“Palestinian militants fired a rocket into southern Israel for the first time
in months on Monday, in another escalation after clashes at a sensitive

 

 


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Eye on Extremism


April 19, 2022

 

Associated Press: Gaza Militants Fire Rocket Into Israel As Tensions Soar
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“Palestinian militants fired a rocket into southern Israel for the first time
in months on Monday, in another escalation after clashes at a sensitive holy
site in Jerusalem, a series of deadly attacks inside Israel and military raids
across the occupied West Bank. Israel said it intercepted the rocket, and there
were no immediate reports of casualties or damage. Israel holds Gaza’s militant
Hamas rulers responsible for all such projectiles and usually launches
airstrikes in their wake. It was the first such rocket fire since New Year’s
Eve. Early Tuesday, Israeli fighter jets carried out a series of airstrikes in
southern Gaza Strip, targeting a “weapons manufacturing site” for Hamas, the
Israeli military said. There were no reports of injuries. Hours earlier, the
leader of the Islamic Jihad militant group, which boasts an arsenal of rockets,
had issued a brief, cryptic warning, condemning Israeli “violations” in
Jerusalem. Ziad al-Nakhala, who is based outside the Palestinian territories,
said threats to tighten an Israeli-Egyptian blockade on Gaza imposed after
Hamas seized power 15 years ago “can’t silence us from what’s happening in
Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.” However, no Palestinian group claimed
responsibility for the rocket fire. Palestinians and Israeli police clashed
over the weekend in and around the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem, which
has long been an epicenter of Israeli-Palestinian violence.”

 

Voice Of America: Al-Shabab Claims Mortar Attack On Somali Parliament
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“Terrorist group al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for a mortar attack on
Somalia’s parliament Monday that injured at least six people during a joint
session. Somalia’s newly elected members of parliament were meeting Monday to
approve procedures for the election of speakers when the grounds were hit by a
mortar attack. In a Facebook post, lawmaker and presidential candidate
Abdirahman Abdishakur Warsame said several rounds were fired and several people
wounded, including two of his bodyguards. Somali militant group al-Shabab, in
media posts, claimed responsibility for the attack. Somalia’s Office of Prime
Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble condemned the assault, which it called a
terrorist act. In posts on social media, it said the attack was a cowardly
attempt to intimidate parliament, which is in the process of finishing
Somalia’s indirect election. Roble commended the efforts of lawmakers to
expedite the elections. Before the attack Monday, lawmakers unanimously agreed
to elect the speaker of the Upper House on April 26 and the Speaker of the
Lower House a day later. Somalia’s indirect elections were delayed for months
because of political wrangling between the prime minister and President Mohamed
Abdullahi Mohamed, known as Farmaajo.”

 

United States

 

Daily Mail: Terror At Our Border: Agents Caught 23 People On US Terror
Watchlist Crossing Southern Border In 2021, Including Suspects From Saudi
Arabia And Yemen
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“US Customs and Border Patrol intercepted 23 people on a federal terror
watchlist crossing the southern border during 2021, including men from Saudi
Arabia and Yemen. Data obtained by Fox News via a Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA) request showed that four of the apprehensions took place in the Rio
Grande Valley Sector and four others were reported by Del Rio Sector. Border
patrol officers assigned to the El Centro Sector and San Diego Sector each
reported four arrests. There were three apprehensions made by El Paso Sector
agents while Yuma Sector and Tucson Sector each recorded two arrests. 
According to the network, the 23 people were taken into custody between January
20, 2021 and December 30, 2021. Their names matched those that appeared on the
Terror Screening Database, which has information on the people who are either
proven or alleged of having been involved in terror activities. In March,
Republican Representatives James Comer and John Katko urged Department of
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandra Mayorkas to publicly release the numbers
of migrants who were stopped at the southern border and whose names are listed
on the Terror Screening Database.”

 

Syria

 

Daily Sabah: Turkish Intel. Nabs 2 Daesh Terrorists Plotting Attacks In Syria
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“Turkish intelligence apprehended two Daesh terrorists in Syria planning to
carry out an attack against Turkish forces in Syria, reports said Monday. The
National Intelligence Organization (MIT) carried out an operation to determine
the whereabouts of Daesh terrorists Orhan Moran and Mustafa Kılıçlı and nabbed
them in Syria. The terrorists had been planning to carry out an attack against
Turkish troops in Syria and Turkey, according to their testimony. They also
confessed that they had been providing assistance to Daesh terrorists in the
region. Intelligence officers handed the terrorists to the Hatay Gendarmerie
Command near the border with Syria upon their arrival in Turkey. Security
forces have carried out numerous anti-terrorism operations against the Daesh
network in recent years. Turkey was one of the first countries to recognize
Daesh as a terrorist group in 2013, as soon as it emerged. The country has
since been attacked by Daesh numerous times, including 10 suicide bombings,
seven bombings and four armed assaults that killed 315 people and injured
hundreds of others. In response, Turkey launched military and police operations
at home and abroad to prevent further terrorist attacks.”

 

Iraq

 

Kurdistan 24: Iraqi F-16s Target ISIS Militants In Diyala
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“Iraqi F-16 fighter jets targeted a group of ISIS militants in the country's
eastern Diyala province on Sunday afternoon, the military announced. The jets
conducted three airstrikes on the militants in the Nareen region of the
province based on intelligence gathered by the National Security Service, the
military's Security Media Cell announced. Security forces arrived at the site
shortly afterward to survey the damage. The results of their findings will be
provided “later”. Following the official conclusion of the US-led coalition's
combat mission against ISIS in December 2021, Iraqi security forces have ramped
up their efforts to hunt down the group's remnants. As part of these efforts,
Iraqi airstrikes have killed at least 70 ISIS militants, a top official
recently said. The group's militants mainly operate in the remote areas of the
east and north of the country. The Iraqi Air Force and Iraqi Army regularly
attack their hideouts. In recent months, the Kurdistan Region's Peshmerga
forces have also conducted joint operations with the Iraqi forces against ISIS
in the so-called “disputed territories” between Erbil and Baghdad, where the
group is most active.”

 

Afghanistan

 

The National: 'Pakistan Air Strikes' Kill At Least 47 In Afghanistan,
Officials Say
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“The death toll from air strikes in the Afghanistan provinces of Khost and
Kunar carried out by the Pakistan military has risen to at least 47, officials
said on Sunday. Afghan authorities claim the pre-dawn air assault was carried
out by Pakistani military helicopters. Since the Taliban seized power last
year, border tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan have risen, with the
former claiming militant groups are carrying out regular attacks from its
neighbouring country. It has urged Afghanistan to act against militants
launching attacks on Pakistan. The Taliban deny harbouring Pakistani militants
but have been angered by a fence Pakistan is erecting along the shared
2,700-kilometre border. The air strikes hit residential houses in Khost and
Kunar along the border, said Afghan officials who claimed Pakistani forces had
fired rockets. “Forty-one civilians, mainly women and children, were killed and
22 others were wounded in air strikes by Pakistani forces near the Durand line
in Khost province,” Shabir Ahmad Osmani, director of information and culture in
Khost told AFP. Najibullah, an official with the Ministry for Promotion of
Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Khost, said the death toll in the province was
48. “Twenty-four people were killed from one family itself,” he said. Jamshid,
a tribal leader from Khost, also confirmed that more than 40 people were
killed.”

 

Middle East

 

The Times Of Israel: Islamic State Supporter Indicted For Murder Of Three
Jerusalem Residents
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“An Islamic State supporter was indicted Monday for the murders of three
Jerusalem residents and the attempted murders of two others, over the past
three years. Police last week said they believed Wasim a-Sayed was responsible
for the 2019 double homicide of an elderly couple in Jerusalem, as well as the
killing of a Moldovan foreign worker last month. According to the indictment
submitted to the Jerusalem District Court, a-Sayed, 34, a Palestinian from the
city of Hebron in the West Bank, joined the Salafia Jihadia jihadist group in
2011 and swore allegiance to Islamic State in 2014. After his release from a
Palestinian prison in January 2019, he decided to carry out attacks against
Jews in Jerusalem, the indictment read. The indictment accuses him of the
murder of Yehuda and Tamar Kaduri in their Jerusalem apartment in January 2019,
a crime police had struggled for years to crack. The investigation also found
that a-Sayed was responsible for the attempted murder of teenager Hadar
Betzalel days before murdering the Kaduri couple, with the attack on Bezalel
marking his first attempted killing. The indictment said a-Sayed was actually
arrested and placed in Israeli administrative detention, without trial, for
around two years at some point following these crimes due to his affiliation
with Islamic State — though he was not suspected at the time of the Kaduri
murders.”

 

Nigeria

 

Sahara Reporters: Breaking: Boko Haram Terrorists Currently Attacking Nigerian
Army Base In Borno
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“Insurgents from the Islamic State-backed faction of Boko Haram, the Islamic
State West Africa Province formerly known as Jamā'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah
wa'l-Jihād, are currently attacking the Forward Operational Base (FOB) in
Molai, Borno State. Molai is located at the outskirt of Maiduguri, about 7km
away. SaharaReporters gathered that the insurgents invaded the town after
iftar, the meal eaten by Muslims after sunset during Ramadan, shooting
sporadically as residents of the community fled into the forest for safety.
According to sources, the terrorists who came in no fewer than 10 gun trucks
are presently engaging the army formation in the community. Boko Haram and its
offshoot, Islamic State West Africa Province, have killed thousands and
displaced millions in North-Eastern Nigeria. The Nigerian military has
repeatedly claimed that the insurgency had been largely defeated and frequently
underplays any losses. In the past months, soldiers have been targeted by the
insurgents, who waylay them. Hundreds of soldiers and officers have been
reportedly killed since January 2022.”

 

Africa

 

The Irish Times: Mozambique’s Battle With Terrorism Hinges On Unprecedented
Co-Operation
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“The potential for historical grievances to undermine international efforts to
stabilise Mozambique’s war-torn north was brought sharply into focus last week
after regional leaders modified their military mission in Cabo Delgado
province. At a Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit on April
12th, member states agreed to adapt their operation in the troubled province
from a force with rapid deployment capabilities to one that is more
multidimensional. The move has come on foot of the SADC Mission in Mozambique
(Samim), which to date has comprised mainly special forces, recording decisive
battlefield victories against Islamic insurgents who have terrorised the area
since 2017. Using the African Union’s military classifications system, Samim –
which was first deployed to Cabo Delgado last July – had been operating under
Scenario 6, an intervention designed to degrade the jihadists’ military
capabilities. The group, known locally as Al-Shabaab (“the youth”), has
attacked towns and villages in the province, killed more than 1,400 civilians
and forced hundreds of thousands more to flee their homes, creating an internal
refugee crisis. But under the new approach to the conflict, Samim will
transition to a Scenario 5 operation, according to South Africa’s Lieut Gen
Siphiwe Sangweni.”

 

United Kingdom

 

The National: Heathrow And Other UK Airports To Relax Counter-Terrorism
Security Checks On Staff
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“UK airports are set to relax counter-terrorism security checks on new staff,
in an attempt to ease shortages that have contributed to travel chaos over the
Easter period. London's Heathrow Airport has been hit by four-hour queues and
flight delays. It blamed the upheaval last week on coronavirus checks, but it
has been compounded by high levels of Covid-19 sickness and resurgent passenger
numbers following the ending of UK travel restrictions in March. In the rush to
secure more staff and mitigate the security-check obstacle, last week British
Airways offered £1,000 ($1,300) “welcome bonuses” to cabin crew with safety
clearances. Now the UK government is seeking to alleviate the problem by
allowing unvetted staff to train on airport premises in the coming weeks. The
news was revealed in a letter by UK aviation minister Robert Courts leaked to
the The Telegraph. In the letter, he also said the training intake would not be
allowed access to aircraft and runways. At the moment, the UK Department for
Transport can take up to 30 weeks to complete security checks — double the
allotted time. Budget UK airline easyJet is currently awaiting DfT clearance
for 100 new employees. EasyJet chief executive Johan Lundgren said the delay
had contributed to the spate of flight cancellations.”

 

Daily Mail: Priti Patel Vows To Overhaul Prevent In Wake Of David Amess Murder
Amid Concern Anti-Terror Strategy Focuses Too Much On Right-Wing Extremism And
Not Enough On Islamist Threat
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“…Ian Acheson, Senior Advisor at the Counter Extremism Project, agreed Prevent
needed to change.  He tweeted today: 'As the Home Secretary says and some of us
have been saying for a while, Prevent has morphed into a strategy that awards a
(convenient) completely false equivalence between Islamist and XRW threat and
is swamped by mission creep. Time for a reset.' Meanwhile, Lord Carlile of
Berriew, a former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation who previously
led the review of Prevent, told the Times that Prevent had an 'overemphasis on
right-wing extremism' because of an 'overemphasis on not being anti-Muslim'.
The Henry Jackson Society's Dr Alan Mendoza said: 'This shake-up could not come
soon enough... Priti Patel should be congratulated for cutting through the Home
Office bureaucracy to make it happen. 'Her reforms must be allowed to restore
Prevent to its founding purpose – cracking down on terrorism.' Now Miss Patel
has pledged that 'things need to change' once she has been handed the findings
of a long-awaited independent review of Prevent. 'The Prevent review is really
important to me,' the Home Secretary said. 'I can't pre-judge that review. But
it is quite clear to me from my own observations that there are things that
need to change.'”

 

Europe

 

The National Interest: ISIS And Al-Qaeda Condemn Muslims Fighting In
Russo-Ukrainian War
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“On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a widescale invasion of Ukraine,
triggering reactions not only from Western countries, but also from the arch
Sunni jihadi rivals, the Islamic State (ISIS) and Al Qaeda, and their
supporters. ISIS is the only group to officially react to the war, while Al
Qaeda, quite tactfully, remained silent and made no official comment on the
subject thus far. The reactions of Al Qaeda and ISIS supporters were almost
identical; favorably viewing the war as a helpful development for Muslims and
jihadis and advising Muslims to not get involved in wars of “crusaders.”
Furthermore, they denounced the participation of Muslims in the war,
particularly Muslim Chechen fighters who were deployed by pro-Russian Chechen
leader Ramzan Kadyrov to back up the Russian war in Ukraine. Sending Chechens
to fight in Ukraine appears to have no religious basis; rather Kadyrov’s move
aimed to prove his loyalty to Vladimir Putin, whose support is the basis of his
rule. However, an unofficial pro-Al Qaeda magazine urged Muslims in Europe to
capitalize on the war in Ukraine by offering ways to do so—a call which
perfectly matches an ISIS supporter’s advice to Muslim youth in the West to
exploit Ukraine’s open borders and available arms to carry out attacks on
“Crusaders.”

 

The Local Denmark: Danish Far-Right Extremist Demonstrations Cause Riots In
Sweden
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“The leader of the Stram Kurs (Hard Line) party, who has a criminal conviction
in Denmark for inciting racial hatred, intends to stand in Swedish legislative
elections in September. He does not yet have the necessary number of signatures
to secure his candidature and has been on a “tour” of Sweden. Paludan was
previously banned from entering Sweden for two years. But that ban was rendered
invalid after it was confirmed he had Swedish citizenship due to the
nationality of one of his parents. Rasmus Paludan in 2019. Paludan came to
prominence in Denmark through his anti-Islam demonstrations in areas with
sizeable minority ethnic communities. The main feature of the demonstrations is
the burning and desecration of the Koran. On Thursday 14th April, Paludan’s
party had been given permission to hold their demonstration in the Skäggetorp
neighbourhood in Linköping, where over 50 percent of inhabitants were born
abroad. Riots started in the area before the demonstration. Footage from the
scene in the city of Linköping on Sweden’s east coast showed a car burning and
dozens of masked people attacking police cars. Three police officers had to be
taken to hospital and two people were arrested.”

 

South Asia

 

Voice Of America: Islamic State Khorasan Claims Rocket Attack On Uzbekistan
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“A regional affiliate of Islamic State on Monday said it had carried out a
rocket attack on Uzbekistan from neighboring Afghanistan, the first strike by
the terrorist group against the Central Asian nation. Islamic State Khorasan
Province fired 10 rockets at an Uzbek military base in the border town of
Termez, the group said in a statement released Monday, according to Site
Intelligence, which tracks terrorist propaganda. Uzbek authorities did not
immediately comment on IS Khorasan's claims. The launching pad was reportedly
in Hairatan, a border town in the northern Afghan province of Balkh. The terror
group also released a photo and video of the projectiles to back its claims. IS
Khorasan has increased attacks in and around Afghanistan following the U.S.-led
foreign military withdrawal from the country in August after 20 years. The
group has carried out several attacks in neighboring Pakistan, including a
deadly suicide bombing of a Shiite mosque in the northwestern city of Peshawar
last month. The attack killed more than 60 worshippers from the minority sect
and wounded scores of others. Pakistani authorities said the bomber was an
Afghan refugee who received training in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, the Pakistani
Taliban (TTP), designated as a global terrorist group by Washington, has also
stepped up attacks in Pakistan from its Afghan bases since the foreign troop
withdrawal and the Taliban's return to power.”

 

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