“A man accused of taking part in attacks in Mali in 2015 that killed dozens of
people, including an American aid worker, was extradited to the United States
to face multiple terrorism charges in federal court in Brooklyn, the
authorities said on Saturday. The man, Fawaz Ould Ahmed Ould Ahemeid, 44, has
already pleaded guilty to related offenses in Mali, where he was sentenced to
death. He arrived in the United States on Friday and appeared on Saturday
before a federal magistrate judge in Brooklyn, where he pleaded not guilty. Mr.
Ahemeid was ordered detained pending trial. The terms of the extradition, and
what it means for his sentence in Mali, were not immediately clear. In an
indictment unsealed on Saturday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern
District of New York charged Mr. Ahemeid with the murder of the American aid
worker, Anita Ashok Datar, as well as providing material support to Al Qaeda in
the Islamic Maghreb — Al Qaeda’s regional affiliate in North Africa — and
related crimes. Ms. Datar, a 41-year-old public health expert from Takoma Park,
Md., was a guest at the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako, Mali, on Nov. 20, 2015,
when two armed men attacked the hotel, killing 20 people. Prosecutors said Mr.
Ahemeid masterminded the attack on behalf of the Al Qaeda affiliate and a local
militant group, al-Murabitoun. According to the indictment, Mr. Ahemeid, a
Mauritanian national, joined Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb around 2007.”











<[link removed]>
<[link removed]>



Eye on Extremism


December 12, 2022



The New York Times: Man Accused In 2015 Terror Attacks In Mali Is Extradited
To The U.S.
<[link removed]>



“A man accused of taking part in attacks in Mali in 2015 that killed dozens of
people, including an American aid worker, was extradited to the United States
to face multiple terrorism charges in federal court in Brooklyn, the
authorities said on Saturday. The man, Fawaz Ould Ahmed Ould Ahemeid, 44, has
already pleaded guilty to related offenses in Mali, where he was sentenced to
death. He arrived in the United States on Friday and appeared on Saturday
before a federal magistrate judge in Brooklyn, where he pleaded not guilty. Mr.
Ahemeid was ordered detained pending trial. The terms of the extradition, and
what it means for his sentence in Mali, were not immediately clear. In an
indictment unsealed on Saturday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern
District of New York charged Mr. Ahemeid with the murder of the American aid
worker, Anita Ashok Datar, as well as providing material support to Al Qaeda in
the Islamic Maghreb — Al Qaeda’s regional affiliate in North Africa — and
related crimes. Ms. Datar, a 41-year-old public health expert from Takoma Park,
Md., was a guest at the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako, Mali, on Nov. 20, 2015,
when two armed men attacked the hotel, killing 20 people. Prosecutors said Mr.
Ahemeid masterminded the attack on behalf of the Al Qaeda affiliate and a local
militant group, al-Murabitoun. According to the indictment, Mr. Ahemeid, a
Mauritanian national, joined Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb around 2007.”



The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Builds New Firewall To Stop Spread Of Militant
Islamists
<[link removed]>



“The front lines in the war between the West and militant Islamists have
shifted to Africa, from Somalia on the continent’s eastern tip to the West
African Sahel, a semidesert strip south of the Sahara. In the Sahel, the U.S.
and its allies are betting that Niger, the worst-off country in the world by a
U.N. measure, offers the best hope of stopping the seemingly inexorable spread
of al Qaeda and Islamic State. In the heart of the region, the nations of Mali
and Burkina Faso are losing ground, roiled by militant attacks and military
coups. In contrast, the elected civilian government in neighboring Niger is
making slow headway against insurgents with the help of Western forces, U.S.
and Nigerien officials said. Mali’s ruling junta has hired Kremlin-linked
mercenaries to provide security, while Niger has shunned Russian intervention
and welcomed U.S. and French forces. “We’ve invested a lot with the Nigeriens,
and we’re seeing a payoff from that,” said Lt. Col. Chris Couch, commander of
U.S. special-operations troops in West Africa. Niger, he said, is emerging as a
cornerstone of regional security. The U.S. and its allies are helping Niger try
to stop the advance of al Qaeda and Islamic State across West Africa. In a
typical operation, U.S. Army Green Berets helped plan a recent Nigerien raid on
Torodi, an al Qaeda stronghold straddling a well-used trade route between
Burkina Faso and Niamey, Niger’s capital. French military helicopters delivered
members of an elite, U.S.-trained Nigerien strike force to the village in the
dark of night.”



United States



USA Today: White-Supremacist Messages On Call Of Duty, Fortnite; Hate-Crime
Charges In Club Q Shooting
<[link removed]>



“New details and reporting have emerged about the motives behind the deadly
shooting at Club Q, an LGBTQ-friendly venue in Colorado Springs, the
perpetrator of which was officially charged with hate crimes this week.
Meanwhile, a study claims that exposure to white supremacist ideologies via
online gaming doubled this year. And America's most notorious neo-Nazi troll
returns triumphantly to Twitter. It's the week in extremism. The man accused of
shooting up Club Q, an LGBTQ friendly bar in Colorado Springs was officially
charged this week with 305 counts ranging from murder in the first degree to
bias-motivated crimes. As I examined in this story last month, the attack, in
which 5 people died and 17 were injured was shocking, but not surprising, to
extremism experts, who have been waiting for an incident like this to happen,
given the recent focus on the LGBTQ community from far-right extremist groups.
The defendant's attorneys announced in court documents that the defendant
identifies as non-binary and uses they/them pronouns, which led to confusion
and speculation as to the motive for the attack NBC reported this week that the
FBI has questioned the suspect's neighbors about two websites, one reportedly
created by the shooter, that contained racist and antisemitic posts. The other
website is the infamous hate site 8kun, formerly 8Chan, a haven for far-right
extremist activity.”



Reuters: Buffalo Supermarket Shooter Seeks Plea Deal To Avoid Death Penalty
<[link removed]>



“The white man who admitted to shooting dead 10 Black people at a western New
York grocery store in May would consider pleading guilty to federal charges if
prosecutors do not pursue a death sentence, media outlets reported on Friday
citing his attorneys. Lawyers for Payton Gendron, 19, moved to seek a plea
agreement at a court hearing on Friday, less than two weeks after he pleaded
guilty to state charges of murder and domestic terrorism. An avowed white
supremacist, he faces 27 federal hate crimes and firearms offenses related to
the racist massacre at a Tops Friendly Markets store. Authorities said he
targeted the supermarket because it was in a predominantly Black neighborhood
of Buffalo, New York. Gendron pleaded not guilty to the federal accusations in
July. A conviction would make him eligible for the death penalty. Gendron, who
is from Conklin, New York, faces life in prison without parole on those counts.
"Just as Payton Gendron entered a plea of guilty to the indictment in county
court, he is prepared to enter a plea of guilty in federal court in exchange of
the same sentence, which is the sentence of life in prison, without parole,”
defense attorney Sonya Zoghlin said, according to CNN.”



Syria



The New York Times: U.S. Commandos Kill Two Islamic State Officials In Syria
<[link removed]>



“U.S. Special Operations forces carried out a helicopter raid against the
Islamic State in northeastern Syria early Sunday, killing two operatives,
including one official who the military said was involved in plotting and
enabling terrorist attacks. The Pentagon’s Central Command, which oversees
American troops in Syria, said in a statement on Sunday that the main target of
the mission, an Islamic State Syria provincial official known by the nom de
guerre Anas, was killed in the raid that took place at 2:57 a.m. in an
undisclosed part of eastern Syria. American commandos had planned the mission
for weeks, but bad weather had delayed the operation, U.S. officials said. Once
the weather cleared, commandos flying in two helicopters sought to capture Anas
at his compound, but in a brief ensuing firefight he and an associate were
killed, the officials said. The fact that the Pentagon sent commandos to kill
or capture Anas, rather than use a less risky drone operation, indicated his
significance. No Americans were injured in the nearly three-hour operation,
officials said. An initial assessment indicated no civilians were killed or
injured, the military statement said. “ISIS continues to represent a threat to
the security and stability of the region,” Col. Joseph Buccino, a Central
Command spokesman, said in the statement. “The death of these ISIS officials
will disrupt the terrorist organization’s ability to further plot and carry out
destabilizing attacks in the Middle East.”



Iraq



The National: Iraqi Forces Kill Six Militants In Anti-ISIS Operations
<[link removed]>



“Iraqi security forces killed at least six ISIS militants in the neighbouring
northern provinces of Salaheddin and Kirkuk on Saturday, the military’s
Security Media Cell said. All six deaths were confirmed in Salaheddin, where
troops carried out an operation against the militants with support from local
tribes, seizing weapons and equipment, the SMC said. It said two of the ISIS
fighters were suicide bombers. A shepherd in the Tulul Al Baj area was also
killed in the raid. The Iraqi Air Force also carried out strikes with F-16 jets
on a cave in Kirkuk where ISIS terrorists were hiding, the SMC said, without
giving details on the number of casualties there. The Iraqi army and
paramilitaries that are part of the armed forces regularly carry out raids
against ISIS, which still has sleeper cells in areas of northern and western
Iraq that the terrorist group controlled from 2014 to 2017. Recorded ISIS
attacks are now at their lowest level, said Joel Wing, a US analyst who has
been tracking violence in Iraq since the formation of ISIS in 2013 as a group
spanning Iraq and Syria. The group continues to carry out occasional attacks on
civilians and troops, including a raid in January that killed 11 soldiers at an
army headquarters in the eastern province of Diyala. Forces of Iraq's
semi-autonomous Kurdish region in the north of Iraq known as the Peshmerga also
carry out raids against ISIS, sometimes in collaboration with the federal
forces.”



Afghanistan



Voice Of America: Pakistan-Afghanistan Border Clashes Kill 7, Injure 31
<[link removed]>



“Deadly border clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan killed at least seven
people and wounded more than 30 others Sunday. The Pakistani military said in a
statement the skirmishes took place in the southwestern border town of Chaman,
adjacent to the Afghan province of Kandahar. The attack killed six Pakistani
civilians and injured 17 others, it said. But Akhtar Mohammad, a senior doctor
at the main government hospital in Chaman, told VOA by phone they had received
bodies of six civilians and 21 injured. He said that seven people among the
injured were “in critical condition” and moved to a hospital in the provincial
capital, Quetta. The military statement said Taliban border security forces had
“opened unprovoked and indiscriminate fire of heavy weapons, including
artillery/mortars” against Pakistani civilian areas. The statement said
Pakistani troops staged a “befitting albeit measured response” against “the
uncalled-for aggression but avoided targeting innocent civilians in the area.”
Maulvi Ataullah Zaid, a spokesperson for the governor of Kandahar, told VOA by
phone a Taliban border guard was killed and that 10 people, including three
Afghan civilians, were wounded on the Afghanistan side. Sunday’s clashes
erupted when Pakistani troops were trying to repair a portion of the border
fence on their side, but Taliban forces objected to the effort and subsequent
attempts to find a negotiated settlement to the standoff failed, local
officials and residents reported.”



Reuters: Shootings, Explosion In Kabul Hotel Housing Foreigners - Taliban
Sources
<[link removed]>



“Armed men opened fire on Monday inside a hotel in central Kabul that housed
some foreigners, two Taliban sources told Reuters, in the latest violence in
Afghanistan as it tries to stabilise after the withdrawal of U.S.-led foreign
forces. The firing was continuing in the hotel in the Shahr-e-Naw area and a
fire broke out on one of the floors, the sources said, adding that they expect
casualties. A video posted on Twitter by a journalist in Kabul showed smoke
billowing out of a multi-storey building, with one lower floor on fire. The
video could not be independently verified by Reuters. Residents of the area
said the attack was carried out at a building where Chinese and other
foreigners usually stay. The shooting continued after they heard a powerful
explosion, they said. A spokesman of the Taliban-run Afghan administration,
Zabihullah Mujahid, confirmed to Reuters of an attack in Kabul, but said they
would not be able to provide more information at this stage.”



Pakistan



Voice Of America: Pakistan Kills 4 ISIS-K Intruders From Afghanistan
<[link removed]>



“Pakistan said Saturday its security forces had intercepted and killed four
Islamic State operatives in a remote mountainous district near the Afghanistan
border. The provincial counterterrorism department said the slain men were
linked to Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISIS-K), a regional affiliate of the
self-proclaimed Islamic State group, and had intruded into the mountainous
North Waziristan border district from the Afghan side. Pakistani security
forces, acting on intelligence information, conducted a “search operation” and
an ensuing gunfight eventually killed the intruders, according to the
statement. ISIS-K operates out of Afghanistan and plots attacks on both sides
of the border. It has intensified regional terrorist activities since the
Taliban took over of the conflict-torn country last year as the United States
and NATO partners withdrew troops after nearly 20 years of war. Last week, two
ISIS-K gunmen opened fire on Pakistan’s embassy in the Afghan capital, Kabul,
in an attempt to assassinate the head of the diplomatic mission. Pakistan’s
Charge d’Affaires Ubaid-ur-Rehman Nizamani escaped unhurt, but his Pakistani
security guard was shot in the chest, according to officials in Islamabad. The
Taliban claim their security forces in recent month have killed and captured
dozens of ISIS-K members in Kabul and elsewhere in the country, significantly
neutralizing the terror threat. But ISIS-K continues to plot high-profile
bombings and gun attacks against the Taliban and members of the Afghan minority
Shiite community, killing hundreds of people in the past year.”



Libya



Associated Press: Libyan Accused In Lockerbie Bombing Now In American Custody
<[link removed]>



“A Libyan intelligence official accused of making the bomb that brought down
Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988 in an international act of
terrorism has been taken into U.S. custody and will face federal charges in
Washington, the Justice Department said Sunday. The arrest of Abu Agila
Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi is a milestone in the decades-old investigation
into the attack that killed 259 people in the air and 11 on the ground.
American authorities in December 2020 announced charges against Mas’ud, who was
in Libyan custody at the time. Though he is the third Libyan intelligence
official charged in the U.S. in connection with the attack, he would be the
first to appear in an American courtroom for prosecution. The New York-bound
Pan Am flight exploded over Lockerbie less than an hour after takeoff from
London on Dec. 21, 1988. Citizens from 21 different countries were killed.
Among the 190 Americans on board were 35 Syracuse University students flying
home for Christmas after a semester abroad. The bombing laid bare the threat of
international terrorism more than a decade before the Sept. 11 attacks. It
produced global investigations and punishing sanctions while spurring demands
for accountability from victims of those killed. The university’s current
chancellor, Kent Syverud, said in a statement that the arrest was a significant
development in the long process “to bring those responsible for this despicable
act to justice.”



Nigeria



Associated Press: Violent Attacks Threaten Nigeria’s Upcoming 2023 Elections
<[link removed]>



“Violent attacks targeting Nigeria’s election commission offices are raising
concerns about the security of the West African country’s upcoming elections in
February. In the latest attack, assailants in southeastern Imo state set fire
on Sunday to an office of Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission.
Nearly 50 of the commission’s offices already have been destroyed since
Nigeria’s last election in 2019, according to local reports compiled by The
Associated Press. Nigeria — Africa’s most populous nation with more than 210
million people — is confronted by several security problems including an
Islamic extremist insurgency linked to the Islamic State group in the
northeast, rebels in the northwest, and secessionists in the southeast. The
security threats are expected to be obstacles to peaceful elections on Feb. 25,
say analysts. “It is going to be the election that is most challenged when it
comes to security in Nigeria’s recent history,” Bulama Bukarti, a senior fellow
with the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, told The Associated Press. “It
is a high-stakes election: a make-or-mar election for Nigeria and its
neighbors.” Electoral violence including protests challenging official results
has often hit Nigeria’s elections. At least 800 people died in post-election
violence after the 2011 polls. In the southeast, where most of the attacks on
election infrastructure have occurred, violent separatists want to create an
independent state of Biafra, more than 50 years after a rebellion failed to
achieve a separate state.”



Daily Mail: 33 ISIS Wives Are Slaughtered By Terror Group Rivals Boko Haram To
'Avenge' A Commander Killed In Islamic State Attack
<[link removed]>



“Islamist militant group Boko Haram has reportedly slain at least 33 wives of
Islamic State fighters in a bloody revenge attack as fighting between the rival
groups continues to escalate. The massacre is thought to have been instigated
earlier this week by top Boko Haram leader Ali Ngulde, who after ambushing a
group of Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) fighters in northeastern
Nigeria's Sambisa forest sent his troops to a nearby camp to execute their
wives. It comes after Boko Haram commander Malam Aboubakar and more than a
dozen other militants were killed by ISWAP fighters following failed
negotiations, according to Zagazola Makama, a security analyst based in Lake
Chad. ISWAP fighters were once part of Boko Haram but splintered off and
quickly grew into a formidable rival of the Islamic militants by enticing other
Boko Haram members into defecting while drumming up support in local civilian
populations. Northeastern Nigeria is the epicentre of a jihadist insurgency
launched by Boko Haram group in 2009. Boko Haram is one of the largest Islamic
militant groups in Africa and seeks to topple the secular Nigerian government
in favour of an Islamic regime with a strict adherence to Sharia law. More than
40,000 people have died and around two million have been displaced in the
long-running conflict, which has spilled into neighbouring Chad, Niger and
Cameroon.”



Somalia



The Washington Post: U.S. Troops Are Back In Somalia And Scrambling To Help
Its Special Forces
<[link removed]>



“The U.S. military is scrambling to make up for lost time in Somalia after
President Biden this spring reversed his predecessor’s order to pull American
soldiers out of the country and returned hundreds of them to the fight against
one of al-Qaeda’s most powerful global affiliates. The decision by President
Donald Trump in the final weeks of his administration to withdraw the troops
helped the militant al-Shabab movement grow in strength and size, hampered U.S.
ability to provide operational intelligence and air support to Somali troops
and delayed the construction of military facilities such as a clinic and
training sites, U.S. and Somali officials said. These officials described the
costly and dangerous lengths to which U.S. forces went after the withdrawal
order to keep supporting their Somali military partners: the Danab, or
“Lightning,” special forces brigade. U.S. troops, for instance, would rotate
through the country for three or four weeks at a time, then leave for two
before returning, with such frequent movements exposing American personnel to
greater risks, according to five U.S. service members. Despite the official
U.S. pullout, the Danab force continued to carry out operations, said
commanders from both countries, pointing to its battlefield progress after
nearly a decade of U.S.-funded training. U.S. and Somali officials said Danab
is slowly helping to change the image of a military often viewed by civilians
as bandits in uniforms.”



Sahara Reporters: Terrorists Kill Somali Government Intelligence Commander,
Bakaal Kooke In Explosion
<[link removed]>



“Somalia government intelligence commander, Bakaal Kooke, was on Thursday
night killed in Southern Somalia after a bomb planted by Al-Shabaab militant
group exploded. Kooke was a Somalia top intelligence official who had been at
the forefront of the war on Al-Shabaab militants. Keydmedia reports that Kooke
who till his death was intelligence chief for Gedo Region, died in a roadside
blast that targeted his car on the outskirts of Luuq town in Gedo province
located in Somalia-Kenya. Kooke was returning from Luuq and en route to Dolow
within the region at the time of the attack. His driver and other NISA agents
were also wounded in the overnight landmine explosion. The Al-Shabaab militant
group in a statement posted on its affiliated media outlets has claimed
responsibility for Kooke’s killing. It was reported that the Gedo region has
been the flashpoint of the political crisis in the country during Farmajo's
leadership.”



All Africa: Kenya: 6 Foreign Al-Shabaab Returnees Arrested In Kenya As Somalia
Pursues Militants <[link removed]>



“Police in Wajir and Garissa are holding six individuals suspected to be
members of Somalia's Al-Shabaab militants. The developments came as Kenya
heightened operations at the main border following an onslaught in Somalia on
the militants. Police said the six were apprehended separately while attempting
to flee into Kenya after encountering a hostile environment in the al-Shabaab
training camps. The terror group recruits members from Tanzania, Kenya, and
Ethiopia by promising them relatively high pay, but they change their minds
once they arrive at the training camps, causing them to flee into Kenya.
Tanzanian banker Yusuf, 38, was arrested in November in Liboi, Garissa County,
while three of his colleagues escaped. Other five Ethiopian nationals were
apprehended at the border after escaping citing a hostile environment as the
reason for their escape. Nur Osman Chawo, Suleiman Kadu Shale, Mohamed
Abdulkadir Jibich, Ridwan Haji Abdulbasir, and Anwar Jamal Hajiwadow told
police they were recruited and taken to Somalia for training before being
enlisted to fight in various parts of Somalia. Police officers are now using
the information obtained from the suspects to improve border patrols,
particularly along the routes and areas that militants fleeing Somalia are
likely to use to enter the country.”



United Kingdom



Daily Mail: Eyewitness: Jihadi Bride Shamima Begum Gave Rabble-Rousing
Speeches Which 'Incited ISIS Suicide Bombers' After Joining Islamic State
<[link removed]>



“Jihadi bride Shamima Begum gave rabble-rousing speeches in praise of suicide
bombers after joining Islamic State in Syria, according to a refugee the terror
group took prisoner. The account from the Yazidi sex slave comes as London-born
Begum renews her legal bid to return to the UK, claiming she was trafficked to
the Middle East as a schoolgirl. But the refugee’s testimony suggests Begum was
active in the terror group. The Home Office and security services continue to
oppose her return on the basis that she is a security risk. Begum, now 23, was
seen by the Yazidi victim and a friend giving talks on Islam inside the Al-Nur
Mosque in the Syrian city of Raqqa. The woman, who lives under protection
outside Syria and Iraq and refused to be named, said that in 2017 Begum gave
talks encouraging others to take part in suicide attacks. Begum addressed an
English-speaking audience while others spoke to German, French and Arabic
groups. In an interview with independent film-maker Alan Duncan, the Yazidi
victim – who was forced to become a sex slave for an Arab IS fighter – said she
was made to attend the mosque. The witness said she saw Begum talking to an
English-speaking group, preaching the same message, adding: ‘She was giving
information about who wants to go for fighting and who wants do suicide
attacks. She had a paper to record names.’ The woman said she and a friend who
was also a Yazidi slave witnessed Begum deliver her ‘lessons’ over 40 days at
the mosque.”



Germany



Vice: Inside The Far Right QAnon Plot To Overthrow The German Government
<[link removed]>



“German investigators sent shockwaves across the country, and the world, when
they unmasked a suspected far-right terror network on Wednesday that includes a
minor aristocrat, special forces soldiers, and a former lawmaker, who had drawn
up plans to violently overthrow the German government. For anyone who has paid
any attention to the rising far-right extremist problem in Germany in recent
years, it came as no surprise when the prosecutors revealed that the members of
the network they uncovered subscribed to the radical Reichsbürger or “Citizens
of the Reich” movement, a decades-old sovereign citizen group that believes the
modern German state is illegitimate. It may have come as a surprise, however,
when prosecutors stated that the group was inspired by “QAnon ideology.”
Despite QAnon’s U.S.-centric narrative focusing on former President Donald
Trump, the conspiracy movement has now spread across the globe. German-speaking
communities have become the largest non-American audience for QAnon, finding a
ready audience in the Reichsbürger movement, which falsely believes that
Germany is still an occupied country because, they claim, there was never a
formalized peace treaty with Allied forces after World War 2 (there was). One
reason QAnon was adopted so widely in Germany is that there is a strong overlap
between QAnon’s conspiracy narratives and those shared by the Reichsbürger
movement, including the belief that the pandemic was created by the “deep
state” as part of a long-running conspiracy to control the population.”



WTOP: Ep. 362| German Authorities Disrupt Alleged Government Coup Plot
<[link removed]>



“More than two dozen people were arrested in a massive raid that spanned 130
locations across Germany. Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler, Sr. Director of the Counter
Extremism Project explains what happened.”



The Counter Extremism Project depends on the generosity of its supporters. If
you value what we do, please consider making a donation.

DONATE NOW
<[link removed]>




Click here to unsubscribe.
<[link removed]>