“A single Islamic State suicide bomber carried out the attack at Kabul’s
international airport in August that killed 13 U.S. troops and as many as 170

 

 


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Eye on Extremism


February 7, 2022

 

The New York Times: Lone ISIS Bomber Carried Out Attack At Kabul Airport,
Pentagon Says
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“A single Islamic State suicide bomber carried out the attack at Kabul’s
international airport in August that killed 13 U.S. troops and as many as 170
civilians, and was not joined by accomplices firing into the crowd, according
to a Pentagon report released on Friday. The findings by a team of Army-led
investigators contradict initial reports by senior U.S. commanders that
militants fired into the crowd of people at the airport seeking to flee the
Afghan capital and caused some of the casualties. The report also absolved
Marines of firing lethal shots into the crowd at the Abbey Gate entrance to the
airport as some officials had suspected because of the large amount of
ammunition the Marines fired after the attack, which took place on Aug. 26.
“The investigation found no definitive proof that anyone was ever hit or killed
by gunfire, either U.S. or Afghan,” Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., the head of
the Central Command, told reporters in a video conference from his headquarters
in Tampa, Fla. But the U.S. military’s assessment of what transpired highlights
only a portion of what happened that day: Investigators did not speak to any
Afghan witnesses and the chaos of the withdrawal left officials relying heavily
on drone footage to reach their conclusions.”

 

The Wall Street Journal: Denmark Court Finds Iranian Dissidents Guilty Of
Plotting Terrorism, Spying For Saudi Arabia
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“A Danish court found three members of an Iranian dissident group guilty of
colluding with Saudi Arabia to support terrorist activity in Iran and
espionage, the latest chapter in a spy war between Middle Eastern rivals on
European soil. The three Iranians, who arrived in Denmark as refugees, were
arrested in 2020 on charges of spying for Saudi Arabia from their base in
Ringsted, a Danish town south of the capital Copenhagen, where the leader of
the group ran a separatist television channel. They were accused of raising
about $2.3 million for the armed wing of their group and attempting to raise a
similar amount from a Saudi intelligence agency, and of condoning terrorist
activities. In 2018, they publicly praised an attack on a military parade in
Iran that killed 25 people. Tehran blamed the attack on Saudi Arabia and
accused Denmark of harboring terrorists. The district court in the town of
Roskilde will decide on sentencing in the coming weeks, according to lawyers
involved in the case. The Iranian and Saudi embassies in Copenhagen didn’t
immediately respond to requests for comment. Karoline Normann, a lawyer
representing one of the defendants—the group’s spokesman, Yacoub
al-Tostari—said she was vexed by the guilty verdict but noted that two jurors
favored an acquittal and regarded the actions they were accused of as a
legitimate freedom fight against the Islamic Republic.”

 

Syria

 

The New York Times: Five Takeaways From The U.S. Raid That Killed The Islamic
State’s Leader
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“The daring pre-dawn raid by U.S. Special Operations forces in Syria that
resulted in the death of the Islamic State’s leader offered a vivid reminder
that no matter how much the world might want to move on, the chaos in Syria
continues to reverberate. The sudden roar of American Apache attack helicopters
in a pastoral patch of northwestern Syria gave way on Thursday to a firefight
inside a three-story building surrounded by olive trees. The raid resulted in
the death of the target, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, the largely
unknown leader of the Islamic State, or ISIS, since 2019. U.S. officials said
he blew himself up and killed 12 others as the commandos closed in. Mr.
al-Qurayshi’s death came days after American forces backed a Kurdish-led
militia in a bloody, weeklong battle to oust ISIS fighters from a prison in
northeastern Syria, the largest U.S. combat assault on the Islamic State since
the end of the jihadists’ so-called caliphate three years ago. That and the
raid on Mr. al-Qurayshi has highlighted that the United States still cannot
extricate itself completely from military engagement in Syria, and that its
more than two-decade global fight against terrorist groups is far from over.
Years of military action by the United States and its international partners
aimed at stamping out terrorism have exacted major tolls, first against Al
Qaeda and then against the Islamic State, which rose from the turmoil of the
Iraq war and the collapse of the Syrian state.”

 

Associated Press: Stung By Prison Battle, Kurds Say They Need Help Against IS
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“Weeks after the long, furious battle with militants from the Islamic State
group over a prison in northeastern Syria, the mangled wreckage of a car used
by suicide bombers still sat outside its perimeter. Cranes put in place new
cement blast walls to close off the entrance. Gaping holes remained in the
prison’s outer wall, an ominous reminder of the IS inmates who escaped during
the fighting. The battle for Gweiran Prison is over; it took 10 days, but
U.S.-backed, Syrian Kurdish-led forces finally defeated the militants who
attacked the facility in the city of Hassakeh, aiming to break free their
comrades jailed inside, in the group’s largest and most stunning operation in
years. But the impact continues to reverberate. Residents in neighboring
districts are locked down as Kurdish fighters hunt for fugitive militants
hiding among them. “Ask everyone here, they will tell you the same: We are
terrified,” said Muna Farid, a mother of five who lives in the Gweiran
neighborhood, which gives the prison its name — echoing the worries of dozens
of residents over hidden IS fighters. The region’s Kurdish administrators say
the attack shows what they have long been saying: They are not getting enough
help to face the Islamic State group as it regains strength. The Kurdish-led
Syrian Democratic Forces say the Jan. 20 prison attack was not a surprise to
them.”

 

Al Jazeera: Profile: Who Was Abu Ibrahim Al-Qurayshi?
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“…In 2014, al-Qurayshi helped al-Baghdadi take control of the northern city of
Mosul, according to the Counter Extremism Project (CEP) think-tank. The
think-tank said al-Qurayshi “quickly established himself among the insurgency’s
senior ranks and was nicknamed the ‘Professor’ and the ‘Destroyer'“. He was
well-respected among ISIL members as a “brutal policymaker” and was responsible
for “eliminating those who opposed al-Baghdadi’s leadership”, it said. US
officials described al-Qurayshi after his death as the “driving force” behind
the 2014 genocide of minority Yazidis in northern Iraq, and said he oversaw a
network of ISIL branches from Africa to Afghanistan. Iraqi security officials
said al-Qurayshi fled across the border to Syria when ISIL was routed in 2017
and had since been hiding out in remote areas, moving around to avoid detection
and trying to resuscitate ISIL. Michael Pregent, a senior fellow at Hudson
Institute, told Al Jazeera that al-Qurayshi’s death was a “significant strike”
against ISIL, but would likely have a limited impact on its operations in the
longer term. “As fas as ISIL operations, they’re still alive, they’re still
capable of conducting cross-border operations into Iraq and also have a
presence in Syria,” he said.”

 

Iran

 

Associated Press: Alleged Leader Of US-Based Iran Militant Group Goes On Trial
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“The alleged leader of the militant wing of a U.S.-based Iranian opposition
group went on trial Sunday, state TV reported. He’s accused of planning a 2008
bombing at a mosque that killed 14 people and wounded over 200. In 2020, Iran’s
intelligence service detained Jamshid Sharmahd, an Iranian-German national and
U.S. resident. Iran said he is the leader of Tondar, the militant wing of the
opposition group Kingdom Assembly of Iran. Sharmahd’s family says he is only
the spokesperson for the Kingdom Assembly of Iran, known in Farsi as Anjoman-e
Padeshahi-e Iran, and has accused Iran of kidnapping him in Dubai. His hometown
is Glendora, California. Sharmahd confessed to having a relationship with both
the FBI and the CIA, state TV alleged. A state TV reporter claimed he was in
contact with nine FBI and CIA agents and his last meeting was in January 2020,
without elaborating. Iranian state television long has been believed to be
overseen by intelligence agencies in the country and its channels routinely
broadcast coerced confessions. Sharmahd’s family has accused Iran of keeping
their father in “555 days of solitary confinement without charges” prior to the
hearing. At the time of his detention, Iran alleged Sharmahd was behind the
2008 bombing that targeted the Hosseynieh Seyed al-Shohada Mosque in the city
of Shiraz and that he was planning other attacks around Iran.”

 

Arab News: Terrorist Roads All Lead To Tehran
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“…Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler, senior director of the Counter Extremism Project
and former coordinator of the UN Security Council’s Daesh, Al-Qaeda and Taliban
Monitoring Team, predicted that retaliation was likely once the group has named
Al-Quraishi’s successor. “Most likely it is going to be an Iraqi, simply
because there is a big structure in Iraq and Daesh is originally from that
country, and they chose Al-Quraishi because of his tribal affiliation,”
Schindler told the Jerusalem Post. As soon as 2022 began, Daesh strongly
returned to the fore by carrying out operations in unstable countries such as
Iraq, Syria and Libya. Last year, the group managed to significantly increase
its funding, which led to the reorganization of its ranks in these countries,
especially Iraq. It is not surprising that Daesh’s terrorist operations have
been escalating amid the Iraqi political dispute. The results of last October’s
elections pulled the rug from under the feet of the pro-Iranian militias, who
had insisted on taking all the credit for the liberation of Mosul and the
defeat of Daesh in 2017. The leaders of the Iranian proxy militias and their
supporters act as if they control Iraq and its citizens under the pretext of
protecting their honor and liberating their lands.”

 

Iraq

 

Al Jazeera: Iraqi Militia Attack On UAE A ‘Message From Iran’
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“The drone attack by a little-known armed group in Iraq on the United Arab
Emirates (UAE) this week has raised questions about Baghdad’s involvement in
regional tensions between Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen and the Saudi-led
coalition. Alwiyat al-Waad al-Haq (AWH), or the True Promise Brigades, claimed
responsibility for the strike on the UAE on Wednesday, saying in a statement it
launched “four drones targeting vital facilities in Abu Dhabi” in retaliation
for the Emirates’ policies in Iraq and Yemen. Several analysts linked the
strikes to a shadowy militia Kataib Hezbollah (KH), a powerful Iran-backed Shia
armed group in Iraq that has been listed by the United States as a “terrorist
organisation”. The incident brought to light that the UAE was now being
targeted from its north and south, after three recent attacks launched by
Houthi rebels in Yemen. Following the drone strikes, Iraqi Shia leader Muqtada
al-Sadr condemned the attack in a statement, saying some “terrorist outlaws”
have dragged Iraq into a “dangerous regional war” by targeting a Gulf state.
Although al-Sadr called for an end to the war in Yemen and the normalisation of
ties with Israel, he denounced violence as a means to these ends.”

 

Turkey

 

Daily Sabah: 'Turkey Determined To Root Out Terrorists Threatening Regional
Peace'
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“No matter what anyone says, Turkey is determined to root out terrorist
organizations that threaten the security, peace and stability of the country
and the region, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Friday. Speaking to
reporters on his way back from Ukraine where he met with Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Erdoğan said that the recently launched operation Winter
Eagle is a reflection of Turkey's resolve to eliminate terrorist hideouts in
northern Iraq and Syria. “I congratulate our heroes who took part in these
operations. The terrorists are feeling surrounded by these operations. Their
wireless communications show this desperation as members suggest to each other
to 'take care of themselves.' But none of them will find a place to escape. We
are determined to root out terrorism at its source.” He also commented on Iraqi
officials' perspective of Turkey's counterterrorism operations targeting the
country's north. Referring to Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime
Minister Masrour Barzani and KRG President Nechirvan Barzani, Erdoğan said: “In
terms of northern Iraq, the stance of the Barzanis is very different. And they
are carrying out this policy in collaboration and solidarity with Turkey. They
also have a different stance against the PKK as their actions are proving that.”

 

Afghanistan

 

Voice Of America: Explaining US Sanctions Against Taliban
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“The Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan last August and the humanitarian
crisis that followed have confronted the Biden administration with a dilemma:
How to keep the flow of international assistance into a country facing mass
hunger while ensuring the aid money does not enrich Taliban and Haqqani Network
leaders? The answer has wide implications, not just for easing the suffering of
more than 35 million Afghans but also for international efforts to get the
militant group to moderate policies seen by many as harsh, even brutal. “It is
an almost impossible needle to thread,” said Jordan Strauss, a managing
director at risk consulting firm Kroll, who worked as a Justice Department
official in Afghanistan from 2014 to 2015. When the Taliban seized Kabul,
wide-ranging sanctions dating back to their first rule followed them. To deny
them access to funds, the Biden administration then froze more than $7 billion
in Afghan government reserves held in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The
asset freeze exacerbated a simmering economic crisis. “The absence of a
functioning banking sector and risk of economic collapse continue to pose
obstacles to mounting the scale of response needed to prevent a humanitarian
crisis,” Bernice G. Romero, executive director of the Norwegian Refugee Council
(NRC), told VOA.”

 

Pakistan

 

Associated Press: Pakistan: Areas Cleared After Militant Attacks Kill 9 Troops
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“Pakistan's military said security forces cleared two areas in a southwestern
province of separatist militants after they attacked two army camps, leaving
nine soldiers dead and six others wounded. Twenty militants were killed in
intense, hours-long firefights and follow-up operations, it said. The military
statement issued late Saturday said militants attacked security forces camps in
Baluchistan province in the districts of Naushki and Panjgur late Wednesday and
both attacks were eventually repulsed. A recently formed separatist group, the
Baluchistan Nationalist Army, claimed responsibility for the attacks in a
Twitter post. The military said nine attackers were killed in Naushki, while
four troops, including an officer, were killed. It said in Panjgur, security
forces repulsed the attack after an intense exchange of fire and the attackers
fled the area. Security forces began an operation to hunt down the fleeing
attackers and a curfew in the areas was imposed. Four fleeing militants were
killed in Panjgur, while four who were hiding elsewhere were killed in a
Saturday operation when they refused to surrender, the military said. It said
three other militants linked to the attacks were killed in the district of Kech
on Friday. Five soldiers were killed and six others wounded in follow-up
operations.”

 

Middle East

 

Reuters: Factbox: Pushed Into The Shadows, Islamic State Still Has Global Reach

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“Since the peak of its power seven years ago, when it ruled millions of people
in the Middle East and struck fear across the world with deadly bombings and
shootings, Islamic State has slipped back into the shadows. Its self-declared
caliphate in Iraq and Syria folded under a sustained military campaign by a
U.S.-led coalition, and it has suffered other setbacks in the Middle East. This
week it lost its second leader in two years when Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi
al-Quraishi detonated explosives during a U.S. military raid in northwest
Syria, killing himself and family members. But Islamic State expanded in
Africa's Sahel region last year and the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from
Afghanistan may open up opportunities to strengthen its presence there. In the
core area of its insurgency, Iraq and Syria, it claimed hundreds of attacks
last year. In January it launched an attempted jail-break in northeast Syria in
which more than 100 prison guards and security forces were killed. Here is a
summary of the group's presence around the world. Iraq, where the group
originated, and neighbouring Syria remain the epicentre of Islamic State
operations.”

 

Nigeria

 

Africanews: 96 Terrorism Financiers Uncovered In Nigeria
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“Nigeria has announced the existence of 96 secret financiers of terrorism
across the country who are backing Boko Haram and the Islamic State of West
Africa Province (ISWAP). At a press conference in Abuja on Thursday,
information and culture minister, Lai Mohammed said the discovery by the
Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit also involved 123 companies and 33 bureau
de change operators linked with terrorism in the country, in addition to 26
suspected kidnappers and 7 co-conspirators. The minister added, 45 people
suspected of funding terrorism had been arrested and would soon be prosecuted.
Nigeria's financial crimes agency had recovered at least $750m (£550m) in local
and foreign currency linked to corruption, the minister said. Responding to the
minister's revelation, a former commissioner of police, Emmanuel Ojukwu,
claimed in an interview with a local TV station that Nigerian government
officials have compromised the prosecution of terrorists in the country. The
former police spokesperson at the Force headquarters, Abuja, lamented that
terrorists had brought enormous hardships on Nigerians. He tagged the unnamed
public officials benefitting from the security crises plaguing Nigeria as
“disaster merchants who have compromised” the prosecution of suspected Boko
Haram sponsors.”

 

Daily Post Nigeria: Yobe: 170 Students, Teachers Killed, 88 Others Injured By
Boko Haram Terrorists – Committee Chair
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“Deputy Governor Idi Barde Gubana, who is Chairman, Yobe State Education
Appeal Fund Raising Committee, said 167 students and three teachers have been
killed by Boko Haram insurgents in over a decade-long uprising in the state. He
gave the figures at a media briefing to announce the next stage of fundraising
activity scheduled to take place in Abuja next week. Gubana also said that
during the peak of the insurgency, apart from destroying schools’
infrastructures, 86 students and two teachers were seriously injured in several
attacks by the insurgents in their futile attempts to eliminate education in
the state. He lamented that since the creation of Yobe State in 1991,
successive administrations had made several efforts to develop the education
sector with not very encouraging results and this was further compounded by the
activities of Boko Haram terrorists who took arms against the state. According
to him, this prompted the present administration in the state to adopt a
multi-faceted approach to address obstacles facing the education sector that
were huge threats to stability and socio-economic development, hence the reason
behind the declaration of a state of emergency on the education sector by
Governor Mai Mala Buni in 2019.”

 

Africa

 

Reuters: Islamic State Claims Responsibility For Eastern Congo Jail Break
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“Islamic State has claimed responsibility for freeing about 20 prisoners
during an attack in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo's North Kivu province
this week, according to a statement published on Friday by the SITE
Intelligence Group. Witnesses and an army spokesman blamed the attack, which
killed at least three people, on the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) - a Ugandan
armed group which has pledged allegiance to Islamic State. The U.S.-based SITE
Intelligence Group, which follows militant websites, republished an IS
communique on Friday that claimed fighters had stormed and looted the town of
Nobili before breaking into the jail and recruiting prisoners into its ranks.
“The soldiers of the Caliphate attacked a post of the Crusader Congolese army
in the town of Nobili, near the Ugandan border, two days ago, causing its
personnel to flee,” the statement said, adding that “they were able to free
nearly 20 Muslims detained in the prison there.” ISIS has branded the ADF,
alongside fighters in Mozambique, as its “Central Africa Province” (ISCAP),
although the two groups are operationally distinct. The United States
attributed the deaths of 849 civilians to the group, which it calls ISIS-DRC,
in 2020. More than 1,200 people were killed in similar attacks in 2021,
according to United Nations figures.”

 

United Kingdom

 

Daily Mail: EXCLUSIVE: Inside Britain's First Dedicated Terrorist Prison Wing
With Sound-Proofed Cells To Stop Islamic Extremists Trying To Radicalise
Inmates On Other Wings.
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“Nothing about the terrorist’s 8ft by 5ft cell seems exceptional, at least at
first glance. Single bed, thin blue mattress, toilet, sink, wooden table. But
the windows are a different matter. Impossible to penetrate, they feature
sound-blocking glass ‘bafflers’ to prevent the cell’s highly dangerous occupant
from communicating with – and trying to radicalise – inmates on other wings.
Here at Britain’s first dedicated prison ‘terrorist wing’ – where those caught
trying to radicalise fellow inmates are cocooned – the security measures are as
much designed to stop extreme ideologies from getting out as they are to keep
the extremists locked in. Last week, The Mail on Sunday, accompanied by Justice
Secretary Dominic Raab, became the first newspaper to report from the
‘separation centre’ – or jail within a jail – at HMP Frankland near Durham. It
is reportedly home to, among others, Hashem Abedi, who helped organise the 2017
Manchester Arena attack, and at least one Islamic State fighter. One prison
official said the unit is the ‘least worst option’ for handling the prisoners.
It is, he added, about ‘protecting the many from the few’. For years, the unit
at Frankland, established in 2017, was the only one of its kind in operation.”

 

Daily Mail: Imam Who Supported An Al-Qaeda Terrorist Is Given The Green Light
To Open A Nursery By Ofsted
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“…David Ibsen, executive director at the Counter Extremism Project, said:
'Al-Hikam should not be permitted to educate young British citizens in its
nursery when there is a track record of espousing objectionable and oppressive
beliefs.' An Ofsted spokeswoman said: 'We have been alerted to these concerns
and are looking into them. 'While we are unable to share information about
individual providers, we take safeguarding concerns very seriously and consider
all the information we receive.' Mr Hussain said: 'The observations and
comments which have been made previously have been made with the intention of
alerting the Islamic Community to the injustices which are taking place around
them.' The funeral of Akram took place in Blackburn on Friday after his body
was flown back from the US. Around 50 friends and relatives paid their last
respects before his family released a statement apologising for his actions and
speaking out against hatred.”

 

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