GRG Terrorism and Counter Terrorism Update

Welcome to the first Linkedin edition of the terrorism and counter terrorism update. This update seeks to recap major stories, as well as smaller ones that nonetheless provide a valuable insight into our world, in order to provide researchers, analysts, and otherwise interested individuals with a concise and informative insight into terrorism and counter terrorism.

United Kingdom: Five Bulgarian nationals in the UK are accused of spying for Russia

The five will be charged with conspiracy to conduct espionage. The Crown Prosecution Service has stated that they have been accused of “conspiring to collect information intended to be directly or indirectly useful to an enemy for a purpose prejudicial to the safety and interest of the state”. The offences took place over a period of two and a half years between 2020 and 2023.?

United Kingdom: 23-year-old woman is jailed for distributing Islamist extremist content

Roma Iqbal promoted and facilitated the dissemination of two Islamist extremist publications. Iqbal shared The Signs of Ar-Rahman in “The Raid of September”, a publication criticising a new world order driven by American foreign policy post 9/11 and calling for “the total fall of America”. The second publication is entitled Ruling on Fighting Americans Outside Iraq. Both publications were authored by Naasir bin Hamad al-Fahd, a Salafist scholar known for his support of a nuclear jihad against the United States. Iqbal also co-created the People of Tawhid, a website dedicated to Abu Hamza, which required months of research into Islamist extremism and the dissemination of IS promotional videos.?

United States: Incendiary device thrown at the Cuban embassy in Washington?

The Cuban Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, has stated that two Molotov cocktails were thrown at the embassy on Sunday night, hours after the Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel returned to the island after UN talks. Rodríguez posted on social media that “Anti-Cuban groups turn to terrorism” highlighting tense relations in recent years. No one was injured during the attack and the embassy building did not sustain damage.

Germany: Neo-Nazi group, Artgemeinschaft, has been banned in Germany?

On Wednesday morning, 700 police officers raided houses with links to the group across Germany in an effort to dismantle the group’s core network. This comes a week after Germany outlawed another Neo-Nazi group, Hammerskins. Artgemeinshaft roughly translates to racial community and has around 150 members who practice what the group calls Nordic or pagan rituals. It ran an online bookshop to proliferate Nazi-era literature, with the intention to persuade young people to adopt anti-Semitic, ethnonationalist and white supremacist ideologies.

Pakistan: 59 dead after two mosque attacks hours apart on Eid-e-Milad un-Nabi?

On Friday, twin mosque attacks occurred on the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday, Eid-e-Milad un-Nabi. The first attack took place in Mastung in Balochistan province. A suicide bomber killed 54 outside a mosque where a parade was taking place to celebrate the holiday. A few hours later, an explosion in a police station mosque in Hangu, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa killed 5 people with at least 30 trapped in rubble. Although no group has claimed either of these attacks, academics and scholars have suggested that IS-K will likely be behind both attacks.

Niger: France announces it will pull ambassador and troops out of Niger by the end of the year

France has announced that it will remove the remaining 1500 troops from Niger by the end of the year. This comes following a coup in July that saw Niger’s democratically elected president ousted by a military junta. France had previously stationed 1000s of troops in the country and had kept 1500 post-coup, despite demands for the troops and the French ambassador to leave the country. Now, following the death of 12 soldiers from the Niger Armed Forces in Southern Niger following an attack by Islamist insurgents, French President Emmanuel Macron declared his belief that “[Niger doesn't] want to fight against terrorism anymore” justifying his decision to finally withdraw troops and ambassadors from the nation.

This weeks edition was written and edited by Joe Earnshaw and Jennifer Young .