New ISIS cells are springing up across the globe as the caliphate is destroyed in the Levant. Terror cells have been uncovered in Russia, Europe, Africa and parts of the Middle East in the past four weeks alone.
ISIS fighters fleeing their collapsing ‘caliphate’ in Iraq and Syria are believed to be heading for Libya, where the terrorist group has an already established a presence. Terrorism experts believe that they will use this safe-haven as a stepping stone to win territory in countries further south on the continent as well as continue their quiet effort to slip into Europe masquerading as refugees.
“While it is hard to say where ISIS will appear next, we can assume that after the group is driven out of Syria and Iraq, it will go to where it feels (relatively) more safe – namely, Libya – and from there move on to other countries,” says Clarion Project’s Arabic specialist Ran Meir. The pervasive lawlessness in Libya provides a safe haven for the terrorists to regroup and formulate their next plans.
Over the past month, dozens of raids and arrests have been made. Here is a recap of the latest news across the globe (excluding news from traditional terrorist hot-beds):
September 27 Belgium—A man from Spain recruiting for ISIS is arrested in a raid near Brussels airport
September 28 Ireland—Police investigating Islamic State terror cell run my two Chechen men
September 30 Tunisia—Six person ISIS cell discovered
October 1 Russia—Terrorists murder a border guard
October 1 France—A man shouting praises to Allah slits the thread of one woman in a market and stabs another to death
October 2 Iran—Three members of ISIS are arrested
October 2 Russia—An ISIS related group was arrested in Moscow
October 4 Niger—Four American soldiers are killed in an ambush by Islamic militants with connections to ISIS
October 4 Libya—Islamic State suicide bomber detonates a bomb at a court complex killing four and wounding 40
October 7 Saudi Arabia—Two guards outside a palace in Jeddah lost their lives in effort to foil a suicide attack
October 10 Egypt—Four ISIS members arrested
October 10 Egypt—A Coptic Christian priest is hacked to death in the streets of Cairo
October 10 Nigeria—An ISIS affiliated group raids a Christian village in Taegbe leaving six dead
October 11 Saudi Arabia—ISIS cell caught in Riyadh where five individuals are arrested and two are killed
October 11 Tunisia—Four member ISIS cell caught northwest of the capital Tunis
October 14 Morocco—Eleven person ISIS cell arrested
October 14 Russia—A four person ISIS cell is uncovered in Moscow
October 15 Egypt—ISIS suicide attack in northern Sinai prevented by security forces
October 17 Democratic Republic of the Congo—Group calling themselves Islamic State of Central Africa releases a video calling for fighters to join the group
October 20 Egypt—An ambush in Wanat leaves 16 local police dead and another 13 wounded
October 21 Niger—Militants with ISIS affiliation fire RPGs and heavy machine guns into a group killing 13
October 27 Mali—Three UN workers are killed by radical Muslims with ties to ISIS
NOTE: During the past 30 days there have been 122 Islamic attacks in 24 countries killing 1262 people and wounding 1141.
