Violence and Security

UN Report Warns of Taliban’s Afghanistan as Hub for Islamist Terrorism

February 14, 2022

The latest report to the U.N. Security Council by the expert panel charged with monitoring sanctions against al Qaeda (AQ) and the Islamic State (IS) warns that the six-month period since the Taliban’s full control of Afghanistan has created a hub for Islamist terror groups aiming to establish control across various regions.
France 24: Burkina Faso Crisis Reveals How Islamist Gains Provoke State Breakdown

February 14, 2022

State failure to control the expanding influence of al Qaeda and IS militants in Burkina Faso has catalyzed a rebellion by sectors of the military and a military move against the president in the West African state where an estimated 1.5 million people have been killed and displaced since 2015 by jihadist activities.
Jihadist Unrepentant as Trial Continues on 2015 Islamist Attacks Across Paris

February 10, 2022

The key jihadist on trial in Paris along with six others in absentia, for the attacks carried out across the French capital in 2015 by IS militants remained unrepentant in his most recent court testimony, claiming that he bore no responsibility for the assault because he backed out of detonating his suicide vest after being part of the planning for the events that murdered hundreds of people.
Threat of Islamism in EU’s Largest Muslim Community Drives France’s Newly Established Forum of Islam Leadership

February 08, 2022

Jihadist attacks on French soil and the influence of foreign-trained radical imams in France’s mosques and Islamic schools have been key drivers for the French government’s move to encourage the development of a secular, inclusive, non-violent form of Islam among the largest Muslim population in any European Union (EU) member-state.
Islamist Volatility Puts Christians in Crosshairs in Latest Attack in Pakistan

February 07, 2022

In the latest episode in a pattern of violence with impunity by Islamist extremists targeting Pakistan's Chrisitan communities, two gunmen remain at large after gunning down a Christian cleric and wounding another after a local church service in the Pakistani city of Peshewar, a critical northwest border city with Afghanistan and the site of high-casuality Islamist suicide attacks in 2013 that targeted the city's Christian communities.
Turkey's IS Chief Testimony Reveals Permissive Environment for Jihadism

February 07, 2022

The high-profile trial by the Ankara Public Prosecutor's Office of the alleged Turkey boss for IS has revealed infomation pointing the Islamist terror group's systematic relocation of its core operations from Syria to NATO-member Turkey, including the stockpiling of weapons and other military materiel, plans for training European jihadists, and plans for attacks on NATO's Incirlik Air Base in the southern coast of Turkey.
UN Security Council Takes Up Issue of Afghanistan concerning Human Rights

February 01, 2022

The United Nations (UN) Security Council is focused on the challenge of delivering massive humanitarian assistance to the crisis conditions of shortages in food, shelter, medicines, and fuel in Afghanistan, a consequence of the rupture in diplomatic relations between most states and the Taliban Islamist regime, with the UN trying to balance humanitarian relief for the Afghan population within the context of the Taliban's human rights violations and religious terrorism.
FATF Designation Highlights Islamist Extremist Groups’ State Protection in Pakistan

January 26, 2022

Global financial watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has continued Pakistan’s designation on the grey list, because of deficiencies in the state’s approach to resolving money laundering and terrorism problems, evidenced in state failures to disband the many Islamist extremist groups associated with both violence against the country’s religious minorities and links to external jihadist groups.
IS Jihadists in Nigeria Continue Targeting Schoolchildren

January 25, 2022

Jihadist militants from the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) abducted 20 schoolchildren in Nigeria after razing a village in the northwestern part of the country, with this recent episode part of a pattern that, according to UNICEF, has witnessed jihadists kidnapping 1500 schoolchildren in Nigeria in the past year alone.
IS Confirms Responsibility for Multi-Casualty Christmas Day Attack in Congo

January 23, 2022

The IS’ Central African affiliate has claimed responsibility for the multi-casualty Christmas Day suicide bombing attack in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), confirming the ongoing trend towards suicide bombings over the last year by the IS DRC branch.