Islamic State

Indonesian Policeman Killed by Sword-Wielding Militant

A sword-wielding militant killed an Indonesian policeman and critically injured another on Monday in what authorities described as a suspected Islamic State-linked attack. The attacker was shot dead during the early morning raid at a police post in South Daha district on Kalimantan — Indonesia’s section of Borneo island. Indonesia’s national police initially said there were two attackers, but local authorities later said only one militant was directly involved. “One police officer was killed and the attacker also died,” South Hulu Sungai police chief Dedy Eka Jaya told AFP. “We’re still investigating possible links” to IS, he added. The militant — identified as a 19-year-old local named Abdurrahman — initially set a car on fire outside the police post, Jaya said. “When it exploded, one of the officers came outside to check and that’s when the initial attack started,” he added. Images from the scene showed an apparently deceased man lying on his back inside the police station. Authorities said they confiscated his sword, a Koran, a handwritten letter calling for jihad, and a flag bearing the “tauhid” — which expresses the belief in Allah as the one and only god. Images of the black and white-lettered flag showed it resembled one commonly used …

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Fresh Jihadist Violence Hits Northern Mozambique

Islamist militants terrorizing remote communities in Mozambique’s Muslim-majority north mounted a fresh attack on Thursday, police sources said, striking Macomia district in an early morning assault. Gunmen forced the population of several thousand inhabitants to flee, while the military and police withdrew from the area according to a police officer who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity. “We can’t defeat them. They’re very strong,” the officer who hid in the bush since dawn told AFP. The attack comes a week after Mozambique called on its southern African neighbors to help it fend off the escalating jihadist insurgency that began in 2017. Despite President Filipe Nyusi‘s promises, neither the police nor the army, recently shored up by foreign private security companies, has succeeded in preventing attacks. Called in from the port city of Pemba some 156 kilometers (96 miles) away, reinforcement helicopters operated by private security companies flew in a few hours after the assault erupted, to repel the attackers. The officer said although government buildings were destroyed, the damage could have been worse if not for the air force response that pushed the militants back. Over the last two years over 1,100 people have been left dead by the Islamist …

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Five Jihadists, Two Soldiers Killed in Cameroon Clash

Two soldiers were killed early on Tuesday when jihadists attacked a military position in northern Cameroon after crossing from Nigeria, sources said, while seven other soldiers were injured in a mine blast in the same village. The device exploded when the soldiers’ vehicle was passing, according to an army colonel. Both the explosion and the overnight attack took place at Soueram, close to the Nigerian border in Cameroon’s Far North region, the colonel and a local official told AFP. “Two Cameroonian soldiers were killed” in the overnight assault, while five jihadists died in the counter-attack, the colonel said. The attack was claimed by Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist activity. ISWAP is a splinter group of Nigeria’s Boko Haram, which has led a bloody 11-year campaign against perceived Western influence. An army vehicle was destroyed and the jihadists made off with a piece of heavy weaponry, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity. A local leader, who also asked not to be identified, confirmed the attack and the toll, adding that there were no civilian casualties. The Far North is an impoverished tongue of land that lies between Chad to the east and …

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German court tries ISIS suspect over Yazidi genocide

A man believed to have belonged to ISIS is on trial in Germany accused of genocide and murdering a child belonging to the Yazidi minority who he held as a slave

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British ISIS foreign fighter arrested in Spain

A British former rapper and notorious Islamic state suspect has been arrested in Spain, judicial sources said

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Abu Sayyaf militants kill and wound two dozen Philippine soldiers in Sulu attack

Islamic State-linked Abu Sayyaf militants killed 11 Philippine soldiers and wounded 14 others in the group's deadliest attack in over a year

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Germany arrests 5 Tajiks in suspected ISIS cell planning attacks on US forces

German police arrested five Tajik nationals on suspicion that they were members of an ISIS cell that had been planning attacks on US forces

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Indonesia couple with ties to ISIS on trial over attempt to kill security minister

A couple with links to ISIS went on trial in Indonesia for a failed assassination attempt on the country's former chief security minister Wiranto

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SDF: ISIS detainees escape prison in northeast Syria

The SDF reasserted control over a detention center for ISIS suspects in northeast Syria after detainees tried to break out of the prison

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French judges order 20 terrorism suspects to stand trial over 2015 Paris attacks

French judges have ordered 20 people to stand trial over the 2015 Paris attacks, including Salah Abdeslam, the only suspected assailant still alive

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