Update Your Terror IQ
The number two figure in al-Qaeda, Abu Khayr al-Masri, was reportedly killed in a drone strike in Idlib, Syria, on February 26.
Married to one of Osama bin Ladin’s daughters, and deputy to al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Masri was one of the most prominent remaining pre-9/11 figures in al-Qaeda.
Al-Masri was allegedly responsible for a number of terror attacks, including the bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 in which over 200 people were killed.
Al-Masri’s significance in terms of his direct connection to the core of al-Qaeda cannot be overstated. Additionally his death in Syria could indicate cooperation between ISIS and al-Qaeda (traditionally hostile toward one another) in an effort to “[fight] the crusaders, the secularists, the Nusayris (Alawites) and the Safavids (Shia)” according to al-Zawahiri’s September 2015 call for united resistance.
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The Palestine Liberation Organization’s envoy to Tehran, Salah al-Zawawi told the Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese television station Al-Manar in an interview on February 20 that “if Iran produces a nuclear bomb — and I pray to Allah that Iran will produce 1,000 nuclear bombs,” he hopes “it will be used to defend, at the very least, the Islamic Republic and its principles,” according to a translation by watchdog group MEMRI.
Iran has denied seeking to produce nuclear weapons and signed a 2015 agreement with world powers that puts in place limitations on its nuclear program. At the same time, the Islamic Republic has continued to develop missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads and a number of senior Iranian officials have called repeatedly for Israel’s “annihilation,” including its supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
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Counter-terrorism group, The Quilliam Foundation, say they have found evidence young fighters are being brainwashed into believing they should eat human bodies if supplies are scarce during a time of jihad or religious war.
Quilliam chief executive Haras Rafiq said: “We have discovered curriculum that Islamic State use to indoctrinate fighters and the indigenous population in areas under their control. There are all sorts of things in there, but one of the most horrific is a section on cannibalism which they are teaching in classrooms.”
Raffia explains, “[ISIS] are trying to use a theological-based argument to say that cannibalism can be carried out when there is no food during a time of jihad…if there are no supplies, it is OK to kill another non-Muslim or a Muslim who doesn’t follow their version of Islam.”
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Newly released video footage shows a puppy wearing a suicide vest, curtesy of ISIS militants, being saved by Iraqi freedom fighters. The bomb, made from several bottles connected to electrical wires, is said to be designed for killing or maiming up to four people.
In the video, Iraqi government-backed rebels – battling to drive ISIS out of the country – explain how the fanatics wanted the pup to wander across the front line where they would have detonated it by remote control.
The Iraqi rebels were able to deactivate the bomb before the animal could inflict casualties. This method is among a raft of tactics being used by ISIS in effort to retain control of their stronghold in Mosul.
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Ontario legislature has passed a motion condemning Islamophobia and rebuking “the notable growing tide of anti-Muslim rhetoric and sentiments” in the Canadian province.
Likely motivated by good will (and in part a response to the attack on a Quebec mosque in late January) the Ontario legislature, by a vote of 81-0 unanimously passed a bill prohibiting “all forms of Islamophobia.”
The unfortunately worded motion raises a series of concerns voiced by Freedom Party member, Paul McKeever in an open letter to Ontario’s MMP,
“[The bill] will tend to silence all MPPs who might believe that some aspect of Islam is in need of condemnation; who might in any way state or imply that Islamic dogma is anti-democratic or anti-freedom; who might in any way suggest that Islamic radicals exist; who might in any way remind legislators that there exist Islamic radicals—even in Ontario—who are prepared to take political or violent steps to replace Man-made law with Sharia.”
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Former Guantanamo Bay detainee Abu-Zakariya al-Britani, is presumed dead after carrying out a suicide mission in which he drove an explosives-filled vehicle into an Iraqi army base near Mosul on February 20.
Al-Britani, a British citizen, was able to evade security services and travel to the Middle East, despite the services being fully aware of his previous detention and terrorism affiliation.
Pictures show al-Britani just prior to his ‘mission’ smiling in an explosives-laden car next to what appear to be wires connected to a detonator.
ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack and confirmed al-Britani was one of two militants involved in Monday’s attack on a Shiite army outpost, which the terror groups said claimed multiple casualties
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The week in review:
February 26, Sulu, Philippines: A 70-year-old German hostage is beheaded by Abu Sayyaf.
February 25, Homs, Syria: 42 people are killed and 24 injured in two suicide blasts.
February 25, Zawzjan, Afghanistan: A woman and ten police officers are shot to death outside a mosque by Sharia adherents.
February 24, Sousian, Syria: At least 60 people are killed and 42 wounded by a suicide bomber as they are lining up for housing permits.
February 24, Trebil, Iraq: Fifteen border guards are massacred by an Islamic State suicide bomber (as noted above by former Guantanamo Bay detainee)
February 23, al-Arish, Egypt: Jihadists murder a Coptic man and set his home on fire.
February 22, al-Arish, Egypt: A Christian man is shot to death and his son burned alive by Islamists.
February 22, Janikhel, Afghanistan: Three civilians are killed and 19 wounded when the Taliban bomb a market.
February 21, Mosul, Iraq: A captive is beheaded by the Islamic State.
February 21, Baguan Island, Philippines: Abu Sayyaf pirates attack a commercial ship, killing one crew member and abducting seven more.
February 21, Baghdad, Iraq: Seven people are killed and 12 wounded by a bomb in a shopping district.
February 21, Karbala, Iraq: Two Shiites are beheaded by a Sunni extremist group.
February 21, Charsadda, Pakistan: Fedayeen suicide bombers storm a court in session, killing at least seven and wounding 21.
February 20, Mosul, Iraq: A child is among two killed and five wounded when ISIS operatives drop a grenade from a drone.
February 20, Abu Ghraib, Iraq: One person is killed and four are wounded by a nail-packed bomb as they stand outside a market.
February 20, Ashim, Nigeria: Muslim militants murder fourteen civilians.
