Eye on Extremism
December 15, 2022
The Washington Post: Uprising By Somali Clans Puts Al-Qaeda-Linked Militants On The Defensive
“A determined but often chaotic uprising by clan militias supported by Somali government troops has forced the al-Shabab militant group, one of al-Qaeda’s wealthiest and strongest global affiliates, onto the back foot, say Somali and U.S. officials. Political infighting in the Somali government had stymied any military offensive against al-Shabab for the past three years, allowing the group to consolidate its control over parts of Somalia. But after elections were held in May and the new government put its backing behind some of the clans in central Somalia, their militias began to claw back territory, taking over insurgent checkpoints previously used to extort money and bases used to launch attacks. “What we’re seeing is really large scale combat operations taking place in Somalia and incorporating the clans in a way that we just have not … seen,” said Rear Adm. Milton Sands, who heads U.S. Special Operations Command Africa, in an interview. “I’m really optimistic.” Clan militias have fought the insurgency before, but it is the first time they have had such extensive military backing, and that support is now encouraging many aggrieved Somalis to join the militias and fight. “I’ve been in and out of Somalia for 13 years, and I’ve never seen the federal government, member states and clans all angry and so united to finish al-Shabab,” said Gen. Keith Katungi, the acting force commander of the African Union peacekeeping force. “This is the first big Somali-led offensive.”
Reuters: Pakistan To Approach UN After Blaming India For Bombing
“Pakistan will take a dossier to the United Nations alleging its neighbour India has backed incidents of terrorism, the foreign ministry said on Wednesday, a day after Islamabad said India was behind a high-profile bombing. Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar said the dossier will include detailed evidence and information of India's involvement in a 2021 bombing outside the house of an Islamist leader, among other incidents of sabotage and what she called terrorism. "We will call it information based evidence," Rabbani Khar said about the dossier. "It is sharing information and sharing evidence on what India has been up to." "Let's put the record straight, that's what it is, and ... to let the world know that what is happening in the region." India's foreign office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment about the dossier. Rabbani Khar did not say when the dossier was to be presented to the U.N., or to which U.N. body.
United States
The Washington Post: Anti-LGBTQ Rhetoric Brought Violence, Shooting Survivors Tell House Panel
“LGBTQ activists and survivors of the Club Q and Pulse nightclub shootings told the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday, during more than three hours of testimony, that a rise in anti-LGBTQ extremism and violence has left them traumatized and afraid. Over the past year, they said, extremists in the United States have attacked nearly 150 LGBTQ events. Two dozen hospitals and providers have faced online harassment because they provide gender-affirming care to children, and a record number of transgender and gender-nonconforming people have been slain, they noted. Hate crimes against LGBTQ people have increased 40 percent since 2015, and FBI data shows that in 2020, 1 in 5 hate crimes were motivated by anti-LGBTQ bias. Those incidents did not occur in a vacuum, said Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.), who chairs the committee. “These actions are the culmination of years of anti-LGBTQ extremism that began in statehouses across the country and spread to social media platforms before boiling over into the communities where we reside,” Maloney said. Maloney had announced the hearing earlier this week, as a means to examine “how the surge of anti-LGBTQI+ policies advanced by Republican lawmakers and the proliferation of extreme anti-LGBTQI+ rhetoric are fueling a rise in violence against LGBTQI+ people in the United States.”
CNN: Five People Arrested On Domestic Terrorism Charges In Clash At Atlanta’s ‘Cop City’ Site
“Five people were arrested and charged with domestic terrorism in Atlanta on Tuesday after a clash between activists and law enforcement at a site set to be turned into a state-of-the-art training facility for police, state investigators said. The planned $90 million, 85-acre Atlanta Public Safety Training Center is to be built in a forested area of Dekalb County that used to be a prison farm. The proposed facility will include a shooting range, mock city and burn building, CNN has previously reported. Activists determined to stop the project – dubbed “Cop City” – have camped out in the forest’s trees and have said they do not plan to leave. On Tuesday, several police agencies entered the site as part of a joint operation to remove barricades that were blocking some of the entrances to the center, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said. “Yesterday, several people threw rocks at police cars and attacked EMT’s outside the neighboring fire stations with rocks and bottles,” the bureau said Wednesday. “Task force members used various tactics to arrest individuals who were occupying makeshift treehouses.” The bureau said police cleared the area of makeshift treehouses and later found explosive devices, gasoline and road flares. The five people who were arrested come from all over the country, including Maine, California and Wisconsin, according to the bureau.”
Iraq
Associated Press: Iraq's Military: 3 Killed In Explosion North Of Baghdad
“Three members of the Iraqi security forces were killed in an explosion north of Baghdad on Wednesday, Iraq's military said. The personnel were killed when an explosive device detonated during a security operation in the Khan area of the Tarmiyah district. A commander of the 59th Infantry Brigade and two others were killed, a military statement said. Lieutenant General Qais al-Muhammadawi, commander of Iraq's ground forces, will lead an investigation in the area into the causes of the explosion, the statement added. The perpetrators were not immediately known. The Tarmiyah district has witnessed numerous attacks by the Islamic State group since Iraqi security forces with assistance from the U.S.-led coalition drove out the group in a military operation. IS's territorial control in Iraq and Syria was crushed by the years-long campaign, but sleeper cells have carried out attacks that have killed scores of Iraqis and Syrians. In Iraq, the militants have successfully exploited security gaps across a patch of territory in the north because of a dispute between Baghdad and Irbil, the capital of the the Kurdish-run semiautonomous region of Iraq. Iraqi security forces have been ambushed or targeted with improvised explosive devices by the militants.”
Afghanistan
Voice Of America: Taliban Publicly Flog 27 Afghan Men, Women Convicted Of ‘Moral’ Crimes
“Taliban authorities in southern Afghanistan publicly flogged 27 people, including two women Wednesday, for allegedly committing theft, adultery and other crimes. Officials and residents reported the punishments were administered in the southern Helmand and Zabul provinces. Mohammad Qasim Riyaz, a provincial government spokesman in Helmand, said 20 men were lashed in the sports stadium in the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah. Riyaz said that each man was flogged between 35 to 39 times before a large number of spectators, including provincial Taliban officials, religious clerics and local elders. Some of the convicts were additionally given prison terms, he added. Separately, the Taliban-run state news agency reported public flogging of five men and two women for “illicit relationships, robbery and other crimes” in Qalat, the capital of Zabul. It did not elaborate. Afghanistan’s hardline rulers have flogged dozens of men and women in crowded football stadiums in several provinces and the capital, Kabul, in recent weeks, applying their strict interpretation of Islamic law to criminal justice. Wednesday’s public lashings come a week after the Taliban carried out their first public execution of a convicted murderer since taking control of the conflict-torn impoverished South Asian nation.”
Pakistan
Associated Press: Pakistan: Bombing Kills 2, Injures 14 In Restive Border Area
“A roadside bomb killed a soldier and a passerby and wounded at least 14 others in Pakistan’s northwest border area on Wednesday, the military and police said Thursday. A local police official, Khalid Wazir, said the bombing appeared to target a convoy of security forces passing by the town of Miran Shah in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province near the Afghan frontier. The blast damaged nearby shops but the injured were mostly troops, the official added. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but the mountainous and isolated area is a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, which is allied with neighboring Afghanistan’s rulers. Local Taliban have stepped up attacks on security forces in recent weeks after unilaterally ending a monthslong ceasefire with Pakistan’s government last month. Pakistan has repeatedly complained that Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers have failed to secure the frontier areas and are giving shelter to Pakistani Taliban fighters and leaders across the unruly border. The Pakistani Taliban have been emboldened by the return to power of Afghanistan’s Taliban, who took power in Kabul after the U.S. troop withdrawal last year.”
Yemen
Asharq Al-Awsat: Yemen Renews Call For Stronger Int’l Position Against Houthi Terrorism
“The Yemeni government renewed its call for stronger international stances against Houthi terrorism and welcomed the latest European Union statement on the coup escalation. The government issued a statement Tuesday, welcoming the European announcement to increase its humanitarian and development support and interventions for 2022 and 2023, and called on the donor community to double their financial pledges and ensure more effective humanitarian and development work. The Yemeni statement lauded the Union's appreciation for the constructive approach of the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) and government during the humanitarian truce. It also welcomed the EU support of the constructive approach of the Yemeni government during the truce and ongoing efforts by regional actors, notably Saudi Arabia and Oman, on the ceasefire extension. The statement renewed the government's commitment to a just and comprehensive peace under national, regional, and international references. It also called for serious and responsible engagement with all efforts aimed at alleviating the human suffering of the Yemeni people, achieving their aspirations to restore state institutions, and ending the Houthi coup. The statement appreciated the EU positions, including the Union's explicit condemnation of the Houthi terrorist attacks on oil installations and infrastructure, warning of their catastrophic repercussions on the humanitarian situation and maritime security.”
Middle East
The Times Of Israel: IDF Releases Photos Showing Terror Groups Put Rocket Launchers Next To Gaza Schools
“The Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday released photos showing what it said were rocket launch sites that Palestinian terror groups have positioned next to several schools in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. The IDF released statements in English and Arabic that included satellite photos of three schools in Gaza City, outside which it said rocket launchers have been set up. “Over 1,000 innocent students attend these schools that Hamas uses for terrorist activities. Hamas purposefully puts civilians and pupils in danger by using them as human shields,” the IDF said. The military identified two of the launch sites as belonging to Hamas — including one outside a school used as a shelter by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees during emergencies. It attributed a third site to unspecified terrorists. According to the IDF, the principal of the school used as a shelter by UNRWA was in contact with a Hamas rocket operative ahead of the war in Gaza last May. “The cynical exploitation of schools proves once again that the terrorist organization consciously chooses to endanger Gazan civilians and use them as ‘human shields’ to benefit their terrorist agenda,” the IDF said in reference to Hamas. The military did not specify when the satellite photos were taken.”
Nigeria
Sahara Reporters: Nigerian Police Repel Terrorists Attack In Buhari’s Home State, Kill Two Insurgents On Wanted List
“The Nigeria Police Force, Katsina State Command, has confirmed that its men and officers on Tuesday evening repelled terrorists attack at Sokoto-Rima Quarters in Dutsinma Local Government Area of the state. The Katsina State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Gambo Isah, who confirmed the incident in a statement said that the police operatives also killed two terrorists identified as Abu Na-Iraqi and Abu Na-Masari, who had been on the police wanted list. Katsina is the home state of President Muhammadu Buhari and has a fair share of the terrorism and banditry crisis which has engulfed the northern region especially. During the incident that happened at about 7:30pm, the police said it also recovered two AK-47 rifles from the terrorists while search parties are still combing the area to arrest other members of the terrorists syndicate who fled with gunshot wounds. The PPRO said that “On December 13, 2022 (13/12/2022 ) at about 1930hrs, a distress call was received that terrorists in their numbers, shooting sporadically with AK-47 rifles, attacked Sokoto-Rima Quarters, Dutsinma LGA of Katsina state, with intent to kidnap some residents. “Subsequently, Area commander Dutsinma and team, swiftly moved to the area, engaged the terrorists in a gun duel, neutralized two (2) notorious terrorists, on the wanted list of the police, identified as (1) Abu Na-Iraqi and Abu Na-Masari and recovered two (2) AK 47 rifles.”
Africa
AFP: 10 Killed In DR Congo Rebel Attack: Local Sources
“At least 10 civilians have been killed by rebels in northeast Democratic Republic of Congo, local sources said Wednesday, criticising joint Congolese and Ugandan security operations in the region. The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) -- which the Islamic State group claims as its Central African offshoot -- is accused of slaughtering thousands of Congolese civilians and carrying out bombings in Uganda. The 10, two women and eight men, were killed Tuesday during an incursion by ADF fighters into Ndalya village in the south of Ituri province, Christophe Munyanderu, head of the CRDH rights organisation told AFP. Another source put the death toll at 14. The attackers also torched two houses. Munyanderu said that on Wednesday morning a Congolese soldier was wounded after stepping on an improvised bomb placed near strategic Highway 4 which ADF fighters had approached, targeting surrounding villages. “We regret the way the Congolese government is handling the ADF situation,” the activist said. He expressed surprise that the rebels were able to operate even though “they are well identified and their positions” known. The ADF is accused of having massacred thousands of civilians in the DRC and carrying out attacks in Uganda, most recently in the capital Kampala in October and November 2021.”
AFP: Uganda Forces Kill 11 ADF Rebels After Incursion
“Ugandan forces killed 11 ADF rebels after they crossed into the country from the Democratic Republic of Congo, the army said Tuesday, in the first known incursion by the group this year. The Allied Democratic Forces — which the Islamic State group claims as its Central African offshoot — is accused of slaughtering thousands of Congolese civilians and carrying out bombings in Uganda. An “estimated 20-30 ADF fighters last night crossed River Semliki… Our intelligence got wind of them and they were intercepted,” Brigadier-General Felix Kulayigye, spokesman for the Ugandan military, said in a statement. “A fight is on to decisively deal with the group,” he said, adding that 11 rebels had been killed while eight others had been taken into custody. “Operation is ongoing,” he said. The ADF is among the most violent of more than 120 armed groups active in the DRC’s volatile east. Uganda was hit by a series of bombings in October and November last year that killed five people and injured dozens, with the authorities blaming a “domestic terror group” with ties to the ADF for the blasts. Following the attacks, Uganda deployed forces and launched air and artillery strikes in the DRC against the ADF, after Kinshasa gave Kampala approval to pursue the militants on its soil. Last year, the United States placed the ADF on its list of “terrorist” organizations linked to IS.”
Germany
The Wall Street Journal: German Terrorism-Plot Suspect Met Russian Diplomats, Officials Say
“The alleged leader of a suspected far-right terrorist cell that German authorities dismantled last week met with Russian diplomats in what investigators believe was a failed bid to obtain support for his plot to overthrow the government, German officials said. Prince Heinrich XIII of Reuss, who was arrested alongside 24 other people following a monthslong investigation into an alleged conspiracy to commit armed attacks on parliament, had contacted the Russian general consulate in the city of Leipzig and met diplomats there during a reception for a Russian national holiday, officials said. A Russian Embassy official denied that any diplomatic representative of Moscow ever knowingly had any contacts with conspirators or terrorist organizations in Germany. The official didn’t return queries about a meeting at the consulate. Wiretapping of subsequent communications among the suspects by the investigators produced no evidence that the Russians offered any kind of support, according to investigators and lawmakers briefed on some details of the probe. Mr. Reuss, a 71-year-old property dealer who comes from a minor aristocratic family that can be traced back to the 13th century, contacted the consulate via his girlfriend, a Russian national named as Vitalia B., officials said.”
Europe
Radio Free Europe: Belarusian Lawmakers Approve Bill Allowing Stripping Of Citizenship For Extremism
“Belarus's National Assembly approved in two readings on December 14 a bill that allows authorities to strip citizenship from anyone, including native Belarusians, for extremism. The current law allows only naturalized citizens to be deprived of their citizenship if convicted of extremist activities. Authorities have labeled numerous independent media outlets, NGOs, journalists, and bloggers as extremists in the wake of mass protests that gripped the country following an August 2020 presidential vote that handed the authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka a sixth term in office despite opposition claims the election was rigged.”
Technology
Reuters: Meta's Oversight Board Restores Nigeria Church Attack Video On Instagram
“Meta's Oversight Board on Wednesday overturned a decision to remove a video that was shared on Instagram showing the gruesome aftermath of an attack on a church in Nigeria that killed at least 40 people. The video showing motionless, bloodied bodies on the floor, apparently the aftermath of the church attack that took place on June 5 in Owo, southwest Nigeria, was shared by an Instagram user on the same day. Meta removed the video, saying hashtags added by the user could be read as glorifying violence and minimizing suffering. The user appealed against the removal to the independent board. The board on Wednesday asked Meta to restore the post with a "disturbing content" warning screen, saying this would protect victims' privacy while allowing for discussion of events. "Nigeria is experiencing an ongoing series of terrorist attacks and the Nigerian government has suppressed coverage of some of them, though it does not appear to have done so in relation tothe June 5 attack," the board said.”
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