The goal of this column is to present news from around the world that is not often – if ever – covered by more mainstream entities, using local sources wherever possible, but occasionally using news aggregators not used, again, by the mainstream media. Also, please note that we do use links to Wikipedia; while Wikipedia is well-known as a largely-useless site for any kind of serious research, it does serve as a launch-pad for further inquiry, in addition to being generally free of malicious ads. As with anything from Wikipedia, always verify their sources before making any conclusions based on their pages.
This column will cover the preceding week of news.
To make it easier for readers to follow story source links: anytime you see a bracketed number marked in green – [1] – those are the source links relating to that story.
North America
Beginning in North America and the Caribbean, this week saw a return of bomb threats against schools and Jewish centers, after near-silence for two weeks. The anonymous threats were concentrated in California, and in the Northeast, in Upstate New York and neighboring Canada. [1]-[4]
In an incident somewhat similar to the recent series of threats made against the town of Kiel, Wisconsin, a series of bomb threats were made against a host of offices of the Alabama state Department of Transportation, as well as various officials of the agency. According to the threat letter received, the person making the threats was opposing the eminent domain case the Alabama DOT is pursuing against a local family, attempting to seize a portion of their property – including four homes – for a highway project. The family in question is reportedly “disturbed” by the threats made against the local government. [5]
Finally for the United States, 42-year old Allison Fluke-Ekren plead guilty in federal court on the 7th, on charges of conspiring to provide material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization. Fluke-Ekren, a purported leader within the Islamic State terror group, was accused of leading the “Khatiba Nusaybah”, a reported all-female unit of IS fighters that planned terror attacks inside the United States. Fluke-Ekren faces up to 20 years in prison. [6][7]
[Source 1] – [Source 2] – [Source 3] – [Source 4] – [Source 5] – [Source 6] – [Source 7]
Turning briefly to the Caribbean, unknown “gangs” reportedly kidnapped some 38 people riding in ‘mini-buses’, as they left Port-au-Prince, the capital of the impoverished nation of Haiti. No further details were available at press time. Haiti has been on an increasingly downward spiral, in the aftermath of devastating earthquakes in 2010 and 2021, the assassination of the nation’s President in 2021 and an array of problems associated with the Covid pandemic. [8]
[Source 8]
Europe
Turning to Europe, officials reported that a number of Belgrade schools received another round of bomb threats this week, disrupting classes as police responded to investigate and clear the schools. Some analysts have begun trying to link the relentless waves of threats to Serbia‘s continued refusal to impose sanctions on Russia, over its ongoing invasion of Ukraine. [1]
In Germany, one person was killed and 30 more were injured when a man rammed his car into a crowd of shoppers in central Berlin, near the Breitscheidplatz, site of the 2016 Berlin truck attack, that killed 12 and wounded 56, an attack for which the Islamic State of the day took responsibility. There was no word at press time of the identity of the assailant, who was detained at the scene by shoppers until the police arrived, or his motivation. [2]
Africa
In Nigeria, while the pace of arson, assassination and kidnapping attacks continue throughout the nation, the number of attacks was noticeably lower this week, in comparison to previous weeks. The ongoing investigation into last week’s bloody massacre of Catholic worshipers in Ondo, saw police on the scene recover at least three IED‘s from the scene. [1]-[6]
The ISWAP terror group, reeling from last week’s losses to the Nigerian Army and civilian militias, staged an attack on the town of Lawan, near Maiduguri in the state of Borno, in the eastern part of the country, reportedly kidnapping a number of civilians. This shaped into a major fight, with the ISWAP fighters attempting to block the main road in the area, and having to be dislodged by army troops, with air strikes from the Nigerian Air Force. The terrorists were ultimately driven off, with three “technicals” captured and another destroyed. This is in the same area as last year’s deadly assault (which reportedly included a captured Scorpion Light Tank) on an army camp near the town of Mainok, which resulted in the death of some 33 soldiers, and the destruction of several heavy vehicles, including a T-55 tank, a BTR IFV‘s and several MRAP‘s. [7][8]
[Source 1] – [Source 2] – [Source 3] – [Source 4] – [Source 5] – [Source 6] – [Source 7] – [Source 8]
Middle East
Desultory violence continued throughout the region, this week, as two Egyptian soldiers and three civilians were killed in the town of Rafah, in the Sinai Peninsula, by Islamic State militants. The Egyptian state and people have been battling IS since 2011, in a protracted war of terror against Egypt. [1]
Turning to Syria, Turkey’s intervention ground on through its eleventh year, with artillery and drone strikes in its occupation zone in Syria’s Kurdish-majority north, where Turkey is trying to destroy Kurdish infrastructure, in order to limit support from getting to its own restive Kurdish minority. [2]-[4]
[Source 1] – [Source 2] – [Source 3] – [Source 4]
This week saw a sudden uptick of violence across Afghanistan, where a wave of bombings has killed at least two dozen people, and wounded dozens more, as the Taliban struggle to maintain order in the wake of their seizure of the government and capital of Kabul in September of 2021. This is not simply a case of resistance by the Northern Alliance (which has been clinging to life in the Panjshir Valley) since the Taliban takeover, but the reality of Islamic terror: no one is ever “ideologically pure” enough…which is why most of the world’s victims of Islamist terror are Muslims.
[Source 1] – [Source 2] – [Source 3] – [Source 4] – [Source 5]
In Pakistan, scattered terrorist incidents killed over a dozen in scattered shootings and bombings across the country, including four terrorists from various groups and one soldier.
[Source 1] – [Source 2] – [Source 3]
Turning to India, finally, Indian police captured a drone delivering supplies to Islamic insurgents in Jammu & Kashmir, as continuous operations killed or captured a dozen terror suspects, and netted weapons and explosives. [1]-[7]
[Source 1] – [Source 2] – [Source 3] – [Source 4] – [Source 5] – [Source 6] – [Source 7]
Elsewhere in the country, fallout continues over the comments made in May by two of India’s ruling BJP (“Bharatiya Janata Party”) party officials (who were dismissed over the religiously offensive comments), which many Muslims saw as profaning Muhammad, the Prophet of the Islamic faith. At least three protestor’s have been killed by police in riots in Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand State, in protests demanding the arrest of Nupur Sharma, one of the female party members who made the offensive comments. In the northern state of Uttar Pradesh (site of the Taj Mahal), police have arrested over 300 people in in connection with the violent protests, and officials have begun a highly controversial policy of bulldozing the homes and businesses of some of the rioters. Additionally, the “Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent” terror group chimed in, vowing suicide attacks in retribution. [8]-[4]
[Source 8] – [Source 9] – [Source 10] – [Source 11] – [Source 12] – [Source 13] – [Source 14]
