Eye on Extremism - March 15, 2021

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Eye on Extremism - 03-15-21
By: CEP (Counter Extremism Project) - March 15, 2021
Re: info@counterextremism.com

As of March 15, 2021:

The Wall Street Journal: Nigeria Gunmen Abduct Students In Latest Mass Kidnapping

“Gunmen kidnapped dozens of students from a college in northwestern Nigeria late Thursday, state officials said, the fourth mass abduction in as many months in a region that is suffering from a worsening security breakdown. The attackers breached the perimeter fence at the Federal College of Forestry in Mando, located in the state of Kaduna, shortly before midnight and began to round up students, security officials said. The attack occurred just a few hundred meters from the National Defence College, where 3,500 trainee officers are based. Shehu Sani, a former senator of Kaduna, said he had been briefed by security officials that the kidnappers separated the girls from the boys and only took the girls. “Young women are easier to handle—they don’t try to escape,” he said. “And there’s a possibility for the kidnappers to get a higher price…This is the world we are living in now.” Soldiers from the army’s first division were deployed and 180 students were rescued after a fire fight in which several were injured, but more than 30 remain missing, officials said. Police said there were no further details on the number of students taken.”

The Guardian: London Isis Supporter Found Guilty Of Plotting Terror Attack

“An Islamic State supporter who rapped about decapitations and wearing suicide vests has been found guilty of plotting to run amok with a sword during the coronavirus lockdown. Sahayb Abu, 27, had bought two blades, balaclavas, a camouflage hat and body armour online in readiness for the planned terror attack last summer, the Old Bailey heard. He was arrested on 9 July after discussing guns with an undercover police officer, who he met on an Isis supporters’ Telegram chat group. A jury deliberated for 21 hours and 32 minutes to find him guilty of preparing for terrorist acts by a majority of 11 to one. His brother, Muhamed Abu, 32, wept as he was cleared of failing to disclose information about a plot to authorities. He appeared distressed at his sibling’s conviction, sobbing: “He’s a clown, he’s a buffoon.” Following the verdicts, Commander Richard Smith said Sahayb Abu was a “very dangerous individual”, despite portraying himself as a clownish aspiring rapper called Masked Menace. Smith, the head of the Met’s counter-terrorism command, said: “There is no doubt in my mind that Sahayb had murderous intent, some of that was evidenced from the kind of things that he was posting online and sharing with others, including his brother.”

United States

San Antonio Express-News: Near A Hallowed Site In Texas' Fight For Independence, A Loner Pledged Support For ISIS

“Gonzales County was the site of the first skirmish of the Texas Revolution, and its residents hold on to that pride nearly 200 years later. The county seat still displays the “Come and Take It” flag similar to one flown by Texians who fought for the state’s independence. So when the FBI arrested resident Jaylyn Christopher Molina, 22, in September on a charge that he conspired to provide material support to the terrorist organization ISIS, it seemed incredible to some that a young man who backed then-President Donald Trump and his “America First” credo had been online with other ISIS supporters, discussing plans to attack the White House, Trump Tower and other U.S. landmarks. “How in the world did he get tied into something like that?” said Randall Sutton, who owns the mobile home in the town of Cost that the FBI raided when they arrested Molina. “I think he just got in with the wrong people.” Molina pleaded guilty in January to conspiracy to provide material support to ISIS and to receiving child pornography, a count that was added after agents found images on his cell phone. He faces up to 20 years in federal prison on each count at his sentencing, scheduled for next month. It is the first ISIS-related criminal case in San Antonio’s federal judicial district.”

Syria

Voice Of America: Foreign Enablers Continue To Fuel Syria's Conflict, UN Says

“U.N. investigators call for greater international action to end the impunity prevailing in Syria, which is hindering efforts to find a durable peace for the country’s decade-long conflict. The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria has submitted its latest report to the U.N. Human Rights Council. A cease-fire brokered by Russia and Turkey last year in northwestern Syria’s Idlib province, the last rebel-held territory in the country, has resulted in a significant drop in hostilities. However, commission chair Paulo Pinheiro says Syria remains a tinderbox. He says the cease-fire that has made little difference in the lives of millions of civilians. “As we speak, over six million Syrian civilians, including 2.5 million children, live in internal displacement with limited access to basic human necessities, in cities reduced to rubble, subject to predation by a constellation of armed actors, and in fear of being arrested, tortured and killed,” Pinheiro said. The commission’s report accuses the Syrian government of widespread arbitrary arrests, torture and the summary execution of prisoners while in detention. It says many of the violations may constitute both war crimes and crimes against humanity.”

Kurdistan 24: ISIS Continues Attacks In Syria Despite Counterterrorism Operations By US-Backed Forces

“The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Sunday arrested nine suspects affiliated with the so-called Islamic State, as the terrorist group continues attacks in northeast Syria, especially in the Arab majority Deir al-Zor province. The SDF's Coordination and Military Operations Center on Sunday said on Twitter that SDF special forces units had in a raid arrested nine Islamic State suspects, including senior leaders (emirs) in the Deir al-Zor countryside. The cell was suspected of carrying out assassinations, planting improvised explosive device (IEDs) and smuggling weapons. Although the SDF and the US-led Coalition announced the territorial defeat of the Islamic State in Syria in March 2019, sleeper cell attacks persist—especially in liberated territories—in an apparent campaign to destabilize the area. US-backed fighters recently stepped up operations against the Islamic State in response to several assassinations, which the terrorist organization is thought to have conducted. Open-source researcher Caki Akyuz told Kurdistan 24 on Sunday that Islamic State activity continues in northeast Syria despite repeated operations by the US-backed, Kurdish-led SDF. “ISIS is able to move freely back and forth over the Iraqi border,” he said.”

The Jerusalem Post: Syria's First Lady Facing Prosecution In UK For Encouraging Terrorist Acts

“The first lady of Syria, 45-year-old Asma Assad, might lose her British citizenship and could face prosecution charges in the UK for being an “influential actor” in inciting and encouraging acts of terrorism, Sky News reported on Saturday. Allegations have been directed at the wife of Syrian President Bashar Assad, prompting a Metropolitan Police investigation. Sky News noted that if the “desert rose” of the Middle East – as she has been called – is charged, the UK could seek her extradition to stand trial. According to the report, Guernica 37 International Justice Chambers accuses her of being among a number of “influential actors” who encouraged and incited acts of terrorism and international crimes. This month of March marks a full decade since the Syrian civil war began. The death count today is estimated at around 500,000 people, with more than 6.5 million having been displaced. “This is an important step in holding senior political officials accountable for their acts,” the legal team behind the charges told Sky News, emphasizing the importance of not just extradition, but of prosecution. “This is an important process and it is only right that justice is served before an English court.”

Iraq

CNN: ISIS Behind Brutal Attack In Salah Al-Din Province, Iraq Military Says

“ISIS militants were behind Thursday's brutal killings north of Baghdad where they shot dead eight people in three separate attacks, including six family members, according to an Iraqi military statement released Friday. The attack took place in Albu-Dour's predominantly Sunni village in Salah al-Din province, about 84 miles north of the Iraqi capital. The area is under the control of Iraq's Shia led paramilitary forces also known as the Popular Mobilization Units (PMUs). ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement released Friday. The group said several ISIS militants carried out three separate attacks, including one where they “raided a house” in a village north of Baghdad and shot and killed six family members. They called some of those related to the people they killed “spies” who worked for the Popular Mobilization Units. ISIS released photos of the raid, including images of some of the victims. Iraqi security officials confirmed to CNN that they were indeed the victims. The terrorist group also killed a local police officer and a lawyer in two separate attacks in the same village, the Iraqi military statement said.”

Kurdistan 24: ISIS Militants Wearing Iraqi Military Uniforms Kill 6 Members Of Family, 2 Others Outside Tikrit

“Iraqi authorities have announced that the Islamic State was behind a brutal massacre in a village south of the central Iraqi city of Tikrit on Friday morning, killing six members of one family. In addition to the family members, which included a mother and daughter, a policeman and a lawyer were also reportedly left dead. In the hours following the incident, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, in which gunmen in military uniforms stormed several houses in al-Boudur, located in Salahuddin province. Those who carried out the attack “infiltrated the village on foot, wearing military uniforms under the pretext of searching the houses of the murdered on the outskirts of the village, where they carried out their treacherous crime,” read a statement released later that day by Iraq's Joint Operations Command. “Security forces have identified the person most responsible for the crime,” it continued, adding, “He is a former resident of the village who had been previously expelled from there by other residents. They had rejected his terrorist actions, so he committed the crime as an act of vengeance against innocent people.” In its claim of responsibility published online, the Islamic State alleged that the family killed had instead been working as a “spy cell” for Iran-backed militias of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) present in the area.”

Afghanistan

The Wall Street Journal: Afghan Government Accepts U.S. Invitation To Peace Conference With Taliban

“The Afghan government agreed to attend an international peace conference with the Taliban in Turkey next month, proposed by the Biden administration to accelerate talks toward ending the 20-year war. The planned negotiations, the Biden administration’s most significant effort yet to assert control over the Afghan peace process, are aimed at paving the way for a new government formed jointly between the Taliban and Kabul. Afghan national security adviser Hamdullah Mohib told reporters Saturday that the government intended to participate in the conference in Istanbul, as well as another peace conference in Russia next week. The United Nations is expected to broker the Istanbul conference but says it hasn’t yet received an invitation to do so. While the format and purpose of the Russian event isn’t clear, the U.S.-proposed conference in Istanbul is aimed at replicating the format of the 2001 conference in Bonn, Germany, that installed Hamid Karzai as president following the ouster of the Taliban after the Sept. 11 attacks. The Taliban weren’t invited to attend it. April’s conference will likely delay a full withdrawal of the remaining 2,500 American troops from Afghanistan beyond a May 1 deadline agreed between the Trump administration and the Taliban.”

Voice Of America: Bombings, Taliban Raids Kill 22 Afghans, Injure Dozens

“A car bombing, a roadside blast and insurgent raids killed at least 22 people, including security forces and civilians, officials in Afghanistan said Saturday. The violence injured nearly 70 people, most of them civilians. Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Tariq Arian said Saturday the car bomb blast targeted a police base in the province of Herat, which borders Iran. Arian said the explosion damaged at least 14 houses in a nearby residential area. Local officials said about 60 people, including 20 women and 12 children, were among the injured. At least five of the wounded people were in critical condition, hospital sources in Herat said. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. A spokesman for the Taliban insurgency said it had nothing to do with the bombing. But Afghan President Ashraf Ghani blamed the Taliban, saying the insurgents “continued their illegitimate war and violence against our people” and “demonstrated once again they have no intention” for a peaceful resolution to the conflict. Separately, a roadside bomb went off Saturday morning in Tarinkot, capital of the southern Uruzgan province, killing three civilians and injuring four others, local officials said. No group claimed responsibility for that attack.”

Pakistan

Reuters: Pakistani Taliban Threaten Organisers Of Women's Day March

“The Pakistani Taliban on Friday threatened women’s rights activists who organised demonstrations to mark International Women’s Day in the country, accusing them of blasphemy and obscenity. The Taliban statement followed a flurry of falsified images and video clips on social media that suggested participants in the March 8 protests had insulted Islam, which they strongly denied. “We want to send a message to those organisations who are actively spreading obscenity and vulgarity in our beloved Pakistan,” the statement said, addressing the marchers. “Fix your ways, there are still many young Muslims here who know how to protect Islam and and the boundaries set by Allah.” Islamist groups held demonstrations on Friday in several Pakistani cities to demand that the government prosecute the march organisers for blasphemy, and they threatened vigilante action. Blasphemy carries the death penalty in Pakistan. Although Pakistan has never carried out such a sentence, vigilantes often kill suspects before they are brought before a court. Messages spread on social media, in some cases shared by journalists and politicians with millions of followers, included false allegations that the French flag was waved at the Women’s Day march, while doctored video and audio showed participants chanting slogans viewed as blasphemous against Islamic figures.”

Saudi Arabia

Gulf News: Saudi Arabia: Five Sentenced To Death Over Links With Daesh

“Saudi Arabia’s authorities have issued preliminary death sentence against five Daesh suspects, according to Al Arabiya. “Those sentenced to death were linked to terrorist incidents in the Kingdom.” The five suspects are among 45 others who are members of a Daesh terrorist cell, Al Arabiya added. The terrorist cell carried out criminal activities in Saudi Arabia, including the assassination of security men, and a mosque bombing in Abha. The cell was also involved in the bombings of Al Mashhad Mosque in Najran and Al Rida Mosque in Al Ahsa in Saudi Arabia.”

Libya

The Libya Observer: Libya Deports Number Of Families Of ISIS Members To Tunisia

“The head of the investigations department at the Attorney General's Office, Al-Siddiq Al-Sour, said that the Tunisian authorities received Thursday three women and five children from the families of ‘ISIS’ members who were in the city of Sirte before its liberation. In a press statement, Al-Sour said that at the request of the Tunisian authorities, seven women and nine other children will be deported next week. He also pointed out that Tunisia was refusing from the beginning to accept these women and children, adding that the Attorney General does not object to handing over all wives and children of ‘ISIS’ members, except those accused in cases that are being considered by the Libyan courts.”

Nigeria

Voice Of America: Boko Haram Threat Complicates Plans To Resettle Displaced Nigerians

“Boko Haram militants have terrorized northeastern Nigeria for more than a decade, driving more than 2 million people from their homes, according to the United Nations. At least 3,000 have fled from the countryside to the relative safety of Kawar Maila, a camp in Borno State’s capital, Maiduguri. Having escaped the Islamic extremists, these displaced people still face enormous challenges, struggling to get food and basic health care, to educate their children, to imagine a better future. “Life here is very difficult. We are suffering,” said Mohammed Abba, who had a farm in the Konduga government area, about 25 kilometers southeast of Maiduguri. Now, he, his wife and five children live in a single, cramped room. “During the rainy season, you would be shocked to see how we must cope. This room floods and we can’t sleep here,” he said. Abba used to “raise animals and do trading. But this is our situation today.” His neighbor Falmata Abukar also came from Konduga with her husband. She blames what she considers inadequate health care in the camp for her son going blind in one eye. “My child fell ill. He did not open his eyes for four days. He cannot see with that eye now,” Abukar said. “The eye is beyond repair.”

Agence France-Presse: Nigeria Jihadists Ambush Military Convoy, 19 Troops Dead: Security Sources

“Islamic State-aligned jihadists ambushed a Nigerian military convoy, killing 15 soldiers and four militia fighters in the northeastern state of Borno, security sources said Saturday. The convoy came under heavy attack from Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) fighters near Gudumbali in the Lake Chad region on Thursday, the sources said. The attack was the latest in a jihadist conflict which has killed 36,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands in northeast Nigeria since it began more than a decade ago. “We lost 15 soldiers and four civilian JTF (militia) in the terrorists' ambush in the forest near Gudumbali,” a military officer, who asked not to be identified, told AFP. He said 13 government fighters, including 10 troops, were wounded in the ambush. The 10-vehicle convoy was on its way to Gudumbali from the town of Kukawa for a military operation against the insurgents when it came under fire, said another military source, who gave the same toll. “The casualties were brought to Maiduguri this afternoon,” the source told AFP, referring to the regional capital. Militia leader Umar Ari said a vigilante leader in the area was among those killed.”

Africa

The East African: Africa: U.S. Proscribes Isis Affiliates In Mozambique And DR Congo

“The US Department of State on Wednesday designated two affiliates of ISIS operating in Mozambique and the DR Congo as Foreign Terrorist Organisations in a move meant to cut off supplies to the groups and restrict their leaders. In a statement, the Department said the ISIS-Mozambique and ISIS-DRC are Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs) and their leaders, Abu Yasir Hassan and Seka Musa Baluku, are terror merchants. As a result of these designations, all their property and interests that are subject to US jurisdiction have been frozen, and Americans are prohibited from engaging in any transactions with them. Foreign financial institutions that knowingly conduct or facilitate any significant transaction on behalf of these groups or individuals could be subject to US sanctions. Additionally, it is a crime to knowingly provide material support or resources to ISIS-DRC or ISIS-Mozambique, or to attempt or conspire to do so. ISIS-Mozambique, also known as Ansar al-Sunna and locally as al-Shabaab (but with no known affiliation to the Somali militant group by the same name), among other names, reportedly pledged allegiance to ISIS as early as April 2018, and was acknowledged by ISIS-Core as an affiliate in August 2019.”

France

RFI: Two Youths Indicted By Paris Court For Planning Attacks On French Military

“Two young men suspected of planning violent attacks, specifically against the French military, have been arrested and indicted under anti-terrorism legislation following two separate investigations. Judicial sources revealed Saturday that the two youths, aged 17 and 18 respectively, were arrested and charged by a Paris court for “criminal terrorist association” and remanded in custody. In what are two separate cases, the 17-year-old suspect was reportedly arrested on Wednesday by French Internal Security agents (DGSI) in Mantes-la-Jolie, located in the outer suburbs north west of Paris and taken into police custody. The minor, who had been using the encrypted Telegram Messenger platform, had expressed his intention to attack the military. This he said was to “make France pay” for its involvement in the coalition fighting against the Islamic State. The second suspect was also arrested by the DGSI on Wednesday, but in the southern city of Marseille. His arrest followed a raid on his home by the authorities, where terrorist propaganda was seized. According to sources close to the case, the young man of Franco-Algerian origin had initially planned to travel to fight in Iraq and Syria but had abandoned the idea, focusing on committing terrorist acts on French territory.”

Technology

Foreign Policy: Are Telegram And Signal Havens For Right-Wing Extremists?

“Since the violent storming of Capitol Hill and subsequent ban of former U.S. President Donald Trump from Facebook and Twitter, the removal of Parler from Amazon’s servers, and the de-platforming of incendiary right-wing content, messaging services Telegram and Signal have seen a deluge of new users. In January alone, Telegram reported 90 million new accounts. Its founder, Pavel Durov, described this as “the largest digital migration in human history.” Signal reportedly doubled its user base to 40 million people and became the most downloaded app in 70 countries. The two services rely on encryption to protect the privacy of user communication, which has made them popular with protesters seeking to conceal their identities against repressive governments in places like Belarus, Hong Kong, and Iran. But the same encryption technology has also made them a favored communication tool for criminals and terrorist groups, including al Qaeda and the Islamic State. The surge in new users was not completely due to the major platforms’ crackdown on right-wing groups. WhatsApp’s new privacy policy, which users incorrectly concluded would allow the Facebook subsidiary to share their data even more widely, was at least as relevant in shifting users to Telegram and Signal.”