“An Islamic State affiliate on Friday claimed a series of bombings a day
earlier that targeted Afghanistan’s minority Shiite Muslims, while Pakistan i

 

 


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Eye on Extremism


April 22, 2022

 

Associated Press: Afghan IS Group Claims Series Of Bombings Targeting Shiites
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“An Islamic State affiliate on Friday claimed a series of bombings a day
earlier that targeted Afghanistan’s minority Shiite Muslims, while Pakistan
issued a warning of IS threats in its eastern Punjab province. The deadliest of
three bombings on Thursday in Afghanistan exploded inside a Shite mosque in
northern Mazar-e-Sharif. Hospital officials say at least 12 people were killed
and as many as 40 were hurt. Earlier Thursday, a roadside bomb exploded near a
boys school in the Afghan capital of Kabul, injuring two children in the city’s
predominately Shiite neighborhood of Dasht-e-Barchi. A third bomb in northern
Kunduz injured 11 mechanics working for the country’s Taliban rulers. Since
sweeping to power last August, the Taliban have been battling the upstart
Islamic State affiliate known as Islamic State in Khorasan Province or IS-K
which is proving to be an intractable security challenge for Afghanistan’s
religiously driven government. Last November the Taliban’s intelligence unit
carried out sweeping attacks on suspected IS-K hideouts in eastern Nangarhar
province.”

 

Reuters: Islamic State Claims Nigeria Bombing, Says About 30 Killed Or Hurt
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“Islamic State claimed responsibility for an explosion that it said killed or
injured 30 people at a market where alcohol was sold in Taraba State, Nigeria,
marking an expansion of the area where the extremist group operates in the
country. Northeast Nigeria, especially the states of Borno and Yobe, have been
in the grip of Islamist insurgencies for over a decade, but Taraba, located at
the eastern end of Nigeria's Middle Belt central region, has not previously
been attacked. The explosion took place on Tuesday in Iware, a rural town, and
local police initially said three people were killed and 19 injured. They could
not immediately be reached on Thursday to comment on the Islamic State claim or
casualty count. In a statement posted late on Wednesday on a Telegram messaging
channel used by Islamic State to distribute its propaganda, the group described
those who detonated the bomb in the market as “soldiers of the caliphate in
central Nigeria”. The statement said the attack had struck “a gathering of
infidel Christians” and expressed satisfaction that the drinking spot had been
damaged. It did not break down the casualty figure into dead and injured. The
whole of Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, has been suffering from a rise
in crime and violence, exacerbated by the economic hardship caused by the
COVID-19 pandemic.”

 

United States

 

CBS 46: California Man Charged With Making Terrorist Threat To President Of
Wisconsin School Board
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“A California man is charged and accused of making a death threat toward the
president of a Wisconsin school board. According to online court records,
33-year-old Jeremy Hanson was charged with terrorist threats, which is a
felony. According to the criminal complaint filed with the charges, Hanson sent
an anonymous email to Tim Nordin, the ECASD Board of Education president, from
a Gmail account named “Kill All Marxist Teachers” at 11:58 a.m. on March 21,
2022. According to WEAU, the email said, “I am going to kill you and shoot up
your next school-board meeting for promoting the radical transgender agenda.
It’s now time to declare war on you pedos. I am going to kill you and your
entire family.” The email was sent to Nordin’s school email, and ECASD’s IT
staff worked with the Eau Claire Police Department to find the IP address of
the device the email was sent from. Investigators learned the IP address
originated in Los Alamitos, California, and that the message appeared to have
been sent from a PlayStation 4. Detectives reached out to the internet service
provider, Spectrum, to get more information about the account holder. The
Orange County Sheriff’s Department then contacted the account holder, who
identified herself as the mother of Hanson and confirmed that they owned a
PlayStation 4.”

 

Syria

 

Associated Press: ‘We Found Nothing’: Thousands Of Islamic State’s Victims Are
Still Missing
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“For journalist Amer Matar, a decade-long search for his younger brother has
defined him and changed the course of his life, which is now dedicated to
researching and documenting crimes committed by the Islamic State group in
Syria. Mohammed Nour Matar vanished in the northern Syrian city of Raqqa in
2013 while reporting on an explosion that hit the headquarters of an insurgent
group. His burnt camera was found at the scene of the blast, and his family
soon afterward got word he was in an Islamic State prison. But there has been
no other sign of him since. He is among thousands of people believed to have
been seized by Islamic State, the extremist group that in 2014 overran large
parts of Syria and Iraq, where it set up a so-called Islamic caliphate and
brutalized the population for years. Three years after its territorial defeat,
thousands of those believed seized are still missing and calling their captors
to account remains elusive. Families of missing people feel abandoned by a
world that has largely moved on, while they struggle to uncover the fate of
their loved ones. “These violations may constitute crimes against humanity, war
crimes and even genocide in some cases,” the Washington-based Syria Justice and
Accountability Center, or SJAC, said in a report published Thursday.

 

Turkey

 

Daily Sabah: Suspected Terrorist Attack Targets NGO Office In Istanbul
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“A suspected female terrorist carried out an attack targeting the offices of a
non-governmental organization (NGO) in Istanbul’s Gaziosmanpaşa district early
Thursday. According to security footage, the explosion took place shortly after
a woman came near the building and left it at around 5:40 a.m. local time (2:40
a.m. GMT). The building, located in the Hürriyet neighborhood, housed the
office of the Turkey Youth Foundation (TÜGVA), Anadolu Agency (AA) reported. No
casualties were reported after the explosion. Initial investigations suggested
that the explosion was caused by a stun grenade. While no terrorist group has
claimed responsibility for the attack, the PKK terrorist group carried out an
attack targeting a vehicle carrying prison guards in Bursa province a day
earlier. Police have cordoned off the area and are still investigating the
incident.”

 

Afghanistan

 

Bloomberg: Taliban Ban TikTok App For ‘Misleading’ Youth In Afghanistan
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“ByteDance Ltd’s TikTok video app will be banned in Afghanistan as part of a
moral policing drive by the ruling Taliban, a spokesman for the group said. The
widely-used social media application is “misleading the younger generation,”
Inamullah Samangani said on Twitter. TikTok’s “filthy content was not
consistent with Islamic laws,” he later said by phone. The decision, taken
during a cabinet meeting Wednesday, is the first time the militant group has
banned an app since they came to power last year. The cabinet also decided to
block the popular South Korean PUBG battlegrounds game and bar Afghan
television channels from airing “immoral” content, Samangani said. The group’s
crackdown on TikTok, the Chinese-owned social media app, is just one part of
their stringent religious policing campaign, which includes suspending high
school education for girls, forcing government workers to grow beards, and
ordering taxi drivers to not allow women to travel more than 70 km (43 miles)
without a male family member. “We’ve received a lot of complaints about how the
TikTok app and the PUBG game are wasting people’s time,” Samangani said. “The
ministry of communications and information technology was ordered to remove the
apps from internet servers and make them inaccessible to everyone in
Afghanistan.”

 

Pakistan

 

Deutsche Welle: Tensions Increase Between Taliban And Pakistan Over Attacks
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“Tension is high between Pakistan and Afghanistan after Pakistan's military
air raids into Afghanistan killed 47 civilians over the weekend. During the
past few months, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an armed militant group,
increased attacks on Pakistan security forces from sanctuaries inside
Afghanistan. Afghan officials said the death toll had risen to 47 following
Pakistan military strikes in the eastern Afghanistan provinces of Kunar and
Khost. The casualties include mostly women and children. Taliban officials in
Kabul and Islamabad are struggling to resolve the cross-border attacks, and
have warned Islamabad after the death of civilians in the predawn assault. Last
year, Pakistan's government involved the Taliban in negotiating a peace
agreement with the TTP, but that failed just after a monthlong truce between
Islamabad and the TTP. The Taliban, meanwhile, have not made significant
efforts to help Islamabad break a deal with the TTP to stop them from attacking
Pakistan. “The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan condemns in the strongest
possible terms the bombardment and attack that has taken place from the
Pakistan side on the soil of Afghanistan,” government spokesman Zabihullah
Mujahid told journalists in an audio message.”

 

Middle East

 

Fox News: Israel-Gaza Conflict Escalates Following Palestinian Rocket, Terror
Attacks
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“Conflict between Israel and Gaza militants continued to escalate Thursday
following a series of rocket attacks launched into Israel and corresponding
Israeli countermeasures. Hamas militants fired the first rocket into Israel in
months Monday and continued to ramp up the aggression, leading to a flurry of
rockets Wednesday evening. Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have responded each
time with airstrikes on Hamas militant targets within Gaza. “In the last month,
terrorist activity against Israel has been on the rise: 14 Israelis were
murdered in terror attacks. Palestinians chose to violently riot at the Al-Aqsa
Mosque in Jerusalem. Terrorists in Gaza launched multiple rockets into
Israel—including last night,” the IDF tweeted Thursday. The escalation comes
amid growing unrest within Israel, where a wave of Arab terrorist attacks
killed 14 in March and early April. Israel responded to the attacks with
crackdowns in the West Bank, which resulted in 15 Palestinian deaths.
Palestinian protests have also rocked the Aqsa mosque, known as the Temple
Mount in Judaism. The area is a holy site for both religions, and thousands of
Palestinians gathered there last week to pray during the month of Ramadan. When
the prayers were finished, however, many participants began protesting and
marching in the area surrounding the mosque.”

 

AFP: Lone-Wolf Palestinian Terrorists Show Private Gripes Now Top Ideology,
Say Analysts
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“Recent deadly attacks by Palestinians have shown a shift in the dynamics of
terrorism in the West Bank, as armed factions play less of a role and
individual grievances trump ideology, analysts say. At a bustling market in the
Palestinian political headquarters of Ramallah, customers clamor to get their
hands on the latest hot trend. This season, it is T-shirts printed with an M-16
rifle. Clothing store manager Ahmed Abu Hamza said he has sold 12,000 of the
shirts in the past week. “The demand is terrifying,” he said. “It’s the recent
conditions in Palestine, especially Jenin,” a terrorist hotbed in the northern
West Bank that has seen a wave of arrests by the Israeli army, the 40-year-old
said. It was with an M-16 rifle that gunman Diaa Hamarsheh rampaged through the
Tel Aviv ultra-Orthodox suburb of Bnei Brak late last month, killing five
people. That was one of four terror attacks by Palestinians and Arab-Israelis
since late March that have left 14 people dead. Over the same period, a total
of 23 Palestinians have been killed across the West Bank, many while attempting
to carry out attacks. But while armed factions — from the Islamist Hamas to the
secular Fatah party of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas — have
long dominated Palestinian terrorism, analyst Jihad Harb said the dynamics are
changing.”

 

Nigeria

 

Sahara Reporters: Nigerian Military Re-Arrests ‘Most Wanted’ Boko Haram/ISWAP
Spy In Borno
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“The most wanted high ranking intelligence spy of the Boko Haram/Islamic State
of the West African Province (ISWAP) terrorists, Modu Babagana, who escaped
from military detention in Bama has been re-arrested by troops of 21 Special
Forces Brigade in Borno State. Zagazola Makama, a Counter Insurgency Expert and
Security Analyst disclosed this in a tweet on Thursday. “The Nigerian Army
Troops of 21 Special Forces Brigade, Bama have arrested a most wanted high
ranking Intelligence spy of the Boko Haram/ISWAP, Modu Babagana, who escaped
from military detention in Bama,” he said. “An Intelligence Officer told
Zagazola Makama, a Counter Insurgency Expert in the LakeChad, that the
notorious Boko Haram/ ISWAP member was arrested in January 2020 for carrying
out espionage activities on troops in the general area of Bama and Banki. “The
sources said a few days after Babagana was taken to prison, he used charms to
facilitate his jailbreak as well as evaded himself from being caught by anyone,
particularly his own troops. “Upon realising that he escaped by troops manning
the prison, he was declared wanted with his pictures shared at every nook and
cranny of the city.”

 

United Kingdom

 

The Independent: Neo-Nazi Terrorist Group Co-Founder Saw UK Ban As ‘Obstacle
To Overcome’, Court Hears
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“The co-founder of a neo-Nazi terrorist group saw a government ban as an
“obstacle to overcome” while continuing to advance his agenda, a court has
heard. Alex Davies is charged with remaining a member of National Action after
it was proscribed as a terrorist organisation in December 2016, and then
setting up a spin-off group called NS131 that was later banned. Winchester
Crown Court heard that the 27-year-old told a fellow neo-Nazi that it was
“pretty cool” to be “up there” with the British Union of Fascists, which was
banned in 1940. The government announced its intention to outlaw National
Action, adding it to a list of 70 groups including Isis and the IRA, on 12
December 2016. Jurors were told that later that day, a neo-Nazi contact
messaged Mr Davies and his fellow co-founder Ben Raymond who has since been
convicted of membership. The man wrote that he was “very sorry to hear news of
the insane ban in prospect” and urged them to “see it as an opportunity to be
creative in expressing the same thing without using words that will offend”.
Jurors were shown a reply from Mr Davies, where he wrote: “It’s nothing to get
worked up about. I’m sure we’ll come up with some creative way to overcome the
obstacles put in front of us.”

 

The Independent: Counter-Terrorism Measures In Online Safety Bill ‘Muzzled And
Confused’, Watchdog Says
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“Counter-terrorism measures in the government’s Online Safety Bill could be
“muzzled and confused”, a watchdog has said. Jonathan Hall QC, the Independent
Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, recommended that parts of the delayed law
are rewritten to provide “greater clarity”. The bill aims to force online
platforms and media companies to find and remove terrorist content, and give
Ofcom powers to fine those who do not…”

 

BBC News: Abubaker Deghayes Jailed For Encouraging 'Jihad By Sword'
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“A man who called for jihad “by sword” in a speech at a Brighton mosque has
been jailed for four years for encouraging terrorism. Abubaker Deghayes, 54,
from Saltdean, East Sussex, was convicted at an earlier hearing at the Old
Bailey. He addressed about 50 worshippers, including children, at the Brighton
Mosque and Muslim Community Centre on 1 November 2020 after evening prayers.
Deghayes was seen to make a stabbing gesture when talking about jihad.
Sentencing Deghayes, Judge Nigel Lickley described his actions as “reckless”
rather than intentional. He said his comments came at the end of a speech that
was not rehearsed. He told Deghayes: “You said at that point you were 'rolling
with the speech'. I take that to mean that you got carried away by the
audience.” The judge said there was no evidence that Deghayes had been in a
position of authority or influence in the mosque and he had abused that
position - but his statement had been “made recklessly” widely to an audience.
The court heard the audience included fathers and their school-age sons who, as
such, could be considered “vulnerable”. Deghayes, originally from Libya, had
denied wrongdoing and said he was explaining the meaning of jihad by the sword
as self-defence.”

 

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