Indonesian security forces say they have killed a hardline leader with ties to the ISIL (ISIS) group in a shoot-out on Saturday, amid a sweeping counterterrorism campaign in remote areas of the archipelago. A joint operation by military and police personnel killed Ali Kalora of the East Indonesia Mujahideen (MIT) in a village on eastern Sulawesi island late on Saturday, according to Central Sulawesi’s regional military chief Brigadier General Farid Makruf. “Ali Kalora was the most wanted terrorist and leader of MIT,” Makruf said. Kalora had eluded capture for more than 10 years. Another hardliner, identified as Jaka Ramadhan, also … Continue reading Police in Indonesia kill ISIL-linked leader in shoot-out

A 16-year-old Syrian boy and three other people have been arrested in Germany over a suspected Islamist plot to attack a synagogue, officials say. Authorities say they received “a very serious and concrete tip” about a plan to attack the synagogue in Hagen on the Jewish festival of Yom Kippur. Police surrounded the building on Wednesday and sniffer dogs searched it for bombs, but found nothing dangerous. Germany has seen a rise in anti-Semitic attacks in recent years. The teenager, who is a resident in the city, south of Dortmund, was arrested on Thursday morning. Police detained the three other … Continue reading German police arrest four over foiled Islamist synagogue attack

The head of the Islamic State group in the Sahara has been killed by French troops, President Emmanuel Macron has said. Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi formed Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) in 2015. The group is blamed for most attacks in the region, including the targeted killing of French aid workers in 2020. Mr Macron called Sahrawi’s death “another major success in our fight against terrorist groups in the Sahel”. The Sahel is a vast, three million sq km (1.16 sq mile) area that stretches across Africa south of the Sahara desert, from Senegal in the west to … Continue reading Head of Islamic State in Sahara killed by French troops

At least nine people have died in a suspected suicide bombing in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, police and witnesses said. The attack on Tuesday has killed and wounded civilians and members of the security forces. “There are still investigations going on but with all indications so far, a suicide bomber caused the blast,” police officer Mohamed Ali was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency, adding that six members of the security forces and three civilians were killed and 11 other people wounded. Dadir Hassan, another police officer in Mogadishu, said the death toll stood at 11. He told Anadolu … Continue reading Several civilians and soldiers killed in Mogadishu suicide attack

The FBI has released a newly declassified document that looks into connections between Saudi citizens in the US and two of the 9/11 attackers. Relatives of victims have long urged the release of the files, arguing Saudi officials had advance knowledge but did not try to stop the attacks. But the document provides no evidence that the Saudi government was linked to the 9/11 plot. Fifteen of the 19 plane hijackers were Saudi nationals. Ahead of the declassification, the Saudi embassy in Washington welcomed the release and once again denied any link between the kingdom and the hijackers, describing such claims … Continue reading FBI begins declassifying documents into Saudi 9/11 links

At least 12 Iraqi police officers have been killed in an attack the ISIL (ISIS) armed group is suspected of carrying out at a security checkpoint in the country’s north. The twin attack on Sunday, in the al-Rashad region south of Kirkuk city, took place just after midnight, Al Jazeera’s Mahmoud Abdelwahed, reporting from the capital Baghdad, said. The attackers first engaged in a military confrontation with police officers that lasted about two hours, killing three officers. Reinforcements coming to the area were killed in an ambush using explosives planted on the roadside, Abdelwahed said. Three police officers were also … Continue reading Suspected ISIL attack kills at least 12 Iraqi police near Kirkuk

An attacker inspired by the Islamic State group stabbed six people at a New Zealand supermarket on Friday before police who had the man under surveillance shot him dead, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said.New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she was limited in what she could publicly say about the man, who had been under surveillance since 2016 Ardern said the man, a Sri Lankan national who arrived in New Zealand in 2011 and was on a terror watchlist, entered a shopping mall in suburban Auckland, seized a knife from a display and went on a stabbing spree. She … Continue reading Update: Attacker shot dead after New Zealand supermarket rampage

A woman has been detained in southern Germany on suspicion of aiding the terror group “Islamic State.” Prosecutors believe she may have helped organize money transfers to militants in the Middle East.A woman arrested in Germany is suspected of having collected money for a female IS member in a Kurdish refugee camp German federal prosecutors arrested a woman on Monday suspected of collecting money for the extremist “Islamic State” (ISIS) group and helping with bank transfers to the Middle East. The suspect, identified only as Denise S., is thought to have been in contact with female IS members to keep them … Continue reading Germany arrests suspected ‘Islamic State’ fundraiser

The Islamic State militant group (ISIS) has taken credit through its official news outlet for a deadly blast that killed at least a dozen U.S. military personnel and dozens more Afghans in what was set to be the final days of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.NATO Special Operations Component Command-Afghanistan Footage from an ISIS-K video confiscated on March 21, 2018 and published in part on April 18, 2018 by U.S. Central Command shows what appears to be ISIS-K fighters training inside of a mosque in Darzab district, Jowzjan province, northern Afghanistan. Hours after an explosion near Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport killed at … Continue reading Update: ISIS takes credit for Kabul explosion that killed US soldiers

More than 30 people were killed in a rebel attack in the West African country of Niger, the Ministry of Interior has said. Armed assailants on motorcycles attacked the village of Darey Dey in the Tillaberi region close to the border with Mali on Monday and killed 37 people, including 14 children, according to the ministry. The assailants attacked as people were working in the fields, a local official told the AFP news agency. It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack but several armed groups linked to al-Qaeda or ISIL (ISIS) are active in the region. Rated … Continue reading Dozens killed in Niger village attack

Three Burkina Faso soldiers and a militiaman were killed on Friday by highway bombs in the country’s north, the army said, adding that “dozens of terrorists” had been killed by security forces the same day.The army said its troops had killed dozens of terrorists and destroyed a base The two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) hit a military vehicle and a motorbike near the town of Dablo as a joint force of army, police and gendarmes was returning from an operation, leaving “three soldiers killed and five wounded,” army headquarters said in a statement issued on Tuesday. Also Friday, army commandos … Continue reading Three soldiers, ‘dozens of terrorists’ killed in Burkina fighting

At least 25 people in a suburb of Baghdad were killed in a roadside bomb attack Monday that wounded dozens more at a nearby market, according to Iraqi security officials.Iraqis sit at a coffee shop on a market street in the capital Baghdad Vendors’ wares were reduced to debris on the ground following the blast. They told security forces how the blast happened while salvaging what items they could. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for similar attacks in the area, but no such claim has emerged yet for the market bombing. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for … Continue reading Tragic: 25 killed in Baghdad bombing, one of deadliest attacks since January