Category: Terror War

A terrorist identified as “Hicham D” managed to stab two Brussels police officers before he was subdued by a third officers and taken into custody, according to CNN;

“In the framework of the terrorist attack against two police officers in Schaerbeek, a house search was conducted today at the residence of the suspect Hicham D, situated in Schaerbeek, Avenue de la Reine,” the statement [from the prosecutor’s office] said.

No weapons were found in the search in Belgium’s capital city. The office declined to release further details related to the search.

None of the injuries were life threatening.

A 17-year-old French high school student, Stan Racine, witnessed the attack.
“The suspect pulled out a knife and attacked a policeman, and hurt him in the stomach and leg,” he told CNN. “The policeman then pulled out his pistol and shot the suspect in the leg.”

Racine said the suspect then shouted something in what he believed was Arabic.

That Indiana Jones impression gets them every time. I wonder what Arabic phrase he could have shouted that made the Belgians think that it was a terrorist attack?

The Pentagon reports that about 44 Afghan soldiers training in the United States have gone over the hill in the past few years, according to Fox News;

A U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that the frequency of Afghan troops disappearing from military training was truly concerning and “out of the ordinary.” Pentagon spokesman Adam Stump said that eight Afghan troops have left bases without permission.

“”The Defense Department is assessing ways to strengthen eligibility criteria for training in ways that will reduce the likelihood of an individual Afghan willingly absconding from training in the U.S. and going AWOL,” Stump said.

Afghans who train at U.S. military bases are vetted to make sure they don’t have a sketchy background or ties to militant groups in the Middle East, Stump added. The defense official told Reuters there was no evidence that those who vanished posed any threat to the U.S.

Well, that’s reassuring. Most of the Afghans who killed US troops in Afghanistan during the surge of green-on-blue insider attacks were supposedly “vetted” by the Afghanistan government, too.

Chief Tango sends us a link to the Washington Post in which they report the death of a US service member during operations against ISIS in eastern Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province in the Achin district near the Pakistan border. The report is that the soldier was dismounted and killed by an IED.

The death occurred as the U.S. military assisted Afghan forces with offensives in two other parts of the country. In the northern city of Kunduz, Afghan troops pushed out insurgents late Tuesday in an operation backed by U.S. air power. In southern Afghanistan’s Helmand province, fighting was underway in both Nawa and Khanashin districts between Afghan troops and Taliban fighters.

The death Tuesday marks the third U.S. combat fatality in Afghanistan this year.

So, I guess the rumors that there is still a war going on in Afghanistan are true. More Americans have been killed in the US by terrorists this year than soldiers killed in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq combined.

AW1Ed sends us a link to the story of Nelash Mohamed Das, from Bangladesh, but living in Hyattsville, Maryland, right outside our nation’s capitol. The feds have charged him with providing material support to ISIS and planning to kill a member of the US military.

“The danger posed by Mr. Das during this investigation was very real. He was committed to carrying out an attack against a military member,” said Special Agent in Charge Gordon B. Johnson of the FBI’s Baltimore Division. “Through our proactive investigative stance, we were able to ensure the citizens of Maryland were protected. The covert nature of the defendant’s alleged actions is a stark reminder of the challenges we face in preventing attacks, and underscores the critical need for those with knowledge about terror plots to come forward.”

According to the affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint, Das was admitted to the United States in 1995 and is a legal permanent resident.

The affidavit alleges that from September 28, 2015 to early 2016, Das used social media to express his support for ISIL, including support for terrorist attacks in Paris, France, and San Bernardino, California.

On October 26, 2015, Das tweeted the name of an individual and the city where they lived, stating that the individual “aspires to kill Muslims.” Das knew that the individual hoped to become a member of the U.S. military. ISIL members and supporters have posted identifying information about United States military personnel in hopes that those inspired by ISIL would carry out attacks against them. The affidavit alleges that Das was advertising the individual’s identity and whereabouts in order to inspire violence against that individual.

Das shared his plan with a federal informant who helped him buy inert weapons from the Feds. Then they arrested him. Luckily. This fighting terrorism with law enforcement works well. Except when it doesn’t.