“Al-Qaida’s past ties to the recently empowered Taliban have the potential of
making Afghanistan a safe haven for extremists, and “terrorist groups en

 

 


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Eye on Extremism


February 8, 2022

 

Associated Press: UN Experts: ‘Terrorist Groups’ Enjoy Freedom In Afghanistan
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“Al-Qaida’s past ties to the recently empowered Taliban have the potential of
making Afghanistan a safe haven for extremists, and “terrorist groups enjoy
greater freedom there than at any time in recent history,” U.N. experts said in
a report circulated Monday. In the wide-ranging report, the experts also said
extremists linked to both al-Qaida and the Islamic State group are successfully
advancing in Africa, especially in the turbulent Sahel. And they said the
Islamic State continues to operate “as an entrenched rural insurgency” in Iraq
and Syria, where its so-called caliphate ruled a significant swathe of the two
countries from 2014-2017 when it was defeated by Iraqi forces and a U.S.-led
coalition. In what it called “a bright spot” in Southeast Asia, the panel of
experts said both Indonesia and the Philippines reported “significant gains” in
disrupting Islamic State and al-Qaida-affiliated “terrorism” and “some
optimism” that their operational capability “may be significantly degraded.”
The report to the U.N. Security Council by the panel of experts monitoring
sanctions against al-Qaida and the Islamic State, also known as IS and ISIL,
called the Taliban’s return to power on Aug. 15 amid the chaotic final
withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops after 20 years the most significant event of
the last six months of 2021.”

 

Reuters: U.S. Warns Of Extremism After Texas Synagogue Attack, Bomb Threats In
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“The United States faces heightened threats from extremist groups domestic and
foreign, underscored by last month’s hostage standoff crisis in a Texas
synagogue and bomb threats at many historically Black colleges and
universities, a U.S. government agency said on Monday. The warning comes after
some schools across the United States cancelled classes and issued
shelter-in-place orders last week. Investigators ultimately failed to turn up
any explosives. “Threats directed at Historically Black Colleges and
Universities (HBCUs) and other colleges and universities, Jewish facilities,
and churches cause concern and may inspire extremist threat actors to mobilize
to violence,” the Homeland Security Department said in a bulletin. Last month,
British-born gunman Malik Faisal Akram took four people hostage at Congregation
Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, including its rabbi, Charlie Cytron-Walker.
He brandished a gun and held them hostage for 10 hours here. The standoff ended
in gunfire, with all four hostages released unharmed and the suspect dead.
“Supporters of foreign terrorist organizations have encouraged copycat attacks
following the January 15, 2022 attack on a synagogue in Colleyville, Texas,”
the federal agency added.”

 

United States

 

Associated Press: US Warns Midterms Could Spark Calls For Extremist Violence
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“The upcoming midterm elections are emerging as a rallying point for domestic
extremists and foreign adversaries seeking to disrupt the U.S. and incite
violence, the Department of Homeland Security warned Monday. Unsubstantiated
fraud claims, which have haunted the country since the 2020 presidential
election, may be used to fuel unrest and doubts about the elections to decide
control of Congress, DHS officials said as the agency issued a new national
terrorism advisory. A senior DHS official, speaking on condition of anonymity
to discuss the terrorism advisory before its release, told reporters that part
of their objective may be to sow discord and undermine credibility in
democratic institutions by promoting misinformation about upcoming races.
Concerns about the election is just one element in a terrorism alert that
broadly warns of potential violence in what the government calls a “heightened
threat environment” that includes foreign and domestic misinformation
campaigns, conspiracy theories and lone actors with grievances rooted in racial
and ethnic hatred. The National Terrorism Advisory System Bulletin, which is
periodically updated by DHS in a replacement of the color-coded warnings of the
past, warns that the primary threat to the U.S. remains lone offenders or small
cells of individuals.”

 

Syria

 

The Wall Street Journal: Islamic State Militants Pursued After Syria Prison
Break
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“Days after the death of Islamic State’s leader, U.S.-backed Kurdish-led
militias are hunting down fugitives involved in a northeast Syria prison break
that the terrorist group launched last month to replenish its dwindling ranks.
Islamic State gunmen have appeared in the city of Hasakah more than two weeks
after the prison break, showing how the Jan. 20 attack could have a lasting
impact on the group’s ability to regenerate and terrorize the surrounding
community. The assault on the prison was Islamic State’s worst attack in Syria
in at least three years, resulting in a weeklong siege and gunbattles that left
nearly 500 people dead. The prison break was among the last acts directed by
Islamic State’s leader, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, who detonated
explosives that killed him and his family during a U.S. Special Forces raid in
northwestern Syria last Thursday. Qurayshi was concerned about a lack of
fighting manpower in recent months, said intelligence officials with the U.S.,
Iraq and a European country. The United Nations estimates ISIS retains at least
6,000 fighters across Iraq and Syria, where it is forming cells and training
operatives to launch attacks. An SDF member shows a hideout in Umm Hussein’s
kitchen where Islamic State members hid in Hasakah.”

 

Associated Press: IS Women In Syria Camp Clash With Police, 1 Child Killed
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“Women held in a camp housing families of Islamic State group militants in
northeast Syria tried to kidnap their Kurdish guards Monday, an opposition war
monitor said. The attempt led to a shooting that left one child dead and
several other people wounded. A Kurdish official confirmed there was an attempt
to kidnap female guards but had no immediate word on casualties. The sprawling
al-Hol camp is where tens of thousands of women and children — mostly wives,
widows and children of IS members — are held. The attack in the camp came days
after IS’s top leader, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Qurayshi, was killed in a U.S.
raid on his safehouse in northwest Syria. The camp has witnessed dozens of
crimes over the past year. The incident also comes two weeks after IS fighters
attacked a prison in Syria’s northeastern city of Hassakeh, where some 3,000
militants and juveniles are held. The attack on the prison led to 10 days of
fighting between U.S.-backed fighters and IS militants that left nearly 500
people dead. U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters brought the situation under control
eventually. President Joe Biden said al-Qurayshi had been responsible for the
Syria prison assault. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
said women in the al-Hol camp tried to kidnap guards leading to a shooting in
which a 10-year-old child was killed and six women and children were wounded.”

 

Afghanistan

 

Reuters: U.S. Offers Reward For Information On ISIS-K Leader, Kabul Airport
Attack
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“The United States said on Monday it was offering a reward of up to $10
million each for information leading to the identification or location of
ISIS-K leader Sanaullah Ghafari and for information leading to the arrest of
those responsible for a deadly August 2021 attack at Kabul airport. The Islamic
State-Khorasan Province, or ISIS-K, is the regional Islamic State affiliate,
which first appeared in 2014 and is named after an old term for the region. It
has previously fought both the Western-backed government that fell in August
and the Taliban. In June 2020, Ghafari was appointed by the extremist group to
lead ISIS-K. Ghafari was responsible for approving all ISIS-K operations
throughout Afghanistan and arranging funding to conduct operations, the U.S.
State Department said. In November, the State Department designated Ghafari as
a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist”. The U.S. military said on Friday
that a single Islamic State bomber killed 13 U.S. troops and at least 170
Afghans at Kabul airport last August. The bombing occurred on Aug. 26 as U.S.
troops were trying to help both Americans and Afghans flee in the chaotic
aftermath of the Taliban's takeover, and compounded America's sense of defeat
after 20 years of war.”

 

Middle East

 

AFP: Israel Releases Spaniard Jailed For Funding Militants: Officials
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“A Spanish aid worker who pled guilty to inadvertently funding an outlawed
Palestinian militant group walked free Monday after 10 months in jail, the
Israel Prison Service said. Juana Rashmawi, 63, was sentenced in November to 13
months in prison after a military court convicted her of working with an
organisation that it said was funding the Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine (PFLP). The PFLP is a leftist militant group blamed for previous
attacks on Israelis. Last week, an Israeli judge agreed to her early release,
and on Monday, a prison spokesperson told AFP that Rashmawi had “walked out the
door.” Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said in a statement that he
spoke to Rashmawi on the phone, after she had arrived in the West Bank and met
with her family. He said he told her of his “satisfaction at her release.”
Rashmawi, known in Spain as Juana Ruiz and married to a Palestinian, said she
was “very happy” for the support she had received from Spain, Albares added in
a statement. Israeli forces arrested Rashmawi in April. She confessed in her
November plea deal to unknowingly funding the PFLP via her work for a
Palestinian group, the Union of Health Work Committees, which Israel said
funnelled European donations to the PFLP.”

 

Nigeria

 

Daily Post Nigeria: Suspected Boko Haram Terrorists Kill 44, Kidnap Scores In
Niger
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“At least 44 persons were said to have been killed by gunmen suspected to be
Boko Haram in parts of Shiroro and Munya Local Government Areas of Niger State
in renewed attacks on the areas. In an attack on Galadinma Kolgo, Erena,
Chukuba, and Allawa in Shiroro LGA on Saturday, the gunmen allegedly killed 27
persons, mostly women and children and also kidnapped 31 persons. Aside from
that, it was gathered that the gunmen had invaded Guni, Zagzaga and Dazza
communities in Munya where they killed 17 people, including a blind man in the
early hours of Saturday. DAILY POST further learnt that they abducted three
women, scores of children and afterwards, set their homes and farmlands on
fire. It would be recalled that some communities in the state had been under
attacks by terrorists in the last three weeks, resulting in several casualties
and untold hardships on people of the affected areas. When contacted on the
incident, the President, Lakpma Youths Association, Jibril Allawa told DAILY
POST that the gunmen kidnapped 28 persons in Gyramiya community in Allawa and
are presently asking for N60m ransom before the victims can be set free.
According to him, “They carried away 28 people made up of three men and 25
women. Now, most of the affected communities in the two local government areas
are now ghost towns as the villagers are currently taking refuge at the
Internally Displaced Persons camp (IDPs) in Central Primary School, Gwada.”

 

Africa

 

AFP: South Africa Jails Twins For Terrorism Over US Embassy Plot
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“A South African court convicted and jailed twin brothers for terrorism on
Monday over plans to attack the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria and join the Islamic
State group, local media reported. Tony-Lee Thulsie and Brandon-Lee Thulsie,
both 28, were arrested in South Africa in July 2016 and have been held in
custody since. The South African brothers pleaded guilty earlier Monday as part
of a plea bargain with the prosecution, according to local media. Hours later,
the Johannesburg high court gave Tony-Lee an 11-year jail term, while
Brandon-Lee was sentenced to eight years. Both pleaded guilty to planning to
travel to Syria to join IS, media reports said. Tony-Lee also admitted to
planning a terrorist attack in South Africa, they added. Prosecutors said
attacks also had been planned against U.S., British, Russian or French
diplomats in Pretoria, as well as Jewish institutions. The United States added
the pair to its terror blacklist in 2017. The arrests of the brothers in 2016
were the first in South Africa relating to alleged IS membership. South Africa
has so far been spared the jihadist attacks that have struck several other
countries on the continent, including its eastern neighbor Mozambique.”

 

United Kingdom

 

My London: North London Man Charged With Being Member Of Neo-Nazi Terrorist
Group
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“A man from North London is due in court next week charged with being a member
of a banned neo-Nazi terrorist group, as part of an investigation by the
Metropolitan Police's counter terrorism unit. David Musins, 35, from North
London, was charged on February 4 with one count of being a member of the
proscribed organisation, contrary to Section 11 of the Terrorism Act 2000. He
will first appear on bail at Westminster Magistrates' Court next week on
Valentine's Day (Monday, February 14). He was arrested by counter-terrorism
officers on November 10, 2021, when he was released on bail, and later charged
by the Metropolitan Police force. The charge relates to alleged membership to
the banned extreme right-wing group for a period of nine months between
December 2016 and August 2017. National Action was founded in early 2013, after
the decline of the British National Party and English Defence League. The group
was founded by Benjamin Raymond and Alex Davies, who were university students
at the time. Although now banned, an undercover ITV investigation reported in
2017 that members of the banned Neo-Nazi group are still meeting up in secret.
Under the Terrorism Act 2000, the Home Secretary may ban an organisation if
they believe it is linked to terrorism, and “it is proportionate to do.”

 

OP India: UK: ‘Jihadi’ Imam, Who Supported Al-Qaeda Terrorist Aafia Siddiqui
And Murder Of Salman Taseer, Allowed To Open Nursery School
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“…Executive director at the Counter Extremism Project, David Ibsen, had 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.” While reacting to the article by The Daily Mail, Ofsted informed that
they will re-examine the permission granted to Imam Muhammad Asim Hussain. A
spokesperson for the education regulator stated, “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.”

 

Technology

 

Nextgov: New App Tracks Terrorism-Linked Events In Local U.S. Communities
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“The National Counterterrorism Center or NCTC designed and launched a new
mobile app and website that provide unclassified intelligence reports, training
materials and breaking alert notifications tracking terrorist-associated
events. Dubbed “aCTknowledge,” this new digital tool was produced with—and
explicitly for—U.S. law enforcement officers, first responders and homeland
security professionals. It will be frequently updated based on their feedback
going forward. “This is a tremendous evolution of our information-sharing
effort,” an NCTC expert who helped build the platform told reporters during a
press briefing on Monday. That official was among several who shared details
about aCTknowledge on the call. As a component of the Office of the Director of
National Intelligence, NCTC connects specialists from different government hubs
for counterterrorism aims, captures and analyzes intelligence, monitors
national and international communications for threats, manages massive lists of
incidents and individuals with potential links to terrorism, and more. The
center was formed at the recommendation of the 9/11 Commission. “After [Sept.
11, 2001], it was obviously determined that we do need to be sharing info and
part of the reason the [NCTC] was formed was to have a place where that info
could reside and that we can push it out and have the relationship with the
community,” another expert explained during the briefing.”

 

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