Eye on Extremism - February 11, 2021

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Eye on Extremism - February 11, 2021
By: Counter Extremism Project - 02-11-21
Re: info@counterextremism.com

As of February 11, 2021:

Reuters: Twenty U.N. Peacekeepers Wounded In Central Mali Attack

“Twenty United Nations peacekeepers were wounded, several seriously, in central Mali on Wednesday when their base came under fire, the U.N. mission said. The base near the town of Douentza was attacked around 0700 GMT, the U.N. peacekeeping mission, known as MINUSMA, said in a statement. It did not say who was responsible. Islamist groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State regularly attack U.N. peacekeepers and Malian soldiers in the area, which the militants use as a base for attacks across the Sahel region south of the Sahara Desert. “We have been conducting numerous security operations in this part of Mali for several months now,” said Mahamat Saleh Annadif, the head of MINUSMA. “These operations disturb the enemies of peace, but we remain committed to stand by the Malians, for the Malians.” Four U.N. peacekeepers were killed and five wounded in central Mali on Jan. 14 after a convoy struck an explosive device and came under fire. MINUSMA has over 13,000 troops to contain violence caused by armed groups in the north and centre of the country. The mission has recorded about 230 fatalities since 2013, making it the worst-hit of the U.N.’s more than a dozen peacekeeping missions.”

Reuters: Four Blasts Hit Kabul, District Police Chief Among The Dead

“Four blasts rocked Afghanistan's capital on Wednesday, killing two people, including a police chief who had been attempting to crack down on the city's growing insecurity, marked by almost daily assassinations. “In the wake of three terrorist attacks in Kabul this morning, Mohammadzai Kochai, police chief of district five of Kabul was martyred along with his bodyguard,” interior ministry spokesman Tariq Arian said. Another three people were wounded, he added. A separate blast later hit a car near the upmarket international Serena Hotel, although a police spokesman said there were no casualties. District five, where Kochai was based, is a transport hub between the capital Kabul and Afghanistan's southern provinces, many of which are dominated by the Taliban. Kochai had sought to crack down on the high levels of insecurity in the district in recent months. The Taliban did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the attacks. The group has denied involvement in a recent wave of targeted assassinations which the government and many foreign powers have blamed on it. Almost daily deadly attacks with small, magnetic bombs attached to the undercarriages of vehicles, roadside explosive devices and shootings are unnerving Afghan officials, activists and journalists.”

United States

Agence France-Presse: Biden Govt Supports Repatriating Jihadists: US Diplomat

“President Joe Biden's administration believes countries should repatriate jihadists and their families to counter the threat from the Islamic State group, an American diplomat told the United Nations on Wednesday. “The global threat from Isis will grow if the international community does not repatriate their citizens,” said Jeffrey DeLaurentis, the acting US ambassador for special political affairs. Former president Donald Trump's government also supported the repatriation of fighters who went to fight abroad, mainly in Syria and Iraq. Several European countries -- including France -- refuse to repatriate adults, believing they should be tried in countries where they are accused of committing crimes. They only accept the return of their children on a case-by-case basis. “Beyond being the best option from a security standpoint, repatriation is also simply the right thing to do,” said DeLaurentis during a Security Council video conference dedicated to the threat of terrorism. “It is estimated that 90 percent of children in the camps are under 12 and 50 percent under five.” “We watch with concern as women and children languish in camps in dire conditions, with little access to education, increasing the potential for the radicalization,” he added. DeLaurentis warned that the IS group “remains a serious threat.”

Syria

Associated Press: UN: Bring Home Kids From Syria With Possible Extremist Links

“The U.N. counter-terrorism chief on Wednesday urged the repatriation of tens of thousands of women and children suspected of links to the Islamic State extremist group, warning that many are being radicalized in deteriorating detention camps in Syria and Iraq. Vladimir Voronkov told the U.N. Security Council that nearly two years after the defeat of the militant extremists on the ground “some 27,500 foreign children are still in harms way” in camps in northeastern Syria, including about 8,000 from some 60 countries other than Iraq. He said 90% of them are under age 12. Tragically, Voronkov said, the international community has made “hardly any progress” in addressing the issue of these children and women even though the “challenges and risks are growing more serious with neglect, and could have a long-term impact not just in the region but globally.” His call for action was echoed by Jeffrey DeLaurentis, an acting U.S. deputy ambassador who spoke on behalf of President Joe Biden’s new administration. He said Biden is committed to working with the international coalition that the U.S. established in 2014 to rout the Islamic State group from Iraq and Syria, “to ensure this terrorist group is defeated on a lasting and comprehensive basis.”

The Jerusalem Post: Deadly Islamic State Ambush In Syria Goes Largely Unnoticed

“The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that Islamic State (IS) fighters ambushed a military convoy of Syrian army soldiers and militiamen loyal to the Assad regime, early Monday morning. At least 26 pro-regime troops were killed in the attack, making it the deadliest since the beginning of the year. Eleven IS fighters were also killed. Despite the high death toll, Western media has largely ignored the incident. For more stories from The Media Line go to themedialine.org “On 8 February, Islamic State militants conducted an ambush attack on a military convoy killing at least seven Syrian army soldiers of the 17th Division and at least 19 militiamen from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Brigades,” Oliver Harper, an analyst at Jane’s Terrorism and Insurgency Centre (JTIC) confirmed. The attack occurred in the Al-Mayadeen desert in Syria’s eastern Deir ez-Zur governorate. The convoy was searching the area for unidentified combatants when it was attacked, SOHR and Harper reported. It has been almost two years since former President Donald Trump claimed that “100%” of Syrian territory held by IS had been recaptured, yet in some areas of the Arab country, IS continues to be a concrete reality.”

Arab News: UN Warned That Daesh Terror Threat Will Grow If Nations Do Not Act

“The threat posed by Daesh to international peace and security is growing as it attempts to regroup and renew its activities, the UN Security Council was told on Wednesday. Vladimir Voronkov, head of the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT), said the terror group is using technology to connect with and radicalize young people. Its activities gained momentum in the second half of last year, during which many people were stuck at home during pandemic lockdowns, he added. His warning came as he briefed the Security Council on the latest UN efforts to counter the dangers from Daesh and other terrorist groups. This is in accordance with Resolution 2368, which calls on the council to adapt to evolving terrorist threats, and member states to strengthen measures to block the funding of terrorism, limit the travel of terrorists, and prevent them from obtaining weapons. Voronkov said that although Daesh has lost its self-declared caliphate in Iraq and Syria, is still carrying out attacks in both countries and maintains the ability to operate across unprotected borders. It could regain the capacity to orchestrate attacks worldwide this year, he added. Terrorists have adapted the opportunities provided by cyberspace and new technologies and are exploiting them, he said.”

Iraq

Voice Of America: Local Officials Say Iraq's Kakais, Fearing IS, Are Fleeing Their Villages

“What stood out about a seminar recently held in this northern Iraqi village was that it was largely attended by men wearing noticeably large mustaches. The facial hair is a feature distinguishing pious followers of the Kakai, a small religious group that has in recent years become a top target for the Islamic State (IS) terror group in Iraq. The seminar, titled “Kakais in the time of Corona,” was meant to shed light on the culture and history of the group, as well as the challenges they face in the predominantly Muslim nation. Followers of the religion say their unique mustache style, which they keep for both traditional and religious reasons, has in recent years meant certain death for their fellow men as IS used it to identify them. The group, which believes in reincarnation, is estimated to have as many as 75,000 followers in Iraq. “Al-Qaida and Islamic State terror have taken the lives of 450 members of our people since they came to the area,” Kwekha Aziz, a Kakai community leader, told VOA. “You can see all our martyrs buried in the graveyard over there. … They hate our religion. They hate it that we don’t fast or we don’t pray like them,” he added. Most Kakais live in more than a dozen villages dotting oil-rich Kirkuk province, a part of the northern “disputed territories” where experts say the Iraqi government is struggling to contain a rising IS threat.”

Yemen

Agence France-Presse: Al-Qaeda's Yemen Leader Appears In Video Despite UN Report Of Arrest

“The leader of Al-Qaeda's branch in Yemen appears to be still at large despite a United Nations report which claimed he had been under arrest for months, the SITE Intelligence Group and two local tribal leaders said Thursday after he was seen in a video released by the jihadist group. Khalid Batarfi, who has been the leader of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) for about a year, talks about the storming of the US Congress last month in the video, which came out Wednesday. The video, which opens with footage of the January 6 assault by Donald Trump supporters, belies reports that Batarfi was under arrest, said SITE, which monitors extremist organisations. In the 20-minute video titled “America and the Painful Seizure”, Batarfi says “storming the Congress is only the tip of the iceberg of what will come to them, God willing”. A report filed to the UN Security Council last week claimed Batarfi was arrested and his deputy, Saad Atef al-Awlaqi, killed during an “operation in Ghayda City, Al-Mahrah governorate, in October”. Two local tribal leaders in the Al-Bayda governorate in central Yemen, where AQAP is active, told AFP there was a high probability the person arrested was not Batarfi but another member of the jihadist group.”

Nigeria

CNN: More Than 23 Killed As Bandits Attack Five Districts In Northern Nigeria

“More than 23 people were killed in simultaneous raids on five districts in Nigeria's Kaduna state by armed assailants Tuesday. Authorities in the state confirmed the killings in a statement released by the Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan. The latest raids came barely 72 hours after armed gangs invaded Birnin Gwari and Kajuru districts killing 19 people, Aruwan said. Many shops were looted in the attacks and 10 residents were killed in one district alone in Tuesday's attack, the commissioner said. “Following the security situation across the state within the last 24 hours, the Kaduna State Government has received reports from security agencies of the killing of 23 citizens in different attacks on soft targets in Birnin Gwari, Giwa, Chikun, Igabi, and Kauru local government areas,” Aruwan said. “The attacks on soft targets in these local government areas occurred around Kaduna State's boundaries with neighboring states,” he added. Kaduna, located in Nigeria's northwest, has remained insulated from the militant group Boko Haram who operate in Nigeria's northeast, however, armed violence by kidnappers and cattle rustlers has plagued the state. A recent study by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies shows that around 1000 deaths were recorded in 220 violent events in Kaduna.”

Premium Times: Boko Haram Reportedly Abducts Three Nigerian Customs Officers

“Boko Haram terrorists on Tuesday reportedly abducted three officers of the Nigeria Customs Services during an attack on Geidam, a town in Yobe State near the Nigerian border with Niger Republic. The insurgents had attacked the town late Tuesday evening. Security sources told PREMIUM TIMES that they took away the officers after driving into the town through the Geidam -Maine–Sorowa road. The officers were stationed at a checkpoint on the road when the insurgents swooped on them, a source said. The source revealed that the officers were posted from the zonal command of the Customs in Bauchi to Yobe at the border. “What happened is very unfortunate because some of our personnel got the information of the attack and left the area but those three officers we learnt did not get the information early,” the source told PREMIUM TIMES. “By the time they were trying to leave, the insurgents had closed in on them and took them away,” the source, a Customs officer, told our correspondent but asked not to be named because he was not authorised to speak to journalists. The police spokesperson in the state, Dungus Abdulkarim, confirmed the Tuesday attack on Geidam. Mr Abdulkarim said no casualty was recorded in the attack but the terrorists burnt an ambulance of the General Hospital, Geidam, and looted a shop.”

United Kingdom

The Independent: Man Who ‘Wanted To Throw Grenade At Police Station’ Convicted Of Terror And Explosives Offences

“A man who said he wanted to throw a grenade at a police station has been convicted of terror and explosives offences. Mohammed Chowdhury, 24, was arrested after meeting with an undercover police officer who was posing as an arms dealer at a Costa Coffee branch in London. Chowdhury paid £300 for what he believed to be a real grenade, but was immediately arrested in a sting by armed police. He was convicted of attempting to possess an explosive with intent to endanger life or property on Wednesday, following a trial at the Old Bailey. Chowdhury had previously pleaded guilty to four counts of possessing documents likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, but was not charged with planning a terror attack himself. Following his arrest on 5 February, 2020, he made several phone calls to relatives from prison where he told them what he wanted to do with the grenade. In one call to his mother and sister, he said he wanted “to chuck it in the station area”, adding: “I wanted to do something serious like on the TV.” Speaking to his mother in March 2020, he said: “I don’t care about the judge or the police and that. I wanted to hurt one of them, innit. I was getting annoyed. That’s why I went, that’s why I went to get the thingy.”

France

Financial Times: Debate On Islamist Extremism Law Exposes Deep Rifts In France

“Another teacher threatened by Islamists four months after the beheading of Samuel Paty on the street outside his school; five people arrested this week for cyber-harassment and threats against a teenager for her social media posts deemed insulting to Allah: President Emmanuel Macron’s defenders say his government’s planned new law to curb Islamist extremism in France has never been more urgently needed. “Islamism is a Trojan horse containing a fragmentation bomb targeting our society,” wrote Gérald Darmanin, Macron’s interior minister, in his book Islamist Separatism: Manifesto for Secularism, published this year to accompany the law. ”Faced with an enemy so dangerous and insidious, which we know is a long way from the true religion of the Prophet, it’s normal for the authorities to take unprecedented measures.” Many French republicans of left and right, including some of Muslim immigrant origin, support the legislation as a bulwark against terrorism and Islamist attempts to control Muslim-dominated districts in the Paris suburbs and elsewhere in France — and it is likely to be approved by parliament and become law by the middle of the year.”