Eye on Extremism - February 29, 2016

Eye on Extremism February 29, 2016 Reuters: Twin Suicide Bombing Kills 70 In Baghdad's Deadliest Attack This Year “A twin suicide bombing claimed by Islamic State killed 70 people in a Shi'ite district of Baghdad on Sunday in the deadliest attack inside the capital this year, as militants launched an assault on its western outskirts. Police sources said the suicide bombers were riding motorcycles and blew themselves up in a crowded mobile phone market in Sadr City, wounding more than 100 people in addition to the dead. A Reuters witness saw pools of blood on the ground with slippers, shoes and mobile phones at the site of the blasts, which was sealed off to prevent further attacks.” Reuters: Syria Rebels Say Attacks By Army And Russian Planes Threaten Truce “The Syrian opposition warned on Sunday that attacks by the army, backed by Russian warplanes, threatened a U.S.-Russian deal for a cessation of hostilities with collapse and endangered future peace talks. The agreement, which is in its second day and has drastically curbed violence but not stopped it entirely, is the first of its kind to be attempted in four years. In a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the opposition said violations would undermine international efforts to guarantee the continuation of the truce and lead to the collapse of the UN-adopted political process.” Reuters: Air Strike Targets Suspected Islamic State Convoy In Libya: Town Official “Aircraft attacked a convoy carrying suspected Islamic State militants near the northwestern Libyan town of Bani Walid early on Sunday, an official said. No group claimed responsibility for the attack, although both the United States and Libyan government forces have launched air strikes on jihadists in recent months. A Pentagon official said the U.S. military was not involved in the action but provided no other details. U.S. sources said later that no other U.S. government agencies were involved.” Voice Of America: Kurds: IS Militants Hit Northern Iraq With Chemical Weapons “Kurdish officials are working with the U.S.-led coalition to verify if Islamic State militants hit Kurdish peshmerga fighters with chemical weapons in the northern area of Sinjar. Dozens of peshmerga as well as civilians reported suffering from nausea and vomiting after homemade IS rockets hit the area. The Kurdistan Region Security Council said on its Twitter feed that it was investigating the February 25 attack.” Al Jazeera: Cameroon: 92 Boko Haram Fighters Killed In Nigeria “Cameroon's army has killed at least 92 members of the Boko Haram armed group and freed 850 villagers in a joint operation with Nigerian forces, Cameroon's government said. The operation in the northeastern Nigerian village of Kumshe, close to the border with Cameroon, was conducted under the auspices of a multinational force fighting Boko Haram, a statement from Communications Minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary said on Friday.” Chicago Tribune: Ku Klux Klan Members Linked To Violent Calif. Brawl Released “Five Ku Klux Klan members who were arrested following a vicious brawl in Anaheim were released because evidence shows they acted in self-defense, police said Sunday. Seven people who remained in custody were seen beating, stomping and attacking the Klansmen with wooden posts, Sgt. Daron Wyatt said. A police statement said the clash, which erupted after six Klan members arrived at a park Saturday for a planned anti-immigration rally, was started by a larger group of 10 to 20 counter-protesters who had ‘the intent of perpetrating violence.’” New York Times: Suicide Bombings In Afghanistan Kill At Least 26 “Two separate suicide bombings in Afghanistan on Saturday left at least 26 people dead and nearly 50 injured, officials said, days ahead of expected talks between the government and the Taliban. The first attack, in Asadabad near the governor’s compound in the eastern province of Kunar, killed at least 14 people and wounded 41 others, said Wahidullah Kalimzai, the province’s governor. Hours later, a suicide bomber in Kabul set off his explosives at the entrance of the Defense Ministry’s headquarters as soldiers and officials were leaving their offices, killing at least 12 people and wounding eight, a statement from the ministry said.” Fox News: Palestinian Who Attacked Israeli Troops Held U.S. Citizenship “A Palestinian who was shot and killed Friday by Israeli soldiers as he tried to stab the troops held U.S. citizenship, Reuters reported. The attacker was also a resident of the West Bank town of Ramallah, where the attack occurred. He was identified as Mahmoud Shaalan, 17. No one else was injured during the attack. ‘A Palestinian assailant armed with a knife attempted to stab soldiers stationed at a security crossing near Ramallah,” a ‘military statement said. ‘The force thwarted the attack, firing towards the assailant, resulting in his death.’” Reuters: Turkey Has Foiled 18 Suicide Attacks So Far This Year: Interior Minister “Turkish security forces have foiled 18 suicide attacks since the start of the year, three of them by intercepting vehicles planned for use as car bombs, Interior Minister Efkan Ala said in an interview with the Kanal 7 television station on Sunday. Ala said that one of the three vehicles had been found this week at Istanbul's Bogazici University, parts of which were evacuated on Thursday in an apparent bomb scare. A car packed with explosives was detonated in Ankara this month next to military buses waiting at traffic lights in the administrative heart of the capital, killing 29 people, most of them soldiers.” USA Today: Can U.S. Halt ISIL's March Toward Libya Oil? “The Islamic State (ISIS, or ISIL) is taking on recruits faster than anyone can keep up with, and it’s heading towards Libya’s oil crescent, eyeing billions of barrels that a country at war with itself cannot protect — even with U.S. air strikes. In mid-December, the United Nations brokered a power-sharing agreement between Libya’s rival factions, but there is no chance of implementing this. That means there is no chance that the Libyan government can fight back the advance of ISIS. Things are about to get messy, and U.S. air strikes will put only a small dent in a big problem. According to U.S. intelligence figures, there are an estimated 6,000 ISIS fighters now in Libya.” Yemen Reuters: Militiamen Clash With Guards At Yemen Presidential Palace: Official “Yemeni militiamen clashed with soldiers guarding the presidential palace in the southern Yemeni city of Aden on Sunday, a local official and residents said, in a rare confrontation between the previously allied forces. The embattled Yemen government is based in Aden and has struggled to build up a national military and pay its bills, including to fighters who have fought on its behalf, as Al Qaeda and Islamic State militants have taken advantage of 10 months of civil war to expand their presence in the city.” AFP: Amnesty Urges Arms Embargo On Yemen Warring Parties “Amnesty International called Monday for an arms embargo on all warring parties in Yemen, including the Saudi-led coalition battling Iran-backed rebels, ahead of an Arms Trade Treaty meeting in Geneva. The rights watchdog said it has documented violations of humanitarian and human rights law, including possible war crimes, by both sides since the Yemen conflict broadened in March last year.” Turkey Reuters: Islamic State Attacks Kurdish-Held Town On Turkish Border “Islamic State militants launched an assault on a Kurdish-controlled town on Syria's border with Turkey on Saturday, prompting air strikes by the U.S.-led coalition to try to drive them back. The hardline Sunni fighters attacked Tel Abyad, which is controlled by the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, and the nearby town of Suluk in the early hours of Saturday, YPG spokesman Redur Xelil and Turkish security sources told Reuters.” Reuters: Turkey Starts Repairs On Iraqi Kurdish Oil Pipeline As Violence Flares “Turkey has begun work to repair a pipeline taking crude oil from northern Iraq to the Mediterranean through its restive southeast and aims to restore flows soon, the Turkish energy ministry said on Saturday. The pipeline, which has been repeatedly sabotaged in recent months, normally carries some 600,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude from Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region and the disputed Kirkuk oil fields to the port of Ceyhan for export.” Syria Reuters: Air Strikes Hit Six Towns In Syria's Aleppo Day After Truce: Monitor “War planes attacked six towns in Syria's northern Aleppo province early on Sunday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, a day after a cessation of hostilities agreement took effect. Syrian insurgents said the air strikes were carried out by Russian war planes in support of Syria's government, but the Observatory which monitors the conflict said the identity of the jets was not clear. ‘We do not know which planes carried out the strikes and also we are not sure if this is considered a breach to the truce because it is not clear if these towns are included in the truce,’ the Observatory's director Rami Abdulrahman said.” BBC News: Syria Conflict: Attacks Reported As Truce Comes Into Effect “The first major temporary truce in Syria's five-year civil war has come into effect. The ‘cessation of hostilities’ began at midnight (22:00 GMT Friday) with early reports saying front lines were silent. However, Syrian state media said several shells had hit residential areas of the capital, Damascus. It did not say who had fired. Low-level clashes have also been reported between rebel groups and government forces elsewhere.” International Business Times: Syria Ceasefire: Car Bomb Kills Two As Government Forces Drop Barrel Bombs “At least two people have been killed after a car bomb was detonated in a government-held town in Syria. The explosion occurred a few hours after a ceasefire brokered by the US and Russia came into effect at 10.00pm GMT on 26 February. No group has claimed responsibility for the explosion in Salamiyeh, western Syria. While the truce applies to government and rebel forces, it does not include the Islamic State (Isis) and the al-Qaeda backed Nusra Front.” Afghanistan Business Standard: 22 Taliban Militants Killed In Afghanistan “At least 22 Taliban militants were killed over the past 24 hours in a fighting with the security personnel in Baghlan province of Afghanistan. The battle occurred in Dand-e-Ghori district of the province on Sunday, Xinhua quoted army spokesman Ahmad Jawed Salim said.  ‘Up to 22 Taliban rebels have been killed and seven injured over the past 24 hours,’ Salim said. The Taliban outfit has not yet commented.” Middle East Middle East Eye: Israel Bars Palestinians From West Bank Settlement After Attack “Palestinians have been barred from entering one of the largest Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank for five days after an attack on Friday that critically wounded a security guard, an official said on Sunday. The Israeli police ban on entry to the Maale Adumim settlement is to last until Thursday and affects some 500 Palestinian labourers, a spokesman for the settlement said. Palestinians had initially been banned after the attack on Friday, and the measure has now been extended.” NBC News: Knife Attack By Arab-Israeli Girls Triggers Questions, Anguish “Five security guards led two girls, hands and legs shackled, out of Courtroom 29 in this suburb of Tel Aviv. The cousins and best friends were only 13 but the charges against them could hardly be more severe: attempted murder, conspiracy to commit a crime and the possession of a knife. One of the teens' fathers wiped away tears as they were taken away earlier this month.” Nigeria Associated Press: Cameroon Frees Several Hundred Hostages From Boko Haram “Cameroon says it has joined Nigerian troops fighting Boko Haram extremists to free a Nigerian border town, liberating several hundred hostages in the process. Gen. Jacob Kodji, commander of Cameroon troops, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Saturday that the hostages included young girls who were being trained as suicide bombers. The rescue took place in the Nigerian town of Kumshe, 9 miles (15 kilometers) from the border with Cameroon.” Daily Post: Boko Haram: Troops Record Success In Clearance Operations In Dikwa “Troops of 7 Division Garrison, 112 Battalion and Army Headquarters Strike Group, on Saturday recorded tremendous success in a clearance operations against Boko Haram terrorists at Kotokuma, Dikwa Local Government Area. Colonel Sani Kukasheka Usman, the Acting Director, Army Public Relations, who disclosed this in a statement said the troops cleared the terrorists camp which was equipped with medical facility, Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) factory, fuel dump, mechanical workshop, generators and several water points.” United Kingdom The Hindu: ISIS Hacks UK Solar Firm Site In Revenge “ISIS terrorists hacked the website of a UK-based solar firm as revenge for the killing of one of their British Muslim members, a media report said on Sunday. Self-styled Caliphate Cyber Army (CCA) members recently carried out the hack on the website of Solar UK, an East Sussex company in south-east England with only 11 staff, The Sunday Times reported. The attack was reportedly to avenge the death of Junaid Hussain, an ISIS figure from Birmingham, and it saw customers being diverted to a web page featuring the terror group’s logo accompanied by a string of threats.” Arabic Language Clips Financing Of Terrorism Sada El-Balad: (Union) Of Arab Banks: There Is A Need To Introduce A Strategy To Combat The Financing Of Terrorism The Union of Arab Banks, chaired by Mohammed Barakat, underscored the need for joint Arab cooperation to prepare a comprehensive Arab strategy to promote financial inclusion (expanding banking services) and the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing. The Union stressed in the recommendations it issued at the conclusion of last week's conference in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, the necessity to enhance disclosure and transparency in banking transactions and to make them the basic principles for financial consumer protection. This will boost confidence in the banking system and contribute to the expansion of its customer base. The Union of Arab Banks, at the conference attended by many Arab bankers, called to give special attention to the financing of small and medium-sized enterprises. Libya Akhbar: Sources: Documents In Ajdabiya Confirm Involvement Of Western Countries In The Financing Of Terrorists The Libyan army succeeded in liberating the city of Ajdabiya, west of Benghazi. It announced that it had completely freed the city from the grip of terrorist groups. The campaign was led by Colonel Fawzi al-Mansuri al-Obeidi, head of the Ajdabiya Military Operations Room. On his part, Lt. Mohammed Ibseet, Commander of Battalion 121 of the Army of Libya, said: "The full liberation of Ajdabiya from the northern tip to the southernmost point, and from west to east, featured the defeat of ISIS fighters and the Kharijites." He added that a large number of al-Qaeda fighters were killed and their ammunition was captured. Ibseet disclosed that the Libyan army forces uncovered documents and statements of financial transfers to terrorists. He said that these documents implicate some Arab countries in the financing of terrorist groups, but he did not disclose the names of these countries. ISIS Alaan: Corruption Within ISIS And Theft Are Now Threatening The Demise Of The Organization For a long time, money has constituted the most important factor driving ISIS. The terror group always attempted to occupy strategic areas rich in money to be able to finance itself and its acts of aggression. But today the money has become a weapon which threatens the demise of ISIS in the wake of corruption scandals within the organization, embezzlement and outright theft by some of its leaders, and their defection. This is in addition to the many military defeats suffered by the organization in Syria and Iraq. Now, ISIS is trying to cope with widespread corruption and the theft of funds, while making supreme efforts to maintain its financial resources following the heavy military defeats and the loss of some of its most important funding sources. ISIS has formed an advisory panel of seven people whose mission is to investigate the thefts and corruption within its ranks. Muslim Brotherhood Elwatan News: (Egypt's Supreme) State Security (Prosecution) Looks Into Complaint By Brotherhood Asset (Freeze Committee) Against Abu Treika And Safwan Judicial sources disclosed that Egypt's Supreme State Security Prosecution began an investigation into a complaint filed by the Muslim Brotherhood Asset Freeze Committee against ex-Al Ahly Soccer Club legend Mohammed Abu Treika, and businessman Safwan Thabet, owner of Juhayna Company. The men are both accused of joining a banned group as well as supporting and financing a terrorist group. The sources claimed that the complaint featured a memorandum of the minutes of the investigations carried out by the National Security Service, which provided the evidential basis for the Committee to seize the funds of Abu Treika and Thabet. Additionally, in its complaint the Committee asserts that it was proven that both figures had financed some of the Muslim Brotherhood members who carried out acts of violence which targeted state institutions. The Committee called to transfer the cases of the ex-Al Ahly player and owner of Juhayna Company to the criminal court and punish them both in accordance with the Penal Code and Terrorist Entities Law. Shorouk News: Chairman Of The Brotherhood Asset Freeze Committee: Resala (Charity Organization) Has Nothing To Do With The Seized Society In Damietta Ezzat Khamis, First Assistant of Egyptian Minister of Justice and Chairperson of the Muslim Brotherhood Asset Freeze Committee, emphasized that the decision to seize Resala Society for charitable activities in Damietta, has no connection whatsoever to the well-known "Resala Charity Organization." He explained that his committee found that some members of the board of directors of the Damietta-based Society belong to the Guidance Bureau of the banned Muslim Brotherhood, while the reputable Resala Charity Organization has nothing to do with the outlawed group. Khamis added that Resala Charity Organization and its branches all across Egypt's governorates have no relationship of any kind with the seized Damietta-based society. He urged the Egyptian public to continue to donate to Resala Charity Organization's development projects. Bwabtk: Brotherhood Asset (Freeze Committee) Studies New Cases Involving Three Companies, Two Schools And A Medical Center In Preparation For Their Appropriation A senior judicial source within the Muslim Brotherhood Asset Freeze Committee disclosed that it is currently investigating three new companies allegedly belonging to Muslim Brotherhood members or close to them or connected to the group's supporters, in preparation for their imminent seizure. The source added that the Committee is also examining new cases involving two schools and a medical center. Further details will be published should the Committee decide to seize these institutions. A decision is expected no later than the end of next week. Egypt 24: Sources: Brotherhood Reduces Financial Aid Allocated To The Families Of The Group's Prisoners Informed sources within the Muslim Brotherhood have revealed that the sums allocated by the group to the families of members jailed in Egyptian prisons have been slashed for the third consecutive month, now reaching a mere 500 pounds ($64) a month. Previously, the monthly allowance to the families ranged between 1,000 pounds ($128) and 1,200 pounds ($154). The sources noted that the number of families from Egypt's various provinces expressed dismay at the sudden reduction of aid by the Brotherhood. The New Arab: Brotherhood To Contract Public Relations Firm To Counter The New Bill By US Congress Mohammed Soudan, the Foreign Affairs Secretary of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party in Egypt, voiced his surprise at the timing of the approval of a new bill by the House Judiciary Committee of the US Congress, which deems the group as a "terrorist organization." In order to counter the repercussions of this American move, Soudan revealed that the group would hire a top public relations firm in the United States to restore the image of the Brotherhood there. He further disclosed that the group's leadership has identified two prominent companies working in this field. He explained that the company that is ultimately selected will present all relevant documents including historical statements which prove the spotlessness of the Brotherhood's approach to terrorism and extremism. This documented proof will be presented to the State Department within the 60-day deadline set by the House Judiciary Committee. Shorouk News: Brotherhood Asset (Freeze) Committee Informs Public Prosecution About 135 Violations In Seized Schools, Businesses And Hospitals A judicial source disclosed that the Brotherhood Asset Freeze Committee, headed by Judge Ezzat Khamis, had informed the Public Prosecutor about 135 financial and administrative irregularities found in companies, schools, associations, hospitals and individuals whose funds were seized due to their affiliation to the Brotherhood. These cases date back to the end of 2013. The source added that public prosecutors in the various provinces are yet to open an inquiry into these irregularities. On his part, Muslim Brotherhood lawyer, Abdel-Moneim Abdel-Maqsoud, stated that the Committee has conveyed to prosecutors the names of Brotherhood members whose funds were seized about two years ago, but so far the Public Prosecution has not summoned anyone in regard to these charges. Hezbollah Yemen Akhbar: Saudi Arabia Adds Four Companies And Three Lebanese Linked To Hezbollah To The Terrorism Blacklist Saudi security authorities have resumed their efforts to combat the terrorist activities of Lebanon's Hezbollah. The Saudis added four companies and three Lebanese citizens to the terrorism blacklist, claiming they provide the Houthis in Yemen with military equipment. Saudi security services warned all citizens and residents in Saudi Arabia against any dealings with Hezbollah or individuals and entities linked to this militia. The Saudi authorities have blacklisted three Lebanese nationals affiliated with Hezbollah's activities. They are: Fadi Hussein Sarhan, born in Kafr Kila, April 1961; Adel Mohammed Sheri, born in Beirut, October 1963; and Ali Hussein Zuayter, born in Lebanon, June 1967. In addition, the following companies have been placed on the blacklist: Vatech SARL; Le - Hua Electronic Field Co. Limited; Aero Skyone Co. Limited; Labico SAL Offshore.