Terrorism Watch

Kolkata: A unit of the Bangladesh Police has arrested an Indian woman, who ran away from West Bengal’s Hooghly district to the neighbouring country allegedly to join the banned terror outfit Neo-Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen (JMB). The Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) in Bangladesh arrested Ayesha Jannat Mohona in Dhaka Friday for her alleged involvement with the women’s wing of the terror outfit. It found out about her Indian connection during interrogation, said a Dhaka Tribune report . Ayesha was born Pragya Debnath in Dhaniakhali, Hooghly, but converted to Islam later. ThePrint couldn’t ascertain when she converted. According to the report, she relocated to Bangladesh last year after marrying a Bangladeshi national, who was then in Oman. She taught at madrassas there, and used to look after the recruitment drive for Neo-JMB’s women’s wing. No connection with home Tathagata Basu, Superintendent of Police (SP), Hooghly (rural) said Bengal police has “nothing

A Buddha statue, which was discovered while digging the foundation for a house in Pakistan’s Pashtun-dominated Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province’s Mardan district, was smashed into pieces by local construction workers on Saturday because they considered the relic to be unIslamic, drawing the ire of the authorities concerned. The statue was discovered in Mardan’s Takht Bhai area, which was a part of the Gandhara civilisation, while the workers were digging to lay the foundation for the under-construction house. A video, which has since gone viral on social media, showed the construction workers smashing the Buddha statue using a sledgehammer and expressing their resentment against the unIslamic relic. Local media quoted an official of the Pakistan tourism department, who said that the authorities have taken note of the incident and are looking into the matter. Abdul Samad, director, archaeology and museums, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said the authorities have located the

New Delhi: Global Islamist terrorist group ISIS has issued a direct threat to Janam TV, Kerala’s nationalist news channel. In a message posted on the Instagram channel controlled by the Kerala unit of ISIS, the terrorist organisation threatened that it would destroy all the offices of Janam TV and exterminate all its employees.   In the wake of the threat message, state police chief Loknath Behra has instructed the police administration to ensure tight security to the offices of the Janam TV.   The message titled "Mujahideen’s Message to Janam TV" warns the employees of Janam to get ready to say goodbye to this world. “We invite you to convert to Islam or else get ready to say goodbye to the world and face the God’s wrath and punishment,” the message reads.   As per the latest BARC (Broadcast Audience Research Council India) report, Janam TV made a strident rise in the rating, becoming one of the top five Malayalam news channels. Janam TV, as the name suggests, is a people’s

Months into the COVID-19 pandemic and stay-at-home order, the FBI and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released a joint statement warning of Chinese-backed and other state-sponsored hackers attempting to steal intellectual property (IP), and research data related to coronavirus vaccines, treatments and testing from healthcare research institutions. Additionally, coronavirus has overwhelmed U.S. hospitals, making them a prime target for terror and cyberwarfare-related activity from state-sponsored attackers. State-sponsored efforts to steal U.S. medical research IP aren’t new , as foreign governments have long sought to use stolen IP to advance their own national goals – in this case, the development of a vaccine. Numerous factors surrounding the coronavirus pandemic have created a perfect storm of security issues and that amplifies risks for healthcare institutions. Fortunately, there are steps that hospitals and healthcare organizations can both ta

Geneva: The State of Qatar called for the removal of all restrictions that would hinder Sudan's ability to move forward in its efforts to promote the wellbeing of its people, and called for the completion of the lifting of all economic sanctions and the removal of the name of Sudan from the list of state sponsors of terrorism. Qatar also welcomed the efforts of the government of Sudan and its earnest endeavor to reach a lasting, just and comprehensive peace that would lead to stability, security and development in all parts of the country. This came in the State of Qatar's speech delivered by Second Secretary of the Permanent Mission of the State of Qatar in Geneva Abdullah Al Suwaidi during a session on "Enhanced Interactive Dialogue on Sudan" under Item 10 on providing technical assistance and capacity building within the agenda of the 44th session of the Human Rights Council held in Geneva. Al Suwaidi stressed the State of Qatar's interest and ke

Al Shabaab, as an insurgent terrorist outfit, has primarily been operating from Somalia in the Horn of Africa. The merger of Al Shabaab with Al Qaeda, a multinational terrorist organisation, in 2012 has enhanced its strength. After completing twenty years of its existence in April 2020, it is showing no signs of waning. Al Shabaab’s  endeavours to consolidate its hold over the parts of southern and central Somalia and extract taxes from people is weakening the hold of Federal Government of Somalia (FGS), established in 2012. Moreover, on 28th December, 2019 Al Shabaab bombed checkpoint near Mogadishu leaving 85 people dead which included Somalian forces as well as Turkish engineers . Likewise, on January 6, 2020 Somalia based terrorist outfit assaulted Kenyan military base near Lamu where one American serviceman died in Kenya.  Their target was Manda Bay on the coastline of Kenya which is a forward reconnaissance base of the USA. It is also a home to parts of USA’

Violent extremist groups were poised to take advantage of the disruption caused by COVID-19. [i] They have leveraged the widespread pandemic to intensify attacks and increase civilian support, radically reshaping dynamics especially in conflict zones and fragile states . [ii] Overstretched militarily and economically – as funds initially earmarked for combating violent extremist groups and healthcare provisions continue to be diverted to deal with the widespread pandemic – many countries fear the potential for the emergence of a new wave of violent extremism. [iii] Similar to the responses adopted in other parts of the world, and as the pandemic reaches deeper into their communities, governments in Africa continue to enact lockdowns, social distancing, and other strict enforcement measures , [iv] highlighting drastic shifts from the traditional focus on terrorism and other crisis and emergency responses. In the past few months, Kenya has enforced curfews and limited mov

Operatives recovered assorted explosives, detonators, detonating cords, safety fuses and boosters. /Photo courtesy: DCI Kenya – Twitter Kenyan police arrested two terror suspects who are thought to have been planning an attack on an airport in the country’s Rift Valley province. According to local Daily Nation newspaper, the two, one said to be a foreign national, were arrested near the Eldoret International Airport on Saturday evening by a team of detectives drawn from Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (ATPU) and the Special Services Unit (SSU). The Department of Criminal Investigation said the operatives recovered assorted explosives, detonators, detonating cords, safety fuses and boosters. Authorities said investigations into the matter were underway. Kenya has suffered a number of terror attacks over the past two decades, most of which were claimed by Somalia-based al-Shabaab jihadist group. Kenyan Defence Force troops are depl

Australian terrorism experts have joined other global agencies to comb the web for deadly bombmaking manuals and sickening lone wolf terror attack guides. More than 1900 URLs across 180 platforms and websites were found in 24 hours by the team of experts, which included Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the Victorian Joint Counter Terrorism Team (JCTT). Online content discovered included detailed manuals and tutorials on how to prepare and carry out terrorist attacks. Osama Bin Laden, the now deceased former leader of terrorist group al Qaeda. (Supplied) Some material provided instructions on how to stay anonymous online and how to avoid detection when planning a terrorist attack. Law enforcement found content linked to jihadist, right-wing and left-wing terrorist groups.   Australia was one of four non-European Union member states involved in the Europol operation, conducted last week. The operation targeted online content intended to inspire, instruct or train how to prepare

Professor Brandon Prins of the University of Tennessee and co-authors Sam Ghatak of San Jose State University and Anup Phayal of the University of North Carolina Wilmington have closely studied terrorist targeting choices for a new research paper. Here, they share their findings exclusively with Homeland Security Today ahead of the later publication of the full study: In 2018, nearly 4,700 domestic terrorism incidents were recorded by the Global Terrorism Database (GTD), which is located at the University of Maryland (see figure 1). This is a 37% decrease from the 2015 high of worldwide terrorism when ISIL ravaged parts of Iraq and Syria and Boko Haram wreaked havoc in the Borno, Yobe and Adamawa provinces of Nigeria.  Any decrease is worth celebrating, but the aggregate numbers mask important differences across extremist organizations in their targeting choices. Government and security personnel have increasingly become the object of terrorist organizations. Indeed, atta

The pro-independence speaker of Catalonia's regional parliament Roger Torrent has said he had been the target of political espionage via phone-tapping, accusing the Spanish government of being either complicit or negligent. Torrent on Tuesday demanded an official investigation into the incident, saying in a televised statement: "It's important for the truth to come out." The development came shortly after the Guardian and El Pais newspapers wrote on Tuesday that Torrent and two other separatists were warned by Facebook's instant messaging service WhatsApp that their phones had been broken into with spyware called "Pegasus", made by Israeli company NSO Group. NSO, whose customers include law enforcement and governments around the world, declined to say whether it had sold its Pegasus software to Spain. It said the software is operated "solely by authorised government agencies to fight terror and serious crime, and protect public safet

New Delhi, July 17: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is probing the possible terror links to Kerala Gold Smuggling case. Further, the NIA suspects that there was a wide network of hawala operators involved in this case and were helping the accuse move the money, officials part of the investigation tell OneIndia. At the time of taking over the case, the NIA had said that the case was being booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act or UAPA as it suspected a terror angle to the case. Meanwhile, the Customs Department arrested two persons in connection with the case. The arrested have been identified as Muhammad Anwar and Saidalvi. Both hail from Mallapuram district. The arrests came after the Customs conducted raids at multiple locations in Kerala earlier today. Also Read: Was the Kerala Gold Smuggling plot hatched in Sivasankar’s home: Customs raids to ascertain From ex-PS to CM to minister’s call records: Kerala Gold Smuggling case gets murkier D

International Commercial Crime services on Wednesday (15 July) said violent attacks against ships and their crews have risen in 2020, with 77 seafarers taken hostage or kidnapped for ransom since January, reveals the ICC International Maritime Bureau’s (IMB) latest piracy report.  The Gulf of Guinea off West Africa is increasingly dangerous for commercial shipping, accounting for just over 90% of maritime kidnappings worldwide. Meanwhile, ship hijackings are at their lowest since 1993. In total, IMB’s Piracy Reporting Centre (PRC) recorded 98 incidents of piracy and armed robbery in the first half of 2020, up from 78 in Q2 2019.  The increasing threat of piracy adds to hardships already faced by hundreds of thousands of seafarers working beyond their contractual periods due to COVID-19 restrictions on crew rotations and international travel. So far this year, 49 crew have been kidnapped for ransom in the Gulf of Guinea and held captive on land for up to six weeks. Rate

Tirana, Jul 12 (AP) Kosovo''s president said Sunday he was going to The Hague to prove to prosecutors investigating war crimes allegedly committed during and after a 1998-1999 armed conflict in Kosovo between ethnic Albanian separatists and Serbia that he had broken no international laws during the war. Hashim Thaci spoke to private television Top Channel at the Mother Teresa Tirana International Airport before leaving for The Hague to be questioned by prosecutors on Monday. The Kosovo Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor''s Office, a court based in The Hague with international staff working under Kosovo''s law, is mandated to look into allegations that members of the Kosovo Liberation Army, which was fighting for independence, committed war crimes and crimes against humanity. Thaci, a KLA commander, was mentioned in the indictment together with former Kosovo assembly speaker Kadri Veseli, and some others not mentioned by name. Both have den

Roma people in a Bulgarian town are barred from leaving their neighborhood. Officials cite a medical risk, but residents and advocates say it’s yet another form of bigotry. Credit... Nikolay Doychinov for The New York Times KYUSTENDIL, Bulgaria — At a checkpoint on the edge of a Roma neighborhood, a police officer held up his hand, stopping Angel Iliev from leaving. Water was running low at home, so Mr. Iliev, 49, had cycled down a bumpy, dusty track that connects the district with a wealthier part of town, hoping to fill two plastic jerrycans at a spring beyond the checkpoint. But while the rest of the city — like the rest of Bulgaria — is emerging from a lockdown put in place because of the coronavirus pandemic, the 12,000 residents of this Roma suburb are not allowed to leave their segregated settlement. Although its lockdown is scheduled to end at the start of Wednesday, municipal officials have already extended it once and could decide to prolong it again. Las