Brazil – Brazil arrested 10 people on suspicion of supporting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group and allegedly planning to target August 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Justice Minister Alexandre Moraes said on the 22 Jul 16. The loosely organised group was made up of Brazilian nationals who kept in contact via internet messaging groups such as WhatsApp and Telegram, but did not know each other personally, the minister said on the 21 Jul 16. The group did not have direct contact with ISIL, though some of its members had made "pro forma" declarations of allegiance to the armed group, the minister said. "Those involved participated in an online group denominated 'the defenders of Sharia' and were planning to acquire weapons to commit crimes in Brazil and even overseas," Moraes told a news conference. "It was an absolutely amateur cell, with no preparation at all, a disorganized cell," the minister said, adding that authorities decided to intervene when the group started to plan actions. He said members of the group had visited a weapons site in neighbouring Paraguay which sells AK-47 assault rifles, but there was no evidence they had acquired any weapons. Two people will be brought in for questioning, in addition to the 10 already detained, he added. "Police have confiscated their phones, their computers, and now [they] are prioritising the investigation [to understand] whether there are more people involved in this," it was reported. Interim President Michel Temer had called an emergency cabinet meeting following the arrests, the first under Brazil's tough new anti-terrorism law approved earlier this year. The minister said the leader of the group was based in the southern Brazilian city of Curitiba, with others spread in nine Brazilian states. A court in the state of Parana, where Curitiba is based, said there were indications that the group was planning to use weapons to achieve its aim. About 130 officers took part in the operation in which 10 were arrested and two more were temporarily detained, the statement said. The arrests were made in conjunction with 19 searches conducted in states across the country, ranging from the Amazonas region to the financial capital of Sao Paulo to Rio de Janeiro, where the Olympics open on the 5 Aug 16. Last week, Brazil said it was bolstering security for the August 5-21 Olympics following the deadly lorry attack in the French city of Nice, which killed 84 people and left scores badly wounded. The attack was claimed by ISIL.
United States – Three officers are confirmed dead and three others wounded after a shooting in Baton Rouge, a sheriff's office spokeswoman said on the 17 Jul 16. One suspect is dead and law enforcement officials believe two others are still at large, the spokeswoman said. Casey Rayborn Hicks, a spokeswoman for the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office, said in a statement that the public should call 911 immediately if they see anything suspicious. The shooting — which happened just before 0900 hrs less than 1 mile from police headquarters — comes amid spiralling tensions across the city — and the country — between the black community and police. Baton Rouge Police Sgt. Don Coppola said earlier that the officers were rushed to a local hospital. Coppola said authorities are asking people to stay away from the area. Multiple police units were stationed at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Centre, where stricken officers were believed to be undergoing treatment at a trauma centre. A police officer with a long gun was blocking the parking lot at the emergency room. Officers and deputies from the Baton Rouge Police Department and East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office were involved, according to Hicks. Police armed with long guns on the road stopped at least two vehicles driving away from the scene and checked their trunks and vehicles before allowing them to drive away. Police-community relations in Baton Rouge have been especially tense since the killing of 37-year-old Alton Sterling, a black man killed by white officers earlier this month after a scuffle at a convenience store. The killing was captured on cell-phone video and circulated widely on the internet. It was followed a day later by the shooting death of another black man in Minnesota, whose girlfriend live-streamed the aftermath of his death on Facebook. Then on the 14 Jul 16 a black gunman in Dallas opened fire on police at a protest about the police shootings, killing five officers and heightening tensions even further. Over the weekend, thousands of people took to the streets in Baton Rouge to condemn Sterling's death, including hundreds of demonstrators who congregated outside the police station.
United States/Da’esh/Europe – US intelligence agents are studying files captured from ISIS in a bid to identify potential terrorists returning to the west it was reported on the 28 Jul 16. The cache includes some 10,000 documents and 4.5 terabytes of information containing the identities and countries of origin of the terror group's fighters. Also contained in the intelligence files are details of the routes used to smuggle terrorists in and out of the warzone. The information was captured in Manbij in Northern Syria after the terror group was pushed back from the city. Brett McGurk, President Obama's special envoy confirmed the details of foreign fighters was being shared among coalition allies. McGurk told the New York Times: 'We want to make sure that all that information is disseminated in a coherent way among our coalition partners so that we can track the networks from the core and all the way to wherever the dots might connect, whether that is in Europe or in North Africa or Southeast Asia.' Intelligence agents hope the information will help them identify ISIS terrorist cells while also providing details of the group's finances and might even lead to military strikes against senior terror leaders. It is estimated that almost 43,000 terrorists from 12 countries have at least attempted to go to Iraq and Syria. McGurk added: 'The operation in Manbij is about shutting down the main corridor from Raqqa and then out, in which some of the attackers that launched the Paris attacks we know travelled through that route. By shutting that down, you make it harder for them to plan the larger-scale, kind of more coordinated attacks.' However, despite the successful operation against ISIS in the city, the coalition has been criticized over an airstrike which killed innocent civilians on July 19. Colonel Chris Garver said there was credible evidence to support the complaint. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 56 civilians, including 11 children, died as they fled from a village near Manbij, a strategic waypoint between Turkey and the jihadist stronghold of Raqa. A death toll of that magnitude would appear to be the worst in nearly two years of coalition air strikes against ISIS targets. Garver said on the 27 Jul 16 that death estimates from residents near Manbij ranged from a low of '10 to 15' to a high of 73. Garver had earlier accused ISIS of using civilians as 'human shields'. Coalition officials often say theirs is the most precise air campaign in history. Nearly all coalition air strikes use guided munitions, involving laser or GPS systems, or else missiles. Targets are often viewed at length using surveillance drones before the order to attack is issued. After the Manbij bombardment, Amnesty International urged the coalition to redouble its efforts to prevent civilian deaths and to investigate possible violations of international humanitarian law. The London-based nongovernmental organization Airwars has estimated that the roughly 14,000 coalition bombing attacks since August 2014 have claimed at least 1,513 civilian lives. The coalition has officially acknowledged only a few dozen civilian victims. After the air strikes of July 19, the main Syrian opposition group, the Istanbul-based National Coalition, called on the US-led forces to suspend bombardments. The group's president, Anas al-Abdeh, said civilian casualties could heighten a sense of desperation among Syrians and provide a recruiting tool for extremist groups like ISIS. Garver said last week that the jihadists had been mounting exceptionally fierce resistance in Manbij. He added: 'It's a fight like we haven't seen before.'
United States – Three officers are confirmed dead and three others wounded after a shooting in Baton Rouge, a sheriff's office spokeswoman said on the 17 Jul 16. One suspect is dead and law enforcement officials believe two others are still at large, the spokeswoman said. Casey Rayborn Hicks, a spokeswoman for the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office, said in a statement that the public should call 911 immediately if they see anything suspicious. The shooting — which happened just before 0900 hrs less than 1 mile from police headquarters — comes amid spiralling tensions across the city — and the country — between the black community and police. Baton Rouge Police Sgt. Don Coppola said earlier that the officers were rushed to a local hospital. Coppola said authorities are asking people to stay away from the area. Multiple police units were stationed at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Centre, where stricken officers were believed to be undergoing treatment at a trauma centre. A police officer with a long gun was blocking the parking lot at the emergency room. Officers and deputies from the Baton Rouge Police Department and East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office were involved, according to Hicks. Police armed with long guns on the road stopped at least two vehicles driving away from the scene and checked their trunks and vehicles before allowing them to drive away. Police-community relations in Baton Rouge have been especially tense since the killing of 37-year-old Alton Sterling, a black man killed by white officers earlier this month after a scuffle at a convenience store. The killing was captured on cell-phone video and circulated widely on the internet. It was followed a day later by the shooting death of another black man in Minnesota, whose girlfriend live-streamed the aftermath of his death on Facebook. Then on the 14 Jul 16 a black gunman in Dallas opened fire on police at a protest about the police shootings, killing five officers and heightening tensions even further. Over the weekend, thousands of people took to the streets in Baton Rouge to condemn Sterling's death, including hundreds of demonstrators who congregated outside the police station.
United States/Da’esh/Europe – US intelligence agents are studying files captured from ISIS in a bid to identify potential terrorists returning to the west it was reported on the 28 Jul 16. The cache includes some 10,000 documents and 4.5 terabytes of information containing the identities and countries of origin of the terror group's fighters. Also contained in the intelligence files are details of the routes used to smuggle terrorists in and out of the warzone. The information was captured in Manbij in Northern Syria after the terror group was pushed back from the city. Brett McGurk, President Obama's special envoy confirmed the details of foreign fighters was being shared among coalition allies. McGurk told the New York Times: 'We want to make sure that all that information is disseminated in a coherent way among our coalition partners so that we can track the networks from the core and all the way to wherever the dots might connect, whether that is in Europe or in North Africa or Southeast Asia.' Intelligence agents hope the information will help them identify ISIS terrorist cells while also providing details of the group's finances and might even lead to military strikes against senior terror leaders. It is estimated that almost 43,000 terrorists from 12 countries have at least attempted to go to Iraq and Syria. McGurk added: 'The operation in Manbij is about shutting down the main corridor from Raqqa and then out, in which some of the attackers that launched the Paris attacks we know travelled through that route. By shutting that down, you make it harder for them to plan the larger-scale, kind of more coordinated attacks.' However, despite the successful operation against ISIS in the city, the coalition has been criticized over an airstrike which killed innocent civilians on July 19. Colonel Chris Garver said there was credible evidence to support the complaint. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 56 civilians, including 11 children, died as they fled from a village near Manbij, a strategic waypoint between Turkey and the jihadist stronghold of Raqa. A death toll of that magnitude would appear to be the worst in nearly two years of coalition air strikes against ISIS targets. Garver said on the 27 Jul 16 that death estimates from residents near Manbij ranged from a low of '10 to 15' to a high of 73. Garver had earlier accused ISIS of using civilians as 'human shields'. Coalition officials often say theirs is the most precise air campaign in history. Nearly all coalition air strikes use guided munitions, involving laser or GPS systems, or else missiles. Targets are often viewed at length using surveillance drones before the order to attack is issued. After the Manbij bombardment, Amnesty International urged the coalition to redouble its efforts to prevent civilian deaths and to investigate possible violations of international humanitarian law. The London-based nongovernmental organization Airwars has estimated that the roughly 14,000 coalition bombing attacks since August 2014 have claimed at least 1,513 civilian lives. The coalition has officially acknowledged only a few dozen civilian victims. After the air strikes of July 19, the main Syrian opposition group, the Istanbul-based National Coalition, called on the US-led forces to suspend bombardments. The group's president, Anas al-Abdeh, said civilian casualties could heighten a sense of desperation among Syrians and provide a recruiting tool for extremist groups like ISIS. Garver said last week that the jihadists had been mounting exceptionally fierce resistance in Manbij. He added: 'It's a fight like we haven't seen before.'
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