“A bombing at a mosque in the Afghan capital of Kabul during evening prayers on
Wednesday killed at least 10 people, including a prominent cleric, and











<[link removed]>
<[link removed]>



Eye on Extremism


August 18, 2022



Associated Press: Bombing At Kabul Mosque Kills 10, Including Prominent Cleric
<[link removed]>



“A bombing at a mosque in the Afghan capital of Kabul during evening prayers
on Wednesday killed at least 10 people, including a prominent cleric, and
wounded at least 27, an eyewitness and police said. There was no immediate
claim of responsibility for the attack, the latest to strike the country in the
year since the Taliban seized power. Several children were reported to be among
the wounded. The Islamic State group’s local affiliate has stepped up attacks
targeting the Taliban and civilians since the former insurgents’ takeover last
August as U.S. and NATO troops were in the final stages of their withdrawal
from the country. Last week, the IS claimed responsibility for killing a
prominent Taliban cleric at his religious center in Kabul. According to the
eyewitness, a resident of the city’s Kher Khanna neighborhood where the
Siddiquiya Mosque was targeted, the explosion was carried out by a suicide
bomber. The slain cleric was Mullah Amir Mohammad Kabuli, the eyewitness said,
speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the
media. He added that more than 30 other people were wounded. The Italian
Emergency hospital in Kabul said that at least 27 wounded civilians, including
five children, were brought there from the site of the bomb blast. There were
fears the casualty numbers could rise further.”



Euronews: Spain Marks Five Years Since Terror Attacks In Barcelona And Cambrils

<[link removed]>



“Spain has held several ceremonies to mark the fifth anniversary of the
terrorist attacks in Catalonia in 2017. A sombre ceremony in the centre of
Barcelona on Wednesday was attended by hundreds, including the president of the
region, Pere Aragonès, and the city's mayor, Ada Colau. Officials and relatives
of the victims lay wreaths in front of the memorial plaque on the Las Ramblas
pavement. Sixteen people were killed and more than 120 others injured in the
attacks, which were carried out by a cell of the so-called Islamic State (IS)
group. The death toll included some foreign tourists from Belgium, Germany,
Italy and Portugal. A number of institutional ceremonies were held in the
country to remember the victims of the attacks, whil others protested that
Spain has failed to acknowledge the “silent suffering” of many since 2017.
According to a recent court ruling, more than 350 people are still struggling
with physical or psychological injuries as a result of the Barcelona and
Cambrils attacks. “In August 2017, Barcelona and Cambrils suffered hatred and
terror in their streets,” tweeted Spanish Prime MinisterPedro Sánchez. “Five
years later, we remember the victims of these attacks with our sights set on
continuing to build a future of peace. Let us continue to move forward united
for freedom and coexistence.”



Iran



The Jerusalem Post: Iran Says It Arrested 'Terrorist' Who Operated In Multiple
Countries <[link removed]>



“The Iranian Intelligence Ministry claimed that it had arrested “one of the
oldest and most dangerous” international terrorists on Wednesday evening. The
ministry stated that it had records of terrorist activy by the suspect in four
countries in the region and that he was present in Syria during the civil war
and became a member of “Tafkiri-terrorist groups” in Aleppo, Hama and Idlib.
“Takfiri” is a word often used to refer to armed extremist groups, but
originally referred to Muslim apostates or infidels. The suspect later moved
out of Syria to “two neighboring countries” of Iran and joined another group,
according to the ministry, which accused him of “destructive actions against
the proud nation of Iran and the territorial integrity of the country.”



Afghanistan



Voice Of America: Taliban Kill Rebel Commander From Minority Hazara Shiite
Group
<[link removed]>



“Afghanistan’s Taliban said Wednesday that their security forces killed a
fugitive rebel commander in a shootout near the Iranian border. The Defense
Ministry identified the slain man as Mawlawi Mehdi, who hailed from the
country’s minority Shiite Hazara community and joined the Sunni-based Taliban
before they seized power last year from the then-internationally backed Afghan
government. The ministry referred to Mehdi as the “leader of the rebels” in
Balkhab, a coal mines-rich district in the northern province of Sar-e-Pol,
saying he had fled to nearby mountains along with some of his fighters after
revolting against the Taliban government. The statement said the rebel
commander was intercepted and shot dead in the western Afghan border province
of Herat. “[Mehdi] was attempting to escape to Iran when intelligence and
security forces targeted him in the border area between Herat and Iran, and
punished him for his actions,” the ministry wrote on Twitter without
elaborating. Mehdi’s supporters did not immediately comment on his killing. The
ethnic Hazara commander was appointed as the intelligence chief for neighboring
Bamiyan province after the Taliban took over Afghanistan in August 2021. The
Taliban fired Mehdi in April for reasons not made public. He returned to his
native Balkhab and organized an armed rebellion.”



Vice: The Armed Resistance Against The Taliban Is Still Here
<[link removed]>



“Nestled in hideaways in remote valleys in Afghanistan and in safe houses
outside the country, groups of armed militias are operating a growing
resistance against the Taliban. These fighters, loyal to the previous
Western-backed government, are running a sustained insurgency in areas already
hostile to the Taliban. Eleven months after the Taliban claimed to have
neutralised the final resistance fighters in the Panjshir Valley, and a year
since the Kabul government fell to the Islamists, resistance fighters are
regrouping. On Monday, the National Resistance Front – the biggest active
anti-Taliban group – used the eve of the first anniversary of the fall of Kabul
to announce a new wave of attacks on Taliban outposts in the north of the
country. Several hit-and-run attacks on Taliban militants in the outposts and
checkpoints in Andrab and Panjshir have already been reported, also in parts
Baghlan, Parwan and Kapisa provinces, all of which are north of Kabul. Other
small groups have also emerged in the south and east of the country. In a
statement to mark the “fall of the regime” in Kabul, the NRF said the group
would continue to “fight until the people of Afghanistan are liberated” from
the Taliban. The NRF and other loosely allied groups have carried out a limited
series of clashes in areas with large populations of ethnic and religious
minority groups, known for their hostility to the Islamists, who target them
with impunity.”



Somalia



The Hill: US Airstrike In Somalia Kills 13 Al-Shabaab Militants, Pentagon Says
<[link removed]>



“Defense officials on Wednesday claimed a U.S. airstrike against al-Shabaab
fighters in Somalia killed 13 militants, the deadliest such strike against the
extremist group in months. The airstrike targeted the al Qaeda-linked fighters
on Sunday in a remote location near Teedaan, in Somalia’s central region, as
the militants were “actively attacking Somali National Army forces,” according
to a statement from U.S. Africa Command (Africom). The command’s initial
assessment found that no civilians were injured or killed as part of the
strikes, the statement claimed. This is the second U.S. military strike in
Somalia within a week. Africom on Aug. 9 conducted three airstrikes outside
Beledweyne — also in support of the Somali National Army — that killed four
al-Shabaab terrorists. “The Federal Government of Somalia and the U.S. remain
committed to fighting al-Shabaab to prevent the deaths of innocent civilians,”
the statement notes. “Violent extremist organizations like al-Shabaab present
long-term threats to Somali, regional and U.S. interests.” The strikes follow
President Biden’s May decision to redeploy up to 500 U.S. troops in East Africa
to Somalia as the administration looks to reestablish a small presence in the
country to counter al-Shabaab, al Qaeda’s largest and best-financed global
affiliate.”



WTOP News: The Hunt: US Africa Command Conducts Airstrike Against Al-Shabaab
In Somalia
<[link removed]>



"On this week’s episode of “The Hunt with WTOP National Security
correspondent J.J. Green,” Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler, senior director of the
Counter Extremism Project, said the strike was necessary to keep al-Shabaab
under control."



Mali



Al Jazeera: Mali Accuses France Of Sending Weapons To Armed Groups
<[link removed]>



“Mali has accused France of violating its airspace and delivering weapons to
armed groups, the latest in a barrage of accusations that have strained the
relationship between the West African country and the former colonial power. In
a letter to the head of the United Nations Security Council dated Monday,
Mali’s foreign affairs minister, Abdoulaye Diop, said its airspace has been
breached more than 50 times this year, mostly by French forces using drones,
military helicopters and fighter jets. “These flagrant violations of Malian
airspace were used by France to collect information for terrorist groups
operating in the Sahel and to drop arms and ammunition to them,” the letter
said, according to the news agency Reuters. “France has obviously never
supported, directly or indirectly, these terrorist groups, which remain its
designated enemies across the planet,” said the French Embassy in Mali on
Twitter. It said that 53 French soldiers had died during its nine-year mission
in Mali and that France had killed hundreds of members of armed groups in order
to improve security for Malians. Bamako has repeatedly accused Paris of
attempting to destabilise the country, just as Russian mercenaries hired by the
military government expand their reach in the country. France on Monday
completed the withdrawal of its troops from Mali, ending a nine-year operation
in the country at the centre of the Sahel region’s spiralling security crisis.”



Africa



Reuters: Eastern Congo Attacks Kill Civilians, Hit Major Power Plant
<[link removed]>



“Suspected rebels have killed civilians and damaged a major hydropower plant
under construction in Virunga National Park in eastern Democratic Republic of
Congo, the park operator said on Wednesday. Tuesday's attack, which included
the use of artillery, came from the direction of positions held by the M23
rebel group, the park service said in a statement. M23, which could not be
reached for comment, has launched a series of raids in the region in recent
months, killing dozens and displacing tens of thousands of people. It is just
one of many armed groups fighting in eastern Congo over minerals and land. On
Tuesday, suspected militants from the CODECO group attacked a mining site a few
hundred kilometres north of Virunga in Ituri province, killing about 10
civilians and four soldiers, the army told Reuters. It was not clear how many
people died in the Virunga Park attack, which also appeared to target a
28-megawatt hydropower plant at Rwanguba, which the park says will be the
largest energy project in eastern Congo when it comes online in two years.”



United Kingdom



AFP: UK Police Detail 'Remarkable' Probe Into Is 'Beatles' Cell
<[link removed]>



“UK police lifted the lid Wednesday on a years-long probe into the notorious
Islamic State (IS) kidnap-and-murder cell dubbed the “Beatles” by their
captives. Counter-terrorism officers said the hostages' recollections helped
“zero in” on three of the British captors. The IS cell members, who tried to
keep their identities hidden, held dozens of foreign hostages in Syria between
2012 and 2015 and were known to their captives as the “Beatles” because of
their distinctive British accents. Two of them -- 38-year-old Alexanda Kotey
and El Shafee Elsheikh, 34 -- have been brought to justice in the United States
for their part in the gruesome beheadings and killings of several Americans.
Another, Mohamed Emwazi -- dubbed “Jihadi John” -- died in Syria in 2015. A
fourth alleged British member was remanded in UK custody last week on terrorism
charges after Turkey deported him following a jail term there. Ahead of
Elsheikh's sentencing on Friday, British police have now detailed how their
nearly decade-long probe unearthed key evidence used by US prosecutors to
convict him in April. “The building of the case is described as like putting
together very small pieces of a jigsaw,” Richard Smith, the head of London
police's counter-terrorism unit, told reporters at a briefing Wednesday. “What
we pieced together here is a trail of breadcrumbs, fragments of breadcrumbs
really, amongst a huge amount of other inquiries, which we were then able to
present... to a court to assist the prosecution in the US.”



Germany



Reuters: Germany, Israel Condemn Palestinian President's Holocaust Remarks
<[link removed]>



“German Chancellor Olaf Scholz voiced disgust on Wednesday at remarks by
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that the German leader said diminished the
importance of the Holocaust, while Israel accused Abbas of telling a "monstrous
lie". During a visit to Berlin on Tuesday, Abbas accused Israel of committing
"50 Holocausts" in response to a question about the upcoming 50th anniversary
of the attack on the Israeli team at the Munich Olympics by Palestinian
militants. "For us Germans in particular, any relativisation of the singularity
of the Holocaust is intolerable and unacceptable," Scholz tweeted on Wednesday.
"I am disgusted by the outrageous remarks made by Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas." Scholz's office summoned the head of the Palestinian diplomatic mission
in Berlin to protest at Abbas' remarks, a German government spokesperson said.”



Europe



The Brussels Times: Belgian Jihadism: A Thing Of The Past?
<[link removed]>



“Belgium hasn't seen any major terrorist attacks since 2016 and Belgium's
Coordination Unit for Threat Analysis (CUTA) rates the actual terror threat as
two out of four – far lower than previously. Yet this is not to say that the
threat has disappeared, with one Arabic studies researcher cautioning that
terrorist groups are still active in the country: “You always have to assume
that there will be people inspired by terror groups,” said Pieter Van Ostayen
of KU Leaven in De Morgen. “The threat level in Belgium remains at two. That
means there is always a possibility of new attacks.” Van Ostayen manages a
database with 2,189 names of Belgian jihadist fighters. But keeping track of
the people on file is a complicated affair. “In that database are 130 Belgian
fighters who we don't know whether they are still alive. It could be that they
are still in Syria or maybe they have found another terrain in the meantime. In
the next few years, more and more Syrian fighters will also return. Those who
have been convicted here will also be released and it is difficult to tell
whether they have been deradicalised.” Van Ostayen mentions one man who was
part of the Islamic State (IS) and is currently detained in Norway. Until
recently, he had spread radical messages online.”



The Counter Extremism Project depends on the generosity of its supporters. If
you value what we do, please consider making a donation.

DONATE NOW
<[link removed]>




Click here to unsubscribe.
<[link removed]>