Eye on Extremism - December 21, 2020

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Eye on Extremism - 12/21/20
By: Counter Extremism Project - 12-21-20
Re: info@counterextremism.com

As of: December 21, 2020

CNN: Rockets Fired At Baghdad Green Zone In 'Terrorist Act,' Iraq Says

“A rocket attack on Baghdad's diplomatic Green Zone Sunday night was “a terrorist act” that undermines Iraq's international reputation, the country's president says. Eight rockets were fired at the heavily fortified area, with at least one Iraqi soldier injured when a rocket landed near an Iraqi security checkpoint, according to a statement from the Iraqi military. The military said most of the rockets hit the Qadisiya residential neighborhood near the US Embassy, damaging several buildings and cars. The US Embassy said minor damage was caused to the embassy compound but that there were no injuries or casualties. A spokesman for the Presidency of the Republic of Iraq issued a written statement saying “targeting the Green Zone is a terrorist act that endangers the security and lives of innocent citizens and their property. “It represents a targeting of the country's sovereignty and national efforts to preserve the state's prestige,” the statement said. “Targeting diplomatic missions undermines Iraq's international reputation and its foreign relations.”

Bloomberg: Somalia Accuses Kenya Of Arming Local Militia As Tensions Rise

“Somalia’s government accused Kenya of arming local militia to attack its forces on the border, just days after severing diplomatic ties with its East African neighbor. The alleged steps can “undermine general security of the Horn of Africa region,” Somalia’s Ministry of Information said in a statement posted to its Twitter account on Saturday. Calls and text messages to the spokeswoman for Kenya’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Principal Secretary Macharia Kamau outside of normal working hours weren’t answered. The assertions are being made after Kenya said this week that it would open a consulate in Somaliland, a breakaway region that declared independence in 1991 following a civil war. Somalia’s government ordered Kenyan diplomats to leave Mogadishu after talks with Somaliland started, a step reciprocated by officials in Nairobi. Diplomatic relations soured last year after Kenya accused Somalia of auctioning four offshore oil blocks in a disputed area, an allegation Somalia denied. Kenya invaded Somalia in 2011 after a spate of kidnappings by the Islamist extremist group Al-Shabaab, which had originated in Somalia.”

Reuters: Four Arrested For Sept. 25 Paris Knife Attack, Source Says

“Four people have been arrested in France as part of an investigation into a knife attack in Paris on Sept. 25, a judicial source said on Friday. The source told Reuters that one of those held has been charged with a terrorism-related offence and placed in custody in the southwestern Gironde region. On Sept. 25, a stabbing in which two journalists were wounded took place in Paris’s rue Nicolas-Appert, where Islamist militants killed 12 people in the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo five years ago. The main suspect in the attack was an 18-year-old man from Pakistan. Police arrested him soon after the stabbing. French daily Le Parisien reported on Friday that the four detained people of Pakistani origin had allegedly encouraged the attacker to act. Several attacks in recent months, including the beheading of a teacher who had shown his class caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad, have prompted the French government to take action against Islamist “separatism.”

United States

Los Angeles Times: Islamic State Train Attacker Thwarted By Three California Men Is Convicted

“A French court has convicted an Islamic State operative in a 2015 train attack that was foiled by three fast-acting young California men, whose heroics were turned into a film by Clint Eastwood. The special terrorism court sentenced Morocco-born Ayoub Khazzani on Thursday to life in prison, with 22 years guaranteed behind bars. Khazzani, who went to Syria as a jihadi after trafficking drugs in Spain, met his match in the train encounter with three childhood friends from California who took him down. Eastwood turned the face-off into the movie “The 15:17 to Paris.” Three of Khazzani’s accomplices, who weren’t on the train, were convicted of complicity and handed prison sentences ranging from seven to 27 years. The verdict closed the monthlong trial of Khazzani for attempted terrorist murder. He had boarded the Amsterdam-to-Paris train Aug. 21, 2015, with an arsenal of weapons. The court rejected Khazzani’s contention that he had changed his mind about carrying out the assault. He seriously wounded a French-American teacher who grabbed his Kalashnikov. From left, Cal State Sacramento student Anthony Sadler, U.S. serviceman Spencer Stone, U.S. ambassador to France Jane Hartley and National Guardsman Alek Skarlatos pose after a news conference at the U.S. Embassy in Paris on Sunday.”

CNN: US To Announce New Criminal Charges Monday In Pan Am Terrorist Bombing

“In one of Attorney General William Barr's final acts leading the Justice Department, he plans to announce on Monday criminal charges against an alleged bombmaker in the terrorist bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988. The former Libyan intelligence officer Abu Agila Masud is expected to be charged for his involvement in the bombing, according to three officials familiar briefed on the matter. Monday is the 32nd anniversary of the attack, which killed 270 people, the majority of whom were Americans. The Pan Am Boeing 747 was en route from London to New York. The announcement also brings Barr's service as attorney general -- a position he's held twice -- full circle. Last week, when he told President Donald Trump of his resignation, Barr asked to delay his departure by a week so he could announce the Lockerbie charges, one of the sources said. Early in his tenure at the department under President George H.W. Bush, Barr had announced charges against two other Libyan intelligence-linked men, Abdelbeset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi and Al Amin Khalifah Fhimah, whom the US accused of placing explosives in a portable cassette and radio player that was inside a suitcase on the plane.”

CBS New York: Internal NYPD Memo Warns Officers About Threats From Terrorists, Extremist Groups

“The NYPD is circulating a memo warning its own about continuing threats against current and former officers from terrorists and extremists. Just this past June, three NYPD officers were attacked in Brooklyn. One was stabbed and two were shot in what’s been described as an Islamic terrorist attack. Back in 2014, there was a violent hatchet attack on a group of rookie cops in Jamaica, Queens, that was also deemed an act of terror. The NYPD is now warning its members about attacks like these. A new Intelligence Bureau memo sent to uniformed members Friday says law enforcement and military personnel remain prime targets for violent extremists. The memo outlines recent threats from traditional al-Qaida aligned networks as well as anarchists and neo-Nazis. Threats include lone-wolf attacks and knife-wielding assassinations. Security expert Manny Gomez says it’s no surprise extremists are planning attacks while Americans remain distracted — first by the COVID crisis and second by anti-police sentiments. “They’re capitalizing on the fact that defund the police and anti-police issues … They’re targeting police officers when they have less resources than they had before this,” Gomez told CBS2’s Kiran Dhillon.”

Iran

The Jerusalem Post: Biden Administration Must Counter Iranian Terrorism

“Slovenia recently joined a growing band of European governments that have fully recognized Iran’s foremost proxy group, Hezbollah, as a terrorist organization. The designation – the latest announced by a member of the European Union, which currently only partially bans Hezbollah – emphasizes both the progress made in exposing the threat of Iran-backed terrorism, and the continued urgency for Washington and Brussels to hold the regime and its proxies to account. Slovenia’s decision follows those of several European counterparts that have already moved to comprehensively blacklist Hezbollah, most notably Germany and the United Kingdom, and brings their policies in line with the United States, Canada, Japan, Israel, the Arab League and some Latin American countries. Yet the seemingly indisputable admission that Hezbollah is a terrorist organization unfortunately still faces resistance in important quarters. In 2013, the EU finally banned the Iranian proxy’s “military wing,” but stopped short of proscribing its “political wing.” Most EU member states have since relied on this incomplete designation, with the foreign minister of Spain acknowledging just last week that her country does not outlaw Hezbollah’s “political wing” because the EU does not.”

Afghanistan

Reuters: Suspected Rickshaw Bomb Kills 15, Mostly Children, At Afghan Koran Reading Ceremony: Official

“A suspected rickshaw bomb killed at least 15 civilians, including 11 children, on Friday at a Koran recitation ceremony in central Afghanistan, officials said. Initial information suggested that explosives were placed in a rickshaw in a district of Ghazni province, interior ministry spokesman Tariq Arian said. At least 20 people were wounded. Afghanistan continues to be hit by violence even as the Afghan government and the insurgent Taliban have been holding meetings since September to discuss an end to the 19-year war. Western countries have begun a sharp troop drawdown. Most of the victims in Friday’s attack were under 18 years old, Wahidullah Jumazada, spokesman for the provincial governor of Ghazni, said. Killings by small, magnetic bombs placed under vehicles have unnerving Afghan officials, activists and journalists, who blame the Taliban for the attacks. At least 10 government officials and aides have been killed by “sticky bombs” in recent weeks, mostly in the capital, Kabul.”

Associated Press: Official: Large Car Bomb Kills 9 In Afghan Capital

“A car bomb blast that rocked Afghanistan’s capital Sunday morning killed at least nine people, according to the Afghan Interior Ministry. Interior Minister Masoud Andarabi told reporters at the site of the attack that the attack wounded around 20 others, including a member of parliament, Khan Mohammad Wardak. Andarabi said the lawmaker was in “good condition.” The interior minister added that the casualty toll could rise further. The attack happened while the lawmaker’s convey was passing through an intersection in Kabul’s Khoshal Khan neighborhood. The blast set afire surrounding civilian vehicles, as well as damaging nearby buildings and shops. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. In a statement condemning the attack, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said that the Taliban should stop violence against civilians and accept a ceasefire, to facilitate the current peace process. Ghani’s statement did not directly lay blame on the Taliban for the car bombing or offer evidence that the group was responsible for it. The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for multiple attacks in the capital of Kabul in recent months, including on educational institutions that killed 50 people, most of them students.”

NPR: 'Our Houses Are Not Safe': Residents Fear Taliban In Afghanistan's Capital

“In a mosque on the outskirts of Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, a preacher crowed to assembled men and boys: The Taliban, with their primitive guns, brought foreign forces to their knees, he said, and the Afghan government is next. “America with her rich and modern weaponry knelt down to us mujahedeen. So how will you defy us?” shouted the preacher on a sunny Friday in late October. He only permitted NPR to use his family name, Mazloum, and requested the mosque's name and its precise location remain anonymous, so it would not be targeted by Afghan government forces. “The world is realizing the power of Islam and the mujahedeen, but not a few stupid puppets here,” Mazloum said, referring to the country's Western-backed government. “Soon, Allah will grant us the Islamic government that our nation deserves.” The Taliban once lurked on the outer fringes of Kampany, a busy Kabul district with unruly traffic and roads that peter out into the countryside. But in recent weeks, they have been openly preaching in the district. It is one of the ways the Taliban have been emboldened since signing a deal with the United States that will lead to American and allied foreign forces withdrawing from Afghanistan by spring 2021.”

Voice Of America: Rare UN-Taliban Agreement To Set Up 4,000 Schools In Insurgent-Held Afghan Territory

“UNICEF has struck a rare agreement with the Taliban in war-ravaged Afghanistan to establish thousands of informal schools in areas controlled by the Islamist insurgent group. The program will reach up to 140,000 Afghan boys and girls, said Sam Mort, the agency’s chief of communications, advocacy and civic engagement in the South Asian nation, where an estimated 3.7 million children are out of school. “Through this agreement, UNICEF will support the establishment of 4,000 community-based education classes across Helmand, Kandahar, Uruzgan and Faryab,” Mort told VOA, naming the four Afghan provinces where the Taliban controls or influences swaths of territory. The UNICEF official said that currently there are 680 such informal classes already taking place across these provinces. The agreement will scale those up to 4,000, she added. Mort said that each class could accommodate up to 35 students, and classes are expected to start in March, when the new school year begins in Afghanistan. She said the plan aims to ensure that every child, especially girls, in remote areas, can go to school safely and securely. “Currently, 60% of the children that are out of school are girls and that increases to 80% in some hard-to-reach areas,” Mort said.”

Lebanon

The Jerusalem Post: Former Lebanon Justice Min. Blames Hezbollah For Deaths Of Hundreds

“Lebanon has been experiencing unrest following new discoveries surfacing in the investigation surrounding the explosion at the Beirut port on August 4 that led to hundreds of casualties and thousands of injuries. Maj.-Gen. Ashraf Rifi, a former justice minister and retired commander of the Lebanese Internal Security Forces, said on Thursday that he has testified to the team leading the investigation that Iran is behind the shipment of ammonium nitrate sent to Hezbollah that caused the terrible explosion. He urged the judge to allow him to publish his testimony, saying, “I call on the judge to make my testimony public. And my message to Hezbollah is to not think that it has succeeded in sabotaging the investigation of the crime of the century, and limiting it to a few several clerks who knew about the presence of the ammonium nitrate but remained silent,” Rifi said. “I've mentioned it in my testimony to the investigating judge, and I will say it again: The shipment of ammonium nitrate was sent to Lebanon by the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for Hezbollah,” Rifi noted in a statement, which came as a response to a lawsuit filed against him by Hezbollah's attorneys, who are suing him for “incitement, sparking controversy and endangering civil peace,” following similar accusations he has made in the past.”

Egypt

Associated Press: Egypt Officials: Bombs Kill 3 Security Forces In Sinai

“Two roadside bombs exploded in restive northern Sinai Peninsula killing three members of Egypt's security forces and wounding 10 others, officials said Friday. The bombs went off near separate checkpoints in the town of Sheikh Zuweid late Thursday, said two security officials and a medical official, who asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to brief the media. The officials didn't say who was responsible for the attacks and no one immediately claimed responsibility. But Egypt has been battling an Islamic State-led insurgency in the Sinai that intensified after the military overthrew an Islamist president in 2013. The militants have carried out scores of attacks, mainly targeting security forces and minority Christians. The first explosion Thursday night left one dead and seven wounded, while the second killed two and wounded three, the officials said. The casualties were transferred to El-Arish military hospital. Also on Thursday, the Egyptian military carried out a series of raids in the same town killing four militants, officials said. It wasn't clear if the raids took place before or after the bombings.”

Somalia

Reuters: At Least 10 Killed In Central Somalia Bombing Claimed By Al Shabaab

“At least 10 people were killed on Friday in a town in Somalia’s semi autonomous state of Galmudug when a suicide bomber detonated a device at a rally due to be addressed by the country’s prime minister, a security official said. Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble was on his way to address the rally at a stadium in Galkayo, a town in central Somalia where many residents and security forces had gathered to welcome him before the explosion, Galmudug state security ministry said in a post on its Facebook page. “Over 10 people died in the blast including three senior military officials, soldiers and civilians,” Major Mohamed Abdirahman, a military officer, told Reuters from Galkayo. Over 20 people were injured, he added. Senior officials at the site included General Abdiasis Abdullahi Qooje who was commander of a battalion based in Galmudug, Somali state radio SONNA reported. He said the death toll may rise. Somalia’s al Qaeda-allied Islamist group al Shabaab, claimed responsibility for the attack and said it was “targeting the apostate prime minister who was visiting the town.” Among those killed, al Shabaab’s military operations spokesman, Abdiasis Abu Musab, told Reuters, some were U.S.-trained.”

Africa

Voice Of America: Cameroon Says Boko Haram Infiltrates Top Business And Political Leaders

“A Cameroonian official said Friday he had found evidence that, as widely suspected, Boko Haram militants have been establishing close ties in Cameroonian political and business circles. The revelation came after Cameroon's military arrested a former lawmaker for allegedly supplying cattle to the Nigerian terrorist group. Midjiyawa Bakari, governor of Cameroon’s Far North region, on Nigeria’s border, says that within the past two months, Boko Haram has been establishing ties with top officials of his region. He spoke via a messaging app from the northern town of Maroua. He says security reports indicate that Boko Haram has infiltrated some political, business and elite circles along Cameroon’s northern border with Nigeria. He says Boko Haram accomplices in the communities supply food and money for the terrorists to procure weapons. Bakari says the military has been assigned to arrest those who have established ties with Boko Haram. Bakari did not say how many people have been arrested for establishing ties with the terrorist group, but this week, local media reported the arrest by Cameroon’s military of a former member of parliament, Blama Malla, for alleged ties with the Boko Haram. He has been detained in the northern town of Mora.”

United Kingdom

The Guardian: Lockdown Blamed As More Under-18s Held For Terror Offences In UK

“The number of children being arrested for terrorism offences is rising as the pandemic creates a climate for lonely young people to be drawn in, police have warned. A total of 17 under-18s were arrested in the year to September 2020 compared with 11 in the year to September 2019, police have said. So far this year a total of 3,000 pieces of suspected terrorist content have been flagged up to the Counter-Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU) compared with 2,796 in 2019, a rise of around 7%. But the number of referrals of rightwing content rose 43%, from 134 in 2019 to 192 between 1 January and 20 November this year. DCS Kevin Southworth, from the CTIRU, said that one unforeseen consequence of the global pandemic could be young people being radicalised. “There has been a slight shift during the pandemic, which may simply reflect people being at home more, and ultimately perhaps spending more time online – Perhaps in some instances sadly who have less people to speak to, perhaps recoursing to online media for greater quantities of their time because they’ve been stuck in self-isolating, or lacking people to come into contact with. It could be a sad corollary really of the Covid pandemic that we’ve not yet really fully realised.”

The Independent: Nando’s Knife Attacker Who Claimed To Be Terrorist Detained Under Mental Health Act

“A man who launched a knife attack in Nando’s restaurant and claimed to be a terrorist has been detained indefinitely under the Mental Health Act. Ali Algdaner, 27, grabbed a handful of cutlery before stabbing a 20-year-old waitress in the back inside the Arndale Centre. Greater Manchester Police said he approached other staff members and customers, before moving to the restaurant next door on 18 October 2019. The shopping centre was evacuated and Algdaner was pursued by members of staff before armed police arrived. “While in police custody, Algander made false admissions that he was a terrorist and that he had planted bombs in the centre but a thorough search of the building ensued and no suspicious items were found,” a police spokesperson said. “Algander continued to state he had committed a terrorist attack and was subsequently assessed by mental health specialists before being detained under the Mental Health Act. He has since been remanded in a specialist hospital.” On Friday, he was sentenced to an indefinite hospital order under section 37 of the Mental Health Act 1983. He had previously admitted affray, assault causing actual bodily harm and communicating false information causing a bomb hoax at Manchester Crown Court.”

Germany

The New York Times: She Called Police Over A Neo-Nazi Threat. But The Neo-Nazis Were Inside The Police

“Traveling for work and far from home, Seda Basay-Yildiz received a chilling fax at her hotel: “You filthy Turkish sow,” it read. “We will slaughter your daughter.” A German defense lawyer of Turkish descent who specializes in Islamist terrorism cases, Ms. Basay-Yildiz was used to threats from the far right. But this one, which arrived late one night in August 2018, was different. Signed with the initials of a former neo-Nazi terrorist group, it contained her address, which was not publicly available because of the earlier threats. Whoever sent it had access to a database protected by the state. “I knew I had to take this seriously — they had our address, they knew where my daughter lives,” Ms. Basay-Yildiz recalled in an interview. “And so for the first time I actually called the police.” It would bring her little sense of security: An investigation soon showed that the information had been retrieved from a police computer. Far-right extremism is resurgent in Germany, in ways that are new and very old, horrifying a country that prides itself on dealing honestly with its murderous past. This month, a two-year parliamentary inquiry concluded that far-right networks had extensively penetrated German security services, including its elite special forces.”

Deutsche Welle: Germany Brings Home 'Islamic State' Brides, Children From Syrian Camps

“German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on Sunday said he was “relieved” that a “humanitarian” recovery operation had brought home 18 children and five “Islamic State” (IS) brides from Kurdish-run internment camps in northeastern Syria. One of three German women brought back, identified in reports as Leonore M., 21, from Saxony-Anhalt state, was arrested a day earlier on arrival in Frankfurt airport, on charges including terror organization membership, said federal prosecutors. All three German women reportedly face terror charges in Germany. Accompanying Saturday's chartered flight were German federal police officers, reported the German news magazine Der Spiegel. German public broadcaster SWR said the group, reportedly comprising five women and 18 children, including 7 orphans, were handed over to a Foreign Office delegation by Kurdish envoys at Qamishli in northeastern Syria. SWR said they had been held at Roj and al-Hol, two Kurdish-run internment camps holding tens of thousands of detainees since the military defeat of IS by Kurdish forces backed by a multinational US-led alliance in late 2018, early 2019. Germany's Foreign Office did not mention the women's alleged IS backgrounds but said the mission involved “humanitarian cases, especially orphans and children with illnesses — cases in which departure was particularly urgent.”

Deutsche Welle: Berlin Islamist Terror Attack: A Deadly Story Of Failure

“Eleven people died and 60 were seriously injured when the Islamist Anis Amri drove a stolen truck into a Christmas market in central Berlin on December 19, 2016. The 24-year-old Tunisian national whose application for asylum had been rejected had hijacked the semi-trailer truck, killing Polish driver Lukasz Robert Urban. The attacker managed to escape and travel through Europe until he was shot dead by Italian police on December 23 after an altercation in Milan. Islamist terrorist Anis Amri drove a stolen truck into the crowd at the Christmas market The attack on the Breitscheidplatz Christmas market was the most serious Islamist terror attack in Germany to date. And it was “preventable,” according to Hans-Georg Maassen, the head of the domestic intelligence agency at the time. Maassen made his testimony in October this year before the Bundestag's parliamentary inquiry committee, set up in March 2018 to establish who was responsible for the many mistakes in the course of the investigation. It turned out the police had been aware that Amri was more than just a small-scale drug vendor and failed asylum-seeker. Still, they failed to prevent the attack. “This didn't need to happen, and that for me is the real tragedy,” Maassen conceded four years after the attack.”

Europe

Reuters: Two More Suspects Linked To Vienna Attack Arrested: Prosecutors

“An Austrian of Afghan descent whose genetic material was allegedly found on the weapon that a jihadist used to kill four people in Vienna last month has been arrested, prosecutors said on Sunday. Authorities will seek court approval to put the 26-year-old into investigative custody, a spokeswoman for Vienna prosecutors said, confirming a report in the Krone newspaper. “Traces of DNA from this person were found on the weapon,” she said. Another suspect was also arrested, she said, without giving details. Police shot dead the 20-year-old gunman, whom Austrian authorities have described as an Islamist terrorist, during his rampage in the centre of the Austrian capital in early November. Austria had already arrested 15 people in connection with the attack. Authorities in Germany and Switzerland are also investigating people they suspect had ties to the shooter.”



Australia

New York Post: Elderly Couple Murdered In ‘Terrorism Incident’ In Australia

“An elderly couple in Australia was killed in a “terrorism incident” carried out by a knife-wielding man who was later shot dead by police, officials said Friday. The bodies of Maurice Anthill, 87, and Zoe Anthill, 86, were found in their Brisbane home Thursday — hours after the suspect, Raghe Abdi, 22, was killed by police. Abdi — who was out on bail — threatened cops with a knife before he was fatally shot on a highway on the outskirts of Brisbane. Queensland state Police Deputy Commissioner Tracy Linford declined to detail how the octogenarian couple died but said homicide detectives found evidence that Abdi had been inside the house. Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll said Abdi was a known extremist who acted alone. “We had no choice but to declare this as a terrorism incident,” Carroll told reporters. The ISIS-influenced killer was arrested in May 2019 on suspicion that he was trying to join extremists when he attempted to depart Brisbane Airport for Somalia. He was released without charge due to insufficient evidence, but his passport was canceled. Abdi faced more charges a month later, including refusing to give detectives the passcode for his phone. He was free on bail and had been forced to wear a GPS tracking device — which he’d cut off before he was shot.”

ABC News Australia: Victims Of Racist Attacks Fear Reoccurrence As Australia Launches Inquiry Into Right-Wing Extremism

“Anam Javed was shopping for vegetables at her local supermarket when a man ripped her hijab off her head. In shock, she told herself it must have just flown off by accident, but she soon realised she was being verbally abused. Ms Javed went to the information counter looking for help but was followed by the man, who yelled phrases she can't forget. “They [Muslims] have f***ing made it here too,” she recalled him saying, which she took to suggest he was concerned Muslims had taken over his neighbourhood. “In his mind we, as Muslims, were a real and active threat and he was acting on this threat,” she told the ABC. In the same week as the racist attack, the 33-year-old had moved to a new neighbourhood in Victoria and decided to start wearing her hijab. That was six years ago, but the memory is still vivid in her mind. Victims of racist attacks can experience trauma — sometimes called “racial trauma” — which can leave memories that haunt them for many years, according to the American Psychological Association (APA). Ms Javed had to attend counselling sessions to “unpack” what had happened to her and help her deal with the memories.”