The Islamic State’s Amaq News Agency claims that the so-called caliphate’s “fighters” were responsible for yesterday’s attacks at London Bridge and Borough Market. At least seven people were killed and 48 others injured.
The government of Philippines says that an attack that left more than 30 people dead at the Resorts World Manila (RWM) casino was a botched robbery. However, the Islamic State claims that one of its supporters carried it out.
The Islamic State’s Amaq News Agency has released its first video from the fighting in the southern Philippine city of Marawi. Jihadists loyal to the so-called caliphate launched their offensive in Marawi more than a week ago.
A suicide bomber detonated a vehicle packed with explosives in the Afghan capital this morning. The bombing was carried out near the German Embassy. At least 80 people were killed, according to initial casualty reports.
British officials say they are still investigating a possible “wider conspiracy” behind the Manchester Arena bombing on May 22. Meanwhile, British interior minister Amber Rudd told BBC News that security services are “looking at 500 different plots” with 3,000 possible terrorists on the “top list” and 20,000 “underneath that.”
The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for yesterday’s massacre of at least 28 Coptic Christians traveling on a bus in Minya, Egypt. The group’s arms in both the Sinai and mainland Egypt have repeatedly targeted Copts. The Egyptian government has retaliated by bombing suspected training camps in Libya.
International authorities are investigating the possibility that a “network” assisted Salman Abedi in the Manchester Arena bombing earlier this week. The investigation stretches from the UK to Libya, where Abedi’s younger brother and father have been detained. His brother, Hashim, has allegedly admitted prior knowledge of the plot and that the siblings were Islamic State members.
The bombing was the first claimed attack in months for the Islamic State forces inside Somalia.
A bomb killed at least 22 people and wounded 59 others at the Manchester Arena in Britain last night. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the bombing.
A team of several jihadists raided the offices of National Radio Television of Afghanistan (RTA) in Jalalabad earlier today. At least several people were killed and many others wounded. The Islamic State claims two of its men detonated “explosive motorcycles” at the beginning of the operation.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) presented its written “Worldwide Threat Assessment” to the Senate last week. The analysis confirms that the Islamic State is capable of sustaining insurgencies in both Iraq and Syria, Afghan security continues to “deteriorate,” and al Qaeda remains a threat in several parts of the globe.
Jamaat ul Dawa al Quran is an excellent example of the complex and evolving network of jihadist groups that operate in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region. The three designated leaders have been tied to al Qaeda, the Taliban, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and the Islamic State.
The ninth issue of the Islamic State’s Rumiyah (“Rome”) magazine features an interview with the group’s “emir” in Egypt. He concedes that the jihadists’ church bombings and ideology are not popular inside Egypt. Regardless, Rumiyah attempts to justify the Islamic State’s anti-Christian terror.
The Islamic State’s Wilayah Khorasan (or Khorasan “province”) has claimed responsibility for a bombing that killed at least eight civilians in Kabul, Afghanistan earlier today. The suicide attack targeted a NATO convoy that was driving near the US Embassy in Afghanistan’s capital. Three American servicemen were wounded in the blast.
The Islamic State’s Wilayah Khorasan and the Taliban clashed in the Chaparhar district of Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province earlier today. The two sides have battled each other in the area since 2015. Late last month, the Islamic State also fought with the Taliban in northern Afghanistan and assassinated a Taliban figure in Peshawar.
Hay’at Tahrir al Sham (“Assembly for the Liberation of the Levant”) and the Islamic State continue to battle for control of the Yarmouk camp in southern Damascus.
Two American soldiers were killed during a raid against the Islamic State in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province. A third American perished during combat earlier this month. The Islamic State’s so-called Khorasan province has lost ground since the beginning of 2016, but is still able to engage in heavy fighting and launch significant attacks.
The UK Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee has released its investigative report on the Aug. 21, 2015 drone strike that killed UK national Reyaad Khan. The bombing was “the first time outside participation in a military campaign that the UK had conducted a lethal drone strike against a terrorist target.” Khan was one of the Islamic State’s most prolific cyber planners.
The Islamic State’s Amaq News Agency quickly claimed credit yesterday for a shooting in the Russian city of Khabarovsk that left at least one FSB officer dead. However, the Russian government claims that “information” about the gunman “points to his being a member of a neo-Nazi group.”
The Islamic State’s Amaq News Agency has claimed responsibility for today’s attack in the Champs-Élysées shopping area of Paris. Europe has been struck at least four times in recent weeks, but the Islamic State has only taken credit for two of the attacks.
The Department of Justice announced yesterday that a 24 year-old Ohio man, Terrence J. McNeil, has pleaded guilty to terrorism charges. Prosecutors charged McNeil with soliciting the murders of American servicemen after he republished an Islamic State “hit list” online. The list was first compiled by Junaid Hussain, an Islamic State operative who was subsequently killed in a drone strike in Raqqa, Syria.
On Mar. 30, the US Treasury Department designated Bahrun Naim as a terrorist. Naim is one of the most prolific planners of the Islamic State’s so-called “remote-controlled” attacks. Most of his plots have been thwarted by counterterrorism officials, but he has a broad network of supporters in Indonesia.
The State Department announced yesterday that two Canadian citizens have been added to the US government’s list designated terrorists. Tarek Sakr has been “linked” to al Qaeda’s “affiliate” in Syria and Farah Mohamed Shirdon is a member of the Islamic State. According to press reports, jihadists associated with Sakr are suspected of playing a role in the kidnappings of two Americans in Syria.
US and Afghan forces have been attempting to clear the Islamic State’s so-called Khorasan province from Achin and several other districts in eastern Afghanistan for nearly two years.
The Islamic State has claimed credit for bombings at two Coptic churches in the Egyptian cities of Tanta and Alexandria earlier today. The attacks killed dozens of people and wounded approximately 100 others. The so-called caliphate has a history of targeting Christians in Iraq, Egypt and Libya.
The policy debate concerning Syria must reflect on-the-ground realities. The war is a complex, multi-sided affair with no easy solutions.
An American soldier was killed while fighting the Islamic State’s jihadists in eastern Afghanistan. While the Wilayah Khorasan (or Khorasan province) has suffered significant losses since early 2016, it still maintains a significant operational capacity and can mount high-profile attacks.
The eighth edition of the Islamic State’s Rumiyah magazine features a cover story on Ahmad Abousamra, who was added to the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorist List in 2013. Abousamra was the “chief editor” of Dabiq, the Islamic State’s English-language magazine, and also one of al Qaeda’s fiercest rhetorical opponents. He described al Qaeda’s leaders and pro-al Qaeda ideologues as the “Jews of Jihad.”
The US military announced today that a senior Islamic State propagandist, Ibrahim al-Ansari, was killed in an airstrike in Al-Qaim, Iraq on Mar. 25. Al-Ansari “was a leader in producing and disseminating propaganda to direct, encourage and instruct terror attacks, as well as to recruit foreign terrorist fighters,” a US military spokesman said. Al-Ansari also “promoted terror attacks against US and Turkish citizens” and was responsible for “the brainwashing of young children to perpetuate ISIS’s brutal message.”
Anjem Choudary, the British Islamist who is directly linked to Omar Bakri Muhammad, and who has formed several radical Islamist organizations, such as Al Muhajiroun, Al Ghurabaa, and Islam4UK, is among the newly designated terrorists.