Terrorism Watch

Saudi Arabia is supporting global extremism by pushing its ultra-conservative religious views in mosques around the world, according to the U.K.’s former ambassador to the oil-rich kingdom. William Patey, who served as London’s envoy to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from 2006 to 2010, spoke out Thursday, one day after the U.K. released only a brief summary of a Home Office report on domestic extremism that is widely believed to expose links between Saudi Arabia and support for radical Islamist ideologies in the U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May and Home Secretary Amber Rudd have refused to publish the report in full, citing its classified nature, and have been accused of protecting Saudi Arabia, a political and defense ally of the U.K. While Patey said he did not believe that Saudi Arabia was directly involved in financing groups designated as terrorist organizations by the U.K., he said its promotion of a hard-line branch of Sunni Islam known as Salafism or, more specifically, Wahhabi

youtube The music video shows anti-fascist activists tattooing a swastika onto a neo-Nazi’s forehead. A graphic  new music video  from a heavy metal band depicts anti-fascist (‘antifa’) activists tracking and abducting a neo-Nazi. The band Stray From The Path released the single, “Goodnight Alt Right,” on Wednesday to promote its upcoming album, “Only Death Is Real.” “If you preach hate, then expect hate,” the song goes. “What makes you think that this is okay? What makes you think you’re a superior race?” The video shows an actor in a red trucker hat watching videos of noted white nationalist icon and “alt-right” figure Richard Spencer. The man’s house has pictures of Adolf Hitler and Spencer on the walls. He appears to be planning a public mass shooting. Activists abduct the actor playing the part of the neo-Nazi, beat him and tattoo a swastika on his forehead. On Twitter, figures in the “alt-right” and far right condemned the video. Paul Joseph Watson, an editor for

Rioters set a waste bin on fire during a protest on July 7, 2017 in Hamburg. | Christof Stache/AFP via Getty Images The Facebook post by a state-level AfD lawmaker was deleted after a few hours. A member of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has been criticized for suggesting that G20 protesters should have been shot, the daily Die Welt  reported Thursday. Christel Weißig, a 71-year-old AfD politician and member of the regional parliament in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, wrote a Facebook post on the morning of July 8, in the aftermath of the G20 summit in Hamburg. The summit was at times overshadowed by rioters who clashed with police, looted stores and set cars ablaze. “Looters are shot immediately, why is that not the case here?” Weißig wrote, before deleting the post a few hours later. The AfD’s parliamentary group in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern confirmed the post, issuing a statement saying that Weißig had reacted emotionally to the riots in he

Short sighted policies and a history of interventionism in the region are the primary cause of terrorism, the Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said upon arriving in New York for a United Nations forum on Friday. “The nightmare that we are facing in the region is a consequence of many years of intervention and short-sighted policies by the United States in the region which has resulted, as expected, in the exacerbation of extremism and terrorism in our region,” Zarif said to Press TV. The US has a decades long history of intervention in the area, through both direct military involvement, and the funding of various groups who can serve western political interests, many of whom subscribe to extremist ideologies. The foreign minister expressed hope and satisfaction in the ability of the people of Iran, Syria, and Iraq to retake the region from extremist groups, and said that his own state of Iran has been “at the forefront” of the struggle. Iran has been work

UN Human Rights Council GENEVA:  Alarmed over reports of the deteriorating human rights situation across Pakistan, and particularly in the country’s Sindh Province, the United Nations Human Rights Council has said that it will undertake a thorough two-day review of Islamabad’s human rights record on July 10 and 11. In a letter to Dr. Rubina Greenwood, President of World Sindhi Congress (WSC), Christine Chung, Human Rights Officer, Asia-Pacific Section Field Operations and Technical Cooperation Division, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said, “The human rights situation in Sindh province that you have outlined is of serious concern. I encourage you to submit information about specific cases to the Special Procedures.” The letter also drew Dr. Greenwood’s attention to the Universal Periodic Review and the human rights treaty bodies, additional human rights mechanisms which she might wish to consider. Chung said, “For example on July 10 and 11, Pakistan w

Pakistan’s southern province of Balochistan is widely projected to become a regional trade hub on account of the Chinese-funded China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). If this grand connectivity corridor materializes as planned, this will undoubtedly make developing Pakistan into a major economic and naval power in South Asia. However, the growing presence of the Islamic State (ISIS) in Balochistan is highly likely to further complicate the insurgency landscape of the resource-rich province, thus posing major security impediments to the economic projects under CPEC. ISIS has recently ramped up its furtive efforts to establish a permanent foothold in restive parts of Balochistan. The militant outfit claimed that its fighters  killed  two Chinese language teachers who were kidnapped on May 24 in Quetta, the terror-stricken provincial capital of Balochistan. Indisputably, this is a threatening development that could well bring ISIS quite close to assorted Baloch insurgent group

Philippine government troops have been fighting Muslim rebels in the country’s south for two months.  The troops are searching for a man wanted for his leadership of a terrorist group for the past 20 years. He is wanted in both the Philippines and the United States. Troops believe Isnilon Totoni Hapilon may be hiding in the heavily damaged city of Marawi. Troops attacked the city in late May because they feared his historically violent group -- Abu Sayyaf -- was joining with another rebel group. Hapilon thought to be in Marawi area Hapilon’s death or capture would end the influence of a man who has helped lead Abu Sayyaf since 1997. The group is known for kidnapping foreigners and executing some of them. Some observers believe he has recently tried to extend his influence to other Muslim anti-government rebels to earn respect from the Islamic State group. The Counter Extremism Project says Abu Sayyaf operates from the Sulu Sea islands in the mostly Muslim southern Phili

ZAMBOANGA CITY – A suspected Abu Sayyaf member was killed in a raid in his hideout in a village of Bongao town in Tawi-Tawi on Saturday. Brig. Gen. Custodio Parcon, commander of Joint Task Force Tawi-Tawi, identified the suspect as Ibno Moro, who was allegedly involved in several kidnapping incidents and the massacre of a family in Tawi-Tawi. Parcon said Moro, who was killed in his hideout in Barangay Kamagong, figured in the massacre of a family in Lapid-Lapid village in Bongao in 1989; the kidnapping of Mayor Kuyoh Pajiji in Sibutu town in 2004; the kidnapping of local businessman Alvin Chuain Bongao in 2002; and another kidnapping of a father and his son in Panglima Sugala town in 2004. “ He has been hiding from the law for quite some time,” Parcon said.  GAL Source:  http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/914147/suspected-abu-sayyaf-killed-in-tawi-tawi

Land and Housing PS Mariamu El Maawy who was abducted by al Shabaab on Thursday Photo/FILE Land and Housing PS Mariamu El Maawy who was abducted by al Shabaab on Thursday Photo/FILE For the last few days a number of escalating attacks in Northeastern and Lamu have been blamed on al Shabaab. They include the hijacking of a government Pajero carrying Public Works Principal Secretary Mariam el Maawy. Al Shabaab has ambushed and killed many troops and police since Kenya entered Somalia in 2011, but they have never gone for a bureaucrat of PS Maawy’s seniority. The PS was rescued by KDF and lived to tell the tale, despite being shot twice. Something is very wrong somewhere in the massive security operation in the region, including Operation Linda Boni, which has seen the vast forest bombed by KDF in recent days. Has this operation failed? Are the people conducting this operation not up to the task? A massive failure of intelligence and the people in charge seems to have occurred. H

In May 2017, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law over the large southern island of Mindanao after a bloody encounter between government troops and the Islamic State-inspired Maute Group in Marawi City. While it is not clear from the text of Duterte’s subsequent  Proclamation 216  if martial law was implemented as an anti-terrorism response, according to his  legal counsel , Salvador Panelo, it will ‘strengthen the hand of government in dealing with terrorists’. But the success of the Maute Group in effectively holding a bustling city like Marawi hostage shows that martial law may not be the appropriate state response to terrorism. In short, this is because martial law does not confer any new legal powers to the president. This fact was affirmed by  Solicitor General Jose Calida  during oral arguments before the Supreme Court, which on 6 July  upheld the constitutionality  of Proclamation 216 after several petitions were filed against the martial l

Hargeisa - United States and Somali military forces raided a rebel-held village in southern Somalia and killed several al-Shabaab fighters early on Thursday, a senior Somali intelligence official said, as both countries step up efforts against Africa's deadliest Islamic extremist group. Somali commandos accompanied by US forces in two helicopters raided two locations, the official said. They included a detention center run by al-Shabab in Kunya-Barrow village in Lower Shabelle region, and an unknown number of detainees were freed. Troops engaged a small number of extremist fighters, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press. There was no immediate comment from the US Africa Command. The al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab said via its Andalus radio arm that its fighters foiled an attempted raid by US and African forces. Earlier this month, the US military said it carried out an airstrike against al-Shabaab in

As U.S. and Afghan security forces battle Islamic State (IS) militants in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province, thousands of families who fled their homes in the region say the provincial government has not provided assistance and their living conditions are dire. More than 2,000 families from eastern Achin district have sought refuge in nearby districts after IS militants attempted to establish a stronger presence in the district's Mamand and Bandar valleys. U.S. military and Afghan security forces have launched ground and air operations to oust IS fighters from the region.  The displaced families also include those who left the area before the U.S. Air Force dropped a Massive Ordinance Air Bomb (MOAB), informally known as "the mother of all bombs," on an IS stronghold in Achin in April. The displaced families say the provincial government has not provided assistance as they endure brutal summer conditions with temperatures rising well above 40 degr

The lilacs are in bloom. The air is soft and warm on one of Malmö's first summer days after a long winter, and in the square in the Seved area a group of people, with children, are chatting quietly. If you weren't familiar with these streets' reputation as one of Malmö's worst trouble areas, grabbing headlines over  shootings ,  car burnings and open drug trade for years, you would almost find it hard to believe. “This is the famous Rasmusgatan street and these blocks are what is known as Seved, but Seved is really just this little neighbourhood, we're talking six streets,” says Hjalmar Falck, a council development officer who's worked in the area for years and is managing a scheme to boost the district, pointing it out on a map. These six streets consist of the two parallel streets Rasmusgatan and Jespersgatan, joined together by a square and four side streets. It is part of the larger Sofielund area, a mixed area of apartment blocks and quaint, de