Violence and Security

Iranian "Ghost Militias" Threaten & Attack Iraqi’s Working with Coalition Forces

January 06, 2021

BBC reports that in an effort to increase Islamist rule in Iraq, Iraqi translators, contractors, and embassy staffers working with US and UK coalition forces are facing increased threats, coercion, and direct attacks by « ghost militias » linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Iran Threatens U.S. on Anniversary of Soleimani's Assassination

January 06, 2021

Newsweek reports that Iran's President Ayatollah Hassan Rouhani has threatened retaliation against the United States in the approach to the one-year anniversary of the US drone-strike assassination of General Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, which works export revolutionary Shiite Islamism globally.
Pakistan's Religious Freedom Violations Target Minority Girls

January 06, 2021

Snopes reports that the sharia laws defining Pakistan's Islamic Republic have created systemic religious freedom violations for the country's religious minority communities, in particular for underage girls, who are regularly raped, abducted, sold for marriage, and undergo forced conversion to Islam.
Egyptian Court Acquits Attackers of Elderly Coptic Woman

December 30, 2020

Al-Monitor reports that Egyptian courts have acquitted three perpetrators who confessed to stripping naked and dragging an elderly Coptic Christian women through city streets because of rumors that her son had an affair with a Muslim woman.
Police Arrest Machete-Wielding AQ Supporter in Spain

December 30, 2020

Spanish police arrested a machete-wielding attacker with Al Qaeda (AQ) connections in Castellon, the capital city of provincial Valencia, which has a history of ties to AQ terrorists and foreign fighters.
Jihadists Aim to Capture Energy Assets in Latest Attack in Mozambique

December 30, 2020

Islamist militants in Mozambique continue their campaign to transform the energy rich country into a sharia state by organizing a targeted attack on the multi-billion dollar natural gas project funded by French energy company, Total.
Boko Haram Targets Christians with Christmas Eve Attack

December 30, 2020

The BBC reports that Nigeria-based Islamist extremist group, Boko Haram, attacked a Christian-majority village on Christmas Eve, producing multiple casualties and destruction of a church and food dispensary.
The Guardian: Pakistan Releases Journalist Daniel Pearl's Abductor

December 28, 2020

The Guardian reports that Pakistan’s high court released the British born Islamist extremist, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, jailed for the 2002 jihadist murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl, given definitive evidence that he participated in the abduction and not in the murder.
Islamist Groups in Afghanistan Close Out Year with Violent Attacks

December 23, 2020

2020 is drawing to a close with an escalation in violent attacks by Afghanistan's diverse Islamist extremist groups, including Taliban attacks on Afghan state security sites, rocket attacks on the US Bagram Air Force base in Kabul, and a multi-casualty attack on vehicles carrying prison-worker medical personnel.
Jihadism Growing in Francophone Western Indian Ocean Islands

December 23, 2020

According to The Jamestown Foundation, Islamist radicalization & jihadism are steadily growing within the Francophone islands of Mauritius, Comoros, and Reunion, and, as a result, are leaving the local governments to face increasing security challenges, especially due to their key location along maritime routes.