Islamic Terrorism in the West ( Mega thread)

[Journeyman]

by David French July 14, 2017 5:19 PM
A compelling piece from a member of the foreign-policy elite

David French is a "member of the foreign-policy elite"? 

a)  :stars:

b)  :rofl:        Your choice.

Clearly we're working with different definitions.

 

[Remius]

David French is a "member of the foreign-policy elite"? 

a)  :stars:

b)  :rofl:        Your choice.

Clearly we're working with different definitions.

I suggest you read the actual article.  The member of the foreign policy elite that David French refers to is Cheryl Bernard.  specifically him making reference to an article she wrote.

 

[Journeyman]

Sorry, I got side-tracked by "by David French July 14, 2017 5:19 PM

A compelling piece from a member of the foreign-policy elite .... " which suggests that this right-wing shill was somehow an elite anything.



But if people are actually reading, I recommend this from Business Insider:

Is terrorism getting worse?
Frederic Lemieux, PhD
LINK

Despite the intensity of media coverage and public perception, terrorism is actually not more frequent today than a few decades ago. For instance, terrorist attacks were far more common during the Cold War period than during the post-9/11 era. Some experts believe terrorism peaked during the 1970s.
Despite the recent attacks, the U.K. and Western Europe experienced relatively low terrorist activity during the period 2000 to 2016 compared with the period 1970 to 1995.

In the United States, terrorism attacks were in sharp decline from 1970 to 2011, decreasing from approximately 475 incidents a year to fewer than 20.

Worldwide, terrorism is highly concentrated in a handful of countries.
Terrorist attacks in 2014 were mainly concentrated in Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan and Syria. These countries saw 78 percent of the deaths and 57 percent of all attacks in the world. Since 2000, only 3 percent of deaths caused by terrorist attacks took place in Western countries, including Australia, Canada, members of the European Union and the United States.

In the U.S., the number of deaths represents 2.2 percent of the worldwide terrorist death toll. The violence committed in Western countries by organized terrorist groups such as al-Qaida or IS represents approximately 30 percent, while so-called “lone wolfs” account for 70 percent of the attacks.

All in all, terrorism activity in Western countries is not worse than before the 9/11 era. The opposite is true.

 

[Loachman]

A million plus Russians, with about 75% being military-age single males, did not flood into Europe, Scandinavia, and the UK during the Cold War, sucking up resources, burning cars, harassing people, and driving up rape rates, however.

Conventional terrorism is rightly a concern, which should not be casually dismissed, but it is the huge influx of society-altering foreigners who have no respect for their host culture that seems to be the biggest worry for people.

 

[Jarnhamar]

IMAO mass refugees /migrants can be weaponized  and cause terror if and when that mass flux of migrants are drastically increasing the rate of violent and sexual crimes.

 

[Remius]

Sorry, I got side-tracked by "by David French July 14, 2017 5:19 PM

A compelling piece from a member of the foreign-policy elite .... " which suggests that this right-wing shill was somehow an elite anything.



But if people are actually reading, I recommend this from Business Insider:

Good article.  I'm curious about what they said about PETA that caused the correction  [

 

[a_majoor]

While this guy evidently didn't have any sort of realistic plan to actually carry out his stated goal, the possibility of mega attacks and truly grotesque casualty figures is always in the background. You can only wonder how many people are out there thinking of how to do attacks with  casualties in the thousands:

https://pjmedia.com/homeland-security/2017/07/25/bay-area-isis-supporter-wanted-to-redefine-terror-kill-10000/

Bay Area ISIS Supporter Wanted to 'Redefine Terror,' Kill 10,000
BY PATRICK POOLE JULY 25, 2017

A 22-year-old  man from Oakland, California, man was indicted Friday on charges related to material support for ISIS.

His case represents the 130th ISIS-related arrest in the U.S. since March 2014.

According to the Justice Department, Amer Sinan Alhaggagi opened up social media accounts on behalf of ISIS and was willing to commit a suicide bombing.

Even more disturbing, according to the indictment, Alhaggagi said he wanted to "redefine terror" and kill 10,000 people here in a domestic terror attack.

The indictment also states that Alhaggagi discussed selling poison drugs and attacking a gay club in San Francisco.

"The whole Bay Area is going to be up in flames," he reportedly said.

He had also spent time in Yemen, and had planned to flee the country through Mexico following his attacks.

Alhaggagi was arrested in November 2016 and held on unrelated charges until last week's indictment.

Regarding the case, the Justice Department announced:

According to the indictment, Alhaggagi, 22, of Oakland, California, is alleged to have knowingly attempted to provide services and personnel to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), between July and November of 2016, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2339B. ISIS is a designated foreign terrorist organization. The indictment alleges that the services Alhaggagi attempted to provide included opening social media accounts for the use, benefit and promotion of ISIS, and that the personnel he provided was himself.
But the indictment reveals more stunning details about Alhaggagi's plans.

ABC News 7 in San Francisco, which has been following the case for months, reported:

The 22-year-old was born in Lodi and grew up in the East Bay. He attended Berkeley High and was living an apartment complex in West Oakland at the time of his arrest. Prosecutors say by the time he was arrested, he had been communicating with a confidential source working for the FBI and they allege Alhaggagi spent months planning attacks and discussing his willingness to kill and be killed for ISIS.
The government says this was only one of several violent plans Alhaggagi discussed [...]

In that December 2016 court hearing, prosecutors revealed Alhaggagi talked about plans to sell cocaine laced with rat poison in Bay Area nightclubs. The undercover agent says he was looking for information on the exact mixture of strychnine and cocaine to use in that scheme. He showed the agent an ISIS bomb-making manual he downloaded on a computer and he sent the agent photographs of guns he said he obtained.

"He then told confidential source number one, 'I live close to San Francisco, that's like the gay capital of the world. I'm going to handle them right, LOL,' meaning laughing out loud. 'I'm going to place a bomb in a gay club, Wallah or by God, I'm going to tear up the city.' And I quote, 'The whole Bay Area is going to be up in flames,'" the federal prosecutor explained to Judge Westmore in his argument to have Alhaggagi detained.

He also told the court how Alhaggagi took the undercover agent, posing as an ISIS supporter from Salt Lake City, on a tour of the Bay Area including the Cal Berkeley campus. The feds say he wanted to plant backpack bombs at the dorms and went along with the undercover agent to set up a storage unit where he would store supplies for his plans.

The FBI's investigators say one sign of how serious he was about his support for ISIS came when he showed up at a meeting with the undercover agent at the storage unit with three backpacks to be used to carry bombs.

Alhaggagi's lawyer released a statement Friday saying, "Amer is not anti-American and does not support ISIS or any other terrorist organization. He is completely nonviolent and he took no actions to harm anyone."

His family gave the following statement to local media, saying he had never been radicalized:

We were shocked to learn of the accusations involving Amer. Amer is not and has never been radicalized in any way. He grew up in this country and loves it here. He is peaceful and kind. He was very young and immature when he got involved in the online conversations that are the basis for these accusations. He did not think those conversations were serious and he never had any intent to harm anyone. We love him and continue to fully support him.

In another ISIS-related case I reported on here at PJ Media earlier this month, a U.S. soldier stationed in Hawaii and arrested for supporting ISIS has now been charged, federal officials said Saturday.

U.S. Soldier Arrested for Supporting ISIS... https://t.co/a0YCUSynX8

— DRUDGE REPORT (@DRUDGE_REPORT) July 11, 2017
Ikaika Erik Kang is accused of offering classified documents and military training to the terror group.

Federal prosecutors also presented images of Kang swearing allegiance to ISIS, including kissing the group's flag.

 

[George Wallace]

Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act.

BELGIUM TERROR ATTACK Brussels in lockdown after knife maniac slashes soldiers with a ‘machete’ and is shot dead in city centre
A 30-year-old man, said to be from Somalia, charged at a group of soldiers in what officials have called a terror attack
By Gemma Mullin and Chloe Kerr
25th August 2017, 8:39 pmUpdated: 26th August 2017, 12:41 am

The Belgian capital was placed in lockdown with a massive police response following the horror, which came an hour before an almost identical attack on two police officers outside Buckingham Palace.

The scene after a man reportedly armed with a 'machete' knifed two soldiers on patrol in Brussels

A police officer can be seen tending to the 31-year-old on the ground in Brussels city centre

The soldiers - who suffered injuries to their face and hand - opened fire on the attacker as the 30-year-old man, believed to be from Somalia, charged at them with a large bladed weapon.

Pictures showed police and medics battling to save the suspected terrorist's life before he was taken to hospital, where he later died.
Officials said the man had no known extremist links - but the prosecutor's office said: "We believe it is a terrorist attack".

A spokeswoman for federal prosecutors said the man had shouted "Allahu Akbar" (Arabic for "God is Great") twice during the attack.
She added: "With the identity that we currently have, it is a 30-year-old man who is not known for terrorist activities."

Belgian Federal Police spokesman, Jonathan Pfunde, said: "A man armed with a knife attacked a group of soldiers. The soldiers fired at him and neutralised the individual."

Police secure the scene in downtown Brussels after a reported attack on Belgian Army soldiers

A tent can be seen set up at the scene after a man was shot dead by soldiers


It happened at 8.20pm local time (7.20pm BST) near the on Emile-Jacqmain Boulevard, according to local reports.

Witnesses staying nearby hotels said the area was put into lockdown, while a cordon was set up around the scene.

Pictures since emerged showing emergency services working on the man, who was later taken to hospital in a critical condition.
The attack comes just a week after 15 people were murdered in twin terror attacks in Spain.

The alleged ringleader of the Spain terror attacks Abdelbaki Es Satty was in Brussels shortly before the bombings there in 2016, according to reports.

Police are reportedly investigating whether he was involved in the ISIS assaults on Brussels airport and a Metro station that killed 32 people on March 22, 2016.

An hour after the attack in Brussels, a man said to be "armed with a sword" attacked two police officers outside Buckingham Palace in London.

He was arrested on suspicion of grievous bodily harm and assault on police just after 8.35pm on Friday evening.

In Brussels, the streets are patrolled by soldiers and regular officers due to a heightened security threat level in the wake of militant attacks in Paris and the Belgian capital in 2015 and 2016.

In June, troops shot dead a suspected suicide bomber in Brussels' central train station but there were no other casualties, in what authorities treated a terrorist incident.

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel tweeted: "All our support is with our soldiers. Our security services remain on alert. We are following the situation closely."

Brussels resident Freddie Martyn told Sky News: "I arrived on the scene minutes after the incident happened.
"As I got there police were running towards me trying to cordon off the area.

One side of the road I saw an ambulance with someone in there, which I'm guessing was the soldier because on the other side there was another man in civilian clothing being given CPR."

He added: "It was all quite frightening."

Thomas da Silva Rosa tweeted: "A man with a machete attacked soldiers on patrol in Brussels centre, now shot dead."
Ryan MacDonald wrote: "Sound of gunshot, heavy police presence outside on Boulevard Emile Jacqmain, Brussels."

More on LINK.

 

[George Wallace]

Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act.

'WE WILL SEND THEM TO ALLAH'
Mayor promises anyone who shouts ‘Allahu Akbar’ in Venice will be gunned down
An Italian mayor has ordered cops to shoot on sight anyone who shouts ‘’Allahu Akbar’’ rather than risk a terror attack
By Nick Pisa
23rd August 2017, 11:23 pm Updated: 25th August 2017, 2:06 am

Cops in Venice have been told to shoot potential terrorists on sight.

The Italian city’s mayor has ordered them to target anyone shouting “Allahu Akbar”, Arabic for God is Greater.

Luigi Brugnaro, mayor of the tourist hot spot of Venice, revealed the order at a summer think tank and was applauded by delegates.

He said: “Anyone who shouts Allahu Akbar in St Mark’s Square can expect to be gunned down by snipers within four paces.

‘’We need to increase our security when it comes to terrorism. We had four would be terrorists arrested in Venice a few months ago who wanted to blow up the Rialto bridge.

‘’They said they wanted to go and meet Allah so we will send them straight to Allah without having to throw them off the bridge, we will just shoot them.’’

Last night he added:’’I have never been politically correct, in fact I am politically correct and that’s why we also need a naval blockade against people coming into Italy from north Africa.’’

The cry Allahu Akbar was first used by the Prophet Muhammad in the seventh century before he went into battle.

Earlier this year, four suspect terrorists were arrested in Venice for plotting to set off explosions on the Rialto Bridge

It was found in notes made by 9/11 ringleader Mohamed Atta after the Twin Tower attacks in New York.

The document contained the passage: “Shout, ‘Allahu Akbar,’ because this strikes fear in the hearts of the non-believers.”

It has also been used by the killers of Lee Rigby and witnesses reported the Paris Bataclan attackers also yelling the phrase.

Last night no-one from the Venice police department was available for comment and a spokesman would only say:’’We never discuss operational security.’’

Controversial mayor Luigi Brugnaro has been applauded by delegates for his straight talking towards ISIS

More on LINK.

 

[George Wallace]

Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act.

TERROR BLAST
Dramatic moment ‘terror cell’ blow themselves up after being surrounded by Russian special forces
Cops tracked the four alleged extremists to a house in Psedach, Russia
By Sam Christie
25th August 2017, 12:56 amUpdated: 25th August 2017, 6:57 am

Police tracked the four alleged extremists to a house in the village of Psedach in south western Russia's Republic of Ingushetia.

Police tracked the four alleged extremists to a house in the village of Psedach in south western Russia's Republic of Ingushetia

But they began shooting at the officers before blowing themselves up rather than be captured

They were being hunted by the secret services in connection with the attempted murder of policemen.

But they began shooting at the officers before blowing themselves up rather than be captured.

Footage shows how the specialist troops surrounded the lair and began shooting at the property with rifles, machine guns and mortars.

No one else was injured in the blast, which was captured in footage taken by Russian national anti-terrorism committee

Realising that the game was up the militants then decided to blow themselves up rather than be captured.

A video shows how the huge explosion from their suicide bombs ripped the roof off the little cottage.

No one else was injured in the blast, which was captured in footage taken by Russian national anti-terrorism committee.

An unnamed Federal Security Service source said: "They were given an opportunity to give themselves up and to stay alive.

"They blew themselves up, committing suicide - which is forbidden in Islam."

Police found an arsenal of weapons inside the house after the explosion

The four dead men were believed to be members of an Islamist terror cell


The terrorists were believed to be members of the Khunzakh militant group.

Two of them, Bekhan Soltukiev, 34 and Mikhail Cherbizhev, 31 were wanted for a series of attacks on police officers.

The special services identified the third man who died in the blast as Khasan Khatsiev.

They have yet to release the identity of the fourth man killed in the explosion, which completely destroyed the building

Video and more on LINK.

 

[The Bread Guy]

Just a reminder that it ain't just ISIL or AQ out there ...

Hizballah: Recent Arrests Reveal Pre-Operational Planning
NJ Department of Homeland Security, August 21, 2017

On June 1, federal authorities arrested two individuals tied to Hizballah’s Islamic Jihad Organization (IJO)—which is responsible for planning intelligence-gathering, counterintelligence, and terrorist activities on behalf of the group internationally—for attempting to provide material support, among other charges. Ali Mohamad Kourani conducted surveillance on a variety of targets in New York City, including FBI offices, an Army National Guard facility, a US Secret Service facility, a US Army armory, and John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport.

The recent arrests of Samer el Debek and Ali Mohamad Kourani indicate Hizballah has both the intent and capability to attack the United States and the West. Hizballah operatives continue to gather intelligence on security practices and military technologies in the United States, and possess the technical training and resources to target Western interests. Since 2008, IJO operatives have been implicated in over 20 terrorist attacks and plots globally, including the bombing of an Israeli tour bus in Burgas, Bulgaria, killing six and injuring 32 others, in 2012 ...

 

[George Wallace]

Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act.

What happens when an ISIS member returns to Canada? The story of one Toronto-area man
By Stewart Bell
National Online Journalist, Investigative  
Global News

He had been in Syria for almost six months, serving in the morality police of the so-called Islamic State, when he decided he’d seen enough.

The recruiters had promised an Islamic utopia but it was just a cruel police state, one he wasn’t willing to die for. He was frightened and disillusioned.

He wanted to go home to Canada.

He left the city of Manbij during the night, taking a motorcycle north to Jarabulus and crossing into southern Turkey, where he was arrested and deported.

“All that’s behind me,” the Pakistani-Canadian, lanky and in his 20s, told Global News in an interview after returning to the Toronto area last summer.

“We all do things that we regret.”

There are said to be dozens like him across Canada, “returnees” who have spent time in terrorist groups and come home. And with ISIS collapsing in Syria and Iraq, more are expected to turn up.

They raise obvious security concerns. Are they determined to carry on the fight from Canada — recruiting, fundraising and plotting? Or are they disenchanted and want only to resume ordinary lives?

“In the worst-case scenario, one or more of those returnees with terrorist and/or combat experience may target elements of Canadian society,” said an RCMP report obtained under the Access to Information Act. “They may use Canada as a base for targeting others, including the United States.”

How Canada is dealing with returnees is seldom discussed in public. Few are charged, owing to the challenge of proving what they did abroad. And most seek anonymity for understandable reasons.

But declassified national security documents and interviews with officials, experts and a self-professed Canadian ISIS returnee, offer a unique glimpse into the secretive world.

“Any individual, of course, that we know is returning from a conflict that we suspect of being involved with a terrorist organization, we will pay very close attention to,” RCMP assistant commissioner James Malizia said in an interview.

Returnees are “one of our highest priorities,” said Malizia, who is in charge of the RCMP’s national security program. “We’re keeping a close eye on the situation as it unfolds in Syria and Iraq and other conflict zones. Certainly, it’s a concern to us.”

One of those returnees now lives in a spacious house with a satellite dish and a two-car garage and attends a university in the Toronto region. Because he fears arrest, he agreed to speak to Global News on the condition he not be identified.

Many of the details of his account could not be verified but Global News has viewed evidence of the RCMP’s interest in him, and those familiar with his story, including an academic expert who has spoken with him, believe he is credible.

After graduating from a Greater Toronto Area high school in 2012, the Canadian said he traveled to Pakistan, the country he left with his parents at age six, and applied to attend university in Lahore.

The mosque he attended was affiliated with the armed Islamist group Lashkar-e-Tayyiba and the discussion often turned to the need to liberate Muslim lands. “They talked mostly about jihad,” he said.

Among the Lashkar devotees, many of whom had fought in Afghanistan, young men were expected to take up arms in northern Pakistan or Syria. Not wanting to battle the Pakistani military, he chose Syria. “They were sending people,” he said, estimating between 10 and 15 had left.

The recruiter told him what to do, he said. Using his own money, he bought a plane ticket to Istanbul, then made his way to Sanliurfa, a Turkish city near the border, where he met the ISIS facilitators who brought him to Syria.

It was January 2014 when he arrived in Jarabulus. The first stop was the screening office, where he was asked about his experience and Islamic knowledge, and whether he wanted to be a fighter or suicide bomber.

He was assigned to the ISIS morality police, known as Al-Hisbah, and sent to Manbij, a city in Aleppo district. Former U.S.  president Barack Obama’s defense secretary, Ash Carter, has called Manbij a key city for foreign fighters and a base for “external operators” plotting attacks in the West.

ISIS had just taken control of the city from rebel forces and needed the Husbah to impose its brutal, uncompromising vision of an Islamic society on the population. Music, shaving, mixing of the sexes, cigarettes, homosexuality, satellite dishes, alcohol and drugs were among the many things banned.

The enforcers of this rigid agenda were members of the Hisbah police, like the Canadian. Armed with a Glock pistol that he bought himself, he patrolled the streets ensuring the strict ISIS codes of dress and conduct were obeyed.

Punishments could be severe. Those caught flirting were locked in a cage for a day, he said. Smoking brought a lashing. Thieves had their fingers or hands amputated. Women whose faces were uncovered would be beaten, the United Nations reported in August 2014. Video shows those accused of homosexuality being thrown off rooftops.

The most terrifying sentence was for “apostates,” meaning anyone suspected of disloyalty to ISIS beliefs. They were publicly shot or beheaded and then crucified and left for days as a warning to others.

ISIS ties two men to crucifix in Manbij, Syria, June 2014.An ISIS video obtained from the Middle East Media Research Institute shows one such atrocity in Manbij on June 8, 2014. Two men, described as “Allah’s enemies” and “infidels,” are shown kneeling and blindfolded with their hands tied. After they have been shot dead, their bloodied bodies are taken to a wooden scaffolding and tied with their arms outstretched.

“People would die for their crimes,” the Canadian said. “It is what it is. You can’t sugar coat it.” But while he acknowledged he had witnessed killings, he said he never killed anyone himself. He insisted he was gentle with people. “I’d be too nice,” he said. “I’d be slack.”

Several suspected extremists have been arrested in Turkey and returned to Canada but the RCMP report said there were risks associated with receiving information about returnees from countries with poor human rights records.

“The RCMP should be wary of utilizing information about subject X when it has been provided by a country’s law enforcement forces that are known to use torture, unreasonable detention, or lack of due process,” it said.

Stopping would-be terrorists before they reach a training camp or combat zone is critical, Malizia said. “The advantage for us is we’re able to intercept someone before they receive the combat skills which would, of course, render them a higher risk if they were to return to Canada.”

But a lot of them aren’t stopped. By the end of 2015, about 180 extremists “with a nexus to Canada” were active in terrorist groups around the world, including about 100 in Syria and Iraq, according to the most recent government figures.

The Canadian said it didn’t take him long to see the rot in the heart of ISIS. For all its angry rhetoric about defending Muslims, ISIS killed a lot of them. He said delegations from rival armed factions would arrive in Manbij for talks, only to be shot dead as they were leaving in their vehicles.

As for ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, while he sent his fighters on suicide missions, he went to lengths to safeguard his own personal security. And while it was supposed to oppose nationalism, the Canadian said the Arabs who dominated ISIS looked down on South Asians like him.

“I saw hypocrisy, a lot of hypocrisy,” he said.

Seeing killings affected him, and he got scared. He knew he would one day be sent to the front lines but he didn’t want to die. He had kept in touch with his Canadian family on the internet and wanted to see them again.

He spent a week planning his escape, he said. Using Google Maps to plot a route, he reached the Turkish border crossing at Jarabulus and was arrested. He said he showed the Turkish authorities his Canadian passport and Ontario driver’s license. But they wouldn’t let him go back to Canada, he said.

“They sympathized with me,” he said. They told him the Canadian authorities would prosecute him so they would deport him to Pakistan instead. “Save yourself,” they told him. The Turkish police drove him to the airport and made sure he got on a flight to Pakistan, he said.

Days after he left, on June 19, 2014, Al-Baghdadi, having captured the Iraqi city of Mosul, declared he had established an Islamic caliphate and that he was its leader. “I was just happy that I was out of there,” the Canadian said.

He remained in Pakistan for two years before moving back to Toronto. As he got off the plane at Pearson airport in the summer of 2016, he went through a passport check without any trouble. He told the immigration officers he’d been in Pakistan. Since he’d used a Pakistani passport to travel to Syria, the officers had no reason to doubt him.

But then he made a mistake.

In posts on social media, he criticized the ISIS leadership. To underscore his point, he said he was an ex-ISIS member. “It slipped out,” he said. Global News independently obtained a copy of the online posts. Before long, two national security investigators were at his door.

When the RCMP identifies returnees it will “meet with them and get a sense of where they’re at, what their intentions are,” Malizia said. “There are some individuals that return from a conflict zone that may still have motives to now maybe conduct an attack or do something in Canada or in another country.”
“But there are others that come back from a conflict zone and may be seized with post-traumatic stress disorder or disillusioned,” he said. “And some do come back and decide to re-integrate themselves in society and try to live a normal life.”

Malizia said if police suspect they were active in a terrorist group, “we’ll fully investigate and if we can lay criminal charges we will.” In addition, police can monitor the social media activities of returnees, revoke their passports and place them on the no-fly list, according to the RCMP foreign fighter report.

The report also said police “community engagement specialists” should “assist the returnee in engaging with supportive community resources, including those who would help steer the individual away from criminal activities associated with terrorism.”

The European Commission’s Radicalization Awareness Network said much the same thing in a recent report. “In the long term, authorities and local communities need to work together to resocialize or integrate returnees into society.”

Around the time the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and RCMP came calling, Mubin Shaikh paid him a visit as well. A U.S. journalist had found the returnee’s contact information in data retrieved in Syria and suggested Shaikh speak to him.

Shaikh had once flirted with radicalism himself but had turned against it and infamously served as an undercover agent in the Toronto 18, the Al Qaeda-inspired terrorists who plotted attacks in Ontario until their arrests in June 2006. Shaikh went on to earn a master’s degree in policing, intelligence and counter-terrorism and became active in deradicalization.

After meeting the ex-ISIS member, Shaikh began spending time with him, often weekly, trying to “contain his ideology and to point him in the right direction, gently challenging some of his ideas.”

Shaikh said he was a “middle space” between the youth and the police. The parents help as well, and he has told his imam. “He’s largely self-deradicalized. He’s not completely there,” Shaikh said. “He’s not a public safety threat.”

Returnees can fall into a gap, Shaikh said. Police have a mandate to investigate but are often unable to lay charges. That leaves the community to deal with them. But who is best placed to take on the sensitive task?

“If you decide that they do need some kind of counselling, the people that you send them to, what qualifications do they have? Just because a person is an imam doesn’t qualify them automatically to do this kind of counseling.” Imams and community leaders need training on how to recognize and confront extremists, Shaikh said.

That is beginning to happen. In March, 20 imams from the Toronto area, Hamilton, Ottawa, and Edmonton attended an RCMP counter-terrorism awareness workshop. They learned about the Salafi jihadist mindset, behavioural indicators, counter-terrorism law and Toronto’s radicalization prevention efforts.

“Government cannot do it alone,” said Hamid Slimi, who heads the national security committee of the Canadian Council of Imams, which took part in the training. “Therefore, council of imams said we will work with the authorities, including RCMP, to combat any potential threat or any misguided radicalized kind of thinking.”

He said returnees were a concern. Where will they go when they come back? What if they bring children back with them? What about the ones nobody even knows about? “Who is going to follow up with them? Authorities? Community is not ready for that.”

The council can play a role but “it doesn’t have a magic wand,” he said. A hotline was to be set up shortly, allowing those with concerns about extremism to speak directly to an imam. Highly qualified people are ready to step up, he said, “but not too many, there is a shortage.”

“We’re still making baby steps.”

The ex-ISIS police officer said returnees must be screened and those who pose a threat should be dealt with. But he doesn’t believe the true believers will ever come back. They will die in Syria, he said.

He insisted Canadians shouldn’t worry about the ones like him who abandoned ISIS. But he said they needed support and guidance. “Don’t keep them isolated,” he said. “You have to have someone to talk to about it.”

He still struggles, he said.

“It’s not like you can become deradicalized right away the next day,” he said. But he said he was focused on his life goals. He has a girlfriend, supportive parents and Shaikh, whom he said “loosened the noose around my neck.”

The RCMP has not charged him, likely because they don’t have enough evidence. “The RCMP’s last message to me was, ‘Stay focused on school,’” he said.
The investigating officer told him, “If I come back, I will charge you,” he said.

He is uncertain about his future, not knowing if he might be arrested one day. But he also knows that if he had stayed in Syria, he would be dead like his former comrades. He said he was done with all that. “I have too much to lose now,” he said.

“I’ve moved on.”

[email protected]

Videos and more on Global News LINK.

Another Link (CBC):  Young Canadian ISIS recruit says he saw violence on scale he could never have imagined

 

[George Wallace]

Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act.

Montreal couple was intent on waging jihad, Crown says
The Canadian Press
Published Wednesday, September 13, 2017 11:56AM EDT

MONTREAL - The Crown says a young Montreal couple was intent on answering the call from Islamic State to wage jihad in the Middle East and had amassed bomb-making materials at their home.

El Mahdi Jamali, 20, and Sabrine Djermane, 21 are on trial on four charges: attempting to leave Canada to commit a terror act abroad; possession of an explosive substance; facilitating a terrorist act; and committing an act under the direction or for the profit of a terrorist organization.

They have pleaded not guilty.

Federal prosecutor Lyne Decarie has previously named 31 police and civilian witnesses her team intends to call as it presents its case.

Decarie said today a tip to the RCMP in April 2015 led to a swift arrest and several searches.

Authorities say they found the couple had bags packed with new clothes and had booked plane tickets for a flight to Syria the following month.

More on LINK.

Other related links:

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/trial-begins-in-montreal-for-2-people-charged-with-terrorism-related-offences-1.3586099

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/quebec-funds-living-together-project-at-school-linked-to-radicalization-1.2815596

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/montreal-teens-facing-terror-charges-to-remain-behind-bars-over-summer-1.2467110

[Edit to fix LINK]

 

[Jarnhamar]

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/world-news/645177/France-Hammer-Attack-Allahu-Akbar-Terror-Two-Women-Chalon-sur-Saone-Parsons-Green

Probably didn't like how they were dressed.

 

[George Wallace]

Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act.

2 women killed in knife attack at Marseille train station, assailant shot dead
Incident prompts Paris prosecutor's office to open counterterrorism investigation
Thomson Reuters Posted: Oct 01, 2017 9:09 AM ET Last Updated: Oct 01, 2017 3:38 PM ET

Police secure the area outside the Saint Charles train station after French soldiers shot and killed a man after he stabbed two women to death in Marseille, France, on Sunday. (Jean-Paul Pelissier/Reuters)

A man with a knife killed two women at the main train station in the French port city of Marseille on Sunday, in an attack that French authorities were probing for links to Islamic extremism.

Police sources said the victims were aged 17 and 20, and that one had her throat slit while the other was stabbed in the chest and stomach.

The assailant was shot dead by a soldier from a military Sentinelle patrol, a force deployed across the country as part of a state of emergency declared after Islamist attacks that began almost two years ago.

"We have until now managed to avoid such dramatic incidents [in Marseille]. I think it was a terrorist attack and the individual who was killed seems to have had several identities," Marseille mayor Jean-Claude Gaudin told reporters.

Paris was rocked in 2015 by multiple attacks that killed 130 people. In 2016, a gunman drove a truck into a crowd celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, killing 86 people. Both of these attacks were claimed by ISIS.

Other countries, including Britain, Germany and Belgium, have also suffered attacks by militants using knives, guns, explosives and driving vehicles at crowds.

On Sunday, some 200 police officers cordoned off the area and all roads were closed to traffic.

A witness told Reuters she saw a man take out a knife from his sleeve and then stab a young girl and then a second woman, shouting what could have been "Allahu akbar."

'Barbaric act'

Speaking in Marseille, Interior Minister Gérard Collomb said the man had initially killed one woman and looked to be running away before returning to attack a second woman and then rush toward soldiers from the Sentinelle force who arrived on the scene quickly and shot him dead.

Two police sources said the attacker had been carrying a butcher's knife, was around 30 years old and of North African  appearance. One source said he was known to police for common law crimes, while another said digital analysis of fingerprints had come up with several aliases.

"This could be an act of terrorism, but we cannot confirm it fully at this stage," Collomb told reporters.

The Paris prosecutor's office, which oversees all terrorism cases in France, said it had opened a counterterrorism investigation of the Marseille attack.

It did not provide further details, including a possible motive.

Collomb declined to provide any details about the suspect or to identify the victims. He said the assailant's "strange" behaviour of attacking, running away and then returning to strike again was "a point of inquiry."

French troops are part of a U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and has thousands of soldiers in West Africa fighting al-Qaeda-linked militants, operations that have made these groups urge their followers to target France.

Spate of attacks

Security forces have increasingly been targeted by militants in knife attacks. A man wielding a knife attacked a soldier in a Paris metro station on Sept. 15.

President Emmanuel Macron said on Twitter he was "disgusted by this barbaric act" and praised the calmness and efficiency of security forces.

French lawmakers are due to vote on a much-criticized anti-terrorism law on Tuesday, which would see France come out of its state-of-emergency in November, although some of the powers would be enshrined in law.

The number of military personnel on the ground is also due to be reduced slightly, although the force is being adapted to make it more mobile and its movements less predictable.

"The presence of Sentinelle soldiers, their speed and efficiency ensured that the death count was not bigger," police union official Stéphane Battaglia told Reuters. 

With files from The Associated Press

© Thomson Reuters, 2017

More on LINK.

 

[The Bread Guy]

Um ...
"Marseille suspect had been released by police day before knife attack -- The man, who fatally stabbed two women outside Marseille’s main train station, was held overnight for shoplifting, and then released Saturday, a Paris prosecutor says ..."

 

[George Wallace]

For those still in "denial":

Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act.

Canadian man pleads guilty to terrorism in plot targeting NYC landmarks, subway: unsealed records
A Mississauga teen is awaiting sentencing in the 2016 plot and will be sentenced this December
By Shanifa Nasser, CBC News Posted: Oct 06, 2017 5:38 PM ET Last Updated: Oct 07, 2017 6:21 AM ET

A 19-year-old Mississauga, Ont., man awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to terrorism offences in a 2016 plot to detonate bombs in New York City in support of ISIS is "vulnerable" and "extremely fragile," his lawyer says.

Sabrina Shroff, who is representing the man, spoke to CBC News on Friday, saying Abdulrahman El Bahnasawy is doing the best that he can under the circumstances.

"It's a very difficult situation undoubtedly — not just for him but also for his entire family," Shroff said, emphasizing his young age. "We worry about him daily."

The charges were made public Friday when the U.S. Attorney's Office (Southern District of New York) revealed the details of the plot that allegedly included detonating bombs in Times Square and in the New York subway system, as well as shootings at various concert venues.

According to the information unsealed Friday, Abdulrahman El Bahnasawy purchased bomb-making materials and helped secure a cabin within driving distance of New York City for the purpose of building explosive devices.
 
Two others, Talha Haroon, a 19-year-old U.S. citizen living in Pakistan, and Russell Salic, a 37-year-old Philippine citizen, were also charged in connection with the alleged plot. The two were arrested outside of the U.S. and the hope, according to the release, is that they will be extradited to the U.S. for prosecution.

'These Americans need an attack'

El Bahnasawy, who has been in custody since his arrest by the FBI in May 2016, pleaded guilty on Oct. 13, 2016. He is the only one of the three to have pleaded guilty so far.

Details of the charges were made public Friday when the U.S. Attorney's Office (Southern District of New York) unsealed the terrorism charges.

According to the allegations, El Bahnasawy and Haroon plotted to carry out the attacks in support of ISIS during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

In preparing for the attacks, the two communicated electronically with an undercover FBI agent posing as an ISIS supporter.

In the course of their communication, they allegedly declared their allegiance to ISIS and expressed their intent to carry out attacks resembling the recent Paris and Brussels attacks.

"These Americans need an attack," El Bahnasawy allegedly stated to the officer, saying he aspired "to create the next 9/11."

El Bahnasawy allegedly told the undercover officer that he was in contact with an ISIS affiliate about attack plans officially sanctioned by a branch of ISIS active in Pakistan, and introduced Haroon to the agent.

In May 2016, El Bahnasawy, while in Canada, purchased an "array of bomb-making materials," including 18 kilograms of hydrogen peroxide, a key ingredient in making improvised explosive devices. Batteries, thermometers, aluminum foil and Christmas lights were also purchased.

'A day that will change history'

That same month, El Bahnasawy informed the agent that he had been in communication with Salic, known to him as "Abu Khalid" and "the doctor," about acquiring more funding for the attacks. El Bahnasawy provided the man's contact information to the agent to facilitate the transfer.

On May 11, $423 US was sent from the Philippines to help fund the plan, the U.S. Justice Department says.

Meanwhile, El Bahnasawy shipped the bomb-making materials to the United States and allegedly told the agent he wanted to practice shooting at the cabin, which would need refrigeration for the purpose of making explosives.

On May 12, the undercover agent sent Salic a photo of the hydrogen peroxide purchased by El Bahnasawy. It's alleged the man expressed to the agent that he would pray for the success of the attack.

On May 20, Haroon deemed Times Square the "perfect spot" for the attack, the release alleges. In the course of his communications with the agent, the man allegedly discussed attacking as early as Memorial Day (May 30, 2016), saying, "that's a day that will change history."

Public never at risk, RCMP says

El Bahnasawy travelled to the New York City area on May 21, 2016, in preparation for staging and ultimately carrying out the attacks, allegedly with Haroon.

U.S. law enforcement monitored the trip in co-ordination with Canadian law enforcement and El Bahnasawy was arrested that night in Cranford, N.J.

The two others were subsequently arrested — one in Pakistan and the other in the Philippines.

El Bahnasawy pleaded guilty last October to seven charges, including:

    Conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction.

    Conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries.

    Conspiring to bomb a place of public use and public transport.

    Conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists.

    Attempted provision and provision of material support and resources to terrorists.

    Conspiracy to provide material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization, i.e., ISIS.

    Attempted provision and provision of material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization, i.e., ISIS.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 12, 2017.

Asked if El Bahnasawy will appeal, Shroff would not confirm but did say, "In every terrorism case in which the United States plays some role, there's always a concern about the length an undercover [agent] will go."

In a statement to CBC News Friday, the RCMP said that at no time was the safety or security of the public at risk during the investigation.

"Abdulrahman El-Bahnasawy is a Canadian citizen who was part of an international plot to commit terrorist attacks in the United States and the charges are a direct result of his involvement and role," the statement said.

More on LINK.

 

[Journeyman]

For those still in "denial"

Who? And what do you believe is being denied?  :dunno:

 

[George Wallace]

Who? And what do you believe is being denied?  :dunno:

That it is not happening here.

 

[Scott]

That it is not happening here.

Who in the hell is saying that?