4 Injured In Mali Bomb Attack
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“A U.N. convoy in Mali’s northern Kidal region was attacked by improvised
explosive devices, killing one peacekeeper from Egypt and seriously injuring
four others, the United Nations said Saturday. The attack on the convoy from
the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali took place near Tessalit, U.N. spokesman
Stephane Dujarric said. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on
Malian authorities “to spare no effort in identifying the perpetrators of these
attacks so that they can be brought to justice swiftly,” reiterating that
attacks against peacekeepers may constitute war crimes under international law,
Dujarric said. Guterres reaffirmed the U.N.’s support for the government and
people of Mali and expressed deep condolences to the family of the Egyptian
soldier who was killed and to the government and people of Egypt, and wishes
for a speedy recovery to the injured. Mali has been trying to contain an
Islamic extremist insurgency since 2012. Extremist rebels were forced from
power in Mali’s northern cities with the help of a 2013 French-led military
operation. However, the insurgents quickly regrouped in the desert and began
launching frequent attacks on the Malian army and its allies fighting the
insurgency.”

 

Africa

 

Financial Times: Rwanda Flexes Muscles In Fight Against Terror In Mozambique
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“The moment Yussuf Abdallah met the Rwandan soldiers he knew the game was up.
The 18-year-old Islamist insurgent in northern Mozambique was part of a group
known to local people as Shabaab. It has loose ties with Isis and has over the
past four years terrorised the northern province of Cabo Delgado, displacing
more than 800,000 and killing more than 3,000. But then troops from a country
barely a fraction of Mozambique’s size showed up and cleaned up most of the
area in a matter of weeks. “We were overwhelmed by their number, they were also
extremely fierce,” said Abdallah, now a prisoner of the Mozambican state in the
coastal city of Mocímboa de Praia, until August an insurgents’ stronghold. “We
couldn’t contain the confrontation, they have better weaponry, we couldn’t do
anything.” Rwanda’s 1,000-strong brigade of soldiers and police achieved in
weeks what Mozambican and other forces had been unable to do in years. The turn
of events in Cabo Delgado illustrates Kigali’s willingness under president Paul
Kagame to reach beyond its borders and act as police officer in regional
disputes. The Rwandan efforts have not only restored calm and security —
allowing families who had fled the terror to return home — but will also help
revive the development of multibillion dollar offshore gas riches, which has
the potential to transform Mozambique’s $14bn economy.”

 

AFP: Rwanda Arrests 13 Suspected Of Plotting 'Terrorist' Attacks
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“Rwandan police said on Friday they had arrested 13 people suspected of
plotting "terrorist" attacks in the capital Kigali and paraded them before the
media. The suspects were arrested with bomb-making materials including
explosives, wires, nails and phones, Rwandan National Police said in a
statement. "Investigations have revealed that the terror cell worked with
Allied Democratic Forces (ADF)," it said, referring to a suspected jihadist
group active in the east of the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo
(DRC). The feared ADF, historically a Ugandan rebel group, has been accused of
killing thousands of civilians in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Some of its attacks have been claimed by the Islamic State Group, which has
designated the ADF as Islamic State Central Africa Province (ISCAP).”

 

France

 

BBC News: Paris Attacks: Haunting Survivors' Memories Shake Terror Trial
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“Survivors of the terror attacks that killed 130 people in Paris in November
2015 have begun describing their ordeal in a Paris courtroom this week. The
suspects on trial include Salah Abdeslam, the only surviving member of the IS
cell that targeted the city on a busy Friday night. For the next five weeks
around 350 survivors and relatives of the dead are scheduled to give their
accounts. Some have already proved to be unbearably poignant.

Warning: You may find some of the details in this piece upsetting. On
Wednesday, Maya told how she lost her husband Amine and two friends in the
shootings at Le Carillon bar, where 11 people died. Like many she asked for her
surname not to be released. On the evening of 13 November 2015, she was at Le
Carillon with Amine, his old friend Mehdi, and twin sisters Emilie and
Charlotte Meaud. [Amine] was my first love. We spoke of the children we would
have together. He was beautiful, sunny. He was a great cook. He was funny. He
was the man of my life. I remember exactly what we were talking about. I was 27
at the time and others were 29, so we were talking about their 30th birthdays.
It's all a big confusion, out of which words and sounds and images come up to
the surface.”



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