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Al-Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawahiri The Coordinator 2015 Part 19-142-Caliphate-ISIS-9a

"The country is under threat; the government is under threat," Mr Essid said. "Without the co-operation of everyone and a show of unity, we cannot win this war."

Islamic State urged its followers on Tuesday 23 June, to escalate attacks during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on Christians, Shi'ites and Sunni Muslims fighting alongside a US-led coalition that seeks to defeat the ultra-radical group

"We want to make clear that all activities being carried out by ISIS or any other terroristic and extremistic organisation either in the name of God or religion or establishing any kind of Islamic state by acts of violence ... are totally in violation of the Koran and Islam," Muhammad Tahir ul-Qadri, a politician, scholar and fiery orator, said he wanted his 900-page curriculum, containing theological and ideological arguments to undermine extremists, to be taught not just at mosques and Islamic institutions but at schools across Britain.

The US State Department said Friday, June 26, that there was no indication so far “on the tactical level” that “the attacks in Tunisia, Kuwait and France were coordinated.”

The second Friday of the Muslim festival month of Ramadan marked the first anniversary of the founding of the Muslim caliphate in Iraq and Syria under the rule of Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi and was therefore judged a fitting date for killing infidels and Shiites.

Many of the jihadis are known to Western security and intelligence agencies. The unfortunate truth is that many Western counter-terror bodies have been penetrated by these extremists who pretend to cooperate in the war on terror and instead keep their handlers confused.

Jun 27, 2015 5:6 ISIL Warns to Carry Out Similar Terrorist Attack in Bahrain Next Week TEHRAN (FNA)- Taraki al-Ben Ali, the leader of the ISIL terrorist group's Bahrain branch, announced that a terrorist attack similar to what happened in Kuwait City yesterday will take place in Bahrain next week. "After the Friday's explosion of Imam Sadiq (PBUH) mosque in Kuwait City, it will be Bahrain's turn next Friday," al-Quds al-Arabi quoted Taraki al-Ben Ali as saying. On Friday, at least 27 people were killed and over a dozen more were injured in a bomb attack at Imam Sadiq (PBUH) Mosque in Kuwait City. The bombing was carried out during the weekly Friday prayers at the mosque in the Sawabir district of the Kuwaiti capital. The Takfiri ISIL terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Similar terrorist attacks were carried out by the ISIL in Tunisia and France on Friday. In Tunisia, At least 37 people were killed in an attack by two gunmen in the Port El Kantaoui tourist complex, 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) North of the town of Sousse. In France, a truck driver, reportedly carrying a flag of the ISIL Takfiri group, crashed into a gas factory located in the small town of Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the city of Lyon, and hung his employer's severed head on a factory gate.

 ISIS “Ramadan operations” leave at least 209 dead in France, Tunisia and Mid East

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DEBKAfile Special Report June 26, 2015, Friday, June 26, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) demonstrated the broad scope of its brutal reach by perpetrating terrorist attacks on three continents – Europe, Africa and Asia, in one day, the second Friday of the Muslim festival of Ramadan. They caused at least 199 deaths. The deadliest occurred at the beaches of two hotels in the popular Tunisian resort town of Sousse, where gunmen killed at least 37 holidaymakers, many of them foreign tourists - mostly British and German. One gunman was killed. In Kuwait, a suicide bomber blew himself up at a Shiite mosque. At least 24 worshippers were killed and 200 injured after Friday prayer. In the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani, ISIS forces, after regaining some of the suburbs from which Kurdish forces drove them out last month, reportedly “executed” 146 Syrians. British Prime Minister David Cameron, who is attending the European summit in Brussels, announced he will be calling an emergency Cobra (security cabinet) meeting in London later Friday to discuss the attacks in France and Tunisia, in case the ISIS onslaughts were “the tip of the iceberg” of a coordinated operation.

IEA: Ramadan is a month of blessings and grace. Salman Farsi (may Allaah be pleased him) says, the Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) said in a sermon which he delivered to them on the last day of Shaban: “a great month, a blessed month, containing a night which is better than a thousand months has approached you people”…… Similarly, the amount of rewards in the month of Ramadan is a secret between Allah, the Almighty and His servant.

Similarly, Ramadan is a month of success and victories on behalf of Allah, the Almighty towards Mujahideen. Islamic history shows that major victories have been achieved in the month of Ramadan. The great victories of Mujahideen in the battle of Badr on 17th of Ramadan, second year of Hijra (Islamic calendar) and the conquest of Makkah on 23 of Ramadan, eight year of Hijra, show the help of Allah, the Almighty and demonstrate that Ramadan is a month of glories and victories for Muslim Ummah.- Islamic State of Afghanistan 1

AMMAN - Islamic State urged its followers on Tuesday 23 June, to escalate attacks during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on Christians, Shi'ites and Sunni Muslims fighting alongside a US-led coalition that seeks to defeat the ultra-radical group. Islamic State spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani called on jihadists in an audio message to turn the fasting month of Ramadan, which began last week, into a time of "calamity for the infidels...Shi'ite and apostate Muslims", urging more attacks in Iraq, Syria and Libya. He also called on Arabs in the Levant and Saudi Arabia to rise against their "tyrannical leaders."

1 http://shahamat-english.com/ramadan-is-a-symbol-of-unity-might-and-glory-of-muslim-ummah/

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Previous In Part 9, Wednesday, June 24 the first day of Ramadan, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan;

1. Grenoble attack: The killed man's head was put on a wire fence surrounded by Isis flags

2. ISIL claims responsibility for incident in Dammam, exactly a week after deadly attack on Shia mosque in Qatif province.

3. At least 37 people have been killed and 36 others wounded after a hotel in the Tunisian coastal city of Sousse came under attack by unidentified gunmen.  The death toll in the attack on the holiday resort has risen to 37, Health Minister Saeed al-Abadi tells Tunisian Radio Mosaique.  A hotel in town of Sousse in Tunisia.

a. Somalia attack: Al-Shabab 'kills 30' at AU (UN) military base. 'These attacks can happen anywhere,' David Cameron warns after terror in Tunisia, France and Kuwait; Three fatal terrorist attacks on three continents within hours of each other have left officials fearful that a coordinated campaign of terror is underway, following last week’s calls for “a month of disasters for infidels” by Islamic State.

Tunisia This is the second major attack of the year, following the attack at the Bardo museum in Tunis three months ago that left 22 people dead. Once more, tourists and the tourism industry - an important source of revenue for Tunisia - were targeted. Until 2011, Tunisia was an authoritarian state that developed an extensive security apparatus. Political Islam was suppressed, often ruthlessly. Since former president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali was toppled, politics has been volatile and the security situation more fluid. That leaves the country exposed to two particular risks - the possible return home of some of the large number of Tunisians who have left the country to fight in Iraq and Syria, and the growing radical Islamist presence in neighbouring Libya. Beyond tourism, the attacks undermine the state and deter foreign investment. Cruelly, the solitary success of Tunisia's political transition may have made it more of a target, as Islamists try to throw the birthplace of the Arab Spring off course.

27 June: Tunisia's Prime Minister Habib Essid has announced a clampdown on security after an attack on a holiday resort in which 38 people were killed. He said army reservists would be deployed to archaeological sites and resorts. (C : a key terrorist target is to bleed economically and create a reaction that support their cause, that’s what they have set.) About 80 mosques accused of "spreading venom" will close within a week, he said. Authorities say most of the victims in Friday's attack near Sousse were Britons. The gunman was shot dead.

Kuwait Of the three attacks, the one in Kuwait may come as most of a shock. The suicide bombing against a mosque east of Kuwait City was unprecedented in the tiny, rich, oil-producing country, previously a beacon of stability in a troubled region. Kuwait is majority Sunni country, with a large Shia minority and no history of serious sectarian tension. However, in neighbouring Saudi Arabia there have recently been attacks against mosques in the east of the country, where the country's Shia minority is based. Twenty-five people were killed and 202 others injured, according to the Interior Ministry.

26/27 June The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group claimed responsibility for the bombing, which was Kuwait's worst attack in years and the first on a Shia mosque. In a message posted on a Twitter account known to belong to the group, ISIL claimed the blast was the work of a bomber wearing an explosive vest. The attack prompted the Kuwaiti cabinet to announce after an emergency meeting that all security agencies and police had been placed on alert to confront what it called "black terror". "The cabinet stresses that it will take whatever measures necessary to root out this scourge, and declares a relentless all-out

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confrontation with these terrorists," it said in a statement. (C; and that is exactly what the terrorist want) ISIL targeted Shia mosques in neighbouring Saudi Arabia on two consecutive Fridays in May. Al Jazeera's Mohammed Jamjoom, reporting from Kuwait City, said "the shock of yesterday's attack will be something it will take a long time for Kuwaitis to get over". "This is a country where they say Sunni and Shia live harmoniously and they will continue to do so," he said. "In Kuwait, nobody could have anticipated this. That's why the people are so worried."

France France is home to the largest Muslim population in Western Europe and has seen occasional Islamist attacks since the 1990s. By far the most dramatic recent attacks were those launched in Paris against the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish supermarket in January.

What we know about the attacks The attack in France bears hallmarks of some of the most gruesome Islamist violence in the Middle East - a decapitated head placed on a post, and a possible attempt to cause a major explosion. But it could also fall into the category of a "lone wolf" attack against an individual at an obscure site - perhaps even a personal grievance dressed up as Islamist extremism. The attacks in Tunisia and Kuwait replicate more closely those carried out previously by Islamist extremists in the Middle East and North Africa. Taking place on a Friday, they are symbols of the troubled legacy of uprisings that shook the Arab world in 2011. Once the day of optimistic Arab Spring protests, it is now often the day chosen for sectarian attacks against mosques. The attacks also happened in the first week of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, a period when - dating back at least to the civil conflict in Algeria in the 1990s - extremists have intensified their campaigns. On Tuesday, an IS spokesman urged followers to step up attacks during Ramadan, and the group has appealed to its supporters to spread their attacks beyond Iraq and Syria. Friday's attacks could be a sign of the group's growing reach, or that its adherents are lashing out further afield in an effort to sustain the group's momentum. It is often hard to prove the links between separate cases of violence, even when claims of responsibility are issued by the same group. Violence is often driven by local grievances, with militant factions switching allegiances as the fortunes of bigger international "franchises" like al-Qaeda and Islamic State rise and fall. That leads to uncertainty as to whether the bigger group directed, co-ordinated, or inspired a given attack, or simply claimed it after the fact. That is what officials and security analysts will be seeking to understand in the aftermath of this bloody day.

ISIS “lone wolf” violence on global stage baffles Western authorities fighting terror DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis June 27, 2015 The US State Department said Friday, June 26, that there was no indication so far “on the tactical level” that “the attacks in Tunisia, Kuwait and France were coordinated.”

DEBKAfile: That conventional prototype of Islamist terrorist operations is no longer applicable. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ISIS has its own methods of inflicting widespread death which are hard to detect or predict. A decree sent from the top galvanized followers worldwide into initiating lasrgely solo operations. The result was: 211 people dead on Tunisian beaches, a decapitated victim - the first in Europe - at an US-owned French factory, and 27 Shiites killed at a Kuwaiti mosque.The three outrages were perpetrated on three continents just two hours apart.The second Friday of the Muslim festival month of Ramadan marked the first anniversary of the founding of the Muslim caliphate in Iraq and Syria under the rule of Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi and was therefore judged a fitting date for killing infidels and Shiites.These atrocities, along with the mass-executions of Syrian Kurds in Kobani and attacks on Saudi Shiite mosques, were also designed to further inflame sectarian hostilities between

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Sunnis and Shiites and remind non-Sunni minorities, including Kurds and Druze, of the cruel punishment in store for them. The latest operational mode of terror employed by the Islamic State is a special adaptation of the “lone wolf” method – which is nothing like the lone terrorist acting on impulse, such as Israel officials depict after a Palestinian crashes a vehicle into a crowd, or stabs a passerby. It rests on meticulous forward planning, according to all the evidence. Most of the terrorists activated by ISIS are radical Muslims living or working outside Syria or Iraq, often in western Europe and the United States, who have pledged an oath of loyalty to the Islamic State and its caliph, or else Western converts who returned home from Middle East battlefields: These extremists set up their own operations for acting alone, or in twos or threes at most. They choose their targets according to three yardsticks:1. The highest number of victims they can kill.2. The most gruesome atrocity, climaxing in beheading, for inspiring terror in a large community.ISIS strategists have turned their backs on Osama bin Laden’s tactics. He employed 20 Saudi terrorists to hijack two commercial planes for murdering thousands of people in the horrific 9/11 attacks in New York and Washington. Fourteen years later, ISIS uses a single terrorist who is ready to die - or two at most - to execute a massacre. It took no more than one gunman, later identified as Abu Yahya al Qayrawani, firing his Kalashnikov non-stop, to mow down 39 mostly foreign holidaymakers on the beaches of the Tunisian resort of Sousse. Disguised as a European holidaymaker, he sauntered out to the first hotel beach, his automatic rifle hidden in a large sun shade and opened deadly fire on the unsuspecting people lying there, swimming or heading for the hotel lobby. He then raced to the next hotel beach, firing as he went and killing people as they sought cover.He was only stopped by police gunfire. A bomb belt was found tied to his body, meaning that the shooting was just stage one of the attack. A big explosion was to have followed. This was no ordinary “lone wolf” terrorist. It was a highly competent terror machine on two feet. The beheading of victims is another novel Islamic States method, compared with the classical Al Qaeda of yore. Its perpetrators are usually selected from a group of Muslim extremists with a history in the movement. The more gruesome the deed, the more valiant and honored is the perpetrator. Many of the jihadis are known to Western security and intelligence agencies. In same places, especially Britain, France and Tunisia, they may even serve local Western security agencies as informants, a role they use as cover for secretly setting up their attacks. This makes their attacks virtually unpredictable. The unfortunate truth is that many Western counter-terror bodies have been penetrated by these extremists who pretend to cooperate in the war on terror and instead keep their handlers confused. President Barack Obama has avoided linking terrorism with the Muslim religion. Friday, British premier David Cameron responded to the latest round of ISIS attacks with horror, but he also said, “…this terrorism is not in the name of Islam. Islam is a religion of peace.” The killers, rather, “do it in the name of a twisted, perverted ideology.” DEBKAfile: Too many Muslims, even those who do not preach violence, don't see it in those terms.

Terrorists strike in France, Kuwait and Tunisia, killing dozensBY THOMAS JOSCELYN | June 26, 2015 | Three terrorist attacks were carried out this morning in France, Kuwait, and Tunisia. At least one terrorist attacked an Air Products factory outside of Lyon, France. Air Products’

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headquarters is in the US. One victim was beheaded on the scene and press accounts say that an Islamist black flag (also described as the same flag used by the Islamic State) was found with the corpse. According to initial reports, the victim has been identified as a local businessman. In addition to the beheading, there was also an explosion at the Air Products facility. It isn’t clear as of this writing whether one or more terrorists executed the attack.

In Tunisia, at least 27 people were killed at a beach frequented by tourists in the town of Sousse. The Tunisian government says that most of the victims were tourists.Tunisia’s tourist locations have long been targeted by jihadists. In October 2013, a suicide bomber blew himself up outside of the Riadh Palm hotel in Sousse. No one, other than the terrorist himself, was killed. In March, gunmen assaulted the Bardo Museum in Tunis, killing more than 20 people. Most of the victims were identified as being tourists, predominately from Western countries. The Islamic State quickly claimed responsibility for the massacre, but Tunisian authorities have also pointed the finger at the Uqba Ibn Nafi Brigade, which is part of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). If the death toll is accurate, then today’s attack in Tunisia is the deadliest in that country’s history.

Separately, a suicide bomber struck the Imam Sadiq Mosque in Kuwait City. The mosque is a place of worship for Shiites. Casualty figures vary in the early reporting.The Islamic State’s so-called Najd Province has claimed responsibility for the bombing in an audio message and a written statement released online. The written statement, which can be seen on the right, follows the same format as previous messages. According to a translation by the SITE Intelligence Group, the Islamic State province claims the mosque is a “malicious den” and “a known platform in the war on Tawhid [monotheism] and its people…from which polytheism is spread and support is given to the Party of Satan [Hezbollah].” In late May, the same arm of the Islamic State sent a suicide bomber into a Shiite mosque in Qatif, which is Saudi Arabia’s predominantly Shiite eastern province. More than 20 people were killed in that bombing. The Islamic State has also struck Shiite mosques in Yemen. The mosque attacks are part of the organization’s deliberate strategy to stoke sectarian conflict throughout the Middle East. In an audio message released earlier this week, Islamic State spokesman Abu Muhammad al Adnani called for a surge of attacks during the holy month of Ramadan. Adnani also called on Sunnis to wage a sectarian war against Shiites. Adnani said the Shiites “are advancing towards you” and “your war with them is undoubtedly approaching.” Adnani called on Sunnis to “either march forth” and “drive” the Shiites “back, or remain asleep and wake up to what the people of Iraq, Sham [Syria], and Yemen awoke to of killing, imprisonment, exile, the destruction of their homes, the looting of their wealth, and the violation of their women.”

Islamic State spokesman calls on other factions to ‘repent,’ urges sectarian warBY THOMAS JOSCELYN | June 23, 2015 | The Islamic State’s spokesman, Abu Muhammad al Adnani, has released a nearly 30-minute long audio speech online. In addition to the audio, the speech was released with transcripts in various languages, including English.

Some of the speech is devoted to an obligatory call for jihad on behalf of the Islamic State. Adnani also announces the Islamic State’s acceptance of a bayat (oath of allegiance)

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from jihadists in the Caucasus region. Recently, jihadists from the al Qaeda-affiliated Islamic Caucasus Emirate’s (ICE) branch in Chechnya announced their defection to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi’s organization. Their defection followed other pledges to Baghdadi from ICE commanders in Dagestan and elsewhere since last year. Baghdadi, the “Emir of the Faithful,” has “accepted your bayat and has appointed the noble sheikh Abu Muhammad al Qadarī as Wali [or governor] over [the Caucasus],” Adnani says. The Islamic State’s spokesman continues by calling for all the mujahideen in the Caucasus “to join” al Qadari’s “caravan and to hear and obey him in everything except sin.” The Islamic State’s so-called “province” in the Caucasus is the group’s latest. Baghdadi and Adnani claim that the group’s followers from North Africa to the Khorasan, which includes Afghanistan, Pakistan and parts of the surrounding countries, control “provinces” on behalf of the caliphate. In reality, the Islamic State’s “provinces” outside of Iraq and Syria control very little territory. Adnani attempts to shake off the “tactical setbacks” the US and its allies claim the Islamic State has suffered. He claims that such reversals are insignificant and that they had “never heard of” such a thing throughout all of history. However, Adnani is preoccupied, to a large degree, with the Islamic State’s rivals, including other jihadist organizations. Adnani calls on tribesman in western Iraq, including a clan in Haditha, and members of the security forces to “repent” and join the Islamic State. But he does not limit this call or repentance to the Islamic State’s Iraqi adversaries.Adnani is clearly concerned about the jihadist opposition to the Islamic State’s expansion plans. He specifically mentions the Islamic State’s opponents in Derna, Libya, the Khorasan, and Syria. In Derna, a coalition of pro-al Qaeda groups called the Mujahideen Shura Council (MSC) recently did significant damage to the Islamic State’s cause. After Baghdadi’s fighters killed two senior MSC figures, the MSC went to war against the Islamic State’s branch in the city, and claims to have vanquished Baghdadi’s followers. In Afghanistan, the Islamic State has run into opposition from the Taliban, in particular.Adnani accuses any jihadist who opposes the Islamic State of committing a religious crime.“O soldier afflicted by fitna [discord or strife], be careful whom you take your religion from, and repent to your Lord so that perhaps He may have mercy on you and guide you,” Adnani says. Adnani goes on to say that the Islamic State’s opposition, including the sahwat (or awakening councils in Iraq), failed to defeat it in the past. And the Islamic State’s opposition should learn from the past. “Furthermore,” Adnani continues, “have you not taken a lesson, O factions and Sahwāt? Have you not taken a lesson from your predecessors’ fight against the Islamic State ten years ago? Where are the factions that fought the Islamic State? Where are the Sahwāt? Have you not taken a lesson, O factions of Libya? Have you not taken a lesson, O Sahwāt of Darnah? Have you not taken a lesson, O factions of Khurāsān? What will you gain from fighting the Islamic State?” Thus, Adnani says the Islamic State’s opponents in the MSC are part of the “sahwat,” meaning they are supposedly part of the “awakenings,” which received crucial assistance from the US during the fight against the Islamic State’s predecessor organization, al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI). Contrary to Adnani’s claims, the US-backed effort did tremendous damage to AQI and its front, the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), which evolved into the current Islamic State. And the MSC hardly belongs to any “sahwat” effort, as it has clear ties to al Qaeda’s international network.“We likewise renew our call to the soldiers of the factions in Sham [Syria] and Libya,” Adnani says. “We call on them to think long before embarking to fight the Islamic State,

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which rules by that which Allah revealed.” Adnani, therefore, warns that anyone who goes against the Islamic State is also fighting against the laws of Allah — a totalitarian claim on authority if there ever was one.Like his past statements, Adnani’s speech is uncompromising. But it does offer insight into the Islamic State’s strategy, especially its efforts to spark a sectarian war throughout the Middle East. Addressing Sunnis in Lebanon, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, Adnani says the Shiites “are advancing towards you” and “your war with them is undoubtedly approaching.” Adnani calls on Sunnis to “either march forth” and “drive” the Shiites “back, or remain asleep and wake up to what the people of Iraq, Sham [Syria], and Yemen awoke to of killing, imprisonment, exile, the destruction of their homes, the looting of their wealth, and the violation of their women.”

State Department report: ISIS breaking new ground as new leader in terror groups

By Elise Labott, CNN Updated 1930 GMT (0230 HKT) June 20, 2015 Washington (CNN)In the eyes of the State Department, ISIS is beating al Qaeda at being the world's leading terrorist group. The "unprecedented" spread and brutality of ISIS, its strength in recruiting foreign fighters, messaging and its ability inspire lone wolf attacks have helped the group supplant al Qaeda as the leading global terrorist group, said the State Department's annual terrorism report. The report says both are adapting their tactics in ways which are more brutal and harder to trace. "The prominence of the threat one posed by core al Qaeda diminished in 2014," the report found. In addition to significant losses of its core leadership in Afghanistan and Pakistan, it noted that "AQ leadership also appeared to lose momentum as the self-styled leader of a global movement in the face of ISIL's rapid expansion and proclamation of a Caliphate."

The number of terrorist attacks in 2014 increased 35% over the previous year, but were more heavily concentrated in a handful of countries. More than 60% of all attacks took place in five countries — Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Nigeria — according to the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism at the University of Maryland, which compiles statistics on worldwide terrorism. By a wide margin, the highest number of attacks, fatalities and injuries took place in Iraq, coinciding with the expansion of ISIS. An 81 percent increase in fatalities last year was, in part, a result of exceptionally lethal attacks. Twenty-four Americans died last year in terrorist attacks, mostly in Afghanistan, Somalia and Jerusalem. The report cited increasingly aggressive tactics and brutality by terrorist in their attacks, beheading, crucifixions and mass causalities. Kidnapping and hostage-taking has also increased over the past year.

The report singled out the Nigeria-based Boko Haram as sharing ISIS' "penchant for the use of brutal tactics," such as stonings and enslaving children. Although ISIS was responsible for the greatest amount of attacks last year, it was a close second to Boko Haram in number of fatalities. The U.S. also recognized ISIS' prowess in using social media to spread its message and recruit followers, noting the group "has been adroit at using the most popular social and new media platforms (YouTube, Facebook and Twitter) to disseminate its messages broadly."

ISIS' initial publication of online propaganda is followed by near instantaneous reposting, follow-up links and translations into additional languages, the report found, adding that the groups' members answered real-time questions from would be members about how to join the group. The report called the Syrian civil war a "significant factor" for many of last year's terrorist attacks worldwide. Despite the standing up of a worldwide anti-ISIS coalition and a

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UN Security Council resolution making the travel of foreign fighters to and from conflict zones illegal, more than 16,000 foreign terrorist fighters traveled to Syria in 2014, according to the report — most of them to join ISIS. "The rate of foreign terrorist fighter travel to Syria ... exceeded the rate of foreign fighters who traveled to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Iraq, Yemen or Somalia at any point in the last 20 years," the report said.

Weak and failed governments were blamed for providing an "enabling environment" for the emergence of extremist radicalism and violence — not only in Syria and Iraq, but also in Yemen and Libya, where jihadi groups have flourished. The U.S. is "deeply concerned" about the growth of ISIS beyond Syria and Iraq and the birth of self-proclaimed affiliates, the report found, particularly in Libya, Egypt and Nigeria. It acknowledged questions remain about the meaning of such affiliates - whether they represent a command relationship or the groups simply share "merely opportunistic relationships" with ISIS.

Although al-Qaida's leadership has been weakened, the report said the group "continued to serve as a focal point of inspiration" for its worldwide network of affiliates, such as AQAP in Yemen, al-Nusra Front in Syria and al-Shabaab in Somalia. Even as it negotiates with the U.S. and other world powers on a nuclear deal, the report found Iran's sponsorship of terrorism worldwide last year remained "undiminished."

The report pointed to Tehran's support for Palestinian terror groups, its proxy Hezbollah and several groups in Iraq and accused Tehran of "prolonging the civil war in Syria, and worsening the human rights and refugee crisis there," suggesting neither improved relations with the west as a result of nuclear negotiations, nor Iran's reformist President Hassan Rouhani has moderated Iran's foreign policy agenda in the region. The report said Iran used its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force "to implement foreign policy goals, provide cover for intelligence operations, and create instability in the Middle East." It called the Qods force Iran's "primary mechanism "for cultivating and supporting terrorists abroad." Tehran increased its assistance to Iraqi Shia militias, primarily to combat ISIS. But some of those groups "have exacerbated sectarian tensions in Iraq and have committed serious human rights abuses against primarily Sunni civilians," the report said. It did note, however that despite Shia militias have declared opposition to the return of U.S. troops to Iraq to fight ISIS and have threatened attacks, "they refrained from launching strikes against U.S. personnel in 2014." Although the report only covers 2014, US officials said there is nothing to indicate Iran's policy has changed as the June 30 deadline for a nuclear deal approaches. Secretary of State John Kerry is expected to fly next week to meet with Iranian officials and other world powers to try and reach an agreement. The Obama administration has said a nuclear deal not alter US policy regarding Iran's other behavior. But officials have expressed hope a nuclear pact could lead to cooperation in the Middle East, particularly against ISIS, and ultimately moderate the Iranian regime.

The report also warned about the increase in so-called "lone wolf" attacks last year, citing attacks in Canada in October and Sydney, Australia, although it was difficult to assess whether attacks were directed or simply inspired by ISIS or al Qaeda and its affiliates. "These attacks may presage a new era in which centralized leadership of a terrorist organization matters less, group identity is more fluid and violent extremist narratives focus on a wider range of alleged grievances and enemies with which lone actors may identify and seek to carry out self-directed attacks," the report found. The U.S. has working to "shift" it's counterterrorism strategy to more effectively partner with countries where terrorist networks

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have a foothold, the report said. The US has assembled a sixty-plus nation global coalition to stop ISIS advances on the ground, counter its messaging and stem the flow of foreign fighters and financing.

The U.S. is also working with allies in North Africa and the Middle East to strengthen their counterterrorism capabilities and help them develop new laws to address the foreign fighter issue. mThis year's report marks the first that Cuba is not on the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism. Cuba was originally placed on the terror list in 1982 when the U.S. government accused the Fidel Castro regime of sponsoring communist groups in Latin American and Africa. The White House took Cuba off the list last month, after President Obama's historic opening to Cuba in December.

Tue Jun 23, 2015 Pakistani cleric launches anti-ISIS curriculum in Britain

By Michael Holden LONDON A prominent Pakistani Islamic cleric launched a "counter-terrorism" curriculum in London on Tuesday, to rebut the message of militant groups such as Islamic State (ISIS) and stop young people becoming radicalised and heading to Syria. Muhammad Tahir ul-Qadri, a politician, scholar and fiery orator, said he wanted his 900-page curriculum, containing theological and ideological arguments to undermine extremists, to be taught not just at mosques and Islamic institutions but at schools across Britain. "We want to make clear that all activities being carried out by ISIS or any other terroristic and extremistic organisation either in the name of God or religion or establishing any kind of Islamic state by acts of violence ... are totally in violation of the Koran and Islam," he told Reuters.

The launch of the curriculum comes after Prime Minister David Cameron called on Muslim communities to do more to stop young people being radicalised by groups such as ISIS, saying some Muslims were quietly condoning extremist views. Cameron's comments came after a 17-year-old from northern England blew himself up in Iraq in an ISIS suicide attack and three sisters are believed to have travelled to Syria with their nine children. About 700 Britons are estimated to have travelled to Syria and Iraq, many to join ISIS.

"The children who are going to ISIS and fighting over there and leaving the comforts of their own British society, they are going to hell," said Qadri, who five years ago issued a fatwa declaring that terrorists and suicide bombers were unbelievers. "They are our children. They are our sons and daughters. We have to save the future of mankind." Experts and politicians argue the slick, online propaganda of ISIS is seducing and radicalising young people in their own bedrooms.

Asked how his academic work could counter this, Qadri, head of the global Minhaj ul-Quran religious and educational organisation, said 50 young Britons and 50 others in the rest of Europe were being trained to take his narrative online.

"This will be a two-way war, not only through books in the study circles, mosque and schools, but on social media too," said Qadri who plans to take his curriculum to Pakistan, India, across Europe and to the United States. Sayeeda Warsi, a former minister under Cameron and the first Muslim to serve in a British cabinet, told an audience of imams, police, politicians and academics that the government should consider using the curriculum in all schools. "The British Muslim community is part of the solution," she said. "British Muslim communities do not quietly condone ISIS. They condemn ISIS

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By Capt (Ret) C de Waart, feel free to share: in Confidence

 PRISONERS were left to drown by the terror group in the latest barbaric execution video released by ISIS. BY JOHN SHAMMAS

TERROR group ISIS has released new footage that appears to show prisoners being lowered in a cage into a swimming pool and left to drown. The video also shows an executioner firing a grenade at prisoners locked in a car. The Islamic terrorist group claimed that 16 men were killed in Nineveh, Iraq, after being accused of spying in a set of horrifying killings. In the first round of executions, five terrified men can be seen being lowered into the water while locked in a cage together. Minutes later, the cage is lifted, which shows the mean lying motionless on the cage floor. The barbaric footage even used pricey underwater cameras which were fitted around the swimming pool to capture the scene from below the water. But after that horrific ordeal, the video is not finished with its brutal executions. It then cuts to show four victims locked in an old-looking car in the desert. The video then cuts to an ISIS executioner brandishing a rocket-propelled grenade, who fires in the direction of the car. The footage then lingers on the exploded car as in languishes in flames. Another execution showed in the video sees prisoners being made to kneel before explosives which were tied around their neck were detonated. Before dying, each of the prisoners were forced to admit their guilt for 'spying' before being brutally murdered. The chilling footage emerged a week after The Sunday People revealed a seven-minute film showing six youngsters in combat gear and wearing balaclavas.They can be seen trading kicks in an apparent training video, while a gun-toting instructor yells encouragement. Other scenes show the same enforcer, thought to be in his 30s, whacking recruits with a club and ordering them to smash stacks of clay tiles with their fists. The video is accompanied by an eerie soundtrack of Arabic music and hypnotic chanting.

The first week of Ramadan, harbinger of prominent victories 27 June Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. Survival and sustainability of a system needs a strong propaganda machine and defensive force. The propaganda machine wages political struggles for survival of the system while the defensive force supports and protects the system. However, when a system is imposed on a nation contrary to their wills, demands and thoughts then it require a third medium for the survival of the system which is the deceiving and cunning formula of imperialism to divide and rule. It means to create disputes and differences among people to disunite them and pave the way to rule over them. On the basis of the above formula, the invaders in Afghanistan established a propaganda machine under the name of Wolasi Jirga (National assembly) and Mashrano Jirga (Senate) and they created a defensive force under the name of national police, national army and Arbakis (local Malitias) for the survival and sustainability of the system. They installed a two-headed Kabul Administration to create disputes and differences among the people and tried to draw the attention of people to the superficial struggle waged to reach the corridor of power and to keep them away from the overt and covert conspiracies of invaders.

Based on their cunning conspiracies, the invading forces wanted to occupy our sacred beliefs and legitimate thoughts, in addition to the occupation of our sacred land.  Their foremost ambition was to change the ideas of the brave Afghan nation and the elimination of the Shariah system, Islamic ethics, distinctive culture and national traditions of Afghans. They wanted to replace Shariah system with that of man-made corrupt and unfair western system and to promote moral vices but faced strong reactions of the people. This is the reason that invaders have no achievement up to now. Neither they maintained the security of the country or the people nor there is any economical development and nor there is any plan for the well-being of people. In the past five days of Ramadan, the brave Mujahideen of Islamic Emirate

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By Capt (Ret) C de Waart, feel free to share: in Confidence

have foiled all strategies and conspiracies of invaders during the sacred Jihadic operations of Azm. They have dealt crushing blows at the defensive force of the west, i.e Army, police and Arbakis (local militias) across the country and have conquered several areas. The capturing of Char dara and Dashte Archi districts of Kunduz province and vast areas of Kajaki and Musa Qala of Helmand province are few examples to be mentioned. During the first week of Ramadan, the sacred Jihadic operations of Azm have raised hopes among Afghans, containing good news of ultimate success and great victories. By the grace and blessings of Allah, the Almighty, Mujahideen have conquered vast areas across the countries and hoisted the white flag of Islamic Emirate embellished with the Shahada. The morale and confidence of Mujahideen being already high from the beginning, with the blessings of Ramadan it has reached the climax of courage. The invaders and their stooges have lost confidence because their efforts of the past fourteen years aimed at spreading corruption approaches its end along with the corrupt system and the two-headed government which they consider as an achievement is near to collapse.

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