Homeland Security News

Concerns have been raised about two Minnesota brothers with ties to the Middle East after they were allegedly found with bomb-making materials, guns and ammunition in their car.

Abdullah Alrifahe, 27, and Majid Alrifahe, 26, were arrested on May 11 outside a senior housing project in north Minneapolis.  The elder brother has been charged with a single weapons felony and is being held in the Hennepin County Jail on $200,000 bail.

Police were called and allegedly found a loaded AK-47, a rifle, handgun, a grenade, ammunition, bomb-making materials and a drone inside the car.
 
Read more: Daily Mail

At least 18 Afghan soldiers died in a Taliban attack on a Kandahar province, Afghanistan, military base earlier this week, according to government sources.

The attack was launched late Monday in Shah Wali Kot district and lasted until Tuesday morning.  It came four days after 10 Afghan soldiers were killed in an attack on a nearby base in southeastern Afghanistan and the day after at least 20 police officers died in raids on outposts in the Arghandab district of central Zabul province.  Taliban insurgents typically step up offensives in the spring.

Afghan Ministry of Defense spokesman Gen. Dawlat Waziri said at least 10 soldiers died and nine were injured in the Sha Wali Kot attack.  Local media put the death count at 18, the Daily Pakistan reported.  Waziri added that weapons and ammunition were seized by the Taliban, and that at least 12 Taliban members died in the attack.  The Taliban, in a message on its website, said it killed 35 Afghan soldiers.

Source: United Press International

A bipartisan pair of senators introduced a measure Thursday that would replace the authorization for the use of military force (AUMF) from 2001 that presidents have relied on to fight terrorists overseas.

The new AUMF proposed by Sens. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia and Jeff Flake, R-Arizona, would authorize force against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), al Qaeda and the Taliban. This would update the authorization Congress passed in 2001 in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Lawmakers previously introduced an AUMF in 2015 that would have only targeted ISIS.

Read more: CBS News

Foreign fighters are among Islamist militants killed in a southern Philippine city in recent days, officials say.  Six jihadists, including Indonesian and Malaysian citizens, were killed as the army continued its operation to drive the rebels out of the city of Marawi.

Attack helicopters and special forces have been deployed in the offensive.  It is a rare admission by the authorities that local jihadists are working with international groups.  Marawi is a mainly Muslim city in Lanao del Sur province on the southern island of Mindanao. The province is a stronghold for the Maute group, which has pledged allegiance to so-called Islamic State (IS).

Read more: BBC News

Police in Essen arrested a German man, reportedly connected to the Salafist scene, over suspicions that he was plotting an attack.  Special police forces arrested the 32-year-old man at about 8pm on Thursday, according to a police report, but they said that there was no evidence of concrete danger.

Police said that the German man has been long known to authorities.  Regional broadcaster WDR reported that he had converted to Islam and was a part of the Salafist scene.  He reportedly became radicalized after his conversion.  The suspect had also previously attracted the attention of police for other crimes, WDR reported.

Source: The Local.de