Eye on Extremism
June 27, 2022
BBC: Oslo Shooting: Norway Attack Being Treated As Islamist Terrorism, Police Say
“Two people died and 21 were wounded early on Saturday in what police called an "act of Islamist terrorism". The shootings were in and near the London Pub, a popular LGBTQ+ venue, the Herr Nilsen jazz club and another pub. Norway's prime minister told the BBC the suspect was questioned in May, but was not deemed a threat at the time. "We now need to see the result of an investigation," PM Jonas Gahr Stoere told the BBC's Newshour programme late on Saturday. The shooting started at about 01:15 local time on Saturday (23:15 GMT Friday), officials said. Eyewitnesses said the suspect took out a gun from his bag and started firing, forcing terrified people to either throw themselves to the ground or flee. The attacker was arrested by police officers - who were helped by bystanders - minutes later. Two weapons were retrieved at the crime scene by police, one of them a fully automatic gun. The authorities later said the suspect was a Norwegian national. Of the 21 injured, 10 were in a serious condition. The terror alert level in Norway has now been raised to its highest level, though the country's PST intelligence service said it currently had "no indication" further attacks were likely. Oslo's annual gay Pride parade was due to be held on Saturday, and was formally cancelled on police advice.”
Reuters: Gas Field In Iraq's Kurdish Region Targeted By Rockets
“A gas field in northern Iraq's Kurdish region was targeted by rockets on Saturday for the third time in four days, authorities said. The Counter-Terrorism Group, a security body in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, said in a statement six rockets in total had hit the Khor Mor gas field, which is operated by UAE-based Dana Gas (DANA.AD) in Iraq's Sulaymaniyah province. The statement made no mention of casualties. Earlier, two security sources and a third source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters no one had been hurt in the attacks. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Armed groups that some Iraqi officials say are backed by Iran have claimed similar attacks in the past.”
United States
Axios: DHS Memo: Violent Extremism “Likely” In Wake Of Roe V. Wade Decision
“The Department of Homeland Security's intelligence arm said in a memo on Friday that domestic violent extremism is “likely” in response to the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Why it matters: Violence could take place in multiple locations for weeks as states make changes to their abortion laws, according to the memo, which was obtained by Axios. Details: Government officials — including Supreme Court justices — are likely those most at risk, the memo said. It cites recent attacks by the abortion-rights group known as Jane's Revenge as well as an alleged plot to kill U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. The memo also lists reproductive health care facilities and faith-based organizations as potential targets for acts of violent extremism. The intelligence agency says it is aware of arson attacks by both anti-abortion rights and abortion-rights activists targeting pregnancy resource centers and health care facilities as well as “at least 11 incidents of vandalism threatening violence targeting religious facilities perceived as being opposed to abortion.” The document was said to be shared with state and local Homeland Security personnel, law enforcement, first responders and private sector partners. The assessment was based on a rise in violence following the earlier leak of a draft Supreme Court decision.”
Courthouse News Service: US Solider Pleads Guilty To Plotting Rampage With Neo-Nazi Occultists
“… The Counter Extremism Project says the Order of Nine Angles is full of neo-Nazi-Satanists whose nihilistic ideology “supports violent jihadist terrorism, in line with its accelerationist philosophy to support the destruction of the current world order.” Facing possible life imprisonment on eight counts., the 24-year-old Army private from Louisville, Kentucky, was set to go to a jury trial after the Fourth of July holiday weekend. Melzer had pleaded not guilty in 2020 but changed his tune Friday afternoon, offering guilty pleas on three counts in connection with leaking his Army unit’s overseas location to an occultist fascist group that has deep ties to neo-Nazism, with the intention to facilitate a “mass-casualty” attack against his comrades.”
Iran
The Times Of Israel: Official Says Mossad, Local Intel Foiled 3 Iran Plots To Attack Israelis In Istanbul
“The Mossad spy agency and its local counterparts managed to thwart three Iranian attacks targeting Israeli civilians in Istanbul in recent days, a senior security official briefing Hebrew media said Friday, after Iran dismissed Jerusalem’s warnings of a Tehran-directed plot as malarkey. The account came a day after Turkish media reported that 10 people had been arrested as part of an Iranian plot targeting Israelis in Turkey, including a former ambassador. Jerusalem earlier this month imposed a travel warning against its citizens flying to Turkey after receiving significant intelligence that Iran was seeking to carry out attacks against Israeli tourists in the country to avenge a series of killings and strikes on Iranian military and nuclear targets that have been attributed to the Jewish state. The security official said Mossad intelligence had led Turkish authorities to 10 members of an Iranian cell who were allegedly planning to kidnap and murder a former Israeli ambassador to Turkey and his wife. The 10 were arrested Thursday, the official said. Israel’s Mossad spy agency chartered private aircraft to immediately bring the pair and others in Istanbul back to the country, Hebrew reports said. The name of the diplomat has not yet been released.”
Turkey
Balkan Insight: How Turkey’s Extremist ‘Grey Wolves’ Built A Cell In Bosnia
“… The executive director of Counter Extremism Project, David Ibsen, described the Grey Wolves as a “international fascist, Turkish nationalist, and pan-Turkic organisation and movement” Ibsen explained that Turkish nationalists view the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkan wars as a great tragedy that they still cannot accept, which is why they are seeking to consolidate their influence in the region. “The Turkish state also invests in restoring mosques and historical buildings from the Ottoman period in the Balkans, which can be viewed as part of the soft-power expansion of neo-Ottomanism,” he said. He added that the activities of the Grey Wolves are probably part of this political agenda too.”
Middle East
Fox News: UN Agency Teachers Urge Terrorism And Murder Of Jews, Report Claims
“A shocking report by a watchdog organization on Thursday revealed that a UN agency tasked with, among other things, educating Palestinian students in places such as Lebanon, the West Bank and Jordan, employs teachers who promote terrorism and the murder of Jews. UN Watch, a Geneva-based NGO, uncovered in its 49-page report that United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) computer teacher Nihaya Awad, who works in the West Bank, supported Hamas rocket attacks on Israeli civilians after last year’s war. The U.S. and the European Union classified Hamas—the Sunni jihadi organization that controls the Gaza Strip—as a terrorist entity. In one internet post, Awad wrote: “Greetings to the people of Gaza, Blessed victory.” A second post Awad wrote said “In the name of Allah, one victory after the other, Palestine will be fully liberated.” Awad “encouraged Palestinian terrorists’ exploitation of child soldiers, in a May 21, 2021 post on Facebook,” UN Watch reported. Awad posted the entries two months after a UNRWA director, Gwyn Lewis, praised Awad in a certificate off appreciation for her “fantastic efforts” as a “best performer” in UNRWA education, according to the report. “We are proud that you are part of the UNRWA team,” Lewis wrote on March 23, 2021.”
The National Interest: Al Qaeda Leader Reappears To Revive Islamist Jihadi Ideology
“Despite the emergence of the November 2020 rumors about Ayman al-Zawahiri’s death, the elderly Egyptian leader of Al Qaeda (Qa’idat al-Jihad in Arabic) has recently reappeared in several videos released by Al Qaeda’s official media arm, As-Sahab Media, after having tactfully remained out of sight for an extended period of time. Before these videos had emerged, there was predictive conjecture naming Sayf Al-’Adl, a senior Al Qaeda official believed to have been imprisoned or under house arrest in Iran, as al-Zawahiri’s “soon-to-be” successor. The head leader’s reappearance not only provides recent proof of life but more significantly, also indicates his intent to revive the group’s Islamist jihadi ideology and promote anti-Western propaganda. His reappearance also underscores how the Al Qaeda leader capitalizes on the new freedom granted to him by his long-time allies, the Afghan Taliban, to resurface and provide critical ideological guidance to jihadis around the world from South Asia to North Africa. Throughout 2019 and 2020, the top ideologue and operations chief of Al Qaeda tactfully refrained from appearing to comment on trending global issues, causing many to conclude he had died and talk about Al Qaeda after al-Zawahiri. The timing of al-Zawahiri’s repeated reappearance is extremely significant and alarming; as it follows the botched August 30, 2021, U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan which handed the country over to Al Qaeda’s allies: the Afghan Taliban.”
Mali
Associated Press: Survivors Recount Mali's Deadliest Attack Since Coup
“Moussa Tolofidie didn’t think twice when nearly 100 jihadis on motorbikes gathered in his village in central Mali last week. A peace agreement signed last year between some armed groups and the community in the Bankass area had largely held, even if the gunmen would sometimes enter the town to preach Shariah to the villagers. But on this Sunday in June, everything changed — the jihadis began killing people. “They started with an old man about 100 years old ... then the sounds of the weapons began to intensify around me and then at one moment I heard a bullet whistling behind my ear. I felt the earth spinning, I lost consciousness and fell to the ground,” Tolofidie, a 28-year-old farmer told The Associated Press by phone Friday in Mopti town, where he was receiving medical care. “When I woke up it was dark, around midnight. There were bodies of other people on top of me. I smelled blood and smelled burnt things and heard the sounds of some people still moaning,” he said. At least 132 people were killed in several villages in the Bankass area of central Mali during two days of attacks last weekend, according to the government, which blames the Group to Support Islam and Muslims jihadi rebels linked to al-Qaida. The attack — the deadliest since mutinous soldiers toppled President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita nearly two years ago — shows that Islamic extremist violence is spreading from Mali’s north to more central areas, analysts have said.”
Africanews: Mali: Armed Forces Say More Than 60 Terrorists Killed After Diallasougou Massacre
“The fight against terrorist insurgents continues in Mali. The national armed forces announced Friday that more that 60 alleged terrorists were killed in the country’s troubled central region. It is there that suspected jihadists massacred more than 130 civilians on June 18. The authorities also reported that “two look-outs were neutralized”. In a separate operation in the South of the country, “eight suspected terrorist were arrested”. The military announcement came on the same day as the prime suspects of the latest mass killings repportedly rejected any responsibility in the attack. The Malian government blamed the Macina Katiba for the massacre of civilians in Diallassagou and two nearby towns in the central part of the country. The al-Qaeda affiliated terror group was created in 2015 and has repeatedly occupied towns in the central region of Mopti despite pressure. Since 2012, the jihadi threat has spread from Mali to central and neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger. In the bloodbath, thousands of civilians were forced to flee.”
Africa
Voice Of America: Cameroon Deploys Hundreds Of Troops To Protect 40,000 People Displaced By Boko Haram
“Cameron has deployed hundreds of troops along its border with Nigeria after attacks by Boko Haram militants forced more than 40,000 villagers over the past two months to flee the area. Cameroon's defense minister is visiting the border to assess the security situation and assure villagers that it is safe to return home. Cameroon's military reports that Boko Haram incursions in Mayo Tsanaga, an administrative unit on its northern border with Nigeria, have increased drastically since April. Each day, armed members of the Nigerian terror group cross over to Cameroon, attack villages and steal cattle and food, the military reports. Cameroon's defense minister, Joseph Beti Assomo, said Thursday President Paul Biya asked him to lead a delegation of top military officials to the border. Assomo, whose delegation was in Mokollo district where Mayo Tsanaga is located, says several hundred troops have been deployed to protect civilians and their goods. He said that self-protection groups must cooperate with the army. Assomo says all militias must henceforth be registered and controlled by local government officials and Cameroon military. He says militia group members should be people of unquestionable integrity. Assomo says government troops and local officials note that militias have been infiltrated by Boko Haram terrorists and adds that the military will energetically fight terrorists and bring back civilians trapped along the border with Nigeria.”
Reuters: 2 Police Officers Killed In North Benin Attack
“Two police officers were killed and one wounded in an attack on a police station in northwest Benin on Sunday, police sources said, the latest in a string of deadly assaults in an area affected by a spillover of militant activity in neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger. Suspected jihadists descended on the Dassari police station at around 2 a.m. and opened fire, killing two officers before they were pushed back, said one police officer who did not wish to be named. “Our forces were able to resist. Unfortunately, there were two dead in our ranks,” the police officer told Reuters. Two “terrorists” were also killed and several others wounded, he added. A second unnamed police source confirmed the assault and the death toll. Dassari is a town around 600 km (373 miles) northwest of Benin's largest city Cotonou, near the border with Burkina Faso. It is around 250 km from a police station in the commune of Karimana, near the border with Niger, that was raided by armed assailants on April 26, leaving at least one dead and several wounded. Benin's army has not officially communicated on Sunday's attack. Its spokesman Didier Ahouanvoedo referred Reuters to the police. “The attack this early morning once again spread panic among the local population,” said a local official in Dassari, who did not wish to be named for safety reasons.”
France
The Brussels Times: Paris Attacks: Defence Presents Closing Arguments In Abdeslam Trial
“The defendant is the only surviving member of the Islamic State (IS) linked terrorist cell that killed 130 people on 13 November 2015. He faces murder charges as part of an organised terrorist cell but is not accused of killing anyone himself. At the start of his testimony, Abdeslam pointed out that he hadn’t personally killed or injured anyone. Abdeslam risks life imprisonment, the most severe punishment under French law. This penalty is rarely requested in France and has only been given four times previously, making the possibility of release minimal. The prosecution justified the sentence “in view of the immense gravity of the facts,” but also due to the character of the defendant. Abdeslam “maintains he has not killed anyone” yet he has adopted “a strategy of constant minimisation of the facts, which indicates he has not gone through the change that he is claiming,” said the prosecution. Defence lawyers to the French Belgian-born Abdeslam, Martin Vettes and Olivia Ronen, argue that since the attack in 2015, and during the long course of the trial, the defendant has changed.”
Europe
Reuters: Norway Court Names Suspect In Oslo Gay Bar Shooting Ahead Of Pride Gathering
“A Norwegian court on Monday named the suspect in a deadly rampage at a gay bar in Oslo as Zaniar Matapour, a Norwegian citizen of Iranian origin, as the city prepared a demonstration of solidarity to honour the victims later on Monday. Matapour, whom police have described as a radicalised Islamist with a history of mental illness, is accused of killing two people and injuring 21 on Saturday, the day the city was due to celebrate its annual Pride parade. The Oslo district court will decide on Monday the initial terms of Matapour's detention during the investigation into the mass shooting. He will undergo a psychiatric evaluation as part of that, police said. Hours later, members of the city's LGBTQ community will gather in front of Oslo Town Hall. Monday also marks the anniversary of New York's Stonewall riots of June 1969, seen as the protests that gave birth to the international gay rights movement.”
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