Homeland Security News

The head of Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, who was wanted for deadly attacks on US soldiers and foreign aid workers, has been killed in an operation by French troops.

Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi was “neutralised by French forces”, President Emmanuel Macron tweeted early Thursday.

“This is another major success in our fight against terrorist groups in the Sahel,” Macron said, without giving the location or details of the operation.

Adnan Abou Walid al Sahraoui, chef du groupe terroriste État islamique au Grand Sahara a été neutralisé par les forces françaises. Il s’agit d’un nouveau succès majeur dans le combat que nous menons contre les groupes terroristes au Sahel.

Read more: France 24
 

Police "failed" in their response to the Manchester Arena attack, terrorism experts have told the bombing inquiry.

Three experts told the Manchester Arena Inquiry there had been a "significant failure" in Greater Manchester Police's (GMP) emergency response to the attack, which killed 22 people on 22 May 2017.

Scott Wilson, Ian Dickinson and Iain Sirrell said GMP failed to work well with other services in the aftermath.

They said there was no evidence of a "cohesive and co-ordinated response".

The hearing was told the men looked through close to 1,000 pages of evidence about the police response to the attack.

Read more: BBC News

Syria is still unsafe for the return of refugees a decade after its conflict began, U.N. war crimes investigators said on Tuesday, documenting worsening violence and rights violations including arbitrary detention by government forces.

The U.N. Commission of Inquiry on Syria said the overall situation was increasingly bleak, noting hostilities in several areas of the fractured country, its collapsing economy, drying riverbeds and increased attacks by Islamic State militants.

"One decade in, the parties to the conflict continue to perpetrate war crimes and crimes against humanity and infringing the basic human rights of Syrians," the Chair of the Commission, Paulo Pinheiro said, releasing its 24th report.

"The war on Syrian civilians continues, and it is difficult for them to find security or safe haven in this war-torn country."

Read more: Reuters

Nigerian troops have seized 14 tonnes of fertiliser that the insurgent Islamist group Boko Haram had planned to turn into roadside bombs, the army said on Thursday.

Boko Haram has killed hundreds of people in bombings during its 12-year war against the armed forces in northeast Nigeria, a conflict that has spilled over into neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon and caused an estimated 350,000 deaths.

The army said it had broken up a urea fertiliser syndicate that supplied the insurgents with materials to make IEDs, or improvised explosive devices.

Troops seized 281 bags of urea, each weighing 50kg, at two locations in northeastern Borno and Yobe states, military spokesman Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu said in a statement.

Read more: Reuters

Al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri appeared in a video marking the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, months after rumors spread that he was dead.

The SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist websites, said the video was released Saturday. In it, al-Zawahri said that "Jerusalem Will Never be Judaized" and praised al-Qaida attacks, including one that targeted Russian troops in Syria in January.

SITE said al-Zawahri also noted the U.S. military's withdrawal from Afghanistan after 20 years of war. It added that his comments do not necessarily indicate a recent recording, because the withdrawal agreement with the Taliban was signed in February 2020.

Al-Zawahri made no mention of the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan and the capital, Kabul, last month, SITE added. But he did mention a Jan. 1, attack that targeted Russian troops on the edge of the northern Syrian city of Raqqa. 

Read more: USA Today