Eye on Extremism
August 19, 2022
Associated Press: Death Toll In Afghan Capital Mosque Bombing Rises To 21, Police Say
“The Islamic State group’s local affiliate has stepped up attacks against the Taliban and civilians since the former insurgents took over the country last year as U.S. and NATO troops were in the final stages of their withdrawal. Last week, the extremists claimed responsibility for killing a prominent Taliban cleric at his religious center in Kabul. The mosque bombing comes just two days after the anniversary of the fall of Kabul on Aug. 15, 2021. Khalid Zadran, the spokesman for Kabul’s Taliban police chief, gave the latest figures to The Associated Press for the bombing at the Siddiquiya mosque in the city’s Kher Khanna neighborhood. An eyewitness told the AP 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. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid condemned the explosion and vowed that the “perpetrators of such crimes will soon be brought to justice and will be punished.” There were fears the casualty numbers could rise further. On Thursday morning, one witness to the blast who gave his name as Qyaamuddin told the AP he believed as many as 25 people may have been killed in the blast.”
AFP: Islamic State 'Beatle' Faces Life Sentence For US Hostage Deaths
“A member of the notorious Islamic State kidnap-and-murder cell known as the “Beatles,” is to be sentenced in a US court on Friday for the deaths of four American hostages in Syria. El Shafee Elsheikh, 34, faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison after being convicted in Alexandria, Virginia, in April of hostage-taking, conspiracy to murder US citizens and supporting a terrorist organization. The grueling two-week trial of the former British national, which featured emotional testimony from former hostages and parents of the victims, was the most significant prosecution of an IS militant in the United States. The 12-person federal jury deliberated for less than six hours over two days before finding Elsheikh guilty for his role in the deaths of four Americans -- journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and aid workers Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller. Elsheikh and another former “Beatle,” Alexanda Amon Kotey, were captured by a Kurdish militia in Syria in January 2018 and handed over to US forces in Iraq. They were flown to the United States in 2020 to face trial. Kotey, 38, pleaded guilty in September 2021 and was sentenced to life in prison in April by US District Court Judge T.S. Ellis, who will also deliver the sentence on Friday against Elsheikh.”
United States
NPR: Anti-Government Threats Are Up, But It's Tough To Assess Them
“Shortly after news broke that federal agents had executed a court-authorized search for documents at former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, Rita Katz said she and her team jumped online. Katz, the founder and executive director of the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors extremist communities online, said they were primarily interested in what discussions looked like in spaces frequented by the far right, such as Telegram, Gab and Truth Social. “What we saw were calls for civil war,” said Katz. “Calls such as, 'This is what the Second Amendment stands for,' and asking then, 'When does the shooting start?' “ In the days after, a man was killed in a standoff with the FBI after he attempted to attack the agency's field office in Cincinnati. The U.S. Department of Justice has also charged a man in Pennsylvania with threatening federal law enforcement officers after he allegedly posted violent statements online. The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security issued a joint intelligence bulletin highlighting the escalation in violent rhetoric against their agencies and employees. But even as law enforcement may be monitoring or alerted to threats made in these spaces, experts say that responding to them will be challenging.”
Afghanistan
The Washington Post: How Strong Is The Islamic State In Taliban-Ruled Afghanistan?
“A bomb blast that killed at least 21 worshipers, including an influential cleric, and injured more than 30 others in Afghanistan’s capital during evening prayers on Wednesday evening, according to Taliban officials and residents, has renewed focus on the threat to the Taliban posed by Afghanistan’s Islamic State affiliate. Residents of the Khair Khana area of Kabul told The Washington Post that the prayer leader who was killed, Amir Mohammad Kabuli, was an outspoken preacher unaffiliated with any one faction. No group has claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s blast, but it came a week after the Islamic State-Khorasan (ISIS-K), a rival of the Taliban, claimed responsibility for a bombing that killed Rahimullah Haqqani, a prominent Taliban-linked cleric. It’s the latest in a string of attacks, many of which have been attributed to ISIS-K, since the Taliban swept to national power in Afghanistan a year ago. The Islamic State is most associated with Iraq and Syria, where the brutal extremist group held huge swaths of territory under its self-declared “caliphate” at the group’s peak in late 2014. Known for its transnational recruitment and appetite for violence, ISIS saw its power decline sharply after a U.S.-coalition drove it from the last of its territory in 2019.”
Middle East
The Washington Post: Do Armed Drones Reduce Terrorism? Here’s The Data.
“At 6:18 a.m. on July 31, a CIA drone fired the two Hellfire missiles that killed al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, a former deputy to Osama bin Laden. Since 9/11, the United States has conducted over 14,000 drone strikes like this against suspected terrorist targets. Countries such as Iran, Turkey, Nigeria and Egypt have also acquired armed drones and conduct their own strikes. But do armed drone operations reduce terrorism, or do they actually make countries more vulnerable to it? To find out, we analyzed patterns of terrorism in 18 countries — every country that has fielded armed drones to date. The evidence reveals that obtaining armed drones reduces the amount of terrorism a country experiences. Armed drones may raise ethical concerns but appear to be an effective counterterrorism tool. The U.S. killed al-Qaeda’s leader. That might boost terrorism. Some analysts argue that the use of drones increases terrorism for two main reasons. First, drones can cause “blowback” among civilian populations, when drones kill or psychologically terrify noncombatants and violate countries’ sovereignty. For example, data collected by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism suggests that U.S. drone strikes have killed up to 2,220 civilians since 2010, including up to 450 children.”
The Jerusalem Post: Israel Shuts Down 7 Offices Of Orgs. In W. Bank Designated 'Terrorist'
“During an arrest operation in the West Bank, Israeli security forces, including the IDF, Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and Border Police closed down seven institutions that had ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Including six that Defense Minister Benny Gantz previously declared as terrorist organizations. The Israeli forces arrested 10 terror suspects overnight, operating throughout the Judea and Samaria, Baka and Amakim Regional Divisions, according to the IDF Spokesperson's Unit. During the operation, stones and Molotov cocktails were thrown at the forces, who responded with protest dispersal measures. Last year, the Justice and Defense ministries declared that several leading Palestinian NGOs were arms of the PFLP terrorist organization. The ministries each issued documents classifying Addameer, Al-Haq, Bisan Center, Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCI-P), the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees (UPWC) and the Union Of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC) as branches of the PFLP, joining other NGOs that had also been designated as terrorist affiliates.”
Egypt
The Jerusalem Post: Palestinian Islamic State Leader In Sinai Killed By Egyptian Forces - Report
“The leader of Islamic State in Sinai responsible for the death of 305 Egyptians in a 2017 mosque massacre has been killed in fighting with the Egyptian Armed Forces, the Sinai United Tribes announced on Monday.
Hamza Adel Muhammad Al-Zamili, better known by the Jihadi moniker Abu Kazem Al-Maqdisi, was killed in combat along with nine other Islamic State fighters. Three others were arrested, and as of Tuesday, Egyptian military operations were still underway, according to the Sinai United Tribes, which is aligned with the Egyptian government. In 2017, 305 people at Al Rawdah mosque in the northern Sinai were killed in a bombing and gun attack during Friday prayers. Many of those killed were reportedly Sufis, a branch of Islam that is considered idolatrous by the Islamic State. Maqdisi was reportedly responsible for the attack. “The armed forces and the police will avenge our martyrs and restore security and stability with the utmost force,” Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said in a televised address at the time. “What is happening is an attempt to stop us from our efforts in the fight against terrorism, to destroy our efforts to stop the terrible criminal plan that aims to destroy what is left of our region.”
Mali
Fox News: Mali: 'Africa's Afghanistan' Sees France Withdraw Troops And Terror Groups Run Amok
“It is being called Africa’s Afghanistan, a land where militants linked to both al Qaeda and ISIS jihadists fester, reaping terror, death, displacement and despair. Named the world’s terrorism hotspot, a third of all terrorism-related deaths in 2021 spilled blood over this country’s dusty plains. Some 2,700 have been killed in West Africa’s Mali in the first six months of this year, up 40% on last year. As the mayhem escalates in this region known as the Sahel, this week the last unilateral Western peacekeeping force was pulled – or was it pushed – out. Mali’s military junta is now letting Russia’s shadowy Wagner mercenary group reportedly run amok, with an ever-growing catalog of human rights abuses against Mali’s people. “Is Mali Africa's Afghanistan?” Jasmine Opperman, a security consultant specializing in extremism and political violence, discussed with Fox News Digital. “Looking at its history, looking at the complexities of the driving forces, looking at international actors’ involvement aggravating the security situation and acting as a trigger mechanism for extremism, I think we can definitely conclude that based on the similarities, Mali can be considered as Africa's Afghanistan.”
United Kingdom
BBC News: Boy, 15, Faces Trial Over Alleged Isle Of Wight Festival Terror Plot
“A 15-year-old boy is to go on trial accused of plotting a terror attack after allegedly researching the Isle of Wight Festival as a potential target. The boy, from Cowes, Isle of Wight, appeared at the Old Bailey charged with preparation of terrorist acts. It is claimed he had developed an interest in the Islamic State Group. A plea hearing has been set for 4 November, and a three-week trial has been scheduled to start at Winchester Crown Court on 18 April next year. Prosecutors said the teenager was arrested after police received a tip-off from the FBI that he was allegedly planning to attack someone he thought had insulted Islam. It is alleged the teenager researched the music festival, which is held in June and attracts around 90,000 people. is also said to have also looked up weapons, including firearms, vehicles and a stab vest. The defendant, who cannot be identified because of his age, was remanded in custody.”
Europe
Russia Matters: Foreign Fighters In Ukraine: What Concerns Should Really Be On The Agenda?
“…A group of experts gathered by the Counter-Extremism Project believes the number of pro-Ukraine foreign fighters present in-country ranges from “several hundred… to a few thousand.” Fighters from Eastern Europe and former Soviet republics still seem to constitute the bulk of arrivals,1 with Poland, Georgia, Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania and Romania among the most frequently mentioned in open sources as countries of origin. Western countries of origin with the greatest number of arriving foreign fighters include the U.S., U.K., Canada, Germany, and France, with “dozens of Japanese men” reportedly also applying. In terms of deployment, Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych claimed last month that around 1,000 pro-Ukrainian foreign fighters had taken part in battles. Russia, meanwhile, claimed in mid-June that nearly 7,000 “mercenaries and weapons specialists,” including trainers, from 64 countries had come to Ukraine’s aid since the war began, around 2,000 had already been killed and nearly 1,800 had left. (Besides foreigners, a far larger number of Ukrainian nationals—estimated at 22,000—have returned from abroad to join the fight. Reliable statistics on pro-Russian foreign fighters are even more difficult to find.”
Southeast Asia
Associated Press: Australia Upset At Indonesia Reducing Bali Bomber's Sentence
“Australia's leader said Friday that it's upsetting Indonesia has further reduced the prison sentence of the bombmaker in the Bali terror attack that killed 202 people — meaning the terrorist could be freed within days if he's granted parole. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he'd been told by Indonesian authorities that Umar Patek's sentence had been reduced by another five months, taking his total reductions to almost two years. That means Patek could be released on parole ahead of the 20th anniversary of the bombings in October. “This will cause further distress to Australians who were the families of victims of the Bali bombings,” Albanese told Channel 9. “We lost 88 Australian lives in those bombings.” Albanese said he would continue making “diplomatic representations” to Indonesia about Patek's sentence and a range of other issues, including Australians currently jailed in Indonesia. Albanese described Patek as “abhorrent.” “His actions were the actions of a terrorist,” Albanese told Channel 9. “They did have such dreadful results for Australian families that are ongoing, the trauma which is there.” Indonesia often grants sentence reductions to prisoners on major holidays such as the nation's Independence Day, which was Wednesday.”
Technology
The Independent: Extremism Experts Sound The Alarm As Trump Supporters Threaten Civil War On TikTok
“The videos share a few common themes: they are filmed by an excitable solo protagonist. That protagonist is often addressing fellow “patriots” and asking them to prepare for something very big to happen. They include some veiled or explicit threat of violence in response. And many of them are posted on TikTok, the short-form video app made popular by dancing teenagers. In the wake of the FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago, threats of violence against federal agents from Donald Trump’s supporters have skyrocketed, according to extremism monitors. Warnings of civil war and veiled threats of violence against politicians have also increased. In a departure from the norm, many of those threats are being made in the open, on social media platforms like TikTok, with no attempt to hide their identity. A collection of TikTok videos collated by one Twitter user included numerous calls for violence against the FBI and the government from Trump supporters. “I seen what happened to Trump,” one person says in a video while a weapon and ammunition can be seen on a bed behind him. “Yea, it’s go time. Everyone knows exactly what I’m talking about,” he adds. Other videos include conspiracy theories about IRS agents coming to take their weapons.”
The Jerusalem Post: Antisemitic Threats On Truth Social Continue In The Wake Of FBI’s Mar-A-Lago Raid
“When a Florida synagogue canceled its “Beach Shabbat” services amid threats against one of its board members, the judge who signed the warrant authorizing an FBI search of President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, it felt to some like a pivotal moment in the history of American antisemitism. “The combination of a synagogue in Florida having to cancel Shabbat due to antisemitic threats against the Jewish judge who signed the Trump warrant, combined with right-wing media figures pointing out that Merrick Garland is Jewish, is making me very uneasy as an American Jew,” a doctoral student in American Jewish history named Joel Swanson wrote on Twitter. Many of the attacks on Judge Bruce Reinhardt have referenced his Jewish identity, from a viral tweet by retired baseball player Lenny Dykstra to chatter on pro-Trump message boards. So, too, has criticism of Merrick Garland, the US attorney general who authorized the search as part of an ongoing investigation into whether Trump may have violated the Espionage Act. The torrent of antisemitic vitriol against them have raised concerns that Trump’s base, which has already shown potential for violence, could channel that rhetoric into action.”
The Counter Extremism Project depends on the generosity of its supporters. If you value what we do, please consider making a donation.
