Asia – A report by Terrorism Watch claims that a Radical Islamist group Hizb-ut-Tahrir which cleverly avoided global scrutiny while spreading its ideology may become a more dangerous terrorist group than the ISIS and it's presence in South Asia should be a cause for concern for India. "While ISIS runs amok in Syria and Iraq, demanding media attention through acts of barbarous cruelty, HuT (Hizb-ut- Tahrir or the Party of Liberation) is quietly building a global infrastructure of radicalised youth and deep-pocketed Arab support in preparation for the global Khilafat," said the report published in the latest edition of CTX Journal. The group has cleverly avoided any intense global scrutiny while spreading its ideology and support base in nearly 50 countries, said the report. The group commands a base of over one million members worldwide. This is far higher than what ISIS claims to have. Citing reports, the journal said HuT has an armed wing called Harakat ul-Muhojirinfi Britaniya that is training its cadres in chemical, bacteriological, and biological warfare. "HuT, therefore, has the potential to become an even more dangerous terrorist group than ISIS," said the journal from US-based Global Education Community Collaboration Online. Founded in Jerusalem in 1952 and headquartered in London, the group has branches in Central Asia, Europe, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, particularly in Indonesia, where it has managed to garner great influence. In South Asia, HuT has a significant presence in Pakistan and Bangladesh. "Although HuT has reportedly found a foothold in India, its presence and influence have not made any significant impact," said the multimedia journal on strategic and security affairs. "HuT's growing presence in neighbouring Bangladesh and Pakistan should be a cause of concern for India and the larger global community," it said. It said HuT's strategy is different from ISIS and the group is slowly increasing its social capital by keeping away from overt acts of terrorism while luring the educated youths. In Bangladesh, HuT has managed to gather the support of many intellectuals, including doctors, lawyers, and professors. The group was officially banned in Bangladesh in 2009 for anti-state activities. Compared to Bangladesh, HuT has a longer history in Pakistan, where it established its base in 1990. The group remained underground until 2000. Pakistan banned HuT in 2003 after it was linked with several terror plots, including a plot to kill former President Pervez Musharraf. Despite the ban, HuT is reportedly deepening its support among the intelligentsia and military circles, it said. HuT's global ambition and activities are bankrolled through private donations from local entrepreneurs to Islamic charity organisations, the report said. Wealthy sheikhs from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations, who embrace the pan-Islamic agenda, also fund the group. This financial support is one of the reasons that HuT believes it will be able to establish the Caliphate, it said. Given the fact that HuT already has a wide reach and is successfully inducting and radicalising educated youth, the organisation has the potential to stage coups and uprisings against governments and regimes that it considers un-Islamic or aligned with anti-Muslim powers, the report said. HuT may well prove dangerous because it has immense influence on people, especially in the way that it legitimises the cause to establish a Caliphate, it said. While the world's focus currently is on ISIS, it would be a grave folly to ignore the growing influence of HuT and its global agenda, the report warned.
Afghanistan – A suicide attack on a police station in eastern Afghanistan killed at least 20 officers it was reported on the 17 Feb 15. The attack on the police headquarters in Logar was carried out by four suicide bombers. Two of the attackers managed to enter the headquarters and two detonated the explosives on them in the kitchen and the dining room of the compound. The bombers were wearing police uniforms and used a police vehicle to enter the compound. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
The Afghan government is to hold peace talks with the Taliban leadership following a strategic dialogue with neighbouring Pakistan, the country's chief executive Dr Abdullah Abdullah confirmed on the 23 Feb 15. During a meeting of Afghanistan's Council of Ministers, Dr Abdullah said the talks would begin shortly. His announcement has yet to be confirmed by the Taliban, but signals from Pakistan's military establishment indicate a transformation in relations between the neighbours following years of mutual suspicion throughout former president Hamid Karzai's tenure. Informed sources said the breakthrough was made by Afghanistan's new president, Ashraf Ghani, who has waged a strategic campaign to persuade Pakistan, long regarded as a patron of the Taliban, that closer security cooperation could dramatically reduce terrorism in the two countries. He hopes stronger links and better trust between Kabul and Islamabad can end what many regard as a long proxy war in which Pakistan believes the National Directorate of Security (NDS), Afghanistan's security agency, has India's backing. Afghanistan regards the Taliban-leadership as Islamabad-sponsored.
China – A suicide bomber in the Chinese region of Xinjiang killed as many as eight people on the 13 Feb 15 when he grabbed a police officer and set off an explosive device attached to his body reports claim on the 17 Feb 15. A member of the Uighur ethnic group set off the device in Hotan Prefecture, an impoverished part of Xinjiang near the border with India and Pakistan. The account could not be independently confirmed, and the Chinese state news media had yet to report on the incident. Radio Free Asia reported that the attack on the 13 Feb took place in Guma County, known as Pishan in Chinese. 361 COMMENT: Although there have been many incidents in the region regarding the Uighur’s against the Chinese this maybe the first reported suicide from the group. If so it would mean an escalation and that the terrorist group has undergone training elsewhere and has a sound logistic network set up in order to obtain suicide vests. COMMENT ENDS
Japan – Japan on the 17 Feb 15 announced $15.5 million to fight “terrorism” in the Middle East and Africa, as Tokyo tries to demonstrate its resolve despite the murder of two citizens by Islamist extremists. Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said in a statement the aid was part of Japan’s effort to support “counter-terrorism capacity building assistance in the Middle East/Africa,” including border control, investigation and development of legal systems. The amount doubles the $7.5 million in assistance that Kishida pledged during a visit to Brussels in January. Details on the aid will be given by vice foreign minister Yasuhide Nakayama during a global counter-terrorism conference later during the reporting period in Washington, ministry officials said.
Pakistan – A Taliban suicide bomber detonated his explosives in a congested neighbourhood on the 17 Feb 15 after failing to breach the security cordon around the headquarters of the police. The target was the main building of Police Headquarters. A breakaway faction of the Pakistani Taliban called Jamaat-ul-Ahrar claimed responsibility for the attack, which it described as retaliation for army operations in the country’s tribal belt. “Today’s suicide attack was made in revenge for our fighters’ death in tribal areas,” a spokesman, Ehsanullah Ehsan, said.
Thailand – A naval explosive ordnance disposal team was been dispatched to investigate a possible explosive device on board a product tanker, the Royal Thai Navy's (RTN's) Maritime Information Sharing Centre (MISC) on the 16 Feb 15. The Thai-flagged tanker MT Lapin was reported to have been hijacked on 13 Feb 15 while under way in the Malacca Strait. AISLive ship tracking data indicates that Lapin left Singapore on 12 Feb 15 and was heading towards the Andaman Sea when it was boarded. According to a 16 Feb report in the Bangkok Post the vessel was boarded by between six and eight men carrying knives and firearms. According to the Navy’s explosive ordnance disposal officers, the device comprised an electrical circuit and battery without any explosive powder. The device was destroyed by using a high-pressure water gun. It is believed that the pirates planted the fake bomb so as to buy more time for their smooth escape, using it as intimidation tactics against the crew.
Suspected Muslim insurgents in southern Thailand on the 27 Feb 15 detonated a car bomb that wounded 13 people and damaged buildings, police said. Two other bombs were defused. The bomb was hidden in a pickup truck that was parked in front of a karaoke bar in a commercial district in Narathiwat province. The explosion wounded two soldiers and 11 civilians, one of them seriously. Suspected militants also threw a pipe bomb at a restaurant 50 meters (yards) from the first explosion, but the improvised device did not go off and was defused. An explosive ordnance disposal unit used water canon to successfully destroy another explosive device hidden in a motorcycle in front of a nearby grocery store. Narathiwat is one of the three Muslim-majority southern provinces in Buddhist-dominated Thailand.
Afghanistan – A suicide attack on a police station in eastern Afghanistan killed at least 20 officers it was reported on the 17 Feb 15. The attack on the police headquarters in Logar was carried out by four suicide bombers. Two of the attackers managed to enter the headquarters and two detonated the explosives on them in the kitchen and the dining room of the compound. The bombers were wearing police uniforms and used a police vehicle to enter the compound. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
The Afghan government is to hold peace talks with the Taliban leadership following a strategic dialogue with neighbouring Pakistan, the country's chief executive Dr Abdullah Abdullah confirmed on the 23 Feb 15. During a meeting of Afghanistan's Council of Ministers, Dr Abdullah said the talks would begin shortly. His announcement has yet to be confirmed by the Taliban, but signals from Pakistan's military establishment indicate a transformation in relations between the neighbours following years of mutual suspicion throughout former president Hamid Karzai's tenure. Informed sources said the breakthrough was made by Afghanistan's new president, Ashraf Ghani, who has waged a strategic campaign to persuade Pakistan, long regarded as a patron of the Taliban, that closer security cooperation could dramatically reduce terrorism in the two countries. He hopes stronger links and better trust between Kabul and Islamabad can end what many regard as a long proxy war in which Pakistan believes the National Directorate of Security (NDS), Afghanistan's security agency, has India's backing. Afghanistan regards the Taliban-leadership as Islamabad-sponsored.
China – A suicide bomber in the Chinese region of Xinjiang killed as many as eight people on the 13 Feb 15 when he grabbed a police officer and set off an explosive device attached to his body reports claim on the 17 Feb 15. A member of the Uighur ethnic group set off the device in Hotan Prefecture, an impoverished part of Xinjiang near the border with India and Pakistan. The account could not be independently confirmed, and the Chinese state news media had yet to report on the incident. Radio Free Asia reported that the attack on the 13 Feb took place in Guma County, known as Pishan in Chinese. 361 COMMENT: Although there have been many incidents in the region regarding the Uighur’s against the Chinese this maybe the first reported suicide from the group. If so it would mean an escalation and that the terrorist group has undergone training elsewhere and has a sound logistic network set up in order to obtain suicide vests. COMMENT ENDS
Japan – Japan on the 17 Feb 15 announced $15.5 million to fight “terrorism” in the Middle East and Africa, as Tokyo tries to demonstrate its resolve despite the murder of two citizens by Islamist extremists. Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said in a statement the aid was part of Japan’s effort to support “counter-terrorism capacity building assistance in the Middle East/Africa,” including border control, investigation and development of legal systems. The amount doubles the $7.5 million in assistance that Kishida pledged during a visit to Brussels in January. Details on the aid will be given by vice foreign minister Yasuhide Nakayama during a global counter-terrorism conference later during the reporting period in Washington, ministry officials said.
Pakistan – A Taliban suicide bomber detonated his explosives in a congested neighbourhood on the 17 Feb 15 after failing to breach the security cordon around the headquarters of the police. The target was the main building of Police Headquarters. A breakaway faction of the Pakistani Taliban called Jamaat-ul-Ahrar claimed responsibility for the attack, which it described as retaliation for army operations in the country’s tribal belt. “Today’s suicide attack was made in revenge for our fighters’ death in tribal areas,” a spokesman, Ehsanullah Ehsan, said.
Thailand – A naval explosive ordnance disposal team was been dispatched to investigate a possible explosive device on board a product tanker, the Royal Thai Navy's (RTN's) Maritime Information Sharing Centre (MISC) on the 16 Feb 15. The Thai-flagged tanker MT Lapin was reported to have been hijacked on 13 Feb 15 while under way in the Malacca Strait. AISLive ship tracking data indicates that Lapin left Singapore on 12 Feb 15 and was heading towards the Andaman Sea when it was boarded. According to a 16 Feb report in the Bangkok Post the vessel was boarded by between six and eight men carrying knives and firearms. According to the Navy’s explosive ordnance disposal officers, the device comprised an electrical circuit and battery without any explosive powder. The device was destroyed by using a high-pressure water gun. It is believed that the pirates planted the fake bomb so as to buy more time for their smooth escape, using it as intimidation tactics against the crew.
Suspected Muslim insurgents in southern Thailand on the 27 Feb 15 detonated a car bomb that wounded 13 people and damaged buildings, police said. Two other bombs were defused. The bomb was hidden in a pickup truck that was parked in front of a karaoke bar in a commercial district in Narathiwat province. The explosion wounded two soldiers and 11 civilians, one of them seriously. Suspected militants also threw a pipe bomb at a restaurant 50 meters (yards) from the first explosion, but the improvised device did not go off and was defused. An explosive ordnance disposal unit used water canon to successfully destroy another explosive device hidden in a motorcycle in front of a nearby grocery store. Narathiwat is one of the three Muslim-majority southern provinces in Buddhist-dominated Thailand.
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