Eye on Extremism
July 12, 2022
The Washington Post: ISIS Planned Chemical Attacks In Europe, New Details On Weapons Program Reveal
“In the summer of 2014, as his followers were ravaging the cities of northern Iraq, Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi convened a secret meeting with a weapons expert whose unusual skills the terrorist chief was anxious to acquire. His guest was a small man, barely above 5 feet tall, and he had only recently been freed from a years-long stint in U.S. and Iraqi prisons. But before that, Salih al-Sabawi had been an Iraqi official of some renown: a Russian-trained engineer who had once helped President Saddam Hussein build his extensive arsenal of chemical weapons. Baghdadi had summoned Sabawi, 52, to offer him a job. If supplied with the right equipment and resources, could he produce the same weapons for the Islamic State? Sabawi’s reply, according to a later intelligence report about the meeting, was yes. He could do that and more. Thus began what U.S. and Iraqi Kurdish officials describe as a crash effort aimed at building the biggest arsenal of chemical and, potentially, biological weapons ever assembled by a terrorist group. Within six months, under Sabawi’s direction, the Islamic State would manufacture mustard gas, a chemical weapon from the World War I era, as well as bombs and rockets filled with chlorine. But Sabawi’s ambitions, and by extension Baghdadi’s, were much broader, according to newly disclosed details on the Islamic State weapons program.”
Reuters: No Appeal From Bataclan Suspect, Closing Chapter On 2015 Paris Attacks
“Salah Abdeslam, the lone survivor of an Islamist militant squad that killed 130 people in attacks in Paris in 2015, has not appealed his life sentence or guilty verdict - closing the door to a second trial, a Paris appeals court said Tuesday. A French court last month judged Abdeslam guilty on terrorism and murder charges. Nineteen others were found guilty for helping organise the Nov. 13, 2015 attacks that targeted the Bataclan music hall, bars and restaurants and the Stade de France sports stadium. The Paris appeals court said in a statement that none of the 20 suspects had appealed the decision.”
United States
Vice: How The ‘Great Replacement’ Myth Inspired A Wave Of Racist Terror Attacks
“…Joshua Fisher-Birch, a researcher at the Counter Extremism Project, said that Tarrant’s so-called manifesto was full of in-jokes and memes from internet and gaming culture. He referenced a dance from the game Fortnite, and joked that one old PlayStation game had “taught [him] ethnonationalism.” Before getting out of his car and launching the attack, Tarrant told his livestream followers to subscribe to the popular YouTuber PewDiePie. His followers have responded in kind, with the gunman who attacked a mosque in Baerum, Norway, in 2019, posting a meme shortly before the shooting depicting Saint Tarrant, with himself as a “disciple.” “[Tarrant] really created this this whole subculture in a sense of neo-Nazi accelerationists,” said Fisher-Birch. But it’s not just Tarrant’s methods that have caught on, but also the underlying ideology that motivated his crimes. These far-right gunmen have all subscribed to a racist conspiracy theory known as “the great replacement” – the title that Tarrant gave to the rambling document he posted online – which has gained increasing currency in right-wing circles over the past decade or so.The theory, a rehash of longstanding far-right narratives around the erasure of white people, holds that white populations are being actively “replaced” by non-white immigrants.”
Vice: The Replacement Conspiracy Inspiring Mass Shootings
“The Great Replacement Theory has fuelled the world’s deadliest white supremacist terror attacks – but what exactly is it? And how has it leaked into mainstream politics? VICE World News’ Tim Hume investigates how so-called ‘lone wolf’ rampages never truly happen in isolation, and how the internet has fueled the ‘gamification’ of these deadly terror attacks.”
Middle East
Associated Press: US Seeks Extradition Of Palestinian Attacker In Jordan
“The US said Monday it is still seeking the extradition of a Palestinian woman in Jordan convicted of aiding a suicide bomber in Jerusalem in 2001, but declined to comment on a request from the family of one of the victims for a meeting with President Joe Biden. The family of an Israeli-American girl killed in the attack have asked for a meeting with Biden when he visits Israel later this week. They want him to press Jordan, a close American ally, to send Ahlam Tamimi to the US for trial. “We ask that you address this as only the leader of the United States can,” Frimet and Arnold Roth, the parents of Malki Roth, who was 15 when she was killed in the attack, wrote in a letter. “We are bereaved parents as you are, sir. We have a burning sense that injustice in the wake of our child’s murder is winning.” The Roths have been waging a campaign for the extradition of Tamimi since she was released by Israel in a 2011 prisoner swap with the Hamas militant group and sent to her native Jordan, where she lives freely and has been a familiar face in the media. “The US government continues to seek her extradition and the Government of Jordan’s assistance in bringing her to justice for her role in the heinous attack,” the US National Security Council said Monday.”
Nigeria
Associated Press: Nigeria Jailbreak Raises More Questions Over Insecurity
“Nigerian authorities on Monday admitted shortcomings in security at a jail in the nation's capital after an attack that resulted in the escape of hundreds of inmates last week. The jailbreak in the Kuje area of Abuja led to the escape of 879 inmates, including 64 members of the Islamic State West Africa Province extremist group which claimed responsibility for the attack. The Islamic State-linked group is an offshoot of the Boko Haram militant group which has launched a decade-long insurgency in northeast Nigeria. One of the escapees from Kuje prison was arrested on Monday, Nigeria’s National Drug Law Enforcement Agency said, but with at least 400 inmates still on the run, authorities are expanding the search to neighboring states. Nigeria is synonymous with jailbreaks which have become more rampant in recent years but it was the first time during that period that Abuja is being targeted, leaving many shocked and in fear over how safe they are as the West African nation battles a cycle of violence blamed on Islamic extremists and on armed groups mostly in the country’s troubled north. “Kuje (prison) is the most fortified in the country,” said Rauf Aregbesola, Nigeria’s interior minister. “We had enough men to protect the facility but unfortunately they couldn’t hold their position effectively for defense and that was the reason for the breach,” the minister said after visiting the attacked prison.”
AFP: Ghana Fears Entry Of Nigeria Jail Break Jihadists
“Ghanaian officials have warned that jailed inmates and jihadists who escaped during a massive attack on a Nigerian prison this week may try to enter the country, according to a government communique. Hundreds of inmates and nearly 70 jihadists escaped when gunmen using explosives blasted into the Kuje prison near Nigeria’s capital Abuja on Tuesday, in an assault claimed by the Islamic State militant group. The raid was a major blow to Nigeria’s overstretched security forces after Islamist militants showed they can carry out a sophisticated operation just 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the presidential villa. Nigerian prison authorities say most inmates have been recaptured, though the whereabouts of most of the escaped Boko Haram militants and other jihadists was unclear. Ghana’s immigration service ordered its officials to tighten controls and intensify border patrols to help stop infiltration by escapees, according to a communique to commanders dated Friday and seen by AFP. “Considering current migration trends of Nigerians within the sub-region, it is likely most of the escapees will attempt to enter Ghana through approved and unapproved routes,” it said. Nigeria and Ghana are separated by smaller, French-speaking Benin and Togo, but road and air travel between the two English-speaking West African states is common and Nigerians usually require no visa for Ghana. Both countries are members of the 15-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) bloc, which officially allows visa-free travel among members.”
Africa
Reuters: Seven People Killed In Explosion In Northern Togo
“Seven people were killed and two injured in an explosion in northern Togo on Saturday night, the army said in a statement late on Sunday. The victims were all between the ages of 14 and 18, said a medical source at the regional hospital in Dapaong, who asked not to be named. The explosion occurred in the village of Margba, in the northern Savanes region where Togo declared a state of emergency last month due to rising insecurity. In May, eight soldiers were killed in the same region in what was thought to be the first deadly spillover of Islamist violence from neighbouring Burkina Faso, where groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State wage frequent attacks. read more Local media reported that the young people were returning home at night from celebrations of the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha when they were killed. The army did not say whether militant activity was suspected. “An investigation has been opened to clarify the circumstances of this explosion and identify the perpetrators,” said the statement by army chief Dadja Maganawe.”
Africanews: Burkina Faso: Five Civilians Killed In Attack, Army Says
“Five civilians were killed Sunday in an attack by suspected jihadists on a military detachment in Barsalogho, northern Burkina Faso, the army said. “On Sunday morning, fighting broke out between elements of the military detachment in Barsalogho”, in the north-central region, “and an armed terrorist group that had come to attack the detachment's hold. At the same time, another group of terrorists targeted civilians,” the military said in a statement. The toll was “five civilians, including a child”, killed, as well as “eight wounded soldiers who were evacuated and treated”, the army said. Air and ground operations were immediately launched to track down the attackers, “and several air strikes were carried out on groups that were trying to retreat to a terrorist base located in Bangmiougou, near Barsalogho,” according to the army, which said that “several terrorists were neutralised and the logistical base was destroyed. The French force Barkhane regularly provides air support to Burkinabe military operations. Like its neighbours Niger and Mali, Burkina Faso has been caught up in a spiral of violence since 2015, attributed to armed jihadist movements affiliated to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group, which has left thousands dead and 1.9 million displaced.”
France
The National: How France Finally Made The Tough Decision To Bring Home Its ISIS Families
“At dawn on July 5, a group of 16 women and 35 children landed in Paris. When the women left France, years ago, they were travelling to what was then ISIS-controlled territory in Iraq and Syria. Now, they returned as single mothers, coming from detention camps in northeast Syria. After three years of obstacles and indecision, France has finally decided to repatriate some of its citizens. While bringing people affiliated with ISIS back to French soil might seem incredibly risky at best and naive at worst, repatriation is still the most effective solution to the foreign fighter dilemma.”
Europe
Reuters: Swedish Political Festival Murder Investigated As Possible Terrorist Crime
“Swedish prosecutors said on Monday that the killing of a woman at a political festival last week would be investigated as a terrorist crime. A man was held after the woman was stabbed to death on the island of Gotland at a political festival being held ahead of a national election in September. Prosecutors said last week that he appeared to have acted alone and to have targeted her. The Swedish Prosecution Authority said on Monday that the man was now suspected of “terrorist crime through murder”, and of preparing terrorist crime through the preparation of murder. The authority added that there was no further suspect in the case.”
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