Violence and Security

Bosnian Authorities Arrest Islamist Militant Linked to Embassy Attack

December 18, 2018

Bosnian police arrested an individual with ties to the Islamic State (IS) and al-Qaeda affiliated al-Nusra Front on suspicion of plotting terrorist activities in Bosnia and for suspected assistance to the Islamist militant who perpetrated the 2011 attack on the US Embassy in Bosnia’s capital city of Sarajevo.
UK Regulators Allow Broadcasting of Banned Islamist Preacher

December 17, 2018

The Henry Jackson Society has critiqued the UK’s Office of Communications for “material failure” to protect viewers by permitting an Indian Islamic preacher banned from entering the UK because of national security concerns to broadcast on UK-licensed television stations.
Iraq Uses Iran-Backed Militias to Stamp out IS

December 17, 2018

The Iraqi government is relying on Iran-backed Shiite militias to try to stamp out resilient Islamic State (IS) underground cells, underscoring the continuing Sunni-Shiite sectarian straightjacket in Mideast regional politics.
Lethal Suicide Bombing in Kabul Against Muslim Clerics Is Signature IS

December 17, 2018

Another lethal suicide bombing in Kabul has left the rising numbers of dead and wounded already over 130 in an attack against a gathering of Islamic clerics that bears the signature of Islamic State (IS)-affiliated Khorasan’s focus on civilians and Muslim clerics that IS deems as collaborators with the Western-backed Afghan government.
Pakistani Police Arrest Radical Islamist Leader

December 17, 2018

Police across Pakistan have arrested the leader and hundreds of followers of the radical Islamist-nationalist party Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) in an effort to restore public order still disrupted by the TLP’s protests and calls for the murder of judges who acquitted a Pakistani Christian women on the charge of blasphemy.
Growth of Jihadism in Kenya Linked to Wahhabi, Structural Factors

December 17, 2018

The steady growth in the influence and increasingly radical and violent impact of Salafi-Wahhabi jihadist ideas and actors in Kenya since the 1980s is linked to the impact of education in Saudi Arabia on Kenyan Islamic clerics, combined with the failures of corrupt state institutions to solve economic development problems of Kenya’s ethno-religiously diverse population.
Australian Police Arrest IS Terrorist Plotters

December 17, 2018

Police officials in Australia have announced their apprehension of three suspects in Melbourne who were plotting an Islamic State (IS)-inspired terrorist attack in Melbourne, following on the recent IS-inspired lone-wolf attack in Australia's largest city.
Taliban Use Violence, Negotiations to Leverage Territorial Gains

December 17, 2018

The Taliban continues to use a combination of targeted violence inside Afghanistan and competing negotiations led by the US and Russia to build territorial gains and incremental diplomatic leverage in achieving the Taliban's goal of a sharia state in Afghanistan.
Indonesia Turns to Saudi Financing to Counter Chinese Influence

December 17, 2018

Indonesia’s government is turning to Saudi Arabia and other Islamist states for infrastructure funding to counter Chinese investments in the world’s largest Muslim-majority country.
Islamic Council in Australia Criticizes Use of Term “Radical Islamism”

December 17, 2018

The Islamic Council of Melbourne has criticized a popular local radio talk-show host for using the term “radical Islamism” to describe the inspiration for a Somali-born Australian who set his car on fire and attacked three men with a knife, arguing that the term distorts Islam and that there is no real connection between the Islamic State (IS) and the religion of Islam.