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.
North America
Beginning in North America, a wide array of bomb threats continue to spread across the country, mostly targeting schools, but also businesses and shopping centers. While various individuals with certain mental or emotional issues are typically responsible for these events, the possibility exists that these are efforts to monitor emergency response procedures by law enforcement and other emergency services.
As well, a bomb, threat was made against a synagogue in Highland Park, Illinois, some 25 miles north of Chicago on the 18th, while the next day, worshipers at a mosque in Montreal Canada were attacked by an assailant identified as as 24-year-old Mohammad Moiz Omar, who walked into the Dar Al-Tawheed Islamic Centre in Mississauga, Ontario, about 15 miles from Toronto, and began spraying “bear mace” at the congregation. Worshipers subdued the assailant, who was arrested by Canadian police, was also armed with a hand ax. Authorities are claiming that the attack was a case of “Islamophobia“.
[Source 1] – [Source 2] – [Source 3] – [Source 4] – [Source 5] – [Source 6] – [Source 7] – [Source 8] – [Source 9]
Africa
Turning to Africa, the Algerian Army arrested seven suspected “militants” in its ongoing, low-level guerilla war against the remnants of Al Qaeda [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Qaeda]-aligned groups in the North African nation, following the end of its civil war in 2002.
[Source]
Meanwhile, thirteen soldiers were killed in the eastern region of Burkina Faso, in an ambush by unidentified gunmen, while eight more soldiers were wounded. This comes a week after over a dozen police officers were killed in a similar ambush in the landlocked nation’s central-north region, as we reported last week.
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In Nigeria, gunmen abducted over sixty people during the week. Most of these abductees are usually released after ransoms are paid, but many are either sold into human trafficking rings or forced to join armed groups, such as Boko Haram.
Speaking of Boko Haram, demining and cleanup operations continue in the Shiroro Local Government region, in the country’s central region, where the terrorist group laid numerous IED’s to deny residents access to their homes as a part of the group’s ongoing guerilla war throughout the region.
In the nation’s far northeastern Borno State, an airstrike by Nigerian Air Force Super Tucano light strike aircraft has reportedly killed Sani Shuwaram, the “Commander In Chief” of the “Islamic State – West Africa Province” (ISWAP). Details remain sketchy, although intelligence reports indicate that he may have been replaced by one Mallam Bako Gorgore, although few details of this individual are available at this writing.
[Source 1] – [Source 2] – [Source 3] – [Source 4] – [Source 5]
In the Central African nation of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), horrific levels of violence continues in the Ituri region of the country’s northeast, as fourteen people were hacked to death in a “displaced persons camp” in the province. According to local officials the attack was carried out by an armed faction of the “CODECO” group, a formerly peaceful agricultural cooperative organization, which returned to violence in 2017 after a ceasefire following the Ituri Conflict of 1999-2003.
In Sudan, continuing protests against the military junta of General Abdel Fattah Burhan, which has been ruling the country since its October, 2021 coup d’état have killed a thirteen year-old boy in the city of Omdurman, bringing the reported death toll to 88.
[Source]
In the continually strife-torn nation of Somalia, the Somali National Army reportedly killed seven terrorists belonging to the Al Shabaab terror group, while two other militants surrendered in the central region of the county.
At the same time, three persons were reportedly injured by a car bomb in the Hodan district of the capital city of Mogadishu. Accoding to police sources, the attack was aimed at Turkish engineers working in the country. Turkey has been quietly expanding into the African state since 2010, opening a basic military training facility in their own encampment to train a new army for the country, as well as a formal school for officer training.
[Source 1] – [Source 2] – [Source 3]
The Arabian Peninsula
In the Arabian Peninsula, the seemingly never-ending, multi-sided war between various Yemeni factions, and a Saudi-led Coalition grinds onward, with Houthi forces continuing a relentless campaign against Saudi oil facilities, further destabilizing world oil prices.
[Source 1] – [Source 2] – [Source 3] – [Source 4] – [Source 5]
The Middle East
Elsewhere in the Middle East, four Israeli civilians were killed in the town of Be’er Sheva/Beersheba and one remains in critial condition, following a ram-and-stab attack by an attacker identified as 34-year-old Muhammad Aleb Ahmad Abu Alkyan, a Bedoiun Israeli who was previously convicted and served three years in prison for supporting and promoting ISIS. This comes at the same time as continued protests on the West Bank, and threats by Iran’s IRGC commander to launch a missile attack on the Jewish state.
In Syria, a US base near the Deir Ez-Zor oil field was reportedly struck by several missiles, and reportedly by drones. No casualties were reported, but independent confirmation is not available at press time.
Elsewhere in Deir ez-Zor, a tribal elder was assassinated by IS, while in the north of the country, Russian Air Force jets struck reported IS targets on the 20th.
In the northern town of Ayn Issa, two children were wouded by Turkish artillery, while Turkish artillery struck targets near Tell Tamer, and four Syrian Army soldiers were reportedly killed in an IS attack near Resafa.
[Source 1] – [Source 2] – [Source 3] – [Source 4] – [Source 5] – [Source 6] – [Source 7] – [Source 8]
South Asia
In the South Asian nation of Pakistan, the driver of a water tanker truck was killed when his truck struck a landmine. The deceased, identified as Mohammad Bahadur Khan Pathan, was delivering water to a the Notal-Gandhwah road construction project in the southern part of the country, when his vehicle struck the landmine. No word was available on which group may have planted the device at press time.
In the northwestern city of Sari Naurang, a police officer was assasinated in a driveby shooting by members of an unidentified terrorist group, while a shootout in the Bajur District killed two soldiers, three civilians and four insurgents from an undentified group. Additionally, five people associated with “Al-Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent (AQIS)” and the “Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)” were arrested by Pakistani police in Punjab Province.
[Source 1] – [Source 2] – [Source 3] – [Source 4]
In India, Jammu & Kashmir saw three terror attacks in 24 hours, while a member of the “Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)” terror group – responsible for the terror attack on Mumbai, India in 2008 – was arrested in the region’s Baramulla district. In the Shopian district, meanwhile, a grenade attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) station injured one police officer.
In the central state of Odisha, a man was arrested for “providing logistical support” to Maoist insurgents, in the town of Kalahandi. In the neighboring state of Chhattisgarh, Maoist’s attacked a CRPF camp in the Sukma district, injuring three police officers.
Finally, in India’s far northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, police and units of the Assam Rifles killed two insurgents from the “National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Isak Muivah (NSCN-IM)” in a raid on a safe house in the Tirap district, recovering military weapons (including a US M4A1 rifle), ammunition and other military-type equipment. The presence of a late-model M4A1 in far eastern India may indicate a case of fallout from the collapse of the US and Coalition efforts in Afghanistan, in August of 2021, potentially confirming the fears of analysts that the equipment left behind may be making its way into the wider terrorist community.
[Source 1] – [Source 2] – [Source 3] – [Source 4] – [Source 5] – [Source 6] – [Source 7]
About Author
Michael Cessna
Michael Cessna is a former Active Duty United States Marine, a long-time personal protection specialist, security and defense analyst, military subjects instructor, general information researcher and amateur historian. He has been contributing security and defense writing since 2015.
