Eye on Extremism
August 18, 2022
Associated Press: Bombing At Kabul Mosque Kills 10, Including Prominent Cleric
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
"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
“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
“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
“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
“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?
“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.”
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