Category: Terror War

Fox News reports that Nicholas Young, an officer with the DC Transit Authority police was arrested earlier today by Feds for providing material support to ISIS;

Young allegedly sent mobile-based gift card IDs to a law enforcement source last week with the understanding that the cards would be used by overseas ISIS fighters to communicate, according to a copy of the indictment viewed by The Washington Post.

An alleged transaction redeemed by the FBI in July was for $245.

Young has been monitored by the FBI since September 2010, The Post reported.

According to the International Business Times, the 12-year-veteran of the force provided communication devices for use by ISIS.

According to a Justice Department press release Young had “numerous interactions with undercover law enforcement personnel and an FBI confidential human source” about his interest in terrorism-related activity. Several meetings with an undercover officer also included Young’s acquaintance, Amine El Khalifi, who pleaded guilty in 2012 to plotting to carry out a suicide bombing at the U.S. Capitol Building, according to Justice Department.

The Justice Department also alleged, citing an affidavit, that Young traveled to Libya in 2011 and attempted to travel there a second time, telling FBI agents “that he had been with rebels attempting to overthrow the Muammar Qaddafi regime.” A search of his baggage allegedly revealed “body armor, a kevlar helmet and several other military-style items.”

NBC News says that Young is “acquainted with” two others who have been arrested for terrorist activities.

The documents say Young knew Zachary Chesser, convicted in 2010 of providing support al Qaeda’s affiliate in Somalia.

They also say he met with Amine El Khalifi, the year before he pleaded guilty to plotting a suicide bomb attack on the US Capitol. Khalifi was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Thanks to Devtun for the link.

According to CNN, the US has begun expanding their airstrikes against ISIS in Libya as we support the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) – the UN-backed unity government of the fractured nation, while the Libyan government tries to take back the Libyan coastal city of Sirte from the ISIS thugs.

The White House said President Barack Obama authorized the airstrikes at the recommendation of Defense Secretary Ash Carter.
“The President’s been clear that he will deny any safe haven for groups like ISIL or any group that tries to do us harm,” White House spokesman Eric Schultz said. “The strikes you’ve seen are consistent with that approach.”

[…]

Aside from Iraq and Syria, ISIS’ presence in Libya “is probably the most developed and the most dangerous,” CIA Director John Brennan recently told Congress.

And Libya’s proximity to Europe could compound the problem.

Better four years late than never, I guess. There is a case in favor of pre-emptive strikes here. At least we’re not having the discussion about arming this side or that side for a change.

Fox News says that the air strikes came from USS WASP;

Marine Corps Harrier jets launched from Wasp conducted strikes Monday along with unmanned drones from a location the U.S. military did not want disclosed, one official said. The strikes targeted ISIS militants in their stronghold of Sirte, a Libyan coastal city.

Ex-PH2 sends us a link to Reuters which reports that the Islamic State is calling for lone wolves to attack inside Putin’s Russia in retaliation for Russia’s actions in Syria;

Islamic State called on its group members to carry out jihad in Russia in a nine-minute YouTube video on Sunday.

“Listen Putin, we will come to Russia and will kill you at your homes … Oh Brothers, carry out jihad and kill and fight them,” a masked man driving a car in the desert yelled while wagging his finger in the last couple of minutes of the video.

The video with subtitles showed footage of armed men attacking armored vehicles and tents and collecting arms in the desert. “Breaking into a barrack of the Rejectionist military on the international road south Akashat,” read one subtitle.

According to B92, the Russians don’t seem worried;

Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday that this type of threats “will not affect the policy of fighting against terrorism.”

“Such threats cannot affect in any way the policy pursued by Russia and President Putin in the fight against international terrorism, which, of course, will continue in all directions,” he said, according to TASS.

Peskov advised against “overestimating the significance of such statements.”

I hope they keep poking the Bear.

Our buddy, Kristina Wong at The Hill writes that 5 special forces soldiers were wounded in Afghanistan during “partnered operations with Afghan special operators in the southern Afghanistan province of Nangarhar” against ISIS (not Taliban) troops. The wounds were not serious and two of the soldiers have returned to their units;

“They are in good spirits and have talked to their families,” [Army Gen. John Nicholson] said. “We expect a full recovery.”

The U.S. and Afghan forces were moving south to clear ISIS from the province, Nicholson said.

He estimated there are somewhere between 1,000 to 1,500 members of ISIS in Afghanistan, down from about 3,000. ISIS members are mostly in the provinces of Nangahar and Kunar, Nicholson said

According to the Washington Post, Nicholson claimed that 70% of the ISIS forces were converts from the Taliban.

The joint U.S.-Afghan offensive operations against the Islamic State are just one part of a broader 2016 battle plan in Afghanistan, Nicholson said, one that involves widespread offensive operations against the Taliban, the Islamic State and other terrorist groups in the country…Additionally, U.S. forces have taken advantage of new authorities granted by Obama that allow for more leeway when it comes to advising and clearing airstrikes to better assist Afghan forces on the offensive.

Well, that’s nice….the troops get more of the support they need more often. Say “Thanks, Obama”.

French president François Hollande blames ISIS for an attack that happened in a French church in Normandy overnight according to the Irish Times;

Two men armed with knives burst into the Catholic church in Saint-Etienne du Rouvray, in the southern suburbs of Rouen, during morning Mass on Tuesday. They took five hostages: the priest, two nuns and two parishoners. A third nun escaped and raised the alert.

The Rapid Intervention Brigade (BRI) arrived within minutes from Rouen, surrounded the church and closed off the area. The hostage-takers came out of the church and were shot dead in the forecourt.

When the commandos entered the church, they found the priest dead with his throat cut. Another hostage was critically wounded.

The article says that no one has claimed responsibility for the attack yet, but that Hollande says that the attackers claimed allegiance to ISIS before their demise.

UpNorth sends us a link to the Dallas Morning News which reports that Syrian man who had been denied asylum detonated a suicide bomb at the entrance to a music festival in Ansbach, Germany, near Nuremberg, yesterday.

Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said in a press conference that the bomber was a 27-year-old Syrian man who had been denied asylum last year. The man had been allowed to remain in Germany because of the on-going war in Syria.

The man had attempted to enter the music festival and was rebuffed then he detonated his explosive device.

“We don’t know if this man planned on suicide or if he had the intention of killing others,” Herrmann said.

A spokesman for the prosecutor’s office in Ansbach said the attacker’s motive wasn’t clear.

“If there is an Islamist link or not is purely speculation at this point,” said the spokesman, Michael Schrotberger.

The bomber was the only one killed in the blast but there are 12 others injured, three seriously. About 2 hours away, in Reutlingen, near Stuttgart, another man murdered a woman with a machete.

Two ISIS suicide bombers ignited their vests in a crowd of ethnic Hazaras who were protesting the government’s planned route for a powerline. Of course, since ISIS is mostly Sunni-styled Muslims, they targeted the Hazaras because they are largely Shi’ites.

The Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying in a statement on its Amaq News Agency that two of its fighters detonated explosive belts during the march, the KHAAMA news agency reported.

The privately owned Afghan TOLOnews site quoted an unidentified high-ranking Afghan security official as saying security forces killed a third bomber before another explosive was detonated.

A Taliban spokesman strongly denied any involvement from his group in the attack.

[…]

“We had intelligence over recent days and it was shared with the demonstration organizers, we shared our concerns because we knew that terrorists wanted to bring sectarianism to our community,” presidential spokesman Haroon Chakhansuri said.

Maybe the Taliban didn’t touch this bomb attack off, but they’ve purposely targeted civilians in the past. You’d think that after a while the Afghans would get on board the freedom train and help the US and it’s allies eradicate these groups from the planet. Except that in that part of the world, fear is the only way to rule over the ignorant masses. Common sense is uncommon.

I guess that it’s more profitable to complain about the civilians that we kill accidentally with drones.