“A stand-off has enveloped the long-awaited 2016 Brussels bombing trial which
has faced a rocky start as the main defendants of the triple suicide attacks
that killed 32 people have refused to comply with the security procedures put
in place. Six defendants — Ali El Haddad Asufi, Mohamed Abrini, Osama Krayem,
Sofien Ayari, Bilal El Makhoukhi and Herve Bayingana Muhirwa — walked out on
Monday as the trial entered its second week. The boycott is over measures which
include strip searches twice a day, lawyers have told The National. A lawyer of
seventh defendant Salah Abdeslam said he was not attending the hearing because
he had a cold. Prosecutors are currently completing a readout of a 450-page
arraignment, which they have so far mostly set out in the absence of
defendants. The seven men walked out at the start of Thursday's hearing after
Asufi accused police of strangling him as he exited his cell. Local media
reported that the police accused Asufi of rebelling. “It’s my client’s wish to
not attend hearings until conditions are relaxed,” one of Asufi’s lawyers,
Jean-Christophe de Block, told The National. Hearings are not held on Fridays.
Five defendants exited the courtroom on Wednesday to protest against
“humiliating” security measures during their transfer from prison to the court.”











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Eye on Extremism


December 13, 2022



The National: Defendants Refuse To Attend Brussels Bombing Trial Until
Security Measures Are Relaxed
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“A stand-off has enveloped the long-awaited 2016 Brussels bombing trial which
has faced a rocky start as the main defendants of the triple suicide attacks
that killed 32 people have refused to comply with the security procedures put
in place. Six defendants — Ali El Haddad Asufi, Mohamed Abrini, Osama Krayem,
Sofien Ayari, Bilal El Makhoukhi and Herve Bayingana Muhirwa — walked out on
Monday as the trial entered its second week. The boycott is over measures which
include strip searches twice a day, lawyers have told The National. A lawyer of
seventh defendant Salah Abdeslam said he was not attending the hearing because
he had a cold. Prosecutors are currently completing a readout of a 450-page
arraignment, which they have so far mostly set out in the absence of
defendants. The seven men walked out at the start of Thursday's hearing after
Asufi accused police of strangling him as he exited his cell. Local media
reported that the police accused Asufi of rebelling. “It’s my client’s wish to
not attend hearings until conditions are relaxed,” one of Asufi’s lawyers,
Jean-Christophe de Block, told The National. Hearings are not held on Fridays.
Five defendants exited the courtroom on Wednesday to protest against
“humiliating” security measures during their transfer from prison to the court.”



Reuters: Nigerian Army Massacred Children In Its War Against Islamist
Insurgents, Witnesses Say
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“First he heard voices, then the sputter of gunfire. Kaka crept behind an
acacia tree and froze in terror. The teen was returning home after gathering
firewood late one July afternoon in 2020. Peering ahead, he saw a group of men
at a waterhole, most in Nigerian Army camouflage. They stood over a line of
children face down in the dirt, wailing for their mothers, Kaka recalled.
Nearby, several adults lay prone – including mothers with infants tied to their
backs. He heard some voices cry out to God. Two or three men already lay dead;
the soldiers shot three more. They killed the women next, and then the
children, cutting short their cries with a hail of bullets, Kaka said. The
troops dragged the bodies into a pre-dug grave, shoveled sandy earth over them
and drove off. Panic-stricken, Kaka tore off toward Kukawa, the nearby town in
Nigeria’s northeast where he lived. The young man, now in his early 20s, was
one of five people who recounted to Reuters details of the army-led roundup and
mass shooting of at least 10 children and several adults at the waterhole that
day. The massacre, previously unreported, is just one instance in which the
Nigerian Army and allied security forces have slaughtered children during their
gruelling 13-year war against Islamist extremists in the country’s northeast, a
Reuters investigation found.”



Afghanistan



Reuters: Islamic State Claims Responsibility For Kabul Hotel Attack -Group On
Telegram
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“Islamic State claimed on Monday responsibility for an attack on a hotel in
central Kabul popular with Chinese nationals, the group said on its channel on
Telegram. Armed men opened fire on Monday inside the hotel, and at least three
gunmen were killed by security forces. Kabul's Emergency Hospital, run by an
Italian non-profit, reported receiving 21 casualties - 18 injured and three
dead on arrival.”



Reuters: Five Chinese Nationals Were Wounded In Kabul Hotel Attack - Chinese
Foreign Ministry
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“Five Chinese nationals were wounded in an attack on a hotel in central Kabul
on Monday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Tuesday.
The attack, claimed by Islamic State, prompted China to lodge representations
with Afghanistan's Taliban-run administration, Wang told a regular news
briefing. "China demands the Afghan side spare no efforts in searching for and
rescuing Chinese individuals, and at the same time open a comprehensive
investigation, severely punish the attackers, and earnestly strengthen the
protection of Chinese citizens and organisations in Afghanistan," Wang said.
Wang added that in light of the security situation in Afghanistan, the foreign
ministry once again recommended Chinese citizens and organisations to leave the
country as soon as possible.”



Middle East



The Wall Street Journal: Teen Palestinian Killed By Israeli Forces During
Shootout Between Soldiers, Militants
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“Israeli soldiers shot and killed a teenage Palestinian girl Monday during a
gunbattle between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian militants, adding another
young casualty to the bloodiest year in decades at the occupied West Bank. The
Israeli military said the teenager’s death was unintentional and occurred
during an operation to arrest militants in the Palestinian city of Jenin in the
northern West Bank early Monday morning. The Israeli military said its soldiers
returned fire after militants shot at them and hurled explosive devices.
Teenager Jana Zakarneh was shot when she stepped onto the roof of her house
near where the Israeli army had entered the city, said Jenin’s governor, Gen.
Akram Rajoub. The girl—who was 15 or 16 years old, Palestinian authorities
said—died later from a gunshot wound to the head, Palestinian health officials
said. Senior Palestinian Authority official Hussein al-Sheikh, in a statement
on Twitter, called for an immediate investigation into what he called an
“execution of the young woman.” The Israeli military said its own inquiry found
that a Palestinian girl was killed by unintentional fire from Israeli soldiers,
who were aiming at armed militants that had shot at them from a nearby roof.
The military didn’t name the victim. “The claim that security forces
purposefully fired at uninvolved civilians is implausible and without
foundation,” the Israeli military said. A local Palestinian militia known as
the Jenin Brigade—which Israeli security analysts say has ties to the more
established militant group Palestinian Islamic Jihad—admitted to shooting at
the Israeli soldiers.”



The Times Of Israel: Terror Charges Filed Against Bedouin Man For Ramming
Student In Beersheba
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“Prosecutors on Monday filed an indictment against a Bedouin Israeli man for
allegedly carrying out a car-ramming attack, wounding a student in the southern
city of Beersheba last month. Amr Alkirnawi, 39, of Rahat, was charged with a
terrorist act of attempted murder, aggravated assault, and illegal use of a
vehicle, over the November 24 attack. According to the charge sheet, Alkirnawi
became disgruntled after getting into an argument with a Jewish Israeli man in
the southern city two days before the ramming. During the altercation,
Alkirnawi allegedly spat at the resident, who asked him to move his truck which
was blocking a private parking lot, and in response, the Jewish man said: “You
stinking Arab, you deserve a bullet in the head.” Both men were questioned by
police over the incident. Alkirnawi then published several posts on TikTok
falsely claiming the Jewish man had threatened him with a gun. “Nobody can
threaten the Bedouins here in Beersheba or in the south. If you respect us we
will respect you, and if not you will suffer. This is not a threat, but for our
dignity, we are willing to give up our lives,” the suspect said in a rant. In
another clip, as the suspect walked out of a police station after filing a
complaint against the man for allegedly threatening him, he called on Bedouins
to prepare to defend themselves. “I call on Bedouins: You need to be prepared
at any moment for any threat. Each and everyone should protect themselves in
this racist country,” he said.”



Nigeria



Reuters: Gunmen Attack Electoral Office In Southeast Nigeria, Kill Policeman
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“Gunmen bombed the headquarters of the electoral commission in Nigeria's
southeastern Imo state on Monday and killed a policeman during a gunfight,
police spokesman Michael Abattam said. Elections have in the past been marred
by violence in Nigeria, which holds a presidential vote in February to elect a
successor to President Muhammadu Buhari, now in his second and final term. Imo
is one of the states in the southeast where gunmen have attacked electoral
officials, killed politicians and security agents this year. The government
blames the separatist group Indigenous People of Biafra, which has denied the
charge. Abattam said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
office in the state capital Owerri was attacked at about 3 a.m. (0200 GMT).
“They threw bombs on the roof of the INEC building but unfortunately for them,
they were resisted by our men who were guarding the place,” Abattam said. He
said the police repelled the attack after receiving reinforcements.
“Fortunately, we neutralised three of them. Others escaped with bullet wound
injuries,” he said, adding that a policeman was killed and another injured. Two
other gunmen were arrested and police recovered explosives, phones and five
rifles. INEC said in a statement no critical election materials were damaged.
It added that this was the third attack on its facilities in Imo state this
month.”



Africa



Reuters: Uganda Army Says 11 Islamist Militants Killed In Cross-Border Raid
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“A group of 11 Islamist militants based in eastern Democratic Republic of
Congo were killed in clashes with Ugandan forces overnight during a
cross-border raid, Uganda's army said on Tuesday. The Allied Democratic Forces
(ADF), which pledged allegiance to Islamic State in 2019, started as an
uprising in Uganda but has been operating in the dense forests of eastern Congo
since the late 1990s, where it has killed thousands of civilians. Some 20-30
ADF fighters crossed the Semiliki River into Uganda's southwestern Ntoroko
district on Monday night, sparking a firefight with Ugandan soldiers, the
Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) spokesman Felix Kulayigye wrote on
Twitter. "Our intelligence got wind of them and they were intercepted. A fight
is on to decisively deal with the group. 11 of them have been (killed)," he
said, adding that a further eight had been captured, while one Ugandan soldier
died.”



United Kingdom



CNN: Pan Am Flight 103: The Story Of The UK’s Deadliest Terror Attack
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“The bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 may have taken place more than 30 years
ago, but the appearance of alleged bombmaker Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir
Al-Marimi in a US court on Monday has sparked a new wave of interest in the
attack. Here’s what you need to know about the deadliest terrorist attack to
have taken place in the United Kingdom. On December 21, 1988, Pan Am Flight 103
exploded 31,000 feet over Lockerbie, Scotland, 38 minutes after takeoff from
London. Two hundred and fifty-nine people on board the New York-bound Boeing
747 were killed, along with 11 people on the ground. Witnesses in Lockerbie and
the surrounding areas reported portions of the aircraft falling “from the sky,
some of which appeared to be engulfed in flames,” according to a 2020 affidavit
by a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) special agent, shared by the US
Department of Justice. “As pieces of the aircraft hit the ground, some
exploded. One such incident created an explosion that witnesses likened to a
“mushroom cloud,” and left a crater approximately 40 feet deep where, moments
before, residential homes had stood in the town of Lockerbie,” the agent said
in the affadavit. Afterward, United States and British investigators found
fragments of a circuit board and a timer, and ruled that a bomb, not mechanical
failure, caused the explosion. Over three years, investigators from the United
States, Britain, Germany and other countries questioned more than 15,000 people
in more than 30 countries and collected thousands of pieces of evidence.”



France



AFP: French Court To Rule On 2016 Nice Terror Attack Suspects
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“A French court will issue verdicts Tuesday for eight suspects charged in the
harrowing 2016 terror attack in Nice, where an allegedly radicalised Islamist
attacker is accused of ploughing his truck into a crowd celebrating the July 14
national holiday. Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, a 31-year-old Tunisian resident,
killed 86 people and injured over 450 after speeding onto a seaside embankment
in the southern city, rampaging for four minutes before being shot dead by
police. Prosecutors are seeking 15-year prison terms against three suspects on
charges of association with terrorists. Ramzi Arefa, who has admitted to
providing Lahouaiej-Bouhlel with a gun that he fired at police without hitting
anyone, faces charges relating to supplying the weapon. He is not thought to
have been aware of the attacker's radicalisation. “I'm guilty of selling a
weapon, without thinking about it, and since then it's been six years that I
haven't stopped thinking about it,” Arefa told the court in his closing
statement Monday. But two others, Mohamed Ghraieb and Chokri Chafroud,
allegedly knew about the attacker's turn to Islamist radicalism and his
potential to carry out a terror attack, based on records of phone calls and
text messages among the three in the days ahead of the massacre. Ghraieb, a
47-year-old from the same Tunisian town as Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, and Chafroud are
also accused of helping him rent the delivery truck. They have denied the
charges.”



Germany



The National: German 'Coup' Prompts Push To Purge Extremism In Police And
Military
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“Right-wing extremists could be sacked from German police ranks more quickly
after the discovery of an alleged armed coup plot. Prosecutors said they
uncovered a terrorist cell including ex-soldiers that hoped to recruit from the
police and military. It was the latest in a series of alarming incidents
involving alleged far-right sympathies in the German security forces. Interior
Minister Nancy Faeser wants to reform disciplinary rules for public servants
after last week's raids. It would allow police to sack suspected far-right
sympathisers without going through a lengthy court procedure. But her plans
face resistance from police unions and critics who accuse her of presuming
guilt. A union representing federal police posted a cartoon of Ms Faeser
suggesting she was pursuing a witch hunt. It shows a police officer being burnt
at the stake and being told by Ms Faeser to prove they are not a witch.
“Reversing the burden of proof would be the real putsch,” said Georg Pazderski,
a former soldier and far-right politician in Berlin. Ms Faeser denied throwing
a blanket of suspicion on police, and said the majority of officers were loyal
to the constitution. But she said “enemies of the constitution” should be
removed from public service as quickly as possible.”



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