“A four-day blitz of terrorist bombings across Afghanistan has left the country
reeling after months of relative calm, raising fears that the Taliban

 

 


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Eye on Extremism


April 25, 2022

 

The Washington Post: Taliban Vows Crackdown On ISIS As Violence Surges In
Afghanistan
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“A four-day blitz of terrorist bombings across Afghanistan has left the
country reeling after months of relative calm, raising fears that the Taliban —
which spent years fighting the Afghan state and its U.S. backers — will be
unable to maintain the peace. Sunni extremists from the Afghan branch of the
Islamic State, known as Islamic State-Khorasan or ISIS-K, have claimed at least
one of the attacks, a bombing Thursday inside a crowded Shiite mosque in the
northern city of Mazar-e Sharif that killed at least 31 people and injured more
than 60. On Friday, Taliban officials announced the arrest of a local Islamic
State leader who they claimed was the “mastermind” of that attack. But just
hours later, another bomb exploded at a Sunni mosque in northern Kunduz
province, killing more than 30 people, and a mine was detonated near a market
in Kabul. The blasts capped a violent and chaotic week, which included a double
bombing outside a school in the ethnic Shiite Hazara district of Kabul and
another attack in Kunduz on government workers. All told, at least 77 Afghans
have been killed and more than 160 wounded.”

 

Reuters: Attacks In Mali And Burkina Faso Kill 21, Wound Dozens
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“Fifteen soldiers and six civilians were killed on Sunday in attacks in Mali
and Burkina Faso, neighbouring West African countries struggling with deadly
jihadist insurgencies, military and security sources said. Suicide bombers
drove cars packed with explosives into three military camps in central Mali
before dawn, the military said in a statement. Six were killed and 15 wounded
at the Sevare camp, and five were wounded at two other locations. Across the
border in northern Burkina Faso, simultaneous attacks on military detachments
in Gaskinde and Pobe-Mengao in the early hours killed nine soldiers and six
civilians, including two who were members of an armed self-defence group, the
military said in a statement. About 30 were wounded in the two attacks.
Military juntas have snatched power in Mali and Burkina Faso in the last two
years, promising to provide greater security than their democratically-elected
predecessors. But violent attacks on civilians and the army persist. The armed
forces of both countries have been accused of abuses against civilians in their
attempt to root out Islamist fighters from rural desert communities. The
trouble began in Mali in 2012 when Islamists took over the north. Forces from
former colonial power France beat them back, but they regrouped and were soon
carrying out attacks closer to the southern capital Bamako.”

 

United States

 

CBS News: Documents Reveal Bin Laden's Bid For American Support
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“New translations of Osama bin Laden's personal documents show that the
intention behind 9/11 was not only to kill Americans, but to incite U.S.
protests, like those seen during the Vietnam War. These documents, first
recovered in the 2011 raid on bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan,
have been declassified since 2017, but were unorganized and mostly
untranslated, until now. The letters offer one of the closest looks yet into
the mind of America's most infamous terrorist. In her new book, “The Bin Laden
Papers,” author and Islamic scholar Nelly Lahoud distills nearly 6,000 pages of
the personal notes, letters, and journals taken from bin Laden's compound. She
spoke with 60 Minutes correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi about the al Qaeda leader's
motivation behind 9/11. “He thought that the American people would take to the
streets, replicate the anti-Vietnam War protests, and they would put pressure
on their government to withdraw from Muslim majority states,” Lahoud told
Alfonsi on the broadcast. It was a huge miscalculation. A Gallup poll from
October 2001 showed 88% of Americans approved of the military action in
Afghanistan. According to Lahoud, bin Laden's papers revealed a disconnect
between his ambition and capability.”

 

Syria

 

Asharq Al-Awsat: SDF Chief: Turkey Hinders Anti-Isis Operations
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“Commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) Mazloum Abdi said Turkey has
intensified attacks against SDF-run areas east of the Euphrates, violating
international covenants with the guarantor countries. He pointed to the Turkish
attacks targeting Syria’s Ain al-Arab (Kobani) and the drone attacks that have
killed innocent civilians and administrative figures. He said in a tweet on his
official page on Saturday that these provocative attacks threaten peace and
security and hinder anti-ISIS operations in these areas. Abdi’s remarks
followed a series of violent attacks targeting SDF sites in the countryside of
Aleppo, Hasakeh and Raqqa governorates in northeastern Syria. Since early
April, the Turkish army has targeted nine SDF military sites and posts in its
areas of influence east of the Euphrates, killing six military personnel,
including three women, one of whom was a prominent leader in the SDF women's
wing, and injuring 17 others. The Autonomous Administration of North and East
Syria (Rojava) denounced in a statement published on its official Facebook page
on Saturday Turkey’s constant brutal attacks and policy of genocide adopted
against Kurdish areas, the latest of which was targeting a car in Kobani, in
which head of the Defense Office and her companions were killed.”

 

Afghanistan

 

AFP: Taliban Arrest IS 'Mastermind' Of Afghan Mosque Attack: Police
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“Taliban forces have arrested a suspected Islamic State militant who planned a
bomb attack that killed at least 12 worshippers at a Shiite mosque in
Afghanistan, police said on Friday. IS claimed the bomb blast that tore through
the Seh Dokan mosque during midday prayers in the northern city of
Mazar-i-Sharif on Thursday. The attack also wounded 58 people. Balkh province's
police spokesman Asif Waziri said Abdul Hamid Sangaryar was a key operative of
IS. “He was the mastermind of yesterday's attack on the mosque,” Waziri told
AFP. The interior ministry also reported the arrest of Sangaryar, an Afghan
national. “He played a key role in several attacks in the past and had
repeatedly managed to escape, but this time we arrested him in a special
operation,” Waziri said. IS also claimed a separate bomb attack in another
northern city of Kunduz on Thursday that killed four people and wounded 18
people. The group has taken responsibility for deadly attacks in Afghanistan,
often against Shiite targets, even as the number of bombings have fallen since
the Taliban seized power in August last year. Shiite Afghans are mostly from
the ethnic Hazara community and make up between 10 and 20 percent of the
country's 38 million people. They have long been the target of the IS, who
consider them heretics.”

 

Associated Press: Militants In Afghanistan Strike Pakistan Army Post, Kill 3
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“Militants in Afghanistan fired heavy weapons across the border into a
Pakistani military outpost overnight, killing three personnel, the army said
Saturday, in the latest violence to rattle the volatile region. A firefight
ensued with the militants firing toward the army post in Pakistan's rugged
North Waziristan region, and several were killed, the statement said. There was
no immediate way to independently confirm details of the attack. It comes as
Afghanistan is reeling from a series of explosions in recent days, including
the bombing of a mosque in northern Kunduz province on Friday that killed 33
people, including several students of an adjacent religious school or madrassa.
That includes an attack Thursday on the Abdul Rahim Shaheed school in Kabul
that killed seven children. It re-opened on Saturday, with children remembering
their fallen classmates with roses. The striking increase in attacks in
Afghanistan — as well as in neighboring Pakistan — highlights the growing
security challenge facing Afghanistan's Taliban rulers, who swept to power last
August in the closing days of the chaotic withdrawal of American and NATO
troops ending their 20-year war.”

 

Lebanon

 

Asharq Al-Awsat: Lebanese Security Forces Intensify Measures In Hezbollah
Stronghold Following Spike In Crime
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“Lebanon’s security forces carried out a series of raids in Beirut's southern
suburbs of Dahieh, the strongholds of the Shiite Hezbollah party and Amal
movement, following complaints by the local population over the security
situation. The security forces arrested dozens of individuals, who are wanted
for theft, armed robbery and drug trafficking. Pickpocketing and theft of
motorcycles and mobile phones have increased dramatically in recent months,
forcing the suburbs’ residents to restrict their movement especially during
nighttime. In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, a resident said she “hesitates to go
out at night to the markets to buy Eid al-Fitr necessities, due to fears of
being robbed.” The people of the district resorted to a sort of self-security
plan, with social media sites posting videos showing residents catching and
beating a person who tried to steal a motorcycle, before handing him over to
the state security forces. In view of the wide popular discontent, a security
campaign was launched last week, with the participation of the Lebanese Army,
the Interior Security Forces (ISF), State Security and General Security. The
residents of the suburbs have expressed some relief at the recent deployment of
security forces in the streets.”

 

Middle East

 

The Jerusalem Post: Israel Stood Firm Against Terrorism, Rocket Attacks And
Violent Clashes - Anaylsis <[link removed]>

 

“As violent and tense as the last month has been, considering all the buildup
and warnings about the inherent danger of Ramadan coinciding with Passover and
Easter, things could have been much, much worse.

Of course, four vile terrorist acts that killed 14 people over a 16-day span,
violent clashes between Arab rioters and police on the Temple Mount and five
rockets fired from Gaza toward Israel over the last week is bad, very bad. But
thanks to swift steps and a measured policy taken by the government and the IDF
and security forces, the situation has so far remained fairly contained. There
is still another week of Ramadan, including massive Muslim prayers at the
Temple Mount this Friday, the last Friday of the holiday. Then there is
Independence Day on May 5; the one-year anniversary of Operation Guardian of
the Walls in Gaza on May 6; the fourth-year anniversary of the US Embassy move
to Jerusalem on May 14; Nakba Day, Palestinian “Catastrophe Day,” on May 15;
and Jerusalem Day, with its now very fraught flag march through the Old City to
the Western Wall on May 29. There are plenty of off-ramps where things can turn
very violent, very quickly. But so far, the government and security apparatus
have kept the situation pretty well under control.”

 

The Times Of Israel: Israeli Forces Arrest 12 Palestinians In West Bank
Anti-Terror Raids
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“Israeli forces arrested 12 people across the West Bank over the weekend in
connection with a spate of deadly attacks inside Israel, the military announced
on Sunday. Israel’s army and the Shin Bet domestic security agency said they
had conducted “joint counterterrorism activities” in several West Bank
locations, including the flashpoint districts of Hebron and Jenin. “The forces
apprehended a total of 12 individuals suspected of involvement in terror
activities over the weekend,” they said. Palestinian media reports claimed that
the cousin of the terrorist who carried out the deadly shooting attack in Tel
Aviv earlier this month was among those arrested. He was arrested in a raid
carried out in a village on the outskirts of Jenin in the northern West Bank,
the reports said, identifying the man as Ahmad A-Sa’ad, a cousin of Ra’ad
Hazem, who killed three people when he opened fire on a busy Tel Aviv bar on
April 7. There was no immediate confirmation from the IDF, which has made
several attempts to arrest Hazem’s family members, including opening fire on a
car in which his brothers were traveling. Israeli security forces have sought
to arrest the father and brother of Hazem for their alleged involvement in the
attack. Hazem’s father, Fathi, is a former security prisoner who previously
served as an officer in the Palestinian Authority’s security services in Jenin.”

 

Nigeria

 

Reuters: Blast In Northeastern Nigeria Injures 11 People, Say Police
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“A blast in the capital of Nigeria's northeastern Taraba state on Friday
evening injured 11 people including children, police said, days after an
explosion claimed by Islamic State killed 3 people at a marketplace in a rural
town in Taraba. The blasts in Taraba mark the spread of Islamist insurgencies
that have gripped Nigeria's northeast for a decade. “There was an explosion at
about 8.15 p.m. yesterday in Nukkai, Jalingo. Eleven youths, comprising 10 male
and one female, mostly between 11 and 18 years had minor bruises and have been
treated. No one died. No one has owned up to the act,” Usman Abdullahi, a
police spokesman in Taraba State, said. The explosion at a marketplace in Iware
on Tuesday killed 3 people and injured 19.”

 

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.”

 

Daily Post Nigeria: Police Confirm Killing Of 10 Persons By Boko Haram In Yobe
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“Ten persons have been killed by Boko Haram in Damaturu, Yobe, state Police
Command has confirmed. The Police explained that several others were wounded in
the attack which occurred in Geidam town. ASP Dungus Abdulkarim, the spokesman
for the Command, said the victims were in a local beer parlour, popularly known
as Kwari, on the outskirts of the town when the insurgents struck on Wednesday.
He also explained that the insurgents killed a young man who operates a SIM
card registration shop in the town. According to him, the insurgents who
operated on motorcycles invaded the staff quarters of a public school in the
area. The spokesman urged the residents to report suspicious movements and
persons in their communities to security agencies, saying that the command
sympathised with the community over the attack. He assured, “Currently,
normalcy has returned and people are going about their normal business as
security operatives were deployed for patrols and visibility policing to avert
future occurrence of the attack.”

 

Somalia

 

Associated Press: Somalia’s Extremists Bomb Restaurant In The Capital; 6 Dead
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“A bomb blast by Somalia’s Islamic extremist rebels hit a popular seaside
restaurant in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, killing at least six people,
ambulance service officials say. The explosion was detonated by a suicide
bomber who had been denied access inside the restaurant where the Somali Police
Commissioner and several lawmakers were having dinner, Somali Police Spokesman
Maj. Abdifatah Aden Hassan announced at a press conference Saturday. The
explosion occurred Friday evening when many patrons gathered for an Iftar meal
to break the Ramadan fast. The restaurant is frequented by government
officials. Those killed were mostly civilians and seven other people were
wounded, the director of Aamin Ambulance Service, Abdulkadir Adan told The
Associated Press by phone. The blast caused “huge damage,” he said. Some
security personnel were killed in the blast but police did not specify how
many. Somalia’s al-Shabab Islamic extremist group has claimed responsibility
for the explosion.”

 

United Kingdom

 

The Jerusalem Post: UK Neo-Nazi, 19, Sentenced For Inciting Terrorism Against
Jews <[link removed]>

 

“19-year-old UK citizen Thomas Leech, who has encouraged terrorism against
Jews and Muslims, has been sentenced to two years in a young offender’s
institution. Leech posted a “call to arms” and glorified far-right killers such
as Anders Breivik, who murdered 77 people in two terrorist attacks in Norway in
2011 and Brenton Tarrant, who murdered 51 people at mosques in Christchurch,
New Zealand, in 2019. Leech, a Preston native, pleaded guilty to inciting
terrorism against Jews and Muslims and stirring up religious or racial hatred.
Rachel White, mitigating, said some offenses were committed when Leech was
still a minor, aged only 17 or 18, and that he suffered from autism,
agoraphobia and bullying, which kept him out of school. Manchester Crown Court
heard how Leech believed conspiracy theories about Jews, saying they were
planning the “great replacement” of the white race and are responsible for the
“Islamification” of Europe. Leech posted online about his belief that the
Holocaust was a hoax and that Jews controlled the world, as well as posting
Third Reich imagery and anti-Muslim content. Prosecutor Joe Allman said Leech
first came to police attention when he claimed to be planning a shooting at his
school in January 2017.”

 

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