Terrorists vs. Intelligence

There’s Likely Quite a Bit More Terror Activity Than You Might Think Going on Around the World.

The prosecutor said the terror suspects were in possession of weapons and financing and were arrested ahead of an arms trade following an eight month surveillance operation.

According to Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuv of France, authorities have arrested seven men who ranged in age from 29 to 37, and were a mix of French, Moroccan and Afghan citizens. Six of them were unknown to French intelligence before the investigation began, he said, and the seventh, a Moroccan citizen, had been flagged by a “partner country.”

Raids on apartments in Strasbourg and Marseille revealed documents indicating clear allegiance to ISIS and the glorifcation of martyrdom. The accused were also in possession of instructions sent via a coordinator from ISIS territory through encrypted applications.

The plot’s ring leader had also been in contact with two other individuals who were arrested in June of this year regarding a separate foiled attack on the Euro 2016 soccer tournament.

Update on Iraqi Offensive
The offensive in the Iraqi city of Mosul has revealed a treasure trove of intelligence regarding planned attacks across the West.

The volume of intelligence captured from militants’ phones, laptops and external hard drives is so large, coalition allies have set up a lab in the Persian Gulf to assess the intelligence and forward relevant information to the appropriate authorities.

Additionally the coalition capture of Manbij, a Syrian town, provided another large cash of intelligence related to threats in Europe and elsewhere. Military strategists working in conjunction with the intelligence community say Raqqa is the remaining stronghold for which ISIS terror plots originate. Securing Raqqa (ISIS headquarters) will do much to impede the operational support of terrorist cells operating in the West.

2016 Thwarted Attacks
Below you will find a list of [known] foiled terror attacks from 2016 as reported by Wikipedia. I include this as a reminder to stay vigilant and as an expression of gratitude to those who work tirelessly to protect innocent life. The magnitude of their undertaking largely goes unnoticed. By including this list, we pay tribute to their efforts in preventing many deaths.

• United States January 25, 2016 – 23-year-old Samy Mohamed Hamzeh was arrested January 25 after buying machine guns from undercover FBI agents. The man planned an attack on a Masonic temple in Milwaukee in the name of “defending Islam”.[47] Acting U.S. Attorney Gregory Haanstad said that it was a “detailed plan to commit a mass shooting intended to kill dozens of people.” Hamzeh said, “Such operations will increase in America, when they hear about it. The people will be scared and the operations will increase, and there will be problems all over,… this will lead to people clashing with each other. This way we will be igniting it. I mean we are marching at the front of the war.”[48]
• France January 28, 2016 – A Gunman carrying two weapons and a Koran was arrested at Disneyland Paris. Police are still searching for his accomplice.[49]
• Germany February 4, 2016 – German police arrested four who were planning major a Islamic State attack in Berlin. Police Thursday arrested four Algerians suspected of links to the Islamic State group after raids targeting several sites, including refugee shelters where some of the suspects lived.[50]
• Russia February 8, 2016 – Russian police arrest 7 members of an ISIS terror cell who were planning terror attacks in Moscow and St. Petersburg after arriving from Turkey.[51]
• Jordan March 2, 2016 – Jordanian security services thwarted a plot by Islamic State militants to blow up civilian and military targets. They located the militants, who were carrying suicide belts, in a hideout in the northern city of Irbid near the Syrian border.[52]
• Somalia March 7, 2016 – US fixed wing and drone aircraft bombard a training camp for al-Shabaab, a major terrorists group in Somalia. The camp had been under surveillance for several weeks and intelligence agencies believed that a major attack on African Union peacekeepers was imminent. Over 150 militants were killed.[53]
• Turkey March 7, 2016 – Turkish forces detains IS suspects; seizes explosives and suicide vest. Two militants were captured at a Turkish/Syria border crossing.[54]
• France March 11, 2016 – Police in Paris arrest four teen girls for planning copycat Paris style concert hall attack. They posted messages on Facebook that specifically named their intended target and planned to get funding and weapons from know Jihadist activist sites in Belgium.[55]
• France March 23, 2016 – Police in France charge Reda Kriket, who traveled to Syria and met with Islamic State leaders last year, with planning an imminent terrorism attack in advanced stages along with three others detained in Belgium and the Netherlands.[56]
• Great Britain April 1, 2016 – Delivery driver, Junead Khan, and his uncle are convicted in English court of plotting to kill American and British soldiers in England by staging road accidents on behalf of Islamic State. Kingston Crown Court southwest of London had heard that Junead Khan had been visited four times by police trying to divert him from extremism but he had rejected their offers of help.[57]
• Russia April 12, 2016 – Three militants including at least one suicide bomber were killed in a failed attempt to attack a police station in Russia’s Stavropol region. No police officers or civilians were harmed and witnesses report hearing five explosions and lots of gunfire. This police station follows a fortress defense pattern to withstand possible ISIS attacks that have occurred before in this area.[58]
• Afghanistan April 21, 2016 – 10 Islamic militants were killed while they were busy making an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) inside a mosque in southeastern Ghazni province.[59]
• Denmark April 22, 2016 – a US Soldier is decorated for foiling an active terrorist plot to blow up a school in Denmark. While working in Afghanistan, the soldier uncovered evidence of the plot and his communications to authorities in Denmark resulted in arrests and the confiscation of explosives.[60]
• Italy April 28, 2016 – Italian authorities arrested four people suspected of extremism and issued arrest warrants for two more operating in Syria, according to the Milan prosecutor.[61]
• Russia April 30, 2016 – Illegal Muslim prayer hall was blown up in Russian city of Samara after police find cache of explosives inside.[62]
• Italy May 10, 2016 – Italian police have arrested two men accused of planning terror attacks in the UK and Italy. The suspects are alleged to have been plotting strikes on targets in London, including restaurants, hotels and a pedestrian footbridge near Canary Wharf in the east of the capital. Rome’s Coliseum and Circus Maximus, the ancient chariot racing stadium and a venue for modern-day concerts, are also said to have featured on their list.[63]
• Singapore June 1, 2016 – Four men plead guilty in Singapore court to plotting to overthrow their home country of Bangladesh for the Islamic State.[64]
• Germany June 2, 2016 – Dusseldorf terror attack thwarted as German police arrest three men from Syria plotting attack for Islamic State. The organization’s leadership ordered the two to carry out an attack in the bustling central pedestrian zone of Düsseldorf, the prosecutor’s office said.[65]
• Indonesia June 16, 2016 – An Indonesian bomb maker was sentenced to five years in prison for plotting to bomb a Java Island Buddhist temple. Three other helpers receive lesser sentences. The thwarted plot was inspired by Islamic State extremists.[66]
• Belgium June 18, 2016 – Belgian authorities arrest three men plotting a terror attack on a party gathered to watch a football match between Belgium and Ireland.[67]
• Iran June 20, 2016 – “One of the biggest takfiri-Wahhabi terrorist plots was discovered and foiled” according to Iran’s intelligence ministry. They said there had been “a major jihadist plot” to conduct bomb attacks throughout the country.[68]
• Saudi Arabia July 4, 2016 – On the last day of Ramadan militants attempt 3 attacks inside this country, but the first two at Jeddah and Qatif appears to be successfully thwarted with only the attackers coming to harm. [69]
• South Africa July 11, 2016 – South Africa authorities arrest 4 ISIS supporters for plotting to bomb the US Embassy in Pretoria and an unidentified Jewish target. A large stockpile of grenades and other combat materials were seized. [70]
• Arizona July 20, 2016 – A Tucson man is charged in federal court on terrorism charges for plotting to bomb a State Motor Vehicle office and Jewish Community Center in a plot thwarted by the FBI. He had been emailing contacts with the Taliban to show support for Jihad and to get instructions on bomb-making.[71]
• Brazil July 21, 2016 – Two weeks before the scheduled start of the 2016 Summer Olympic Game, Brazilian Federal Police announced ten arrests related to an Islamist terrorist ring said to be linked to ISIS. Although the arrests were all made in southern Brazil, officials said the terrorist network existed in nine Brazilian states.[72]
• Singapore August 5, 2016 – Police in Indonesia arrest six militants linked to ISIS operative in Syria who were planning a major rocket attack in neighboring Singapore. [73]
• Canada August 10, 2016 – Getting intelligence of an impending martyrdom operation, Royal Mounted Police shot and killed a man who set off an explosive device during his arrest. He was previously known to local authorities for his allegiance and support for Islamic State and had been given an court order prohibiting all contact with them. [74]
• Italy August 13, 2016 – The Italian government has arrested and deported a Tunisian national tied to the Islamic State and suspected of attempting to bomb of the leaning Tower of Pisa.[75]
• Iraq August 20, 2016 – Just one day after ISIS use a 12-year-old boy with a remote controlled suicide vest to hit a Kurdish wedding party in Turkey with horrible results, Iraqi police intercept another 12 year-old in Kirkuk and strip him of a suicide vest thwarting a Jihad attack there. [76]
• France September 8, 2016 – French police arrest three women, including one whom they describe as a major ISIS recruiter and another whom they say was previously engaged to two jihadists, thwarting an attack on a train station near Notre-Dame Cathedral.[77]
• Germany September 13, 2016 – German police arrest three Syrian refugees whom they believe to be part of a possible ISIL sleeper cell after several raids of homes in Schleswig-Holstein.[78]
• Germany October 8, 2016 – Police successfully thwarted a plot to bomb Chemnitz, Germany by 22-year-old Syrian Jaber al Bakr.[79]
• Kuwait October 9, 2016 – US Troops save the life of their attacker, pulling him from his burning vehicle after he deliberately rammed their vehicle in a failed jihad attack. [80]
• Germany October 10, 2016 – German police in Leipzig declare that they narrowly thwarted a large Islamic State terror attack targeting a major Berlin airport or railhub. They arrest a Syrian migrant who had 3 pounds of explosive in his possession. [81] 3 days later, the prime suspect commits suicide in jail.[82]
• Spain October 11, 2016 – Spanish police have arrested two men on suspicion of seeking recruits for the Islamic State group, the interior ministry said on Tuesday. The two men, who were arrested in separate operations in northern Spain, were both “fully integrated” into the infrastructure of the jihadist group and were “encouraging terrorist acts,” the statement said. [83]
• Arizona October 11, 2016 – An 18-year-old Tucson-area man accused of planning jihad-style attacks in Maricopa and Pima counties has pleaded guilty to three felonies and faces up to 14 years in prison, the Arizona Attorney General’s Office announced Monday.[84]
• Morocco October 12, 2016 – Moroccan police, in cooperation with Spanish security forces, have arrested a terrorist network suspected of links to ISIS, the Spanish Interior Ministry said on Wednesday.[85]
• Australia October 12, 2016 – Counter-terrorism police have arrested two 16-year-old boys over an incident in Sydney’s south-west.[86]
• Iran October 13, 2016 – Iran’s security forces have thwarted terror plots in southern province of Fars.[87]
• Italy October 17, 2016 – Italian police on Sunday arrested a man suspected of being an Islamic State sympathizer who was found to have a collection of home-made explosive devices and detonators.[88]
• Turkey October 19, 2016 – Turkish police killed a suspected Islamic State militant group suicide bomber in Ankara Wednesday ahead of a planned attack, according to officials and state media.[89]
• Kosovo, Macedonia and Albania November 17, 2016 – Simultaneous attacks were thwarted in Albania, Kosovo and Macedonia. 18 people were arrested.[90]
• United States November 21, 2016 – A Brooklyn man, Mohammed Rafik Naji, 37, a legal US resident originally from Yemen, was arrested by New York City police and charged with preparing a “Nice Style Terror Attack”. [91]
• France November 23, 2016 – Six people arrested in France for plotting a terror plot for December 1st. Plot targeted Disneyland Paris, Champs-Elysées, police say. They were preparing an attack in the Paris area were directed from the ISIS heartland. [92][93]
• Netherlands November 26, 2016 – Police arrest suspects associated with the Arrayan Mosque in northern Amsterdam plotting to blowup a nearby synagogue according to a report by the Dutch daily, De Telegraaf.[94]