Dilitas International Security Brief

This week's international security brief from Dilitas.

Dilitas provides the following services:

INVESTIGATIONS

DUE DILIGENCE

SURVEILLANCE

CLOSE PROTECTION

SECURITY CONSULTANCY

The threat to the UK from International Terrorism is?SEVERE

The threat to Great Britain from Irish Republican Terrorism is?SEVERE

Threat levels are designed to give a broad indication of the likelihood of a terrorist attack.

LOW means an attack is unlikely

MODERATE means an attack is possible, but not likely

SUBSTANTIAL means an attack is a strong possibility

SEVERE means an attack is highly likely

CRITICAL means an attack is expected imminently

AFRICA

The president of Guinea-Bissau has said he survived a coup attempt after being under heavy gunfire for five hours. Umaro Cissoko Embaló said the attackers tried to kill him and his entire cabinet at the government palace. He said many others had been killed in the fighting on both sides. Local media reported at least six deaths - four attackers and two guards.

About 60 people living in a camp for the homeless have been killed in a brutal overnight attack in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

West African regional bloc Ecowas will deploy troops to Guinea-Bissau to help stabilise the country after this week's attempted coup.

Opposition MPs in Uganda have staged a walkout from parliament in protest about the illegal detention and torture of Ugandans.

Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has questioned whether her country's military mission in Mali should continue.

The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has accused government security forces in Oromia, the country’s largest region, of killing 14 civilians in December, including local elders.

ASIA

China has joined Russia in opposing further Nato expansion as the two countries move closer together in the face of Western pressure.

Pakistani law enforcement agencies on Friday claimed to have thwarted terror attacks on worship places and arrested two terrorists from the banned Islamic State (ISIS) in the country's Punjab province.

Since it overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi's democratically elected government in a coup one year ago, Myanmar's military - known as the Tatmadaw - has gone on to shock the world by killing hundreds of its own civilians, including dozens of children, in a brutal crackdown on protesters.

EUROPE

Dozens of Turkish warplanes and droneshave attacked Kurdish militant training camps, shelters and ammunition storage areas in northern areas of Iraq and Syria, Turkey's Defence Ministry said on Wednesday.

A Danish court has found three members of an Iranian opposition group guilty of spying for Saudi Arabia.

Europol coordinates action against bomb manuals available online.

MIDDLE EAST

The leader of the Islamic State (IS) is dead following a US raid in northern Syria that also killed a senior deputy of the terror group, US officials say. Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi set off a blast killing himself and his family as special forces rounded on his hideout after a gunfight.

Israel's Mossad suspected of high-level Iran penetration.

THE AMERICAS

The US government is to crack down on homemade guns bought and sold without records amid a surge in gun crimes.

Thousands of people in northern Chile have staged a protest against migration from Venezuela.

At least 21 people have died in floods and landslides caused by torrential rains in the Brazilian state of S?o Paulo.

Adulterated cocaine has killed at least 20 people and left 74 in hospitals around the Buenos Aires region of Argentina,

UK

RAF jets have been scrambled to intercept unidentified aircraft off the north of Scotland.

Armed counter-terrorism officers will be deployed on British cross-Channel ferries for the first time this summer. Around 40 officers from the Civil Nuclear Constabulary will be deployed to ships in Dover and Newcastle from July.

The U.K. authorities have seized from an Azerbaijani lawmaker 5.6 million pounds (US$7.56 million) derived from a sophisticated international money laundering scheme that was revealed by the OCCRP and its partners in 2017, the National Crime Agency (NCA).

CYBER/CRYPTO/HACKING

A hacking team that Ukraine says is controlled by Russian intelligence targeted a "western government entity" currently in the country

A major fuel supplier in Germany is operating at a "limited capacity" after a cyber-attack disrupted IT systems [last] weekend.

An advanced persistent threat group with links to Iran has updated its malware toolset to include a novel PowerShell-based implant called PowerLess Backdoor.

Multiple oil transport and storage companies across Europe are dealing with cyber-attacks. IT systems have been disrupted at Oiltanking in Germany, SEA-Invest in Belgium and Evos in the Netherlands.

Shops have been warned deliveries of nuts and crisps could be at risk, after KP Snacks was hit by ransomware.

An American hacker says he singlehandedly took down the North Korean internet last month.

Employees at the New York Post and Wall Street Journal were targeted in an apparent intelligence-gathering operation by Chinese hackers, a cybersecurity consultant for the newspapers’ parent company said Friday.