memri
November 10, 2018 Special Announcements No. 678

Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM) Weekend Summary

November 10, 2018
Special Announcements No. 678

The following are some of this week's reports from the MEMRI Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM) Project, which translates and analyzes content from sources monitored around the clock, among them the most important jihadi websites and blogs. (To view these reports in full, you must be a paying member of the JTTM; for membership information, send an email to jttmsubs@memri.org with "Membership" in the subject line.)

Note to media and government: For a full copy of these reports, send an email with the title of the report in the subject line to media@memri.org. Please include your name, title, and organization in your email.

 

ISIS Claims Responsibility For Melbourne Attack

On November 9, 2018, the Islamic State (ISIS) via its A'maq news agency claimed responsibility for that day's "vehicular" and stabbing attack in Melbourne, Australia.

 

EXCLUSIVE: Well-Known American ISIS Media Operative Reported Safe After Long Period Of Online Absence

On November 3, 2018, Islamic State (ISIS) media activists shared a message on several pro-ISIS channels on Telegram announcing that an ISIS media operative was safe.

 

EXCLUSIVE: ISIS Supporter Launches New Group For Hacking And Spreading Propaganda

On November 6, 2018, an Islamic State (ISIS) supporter announced the launch of a new online group named "The Caliphate Corps." The objective of the new group is to hack its rivals' social media accounts and post ISIS propaganda (known as "raiding" in ISIS parlance).

 

EXCLUSIVE: Pro-ISIS Media Group Eulogizes Alleged Hacker Of CENTCOM Twitter Account Canadian National Abu Osama Al-Kanadi

On November 5, 2018, pro-ISIS media group Al-Muhajireen Foundation published a profile highlighting the jihadi journey of a Canadian national who was known for his hacking activities including the hacking of the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) Twitter account.

 

EXCLUSIVE: On Telegram, Hizbul Ahrar Says Maulana Samiul Haq 'Was Martyred On The Watch Of The Powerful Army Of Pakistan'

Hizbul Ahrar, one of the factions that emerged from Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan ("Movement of the Pakistani Taliban," TTP) about two years ago, shared on Telegram a message of condolence on the killing of Pakistani religious leader Maulana Samiul Haq, who was stabbed to death in the evening on November 2, 2018, in Rawalpindi, where the Pakistani army is headquartered.

 

EXCLUSIVE: Profile: 'Most Of The Afghan Taliban's Shura Members Had Studied In Darul Uloom Haqqania Under Samiul Haq'

Maulana Samiul Haq was known as the spiritual father of the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan. He was stabbed to death at his residence in the evening of November 2, 2018, in Rawalpindi, where a Pakistani army is headquartered.  In the above picture published by the Pakistani daily The News on November 3, Samiul Haq is accompanied by late Lt.-Gen. Hamid Gul, the chief of the Pakistani military's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), which managed the Afghan jihad against the USSR during the 1980s with the aid of Saudi money and arms supplied by the CIA. To the right of Maulana Samiul Haq is Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the founder of jihadi group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), now also known as Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) and Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation (FIF). On the far left is Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan, a political leader from Pakistani Kashmir.

 

Al-Shabab Video Features Group's Officials Urging Somalis To Support Mujahideen, Documenting Attacks Against Burundian Forces

On November 7, 2018, Al-Kataib, the media arm of the pro-Al-Qaeda Somalia-based jihadi group Al-Shabab, released the second part of a video that featured jihadi figures and tribal leaders discussing the history of jihad in the Muslim world, particularly in Somalia, urged Somalis to support the mujahideen, and documented attacks against Burundian troops.

 

Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) Publishes Photos Of Elite Forces In Training

On November 7, 2018, a Telegram channel belonging to Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) published photographs of military maneuvers by the organization's elite forces in the countryside west of Idlib. The maneuvers included training with light and heavy weapons, rocket launchers, and tanks.

 

Pro-Al-Qaeda Media Group Publishes Article Urging Online Jihadis To Continue Promoting Jihad, Defend Jihadi Groups On Social Media

A November 6, 2018 article on the Telegram channel of the pro-Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) Al-Badr Media Foundation encouraged online jihadis to continue promoting jihad and to defend jihadi groups on social media platforms, which he described as "castles of preparedness and jihad."

 

Al-Qaeda Media Wing Al-Sahab Launches New Website

On November 6, 2018, Al-Qaeda media wing Al-Sahab announced that it had launched a new website.

 

Pro-ISIS Telegram Channel Publishes Poster Showing ISIS Flag On Top Of Brooklyn Bridge, Reiterates ISIS Vow To Defeat Crusaders, Shi'ites, Secularists, Apostates, And Jews

On November 9, 2018, a pro-Islamic State (ISIS) Telegram channel published a poster showing an ISIS flag on top of a partially destroyed depiction of the Brooklyn Bridge with an ISIS fighter standing next to a lion and a statement promising to defeat "the Crusaders, the Shi'ites, the secularists, the apostates, and the Jews."

 

ISIS Supporters Justify Attack On Egyptian Christians And Threaten More To Come

On November 2, 2018, a group of Coptic Christians was attacked on the way to the Monastery of Saint Samuel the Confessor in Egypt's Al-Minya Governorate. The Islamic State (ISIS) took responsibility, claiming that 13 Christians were killed and 18 wounded in the attack.

 

ISIS Claims Responsibility For Attack On Coptic Christians In Minya, Egypt

On November 2, 2018, A'maq, the news agency of the Islamic State (ISIS), reported that the gunmen who attacked a bus carrying Coptic Christians in Minya, Egypt today were "fighters of the Islamic State."

 

Update: ISIS In Kirkuk, Iraq, Claims Killing Of French Soldier During Attack On Peshmerga Force

On November 2, 2018, the Islamic State (ISIS) in Kirkuk, Iraq, claimed responsibility for killing a "Crusader" in the area of Tuz Khurmatu, south of the city of Kirkuk.

 

ISIS Video Shows Raids On Syrian Army Positions Near Al-Bukamal

On November 4, 2018, the Islamic State (ISIS) released a video from its Al-Barakah Province in northeastern Syria. The video, titled "Raids of the Monotheists 2," features footage of ISIS raids on Syrian military positions near Al-Bukamal.

 

Pro-ISIS Media Outlet Urges Supporters In The West To Perpetrate Lone Wolf Attacks

On October 18, 2018, a pro-Islamic State (ISIS) media group published an article urging supporters in the West to carry out lone wolf attacks. The article, titled "In the Very Homes of the Crusaders," appeared in poster form on Telegram and as an article on Telegraph.

 

Pro-ISIS Media Outlet Publishes Information Security Tips On Telegram For ISIS Supporters

On October 30, 2018, a pro-Islamic State (ISIS) media outlet published a list of information security tips that pertain to social media for ISIS supporters, particularly those who use Telegram. It warned that Telegram is "swarming with intelligence of the unbelievers, whose goal is to harm you wherever you are."

 

Jihadi Social Media – Account Review (JSM-AR): Activity Of Pro-ISIS WhatsApp Group

The following information is based on a general overview of a WhatsApp account demonstrating terror-related activity / sympathies.

Platform: WhatsApp

 

Melbourne Man Facebook Friends With Online Jihadis, Rants Against Australian Government, Threatens Australian Security Agencies: 'I Will Turn Your Lives To A Nightmare'

A Melbourne man on Facebook threatened Australian Security agencies, saying: "You truly are a discrace. I will turn your lives to a nightmare. That is a direct and clear threat."

 

Report: Increased Militant Activity In Areas Of Kashmir Declared 'Militancy-Free' In 2015

According to an Indian media report, militant activity has increased recently in areas of the Kashmir Valley that were declared "militancy-free" in 2015.

 

Slain Kashmiri Jihadi In Audio Recording: Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Of Pakistan Dictates What To Say In Jihadi Videos

An audio recording of slain Kashmiri jihadi Abu Hamas has emerged in which he explains the internal rifts in the jihadi movement in Kashmir and why he distanced himself from Zakir Musa, the emir of Ansar Ghazwatul Hind (AGH) who was formerly associated with the Pakistani intelligence-backed jihadi group Hizbul Mujahideen.

 

Muttahida Jihad Council On Jihadis Killed In Kashmir: 'The Struggle Will Continue For The Supremacy Of Islam'

According to an Urdu daily, the Muttahida Jihad Council (MJC), a network of jihadi groups based in Pakistan, has paid tribute to jihadi fighters killed by Indian security forces in the Tral and Budgam regions of Jammu & Kashmir in recent weeks.

 

Pakistani Jihadi Group Jamaatud Dawa On Verdict In Aasia Bibi Blasphemy Case: 'The Blasphemer... Must Be Killed On The Spot'

Pakistani jihadi organization Jamaatud Dawa, now declared a legal entity by a Pakistani court, has criticized Pakistan's Supreme Court for quashing a death penalty given to Pakistani Christian woman Aasia Bibi in a blasphemy case, thereby freeing her from prison. She was accused of blaspheming against the Prophet Muhammad.

 

Taliban Offer Trading Remains Of Afghan Officials Killed In Helicopter Crash With Body Of Killer Of Kandahar Police Chief

On November 2, 2018, Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammed Youssuf released a statement offering to exchange the bodies of government officials, army officers, and soldiers who had been killed in a helicopter crash with the remains of its fighter who had killed Kandahar province police chief General Abdul Raziq and other senior officials.

 

Afghan Taliban Mourn The Death Of Jihadi Leader Sayyed Abdullah Agha

In a statement on its website, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (the Taliban organization) offered condolences on the death of jihadi leader Sayyed Abdullah Agha.

 

Afghan Taliban: 'The Murderous Attack On Maulana Samiul Haq Sahib Was The Work Of The Enemies Of Islam'

In the evening on November 2, 2018, Pakistani religious leader Maulana Samiul Haq, known as the spiritual father of the Taliban in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region, was stabbed to death at his residence in Rawalpindi, where the Pakistani army is headquartered. A generation of Taliban leaders had studied at Darul Uloom Haqqania, a madrassa run by Samiul Haq in the Akora Khattak town of Pakistan. On November 3, 2018, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (the Taliban organization) issued a statement calling his killing a "martyrdom" and "a great loss for the entire Islamic Ummah and specifically for the Muslim nation of Pakistan."

 

Afghan Taliban Leader Urges Prayers For Rain, Says: 'Droughts Are Divine Tribulations'

On October 30, 2018, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (the Taliban organization) released statement from its leader Haibatullah Akhundzada calling upon Muslims to offer prayers for rain.

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