Violence and Security

Islamist Financing in Congo Raises Concerns About Jihadist Networks

December 17, 2018

A Kenyan financier identified by the US and Kenyan governments as having Islamic State connections provided funds to the Islamist rebel Allied Democratic Forces warring against the governments of both the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, raising concerns about the expansion of diverse jihadist groups across the African Continent.
Afghan Government Casualties Show Taliban Resilience

December 14, 2018

Afghanistan’s President has shared data indicating that, since 2015, more than 28,000 Afghan police officers and soldiers have been casualties of the Islamist extremist Taliban forces warring to make the Southwest Asian country a sharia state.
IS Shows Resilience in Mideast and Expands in Africa, Asia

December 14, 2018

International counterterrorism experts warn that the Islamic State (IS) has shown strong resilience in its core territories of Iraq and Syria, shifting its strategy to guerrilla warfare and sophisticated, underground recruitment, while also expanding its numbers and operations in Africa and Asia.
Resurgent Taliban Target Shiite Hazara Minority

December 14, 2018

A resurgent Taliban still committed to making Afghanistan a sharia state carried out a high-casualty attack against the region where the country’s Shiite Hazara minority is concentrated, sending a message that the Sunni fundamentalist Taliban will not tolerate ethnic-religious minorities.
Jihadist Movements’ Competition Aggravates Carnage in Yemen

December 14, 2018

The violent competition between the al-Qaeda and Islamic State jihadist movements has been a parallel war in Yemen concomitant with the Saudi-Iran theocracies’ proxy war between Sunni and Shiite factions in the poor Gulf country.
Al-Shabaab Launches Triple Suicide Bombing in Somalia

December 14, 2018

Triple suicide-bombing attacks claimed by the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab group produced another round of lethality and mayhem in Somalia’s capital city of Mogadishu, where the violent Islamist group continues to carry out its war to impose sharia law in the geopolitically important East African country.
Melbourne Attacker Had Links to IS

December 14, 2018

A “lone-wolf” attacker who used a vehicle and knife to kill and wound several people in an attack in Melbourne had links to the Islamic State (IS) and had his passport revoked because he planned travel to Syria to fight with IS forces.
Taliban See Islamist Battle Bear Fruit in Russia, US Engagement

December 14, 2018

40 years of jihadist warfare by the Taliban in Afghanistan, first to oust the Soviet Union’s invasion forces and then to battle the US-backed Afghan government, is bearing results for the Islamist group aiming to impose sharia law across Afghanistan, in the form of a Russia-sponsored peace conference and a separate, US-backed peace negotiation.
IS Recruiter Runs School in Sweden’s Second Largest City

December 14, 2018

Sweden’s Security Police have confirmed that the headmaster of one Sweden’s largest schools, located in the country’s second largest city, is connected to recruitment for Islamist extremist groups and is a public supporter of the Islamic State (IS).
IS Influence Spreads into Weakened Jordan

December 13, 2018

US counter-terrorism experts are warning about the vulnerabilities of Jordan to Islamic State (IS) and other Islamist extremist groups, as the impact of a massive Syrian-Iraqi refugee burden on Jordan’s already-weak economy is creating the ripe conditions for radicalization and recruitment in the Hashemite Islamic Kingdom.