Terrorism Watch

 Today, Murad and her friend Lamia Haji Bashar, joint recipients of the EU's 2016 Sakharov human rights prize, continue the fight for the 3,000 Yazidis who remain missing, presumed still in captivity. (Photo: AP) Baghdad : Nadia Murad survived the worst cruelties ever inflicted on her people, the Yazidis of Iraq, before becoming a global champion of their cause and winning the Nobel Peace Prize. On Friday, Murad and Congolese doctor Denis Mukwege were jointly awarded the prize for their "efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war," Nobel committee chairwoman Berit Reiss-Andersen said in unveiling the winners in Oslo. The 25-year-old Murad, her thin, pale face framed by her long brown hair, once lived a quiet life in her village near the mountainous Yazidi stronghold of Sinjar in northern Iraq, close to the border with Syria. But when the so-called Islamic State jihadist group stormed across swathes of the two countries in 2014, her fate cha

The Afghan government has denounced as ‘destructive and divisive’ a proposal by Erik Prince, the founder of private military contractor Blackwater, to privatize the 17-year-old war in the Asian country. "In no manner does the government of Afghanistan condone this destructive and divisive debate," a statement from the Afghan Office of the National Security Council (NSC) said on Thursday. The statement said the Afghan government and people would never “allow the counter-terrorism fight to become a private, for-profit business.” It further said that the addition of “new foreign and unaccountable elements” would undermine the right to self-determination of the Afghan people.   “Afghan security and defense forces, under the framework of all applicable laws of the country, have the primary responsibility and authority for safeguarding the noble values of Islam, our national sovereignty, and the independence and territorial integrity of our beloved country and people,&quo

Amid a decline in terror incidents worldwide in 2017, African countries struggled to prevent the expansion of terror groups in parts of the continent, according to a U.S. State Department report on terrorism. "African countries expanded their efforts to develop regional counterterrorism solutions while they struggled to contain the expansion of terrorist groups, affiliates, and aspirants involved in attacks or other activities in 2017," according to the report, released last week. Experts offer different explanations as to why terror groups have been able to expand in the continent. Jacob Zenn, a terrorism expert with the Washington-based Jamestown Foundation, said he believes that when it comes to ideology and development, the former should be given more attention. "When it comes to extremism, intolerant religious teachings need to be countered. If not, jihadists would exploit intolerance and encourage people to express grievances through violence," Zenn

In recent months, the Indian government is believed to have raised with the Trump administration the issue of separatist Sikhs using United States as a platform to gain global traction. Washington:  The US has named Sikh militant group Babbar Khalsa among the separatist movements that pose a risk to American interests overseas by conducting assassinations and bombings against major economic, political and social targets. Babbar Khalsa International seeks, through violent means, to establish its own independent state in India and is responsible for significant terrorist attacks in India and elsewhere that have claimed the lives of innocent civilians, according to the Trump administration's new National Strategy for Counterterrorism unveiled by the White House on Thursday. The direct reference to Babbar Khalsa, an international terrorist organisation and banned by several countries including the US, Canada and India assumes significance because its minuscule support base in North

Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants participate in a military show in Gaza City. (Image: Reuters) 2 / 8 Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants participate in a military show in Gaza City. (Image: Reuters) 3 / 8 Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants participate in a military show in Gaza. (Image: Reuters) 4 / 8 Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants participate in a military show in Gaza City. (Image: Reuters) 5 / 8 Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants participate in a military show in Gaza City. (Image: Reuters) 6 / 8 Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants participate in a military show in Gaza City. (Image: Reuters) 7 / 8 Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants participate in a military show in Gaza City on October 4, 2018. (Image: Reuters) 8 / 8 A Palestinian boy looks out a car window as Islamic Jihad militants participate in a military show in Gaza City. (Image: Reuters)