Eye on Extremism
July 7, 2022
Associated Press: Taliban Leader: Afghan Soil Won't Be Used To Launch Attacks
“Taliban supreme leader Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada said Wednesday that Afghan soil will not be used to launch attacks against other countries, and he asked the international community to not interfere in Afghanistan’s internal affairs. The Taliban say they are adhering to an agreement they signed with the United States in 2020 — before retaking power — in which they promised to fight terrorists. Since their takeover last year, they have repeatedly said Afghanistan would not be used as a launching pad for attacks against other countries. “We assure our neighbors, the region and the world that we will not allow anyone to use our territory to threaten the security of other countries. We also want other countries not to interfere in our internal affairs,” Akhundzada said in an address ahead of the Eid al-Adha holiday. The Taliban were ousted by a U.S.-led coalition in 2001 for harboring Osama bin Laden, mastermind of the 9/11 attacks in the United States. The religious group captured power again in mid-August, during the chaotic last weeks of the U.S. and NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan. The international community has been wary of any recognition or cooperation with the Taliban, especially after they restricted the rights of women and minorities — measures that harken back to their harsh rule when they were last in power in the late 1990s.”
Reuters: Islamic State Claims Raid On Nigerian Prison, 440 Inmates On Run
“Islamic State claimed responsibility on Wednesday for a raid on a Nigerian prison in the capital Abuja which freed around 440 inmates, raising fears that insurgents are venturing from their enclaves in the northeast. Shuaib Belgore, permanent secretary at the interior ministry, told journalists outside the Abuja prison - which has 900 inmates - that a security officer was killed during Tuesday night's raid and three others were injured. He said suspected Boko Haram attackers came for members who were held in the prison. “They came specifically for their co-conspirators, but in order to get them ... some of them are in the general (prison) population so they broke out and other people in that population escaped as well but many of them have returned,” Belgore said. A total of 879 inmates fled, the prison service said in a statement, with 443 still at large and the rest recaptured. Four inmates were dead and 16 others injured, it said. “They have reported themselves to the police, some we have successfully retrieved from the bushes where they were hiding,” Belgore said. The raid highlights Nigeria's security challenges, which is spreading from the northern regions where armed insurgents and gangs are rife. Outside the prison, the charred wreckage of several vehicles with bullet holes were seen on Wednesday morning, attesting to gunbattles in the vicinity during the raid.”
United States
Iowa City Press-Citizen: Iowa City Man Charged With Terrorism, Leaving Explosive Devices At Two Locations
“An Iowa City man has been charged with terrorism after police say he left a backpack with incendiary materials and an attached fuse at the Guidelink Center on Tuesday, leading to the evacuation of that building and, later, a downtown apartment complex. The Johnson County Sheriff's Office issued a news release Wednesday afternoon that said it had arrested and charged Nezzy Underscore Conway, 23, with possession of an incendiary or explosive device, a Class C felony, and an outstanding warrant for 4th degree criminal mischief for failing to appear in an unrelated incident. Conway is also being charged by University of Iowa Police with terrorism, a Class B felony, and possession of an incendiary or explosive device from a related investigation. A criminal complaint filed Wednesday by UI police alleges that, at 9:16 a.m. Tuesday, law enforcement was called to the College of Public Health for a possible incendiary device placed in an exterior electrical outlet that appeared to be singed from where someone attempted to set it on fire. Law enforcement from the Iowa City Police Department and Johnson County Metro Bomb Squad respond to a call after evacuating the Capitol House Apartments on Tuesday at 320 S. Dubuque St. in Iowa City. The device was attached with a bright yellow or green tape, the same that was later found in a backpack left at the Guidelink Center and in Conway's apartment.”
Iran
Reuters: Iran TV Says Several Foreigners, A UK Diplomat, Detained For Alleged Spying
“Iran's Revolutionary Guards have detained several foreigners, including Britain's second most senior envoy in Tehran, for alleged acts of spying such as taking soil samples in restricted areas, state television reported on Wednesday. It did not elaborate on when they were arrested or whether they were still under arrest. Britain said the reports were "completely false". "These spies were taking earth samples in Iran's central desert where the Revolutionary Guards' aerospace missile exercises were conducted," state TV said. Iranian state TV showed what it said was footage of Giles Whitaker and his family in central Iran where the British diplomat appeared to be taking ground samples. The TV said it was near an area that a missile test was taking place by the Guards.”
Iraq
Kurdistan 24: Iraqi Forces Kill 2 ISIS Suspects In Makhmour
“The Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) killed two suspected ISIS militants on Mount Graw in Makhmour on Tuesday, according to the Iraqi Security Media Cell. The Nineveh Joint Operations Command carried out the raid in the mountainous area in the Sargaran area of the disputed district of Makhmour. The military media did not elaborate on the suspects' identities but stated the operation was a “pre-emptive” one. The raid occurred shortly after Iraqi and Peshmerga commanders met in Makhmour to strengthen joint security efforts to fill the security vacuum in the area that ISIS was exploiting. Iraqi Air Force F-16 fighter-bombers also carried out two airstrikes on Mount Hamreen against suspected ISIS hideouts on Tuesday. According to the Security Media Cell, the strikes destroyed “two caves” that are believed to be used by the militants. While ISIS lost all the territory that once made up its self-styled caliphate, the group is still capable of launching attacks against security forces and civilians. During a meeting with US Senator Lindsey Graham on Tuesday, Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani discussed the “ISIS resurgence” and the threat it poses to the stability and security of the area. The country's security forces regularly launch air and ground operations against the group in Iraq's west and north.”
Afghanistan
Voice Of America: US Says ‘It's Too Early’ To Consider Recognition Of Taliban
“The United States says no foreign government is contemplating legitimacy for Taliban rule in Afghanistan, even as the insurgent-turned-Islamist group next month will mark the first year of its return to power in Kabul. “I think there’s actually a global consensus to include Moscow and Beijing and Iran, that it’s too early to look at recognition,” Donald Lu, U.S. assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia, told VOA in an interview. “Yes, some countries are beginning a very slow process of normalization of relations. No one is talking about formal recognition,” Lu said. The U.S. diplomat noted that international discussions instead were focused on seeking an engagement with the Taliban that can help improve the situation on the ground in Afghanistan in terms of the rights of women and girls, and security. “We, as partner countries, should also be working with authorities in Afghanistan to create a better world for Afghan people … to try to influence what is happening in Afghanistan for the betterment of the people of Afghanistan, but also a stable region.” The Taliban seized power last August when U.S. and NATO partners withdrew their final troops, ending almost two decades of foreign military intervention in the country.”
Middle East
The Times Of Israel: Palestinian Arrested Over Suspected Bnei Brak Terror Attack, Says Shin Bet
“The Shin Bet security agency said on Wednesday that a Palestinian man who allegedly attacked and seriously hurt a Bnei Brak resident a day earlier had been arrested. Early Tuesday morning, Yitzhak Dahan, 47, was wounded in a suspected terror attack on a pedestrian bridge between the ultra-Orthodox city and neighboring Givat Shmuel. His condition has since improved. The Shin Bet did not say where or when the suspect was arrested and further details relating to the attack were barred from publication due to a court-imposed gag order. Dahan told Channel 12 news on Wednesday that he passed the alleged assailant at the entrance to the bridge as he saw him reaching into a bag. “And after a few seconds, he came up behind me and inflicted blows on my head with something, probably metal,” Dahan said. Citing unsourced assessments, Channel 12 said the weapon could have been a hammer or an axe. Dahan was taken by medics to the Tel Hashomer hospital in Ramat Gan, which said he was suffering from a wound to his head. The suspected terror attack came following a string of deadly incidents between mid-March and the beginning of May that left 19 people dead. The most deadly attack — in which five people were killed — occurred in Bnei Brak.”
Africa
Financial Times: Niger: The West’s xxxxxx Against Jihadis And Russian Influence In Africa
“Standing in a landscape of sand and scrub that rolls to the horizon, General Mahamadou Abou Tarka dabs sweat from his forehead and points north to Niger’s frontier with Mali and west to Burkina Faso. “There’s a vacuum on the other side,” he says, referring to the lawless regions in the countries abutting Niger’s restive Tillabéri region. Across the invisible border, the Malian and Burkinabe states barely function, the general says. Swaths of territory have been overrun by terrorists affiliated with al-Qaeda and Islamic State. “Mali is a failed state. Burkina is failing,” says Abou Tarka who, as head of Niger’s High Authority for the Consolidation of Peace, advises his civilian government on the fight against a hydra-headed terrorist threat, much of it spilling over hundreds of miles of unpoliced frontier. “As for Nigeria,” he gestures in the direction of the huge country to the south. “We say we have a border with Boko-Haramia,” he says, in a biting reference to the Boko Haram fundamentalists who, until recently at least, frequently swept across the frontier to attack villages in Niger. The world’s poorest country, according to the UN’s human development index, Niger is rarely considered a geopolitical linchpin. But that is exactly what it has become as successive dominoes fall, terrorism spreads and Russian influence grows in the Sahel, a sub-continental-sized belt of semi-desert stretching thousands of miles across Africa.”
Africanews: Niger: Six Soldiers Killed In New Attack Near Chad
“Six Nigerien soldiers were killed and 14 wounded on Monday night in an attack by “fifty” suspected jihadists on the military post of Blabrine (south-east Niger), near the border with Chad, the Ministry of Defence announced. The provisional balance sheet also shows “17 dead on the enemy side”, while “weapons and ammunition have been recovered by the armed forces combing the area”, the ministry said in a statement read on public radio on Tuesday evening. It did not specify the identity of the attackers, who are often identified as jihadists from Boko Haram or the Islamic State in West Africa (ISWAP) group, which was formed in a split from the Nigerian Boko Haram group. According to the ministry, the attack was carried out “on the night of Monday 4 to Tuesday 5 July” at “around 1am” but “the reaction (of the soldiers) made it possible to repel the attack and to rout the enemy”. This is the second attack in three days in south-eastern Niger, after the one on Sunday in which a soldier died in an assault by “Boko Haram elements” in Garin Dogo, near Nigeria. Blabrine is located in the department of N'Guigmi (Diffa region) and borders Chad. Its military base has been targeted several times since 2015 by “terrorist” attacks. In May 2020, 12 Nigerien soldiers were killed and ten injured in an attack attributed to Boko Haram, according to an official report.”
Canada
The Conversation: The Proud Boys Disbanded Over A Year Ago, But Far-Right Extremism Still Exists In Canada
“In February 2021, the Canadian government designated the far-right group, the Proud Boys, as a terrorist entity. At the time, it was argued that the designation was an important step in clearly demarcating the boundary between acceptable and inappropriate behaviour, particularly in an increasingly polarized political environment. More difficult to determine, however, was how being listed would affect the group. Given the hearings currently being conducted by the U.S. House Select Committee on the Jan. 6 attack are set to focus some attention on the Proud Boys, now seems like an opportune moment to re-examine the potential threat posed by the group. Despite being a recognized as a terrorist entity, social media accounts associated with Proud Boys Canada remained active throughout early 2021. Suddenly, three months after its listing, the group issued a statement announcing that it had officially disbanded. In a final act of defiance, the notice maintained that Proud Boys Canada “were never terrorists or a white supremacy group.” Some members refused to accept the decision to dissolve; indeed, former Canadian Proud Boys remain active. Offline, the network’s activities have been restricted to sticker and poster campaigns, with no evidence of violence perpetrated by former Canadian Proud Boys.”
Europe
Reuters: Belgium Provisionally Clears Contentious Iran Prisoner Swap Treaty
“Belgian lawmakers gave initial clearance on Wednesday to a prisoner exchange treaty with Iran that could lead to the release of an Iranian diplomat convicted of planning to bomb a rally of an exiled opposition group. The foreign relations committee of Belgium's lower house debated the treaty for more than six hours over two days before finally approving it. The measure still needs to be put before the full 150-member lower house of parliament, most likely in the next two weeks, but the chamber normally follows votes of its committees, given they have similar party compositions. The prisoner exchange might secure the release of a Belgian aid worker who was detained in Iran in February and could help Swedish-Iranian academic Ahmadreza Djalali, who has taught in Belgium and been sentenced to death in Iran.”
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