Terrorism Watch

Arakan Army has escalated its rebel fighting against government forces, stoking instability in a region where China, India and Bangladesh all have much to lose By  David Scott Mathieson Yangon,  January 3, 2019 5:43 PM (UTC+8) An Arakan Army rebel soldier at an undisclosed location. Photo: Youtube Myanmar’s restive Rakhine state has been wracked by armed conflict over the past several weeks, as escalated and expanded fighting between Myanmar security forces and the rebel Arakan Army erupts across several townships. The new clashes are destabilizing a region already wracked by the Myanmar military’s now notorious “clearance operations” that drove over 700,000 Rohingyas into neighboring Bangladesh, a campaign of violence the United Nations has reported as crimes against humanity. While Myanmar authorities have justified those operations launched in August 2017 as a legitimate response to Arakan Rohingya Salavation Army (ARSA) insurgent attacks on border security outposts, t

The Chinese have rejected accusations that they are brutally repressing Uighurs, claiming they are combating terrorism, religious extremism and separatism. (AFP pic) In the last few months, the International Movement for a Just World (JUST), like so many other civil society groups in various parts of the world, has been inundated with videos and articles from different sources alleging cruel persecution and harsh oppression of the Uighur Muslim minority in Xinjiang province in the western part of China. It is alleged that the Chinese government views the Uighur and also some other Muslim groups, such as the Kazakhs and Kyrgyzas, as threats to national security given their purported links to terrorism and separatist insurgency. A UN human rights panel had issued a report in August 2018 that stated that in order to wean them away from terrorism “as many as two million people may have been forced into a vast network of detention camps” in Xinjiang. In these camps, according to di

MANILA - After the  United Kingdom , Australia on Tuesday warned its citizens against traveling to some parts of Mindanao because of terrorist activity and kidnapping. Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade advised its citizens to avoid travel to central and western Mindanao, including the Zamboanga Peninsula, and the Sulu archipelago and southern Sulu Sea area. It also advised citizens to reconsider travel to eastern Mindanao and exercise a "high degree of caution" when traveling to the Philippines. The travel warning followed the blast in Cotabato City on Dec. 31, which killed two and injured dozens.  Cotabato bomb blast an act of terror: PNP Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Sr. said it was only fair for the two nations to issue a travel advisory. The agency also noted the advisory of the US Department of Homeland Security against the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, which failed to meet the US agency's security requirements.

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines placed 10th in a ranking of countries most affected by terrorism in the 2018 Global Terrorism Index, according to a recently published by the Institute for Economics and Peace. The Philippines slid down two places from last year, according to GTI, with a score of  7.181 out of 10, among countries that feel a "high" impact from terror attacks. Other countries in the top 10 worst performing countries on the index include: Iraq (9.746) Afghanistan (9.391) Nigeria (8.660) Syria (8.315) Pakistan (8.181) Somalia (8.020) India (7.568) Yemen (7.534) Egypt (7.345) Philippines (7.181) The report based the ranking on total number of terrorist incidents in a given year, total number of fatalities, injuries and property damage from attacks in any given year. The Philippines was the only Southeast Asian country to be ranked in the 10 worst-performing countries on the index. The highest number of deaths from terrorism was reco

Lewis Ludlow, who is autistic, has admitting planning a terror attack and sending money to terrorists An  Isis  supporter has claimed a militant “bullied” him into mounting a terror plot targeting shoppers on Oxford Street in London. Lewis Ludlow , 27, admitted preparing acts of terrorism after police prevented him travelling to an Isis stronghold in the Philippines and seized his passport. He told the Old Bailey that he felt “bitter” and “heartbroken” when his first plan was thwarted, adding: “I felt that I was trapped like an animal unable to escape its cage.” The Muslim convert, from Rochester in Kent, researched potential targets around London and wrote down plans before his arrest last April. Ludlow, who called himself the Ghost and Eagle, also recorded a pledge of allegiance to Isis saying he had nothing but “animosity and hatred” towards Britain. Ludlow said he wanted to travel to the  Philippines  in February 2018 to find a wife and start a “new life” but kept his

LONDON (AP) — British police have arrested a suspect in the fatal stabbing of a man in front of his 14-year-old son on a suburban London train. The 51-year-old man was killed Friday afternoon onboard a train traveling from the town of Guildford to London Waterloo station. Chief Inspector Sam Blackburn said the attack was "not believed to be a random assault." He said the two men appeared to have been involved in an argument that escalated in the moments leading up to the killing. The suspect was detained early Saturday on suspicion of murder. A 27-year-old woman was also arrested on suspicion of assisting the murder. Police said no one else was being sought in connection with the killing. Source:  https://in.news.yahoo.com/uk-police-arrest-suspect-fatal-train-stabbing-100401633.html

(Reuters) - Shots were fired at a bowling alley in Torrance, California, on Saturday and there have been multiple victims, police and local media said. The incident took place at the Gable House Bowl, a bowling alley and arcade that also offers laser tag, a local ABC affiliate reported. "Reports of shots fired with multiple victims down. T P D is on scene. Investigation is ongoing. Please stay away from the area," Torrance Police Department (TPD) said on Twitter, without giving further details about the number or condition of those involved. Gable House Bowl patron Jesus Perez told the Los Angeles Times that he heard about four gunshots. "We just ran right into the bar and took cover. All we heard was just, like two people got shot," he told the newspaper. Torrance is about 25 miles (40 km) south of Los Angeles. Source:  https://in.news.yahoo.com/shots-fired-multiple-victims-down-torrance-california-police-093823180.html

Rachel Megawhat/Breitbart London Britain’s new anti-extremism chief has expressed concern that Hizb ut-Tahrir, an Islamist group which seeks to establish a caliphate with Sharia law, could be “radicalising children” after an investigation found them using children to peddle extremist literature. Banned in more than a dozen countries including Pakistan, Russia, China, Turkey, and Egypt, Hizb ut-Tahrir publicly disavows violence, but individuals linked with the group have carried out violent acts,  such as Islamic State fighter ‘Jihadi John’, who  reportedly  attended the outfit’s events while at university. Hizb ut-Tahrir has complained that British authorities have effectively “criminalised” certain “key concepts of Islam”, while Abdul Wahid, a leading figure in Britain, has called for a boycott of Britain’s counter-terror programme Prevent. Despite their insistence they only allow over-16s to “engage” in their work, an undercover journalist who  attended  a number of the gro

Exclusive: ‘As long as society can be forgiving and accepts that people can change, then more people will come forward and we will create a better answer’ “I wanted to change the world, I wanted to find an alternative to the problems I saw,” recalls Hadiya Masieh. Surrounded by photos of her children, the 40-year-old remembers how she was drawn into the  Islamist  group Hizb ut-Tahrir and its call for a caliphate. After being attracted to the organisation’s ideals as a teenager, she became a full-time member and recruiter, marching and leafleting to spread its message of fundamental conflict between Islam and the west. But the  7/7 bombings that left 52 victims dead  in London in 2005 was a wake-up call, showing where the Islamist ideology she had devoted herself to could lead. “It’s not that the group was violent, but young people go in with the idea of creating peace and hope and a better life and it gets turned into something else,” Ms Masieh told  The Independent .