“New Zealand's parliament on Wednesday proposed changes to the country's
counter-terrorism laws to provide more restrictions on people thought likely to
be planning an attack. The changes to the Control Orders Act and the Terrorism
Suppression Act follow the introduction of the Counter-Terrorism Legislation
bill in 2021 in the wake of a knife attack on several people at an Auckland
supermarket by a man with known extremist views. “While no law can ever stop a
motivated terrorist from undertaking an attack these changes will go a long way
in preventing, disrupting and limiting their ability to do so,” Justice
Minister Kiri Allen said in a statement. The changes include expanding the
criteria for who can have restrictions placed on them in the community,
increasing flexibility on whether someone under a control order has their
identity suppressed, and making it more difficult for those categorised to have
the designation of “terrorist” removed. After the mall knife attack in 2021 the
government sought a review on how to improve laws to prevent a similar attack
happening. The man, who was shot dead by police, was inspired by the Islamic
state militant group and was being monitored constantly by security personnel
after his earlier release from prison. It was the second extremist attack in
the country in a little over two years after the massacre by a white
supremacist at two mosques in Christchurch in March 2019 that killed 51 people
and injured dozens more.”











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Eye on Extremism


October 19, 2022



Reuters: New Zealand Proposes Stronger Terrorism Laws
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“New Zealand's parliament on Wednesday proposed changes to the country's
counter-terrorism laws to provide more restrictions on people thought likely to
be planning an attack. The changes to the Control Orders Act and the Terrorism
Suppression Act follow the introduction of the Counter-Terrorism Legislation
bill in 2021 in the wake of a knife attack on several people at an Auckland
supermarket by a man with known extremist views. “While no law can ever stop a
motivated terrorist from undertaking an attack these changes will go a long way
in preventing, disrupting and limiting their ability to do so,” Justice
Minister Kiri Allen said in a statement. The changes include expanding the
criteria for who can have restrictions placed on them in the community,
increasing flexibility on whether someone under a control order has their
identity suppressed, and making it more difficult for those categorised to have
the designation of “terrorist” removed. After the mall knife attack in 2021 the
government sought a review on how to improve laws to prevent a similar attack
happening. The man, who was shot dead by police, was inspired by the Islamic
state militant group and was being monitored constantly by security personnel
after his earlier release from prison. It was the second extremist attack in
the country in a little over two years after the massacre by a white
supremacist at two mosques in Christchurch in March 2019 that killed 51 people
and injured dozens more.”



The New York Times: French Cement Company To Pay $780 Million Over Payoffs To
ISIS
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“In the fall of 2012, an executive at the French construction conglomerate
Lafarge S.A. met in Gaziantep, a sprawling city in southern Turkey, with
representatives of several militias from northern Syria to hash out an
agreement. As Syria had descended into civil war, Lafarge was among the few
multinational companies still operating there. But employees of its cement
factory just south of the Turkish border had come under attack from factions
that had seized power in the region. After the Gaziantep meeting, Lafarge
executives agreed to protect their operation by making monthly payments to
terrorist groups including the Islamic State. The militants issued papers to
the company’s drivers guaranteeing safe passage for its shipments and even
offered to choke off competition. The yearslong arrangement — which came to
resemble a revenue-sharing deal, even as violence encircled the plant — was at
the center of a $778 million criminal plea agreement announced Tuesday by the
U.S. Justice Department. Lafarge, a subsidiary of the Switzerland-based Holcim
Group with extensive operations in the United States, entered a guilty plea
Tuesday in federal court in Brooklyn to a count of conspiring to provide
material support to a foreign terrorist organization. The company also faces
criminal charges in France, where it is the first corporation to be indicted on
charges of complicity with crimes against humanity.”



United States



Rolling Stone: Feds Charge Pentagon Contractor With Lying About Ties To ISIS
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“Federal prosecutors say a translator hired by the U.S. to work in
Afghanistan lied about his contacts with recruiters for the terrorist group
behind a notorious bombing that killed 13 American troops in August 2021. In a
federal criminal complaint filed in Kansas on Monday, the government says
Mohammad Rafi Mohammadi communicated with, funded, and, in one case, sought to
secure the release of recruiters for ISIS-Khorasan (ISIS-K) both before and
after he worked for the U.S. as a linguist in Afghanistan. Mohammadi allegedly
denied “ever associat[ing] with anyone involved in activities to further
terrorism” while filling out a security clearnace form for his linguist work in
2019. But FBI agents investigating him in the wake of the 2021 U.S. withdrawal
from Afghanistan say a trail of Facebook messages, social media posts, and the
testimony of an informer contradict that account. Experts say that, while lying
on security clearance forms is illegal and subject to criminal penalties,
prosecutions tend to be rare and reserved only for extreme cases. The case
comes as thousands of interpreters, soldiers, and employees who fought ISIS-K
and the Taliban beside the U.S.-led coalition are still struggling to find
refuge inside the U.S. after Taliban rule.”



Vice: He Founded An American Neo-Nazi Terror Group. But Will Rinaldo Nazzaro
Ever Face US Justice?
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“An FBI official has confirmed the agency is investigating the American
founder of an international neo-Nazi terror group who is living in Russia—far
from the grasp of U.S. authorities. Rinaldo Nazzaro, 49, a former Pentagon
contractor and Department of Homeland Security analyst, founded The Base in
late 2018 as a heavily armed, insurgent force preparing to hasten the downfall
of modern government and engage in a race war. Since then, members of The Base
have plotted an assassination and several mass shootings, and a number of
countries, including Canada and the United Kingdom, have designated it as an
official terrorist organization alongside ISIS and al Qaeda. An FBI
counterterrorism probe against The Base over the past few years has netted more
than a dozen members nationwide (with others apprehended in Europe), who are
now serving a combined 100+ years in prison time. Yet Nazzaro, despite being
named in U.S. courts as the founder of the group, has never been
charged—puzzling many analysts and government sources VICE News has spoken to
about him over the years. The first three episodes of American Terror are now
available on Spotify. Nazzaro’s situation also begs the question how a neo-Nazi
leader who’s well-known to the FBI is living comfortably in Russia, especially
after President Vladimir Putin justified his invasion of Ukraine as a
“de-Nazification” plan.”



Syria



Eurasia Review: Threat Of Radicalization In Syria’s Isis Prisons – Analysis
<[link removed]>



“Tens of thousands of ISIS detainees are housed in temporary prison camps and
detention centers in Syria and Iraq by US-backed Kurdish Syrian Democratic
Forces (SDF). Charles Lister, the Director of Syria and Countering Terrorism
and Extremism Programs at the Middle East Institute, warned that the
international community is ‘doing nothing to prevent the current generation of
detainees from wanting to continue to fight if they get out, and creating a
melting pot for the next generation.’ As reported by Militant Wire, technology
and illicit financing are being used by terrorist sympathisers to raise funds
for ISIS spouses and children in Syria through encrypted Telegram channels and
digital wallets like QIWI. The funds are being raised for two primary
reasons—smuggling former detainees from detention camps and targeting
low-security detention centres managed by Kurdish militias. There are
reportedly at least 14 such facilities in North-East Syria. The US-backed SDF
fighters confront multifaceted challenges of managing these makeshift prisons
in a war zone. These areas have also faced large-scale prison breaks. The
attack at Gweiron prison in January 2022 was aimed at freeing over 3,000
detainees, including 700 minors. ISIS’ news agency, Amaq, claimed that 800
terrorists had been freed.”



AFP: Former Qaeda Affiliate's Syria Advance: What We Know
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“Al-Qaeda's former Syria affiliate is gaining ground from rival rebels in
Syria's Turkish-held north on the heels of some of the deadliest inter-rebel
fighting in the region in years. Here is what we know of the deadly flareup,
which is altering the balance of power in parts of Syria that still evade
government control after more than a decade of war. Who is involved? Syrian
rebel groups opposed to President Bashar al-Assad's government are mostly
confined to the northwestern region of Idlib and northern parts of Aleppo
province, near the border with Turkey. Turkey, which has carried out successive
cross-border operations in Syria since 2016, has carved out a zone of control
in areas near the border with the help of rebel proxies that have repeatedly
fought for influence. They include the Al-Jabha al-Shamiya group, which was
forced out of the city of Aleppo following bloody battles with government
forces in 2016, and the hardline Jaysh al-Islam -- once considered the leading
faction in the Eastern Ghouta suburbs of Damascus, a former rebel bastion.
Other groups were formed in the north and include the Sultan Murad Division and
the Al-Hamza Brigade. The neighbouring Idlib region is dominated by the Hayat
Tahrir al-Sham alliance, led by Al-Qaeda's former Syria affiliate. Turkey has
never publicly backed the hardline group but is believed to coordinate with its
forces, which control the key Bab al-Hawa border crossing.”



Iraq



AFP: Hundreds Linked To Islamic State Moved From Syria To Notorious Camp In
Iraq
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“Syria’s autonomous Kurdish region has transferred more than 600 relatives of
suspected jihadists detained at the notorious Al-Hol camp to Iraq, a war
monitor and a Kurdish security source said Tuesday. “The Iraqi government
repatriated 161 families, including 659 people, from Al-Hol camp to Iraq,” said
the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The Iraqi families left Al-Hol camp,
which lies less than 10 kilometers (six miles) from the Iraqi border for their
home country in a move coordinated by Iraqi authorities, the monitor said. A
Kurdish security source who requested anonymity said that 634 Iraqis had
crossed from Al-Hol to their country on Tuesday. The overcrowded, Kurdish-run
camp is home to 55,000 people, and houses thousands of relatives of suspected
Islamic State group members. It is the largest camp for displaced people who
fled after IS fighters were dislodged from their last scrap of territory in
Syria in 2019. The UN said more than 100 people have been murdered in the
increasingly lawless camp since the start of 2021. Kurdish forces arrested more
than 200 people last month, after a three-week operation against IS supporters
there discovered tunnels used by jihadists and seized an arsenal of weapons.
Kurdish authorities have repeatedly called on countries to repatriate their
citizens from crowded camps.”



Afghanistan



Voice Of America: Taliban Accused Of Executing 27 ‘Rebel’ Prisoners
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“A new investigative report accuses Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers of executing
27 opposition fighters in custody during last month’s military operations in
the turbulent northern province of Panjshir. Afghan Witness (AW), an
open-source project run by the U.K.-based nonprofit Center for Information
Resilience, studied the allegations and published its findings Tuesday, which
contradict earlier Taliban claims of killing the men in battlefield clashes.
The victims were said to be affiliated with the National Resistance Front
(NRF), which has been waging an armed resistance against the Taliban since the
Islamist group seized power more than a year ago. AW researchers analyzed
dozens of social media videos and photographs to “conclusively link” a group of
Taliban fighters to the extrajudicial killings of 10 men in Dara district area.
“Five men—one facing the executioners on his knees, the others sitting facing
away, all blindfolded with hands bound behind their backs—are repeatedly shot
for 20 seconds… accompanied by celebratory cries from the large group of
[Taliban] fighters,” the report said, adding that the group of Taliban fighters
could be identified with five more men who were later executed. AW researchers
had gathered “credible evidence of a further 17 executions and 30 deaths as a
result of the Taliban offensive in Panjshir, bringing the total to 57 victims,”
the report noted.”



Middle East



The Jerusalem Post: Ten Days After Deadly Attack, Security Forces Still
Looking For Shuafat Terrorist <[link removed]>



“Ten days after Sgt. Noa Lazar was shot and killed while on duty at the
Shuafat checkpoint, security forces are still looking for the east Jerusalem
terrorist who carried out the attack. Overnight, Israel Police, Shin Bet
(Israel Security Agency) and Border Police officers arrested seven people
suspected of helping the terrorist, 22-year-old Udai Tamimi. The suspects,
residents of the Shuafat refugee camp and the nearby West Bank town of Anata,
are relatives and acquaintances of Tamimi, the police said in a statement.
During searches of the suspects’ homes, security forces confiscated weapons
parts, cartridges and vests. During the operation, a riot broke out and local
residents threw stones and Molotov cocktails at the forces, who responded with
riot-dispersal methods. Lazar, 18, from Bat Hefer, east of Netanya, was killed
after Tamimi opened fire on her and a group of security guards at point-blank
range after casually exiting a car at the crossing. A 30-year-old security
guard is in serious condition with bullet wounds to the head and underwent
surgery following the attack. He remains sedated and ventilated in severe
condition in the neurosurgery intensive-care unit at Hadassah-University
Medical Center in Jerusalem’s Ein Kerem. Shuafat, which is within Jerusalem’s
municipal boundaries, has about 140,000 residents, the majority of whom hold
Jerusalem residency ID cards.”



The Jerusalem Post: Lions' Den Terrorist Arrested By Border Police In Samaria
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“A member of the Lions' Den terrorist group, which has been behind a series
of shooting attacks in recent weeks, was arrested in the village of Salem in
the northern West Bank on Tuesday, according to Border Police.

The member was identified as Sahib Shtayyeh, the brother of senior Hamas
operative Musab Shtayyeh. The arrest was conducted as a joint operation between
the Yamas counter-terrorism unit, the Shin Bet and the Samaria Regional
Brigade. Musab Shtayyeh was arrested by Palestinian Authority security forces
last month, sparking violent clashes in Nablus between protesters and PA
security forces. While a PA court ordered his release, he has not as of yet
been released.”



Nigeria



Reuters: Gunmen Abduct At Least 10 Hospital Workers In Nigeria's Niger State
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“Gunmen have abducted at least 10 healthcare workers in Nigeria's Niger state
and killed an unspecified number after bandits invaded a general hospital early
on Tuesday, a hospital and military source said. Armed bandits operating for
cash have kidnapped or killed hundreds across northwest Nigeria. Niger state
officials have said that Islamist militant group Boko Haram had taken over
multiple communities in the state, offering villagers money and incorporating
them in their ranks to fight the government. The hospital source said more than
20 staff were kidnapped, including patient relatives, while the security source
said two people had been killed after the gunmen invaded the general hospital
in Lapai local government in large numbers. Niger state governor, Sani Bello
said a number of people were killed during Tuesday's attack at Gulu General
Hospital and unspecified number abducted including medical workers. He did not
specify how many had been killed. Separately, Dr Dare Godiya Ishaya, president
of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), told Reuters that 20
NARD members have been kidnapped this year, causing some of them to leave the
country partly due to a lack of safety.”



Sahara Reporters: ISWAP Terrorists Claim Responsibility For Attack On Kogi
State Church, Killing Of Two Worshippers
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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 confirmed that it carried out an attack on a church in Kogi
State. The attack was the sixth to be claimed by the group in the state in the
last six months. SaharaReporters had earlier reported today that gunmen on
Sunday invaded a Celestial Church, Blood of Jesus Parish in Lokoja, the capital
of Kogi State, killing two persons and injuring several others. The church is
located behind the NNPC Mega petrol station in Felele axis along
Abuja-Lokoja-Okene highway of Lokoja. The two dead members were reported to
have been evacuated from the church and deposited at the Federal Medical
Centre, Lokoja while the injured were rushed to the same hospital for
treatment. The attack of the Celestial church is the second in recent times in
that area of Lokoja. Few weeks ago, another church was attacked at Sarkin Numan
around the Felele area of Lokoja. ISWAP in a post on Tuesday said the attack
was carried out by “soldiers of the caliphate.” On April 23, gunmen attacked a
police station in the same Adavi LGA in the state, which resulted in the death
of three police officers. Some days later, ISWAP claimed responsibility for the
attack.”



Somalia



All Africa: Somalia: Troops Capture Fresh Villages From Al-Shabaab
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“Al-Shabaab lost small but strategic villages in southern Somalia to the
country's national army during a military operation on Tuesday. MP Osman
Hadole, an ex-military officer played role in the offensive that led to the
capture of Jameo Misra, Maqdis, Bardhere, Gashanle, Tugaarey, Jameo Mubarak,
and others. The villages taken by the army are all located on the eastern
outskirts of Bal'ad town within the Middle Shabelle region, which lies about 30
kilometers north of Mogadishu. The residents confirmed that the army forces
moved into the villages without resistance from Al-Shabaab militants who made a
surprise withdrawal ahead of the capture. Somali troops are making territorial
gains in central Somalia against Al-Shabaab as the government aims to take
control of entire regions that remained under the group's control.”



Mali



Reuters: Death Toll Rises To Four U.N. Peacekeepers Killed In Mali Attack
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“A United Nations peacekeeper has succumbed to injuries sustained in an
attack in northern Mali on Monday, bringing the death toll to four, the U.N.
mission in Mali said on Tuesday. The United Nations had previously said three
peacekeepers were killed and three others seriously injured when their vehicle
hit an improvised explosive device in the northern region of Kidal. Islamist
militants, some with links to al Qaeda and Islamic State, have been waging an
insurgency in northern Mali for the last decade.”



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