“CBS News has confirmed military prosecutors and defense attorneys are
negotiating potential plea deals that could take the death penalty off the
table for five defendants charged in connection with the 9/11 attack – and some
families of victims are upset by the news, reports CBS News senior
investigative correspondent Catherine Herridge. The five defendants (including
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the self-described architect of 9/11) are all held at
the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and were formally charged in 2008
with helping to plan the attack. But their cases have stalled over access to
CIA evidence and, recently, over COVID delays. Sunday marked 21 years since the
terror plot that killed nearly 3,000 people on U.S. soil. Among the victims was
pilot Charles Burlingame. On 9/11, al Qaeda terrorists took over Burlingame's
American Airlines Flight 77, slamming it into the Pentagon. “He was living his
dream,” Burlingame's sister, Debra, told Herridge. Burlingame was more than a
war hero to his family, who affectionately called him Chic. “He was really our
touchstone,” said Debra. “He still is.” Before this year's anniversary, Debra
shared his story at New York's 9/11 Memorial.”











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Eye on Extremism


September 13, 2022



CBS News: Some 9/11 Families “Outraged” Over Potential Plea Deals For Five
Defendants Held At Guantanamo Bay
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“CBS News has confirmed military prosecutors and defense attorneys are
negotiating potential plea deals that could take the death penalty off the
table for five defendants charged in connection with the 9/11 attack – and some
families of victims are upset by the news, reports CBS News senior
investigative correspondent Catherine Herridge. The five defendants (including
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the self-described architect of 9/11) are all held at
the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and were formally charged in 2008
with helping to plan the attack. But their cases have stalled over access to
CIA evidence and, recently, over COVID delays. Sunday marked 21 years since the
terror plot that killed nearly 3,000 people on U.S. soil. Among the victims was
pilot Charles Burlingame. On 9/11, al Qaeda terrorists took over Burlingame's
American Airlines Flight 77, slamming it into the Pentagon. “He was living his
dream,” Burlingame's sister, Debra, told Herridge. Burlingame was more than a
war hero to his family, who affectionately called him Chic. “He was really our
touchstone,” said Debra. “He still is.” Before this year's anniversary, Debra
shared his story at New York's 9/11 Memorial.”



Reuters: Pakistan Court Extends Imran Khan's Bail On Terrorism Charges
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“A Pakistani court on Monday extended former Prime Minister Imran Khan's
pre-arrest bail for eight more days on terrorism charges relating to a speech
in which he allegedly threatened police and judicial officers, his lawyer said.
Khan, who appeared in court in person, was booked in the case by police in
August. This is the fourth time he has secured pre-arrest bail in the matter.
read more “Bail is extended till 20th September with the same sureties,” Khan's
lawyer, Babar Awan, told Reuters. Khan has denied he threatened the officials,
saying his words were taken out of context. “This amounts to making a mockery
of the anti-terrorism law; making a mockery of our country,” he told
journalists outside the court on Monday after he secured his bail. The
terrorism case is one of a spate of legal woes for Khan, who was ousted as
prime minister by a parliamentary vote in April. The court said last week it
would indict Khan in a contempt of court case in coming days in a matter that
poses a threat to his future as it could see him disqualified from politics for
at least five years. Khan, who still enjoys widespread support, has been
holding political gatherings across the country to pressure the government into
holding snap elections. Officially, general elections are not due until
November next year.”



United States



Axios: Married Couple Who Plotted To Kill Americans For ISIS Plead Guilty
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“An Alabama woman and New York City man have pleaded guilty to trying to
fight for the ISIS terrorist group. Driving the news: Arwa Muthana, 30, and her
husband, James Bradley, 21, attempted to travel to the Middle East to join
ISIS, prosecutors say. Bradley had also allegedly expressed a desire to support
ISIS by committing a terror attack in the U.S. Details: In 2020, Bradley told
an undercover law enforcement officer about the possibility of attacking the
U.S. military academy in West Point, according to the Justice Department. He
allegedly said that if he couldn't leave the U.S., he'd do “something” in the
U.S. instead. The two also “accessed, posted and distributed extremist online
content,” the DOJ said. After much planning, Bradley and Muthana set out to
travel to the Middle East via a cargo ship departing from New Jersey on March
31, 2021, prosecutors say. They were arrested as they were boarding. Later,
Muthana allegedly said during an interview that she was “willing to fight and
kill Americans if it was for Allah.” Worth noting: Muthana is the older sister
of Hoda Muthana, who joined ISIS after traveling to Syria in 2014, AL.com
notes. The younger Muthana has since expressed interest in returning to the
U.S. while being detained in a Kurdish refugee camp with her young son. A judge
ruled in 2019 that the U.S. is not obligated to help her return, and the
Supreme Court declined to hear her appeal this year.”



Washington Examiner: Al Qaeda Releases Book Detailing 9/11 Planning On
Anniversary Of Terror Attacks: Report
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“Al Qaeda leaders reportedly released a book over the weekend detailing the
timeline leading up to the 9/11 terror attacks, coinciding with the 21st
anniversary of the attacks that left almost 3,000 people dead in three
locations. The book was written by one of the group’s senior leaders, Abu
Muhammad al Masri, who was killed in Iran in 2020, according to the News Agency
of Nigeria. The book details the timeline of the attack, noting that al Qaeda
began planning attacks on the United States in 1996 with the intention to drag
the U.S. military into a long-term war, the outlet reported. An Egyptian pilot
initially suggested flying a civilian plane into “an important and symbolic
American building” while carrying thousands of gallons of flammable materials,
according to the book. Group members were then chosen in 1998 to enlist in
further combat training and enroll in aviation schools, the outlet reported. On
Sept. 11, 2001, terrorists hijacked three U.S. planes and crashed two into the
Twin Towers in New York City and another into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.
A fourth plane was also hijacked, but passengers were able to overcome the
pilots and crash the plane in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. It’s
believed the plane was either headed toward the Capitol or the White House.”



Syria



Associated Press: Islamic State Militants Kill 6 US-Backed Fighters In Eastern
Syria
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“The Islamic State group killed six U.S.-backed Syrian fighters in eastern
Syria saying on Monday that the killing was in retaliation for an ongoing
operation inside a sprawling camp housing tens of thousands of family members
of the extremist group. The ISIS-linked Aamaq news agency released a video
showing the shooting of the six members of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic
Forces near the eastern village of Ruwaished where they were captured alive and
later shot dead late Sunday. Despite their defeat in Syria in 2019, when ISIS
lost the last sliver of land its fighters once controlled, the extremists'
sleepers cells have continued to carry out deadly attacks in Syria and Iraq
where they once held large parts of the two countries. The latest attack
occurred in Syria's eastern province of Deir el-Zour bordering Iraq, and where
U.S. troops are based at an oil facility known as the Omar Field. Last week,
the U.S. military said SDF fighters arrested dozens of ISIS militants and
rescued four women who were being held chained inside tents at the massive
al-Hol camp that houses ISIS families. The operation that has been ongoing for
three weeks is part of an effort to dissolve a major ISIS network at the camp,
which is widely seen as a breeding ground for the next generation of ISIS
extremists.”



AFP: US Centcom Urges Nations To Bring IS Relatives Home From Syria
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“The head of the US armed forces' Central Command Monday urged countries from
around the world to repatriate their nationals from a northeast Syrian camp
housing jihadists' wives and children. Al-Hol camp holds around 56,000 people
-- mostly Syrians and Iraqis, but also around 10,000 who consist largely of
wives and children of Islamic State (IS) fighters originating from further
afield. Many were taken to the camp during the defeat of the jihadist group's
self-declared caliphate by US-backed Syrian Kurdish forces in 2019. “I
encourage all of the countries that have citizens there to repatriate,
rehabilitate and reintegrate” camp residents, CENTCOM's General Michael Kurilla
told reporters in Jordan's capital Amman. Syria's Kurds -- who run a
semi-autonomous adminstration in northeast Syria -- have repeatedly begged
countries to repatriate their citizens. But such calls, despite being echoed by
the United Nations, have largely fallen on deaf ears, due to fears returnees
might pose a security threat back home and trigger a domestic backlash. IS, a
Sunni extremist group, seized around a third of Iraq and swathes of war-torn
Syria in 2014, recruiting foreign jihadists from around the world, before it
was gradually ground down by US-backed forces on both sides of the border.”



Reuters: Tribal Spies In Syria Help U.S. Win Drone War Against Islamic State
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“When the U.S. military targeted Islamic State commander Maher al-Agal with a
drone strike in northern Syria in July, there was little chance it would miss.
The reason? Revenge. With Islamic State's last battle-hardened forces holed up
in remote areas, the United States is turning to the aid of tribesmen burning
to exact revenge for the atrocities unleashed by the group when it ruled over
swathes of Syria and Iraq. Still thirsty for vengeance eight years after the
group, which is also known as Daesh, massacred hundreds of their clan, Sheitaat
tribesmen in Syria had planted a tracking device on the motorbike Agal was
riding when he was killed, one of the people who tracked him down said. The
tribesman, whose account was confirmed by a Western intelligence officer in the
region, said tribal relatives in contact with the Islamic State commander's
immediate family had secretly been keeping tabs on him for months in northern
Syria.”



Yemen



AFP: Blast Kills 6 Separatists On Anti Al-Qaeda Sweep In Yemen
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“An explosion caused by an improvised device killed six Yemeni separatist
fighters on Monday during an anti-jihadist sweep in the south of the
war-ravaged country, security sources said. “Four Yemeni soldiers were killed
and six others wounded in an IED explosion targeting a military vehicle” during
a campaign targeting Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in Abyan
province, a security official told AFP. Two of the wounded later died of their
injuries, the same official later said. A second security source confirmed the
original toll and the revised toll. On September 6, 21 separatist fighters and
six AQAP members were killed when an attack by the jihadists punctured months
of relative peace. Yemen has been gripped by conflict since 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. AQAP and militants loyal to the Islamic State group have thrived in the
chaos. A UN-brokered ceasefire has drastically reduced fighting between the
government and Huthis since April, but outbreaks of violence continue. The
anti-Huthi camp includes motley groups such as the separatists targeted by
Monday's IED blast.”



Middle East



The Jerusalem Post: Israeli Security Forces Arrest 12 Palestinian Terrorism
Suspects <[link removed]>



“In the latest of nightly raids by Israeli security forces ]— dubbed
Operation Break the Wave — the IDF, Shin Bet and Border Police operated at a
number of towns in the West Bank overnight, arresting 12 suspects, the IDF
Spokesperson's Unit announced. The security forces operated in the towns of
Surif, Bayt Awa and Khirbat Carmel near Hebron as well as the Ayda and Jalazone
refugee camps, Silwad near Ramallah, and A-Ram near Jerusalem. Border Police
officers and the IDF Nahal unit operated in Jenin, arresting four people
suspected of terrorist activities and confiscating weapons. During the
operation in Jenin, shots were fired and explosives, as well as Molotov
cocktails, were thrown at the soldiers, who responded with gunfire.
Additionally, one of the suspects that the security forces were trying to
arrest attempted to escape, during which the soldiers shot at him under arrest
protocols, and he was hit. Palestinian media has noted at least two injuries as
a result of clashes with Israeli troops throughout the night. More weapons were
confiscated in Beit Jala and Abu Dis in the Etzion regional area. Additionally,
two suspects were arrested.”



Nigeria



Reuters: Five Aides Killed After Gunmen Attack Nigerian Senator's Convoy
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“Gunmen in Nigeria killed five aides including security personnel during an
attack on the convoy of a Nigerian senator in southeastern Anambra state on
Sunday evening, the senator's spokesman said on Monday. Senator Ifeanyi Ubah's
convoy was attacked in Enugwu-Ukwu, a community in the Njikoka local government
area of Anambra but he escaped without injuries because he was travelling in a
bullet-proof vehicle, spokesman Kameh Ogbonna told Reuters. Ogbonna said he was
in the same car with Ubah at the time of the attack, which he described as an
assassination attempt. Police said they were investigating the incident and
would give an update later. Unknown gunmen have been responsible for a series
of attacks on politicians, security forces and government targets in the
southeast, where separatists are agitating for secession. The government
accuses outlawed separatist group Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) for the
attacks and other criminal activities in the region. IPOB denies the charge and
says it seeks non-violent means to achieve its aims.”



Sahara Reporters: Boko Haram Claims Killing Of Nigerian Army Personnel,
Policeman In Borno, Yobe
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“The Islamic State-backed faction of Boko Haram, the Islamic State West
Africa Province (ISWAP), formerly known as Jamā'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah
wa'l-Jihād, has claimed that its fighters killed a soldier and a policeman
during different attacks on security agencies’ checkpoints in Borno State.
According to ISWAP, the soldier was killed during an attack on a military
checkpoint in Gamboru, Ngala Local Government Area of the state. Gamboru, near
Lake Chad, is a market town near the Cameroon border. The terror group also
claimed a policeman was killed on Saturday during an attack on a checkpoint in
Geidam. It added that it razed down an operational vehicle belonging to the
police. Since the death of JAS leader, Abubakar Shekau, ISWAP has been
consolidating its grip in locations around Lake Chad. The sect’s membership has
swollen with the defection of hundreds of Boko Haram fighters under Shekau. The
Nigerian Army has repeatedly claimed that the insurgency has been largely
defeated. The terror group has caused over 100,000 deaths and displaced
millions of individuals mainly in Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe states.”



Somalia



Voice Of America: Somali Military Says Offensive Retakes 20 Villages From
Militants
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“Somalia's military says an offensive in the central Hiran region has
captured 20 villages that were occupied by the Islamist militant group
al-Shabab. A Somali National Army commander, Captain Mohamed Ibrahim Daud, told
VOA by phone Monday that army troops backed by armed locals have killed more
than 100 al-Shabab fighters and also “liberated” 20 villages from the
al-Qaida-affiliated group. He said the retaken villages include several key
locations in Hiran region, including the small town of Fidow near Somalia's
border with Ethiopia. Daud said troops captured another 20 militants alive. He
acknowledged that the army received air support during the operations, without
naming a country. In a statement issued Sunday night, Somali Information
Ministry said the operations were the first step in implementing the
government's vision of fighting terrorism and getting rid of al-Shabab “all
over the country.” “The Somali government is committed to remove al-Shabab as a
threat to the Somali people,” the statement said. Abdulkarim Abdulle, a
Mogadishu-based independent security analyst, told VOA via WhatsApp that local
militias are determined to work with the security forces to eliminate al-Shabab
in the regions.”



Africa



Associated Press: Mozambique's Jihadis Spread Into Most Populous Province
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“Extremists allied with the Islamic State group have spread their attacks
further south into Mozambique's most populous province, Nampula, including an
assault on a Catholic mission in which an Italian nun was among those killed.
The extremists first struck the province earlier this month and have sustained
the offensive, attacking rural centers and beheading some residents. Their
insurgency had been confined to Mozambique's northernmost Cabo Delgado
province, where an estimated 4,000 people have been killed and 950,000
displaced over four years. The violence has also disrupted big economic
projects, including one by the France-based TotalEngergies to produce liquified
natural gas and the development of a large mine to extract graphite to make
lithium batteries for Tesla motors. The extremists' push into Nampula comes
despite the deployment for more than a year of a military force from the
16-nation Southern Africa Development Community, along with troops from Rwanda,
in support of the Mozambican military. The Islamic State Mozambique Province
group has claimed responsibility for setting fire to two churches and more than
120 homes of Christians last week in Nampula province.”



AFP: Soldiers And 'Terrorists' Dead In Burkina Faso Attack
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“Two soldiers died and a dozen “terrorists” were killed on Monday during an
attack against a military detachment in Burkina Faso's militant-hit north, the
army said. The landlocked African state is in the grip of a seven-year-old
insurgency that has claimed more than 2,000 lives and forced some 1.4 million
people to leave their homes. The army said in a statement that a “complex
attack targeted the military detachment of Deou” in the Sahel region on Monday
morning, when “attackers tried to infiltrate their security apparatus”. The
statement said that after the attack, there were “two fallen soldiers and a
dozen wounded... on the enemy side, a dozen soldiers were neutralised, weapons
and motorcycles were recovered”. Military statements often use the word
“neutralised” to indicate those killed. Although the army statement did not
give more details about the attack, the phrase “complex attack” generally
refers to the combined use of explosives and weapons. Reinforcements are on the
way to the area, the military said. Burkina Faso has been facing increasingly
frequent and deadly attacks by terrorist groups affiliated to Al-Qaeda or the
so-called Daesh (Islamic State), targeting civilians and soldiers since 2015.”



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