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New Straits Times
3 days ago
- New Straits Times
News@9: Today's top headlines - July 4, 2025 [WATCH]
Good evening. You're watching News@9. Here are today's biggest stories. IS-linked cell dismantled Police say up to 150 Bangladeshi nationals were involved in an Islamic State-inspired group operating in Malaysia, with those deeply involved to face charges under the Security Offences Act. Drug-laced cigarettes busted A couple running a meth-laced cigarette syndicate from their rented home has been arrested, with RM2 million worth of drugs and equipment seized. KLIA aerotrain halted KLIA's aerotrain service was suspended today after a drainage pump failure caused water to flood the tunnel, with operations resuming only after tracks were cleared. Cemetery rape case A 25-year-old man pleaded guilty to raping and sodomising an Australian woman at a cemetery in Penang, admitting he threatened her with scissors during the assault. That's it for News@9. Keywords: Court Rape Cemetery Islamic State Nst Klia Bangladeshi Aerotrain Malaysia News News@9
eNCA
24-06-2025
- Politics
- eNCA
IS-linked group abducting children in Mozambique: HRW
Islamic State-linked militants active in northern Mozambique are increasingly abducting children, with at least 120 kidnapped this year, although some have already been released, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday. The gas-rich region has been plagued for years by jihadist violence that has killed thousands of people, caused others to flee and forced the suspension of a giant gas exploration project by TotalEnergies. The armed group operating in Cabo Delgado province "has ramped up abductions of children", using them as fighters or for labour or marriage, the rights group said in a statement. "In recent days, 120 or more children have been abducted," said Abudo Gafuro, executive director at the Kwendeleya national organisation that monitors attacks, in the statement. This was the number of abductions recorded since January 2025, HRW deputy Africa director Ashwanee Budoo-Scholtz told AFP when asked for details. "Most of the abducted children are being used for transporting looted goods, forced labour, forced marriages, and taking part in the fighting," the statement said. Some children had been released and it was unclear how many remained in the hands of the armed group, known locally as al-Shabab -- though with no links to the Somali militants of a similar name. HRW said it had interviewed nine people -- Cabo Delgado residents, journalists, civil society activists and a UN official -- who had all expressed concern about "the resurgence of kidnappings". The impoverished region is remote and attacks often fall under the radar, partly due to officials' silence. - War crime - In one incident in March, the group abducted six children to carry looted goods and only released four. In a raid on a village in Muidumbe district on May 11, they abducted six girls and two boys. "Al-Shabab needs to spare children from the conflict," said Budoo-Scholtz. "Recruiting or using children under the age of 15 to participate actively in hostilities is a war crime," said HRW. Earlier this month, the UN children's agency said it was "deeply concerned" by reports of violent attacks and abductions targeting children. Three girls, the youngest only 12 years old, were killed in the attack in Muidumbe, UNICEF said, adding it was a "tragic reminder of the dangers children face in conflict-affected areas". At least 6,000 people, including 2,500 civilians, have been killed in northern Mozambique since 2017 due to insurgency in the region, stalling the exploitation of vast offshore gas deposits discovered in 2010. More than 1.3 million have been displaced by the conflict, according to the UN humanitarian agency OCHA. In a major incident in 2021, the IS-linked militants attacked the port town of Palma in an assault that lasted several days, sending thousands of people fleeing into the surrounding forest. By Hillary Orinde
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump and Pete Hegseth inspiring Islamic State recruitment propaganda
Donald Trump has a long and colorful history with the Islamic State. He incorrectly blamed the founding of IS on his predecessor, said its infamous leader 'died like a dog' while announcing his assassination, and rallied an international coalition that successfully ended its so-called caliphate. So far, in his second presidency, his administration has much less to do with IS. But the terror group has still benefited from him. Experts tell the Guardian that IS is capitalizing on Trump's dismantling of the international order, his affinity for Benjamin Netanyahu's government in Israel, and most of all – his most controversial cabinet appointment – in its recruitment propaganda. In the US, IS supporters consuming that online messaging have become bona fide security threats in recent months, with a string of incidents dating back to before the presidential election. On New Year's Day in New Orleans, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, a 13-year veteran of the US army, used a truck to kill fourteen partygoers in the name of IS. Earlier in May, Ammar Abdulmajid-Mohamed Said, 19, an ex-national guardsman, was arrested and charged with plotting a mass shooting at a military base near Detroit, on behalf of the group. 'The January 1 New Orleans attack and subsequent IS-linked arrests in the country demonstrate the continued influence the organization can project into the US,' said Lucas Webber, a senior threat intelligence analyst at Tech Against Terrorism, who has tracked the terrorist group for several years. 'These incidents also highlight how IS leverages the online space through social media and messaging applications to spread its ideology and inspire supporters to plot attacks.' Part of that, as Webber explained, was persistently defining the US as a 'crusader' state – the name jihadists have long used for all western countries. But secretary of defense Pete Hegseth's tattoos, referential to those pan-European medieval invaders, have fueled IS propaganda dispersed on – a recruitment platform the terror group uses to communicate with its followers and recruits. An April IS-article, titled Clear Evidence in Ink, zeroed in on Hegseth's ink, which features crosses associated with crusaders and another on his arm that reads 'infidel' or 'non-believer' in Arabic. The term also became better known among war on terror soldiers, who, like Hegseth, served in Iraq and Afghanistan, as a pejorative for themselves. 'This takes us back to the media stir just days ago when the American 'crusader' secretary of defense published photos of himself with the word 'kafir' written on his arm in Arabic, alongside other explicit phrases glorifying the crusades!' said the IS propaganda, amid a backdrop of Hegseth's tattooed chest and arms. 'Events like these, orchestrated by Allah's wisdom, serve as warnings and clear evidence of the true nature of the war waged by Jews and Christians against us – it is a deeply rooted religious war.' On pro-IS users fervently responded. 'What more do you want as proof that they want to wipe us all together?' wrote one user underneath an image of Hegseth's tattoos. Other fodder tapped for its digital propaganda, is Trump's associations with Netanyahu and the IDF's continued flattening of Gaza, which several experts and governments have called a modern-day genocide. IS images and articles call for 'revenge for the Muslims in Gaza' and the war, which has become one of its most valuable recruitment topics. IS also sees the stream of international tariffs unleashed by the Trump administration as a sign the west and its power structures are unravelling. As another IS article described how 'the reckless Trump has repeatedly claimed victory over jihad, yet now he is preoccupied with fighting German cars and Chinese goods' and stoking 'commercial wars' that would lead to the demise of 'kafir nations'. Combinations of these topics are mainstay recruitment hooks that IS and its predecessor organization, al-Qaida, have used for years attracting men into its ranks. IS is in a rebuilding stage as Syria – once a base for its most successful era – has vowed to banish the group and other jihadist elements from operating within its borders, as the nascent government seeks rapprochement with the US. But other IS chapters have shown they are attracting Americans, foreigners, and locals to their cause, by peddling anti-US messaging. 'Trump and the US have been monitored by [IS-Khorasan] Pashto, Urdu and Farsi channels specifically referring to developments in Syria and Afghanistan,' said Riccardo Valle, the director of research at the Islamabad-based publication the Khorasan Diary and an expert on the group's Afghan wing. '[IS-K] continue to foster the idea that there is no difference between Afghanistan and Syria trajectories and that both are puppets in the hands of the US, Russia, and China.' The IS-K branch has shown its reach inside the US, too. An Afghan national and a co-conspirator were arrested in October, after the FBI disrupted an IS-K sponsored plot to attack a mass gathering on election day. The justice department also described in 2024 court documents that IS-Somalia, an upstart branch which has become the intense focus of Pentagon airstrikes, had attracted an American foreign fighter who was in contact with their recruiters. 'IS-Somalia is becoming more internationally ambitious in its recruitment, associated online propaganda, and incitement efforts,' Webber said. 'Pro-IS Somalia outlets are creating media content focused on US policy in the region and support for governments in the area.'
New York Post
30-04-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
Roadside bombs kill 26 people in several vehicles on a road in Nigeria and Islamic State group claims responsibility
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — Improvised explosive devices detonated on a road in northeastern Nigeria killing at least 26 people in several vehicles, including women and children, police said Tuesday. An Islamic State group affiliate in the West African country claimed responsibility for the Monday attack. The blasts happened on a busy road connecting the towns of Rann and Gamboru in Borno state, near the border with Cameroon, Nigerian police spokesperson Nahum Daso told The Associated Press. Multiple explosives planted along the route ripped into several civilian commercial vehicles coming from Rann, killing at least 26 people, he said. Advertisement 3 An armored vehicle of Nigerian Security Forces drives by newly built homes, ahead of the community re-opening ceremony which was destroyed by Boko Haram armed militants in 2015, in Ngarannam, Borno State, Nigeria, October 21, 2022. REUTERS Most of those killed were local farmers and traders crowded in a Toyota pick up van that drove over a land mine, Daso said. He said the mine was buried by suspected militants from the Islamic State affiliate known as IS West Africa Province. Besides the dead, at least three people were injured and were taken to nearby medical facilities for treatment. Security forces have since secured the area and begun clearance operations. Advertisement Abba Modu, a member of the Civilian Joint Task Force, a vigilante group that supports the military in the fight against Islamic militants, said the explosives may have been intended for security operatives who regularly patrol the highway. 'Terrorists often plant IEDs in craters or under sand on severely damaged sections of roads, typically targeting soldiers,' Modu said. The Islamic State West Africa Province, also known as ISWAP, claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement on Telegram on Tuesday. 3 Babagana Zulum, Borno state governor, left, speaks to victims of a roadside bomb attacked at a hospital in Maiduguri, Nigeria, Saturday, April 12, 2025. AP Advertisement The IS-linked group is an offshoot of Boko Haram, Nigeria's homegrown jihadis who took up arms in 2009 to fight Western education and impose their radical version of Islamic law. In 2016, ISWAP broke away from Boko Haram following a dispute over leadership and the strategy of attacking civilian targets such as mosques and marketplaces. The conflict between Nigeria and Islamic extremists is Africa's longest struggle with militancy. It has spilled into Nigeria's northern neighbors Chad, Niger and Cameroon, and has left some 35,000 civilians dead and more than 2 million displaced, according to the U.N. 3 Taxis drive on a street in Maiduguri, Nigeria, Friday, March 14, 2025. AP Advertisement Nigeria's northeastern region has been particularly hard hit by Islamic militant violence. Earlier this month, a roadside bomb suspected to have been planted by Islamic extremists in northeastern Nigeria struck a passenger bus and killed eight people. On Tuesday, the Nigerian military appointed a new commander, Maj. Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar, in the fight against Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province insurgencies in the northeast, the spokesperson for the operation said in a statement.
Japan Today
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Japan Today
Roadside bombs kill 26 people in several vehicles in Nigeria; IS claims responsibility
By HARUNA UMAR Improvised explosive devices detonated on a road in northeastern Nigeria killing at least 26 people in several vehicles, including women and children, police said Tuesday. An Islamic State group affiliate in the West African country claimed responsibility for the Monday attack. The blasts happened on a busy road connecting the towns of Rann and Gamboru in Borno state, near the border with Cameroon, Nigerian police spokesperson Nahum Daso told The Associated Press. Multiple explosives planted along the route ripped into several civilian commercial vehicles coming from Rann, killing at least 26 people, he said. Most of those killed were local farmers and traders crowded in a Toyota pick-up van that drove over a land mine, Daso said. He said the mine was buried by suspected militants from the Islamic State affiliate known as IS West Africa Province. Besides the dead, at least three people were injured and were taken to nearby medical facilities for treatment. Security forces have since secured the area and begun clearance operations. Abba Modu, a member of the Civilian Joint Task Force, a vigilante group that supports the military in the fight against Islamic militants, said the explosives may have been intended for security operatives who regularly patrol the highway. 'Terrorists often plant IEDs in craters or under sand on severely damaged sections of roads, typically targeting soldiers,' Modu said. The Islamic State West Africa Province, also known as ISWAP, claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement on Telegram on Tuesday. The IS-linked group is an offshoot of Boko Haram, Nigeria's homegrown jihadis who took up arms in 2009 to fight Western education and impose their radical version of Islamic law. In 2016, ISWAP broke away from Boko Haram following a dispute over leadership and the strategy of attacking civilian targets such as mosques and marketplaces. The conflict between Nigeria and Islamic extremists is Africa's longest struggle with militancy. It has spilled into Nigeria's northern neighbors Chad, Niger and Cameroon, and has left some 35,000 civilians dead and more than 2 million displaced, according to the U.N. Nigeria's northeastern region has been particularly hard hit by Islamic militant violence. Earlier this month, a roadside bomb suspected to have been planted by Islamic extremists in northeastern Nigeria struck a passenger bus and killed eight people. On Tuesday, the Nigerian military appointed a new commander, Maj. Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar, in the fight against Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province insurgencies in the northeast, the spokesperson for the operation said in a statement. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
