Islam - Current Day > >50 Dead After Jihad Attacks in Mali; Taliban Takes 6th Provincial Capitol, Murders Radio Manager

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Over 50 reported dead in terrorist attacks by suspected jihadists in Mali

9 Aug, 2021 17:01

FILE PHOTO: A soldier of the Malian army is seen during a patrol on the road between Mopti and Djenne,

in central Mali, on February 28, 2020. © MICHELE CATTANI / AFP

Local authorities have reported that three villages near the Mali-Niger border have been attacked by suspected Islamist extremists, killing at least 51. The attack is the latest such incident in the greater Sahel region.

On Sunday, armed militants reportedly simultaneously set upon the three Malian towns on motorcycles before killing civilians and ransacking their homes. In a note to the regional governor seen by Reuters, an Asongo district administrator said on Monday that the provisional death toll was 51, and that several others have been injured.

Local sources reported that the militants set themselves up at the entrances to the towns and began firing randomly at civilians. On Monday, a Malian army patrol was sent to the attacked villages to try to stabilize the region and provide aid to survivors.

“More than 40 civilians were killed by terrorists on Sunday in the villages of Karou, Ouatagouna and Daoutegeft,” an unnamed military officer told AFP. He added that the attackers “went into the villages and massacred everyone.”

Sunday’s assault is the latest such attack in Mali and in the Greater Sahel region. Just last week, another attack by suspected jihadists killed 30 in Burkina Faso. In June, Burkina Faso suffered its deadliest attack since 2015, as suspected jihadists attacked the village of Solhan and killed 132 people. Local authorities said that the gunmen included “young people aged 12 to 14.” 

Since civil unrest broke out in Mali in 2012, when President Amadou Toumani Touré was overthrown by a military uprising, the Sahel has become a breeding ground for jihadist terrorism. The vast, largely ungoverned plains have provided the perfect setting for Islamic State- and Al Qaeda-affiliated terrorist groups to mobilize.

The French military and UN forces have partnered with regional authorities in an effort to counter and suppress terrorist groups such as Boko Haram, but have struggled to stabilize the region. Jihadist attacks continue to devastate Mali, Nigeria, Burkina Faso and other neighboring states. 

Additionally, French President Emmanuel Macron announced in July that France will withdraw its 5,100 anti-jihadist military force in the region by early 2022, replacing the operation in its current form with a new and smaller contingent.

That should really help!

Taliban captures 6th provincial capital weeks after rejecting

reports of a ceasefire, amid fallout from US withdrawal

9 Aug, 2021 12:40

Taliban soldiers ride on tank outside Kabul, Afghanistan. © Getty Images / Per-Anders Pettersson

The Taliban has seized control of its sixth provincial capital in Afghanistan within a matter of days, according to a spokesperson for the group, as the militants continue to secure territory after America’s military withdrawal.

The military victory for the Taliban was confirmed by the deputy governor of Samangan Province, home to the city of Aibak. Speaking to AFP, Afghanistan official Sefatullah Samangani declared that “the Taliban have captured the city of Aibak and have complete control over it.”

The Taliban formally took control of the city on Monday, after a “senator surrendered” and asked Afghanistan to withdraw its forces from the area to avoid further conflict.

Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid declared on Twitter that the city center was completely under its control, while the governor, the police chief, the intelligence department, and all its affiliates were cleared.

The capture of Aibak comes days after Taliban militants seized control of the provincial capital of Sar-e Pul and the region’s fifth-largest city. All major government buildings in the two locations have been secured by Taliban fighters, although Afghan soldiers were reportedly trying to retain control of the Kunduz airport.

The continued military advance of the Taliban throughout Afghanistan follows the group’s rejection of reports that a ceasefire deal had been reached with the country’s government in return for the release of 7,000 prisoners.

Since America’s withdrawal from the region earlier this year, the Taliban claims to have secured 85% of the territory in Afghanistan. Afghan officials dispute this figure, however, claiming it has been exaggerated by the group.

Afghan radio manager working for media rights group killed by Taliban,

journalist kidnapped, officials report

9 Aug, 2021 10:46

Members of the Taliban army ride atop a tank October 15, 1996 near Kabul, Afghanistan.

© Getty Images / Roger Lemoyne / Liaison

Where are they getting these tanks from? Are they American tanks abandoned by the Afghan military?

Afghan officials have reported that Toofan Omar, a radio station manager, has been shot and killed and that Nematullah Hemat, a local journalist, has been kidnapped. They are holding the Taliban accountable for both incidents.

Omar was reportedly shot by suspected Taliban fighters while on his way to Kabul on Sunday. Local officials reported the news on Monday and also disclosed the kidnapping of a journalist in the southern Helman province.

Omar was the station manager of Paktia Ghag Radio and was a contributing member of the Nai Media Watch, a group that supports the rights of Afghan journalists and raises funds for slain media workers in the country.

Hemat was abducted from his home on Sunday and his whereabouts are still unknown, according to officials.

Afghan authorities suspect the Taliban to be responsible for both targeted attacks.

The Afghan Journalists Safety Committee (AJSC) condemned the murder of the former head of Paktia Ghag media center, praising his experience working with 8AM Newspaper, as well his work as a prosecutor for the Attorney General's Office.

Mujeeb Khelwatgar, the head of Nai Media Watch, described him as a "liberal man," adding that Afghan journalists are "being targeted for working independently."

Razwan Miakhel, the former employer of kidnapped Hemat at private TV channel Gharghasht TV, said there was 'no clue where the Taliban have taken him,' adding that his associates were in a 'state of panic.'

The violent resurgence of the Taliban has led the New York Times and a coalition of US media companies to appeal to Congress and the Biden administration to provide 'urgent humanitarian assistance' for Afghan journalists and staff who worked with American outlets.

In July, Nai Media Watch reported at least 30 journalists have been killed, wounded or kidnapped by militant groups in Afghanistan this year.

As more troops withdraw, the Taliban has continued to violently seize strategic cities. On Saturday, the militant group captured another provincial capital, Sar-e Pul, adding pressure on local journalists who face persecution.

Islam - Current Day - Vienna Terrorism; Terrorist Fooled System; Mali Terrorist Attack Thwarted by French Mirage Jets

Vienna shooter’s motives were Islamist

 November 3, 2020

After a terrorist shooting armed police officers patrol on a street at the scene in Vienna, Austria, Nov. 3, 2020. (AP/Ronald Zak)

 

Nehammer said that initial investigations indicate that the suspect who was killed had sympathized with the Islamic State group.

By Associated Press

Austria’s top security official said that four people have died — including one assailant — and fifteen people were wounded in a shooting in the heart of Vienna late Monday.

Interior Minister Karl Nehammer told reporters Tuesday that two men and a woman have died from their injuries. A suspected attacker, who was carrying an assault rifle and a fake suicide vest, was also shot and killed by police.

Nehammer said that initial investigations indicate that the suspect who was killed had sympathized with the Islamic State group.

“We experienced an attack last night by at least one Islamist terrorist,” Nehammer told reporters. He declined to elaborate, citing the ongoing investigation.

Authorities were still trying to determine whether further attackers may be on the run, he said. People in Vienna have been urged to stay at home if possible Tuesday.

Among the fifteen people injured in the attack was a police officer, said Nehammer.

The shooting began shortly after 8:00 p.m. (1900 GMT) Monday near Vienna’s main synagogue as many people were enjoying a last night of open restaurants and bars before the start of a coronavirus lockdown.

“We are victims of a despicable terror attack in the federal capital that is still ongoing,” Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said.

The attack drew swift condemnation and assurances of support from leaders around Europe, including from French President Emmanuel Macron, whose country also experienced three Islamist attacks in recent weeks.

President Donald Trump tweeted Monday night as he prepared for his final rally ahead of Election Day: “Our prayers are with the people of Vienna after yet another vile act of terrorism in Europe.”

 

“These evil attacks against innocent people must stop,” Trump added. “The U.S. stands with Austria, France, and all of Europe in the fight against terrorists, including radical Islamic terrorists.”

Austria’s military has provided soldiers to guard key sites in Vienna, freeing up police to continue the investigation. Germany and Hungary have offered to send tactical police units to support their Austrian colleagues.

Authorities say members of the public have uploaded 20,000 videos of the attack to police.

Vienna attack investigation: Terrorist likely acted alone

after he ‘tricked’ Austria’s deradicalization program

3 Nov, 2020 19:02

FILE PHOTO. ©  Reuters / Leonhard Foeger

The man behind Monday’s terrorist attack in the Austrian capital had secured an early release from jail by “tricking” a deradicalization program, Austria’s interior minister has said, adding that he most likely acted alone.

The Islamist radical, who killed four people in a shooting attack on Monday, would still be serving his sentence in prison, had he not deceived the deradicalization program overseen by the Austrian Justice Ministry, Interior Minister Karl Nehammer revealed during a press conference. 

Nehammer said the fact that such a radicalized person was granted an early release means the Austrian justice system needs “re-evaluation and optimization.”

Earlier, the Austrian authorities confirmed that the attacker identified as Kujtim Fejzulai was sentenced to 22 months in prison in April 2019 after he swore allegiance to Islamic State and made an attempt to join terrorists in Syria.

Yet, he was set free in December 2019, some eight months after the sentencing, since he was no longer considered a threat. He was then assigned a probation officer and was sent into the care of the Derad association – an NGO tasked with deradicalizing convicted criminals on behalf of the Austrian government. 

Fejzulai then made “particular efforts” to create an image of a “well-integrated” man during his meetings with the officer and the Derad specialists. According to some local media reports, he met with Derad representatives just days ago and explicitly condemned the recent terrorist attacks in France.

In fact, however, the 20-year-old sought to “deliberately destroy the system,” Nehammer admitted. 

The attacker killed four people and injured 23 during a rampage in Vienna’s Old Town on Monday evening. The assailant himself was also gunned down by police. Ten people, who suffered injuries in the incident, have since been released from hospitals, Vienna’s Mayor Michael Ludwig confirmed. Another 13 people remain in hospitals, he said, adding that three of them are in “critical” condition.

Nehammer, meanwhile, said that the perpetrator most likely acted alone and had no accomplices, explaining that analyses of a half of all video materials submitted by the attack witnesses revealed no signs of any other attackers. The minister said that as many as 20,000 videos have been sent to police since the attack, adding that it was too early to draw any final conclusions.

Austria’s police also raided 18 apartments and detained 14 people in the wake of the attack, the minister said. Earlier, the Austrian media reported about a “known Islamist” being detained in a large-scale police operation, involving heavily armed units, in the city of Linz. His connection to the terrorist attack in Vienna remains unclear, though. 

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French airstrikes kill over 50 Al-Qaeda-linked jihadists in Mali

3 Nov, 2020 16:19

A French soldier stands guards in front of an NH90 Caiman military helicopter during Operation Barkhane

in Ndaki, Mali, July 29, 2019. © Reuters / Benoit Tessier

More than 50 jihadists have been killed in airstrikes carried out by French forces in Mali, Defense Minister Florence Parly said on Tuesday, calling the deaths a significant blow to Al-Qaeda in the region.

The airstrikes were carried out on Friday in central Mali near the borders of Burkina Faso and Niger, Parly said after meeting members of Mali’s transitional government in Bamako.

“I would like to reveal an operation of great importance which was carried out on October 30 in Mali by the Barkhane force, which was able to neutralize more than 50 jihadists,” Parly said on Mali state television. The minister was referring to the French-led anti-jihadist Operation Barkhane.

Around 30 motorcycles were destroyed, the French minister said. The operation was launched after a drone detected a “very large” motorcycle caravan in the “three borders” area, he added.

When the jihadists tried to escape, two Mirage jets were sent in, along with a drone to launch missiles on the insurgents, according to Parly.

Four terrorists have also been captured, military spokesman Colonel Frederic Barbry told reporters, adding that explosives and a suicide vest were found. The group had been “about to attack [an army] position in the region,” he said.

Another operation targeting Islamic State in the Greater Sahara was also underway, with a total of 3,000 soldiers involved, Barbry added.

France has more than 5,000 troops in Mali and neighboring countries in West Africa’s Sahel region to fight the jihadists since it first intervened in 2013. The United Nations has deployed around 13,000 troops in Mali as part of its peacekeeping mission.

Islam - Current Day - Massacres of Christians, Dogons, Burned Alive in Mali

27 killed, some burned alive in jihadi attacks on predominantly Christian villages in Mali

By Samuel Smith, CP Reporter| 

Musicians and singers in a Dogon community in Mali | Wikimedia Commons/BluesyPete

Suspected Islamic radicals killed at least 27 people, some of whom were burned alive, in a series of attacks that spanned from last Tuesday to Wednesday evening in three villages that advocates say are predominantly inhabited by Christians in Central Mali, officials said. 

As escalations in communal violence have plagued the West African country in recent years, local officials told Reuters that attacks in the villages of Bankass, Koro and Tillé were carried out by armed men on motorcycles whom they believe to be jihadists that claim to protect Fulani herders from Dogon farmers.

"We were surprised by the attack on the village of Tillé,” Doucombo Deputy Mayor Yacouba Kassogué told the news agency. “Seven were killed, all Dogons, some of them burned alive.”

At least 20 additional people were reported to have been killed in neighboring villages of Bankass and Koro. 

According to local officials, most of the victims in those two villages were shot or burned to death. 

According to the interdenominational Christian aid agency Barnabus Aid, the attacks carried out last week in Central Mali victimized “mainly-Christian Dogon villages.”

“Since 2016, jihadists have been waging a war to occupy north and central Mali with the declared aim of establishing Sharia (Islamic law) throughout the country,” a statement from the aid agency reads.

“Mali suffered its worst year of extremist violence in seven years in 2019. Jihadi militants carried out murderous attacks in the north and central area, laying waste to Christian villages and causing hundreds to flee with only the clothes on their backs.”

Dozens were reportedly killed during a suspected Fulani attack in the mainly-Christian village of Sobame Da, a village in the Mopti region of central Mali, in June 2019. 

Although initial reports suggested that over 100 were killed in Sobame Da, officials later revised the death toll to 35, including 24 children, on grounds that officials had earlier confused missing persons with those killed. 

However, some community leaders argued that the initial death toll was accurate and that investigators did not uncover everybody in homes burned by the perpetrators, according to The Washington Post.

Mali, a predominantly Muslim country in West Africa, ranks as the 29th-worst country in the world when it comes to Christian persecution on Open Doors USA’s 2020 World Watch List. 

According to the Joshua Project, the Dogon community has traditionally celebrated animistic religion but are increasingly turning to Islam “for lack of an alternative.” Today, the majority of Dogon communities are Muslim but about 11% believe in Jesus. 

“In the few villages where Christianity has been lived out by missionaries, or locals who have become Christians elsewhere, one can indeed see the growth of the Christian faith,” the Joshua Project reports.

According to an Open Doors dossier on Mali, Islamic militants in the country “have been busy attacking the country's security forces and Christians.” The document reports that “Christian villages were targeted and destroyed, with the attacks sometimes having both ethnic and religious elements.”

"With the increasing attacks in the Mopti region and other areas, church schools and churches have been burned down, hundreds of schools (including Christian schools) have been closed down in 2019,” an Open Doors field researcher was quoted as saying.

In recent years, Mali has seen escalations in violent attacks between Dogon farmers and Fulani herders. 

In March 2019, Dogon militias were blamed for carrying out an attack that killed as many as 150 Fulani herders in Ogossagou. Another attack against Fulani in Ogossagou in February reportedly killed 31. Both Dogon and Fulani militants have been accused of carrying out reprisal attacks.

Astonishing - ’Fake Officer’ Lied His Way into Swedish Military Intel & NATO for Decade

‘Totally incomprehensible’: ’Fake officer’ lied his way into Swedish military intel & NATO, hid forged credentials for decade

Military patrol in Sweden. FILE PHOTO © Reuters / TT News Agency

A Swedish man with no official training faked his way into the top ranks of Swedish military intelligence, helming sensitive projects before he was posted to NATO and later the Coast Guard. How did this happen?

The Swedish Armed Forces – and now NATO, which only learned of the deception this week – are furious, demanding to know how the man was able to slip through the cracks even after he was discovered and booted from his high-ranking Coast Guard post in January 2019 – only to reemerge at the helm of Sweden’s UN mission to Mali.

The faker first bluffed his way into a supervisory role in the military in Kosovo and Afghanistan, forging a diploma from the Signal Troops Officers’ College in Enköping with a fake colonel’s signature, Dagens Nyheter revealed on Monday.

He later faked higher degrees and special training in order to take on more senior positions in military intelligence, supervising not only other soldiers but also information security. These were important positions, with the impersonator overseeing the development of cryptographic keys at the Military Intelligence and Security Service (MUST) – meaning responsibility for the military’s secure communications rested on his shoulders.

Amazing! Military intelligence security in the hands of a complete fraud! How ironic! 

In 2012, the fraudster was assigned to NATO in Brussels, the outlet revealed earlier this week. He even received a medal for his service, before crossing over to the private sector to work in information security with a subsidiary of defense contractor Saab.

The situation is “totally incomprehensible,” NATO expert Ann-Sofie Dahl lamented to DN, adding that it was “very, very worrying for Sweden’s cooperation with NATO.” It was a “feather in [Sweden’s] cap” to be permitted to work so closely with the alliance, Dahl said, and “it will take a very long time and great efforts to repair” trust in the country.

The impersonator wasn’t even found out during his time with NATO. In fact, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel so that he could work with more senior officers. He successfully hid for another five years, joining the Coast Guard in a high-ranking role with access to classified material. Only in December 2018 did the service find out he was lying about his credentials, removing him from his post the following month.

Somehow, though, that wasn’t the end of his military career. The Swedish Armed Forces is trying to figure out how he subsequently ended up as chief of staff for Sweden’s UN operation in Mali.

Lieutenant Colonel Carl-Axel Blomdahl, who is leading the official investigation into the case, insists they never got the warning from the Coast Guard about the man with the “doubtful CV.”

“Had we had access to the information, we would have acted on it,” he insisted. Blomdahl nevertheless waited to break the bad news to NATO until Monday, when DN published its own investigation exposing the man’s forged credentials. Needless to say, Brussels was not pleased.

“I don’t know exactly how to describe their reaction. But they don’t think this is particularly good,” Blomdahl told DN.

Armed Forces Commander-in-chief Micael Bydén demanded to know why the man’s deception was not shared with all branches of military command, ordering an investigation to “get to the bottom of this” in a written statement seen by DN.

Moderate Party leader Ulf Kristersson also demanded to know how the fraudster had gone undiscovered for a decade, likening the fiasco to the 2017 IT scandal at the Swedish Transport Agency, in which a huge trove of sensitive data was leaked, forcing several government ministers to resign in disgrace.

Maybe there's a clue in this report as to how he went undiscovered for a decade. You will note his name is being withheld, we have to wonder why? Is he a Muslim migrant, by any chance? Whether he is or not, his name and photo should be everywhere or else he is liable to end up as a minister in Stefan's cabinet.

Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist acknowledged that the ministry had received a notice from the Ministry of Justice about the faker. But since he had been removed from his Coast Guard position, explained Hultqvist’s press secretary, “the issue was… deemed to be resolved, and there was no reason to inform the Defense Ministry’s political leadership.” Hultqvist and Bydén have both been called before the Swedish parliament’s defense committee to answer questions about the case. 

Two Muslim Jihadi Attacks Kill 40 Tauregs in Northern Mali

Thomson Reuters

Two attacks in northern Mali left 40 people dead, mostly young men.

(Christophe Petit Tesson/Pool/Canadian Press)

Suspected jihadists killed 40 Tuaregs, mostly young men, in two attacks in northern Mali's Menaka region, which the local governor said seemed calculated to spark an ethnic conflict between Tuareg and Fulani herders.

Menaka governor Daouda Maiga told Reuters by telephone that the attacks happened in the remote desert villages of Awakassa on Friday and in Anderanboucane, a day earlier.

Jihadist groups are seen as the greatest threat to security across Africa's Sahel region. They have proved adept at exploiting local tensions between ethnic groups to sow discord — such as those between mostly lighter-skinned Tuareg and black Fulani herdsmen over scarce watering points in the Sahara.

Tuareg and Fulani Herdsmen are both Muslim.

Bajan Ag Hamatou, a local legislator, confirmed the attack, as did Menaka town's mayor, Nanout Kotia.

Rising violence across Mali has cast doubt over the feasibility of elections scheduled for the end of July, in which President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita will seek a second term.

Islamic State's Saharan affiliate is active in the Menaka region bordering Niger. It is led by an Arabic-speaking north African called Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi, but the majority of its fighters are Fulani.

"The dead were mostly youths, no women or children, mostly of the age where they can carry arms," Maiga said.

The victims included many members of the Tuareg militia National Movement for the Salvation of Azawad (MSA).

"The MSA is fighting the Islamist groups, which are composed mostly of Fulani," Maiga said. "So these two attacks were reprisals against them. They want to transform the conflict into something inter-communal."

Mali has been in chaos since Tuareg rebels and Islamists swept across its deserts in 2012, despite a French intervention to push them back the following year, and a large French military and UN peacekeeping presence.

Canada is sending troops and helicopters to Mali this summer to assist the ongoing UN peacekeeping mission. 

The helicopters will  carry out medical evacuations, shuttle around United Nations peacekeepers from other countries and occasionally support the so-called G-5 Sahel countries which are carrying out counter-terrorism operations against Islamic extremists.

EU to Help Mali Economy in Exchange for Easier Migrant Repatriation

Finally, a sane, rational, and reasonable approach to the migration problem. It needs to be a template for other African countries.

© Andreas Solaro / AFP

The EU and Mali have reached an agreement on repatriating asylum applicants who are denied entry by European authorities. In exchange for Mali accepting the migrants back, the EU will invest funds to help it and its neighbors improve border security.

“It is the first time the EU establishes such a precise mechanism with an African country with regards to returning failed asylum seekers,” a statement from Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders, who signed the agreement on the EU's behalf, said on Monday, as cited by Deutsche Welle. Koenders, who was on an official visit to the Malian capital Bamako, called the deal “necessary,” explaining that it aims to fight the root causes of illegal migration.

“There is support for the way in which we want to do a partnership with Mali, which involves very much working on the root causes in Mali, on why people are leaving,” he said, as cited by Reuters.

“We've worked a lot on the battle against trafficking, now we can work together to ensure that no people are dying on the road to Libya and Algeria,” he told the news agency.

Under the agreement, the EU will provide funds to Mali to help it create more jobs and improve border management, including by introducing biometric passports and advancing security in the northern part of the country, which borders Algeria.

In return, Mali promised to repatriate its citizens who have reached Europe but were deemed ineligible for asylum there, and also aid the EU in the fight against people smugglers.

The deal comes as the EU looks to collaborate on migration with the countries from which most asylum seekers originate. Some 1.4 million people have arrived in the EU since last year, many of them taking a dangerous route across the Mediterranean Sea. According to the latest data from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), this year has seen an estimated 4,733 casualties among migrants trying to reach Europe via the sea, which is 1,148 more recorded deaths than at the same point in 2015.

    Great Mosque, Djenne, Mali

As of December 7, more than 350,000 migrants had entered Europe by sea since the beginning of 2016. Most came from Syria, where the civil war has claimed the lives of over 250,000 people and displaced some 12 million others since 2011, UN figures show. Asylum seekers have also come in large numbers from Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Eritrea, Mali and other countries in the region.

The flood of migrants and refugees has in many cases caused a mixture of anger and uncertainty among European nations, and the bloc has made curbing immigration a priority. EU states have been strengthening their common external borders and adjusting legislation, and are now working on similar deals to the Mali one with Ethiopia, Senegal, Nigeria, Niger and Afghanistan.

In March of this year, the EU reached a landmark deal on migrants with Turkey. The sides agreed to return all illegal migrants reaching Greece from Turkey's shores in exchange for the EU taking in thousands of Syrian refugees directly from Turkey and giving Ankara €6 billion ($6.8 billion) in funding over the next five years. The deal, however, has recently been threatened by Turkey itself, as it aimed to gain visa-free travel within the Schengen Zone for Turkish citizens, but no moves in this direction have been undertaken by the EU.

Nor should there ever be; it would become a highway for terrorists!

Apart from Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon host most of the refugees from the Syrian war. These have also been receiving more EU funds as help in coping with the newcomers, as well as means to prevent them from moving on to Europe.

Is anyone curious why Saudi Arabia, Iran, the Gulf States, and North African countries are not taking refugees? Anyone besides me?