Eye on Extremism - November 2, 2020

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Eye on Extremism
Counter Extremism Project - 11-02-20
Re: info@counterextremism.com

As of: November 2, 2020

CBS News: Third Suspect Arrested In Connection To Suspected Terror Attack In French Church

“Police in France have arrested a third suspect in connection with a deadly terror attack in Nice, CBS News' Imtiaz Tyab reports. The country has raised its security alert to the highest level amid recent killings. Authorities say a suspected terrorist stabbed and killed three people inside the Notre Dame Basilica on Thursday, just two weeks after a teacher was beheaded in a Paris suburb. The stabbing suspect, named Ibrahim Issaoui according to investigators, is a 21-year-old Tunisian national who entered Europe just over a month ago. He is now in critical condition after being shot by police. A 35-year-old man was arrested overnight, the Associated Press reported, citing a judicial official. That suspect had met with Issaoui in Nice. Another man, 47, was already in custody. Officials say he was in contact with Issaoui the night before he went on his stabbing spree. French President Emmanuel Macron has denounced the killings as an “Islamist terrorist attack.” There have been three separate assaults since September connected to cartoons depicting the Muslim Prophet Muhammad that were first published in 2015 by the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo — and were republished again this September.”

The New York Times: Gunmen Storm Kabul University, Killing At Least 19

"Gunmen laid siege to Afghanistan’s largest university on Monday, killing at least 19 people and wounding more than a dozen others, officials said, as rising violence in the Afghan capital resulted in carnage at an educational center for the second time in just over a week. The attack at Kabul University on a warm fall day dragged on for hours as Afghan forces and U.S. troops moved to root out the gunmen, who had quickly spread across campus, detonating explosives and firing their weapons. Video and photographs posted to social media showed students scrambling for cover and clambering over walls to get to safety. Sporadic gunshots echoed in the background. Fardin Ahmadi, a social science student, said he was stuck in his classroom for two hours, until Afghan forces evacuated him and several others. “The situation was very bad,” Mr. Ahmadi said. “Every single student wanted to save their own life; we had forgotten about anything else. The exact number of dead and wounded was murky, as the attackers were still barricading themselves in classrooms four hours after the first shots rang out."

United States

The Detroit News: Accused Neo-Nazi Leader Had Manifesto, Wanted Race War, Prosecutors Say

“The leader of a white supremacy group was granted bond Friday as state prosecutors portrayed his gang as a dwindling crew committed to inciting a race war in the United States. Accused leader of the Base, Justen Watkins, 25, of Bad Axe, and associate Alfred Gorman, 35, of Taylor, represent the “last vestiges” of the neo-Nazi group that has been the target of repeated arrests and raids nationwide, Assistant Attorney General Sunita Doddamani said. “These are the last vestiges of this group,” the prosecutor said. “Their goal is to create a race war and white ethnostate,” a nation open only to white people. The men, arrested Thursday during a continuing crackdown on extremism in Michigan, made brief appearances in front of 14A District Court Magistrate James Cameron, who presided over a virtual videoconference from Washtenaw County. Cameron set bond at $100,000, or 10%, for Watkins during a hearing that provided new insight into a pair of FBI raids Thursday, including at a rural farmhouse in Bad Axe. The 3.5-acre farm is where prosecutors say Watkins ran a “hate camp” for members of the group to prepare to overthrow the government. “I do believe there does exist some potential danger to the community,” Cameron said.”

The Independent: Experts Warn Of ‘Rapid Increase’ In Radical-Right Extremism And Domestic Terrorism Following US Election

“Academic experts on the radical right have raised “alarm” that the US could see a “rapid” rise in right-wing extremism and domestic terrorism following the 2020 presidential election. In an open letter sent to The Independent, 17 specialists on radical right discourse warn that “anti-democratic methods will become normalised in pursuit of still darker, radical-right agendas.” “We fear that should election violence or a contested outcome in the US come to pass, there could be a rapid increase in radical-right extremism, including increased risks of domestic terrorism,” the letter reads. Donald Trump has on a number of occasions refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power in the event he loses the 3 November presidential election to Democratic rival Joe Biden. The scholars express fears that the president’s refusal to accept the result of the election in the event of a narrow margin will further encourage a radical-right agenda. “As experts and practitioners on the radical right globally, past and present, we have seen this movie before,” the letter says. If Mr Trump refuses to accept the election outcome and presents a host of legal challenges that delay the transfer of power, the country could be left in unprecedented territory.”

Iraq

Reuters: Iraq's Kurdistan Says Exports To Turkey Halted After Terrorist Attack - Statement

“Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government said in a statement on Friday that the terrorist attack on an oil pipeline which occurred on Wednesday resulted in halting exports to Ceyhan, a city in Turkey’s Adana province. The statement did not elaborate if the crude flow to Turkey has been resumed.”

Asharq Al-Awsat: Security Forces Launch Operation Against ISIS In Iraq’s Diyala

“Iraqi security forces launched a military operation in the Diyala province northeast of Baghdad to clear the area of ISIS cells. The operation was kicked off a week after the Khilanih massacre in Diyala where five family members of the Bani Kaab tribe, including its chief, were killed by ISIS. Sheikh Fadalah al-Kaabi was one of the influential tribal leaders in the region and had participated in the operations against ISIS, which is likely why the organization kidnapped and killed him. Prior to the Diyala massacre, eight family members were killed and four others kidnapped in Salaheddine’s Balad district. Mystery still surrounds the case, amid accusations that a Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) faction that controls the region is responsible for the incident. The Diyala Operations Command began combing al-Khilanih village, in al- Muqdadiyah district, discovering two ISIS hideouts. Engineering units began opening roads and clearing the area, and will continue to pursue the terrorists. The air force participated in bombing the ISIS targets in different areas of Diyala, as part of the operation, which covers 12 agricultural villages. The army is seeking to secure the military convoys in agricultural areas.”

Kurdistan 24: Coalition And Kurdish Forces Conduct Anti-ISIS Operation In Iraq’s Disputed Makhmour

“A senior Peshmerga commander announced on Saturday that Kurdish forces conducted last Saturday a joint operation with the US-led Coalition against members of the so-called Islamic State southwest of the Kurdistan Region capital of Erbil. The Peshmerga’s Gwer-Qarachokh Front Commander, Sirwan Barzani, said in a social media post that “a joint operation by #Peshmerga commandos & Coalition forces was conducted at Qerechukh mountain.” “13 caves were searched and cleared during the 48-hour period of the operation. Such operations will continue to ensure that no hiding place is left for #ISIS terrorist in the area.” The commander did not clarify if any clashes with Islamic State fighters took place during the operation. “In recent months the ISF and Peshmerga Forces have maintained a relentless rhythm of operations to disrupt Daesh, enabled by Coalition support, including tactical information sharing, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and air power,” Wayne Marotto, the Spokesman for the US-led Coalition to defeat the Islamic State, told Kurdistan 24 on Saturday. “The Coalition and our ISF partners are committed in our mission to defeat Daesh (ISIS) in designated areas of Iraq and Syria.”

Afghanistan

The New York Times: On Afghan Highways, Even The Police Fear The Taliban’s Toll Collectors

“When the long-haul trucker drives past this hilltop police outpost in southern Afghanistan each week, he knows exactly what to do. The officers toss down a box tied to a length of rope and like all drivers, the trucker places 5,000 afghanis — about $65 — in the box, which the officers then reel back up to their outpost. The officers don’t dare collect such bribes in person, said the trucker Dawlat Khan, “because the highway is controlled by the Taliban and the police are afraid to come out.” Since the United States signed a troop withdrawal agreement in February with the Taliban, the militants have established new checkpoints along major highways, seizing control of long stretches of roadways, extorting millions of dollars a month from truckers and travelers and even displacing the police’s own efforts to extort bribes. Truckers and bus drivers say government forces have remained inside their bases, all but handing over control of many roadways to Taliban fighters. The drivers say in addition to collecting “taxes,” the militants search vehicles for soldiers or government employees, sometimes executing them on the spot. The lucrative highway racket helps fund the Taliban’s war effort, but there is also a strategic purpose: The militants use their control of many highways to launch attacks on beleaguered government forces, bolstering their negotiating position at the stalled peace talks in Doha, Qatar.”

The New York Times: Deadly Taliban Attack Probably Used Drone, A Worrisome Shift

“A Taliban attack, most likely carried out by a drone, killed at least four security officers in northern Afghanistan on Sunday, according to senior and local Afghan officials, representing what could be the group’s first publicly known use of the method in the 19-year war. The strike targeted the governor’s compound in Kunduz, a province that has seen heavy fighting, like much of the country, in recent months despite continuing peace talks between Taliban and Afghan government negotiators in Qatar. At least eight other people were wounded in the blast, local officials said. “When the Kunduz governor bodyguards were playing volleyball in the governor’s guesthouse, the explosion took place among them,” said Ghulam Rabbani Rabbani, a member of Kunduz’s provincial council. “It is not clear that it was an explosion or a missile or drone attack,” he added. Fazal Karim Aimaq, a member of the Afghan Parliament from Kunduz, said on his Facebook page that the episode represented “a new method of attack” but did not say if a drone had carried it out. A Taliban spokesman did not respond to a request for comment. The Taliban’s use of small, over-the-counter drones has been limited in recent years to filming attacks for propaganda and reconnaissance.”

Pakistan

Reuters: Indian Troops Kill Top Kashmiri Militant Commander

“Indian security forces killed the chief of the largest militant group in Kashmir in a gun battle on Sunday, as the disputed region is riven by violence more than a year after New Delhi withdrew its semi-autonomy. The killing takes the number of militants killed in the Muslim-majority region so far this year by Indian troops to 190, police official Vijay Kumar told Reuters. Saiful Islam Mir, commonly known as Saifullah, chief of the Hizbul Mujahideen militant group, was shot dead in Kashmir's main city of Srinagar, Kumar said. Saifullah took over the leadership of the group in the portion of Kashmir controlled by India after its previous chief there, Riyaz Naikoo, was killed in a gun battle with Indian troops in May. The overall head of the Pakistan-based Hizbul Mujahideen is militant commander Syed Salahuddin, whom Washington placed on a list of global terrorists in 2017. India and Pakistan both claim Kashmir in full but rule in part. New Delhi has long accused Pakistan of supporting an armed insurgency in the Himalayan territory, a charge Islamabad denies. Last August, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government reorganised the state of Jammu and Kashmir, splitting it into federally-administered territories, promising better governance.”

Lebanon

Reuters: Lebanon's Hezbollah Chief Calls French Cartoons 'An Aggression'

“The leader of Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah on Friday described French cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad as an aggression and likened Paris sticking by them to “declaring a sort of war”. In a televised speech, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said French authorities had worsened a standoff over the caricatures, which stirred anger among Muslims, by being stubborn. The head of the heavily armed Shi’ite movement condemned this week’s fatal stabbings at a church in Nice, but said Western leaders also bore responsibility for such crimes because of their roles in Middle East conflicts.”

Nigeria

Council On Foreign Relations: Northwest Nigeria Potential Jihadi Linchpin In West Africa

“Up to now, radical jihadi activity in West Africa has been centered in Mali—with spillover to adjacent parts of Burkina Faso and Niger—and the Lake Chad Basin. The two locales are now increasingly bridged by jihadi activity in northwest Nigeria, where resurgent struggles over land and water with a cast of ethnically aligned fighters and flourishing criminality provide them with new space. Jihadi movements in all three regions are fractious, subject to bloody internal rivalries, and overlap with criminal elements. They do share a declared goal of establishing polities based on Islamic law—sharia—and the destruction of the fragile, postcolonial secular states in the region. (National borders, established by the former colonial powers, are largely meaningless for most local people, as well as for criminals and jihadis.) Were they to be successful, however, it is by no means clear that they could establish coherent territorial governance much above the village level. No charismatic leader such as Abu Musab al-Barnawi, Osama bin Laden, or even Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has emerged to impose unity on the various jihadi groups now active from the Lake Chad Basin to the western Sahel. More likely would be decentralized regimes of warlordism led by Islamist and criminal opportunists.”

The Christian Post: Terrorist Group Releases Proof Of Life Video Of Abducted Nigerian Pastor

“A video released by a faction of the Boko Haram terrorist group in Nigeria shows a pastor pleading for government officials to secure his release and that of two women who were abducted earlier this month. The Islamic State West Africa Province, a jihadist terrorist organization based in northeastern Nigeria, posted the video on YouTube on Oct. 19, giving proof of life of the Rev. Polycarp Zongo of the Church of Christ in Nations, the U.S.-based persecution watchdog International Christian Concern reported. In the video, Zongo can be seen telling how he and the two unnamed women were abducted. Seeking the help of Gov. Simon Lalong, state Sen. I.D. Gyang, the Christian Association of Nigeria and his denomination COCIN, he says they were traveling from Jos city in Plateau State to the capital of Gombe State for a church conference when their vehicle was stopped and they were abducted. “On Monday, 19 October 2020, I was traveling to Gombe for a church conference when we encountered the caliphate’s armed men who captured me along the way; and right now I’m with them,” he says in the video. Talking about the two women, he adds, “They too, captured two Christian women who are also here with me. I’m appealing that you all do all that is possible to secure our release from captivity.”

Africa

Al Jazeera: Suspected ADF Attack In DRC Village Kills More Than 20 Civilians

“More than 20 civilians have been killed in an attack on a village in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), according to local authorities. Authorities on Saturday blamed the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebel group for the attack the previous evening, saying its fighters first attacked a rival group of Congolese militia members before killing inhabitants in the village of Lisasa. Local administrator Donat Kibwana, from the Beni territory in North Kivu province, put the “preliminary death toll” at 21. The figure was confirmed by the head of the Buliki area, where Lisasa is located, according to the AFP news agency. A local NGO called Cepadho said in a statement that of the 21 killed, 15 were women. All three sources were quoted as saying by AFP that more people were kidnapped. A health centre was also ransacked, while homes were set on fire and a Catholic church desecrated. “Everything happened yesterday between 8pm and midnight – the armed men carried out a raid,” local leader Kalunga Messo told the Reuters news agency on Saturday by phone. “They killed our brothers without mercy.” The ADF, which originated in the 1990s in western Uganda with the aim of creating an Islamic state, is one of dozens of armed groups that plague the eastern provinces of the vast DRC.”

Al Jazeera: Kenyan Court Jails Men Over 2013 Westgate Mall Attack

“A court in Kenya sentenced two men to 18 years in prison for helping al-Shabab gunmen in a 2013 attack on Nairobi’s Westgate shopping mall that killed 67 people. Mohamed Ahmed Abdi and Hussein Hassan Mustafa were sentenced to 18 years each for providing support to the assailants. Abdi was given an additional 15-year jail sentence for possession of materials promoting “terrorism”. “This court has to pass a sentence … commensurate with the offence,” Chief Magistrate Francis Andayi told the two on Friday as they stood in a Nairobi courtroom. He said the seven years the men spent on remand would be deducted from their sentences. The attack on the upscale mall, a favourite of Kenya’s growing middle class and foreign workers, happened two years after the East African nation sent troops into Somalia following a series of kidnappings and raids on Kenyan soil by the armed group al-Shabab. Al-Shabab has promised retribution for Kenya for sending troops to fight the group in Somalia since 2011. Although there was no specific evidence the convicted pair had provided material help, the court was satisfied their communication with the attackers amounted to supporting the armed rampage, and justified the guilty verdict for conspiracy.”

Reuters: Islamic State Claims Responsibility For Church Attack In Congo - Amaq

“Islamic State claimed responsibility on Friday for an attack on a church in eastern Congo that killed at least 18 people, the group’s Amaq news agency reported, without evidence. The attack happened Wednesday night in Baeti village in North Kivu province. A civil rights group reported a death toll of at least 18 people and a church being burned down.”

France

Reuters: Angry French City Asks After Church Attack: Why Us Again?

“When a suspected Islamist from Tunisia killed three people this week in a church in the French Riviera city of Nice, for many residents it brought painful memories flooding back. Four years ago, another suspected Islamist originally from Tunisia had driven a 19-tonne truck into a crowd about not far from the church, killing more than 80 people. The church attack, coming on top of the truck assault, left many people in Nice on Friday feeling they had angry, and wanting to fight back against the people they believe are to blame. “We’ve had enough,” Nice resident Francois Bonson, 38, said at the scene of the church attack on Friday. He said his mother-in-law often visited the church, and he initially feared she was among the victims. “We’re forced to live with these foreigners who spit on us, who spit on France,” Bonson said. The truck attack happened on July 14, 2016 as people in Nice were watching a fireworks display to mark Bastille Day, France’s national holiday. Tunisian immigrant Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel steered the Renault truck into the crowd thronging the seafront Promenade des Anglais. He was shot by police. The Islamic State group said it was responsible for the attack.”

Agence France-Presse: How France Is Struggling With A Spiral Of Online Jihadist Hate

“…The online hate perpetuated the cycle of violence when an 18-year-old Chechen decapitated Samuel Paty, a teacher who infuriated some parents when he showed the Charlie Hebdo cartoons to students for a lesson on free speech. Groups linked to Al Qaeda and the Islamic State lauded Paty's killer and flooded the internet with calls to emulate his attack. Two weeks later, a young Tunisian who arrived in France only in October killed three people at a church in Nice. “The recent surge of terror attacks in France has shown that now, more than ever before, we need to clamp down on the spread of terrorist content online,” said David Ibsen, executive director of the Counter Extremism Project. France has already promised tougher action against online hate after Paty's murder - the teacher's name and the address of his school had been posted in the social media campaign against him. Yet Ibsen said governments face an uphill battle without concerted efforts by the companies providing the platforms that extremists are so easily exploiting. “The continued ease of access to hyper-violent imagery and videos on social media demonstrates tech companies' failure to keep their promises and address the prevalence of extremist and terrorist content online,” he said.”

Europe

Reuters: Spanish Police Arrest Man For Praising Attack Near Paris

“A Moroccan man was arrested in Barcelona for praising the beheading of a French schoolteacher outside Paris this month and inciting more attacks, police said on Saturday. The man, who was not named and who was detained on Friday, posted messages on social media in support of the Oct. 16 murder of Samuel Paty, Catalan regional police said. Paty was killed outside his school in a Paris suburb by an 18-year-old Chechen who was apparently incensed by the teacher showing a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammad in class. Police shot the attacker dead. “Police officers from the Mossos d’Esquadra have arrested a man of Moroccan nationality, for an alleged crime of exaltation of terrorism and a crime of incitement to commit terrorist crimes,” Catalan police tweeted. The suspect appeared before a court in Barcelona on Saturday and was released on condition he surrender his passport and appear before magistrates every 14 days, police said. An attacker killed three people in a church in Nice on Thursday in the second deadly knife attack in France in two weeks. Three people have been taken into custody. The attacks came amid growing Muslim anger across the world over France’s defence of the right to publish cartoons depicting the prophet.”

Voice Of America: French Terror Suspect Entered Europe Through Italian Port, Italy Says

“Italy's interior minister confirmed Friday the Tunisian man who killed three people in an attack on worshippers at a church in Nice had passed through Italy on his way to France. At a news conference in Rome, Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese said Ibrahim Issaoui disembarked from a migrant boat on Italy's southernmost island of Lampedusa on September 20 and was given a repatriation order to leave Italy on October 9. Lamorgese gave no further details on what if any action was taken to act on the repatriation order or if Issaoui complied with the order. Under current agreements with Italy, Tunisia agrees to take back a maximum of 80 nationals a week. New arrivals are invariably handed expulsion papers but are almost never detained until a flight home can be organized. Instead, many move swiftly out of Italy, often heading to France, which has a large Tunisian community. The Italian interior minister said Issaoui was not flagged by either Tunisian authorities or by intelligence agencies. Lamorgese has come under fire in Italy by right-wing politicians who say she bears some responsibility for the killings in France for not preventing Issaoui from entering Europe. The interior minister called on Italian political parties “to take a break” from political infighting and to show solidarity with the French people.”

Canada

CNN: Suspect In Medieval Clothing Killed 2 And Injured 5 In Quebec City Sword Attack, Police Say

“A 24-year-old suspect from Montreal wearing medieval clothing and wielding a sword randomly attacked residents in a Halloween night of terror on Saturday that left two people dead and five others hospitalized with “significant lacerations,” according to police. “Everything leads us to believe that his motives were personal in nature. Up until now he has not been linked to any terrorist organization,” Robert Pigeon, Quebec City's chief of police, said during a press conference Sunday morning. He added that the investigation into the motive is continuing. Pigeon said police officers and residents remain shaken and saddened after the bizarre events that took place in Quebec City's old quarter close to Le Chateau Frontenac Hotel, a city landmark. After the attack, police asked citizens to avoid the Parliament Hill area as they searched for the suspect, whom police have not publicly identified. Shortly after 1 a.m. local time, police said the suspect had been arrested in a Twitter post and asked citizens to stay indoors with their doors locked as they continued to search the area. The five injured victims were transported to local hospitals and the suspect was taken to the hospital for evaluation, police spokesperson Étienne Doyon said, according to CNN partner CBC News.”

Southeast Asia

The Straits Times: How Duo Got Influenced By Extremist On Social Media

“Presenting himself as a man with deep knowledge of his religion, Zulfikar Mohamad Shariff convinced Mr Mohamad Saiddhin Abdullah that he should also show his support to terror group Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Like Zulfikar, Mr Saiddhin had a photo taken of himself striking a pose common for ISIS fighters and posted it on his Facebook page. He was hauled up by the authorities soon after…”

Technology

Brisbane Times: Telegram Battles To Vet Extremists Flocking To Its Encrypted Platform

“Administrators of the encrypted messaging platform Telegram have banned 1338 Jihadist-related bots or accounts in the past three days, after the terrorist attack in the French city of Nice again put a spotlight on Islamic extremism. There is no evidence at this stage the Nice attacker used Telegram, but the app has become home to various forms of extremism in recent years, including the far-right, as an alternative to platforms such as Facebook. Telegram allows users to create a hiding spot for videos, digital versions of texts and photographs that can be either public or private. The app is also used by drug traffickers, arms dealers and conspiracy theorists, and was a preferred communication platform for organisers of recent protests against Victoria's pandemic lockdown. Launched by Pavel and Nikolai Durov in 2013 and based in Dubai, Telegram has a public channel called ISIS Watch that notes the number of jihadist-related accounts it removes each day; 17,036 in total between October 1 and 29, and 275,054 for the calendar year. Monitoring channels, groups and bots for jihadist content is not a simple undertaking as Telegram has more than 400 million users who can easily establish channels with an unlimited number of members, as well as groups which can have up to 200,000 members.”

Chicago Tribune: Critics Call Gary Franchi’s YouTube Channel, The Next News Network, A Hive Of Conspiracy Theories. So How Has It Survived The Platform’s Conspiracy Crackdown?

“The Next News Network is a YouTube channel produced in Chicago’s western suburbs that pumps out a dozen or so aggressively partisan videos each day. They usually stick to praising President Donald Trump or attacking his critics, but every so often they wade into the dark waters of conspiracy theory. In just the last few months, the channel’s owner and host, Gary Franchi, has showcased several baseless allegations, including a suggestion that antifa might be behind the Western wildfires, an osteopath’s insistence that the COVID-19 pandemic was “a false flag operation” and a claim that Democratic politicians had members of Seal Team 6 killed to cover up a dirty deal with Iran … Franchi’s resilience doesn’t surprise Hany Farid, a University of California at Berkeley computer science professor who studies YouTube’s response to conspiracy channels. He said for all the headlines about the crackdown, social media platforms put their financial interests first. “At the end of the day, you’re pushing up against very powerful companies," he said. "My impression is they do just enough to get people off their backs, but their hearts aren’t into it.”