“German authorities said they had dismantled a suspected terror cell on
suspicion of planning to overthrow the government, rekindling concerns in the
country about the risks posed by domestic terrorists. Twenty-five people who
were partly inspired by the QAnon conspiracy theory were arrested in the early
hours of Wednesday, 22 of whom are suspected of conspiring to foment a coup,
the federal prosecutor said. Their alleged plans included an armed storming of
the federal parliament. The other three, including a Russian citizen living in
Germany, are suspected of supporting the group, the prosecutor said. More than
3,000 police officers including special forces conducted raids at 150
properties across Germany, Italy and Austria, in one of the largest operations
of its kind in recent history, officials said. “This organization has,
according to our knowledge, set the goal of using violence and military means
to overthrow the existing liberal democratic order in Germany,” federal
prosecutor Peter Frank told reporters Wednesday. Its members thought Germany
was governed by a so-called deep state and would soon be freed by an alleged
secret society of officials and military officers from the U.S., Russia and
elsewhere, he said. After years focused on countering the threat posed by
Islamist terrorists, German authorities have widened their focus to far-right
militants following a spate of attacks.”











<[link removed]>
<[link removed]>



Eye on Extremism


December 8, 2022



The Wall Street Journal: Germany Arrests Extremists In Plot To Overthrow
Government
<[link removed]>



“German authorities said they had dismantled a suspected terror cell on
suspicion of planning to overthrow the government, rekindling concerns in the
country about the risks posed by domestic terrorists. Twenty-five people who
were partly inspired by the QAnon conspiracy theory were arrested in the early
hours of Wednesday, 22 of whom are suspected of conspiring to foment a coup,
the federal prosecutor said. Their alleged plans included an armed storming of
the federal parliament. The other three, including a Russian citizen living in
Germany, are suspected of supporting the group, the prosecutor said. More than
3,000 police officers including special forces conducted raids at 150
properties across Germany, Italy and Austria, in one of the largest operations
of its kind in recent history, officials said. “This organization has,
according to our knowledge, set the goal of using violence and military means
to overthrow the existing liberal democratic order in Germany,” federal
prosecutor Peter Frank told reporters Wednesday. Its members thought Germany
was governed by a so-called deep state and would soon be freed by an alleged
secret society of officials and military officers from the U.S., Russia and
elsewhere, he said. After years focused on countering the threat posed by
Islamist terrorists, German authorities have widened their focus to far-right
militants following a spate of attacks.”



Pulse Nigeria: Boko Haram Kills 33 ISWAP Wives In Reprisal Attack
<[link removed]>



“Boko Haram terrorists have killed 33 wives of Islamic State of West African
Province (ISWAP) terrorists in Sambisa to get back at them for killing their
leader, Malam Aboubakar (Munzir), and 15 other fighters in a deadly fight among
themselves. Recall: Ali Ngulde, the top Boko Haram leader in charge of Mandara
Mountain, has been leading hundreds of fighters into battle against the ISWAP
in Sambisa Forest from Mandara Mountain since the 3rd of December. What reports
say: Sources say that the attack started with a failed attempt by the terrorist
group Jam’at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da’wah wa’l-Jihd (Boko Haram) to negotiate with
its rival group, the Islamic State of West African Province (ISWAP). Boko Haram
told ISWAP that they were ready to surrender themselves (mubayi’a) to IS/ISWAP
leadership. According to Zagazola Makama, a Counter Insurgency Expert and
Security Analyst in the Lake Chad region, who corroborated the massacre,
“Unknown to the ISWAP group, Ngulde and his team had staged an ambush against
them in which at least 12 of them were killed in Yuwe while others escaped with
bullets wounds. “In the aftermath of the encounters, Boko Haram members seized
four Hilux trucks mounted with weapons belonging to their rivals and burnt
another.”



United States



The New York Times: Emhoff Emerges As Face Of White House Fight Against
Antisemitism
<[link removed]>



“Sitting alongside leaders of the Jewish community on Wednesday, Doug Emhoff,
the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, described the rising tide of
antisemitism in the United States as an “epidemic of hate.” Mr. Emhoff, the
first Jewish spouse of a vice president or president, has in recent weeks
become one of the federal government’s more forceful voices against violence
and hate speech directed at Jews. “Words matter,” Mr. Emhoff said at a round
table of government officials, rabbis and leaders of advocacy groups to discuss
the extremist acts. “People are no longer saying the quiet parts out loud. They
are literally screaming them.” The event took place in an atmosphere of
heightened alarm about antisemitism, two weeks after former President Donald J.
Trump’s dinner with the white supremacist Nick Fuentes and the rapper formerly
known as Kanye West, who has recently heaped praise on Adolf Hitler. Last week,
President Biden posted to Twitter, “Instead of giving it a platform, our
political leaders should be calling out and rejecting antisemitism wherever it
hides.” At Wednesday’s event, Mr. Emhoff described the recent incidents in
personal terms. “Judaism isn’t defined by how much we go to temple or how often
we celebrate traditions; it’s who we are as a people,” he said. “It’s our
identity. It’s my identity. And I’m in pain right now.”



CNN: Investigators Are Zeroing In On Two Possible Motives Centered Around
Extremist Behavior In NC Power Stations Attacks, Sources Say
<[link removed]>



“Investigators – who have found nearly two dozen shell casings from a
high-powered rifle – are zeroing in on two threads of possible motives centered
around extremist behavior for the weekend assault on two North Carolina
electric substations, according to law-enforcement sources briefed on the
investigation. The news comes as the primary utility company in Moore County
restored electricity to the final customers of the 45,000 homes and businesses
that initially lost power. Officials on Wednesday also announced a total of
$75,000 in reward money for information leading to the arrest and conviction of
the person or people responsible for Saturday’s attacks. One thread involves
the writings by extremists on online forums encouraging attacks on critical
infrastructure. The second thread looks at a series of recent disruptions of
LGBTQ+ events across the nation by domestic extremists. The FBI and the NC
State Bureau are assisting in the investigation. Investigators have no evidence
connecting the North Carolina attacks to a drag event at the theater in the
same county, but the timing of two events are being considered in context with
the growing tensions and armed confrontations around similar LBGTQ+ events
across the country, the sources told CNN. In the past two years,
anti-government groups began using online forums to urge followers to attack
critical infrastructure, including the power grid.”



NBC News: North Carolina Substation Attack Raises Security Concerns For U.S.
Electric Grid
<[link removed]>



“The recent attack on two North Carolina substations that cut power to
thousands of people has raised concerns about security standards for the
country’s electric grid and its numerous power stations, which have faced
greater threats in recent years. Outside of weather, suspected and confirmed
physical attacks on electric grid infrastructure have been the largest cause of
electrical disturbance events since 2014 when, in response to an attack in
California the year before, private companies that run power stations were
required to increase security standards, according to an NBC News analysis of
public Department of Energy reports. Nearly 600 electric emergency incidents
and disturbances were caused by suspected and confirmed physical attacks and
vandalism on the electric grid in those nine years, the reports show. There
have been 106 attack or vandalism incidents from January through August 2022,
which is the latest the Energy Department data tracks. Among the years reviewed
by NBC News, 2022 is the first that reached triple digits and it only contains
eight months of data. The incidents, which are self-reported by power companies
to the federal government, provide little to no detail about what occurred. But
experts said they can range from theft of copper wire to planned assaults aimed
at causing power disruptions, as is what is suspected to have happened in North
Carolina.”



The New Yorker: What The Conviction Of Stewart Rhodes Means For Right-Wing
Militancy
<[link removed]>



“For years, Stewart Rhodes used a faded leather briefcase to hold his
keepsake photos and papers. He left it with his wife and children in Montana
when he moved to Texas in early 2020, the year of covid lockdowns, social
unrest, and election lies that would lead Rhodes, the longtime head of the
militant, right-wing Oath Keepers, to his conviction for seditious conspiracy
last week. In October, as his trial began in a federal courtroom in Washington,
D.C., I visited Eureka, a remote Montana town near the Canadian border, not far
from where he’d lived rough with Tasha Adams, his estranged wife, and their
family, amid the pines and logging roads. Adams gave me the briefcase, and I
leafed through baby photos, a dog-eared calendar tracking the first months of
his eldest child, and the essays he’d written to get into Yale Law School in
2001, when he was a thirty-six-year-old, disabled Army veteran. Rhodes’s essays
recounted how his father had abandoned him when he was three; he grew up with
his mother and her family of Mexican American migrant laborers, he wrote,
“watching my grandparents and uncles work in the fields.” After enrolling in
community college in his late twenties, he transferred to the University of
Nevada at Las Vegas, sitting in “rapt fascination,” he recalled, through
classes on history, and political and legal theory: “I believe that I have an
obligation to take part in the intellectual, political, and legal life of my
nation and the world.”



Military Times: Domestic Extremism Is Rare In The Military, ‘But It Is An
Issue’
<[link removed]>



“The Pentagon is still working on getting an idea of just how common
extremist activity and affiliations are among service members. Total complaints
have numbered in the hundreds over the past few years, but experts warn that
even low prevalence still poses a risk, given the military’s unique position.
They also caution against dismissing efforts to address extremism because of
the small number of cases investigated each year. “I think we need to remember
the difference between, ‘This is a wholesale problem,’ versus, ‘This is an
issue,’ right?” Seamus Hughes, deputy director of George Washington
University’s Program on Extremism, said. “Those two things can be true at the
same time, right? This is not a wholesale problem, but there is an issue.”
Republican lawmakers in recent months have argued that the low incidence of
extremism reports in the military suggests that it’s not worth confronting,
calling on the Pentagon to drop its anti-extremism screening and education
efforts. By the numbers, the services reviewed 211 reports in fiscal year 2022.
Half of those were referred to civilian law enforcement, and another quarter
were handled by military judicial or administrative action. So, while the
actual numbers are low among a force of more than a million active duty troops,
experts have argued that service members and veterans involved in extremist
groups pose a disproportionate security risk for multiple reasons.”



New York Post: Manhattan Judge Releases Man Accused Of Plotting To Attack NYC
Synagogues
<[link removed]>



“A Manhattan judge let one of the two men accused of plotting to attack New
York City synagogues continue to walk free Wednesday — after prosecutors asked
for the second time in two weeks that he be held in jail without bail.
Assistant District Attorney Edward Burns argued that disturbing new facts in
the case of Matthew Mahrer, 22, were reason enough to keep him locked up after
his family paid $150,000 in bail to set him free on Nov. 21. “We now know that
Mahrer, [accused accomplice Christopher] Brown and [a] third individual, drove
to Pennsylvania on November 18 to purchase a firearm. That individual who drove
with them has since been arrested by federal authorities,” Burns said. Prior to
his arrest on Nov. 19, Mahrer had been sending an unnamed jailbird payments for
the gun he and Brown planned to use in the would-be attacks last month, the
prosecutor said. Burns added that Mahrer has continued to financially support
the incarcerated person — who was locked up for 3 1/2 years for criminal
possession of a weapon — even after his own arrest. He also told the judge that
the troubled Upper West Sider — who has bipolar disorder and autism, according
to his lawyer— had bought a bulletproof vest before he and Brown were busted
carrying weapons and a Nazi armband linked to the alleged plot.”



BuzzFeed News: Drag Queens Are Fearing For Their Lives As Right-Wing Extremist
Attacks Intensify
<[link removed]>



“Something felt wrong from the moment Brian Hernandez took the stage. Gazing
out into the Friday night crowd at the Starlighter, the San Antonio music venue
where his drag troupe was about to perform, he couldn’t shake the uneasy
feeling in the pit of his stomach. “I introduced the first performer, and then
I went to the owner and said, ‘I’m sorry, I can’t do this, something feels
off,’” Hernandez, who performs under the stage name Miss Taint, told BuzzFeed
News. The next day he realized he’d been right — video of the show, filmed by
an attendee who turned out to be a far-right self-proclaimed “independent
journalist,” had gone viral online. Furious conservatives sent a torrent of
hate to the venue and performers on social media and in emails, calling the
drag queens “groomers” and “demonic.” The outrage was largely focused on the
presence of a child at the show, who the videographer said was “unattended.”
Hernandez knew exactly who that child was — there’d only been one there, and
she was the young daughter of a food vendor who works right outside the venue
selling Filipino cuisine. A single mother who often brings her daughter to
work, both have gotten to know Starlighter staff and performers well, who often
help look after the 4-year-old when she comes inside during her mom’s shifts.”



The Villager: Two Men Cuffed For Plotting Terrorist Attack Against Manhattan
Jewish Community: DA
<[link removed]>



“Two people were indicted in Manhattan on a slew of charges for making
terroristic threats to the borough’s Jewish community. Long Island resident
Christopher Brown and Manhattan resident Matthew Mahrer were arrested on Nov.
18 at Penn Station. Brown and Mahrer are each charged with one count of
Conspiracy in the Fourth Degree; two counts of Criminal Possession of a Weapon
in the Second Degree; one count of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Third
Degree; and one count of Criminal Possession of a Firearm. Brown also charged
with two counts of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree as a
Crime of Terrorism; one count of Making a Terroristic Threat; one count of
Making a Terroristic Threat as a Hate Crime; and one Count of Criminal
Possession of a Weapon in the Fourth Degree. “A horrific tragedy was averted
thanks to the diligence, hard work and coordination between my Office and our
local, state and federal law enforcement partners. The increase in antisemitic
attacks and threats cannot and will not be tolerated. Manhattanites and all New
Yorkers should know that we continue to vigorously prosecute hate crimes every
day and are using every tool at our disposal to address hate and bias,” said
District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr.”



Paul Wells: The Progress Of Our Arms
<[link removed]>



“…Of course the weekend dealt with many other topics. China’s threat to
Taiwan — where the Halifax Forum plans to hold its first conference outside
Canada next year —was studied from several angles. I learned a lot from
Hans-Jakob Schindler, who is senior director of a formidable think tank on
European domestic extremism, the Counter-Extremism Project; and from Mauricio
Meschoulam, a Mexican political scientist who has lately tried to adapt his
work analyzing global terrorist networks to a study of Mexico’s murderous drug
cartels. (His analytical tools sometimes fit and sometimes, in interesting
ways, don’t.) Their work and others’ will inform my work, I hope for years to
come. But the Halifax International Security Forum, which usually ponders a
range of hypothetical disasters, this year inevitably narrowed its focus to a
concrete case, the Ukraine invasion. This was also the focus of Lloyd Austin’s
speech to the attendees. Austin is Joe Biden’s secretary of defense, a retired
four-star army general who had leading roles in Afghanistan and Iraq. This was
his first trip to Canada, 14 months after the Senate confirmed his nomination.
His next stops would be Indonesia and Cambodia — his fifth visit in a year to
the Indo-Pacific region. He appeared onstage with Anita Anand, Canada’s defence
minister, a few times. They spoke warmly about working together.”



Iraq



Asharq Al-Awsat: UN Team Accuses ISIS Of Using Chemical Weapons In Iraq
<[link removed]>



“The United Nations Investigative Team for Accountability of ISIS (UNITAD)
revealed in a report that the terrorist group used chemical weapons in Iraq.
According to the report, which was submitted to the UN Security Council on
Tuesday for discussion, ISIS used chemical weapons in the areas it controlled
in Iraq and Syria between 2014 and 2019. Key lines of inquiry during this
period concerned evidence of ISIS financial, procurement and logistical
arrangements and linkages to command elements, as well as an expanded
understanding of suspected sites of manufacturing, production and weapon use
across Iraq. “Evidence suggests that ISIS manufactured and produced chemical
rockets and mortars, chemical ammunition for rocket-propelled grenades,
chemical warheads and improvised explosive devices,” the report said.
“Furthermore, the ISIS program involved the development, testing, weaponization
and deployment of a range of agents, including aluminum phosphide, chlorine,
clostridium botulinum, cyanide, nicotine, ricin and thallium sulfate.” The
report said that evidence, including records, of ISIS training senior
operatives on the use of chemical weapons, including chemical dispersion
devices, were examined.”



Afghanistan



CBS News: Taliban Militants Carry Out First Public Execution Since The Group
Reclaimed Afghanistan
<[link removed]>



“Taliban authorities on Wednesday executed an Afghan convicted of killing
another man, the first public execution since the former insurgents took over
Afghanistan last year, a spokesman said. The announcement underscored the
intentions by Afghanistan's new rulers to continue hardline policies
implemented since they took over the country in August 2021 and to stick to
their strict interpretation of Islamic law, or Sharia. The execution took place
in western Farah province before hundreds of spectators and many top Taliban
officials, including from the capital of Kabul and the province, according to
Zabihullah Mujahid, the top Taliban government spokesman. The decision to carry
out the punishment was “made very carefully,” Mujahid said, following approval
by three of the country's highest courts and the Taliban supreme leader, Mullah
Haibatullah Akhundzada. The executed man, identified as Tajmir from Herat
province, was convicted of killing another man five years ago and stealing his
motorcycle and mobile phone. The victim was identified as Mustafa from
neighboring Farah province. Many Afghan men use only one name. Mujahid said
Tajmir was executed by the father of the victim, who shot him three times with
a rifle.”



Pakistan



Nikkei Asia: U.S. Signals Support For Pakistan Against Resurgent Terror Threats

<[link removed]>



“The U.S. has signaled a commitment to helping Pakistan counter a resurgence
of militant violence, adding veteran Pakistani jihadi leaders to its list of
global terrorists and vowing to take action against groups sheltered across the
border in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. The State Department last Thursday slapped
the terrorist designation on the deputy head of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
(TTP), an outlawed Pakistani jihadi group, and three senior leaders of al-Qaida
in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), the terrorist outfit's regional branch. The
State Department's statement also said the U.S. is “committed to using its full
set of counterterrorism tools to counter the threat posed by terrorist groups
operating in Afghanistan,” including AQIS and the TTP, to keep militants from
using Afghanistan as “a platform for international terrorism.” The U.S.
announcement came days after the TTP in late November called off a monthslong
cease-fire with Islamabad and ordered its commanders to conduct attacks across
the country. Since then, the TTP has claimed responsibility for a suicide
attack on a police truck in Balochistan province's city of Quetta on Nov. 30,
which killed four people and wounded a dozen others, amid a spate of other
attacks targeted at law enforcement.”



Nigeria



Reuters: Nigerian Military Ran Secret Mass Abortion Programme In War Against
Boko Haram
<[link removed]>



“Fati wondered if her life was over. Nigerian soldiers surrounded the Lake
Chad island village where Islamist insurgents held her and many other women
captive. Shells exploded. Bullets whipped by. As her captors fled, Fati blacked
out in terror. When she awoke in a military camp nearby, “I felt the happiest I
ever had in my life,” said Fati, now in her early 20s, recalling the attack
that occurred several years ago in Nigeria’s northeastern Borno state. Over
more than a year, she told Reuters, she had been forcibly married to
insurgents, beaten and repeatedly raped – resulting in a recent pregnancy. Now,
finally, she had been rescued. “I was extremely grateful to the soldiers,” she
said. About a week later, Fati said, she lay on a mat in a narrow, dim room at
a military barracks in Maiduguri, the state capital. It was rank, with
cockroaches skittering across the floor. Uniformed men came in and out, giving
her and five other women mysterious injections and pills. After about four
hours, said Fati, who was about four months pregnant, she felt searing pain in
her stomach and black blood seeped out of her. The other women were bleeding as
well, and writhing on the floor. “The soldiers want to kill us,” she thought.
She recalled the injections, then understood: The soldiers had aborted their
pregnancies without asking – or even telling – them.”



Somalia



AFP: Somalia Forces Recapture Key Town From Jihadists
<[link removed]>



“Somali government forces and allied militias have recaptured a strategic
town held by Al-Shabaab jihadists since 2016, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud
said on Tuesday. The army and local clan militias known as “Macawisley” have
retaken swathes of territory in the central states of Galmudug and Hirshabelle
in recent months in an operation backed by US air strikes and an African Union
(AU) force, ATMIS. Pro-government forces entered the town of Adan Yabal in
Hirshabelle, around 220 kilometers (140 miles) northeast of the capital
Mogadishu, after the Al-Qaeda-affiliated rebels withdrew, the president said.
“Somali government forces are in Adan Yabal this morning… They (Al-Shabaab) did
not even fight and vacated instead,” Mohamud said in a televised address.
Colonel Mohamed Ali, one of the operation’s commanders, told AFP the rebels
fled when they learned the army was approaching. “We have taken the town
without any resistance and the army is in full control,” he added. Military
sources said the jihadists pulled out on Monday evening. ATMIS, which supported
the operation with helicopters, said Al-Shabaab had used Adan Yabal as a
training base. The force welcomed its return to Somali government control. The
rebels, who have been waging a bloody insurgency against Somalia’s
internationally backed federal government for 15 years, also used the town as a
logistics hub.”



United Kingdom



Evening Standard: Record Number Of Young People Arrested For Terror Offences
<[link removed]>



“London’s top counter-terrorism officer has warned that the Metropolitan
Police is becoming “increasingly concerned” by the number of young people being
radicalised by extremist ideologies. It comes as Home Office figures reveal
that 33 under-18s were arrested for terror offences in the year leading up to
June 2022 – the largest number ever recorded – with the majority relating to
far-right ideology. Commander Richard Smith, head of the Met’s Counter
Terrorism Command, has called on the public to be “vigilant”, urging parents
and carers to “get in touch and act early, in order to prevent their loved ones
from going down a dangerous path towards radicalisation”. He said: “We’re
becoming increasingly concerned about the number of young people who are being
drawn into extremist and terrorist activity. The work we do through Prevent, in
close partnership with others, including the Mayor’s Office for Policing and
Crime (MOPAC), is vital in helping to steer those who are vulnerable away from
the dangers of extremists and terrorism.” On Wednesday, Mayor of London Sadiq
Khan announced that he would be investing a further £725,000 in grassroots
community groups in a bid to counter extremism and tackle the rise in hate
crimes in the capital.”



Germany



BBC Newshour: Police In Germany Have Arrested Twenty Five Suspected Far Right
Extremists <[link removed]>



“German authorities say they were preparing to overthrow the government. The
plotters include members of the so-called “Reichsburger” movement, which
rejects the legitimacy of the modern German state, and conspiracy theorists who
subscribe to Q'Anon ideology. Also on the programme: after a two year delay, a
UN environment summit, COP15, will convene in Montreal, Canada, to hammer out
an agreement to address the biodiversity crisis; and how are Republicans
responding to their failure to win the run-off election in the state of
Georgia?”



WTOP News: The Hunt: Dozens Arrested In Suspected Plot To Overthrow German
Government
<[link removed]>



“On this week’s episode of “The Hunt with WTOP national security correspondent
J.J. Green,” Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler, senior director of the Counter Extremism
Project, explains what happened in a suspected plot to overthrow the German
government.”



CEP Senior Director Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler on BBC World News “The Context
with Christian Fraser” <[link removed]>



“On December 7, 2022, CEP Senior Director Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler spoke with
Christian Fraser and panelists on BBC World News “The Context”. Dr. Schindler
discussed news that German authorities arrested 25 people suspected of plotting
to overthrow Germany's government and install their own. The suspects are
reportedly members of the Reichsbürger movement and included some QAnon
conspiracy theorists. “The primary planning tool was online, chat fora. There
were a couple of physical meetings where they tried to recruit members of the
police and military forces, but all of the primary planning was done online.
This means messenger services and oscial media, which really don't have the
controls in place to hinder or in any way bother people planning these things.
This is not the very first time that something similar like this has been
discovered in Germany...”



Europe



The National: Brussels 2016 Bombings Trial Disrupted As Five Defendants Walk
Out In Protest At Security
<[link removed]>



“Five of nine defendants in Belgium's biggest trial walked out of court on
Wednesday, in a protest over security arrangements. A support group for victims
of the 2016 Brussels terrorist attacks for which the men are on trial described
this as an attempt to win the jury's sympathy. Before leaving, defendant Ali El
Haddad Asufi, 38, a close friend of a suicide bomber in the attacks that killed
32 people, told the court the trial would be a waste of time and money if
defendants refused to attend over “humiliating” security measures. “We can't
last seven months in these conditions,” he said. “There's a camera over the
toilets. I don't understand why it's necessary to see detainees doing their
business.” Complaints made by Asufi, who in June was sentenced by a French
court to 10 years in prison for his role in the 2015 Paris attacks, follows
similar statements by another defendant at the start of the trial, which is
taking place north of Brussels in Nato’s former headquarters. Mohamed Abrini,
who in June received a life sentence from a French court for his role in the
Paris attacks, said he would not answer any questions if conditions of his
daily transport from jail did not change. Prosecutors say Abrini fled Brussels
Airport in March 2016 without detonating his suitcase of explosives, unlike the
two men who accompanied him, Najim Laachraoui and Ibrahim El Bakraoui.”



The Brussels Times: Brussels Terror Trial: El Makhoukhi Knew Where The Cell's
Weapons Were, Wiretaps Show
<[link removed]>



“Bilal El Makhoukhi, a defendant in the Brussels bombing trial, knew where a
cache of weapons of the terrorist cell was located, according to State Security
wiretaps in June 2016, transmitted to the federal prosecutor. This information
is included in the indictment, which federal prosecutors continued to read on
Wednesday in the court of assises. State Security was able to intercept a
conversation between another accused, Mohamed Abrini, and Mehdi Nemmouche, the
perpetrator of the attack on the Jewish Museum in Belgium on 24 May 2014, when
they were both incarcerated in Bruges prison. This conversation, held on 27 May
2016, revealed that Bilal El Makhoukhi knew the location of the weapons,
explosives and money entrusted to him by Najim Laachraoui, one of the Zaventem
terrorists. Abrini claimed that this arsenal was to be used for a new attack.
In another conversation, on 1 June 2016, Mohamed Abrini asks Bilal El Makhoukhi
about these weapons and how his brother could possibly take possession of them.
El Makhoukhi claimed to know where the weapons were hidden. On 2 June, Abrini
tried to find out the “code” to recover the weapons. El Makhoukhi replied that
the person to whom he had given them would not agree to hand them over to
someone he did not know.”



Southeast Asia



Associated Press: Suicide Bomber Hits Indonesian Police Station, Killing 1
<[link removed]>



“A Muslim militant and convicted bomb-maker who was released from prison last
year blew himself up Wednesday at a police station on Indonesia's main island
of Java, killing an officer and wounding 11 people, officials said. The
attacker entered the Astana Anyar police station with a motorcycle and
detonated one of two bombs he was carrying as police were lining up for a
morning assembly, said Bandung city Police Chief Aswin Sipayung. The other
explosive was defused. A video that circulated on social media showed body
parts near the damaged lobby of the police station, which was engulfed in white
smoke as people ran out of the building. Food vendor Herdi Hardiansyah said he
was preparing meals behind the station when a loud bang shocked him. He saw a
police officer whom he recognized as one of his customers covered in blood,
being carried on a motorcycle by two other officers to a hospital. He later
learned the officer died. Ten others and a civilian were wounded. National
Police Chief Gen. Listyo Sigit Prabowo told reporters when he visited the
station Wednesday afternoon that the attacker was believed to have been a
member of the militant organization Jemaah Anshorut Daulah, or JAD, which
pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group and was responsible for other
deadly suicide bombings in Indonesia.”



Associated Press: Indonesia Paroles The Bombmaker In Bali's Deadly 2002 Attacks

<[link removed]>



“An Islamic militant convicted of making the explosives used in the 2002 Bali
bombings that killed over 200 people was paroled Wednesday after serving about
half of his original 20-year prison sentence despite strong objections by
Australia, which lost scores of citizens in the Indonesian attacks. Hisyam bin
Alizein, also known by his alias Umar Patek, was a leading member of the
al-Qaida-linked network Jemaah Islamiyah, which was blamed for the blasts at
two nightclubs in Kuta Beach.Patek was found guilty by the West Jakarta
District Court of helping build a car bomb that was detonated by another person
outside the Sari Club in Kuta on the night of Oct. 12, 2002. Moments earlier, a
smaller bomb in a backpack was detonated by a suicide bomber in the nearby
Paddy's Pub nightclub. The attacks killed 202 people — mostly foreign tourists
— including 88 Australians. Indonesian authorities have said Patek, 55, was
successfully reformed in prison and they will use him to influence other
militants to turn away from terrorism. Patek received a series of sentence
reductions, often given to prisoners on major holidays for good behavior, said
Rika Aprianti, spokesperson for the Corrections Department at the Justice
Ministry. Most recently, he was granted a five-month reduction on Aug. 17,
Indonesia's Independence Day.”



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