Eye on Extremism
June 28, 2022
ABC News: US Forces Kill Senior Terrorist Leader In Syria
“U.S. forces killed a senior terrorist leader in an airstrike in Syria on Monday, according to military officials. U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said the target of the strike, Abu Hamzah al Yemeni, was a senior leader of an al-Qaida-affiliated terrorist group known as Hurras al-Din. The leader was riding alone on a motorcycle in Idlib province at the time of the attack, CENTCOM said. Violent groups like Hurras al-Din pose an ongoing threat to the U.S. and its allies, according to the statement. “The removal of this senior leader will disrupt Al Qaeda's ability to carry out attacks against U.S. citizens our partners, and innocent civilians around the world,” the statement said. An early review showed no sign of civilian casualties, according to the U.S. military. The strike came 10 days after a rare ground raid by U.S. forces in northwestern Syria captured a top ISIS leader.”
Reuters: Verdict Expected Wednesday In Trial Of Paris 2015 Attacks
“The trial of suspects in the attack that killed 130 people across Paris in 2015 will come to an end on Wednesday when judges hand in their verdict, in what victims said will be a relief after nearly 10 months of harrowing hearings. In the deadliest attack ever seen in peacetime France, Islamist gunmen struck the Bataclan music hall, six bars and restaurants and the perimeter of the Stade de France sports stadium on the evening of Nov. 13, 2015. The hearings allowed victims to testify in detail about their ordeal and their struggles in overcoming it, while families of those killed spoke of how hard it was to move on. Some of the accused apologised or took responsibility for their role in the attacks. "It has been a long 10 months but I think we can be proud of what we achieved," said Arthur Denouveaux, a survivor of the Bataclan attack, in which 90 died, and the president of Life for Paris, a victims association.”
Syria
Asharq Al-Awsat: Iran-Backed Militia Arrests 30 Syrian Fighters
“Iran-backed militias continue to arrest local fighters who refuse to participate in combing operations in the Deir Ezzor countryside desert. The militias arrested at least 28 Syrian members amid reports of apprehending others who refused to comb the al-Bokamal desert down to al-Salihiyah and al-Suwayyah. The sources of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) indicated that ISIS escalated its raids in the desert this month, documenting 11 attacks in 20 days, between June 2 and June 22. The terrorists killed 42 regime soldiers and militiamen and injured 31 others. A civilian was also killed in the attacks, with 14 others sustaining various injuries. On Saturday, the Observatory reported that regime forces backed by Palestinian “Liwaa al-Quds” militiamen and other militias combed areas in Jabal al-Bishri in southeastern Raqqa, searching for ISIS hideouts. Moreover, regime forces and their backed militias supported by helicopters raided abandoned houses used by cattle herders in the area. It coincided with Russian and regime warplanes flying over the Syrian desert to monitor and target the movements of ISIS cells hidden in separate regions of the desert.”
Afghanistan
Voice Of America: Taliban’s Alleged Extrajudicial Killings In Afghan District Worry UN, Rights Groups
“Taliban authorities in Afghanistan are being accused of carrying out extrajudicial killings and other human rights abuses as they attempt to quell an armed rebellion in a northern region. The United Nations and rights watchdogs on Monday called reports of abuses in the turbulent Balkhab district in northern Sar-e Pol province alarming and demanded that the ruling Islamist group hold those responsible. The accusations stemmed from recent Taliban military operations against loyalist-turned-rebel commander Mehdi Mujahid and his fighters in Balkhab. Mujahid, an influential member of the Afghan ethnic minority Hazara Shi’ite community, served until recently as the Taliban’s spy chief for central Bamyan province. He was dismissed for unspecified reasons, prompting him to break away from the Sunni-based Islamist rulers. “Amnesty International is gravely concerned by reports of summary executions and harm to civilians in Balkhab district of Sari-Pul province,” the global rights group tweeted Monday. “As the de facto authorities in Afghanistan, the Taliban has a primary responsibility to end the attacks against civilians and ensure justice and accountability.”
Reuters: Taliban Calls For Release Of Frozen Funds After Deadly Earthquake
“Afghanistan's Taliban administration on Saturday called on international governments to roll back sanctions and lift a freeze on central bank assets following the earthquake that killed more than 1,000 people and left thousands homeless. The 6.1-magnitude quake that struck the east of the country early on Wednesday destroyed or damaged 10,000 homes and injured about 2,000 people, straining the country's fragile health system and posing a major test for the ruling Taliban. "The Islamic Emirate is asking the world to give the Afghans their most basic right, which is their right to life and that is through lifting the sanctions and unfreezing our assets and also giving assistance," Abdul Qahar Balkhi, foreign affairs ministry spokesman, told Reuters in an interview. While humanitarian aid continues to flow to Afghanistan, funds needed for longer-term development were halted when the Taliban seized control of the country in August 2021 as foreign forces withdrew.”
Pakistan
Associated Press: Pakistani Army Says Shootout With Militants Killed 2 Troops
“A shootout between Pakistani soldiers and militants in the country’s northwest, near the border with Afghanistan, has killed two soldiers and seven militants, the army said. According to a military statement, the exchange took place on Sunday in Ghulam Khan, a border town in North Waziristan, a district of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The area, along the Afghanistan border, is a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban and other militant groups. The military gave no further details. Lately, an increasing number of attacks on Pakistani troops and the military’s raids on militant hideouts there have raised concerns about the prospects of ongoing talks between the Islamabad government and the Pakistani Taliban. The talks are hosted by the Taliban in Afghanistan. The two sides agreed on a cease-fire in May that’s still holding. The Afghan Taliban, who seized control of the country last August, have urged both sides to give peace a chance. For years, North Waziristan and its surroundings were a militant sanctuary, until a massive military operation in 2014. The army said it cleared the area but militants there are still able to stage sporadic attacks. The outlawed Pakistani Taliban — Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP as the group is known — has claimed most of the attacks. The TTP, which is allied with the Afghan Taliban, for years used Afghanistan’s rugged border regions for hideouts and for staging cross-border attacks into Pakistan.”
Gulf News: Role Of Provinces To Be Restored To Curb Extremism, Pakistan PM Says
“Pakistan’s prime minister has said that the role of provincial governments in the implementation of the National Action Plan would be restored to combat terrorism. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said there had been a surge in terror incidents in Pakistan during the last four years as the role of provinces in implementing a comprehensive 20-point plan to counter extremism has remained neglected. The prime minister made the remarks while presiding over a meeting in Lahore to review the security situation across the country. “Our struggle will go on until the elimination of terrorism. The government will never compromise Pakistan’s security and defence,” the prime minister said. The provinces were required to make legal, judicial, police and madrassas reforms, ban hate literature, and ensure de-weaponization under the NAP but that did not happen, the local media reported. The 20-point National Action Plan (NAP) for countering terrorism and extremism was devised by NACTA (National Counter Terrorism Authority) after the 2014 Army Public School Peshawar massacre in which terrorists killed 142 people, among them 132 were children. The prime minister’s concerns about the increase in terrorist attacks in the past few years were based on a report by the Islamabad-based think tank Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS).”
Associated Press: Pakistani Court Sentences Militant Linked To Mumbai Attacks
“Pakistan sentenced one of the militants linked to the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India to 15 years in prison for terror financing unrelated to the assaults, according to court documents viewed by The Associated Press on Monday. Sajid Majeed Mir, 43, was arrested in 2020 and sentenced in May, according to the documents, but his detention and sentencing were never disclosed by Pakistan. He was sought by the FBI in connection with the 2008 attacks on India’s financial hub that killed 166 people, including six Americans. Under its Rewards for Justice program, the United States offered up to $5 million for information on Mir’s alleged involvement in the attacks in neighboring India. The court documents provided no details on Mir’s involvement in terror financing. In November 2008, a group of 10 young attackers who allegedly sailed from Karachi hijacked an Indian fishing boat, killed its captain and took a rubber dinghy into Mumbai.”
Middle East
i24 News: Two Palestinians Killed During Anti-Terrorist Operation In West Bank
“Two young Palestinians were killed by the Israel’s Defense Forces (IDF) in Ramallah in the West Bank on Monday night during an operation conducted to arrest suspected terrorists. Israeli soldiers were also targeted by fire from a vehicle in the city of Jenin, while carrying out anti-terrorist raids. No casualties to the IDF were reported. Other violent incidents took place in Bethlehem and Hebron, including stones being thrown at soldiers. As part of the ongoing counterterrorism Operation Break the Wave, the IDF, the Shin Bet internal security service, and Border Police forces overnight arrested 17 Palestinians suspected of terrorist activities in the West Bank and Jordan Valley. Weapons were also seized during the raid. Earlier on Saturday, Israeli forces arrested 11 people in the West Bank. The operation is conducted in response to recent attacks on Israeli civilians.”
Nigeria
Daily Post Nigeria: Insecurity: Boko Haram Killed 33,127 In 10 Years – Experts
“Experts have lamented the level of devastation and negative impact insecurity has brought upon the country. In a latest study carried out by Nextier, a leading think-tank in Nigeria, profiling the entire security situation in the country, particularly on pastoral banditry, vandalism among other forms of terrorism, observed that for over two decades, violent insecurity surged in scale and sophistication, posing an unprecedented threat to valued assets, including lives, investments, and the state’s territorial integrity. The experts asserted that statistical mapping based on armed conflict location and event data and Nextier violent conflict database reveals that between January 1997 and March 2020, 2,203 incidents of hostility between and among ethnic-based militia groups resulted in 16,328 fatalities. The report also gleaned that for the same period, 1,473 incidents of pastoral banditry killed no fewer than 9,971 persons (55 per cent from 2015). It also observed that between 2000 and 2018, 19,896 cases of pipeline vandalisation and 320 cases of rupture were recorded in the Niger Delta, resulting in the loss of 2.45 metric tons of oil worth 125.4 billion naira and 375 fire outbreaks.”
France
RFI: Hearings At Paris Terror Trial Wrap Up With Final Statements From The Accused
“Thirteen of the 14 men being judged for their implication in the November 2015 terrorist attacks chose to address the court on Monday. They variously expressed gratitude, contrition, sympathy for the survivors, the bereaved. There were tears. Osama Krayem stayed silent to the end. This man, who risks spending the next three decades in jail and who renounced on the trial last November, saying it was all a sham, simply shook his head negatively when asked by the court president if he had anything to add in his defence. All the others spoke. Muhammad Usman, an Urdu speaker from Pakistan, thanked his lawyers in one sentence of impeccable French and sat back down. Algerian Adel Haddadi added regrets for the victims and hopes for the future to his thanks, but also kept it short. The others more or less stuck to the lines which must have been laid down in advance by their defence teams: be polite to the court, be thankful and respectful of French justice, acknowledge the suffering of the victims, condemn the attacks, don't talk too much. It was anything but an empty exercise. The jaunty Hamza Attou set the tone by thanking the civil witnesses, the families of the victims, for their unfailing friendship and support.”
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