Violence and Security

Attack on Bangladeshi Secular Blogger Reveals Impunity

March 19, 2018

The recent knife attack against Bangladesh's popular science professor and secular writer Muhammed Zafar Iqbal reveals the growing impact and importation of global jihadi groups on Bangladesh's Islamist ecosystem, as well as the complicity and cooperation of the country's military establishment.
Authorities Arrest Utah Teen for IS Activities

March 07, 2018

Utah police and the FBI have arrested a local teen charged with supporting the Islamic State (IS) terror group in two separate incidents, including planting a homemade bomb at his high school and raising the IS flag at another area high school last month.
Kazakhstan Announces Program to Prevent Islamist Radicalization

March 07, 2018

The deputy chief of Kazakhstan's National Security Committee announced that the oil-rich, authoritarian regime will dedicate close to a billion dollars over the next five years to educational and outreach programs designed to curtail the radicalization of the country's majority-Muslim population, with particular focus dedicated to foreign fighters returning from Iraq and Syria.
Al-Qaeda Leader Calls for Continued African Jihad

March 07, 2018

A newly released online video of al-Qaeda operations in North Africa and the Maghreb features al-Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri calling on the Muslim communities of North and West Africa to unite behind the Islamist extremist group in a continuing jihad against Western "invaders" and any actors that oppose implementation of sharia throughout the African Continent.
Islamists Attack University Professor in Bangladesh

March 07, 2018

The spate of attacks by Islamists against bloggers and activists advocating for a secular separation of religion and state in Bangladesh continued with an attack on one of the country's top activists, a university professor and science-fiction writer who was stabbed in the head by a perpetrator declaring the victim "an enemy of Islam."
Syrian War Offers Important Lessons on Countering Radical Islamism

March 07, 2018

The seven-year war in Syria offers important lessons for policymakers looking to understand linkages between local and global Islamist networks and to address the economic and military variables that foster radicalization and enable violence.
NY Woman Pleads Guilty to Federal Charges of Supporting IS

March 07, 2018

A woman living in Buffalo, New York, has pleaded guilty to charges of transmitting threatening messages across state lines, based on a federal indictment outlining her use of social media to transmit messages of support for the Islamic State (IS) and of threatening FBI employees on behalf of IS operatives.
EC Ramps up Pressure Against Online "Illegal" Material

March 06, 2018

As part of growing pressure from the EU on internet companies to eliminate "illegal content" online, the European Commission (EC) has released a recommendation pushing companies to target such content, including "incitement to hatred," through automated detection and to remove "terrorist" content within one hour of its posting.
UK Official: Remove Children from Violent Extremists' Homes

March 06, 2018

In a recent speech, Britain's top counterterrorism police officer Mark Rowley called for the UK to remove children from the homes of violent extremists, in the same manner as the authorities remove children from the home of pedophiles, to prevent their corruption through "wicked" propaganda and ideology.
Iraqi Officials Deny IS Responsibility for Nineveh Mass Grave

March 05, 2018

Local Iraqi officials in Nineveh Province denied that the mass grave of Christians discovered near Mosul, which borders the Nineveh Plains and is the historic heartland of Iraq's ancient Christian community, is the result of Islamic State (IS) atrocities, claiming instead that the grave is decades old.