‘IS recruiter’ used invisible internet project to communicate with his handler, says NIA

indianexpress.com, ‘IS recruiter’ used invisible internet project to communicate with his handler, says NIA, 28 Jan 2017 "IN A FIRST, the investigations into the alleged Kerala Islamic State (IS) module has revealed that their ring leader Abdul Rashid used invisible internet project or darknet to communicate with his handler. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) suspects that Kerala-based Rashid—who had allegedly fled to Afghanistan last year along with 20 others to fight alongside the globally banned outfit IS — used the masked internet service to talk to Shafi Armar alias Yusuf, who has been identified as his handler."

'Virtual planners' of Islamic State on dark side of the Internet

UPI, 'Virtual planners' of Islamic State on dark side of the Internet, 23 Jan 2017 ""We cannot penetrate into certain conversations," François Molins, a former chief prosecutor in Paris, lamented at the time. "We are dealing with this gigantic black hole, a dark zone where there are just so many dangerous things going on.""

'US military botches online fight against Islamic State'

AP/Yahoo News, US military botches online fight against Islamic State, 31 Jan 2017 "Several current and former WebOps employees cited multiple examples of civilian Arabic specialists who have little experience in counter-propaganda, cannot speak Arabic fluently and have so little understanding of Islam they are no match for the Islamic State online recruiters."

Québec City mosque attack

Guardian, Québec City mosque attack: man charged with six counts of murder, 31 Jan 2017 "A local group dedicated to welcoming refugees, Bienvenu aux réfugiés, said Bissonnette’s name was familiar to them, describing him as an online troll who had denigrated refugees and expressed support for Marine Le Pen, the leader of France’s far-right Front National."

Jihadist groups hail Trump’s travel ban as a victory

washingtonpost.com, Jihadist groups hail Trump’s travel ban as a victory, 29 Jan 2017 "Comments posted to pro-Islamic State social media accounts predicted that President Trump’s executive order would persuade American Muslims to side with the extremists. One posting hailed the U.S. president as “the best caller to Islam,” while others predicted that Trump would soon launch a new war in the Middle East."

ISIS 'Knights of Bureaucracy' drone video

Daily Mail, Boy is 'star' of terrifying ISIS suicide car bomb and drone video, 25 Jan 2017 "In a dramatic propaganda video, ISIS showcase their new fleet of attack drones, using them to drop grenades on crowds down below - and then directing suicide car bombers to the same site to inflict yet more damage."

Also see heavy.com, New ISIS Video Shows Them Using Drones to Conduct ‘Airstrikes’ in Mosul, 24 Jan 2017 "The video was released on ISIS terrorist channels on January 24 from “Wilayat Ninawa,” ISIS’ name for the Nineveh Governorate of Iraq that includes Mosul."

Hamza bin Laden: Al Qaeda poster boy

DW.com, Hamza bin Laden: Al Qaeda poster boy, 15 Jan 2017 "He has established himself as an al Qaeda leader. Now the United States has declared Osama bin Laden's son a "global terrorist.""

The Urban And Educated Jihadists Of South Asia – Analysis

Abdul Basit, eurasiareview.com, The Urban And Educated Jihadists Of South Asia – Analysis, 13 Jan 2017 "Contrary to popular perception that the jihadists in South Asia come from poor socio- economic backgrounds with madrasah education, a new breed of educated and urban militants with the urge for a sense of belonging has emerged in the region. The desire to create a global Sunni caliphate, among other factors, has contributed to their violent-radicalisation."

Hipsters in hijabs

SEA Globe, Hipsters in hijabs: inside the multibillion-dollar world of Muslim fashion, 27 Dec 2016 "Globally, the already significant demand for Islamic clothing is rising. According to Thomson Reuters’ State of the Global Islamic Economy Report 2015-2016, revenues generated by purchases of modest clothing by Muslim women in 2015 were estimated at $44 billion. The same report predicts that by 2021, overall Muslim spending on clothing will reach $368 billion. As the report states: “The clothing may be modest; its success is anything but.”"

Inside Minnesota’s Risky Plan to Deradicalize Young ISIS Recruits

Brendan I. Koerner, wired.com, Inside Minnesota’s Risky Plan to Deradicalize Young ISIS Recruits

Saudi Arabia says militants in Jeddah shootout were linked to Islamic State

Reuters, Saudi Arabia says militants in Jeddah shootout were linked to Islamic State " A ministry statement carried by Saudi state news agency SPA on Tuesday identified one of the men as Khaled al-Serwani and said he was linked to an attack in 2015 that killed a worshipper at a Shi'ite mosque in Najan in southern Saudi Arabia.



"Serwani had been "wanted in connection with numerous roles and engagements in terrorist incidents and was involved in espousing propaganda on the Internet and inciting people to fight in foreign conflict zones," said the statement."

Sundance turns lens on Syrian civil war, jihadism

AFP/Daily Mail, Sundance turns lens on Syrian civil war, jihadism, 25 Jan 2017 "Student Abdalaziz Alhamza and his friends decided to form Raqa is Being Silently Slaughtered (RBSS), a band of courageous citizen journalists who risk their lives to document IS atrocities.



"Their work is chronicled in "City of Ghosts," by Oscar-nominated director Matthew Heineman, one of a raft of films on conflict and jihadist terror in the Middle East that premiered this week at the annual Sundance Film Festival."

Iraq: East Mosul Free of IS Control

VOA, Iraq: East Mosul Free of IS Control

Why does the GCC need its own electronic army?

ara.tv, Why does the GCC need its own electronic army? "In Saudi Arabia, a study by the local Sakina Campaign, a non-governmental program, found an estimated average of 90 tweets per minute (129,600 per day) were being sent to Saudi users calling for violence, to join extremist groups, attack others verbally or physically, or to destabilize security.



 "So it is probably no wonder then that decision-makers within the Gulf Cooperation Council have recently expressed interest in building their own electronic army, a digital forensics expert confirmed to Al Arabiya English."

Life Under IS Group: Staying Online in Dangerous Times

VOA News, Life Under IS Group: Staying Online in Dangerous Times "During Islamic State’s two-and-a-half-year rule of eastern Mosul, many forms of communication were banned, with rule breakers facing imprisonment or death. Despite the danger, the Internet was still available in much of the city. From his home in Mosul, Bilal Ahmed, 27, tells VOA the story of how he kept his neighborhood online through beatings and threats for nearly two years. He spoke in Arabic and his story is edited for clarity"

The Spectre Of Radicalised Minds Is Back To Haunt Kerala

huffingtonpost.in, The Spectre Of Radicalised Minds Is Back To Haunt Kerala, Via Internet, Courtesy Of The ISIS, 30 Dec 2016 "Kerala is no stranger to radical Islam, but the ISIS influence, spreading through the internet, is altogether more insidious."

The Saudi women afraid to go home

CNN, The Saudi women afraid to go home, 17 Jan 2017 "Throughout the summer Saudi women began tweeting, detailing the injustices of the guardianship system -- risking the wrath of their guardians and the government in doing so."

Intelligence Community Releases Final Abbottabad Documents

Office of Director of National Intelligence, Closing the Book on Bin Laden – Intelligence Community Releases Final Abbottabad Documents "Today marks the end of a two-and-a-half-year effort to declassify several hundred documents recovered in the raid on Usama bin Laden’s Abbottabad, Pakistan, compound in May 2011."

'al-Risalah' issue 4

Bridget Johnson, pjmedia.com, Pick Up Five AK-47 Bullets for a Buck, al-Qaeda Magazine Tells Jihadists, January 11, 2017 "The fourth edition of al-Risalah, which is published by al-Qaeda in Syria, features a full-page graphic of a grenade composed of typewriter keys with the quote, "Half of jihad is media.""

Allegations: 'University research into IS women was carried out by IS sympathiser'

NRC - DutchNews.nl, University research into IS women was carried out by IS sympathiser, 18 Jan 2017 article on allegations relating to research conducted at the University of Amsterdam - "University of Amsterdam research into women who have joined the terrorist movement IS was partly carried out by a researcher who has herself praised the violent jihad on internet, according to the NRC." Details of the original research are here: Navest, A., de Koning, M. and Moors, A. (2016), Chatting about marriage with female migrants to Syria, Anthropology Today, 32: 22–25. doi: 10.1111/1467-8322.12241