Violence and Security

Territorial Setbacks Do Not Deter IS Rank-and-File

August 30, 2016

In spite of recent losses of key strongholds in the territorial core of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, interviews with IS rank-and-file members show their willingness to adopt a long view and internationalist perspective for the establishment of a global caliphate organized on sharia principles.
Al-Shabab Attacks Another Soft Target in Somalia

August 30, 2016

Islamist militant group al-Shabab has carried out another high-casualty attack, this time against politicians and journalists at a conference hotel in Mogadishu, as the jihadist group continues its sustained assault to oust African Union peacekeepers and the UN-backed government of Somalia and implement a sharia state in the East African country.
Mississippi IS Recruit Receives Eight-Year Sentence

August 26, 2016

In yet another case of jihadi recruitment from the US, a court in Mississippi sentenced a man to eight years in prison on charges of conspiring to provide material support to a terrorist group after confessing that he planned to travel with his wife via Turkey to Syria to join the Islamic State.
IS Aims to Replace Failed State in Libya

August 25, 2016

The US-led campaign against Islamic State strongholds in North Africa has degraded the jihadi group's strategy of systematically replacing the full range of state services, from traffic control to public order, absent since the collapse of the state in Libya.
University Attack Signals Taliban Hold in Afghanistan

August 25, 2016

Taliban militants are suspected as the likely perpetrators of a multiple-casualty attack on the American University in Kabul, underscoring the expanding scope and control of the Islamist radical group aiming to topple the government of Afghanistan.
Report Warns of Islamist Recruitment in Mosques, Refugee Facilities

August 24, 2016

A new intelligence report by Germany's Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution identifies the national security risks associated with challenges in monitoring the systematic recruitment efforts by the Islamic State and other Islamist groups inside Germany's mosques and refugee centers.
Boko Haram Split Turns Jihadi Focus Toward Christians

August 24, 2016

Boko Haram's split into competing factions signals a hard shift toward the exclusive targeting of Christians by Nigeria's Islamist extremist organization, consistent with the Islamic State's strategy of killing Christians in Europe and Africa to provoke a Muslim-Christian holy war aimed to achieve a global Islamist caliphate.
Taliban Offensive Underscores Radical Islamist Gains in Afghanistan

August 24, 2016

Steady Taliban gains in a protracted military offensive in Afghanistan signal the expanding strength of the radical Islamist group committed to ousting the US-supported Afghan government and to building a sharia state in the Southwest Asian state that was a safe haven for Osama bin Laden.
Boko Haram Split Signals Dispute over Jihadi Methods

August 24, 2016

A factional split within Boko Haram, the Nigerian Islamist terror group, over whether jihad permits the killing of Muslims or limits murder to non-Muslims, is an important signal of the broader debate and possible trends among global jihadi groups regarding the methods and targets of Islamist war.
Report: Russia Aggravates Islamist Radicalization in North Caucasus

August 17, 2016

A new report by a US think tank describes how the Russian state's heavy-handed policies, although aimed to impede Islamist recruitment and radicalization, have exacerbated the spread of extremist Islamist ideas and associated networks of illegal economic activity and violence in the Northern Caucasus.