Eye on Extremism
September 6, 2022
The New York Times: Trial Over 2016 Terror Attack In Nice Opens In Paris
“The third high-profile terrorism trial in France in two years opened on Monday in Paris, with eight defendants facing charges in a 2016 attack in the Mediterranean city of Nice that left more than 80 people dead and hundreds more injured or traumatized. It comes on the heels of monthslong trials in the 2015 Charlie Hebdo and Paris attacks. The three mass killings shook France to its core in the mid-2010s and left unhealed wounds, turning the proceedings into moments of catharsis as much as fact-finding. Over more than three months, in a highly secure courthouse on an island in the Seine River, judges will seek to determine what led a man to barrel a cargo truck for more than a mile through spectators celebrating Bastille Day on July 14 in Nice. That may prove a difficult task since the driver was killed by the police and appeared to have acted alone, leaving only people accused of being indirect accomplices in the dock. Still, even though the two previous trials struggled to clarify the mechanisms and motives of the attacks in the absence of most of the perpetrators, lengthy hearings afforded to the victims should at least help them — and to some extent help the wider public in France — to come to terms with the shocking events.”
CNN: Hamas Executes Five In Gaza, Including Two Accused Of Spying For Israel
“Hamas executed five Palestinians in Gaza, including two on charges of cooperating with Israel, the militant group announced on Sunday -- the first known executions in Gaza in more than five years. In a statement, the Ministry of Interior said the two were convicted of communicating with “hostile foreign parties,” a reference to Israel. In one case the information allegedly led to the “targeting and martyrdom of citizens,” while another was accused of supplying information on “resistance men, their places of residence, many of their jobs, the locations of launching rockets and blacksmithing workshops.” The other three individuals executed were convicted of murder. The five executions announced Sunday bring the total executed by Hamas to 33 since the group took power in the coastal enclave in 2007. The Ministry of Interior in Gaza said the executions were carried out “after all degrees of litigation have been exhausted,” and that the “convicts were granted their full right to defend themselves in accordance with the litigation procedures.” It is unclear what form the trials took. The last time Hamas is known to have executed people accused of collaborating with Israel, in April 2017, the human rights group Amnesty International criticized their trials as “unfair proceedings in military courts.”
Syria
Kurdistan 24: 121 ISIS Suspects Arrested Within A Week In Syria’s Al-Hol Camp: Asayish
“The Asayish in a press conference on Thursday said the Asayish arrested 121 suspected ISIS cells in Syria’s al-Hol camp during the seventh day of the “Security and Humanity” operation. The Asayish swept more than 50 per cent of the camp and arrested 121 ISIS suspects, including 15 women. “Our forces have uncovered 16 tunnels and trenches used by ISIS cells to hide and escape from the camp and confiscated a lot of digging equipment,” an Asayish spokesperson said during the press conference. The security forces also demolished 119 tents that were used by ISIS as training centers and courts for imposing executions and torture sentences. The spokesperson said the operation will continue “until achieves its goals of securing the lives of the camp residents, depriving ISIS cells of the environment that enables them to spread the extremist ideology among the camp children.” The Operation Humanity and Security was launched on August 25. Recently, two separate US delegations visited the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to underline their continued support to the SDF, the Asayish in the operation against ISIS militants in northeast Syria, and to get an update on the al-Hol operation.”
Afghanistan
The Washington Post: Suicide Bomber Hits Russian Embassy In Kabul, Killing Top Diplomat
“A suicide bomber blew himself up outside the consular section of Russia’s embassy in Kabul on Monday, killing a top diplomat, a Russian security guard and four Afghans, according to Russian and Afghan officials. Afghan police reported that Taliban guards at the embassy shot dead the attacker, but his device still detonated. The blast happened as the embassy’s second secretary exited the building to read out names to a crowd waiting to hear about visas, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported. The attack against one of the few countries that has maintained an embassy under the Taliban is a blow to the image of the group that took over Afghanistan a year ago and maintains it has control over the country. A statement by Alexander Bastrykin of the Investigative Committee of Russia said a criminal case has been opened in cooperation with Afghan law enforcement agencies into the death of the embassy’s second secretary and the guard. Russian media has identified the diplomat as Mikhail Shakh. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who was visiting neighboring Tajikistan, called it a “terrorist act” and said that security at the embassy has been tightened. He held a moment of silence for the slain staff and said the Taliban’s intelligence service was investigating. “Let’s hope that the organizers and perpetrators of this terrorist act will suffer their deserved punishment in the very near future,” Lavrov said.”
AFP: ISIS Claims Deadly Attack Near Russian Embassy In Afghan Capital
“The ISIS group claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing near the Russian embassy in Afghanistan's capital on Monday that killed two embassy staff and four others. An ISIS fighter “blew up his suicide vest in a gathering attended by Russian employees” near the embassy, the extremist group said in a statement via Telegram channels.”
CBS News: Senior Cleric Close To Afghanistan's Taliban Rulers Killed In Suicide Bombing At Herat Mosque
“An explosion tore through a crowded mosque in western Afghanistan on Friday, killing a prominent cleric close to the country's Taliban regime, officials said. At least 18 people were killed and 23 more wounded in the blast, according to a statement sent to CBS News' Ahmad Mukhtar and other Afghan journalists by Mawlawi Hamidullah Mutawakil, a spokesman for the Herat governor. The blast went off in the Guzargah Mosque in the western city of Herat during Friday noon prayers, the highlight of the Muslim religious week when places of worship are particularly crowded. The explosion killed Mujib-ul Rahman Ansari, a prominent cleric and the mosque's imam who was known across Afghanistan for his criticism of Afghanistan's Western-backed governments over the past two decades. Ansari was seen as close to the Taliban, which seized control over the country a year ago as U.S. and other foreign forces withdrew. A spokesman for the Herat police told CBS News' Sami Yousafzai that Ansari was “martyred” by “impure enemies of the religion of Islam and humanity” as he approached the mosque and a suicide bomber posing as a supporter blew himself up while kissing the cleric's hand.”
Euronews: Afghanistan’s Drug Trade Fuels Extremism. Europe Must Act
“In the year since the fall of Kabul, the situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated exponentially from an economic, humanitarian and human rights perspective. Millions of Afghans are facing severe food insecurity due to lost income and rising food costs, while advances made post-2001 towards women’s rights and media freedom have been rolled back. The Taliban of today are recreating their extremist and misogynist regime from the 1990s, with few, if any changes. Three sets of problems echo from the Taliban’s first reign: links to al-Qaeda, a deteriorating economic situation, and the illicit drug trade. These issues not only cause devastation for the Afghan population but pose a real threat to European interests.”
Pakistan
Associated Press: 5 Pakistani Soldiers, 4 Militants Killed In Shootout
“Pakistani security forces raided a militant hideout in a former Taliban stronghold near the border with Afghanistan Monday, triggering a shootout that killed five soldiers and four insurgents. Acting on intelligence, security forces launched the raid in North Waziristan, a district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, according to a military statement. North Waziristan and other former tribal regions in northwestern Pakistan were a base for the Pakistani Taliban and other militant groups until the army claimed that it cleared the region of insurgents. Occasional attacks have continued, however, raising concerns the Pakistani Taliban are regrouping in the area. The Pakistani Taliban are a separate group but allies of the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in Afghanistan a year ago as the U.S. and NATO troops were in the final stages of their pullout. The Taliban takeover in Afghanistan has emboldened the Pakistani Taliban, who are currently in peace talks with the government.”
Yemen
AFP: Al-Qaeda In Yemen Releases Video Of Kidnapped UN Worker: Monitor
“Al-Qaeda's Yemen branch released a video on Saturday showing a United Nations worker who was abducted in the war-torn country more than six months ago, the SITE Intelligence Group reported. Five UN staff members were kidnapped in Yemen's southern province of Abyan in February while returning to the port city of Aden “after having completed a field mission,” UN spokesperson Eri Kaneko told AFP at the time. In Saturday's video message, apparently recorded on August 9, Akam Sofyol Anam, identified by SITE as Bangladeshi, urges “the UN, the international community, the humanitarian organisations, to please come forward... and meet the demands of my captors”, without outlining the demands. He said he was facing “serious health trouble”, including heart problems, and needed “immediate medical support and hospitalisation”, according to SITE, which monitors extremist activity. Anam, who SITE identified as the “director of the United Nations Office of Security and Safety in Yemen”, said he and four colleagues were kidnapped on February 11. Yemen has been gripped by conflict since the Iran-backed Huthi rebels took control of the capital Sanaa in 2014, triggering a Saudi-led military intervention in support of the beleaguered government the following year.”
Middle East
Reuters: Member Of Palestinian Militant Group Killed In West Bank Clash
“Israeli soldiers killed a Palestinian who belonged to the Islamic Jihad militant group on Monday during clashes in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials and Islamic Jihad said. Israel's military said security forces had arrested five people suspected of what it called terrorist activity in and around the city of Jenin when a riot erupted. “The rioters hurled rocks, explosive devices and Molotov cocktails at the forces and shots were heard in the area. The soldiers responded with live fire, hits were identified,” it said. The Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned the killing, calling it an execution. Islamic Jihad, which fought a brief conflict with Israel in Gaza last month, called on its members to step up its fight against Israel. Violence has simmered in the West Bank since Israel began a months-long campaign against suspected militants in response to a spate of street attacks carried out by Palestinians and members of Israel's Arab minority that killed at least 18 people. So far 97 Palestinians have been killed in the campaign, the Health Ministry says, including the attackers, civilians, and those shot during clashes with Israeli forces. Also overnight, four Israeli soldiers were wounded when an explosive device was thrown at their post near the Palestinian town of Nabi Saleh, the army said.”
AFP: Seven Wounded In Shooting On Israeli Bus In West Bank
“Gunmen wounded six Israeli soldiers and a civilian on Sunday when they sprayed bullets at a bus in the occupied West Bank, the army said. The attack in the Jordan Valley, near the city of Tubas, comes amid a spate of violence in the West Bank in recent days and a shooting spree last month targeting an Israeli bus in annexed east Jerusalem. It also follows months of often deadly Israeli army raids in the West Bank, many targeting Palestinian militants in the Nablus and Jenin areas -- both near Tubas. Two suspects were arrested soon after Sunday's attack near the burnt-out remains of the vehicle they were thought to have used, and guns were found lying on the dirt road nearby. The bus's windscreen was peppered with dozens of bullet holes and a side window was smashed. The Israeli military said one soldier was seriously wounded and five others and a civilian suffered lighter injuries. Matti Carmi, from the Magen David Adom emergency medical services, said “two gunshots victims” were treated outside the bus. The two were both conscious and were airlifted to hospital in the Israeli coastal city of Haifa. Three others wounded by flying glass were transported to another hospital in northern Israel, the MDA said.”
Nigeria
AFP: Scores Of Nigeria Jihadists Drown Fleeing Air Strikes: Sources
“Scores of Boko Haram jihadists have drowned in a river in northeast Nigeria’s Borno state while fleeing from ground and aerial attacks from Nigerian troops, security sources and residents told AFP Monday. Troops aided by air support attacked several villages on the fringes of the Sambisa forest jihadist stronghold outside the town of Bama, pummelling Boko Haram fighters who had taken over the area, the sources said. The militants were overwhelmed and in an effort to escape plunged into the Yezaram river, which was overflowing from heavy rains and drowned. “More than 100 terrorists were killed, most of them by drowning when they tried to cross the seething river,” a senior military officer said on the incident which happened on Thursday through Friday. “Our troops pulverized the terrorists from ground and air attacks, forcing them to abandon their positions,” said the officer, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak on the incident. Four soldiers were killed, he said. Nigeria’s Defense Minister Bashir Salihi Magashi told reporters Monday that there had been massive ground and air operations against jihadists last week, but did not give full details. Troops, supported by Super Tucano aircraft and Alpha jets, conducted “clearance operations” in villages along the river, said Bukar Grema, an anti-jihadist militia fighter, working alongside the military.”
The Guardian Nigeria: Military Airstrikes Kill Five Boko Haram Commanders, 195 Others In Borno
“Troops of 199 Special Forces and 222 Battalions, Operation Hadin Kai (OPHK) in coordinated military airstrikes have killed 200 Boko Haram terrorists, including five commanders, on the fringes of Sambisa Forest in Borno State. In sustained operations to clear the North West of banditry and terrorism, at the weekend, troops of 1 Division, the Army has neutralised three bandits and terrorists along Sabon Birni, Dogondawa-Kuyelo and Farin Ruwa. In Kaduna State, the Nigerian Military School (NMS), Zaria, over the weekend, graduated 220 soldiers for the 2022 session. The coordinated joint military operations of September 1, 2022, in Borno also led to the neutralisation of top five commanders of the terror group. They are Abou Hauwa, Amir Shettima, Akura Buri (Nakif), Abou Zainab and Abou Idris. A counter-insurgency expert in the Lake Chad region, Zagazola Makama, stated, yesterday, in Maiduguri: “An intelligence-led aerial and ground operations targeted the terrorists’ hideouts in the Gaizuwa border, comprising Gabchari, Sheruri, Mantari and Mallam Masari villages in Bama Local Council of the state. He said the ground troops had, during the raid, stormed a hideout of the terrorists at Gafchari, where they engaged the bandits in a gun battle, which led to the killing of over 30 insurgents, while others escaped with gunshot wounds towards the forest.”
Somalia
Voice Of America: Al-Shabab Kills 21 In Somalia’s Hiran Province
“Somali officials and residents say al-Shabab militants shot and killed at least 21 travelers in the country's central region of Hiran on Friday night. Speaking to VOA, Mahas District Commissioner Mumin Mohamed Halane said the killings occurred in the outskirts of Beledweyne, a town around 300 km north of Mogadishu. “The militants ambushed the travelers in nine vehicles, indiscriminately opened fire on them and killed 18 civilians,” Halane told VOA Somali over the phone. “Three more civilians died when improvised explosive device apparently planted by the militants targeted their vehicle in the same area,” he added. He said the victims were drivers and local civilians heading to his town, Mahas, around 90 km from Beledweyne, Hiran's capital. “Al-Shabab is targeting civilians because they are in a desperate situation and want to make the locals surrender. That will never happen. We will fight with them to our last drop,” Halane said. Local elders who saw the bodies of civilians told VOA on condition of anonymity that most of the victims had gunshot wounds to the head. One elder said the militants first indiscriminately fired a volley of shots at the travelers' vehicles, forced the surviving passengers out and shot them dead, leaving their bodies on the roadside.”
Africa
Associated Press: Witnesses Say Dozens Killed In New Ethnic Attack In Ethiopia
“Residents in Ethiopia’s largest federal state, Oromia, say dozens of civilians were killed in an attack by an armed group on Monday, the latest mass violence along ethnic lines that challenges one of Africa's most populous countries. Two residents of the restive Wollega region’s Horo Guduru area said an armed group from the ethnic Amhara community, known as Fano, targeted ethnic Oromos indiscriminately. “Those Fano militia came in full force and killed everyone they found,” one witness told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. He said he saw six fresh bodies in a graveyard. The fighters burned houses, looted cattle and threatened to come back and “finish us all,” he said. Another witness said he saw around 20 bodies on Tuesday and said he believed that “many other bodies remain to be discovered.” Both witnesses said the attack occurred a day after Oromia regional forces withdrew from the area. A spokesman for Ethiopia’s federal government, Legesse Tulu, hung up without answering questions. Oromia’s police chief did not respond. On Thursday, Ethiopia’s Media Authority issued a warning to private media outlet Finfinnee Integrated Broadcast for reporting the killings and accused it of disseminating “fake and unconfirmed reports.”
Reuters: Attack On Vehicle Kills 35 Civilians In Northern Burkina Faso
“At least 35 civilians were killed and 37 injured in northern Burkina Faso on Monday when a vehicle in a convoy hit an improvised explosive device (IED), the interim government said in a statement. The escorted supply convoy heading to the capital, Ouagadougou, hit the IED between the northern towns of Djibo and Bourzanga, an area where Islamist militants have escalated attacks on villages, police and military outposts since 2015. “Escorts rapidly secured the perimeter and took measures to assist the victims,” the military government said in a statement. Insecurity has risen across West Africa's Sahel over the past decade as groups with links to al Qaeda and Islamic State have gained ground, killing thousands and displacing over a million people despite the presence of foreign troops and United Nations peacekeepers. Frustrations about spiralling attacks spurred a military coup against Burkina Faso's ex-president Roch Kabore in January. But levels of violence have remained high. Nearly one in 10 people in Burkina Faso has been displaced by conflict and severe food insecurity has almost doubled compared to 2021 as fields and livestock are abandoned, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council.”
AFP: At Least 33 Killed In DR Congo Clashes: Monitor
“At least 33 people were killed following an attack on a town in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a respected monitor said Saturday, raising an earlier reported death toll. Kivu Security Tracker, the monitor, tweeted that at least 33 people -- including militia members and civilians -- had died following an attack by the notorious CODECO group on Mongbwalu in Ituri province. For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app. It did not specify how many of the dead were civilians, however. The death toll raises an earlier reported death toll of 22 people killed during the attack on Mongbwalu town. Town mayor Jean-Pierre Bikilisende earlier this week told AFP that 22 dead bodies were discovered following clashes between the militants and Congolese troops. Fourteen civilians and eight militants were killed, he said, explaining that CODECO members had been staging attacks since Tuesday in a bid to free fellow fighters captured by Congolese security forces. AFP was unable to independently confirm the death toll from this week’s attack. The CODECO -- the Cooperative for the Development of the Congo -- is a political-religious sect that claims to represent the interests of the Lendu ethnic group."
United Kingdom
Evening Standard: Londoner Aine Davis Accused Of Plot To Fund Islamic State Terrorism In Syria
“A west London-born man suspected of being part of Islamic State in Syria will face trial on terror funding charges in February next year, the Old Bailey has heard. Aine Davis, 38, who was born in Hammersmith, is accused of orchestrating an attempt to smuggle 20,000 euros out of the UK to a contact in Turkey through his then-wife Amal El-Wahabi. Davis is also accused of possessing a firearm for terrorist purposes between July 28, 2013 and January 16, 201, when he is said to have been pictured holding a rifle in IS-occupied Syria. On Friday, he appeared at the Old Bailey via videolink from HMP Belmarsh, and did not have a barrister to represent him during the 20-minute hearing. A trial was set for February 27 next year, with a plea hearing scheduled for December 23. Mr Justice Sweeney remanded Davis, who was represented by a solicitor, into custody until his trial. Davis was arrested at Luton Airport on August 10 when he was returned to the UK from Turkey. He has not yet entered any pleas to two charges relating to the alleged money transfer for terrorist purposes and a count of possessing a firearm for terrorist purposes.”
France
Associated Press: French Prosecutor Warns Of Elevated Terror Attack Threat
“There is an elevated threat of terror attacks on French soil by Islamic extremists coming from Iraq and Syria, France's national anti-terrorism prosecutor warned Friday. Jean-Francois Ricard said in an interview on French news broadcaster BFM TV that terrorist acts carried out “by individuals coming from areas where terrorists are operating, especially the Iraqi-Syrian area” cannot be ruled out. Ricard’s comments come ahead of the opening of the trial of eight suspects in connection with the 2016 Bastille Day truck attack in Nice that left 86 people dead. Ricard said the extremist threat has increased since 2020. “For two years, we've been able to see how the Islamic State group was regaining some pieces of territory, was restructuring itself” in Iraq and Syria. He pointed to the January attack in Syria by Islamic State militants of a prison holding suspected extremists in the northeastern city of Hassakeh. Individuals convicted in France on terror-related charges and are set to be released pose another threat, Ricard said. “Very often they have abandoned none of their convictions,” he said, adding however that France's judicial and intelligence services will keep a close watch on that released inmates. The prosecutor said French authorities will “need to do everything we can” to prevent determined terrorists from committing attacks.”
Germany
The Washington Post: 50 Years After Munich Olympics Attack, Victims’ Families Are Compensated
“Fifty years ago Monday, on Sept. 5, 1972, Palestinian extremists infiltrated athletes’ dorms at the Munich Summer Olympics, an attack that resulted in the murder of 11 Israeli athletes and coaches and a German police officer and set off an international crisis. It also led to five decades of complaints from the athletes’ families that German authorities had botched the response to the attack and concealed key details from them. Now, after years of legal wrangling, Germany has agreed to give 28 million euros to the families of the murdered Israeli athletes, the Israeli and German governments announced on Wednesday. “We are pleased and relieved that an agreement on historical clarification, recognition and compensation has been reached shortly before the 50th anniversary,” German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in a joint statement with Israeli President Isaac Herzog. The agreement came just days before a 50th-anniversary commemoration that the families had planned to boycott unless the German government offered what they deemed just compensation. Just a few weeks ago, the families had turned down an offer from Germany that would have amounted to about 200,000 euros for each family, according to Ankie Spitzer, whose husband, Andre, an Olympic fencing coach, was murdered during the hostage standoff.”
New Zealand
New Zealand Herald: Auckland Mall Terror Attack One Year On: Questions Remain On Anniversary
“Since I was a child, my ambition is becoming an engineer and to serve the society as much as I can,” Ahamed Aathil Mohamed Samsudeen wrote as he prepared to study in New Zealand. “He was an obedient and loyal student who bears a good moral character,” the Hindu College in Colombo where the Tamil Muslim spent seven years after passing year 5 scholarship exams, said. Yet less than six years later, he would be in the sights of government agencies battling to arrest, detain and later deport him - until his death in an Auckland Countdown supermarket on Friday, September 3 last year. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said it was a terrorist attack, New Zealand's second such tragedy - but this one came from a known threat. Samsudeen injured eight people, most with stab wounds, before specialist undercover officers confronted him and shot him dead. He had been monitored since 2015 because of his interest in Islamic State, and he was arrested at Auckland airport in 2017. The authorities believed he was a threat to national security and that he was trying to join Isis in Syria. He spent most of the next four years on remand in jail. Preparing for his trip to New Zealand in July 2011, where he was to study a diploma in electronics and telecommunications, Samsudeen explained his career path in the application documents for his student visa.”
Technology
The Wall Street Journal: Islamic State Turns To NFTs To Spread Terror Message
“A simple digital card praising Islamist militants for an attack on a Taliban position in Afghanistan last month is the first known nonfungible token created and disseminated by a terrorist sympathizer, according to former senior U.S. intelligence officials. It is a sign that Islamic State and other terror groups may be preparing to use the emerging financial technology to sidestep Western efforts to eradicate their online fundraising and messaging, they said. The NFT, visible on at least one NFT trading website and titled “IS-NEWS #01,” bears Islamic State’s emblem. It was created by a supporter of the group, likely as an experiment to test a new outreach and funding strategy for ISIS, the former officials said. Regulators and national-security officials have expressed concern about the potential for terrorists to exploit new financial technologies and markets, including NFTs. “It was only a matter of time,” said Yaya Fanusie, a former economic and counterterrorism analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency. An NFT is a unit of data stored on a blockchain—a database of transactions organized without the need for a central trusted authority. The technology first emerged as a means of tracking, valuing and trading digital assets, but developers say that it has much broader applications, such as digital concert tickets and branded collectibles like digital trading cards.”
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