“Many domestic terrorism cases now have an international component, as would-be
killers are “egging each other on” and drawing inspiration from racist











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Eye on Extremism


July 11, 2022



The Washington Post: Domestic Terror Cases Increasingly Cross Borders, FBI
Director Says
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“Many domestic terrorism cases now have an international component, as
would-be killers are “egging each other on” and drawing inspiration from racist
or neo-Nazi attacks overseas, the head of the FBI and his British counterpart
said Friday. FBI Director Christopher A. Wray, speaking to reporters alongside
Ken McCallum, director general of the British domestic security agency MI5,
said their agencies have spent decades developing tip-sharing systems to handle
international terrorism cases, but that “muscle memory” is now being applied to
domestic terrorism investigations. “Travel and technology,” Wray said, “have
really blurred the lines between foreign and domestic threats.” The FBI
director said the frequently cited expression of “connecting the dots” to stop
a terrorist attack has taken on a new kind of urgency for many investigators
because attackers can mobilize so quickly and often are not part of a large,
well-established network. In many terrorism cases, Wray said, “you’re talking
about largely lone actors, maybe one or two other people who don’t have to do a
lot of plotting, who don’t need to have a lot of money … don’t need to do a lot
of training, and whose targets are pretty much everywhere.” As a result, Wray
continued, “there are very few dots out there, as compared to, say, the 9/11
model of an al-Qaeda sleeper cell. … With fewer dots and much less time in
which to connect those dots, it may well be that Ken’s folks have one dot and
we have the other dot, and if we’re not super latched up, we’re going to miss
the only picture that’s out there and it’s got to happen fast.”



Premium Times Nigeria: Abuja Prison Attack: Nigerian Govt Releases Details Of
Escaped Boko Haram Terrorists
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“The Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS) has released the details and
pictures of the 68 Boko Haram suspects who escaped from the Kuje Correctional
facility. According to a report by BBC Pidgin, the officials have also promised
to release the details of other prisoners who escaped from the facility.
PREMIUM TIMES reported how suspected Boko Haram terrorists stormed the Kuje
Custodial Centre (prison) Tuesday night. The terrorists, using high explosives
and guns, breached the facility, leading to the escape of over 800 of the 994
inmates on Tuesday night. PREMIUM TIMES also reported that an NSCDC officer and
four inmates were also killed during the attack. The spokesperson of the
Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS), Umar Abubakar, on Wednesday, said over 400
of the escaped inmates had been recaptured while 443 were still at large.
Another 16 inmates who sustained various degrees of injuries were receiving
treatment. About 24 hours after the incident, a terrorist group, Islamic State
West Africa (ISWAP), claimed responsibility for the attack. In a video shared
by the terrorist group on Wednesday, many of the inmates were seen fleeing the
prison while the terrorists chanted ‘Allahu Akbar.’”



United States



CBS News: Watchdog Finds Department Of Homeland Security Falls Short In
Addressing Domestic Terrorism Threat
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“The top watchdog at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) found that the
DHS “could do more to address the threats of domestic terrorism.” The
revelations, in a new 29-page report, follow an uptick in mass shootings that
have been shaking the country and prompting questions about the federal law
enforcement response. Last month, a state grand jury indicted the alleged
Buffalo mass shooter Payton Gendron on charges of domestic terrorism motivated
by hate in addition to 10 counts of first-degree murder. In the department's
response, DHS Under Secretary for Strategy, Policy, and Plans Robert Silvers
also committed to developing national-level statistics on domestic terrorism by
June of next year. DHS spokesperson said the department “will work to
implement” the inspector general's suggestions and added that since last year,
DHS has issued bulletins and other products to provide information to Americans
about the terrorist threat environment and threats, including six National
Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS) bulletins, which communicated information
about threats and about “resources for how to stay safe during the heightened
threat environment.”



Iran



Asharq Al-Awsat: IRGC Says It Neutralized Terrorist Cell, 4 Of Its Members
Killed
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“The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said its forces had
neutralized a “terrorist cell” in Salmas near the Turkish border. The IRGC
issued a statement announcing that its ground forces tasked with protecting the
border triangle with Turkey and the Kurdistan region of Iraq “neutralized a
terrorist cell after intelligence monitoring.” The statement explained that the
cell intended to enter the country and carry out sabotage acts, but the
officers of Hamza Sayyid al-Shuhada base in the border area, ambushed it ahead
of the attack. “The cell was destroyed,” the statement asserted, noting that
the IRGC officers confiscated equipment and ammunition. The statement asserted
“no losses” for the Revolutionary Guards without referring to the timing of the
clashes. On Friday, the Hengaw website for human rights violations in Iran
reported that at least four Revolutionary Guards members were killed in armed
confrontations with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The Kurdish website
pointed out that the clash occurred Thursday evening in the mountains of
Salmas. The report said at least four IRGC members were killed in the clashes
and taken to hospital in Salmas. Armed factions loyal to the Iranian-Kurdish
opposition are active in the area between Iran, Turkey, and the Kurdistan
Region of Iraq.”



Iraq



The National: Iraq’s Elite Forces Recall 'Scary' Months-Long Battle To Drive
ISIS Out Of Mosul
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“Dressed in their distinctive black uniforms, fours soldiers of Iraq's
Counter-Terrorism Services last week revisited the scenes of their bloody
battles against ISIS in Mosul, the northern city the elite force played a key
role in liberating five years ago. The extremist militants put up a fierce
resistance to hold on to Mosul, the first Iraqi city they seized after sweeping
out of Syria in June 2014 and the last to remain under their control after a
grinding campaign by government forces backed by a US-led international
coalition. “They were in big numbers here and used car bombs,” said Captain
Hassan Ali Hassan, standing in the Aden neighbourhood of eastern Mosul where
his unit began their battle in October 2016. Accompanied by three of his CTS
comrades, all now part of the force's Nineveh Regiment stationed at the Mosul
Dam, the 30-year-old officer was guiding The National through the sites where
they battled the militants in the city's eastern and western halves, divided by
the Tigris that flows through its centre. Captain Hassan recalled how they
crossed Al Khosr River, a tributary of the Tigris, and managed to take over two
houses in the neighbourhood. “The biggest challenge was that the fighting and
confrontations were among the houses.”



Afghanistan



Oil Price: Attacks By The Islamic State Are On The Rise In Afghanistan
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“Ever since they took control of Kabul last summer, the Taliban have sought
to assure neighboring countries that Afghanistan is open for business and that
they can protect investments. Islamic State is making that sales pitch harder.
Take Tashkent’s ambition to build a railway across Afghanistan that would
connect Uzbekistan to ports in Pakistan and link Central Asia to new markets:
In recent months, top officials from Afghanistan and Uzbekistan have discussed
moving forward with a survey. The World Bank has reportedly expressed interest.
The Taliban has promised security. And Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) –
the terror group’s local branch, which has claimed a volley of atrocities
targeting civilians across Afghanistan in the last year – has vowed to kill
anyone working on it. ISKP sees the railway as a devious scheme by non-Muslims
to drag Afghanistan into the modern world. It “is the road by which the
apostates plan to bring their democracy,” declared an April message on the
Voice of Khorasan (Khorasan Ovozi), an Uzbek-language Telegram channel. “The
caliphate's mujahideen will never, under any circumstances, allow the enemies
of Islam to realize this insidious plan.” ISKP’s Al-Azaim Media Foundation and
Voice of Khorasan released two Uzbek audio statements celebrating an attack
that month on the Uzbek border and disparaging the rail project.”



Nigeria



Sahara Reporters: Terrorist Attacks On Churches In Nigeria, An Attempt To Send
Fear Into Christians, Restrict Their Religious Freedom – Governor Ortom Tells
Audience In Uk
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“Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom has again condemned the incessant
terrorist attacks going on across Nigeria. Ortom described Nigeria as being
under siege due to the activities of terrorists who have been killing, maiming,
kidnapping, and raping Nigerians, and recently attacking churches and Christian
clerics. The governor stated this in London while addressing Nigerian nationals
in the diaspora and friends of Nigeria at the Freedom of Religion and Belief
International Ministerial Fringe Events on Nigeria, organised by Para-Mallam
Peace Foundation and the International Peace-Building and Social Justice. This
was disclosed in a statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on
Diaspora Affairs, Rev. Peter Ichull on Friday. He advised that Nigeria should
uphold certain freedoms for all people as enshrined in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, the International Convention on Civil and
Political Rights, the constitutions of most nations, including Nigeria and
other rights documents to end the menace. He said: “The bombing of Churches and
killing of worshippers was a calculated attempt to send fear into the living to
restrict their religious freedom.” Ortom said his government enacted the ‘Benue
State Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law 2017’ and other
security measures to curb inter-ethnic conflicts in Benue.”



Somalia



Voice Of America: Somalia Experts: Ending Al-Shabab’s Funding A Major Challenge

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“Somalia's new president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has vowed to shut down revenue
streams for al-Shabab terrorists. The Islamist militants are believed to make
millions of dollars per year from taxes they impose in areas of Somalia under
their control. But security analysts say cutting off the terrorist funding
won’t be easy. Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud this week said his
government will crack down on funding steams for the al-Shabab militant group.
Speaking Tuesday to Somali troops training in Turkey, Mohamud accused the
Somali group of using extorted taxes to help finance terrorism across Africa
and the world. His remarks were carried on Somali National Television. Mohamud
says they have evidence that the money collected by al-Shabab is used in
financing terror groups in Mozambique and Nigeria, with some going to al-Qaida
terrorists. The Somali president did not elaborate on the evidence, which the
militant group dismissed in a Thursday press release as “baseless accusations.”
Mohamud’s comments were the first by Somalia’s government acknowledging that
al-Shabab earns money through extortion. The U.N. Panel of Experts report on
Somalia earlier this year said al-Shabab has about 100 checkpoints throughout
the country where they impose taxes on trucks transporting goods.”



Africa



The Washington Post: Infants, Patients Among 13 Killed In Congo Hospital Attack

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“Rebels attacked a hospital in Congo and killed at least 13 people, including
infants and patients, according to hospital and military officials. The
Congolese army said three attackers were killed when the military intervened.
Some hospital staff are missing and several houses were burned in the attack
Thursday night on the medical center in Lume, North Kivu province. It’s the
largest health facility in the region. Among those killed in the attack were
three infants and four patients, hospital chief Kule Bwenge told reporters.
“Four blocks of the medical center were set on fire. Several sick guards, as
well as a nurse, are missing,” he said. The reason for targeting the hospital
was unclear. In the nearby village of Kidolo, four other people were killed
with machetes and shot, apparently as part of the same attack. North Kivu
military spokesman Anthony Mualushayi said the attackers were Mai-Mai militia
members from the Dido group. In addition to the attackers who were killed, one
was captured in the ensuing clashes, he said. But local civic groups accused
rebels of the Uganda-based Allied Democratic Forces, or ADF, of carrying out
the attack. ADF rebels have been active in eastern Congo for decades and have
killed thousands in the region since they resurfaced in 2013.”



Reuters: Islamic State Claims Responsibility For Attack In Congo
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“Islamic State claimed responsibility for an attack on Thursday that
targetted the town of Lume in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the group's
news agency said in a statement on its Telegram channel on Saturday. On Friday,
two witnesses said assailants had killed at least a dozen patients at a clinic
overnight, blaming the raid on Islamist fighters allied to Islamic State.”



United Kingdom



Reuters: Ex-Counter-Terrorism Chief Named New Head Of London's Beleaguered
Police Force
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“Mark Rowley, Britain's former counter-terrorism police chief who led
investigations into a series of attacks in 2017, was on Friday named the new
head of London's beleaguered police force, which is reeling from a series of
shocking failings and revelations. Just last month, the Metropolitan Police was
placed in a special monitoring and improvement program by a watchdog after
criticism over its handling of a string of high profile cases, coming on top of
disclosures of a culture of bullying, racial discrimination and misogyny within
its ranks. The force was particularly shaken last year by the abduction, rape
and murder of a woman, Sarah Everard, by one of its officers, and then the
policing of a vigil in her honour was later found to be unlawful by a London
court. “Our mission is to lead the renewal of policing by consent which has
been so heavily dented in recent years as trust and confidence have fallen,”
said Rowley, the new Metropolitan Police Commissioner, who had resigned from
the force in 2018 after 30 years of policing. In February, former chief
Cressida Dick stepped down after London Mayor Sadiq Khan told her he was not
satisfied she could root out the problems that existed within the force. That
came after a catalogue of shocking cases. In December, two officers were jailed
for sharing pictures from a crime scene after the murder two sisters.”



The Times: ‘Don’t Let ISIS Beatle Who Exploited Our Daughter Walk Free’
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“The family of a student acquitted of smuggling almost £16,000 in her
underwear to a suspected member of the Isis “Beatles” hostage-taking gang have
accused him of ruining her life as police prepare for his return to the UK
within days. Aine Davis was due to be released yesterday from a maximum
security prison in Turkey after serving a 7½-year sentence for being a member
of Isis. He will be deported as early as this week. Labelled the “Fourth
Beatle”, he will automatically be arrested and questioned by counterterrorism
officers on his arrival. However, legal sources believe the chances of him
being charged with new offences are slim. It means Davis, 38, a Muslim convert
and a former drug dealer, is likely to be freed…”



The Guardian: Growing ‘Culture Of Extremism’ Among UK And European Police
Forces, Report Warns
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“Police forces in the UK and across Europe are suffering from a growing
“culture of extremism”, according to a report that warns of an increase in
officers sharing racist and far-right content online. The report, by the
Institute of Race Relations (IRR), says UK policing has a growing extremist
problem, and highlights issues across Europe. In France, 81% of gendarmes
declared they would vote for far-right politician Marine Le Pen. In France,
Belgium, Germany and Hungary former high-ranking police officers have become
extreme-right mayoral and parliamentary candidates. In the UK, a series of
recent cases involving the Metropolitan police have further damaged the
reputation of a force long accused of being “institutionally racist”. They
include officers sharing images on WhatsApp of two murdered black sisters.
Another group of officers, at a central London station, were found to have
joked about rape, killing black children and beating their wives. The Met was
last month placed on special measures after scandals including the murder of
Sarah Everard by a serving Met officer, the strip-searching of innocent black
children, and stop-and-search controversies including that of the British
Olympic sprinter Bianca Williams.”



France



The National: After Her Time With ISIS, French Prisoner Seeks Rehabilitation
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“In the relative comfort of a prison outside Paris ― after nearly five years
in a spartan Kurdish detention camp in north-eastern Syria ― a policeman’s
daughter once described as a dangerous terrorist now talks of regaining “the
life of a mother and a woman”. Emilie Konig, now 37 and the mother of five
children, three of them born in Syria, was among the 16 French women
repatriated to France this week along with their 35 children. She must now
answer for her actions during a Syrian experience that began in 2012 when she
turned her back on western society and her middle-class origins to join ISIS.
Prosecutors have charged her with involvement in terrorist conspiracy. She is
accused of acting as a key propagandist and recruiter who, adopting the name
Ummu Tawwab, called for attacks on French targets, including soldiers’ wives.
Konig insists she has changed. Her lawyer says she is ready to co-operate fully
with the authorities and recognises the hurt she has caused. But Konig has not
always been so contrite. She told one interviewer she did not see why she
should be jailed, declaring: “I have no blood on my hands.” Agnes de Feo, a
sociologist and documentary maker who met Konig several times before her
departure for Syria, told The National her interviews revealed a “tortured
state of mind.”



Europe



The Guardian: ‘We Lost Our Fear’: The Basque Terror Group’s Killing That Made
Spain Say Enough Is Enough
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“The place where it happened is out past the hotel, the roundabout, the
pharmacy and the blocks of flats hung with washing and geraniums, out where the
small Basque town of Lasarte-Oria gives way to a narrow road fringed with trees
and ferns. Today, little carries on the humid coastal air save for birdsong,
the barking of a distant dog and the growl of a cultivator. But, 25 years ago
this week, two shots from a .22 calibre Beretta pistol rang out beneath the
trees and echoed across the length and breadth of Spain. At 4.40pm on 12 July
1997, Miguel Ángel Blanco, a 29-year-old councillor for the conservative
People’s party (PP) in the Basque town of Ermua, was murdered on the outskirts
of Lasarte-Oria. His killers were three members of Eta, the terror group that
waged a violent campaign over four decades for an independent Basque state.
Despite two bullets to the back of his head, Blanco was still alive when he was
found a few minutes after the shooting by a pair of locals, his hands bound
behind his back. He died in hospital at 5am the next day. Blanco had been
kidnapped while on his way to work two days earlier, chosen as the human
bargaining chip in Eta’s latest public ultimatum: if the PP government of prime
minister José María Aznar did not move all Eta prisoners to jails in the Basque
country, the young councillor would be dead within 48 hours.”



The Irish Times: Lisa Smith Faces Up To Eight Years In Prison For Isis
Membership
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“Lisa Smith, the former Irish soldier convicted of joining the Islamic State
(Isis) terror group, faces up to eight years in prison when she is sentenced
this week. The 40-year-old mother of one was found guilty by the non-jury
Special Criminal Court last month of membership of an unlawful organisation
after the court heard she travelled to northern Syria out of allegiance to the
terrorist organisation. She was acquitted of one count of financing terrorism
in relation to a €800 payment she made to an injured Isis fighter. The Dundalk
woman is to appear before the court on Monday morning for sentencing. Under the
Offences against the State Acts she faces a maximum of eight years in prison
and an unlimited fine. The maximum penalty was increased from seven years in
2005 under anti-terrorism legislation. The court is expected to hear mitigation
from Smith’s counsel Michael O’Higgins SC. Legal sources say the circumstances
of Smith’s background and the fact that there is no evidence she personally
took part in terrorist activity will mean she will likely receive substantially
less than the maximum terms. The fact she has a young daughter will also lessen
the potential term of imprisonment, sources predicated.”



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