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Attacks in France and Germany claimed by Islamic State propaganda arm
The Islamic State’s Amaq News Agency has claimed responsibility for two attacks in Europe. One of them occurred on July 24 in Ansbach, Germany, when a terrorist blew himself up outside of a music festival. The other occurred at a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, France this morning. Both “operations” were carried out “in response to calls to target nations in the coalition fighting the Islamic State,” Amaq said.
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Islamic State claims suicide bombings at Kabul protest
According to the Amaq News Agency, two “fighters of the Islamic State” executed the attack on the Hazara protesters in Afghanistan’s capital.
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Presence of French special forces in Libya sets off controversy
A helicopter carrying three French soldiers crashed near Benghazi, Libya on July 17, killing the Frenchmen and their Libyan counterparts on board. A new jihadist front called the Benghazi Defense Brigades quickly claimed credit, saying its fighters downed the helo with a shoulder-fired missile. French President Hollande said it was an “accident.” Either way, jihadists and Islamists are now rattling their sabres at France.
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Taliban seizes district in northern Afghanistan
The Taliban continues to make gains on the battlefield. A district in Kunduz province fell to the Taliban after four days of fighting.
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Ex-Gitmo ‘poet’ and committed jihadist denounces Islamic State for attacks on civilians
Abdul Rahim Muslim Dost, who left the Islamic State late last year, claimed that Khorasan province became a tool of “regional intelligence agencies and started torturing innocent people.” He described the emir of Khorasan province as “illiterate” for approving attacks on civilians.
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Treasury designates 3 senior al Qaeda members in Iran
The US Treasury Department designated three al Qaeda terrorists today. All three of them are based inside Iran. One of them has served as al Qaeda’s “Military Commission Chief” and was identified in Osama bin Laden’s files as part of a “new generation” of leaders.
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Malian military base targeted in southern Mali
The assault is one of the largest on a Malian military base in recent years, and has left twice as many Malian soldiers dead as last year’s attack on the same base.
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Teenager who terrorized German train appears in Islamic State video
The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for yesterday’s attack on a train in the German city of Würzburg. Several people were wounded in the assault. Amaq News Agency, a propaganda arm of the so-called “caliphate”, released a video allegedly showing the attacker, a teenager identified as “Muhammad Riyad.” In the video, Riyad calls on all Muslims to swear allegiance to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi.
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US troops ‘are a target for us,’ Iraq’s Muqtada al Sadr says
The radical Shia cleric responded to the US military deployment of an additional 560 troops to aid in the fight against the Islamic State by threatening to attack them.
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Islamic State claims its ‘soldier’ carried out Bastille Day attack in Nice, France
The Islamic State’s propaganda arms have claimed responsibility for the July 14 attack in Nice, France, saying that a “soldier” of the so-called caliphate carried out a “unique operation.” The statements do not include any details about the terrorist that aren’t already widely known. Counterterrorism officials are still investigating the terrorist’s possible ties.
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AQAP details ‘special forces’ training camp
The Hamza al Zinjibari training camp, which is named after a former senior leader of AQAP, is an extension of various historical al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan according to the group.
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Lebanese Hezbollah training special Afghan Fatemiyoun forces for combat in Syria
An Iranian media outlet affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps ran a report claiming Lebanese Hezbollah is training special forces of the Afghan Fatemiyoun Division for combat in Syria.
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US kills Pakistani Taliban commander behind attacks on schools
The US killed Khalifa Umar Mansour, the commander of the Tariq Gidar Group who was responsible for attacks on Pakistani schools, in an airstrike in Afghanistan. The US listed his Taliban faction as a terrorist organization less than two months ago.
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Shabaab reportedly recaptures southern port city
The jihadist group has again reportedly recaptured the strategic port city of Marka. However, African Union forces have denied that they have withdrawn from the city.
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Abu Omar al Shishani killed south of Mosul, Islamic State says
Amaq News Agency, a propaganda arm of the Islamic State, reports that Abu Omar al Shishani has been killed south of Mosul. In March, Amaq denied that Shishani was killed in an American airstrike in Syria.
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Ex-Gitmo detainee, Islamic State’s leader in Chechnya designated by State Department
The State Department has added a former Guantanamo detainee, Ayrat Nasimovich Vakhitov, to the US government’s list of designated terrorists. According to press reports, Vakhitov was recently arrested in connection with the terrorist attack at Istanbul’s Ataturk airport. Also designated today is Aslan Avgazarovich Byutukaev, who leads the Islamic State’s forces in Chechnya.
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Iraqi forces retake Q-West airbase south of Mosul
The Iraqi military’s takeover of Qayyarah Airfiled West, or Q-West, coincided with US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter’s visit to Iraq and the announcement that an additional 560 US troops will be deployed to aid in the Mosul offensive.
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Pakistan: Friend or Foe in the Fight Against Terrorism?
Bill Roggio testifies before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade, as well as the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific. The hearing is titled, “Pakistan: Friend or Foe in the Fight Against Terrorism?”
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Foreign jihadists advertise role in Latakia fighting
The foreign jihadists are operating within Jaysh al Fateh’s renewed offensive in Latakia, in which several Free Syrian Army groups are also taking part.
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Pakistan condemns killing of Kashmiri terrorist military leader
Pakistan called the killing of Burhan Wani by Indian troops “deplorable and condemnable,” despite the fact that he was a known terrorist recruiter and military commander. This condemnation highlights Pakistan’s support for terrorist groups throughout the region.
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Osama bin Laden’s son says al Qaeda has grown despite 15 years of war
Al Qaeda has released a new audio message from Hamza bin Laden, Osama’s son and heir. The message was translated by the SITE Intelligence Group. Hamza argues that the number of “mujahideen” has grown dramatically around the globe despite the decade and a half of war that began on Sept. 11, 2001. Hamza also threatens revenge for his father’s death.
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Russian helicopter downed by the Islamic State near Palmyra, Syria
Russia initially denied that a helicopter was downed east of Palmyra, Syria. After the Islamic State posted a video of the attack, the Russians conceded that two pilots were killed when the chopper was struck by Islamic State terrorists. Russian propaganda has blamed an American-made TOW missile for bringing down the helicopter, but the video seems to show anti-aircraft fire hitting the tail rotor of the chopper.
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Islamic State claims nearly 600 suicide attacks in first six months of 2016
According to statistics provided by Amaq News Agency, which is part of the Islamic State’s propaganda machine, the so-called caliphate deployed 589 suicide bombers in Iraq, Syria and Libya during the first six months of 2016. The figures published by Amaq cannot be independently verified and other sources indicate the figure may be lower. But Amaq’s aggregate statistics are generally consistent with the scale of the Islamic State’s fighting.
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Ohio man conspired with Islamic State recruiter, Justice Department says
The Department of Justice announced today that Munir Abdulkader, a 21 year-old man living in Ohio, has pleaded guilty to terrorism charges. Abdulkader was in contact with Junaid Hussein, an Islamic State recruiter who encouraged him to carry out attacks in the US. Hussein established ties to a number of Islamic State suspects in the West prior to his demise in an August 2015 American airstrike in Raqqa, Syria.
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Zawahiri praises Uighur jihadists in ninth episode of ‘Islamic Spring’ series
In the ninth episode of the Islamic Spring video series, Ayman al Zawahiri says Uighur jihadists, who are from the Xinjiang region of China, have shown the ummah what mujahideen unity means in the face of international enemies. Zawahiri praises the deceased founder of the Turkistan Islamic Party, Hasan Mahsum, and his jihadist followers.
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Obama backtracks on Afghanistan withdrawal, cites ‘precarious’ security situation
Despite admitting to a worsening security situation, Obama will withdraw 1,400 US troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year.
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Taliban condemns suicide attack in Medina, Saudi Arabia
The Taliban’s condemnation is not surprising as it has relied on Saudi Arabia as a source for fundraising and other support to fuel the Afghan insurgency.
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Taliban shows ‘Omar ibn Khattab’ training camp in Kunduz
The camp is named after the second Muslim caliph who was a companion to the Prophet Muhammad and who expanded the caliphate in the seventh century.
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Islamic State says it singled out non-Muslims for death in Dhaka attack
The tactic of separating Muslims from non-Muslims and then executing the latter, which was pioneered by al Qaeda, has not been used by the Islamic State in the past.
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Shabaab defectors claim German jihadist is dead
While the claim cannot be confirmed, the German jihadist is wanted by the Kenyan government for his roles in several attacks in the country.
