Tag Archives: Terrorism

Men who entered U.S. as refugees face terrorism charges

A pair of men who entered the United States as refugees several years ago are now facing federal charges spurring from alleged ties to terrorism, the Department of Justice announced Thursday.

The men, both Palestinians born in Iraq, were arrested in Texas and California. The Department of Justice announced the arrests separately and gave no indication the cases were connected.

Both cases involve men accused about lying about their alleged connections to terrorist organizations, either in talks with immigration officials or on official immigration forms.

Both men were scheduled to appear in court on Friday.

The first case involves a 24-year-old who had been living in Houston.

According to a news release from the Department of Justice, Omar Faraj Saeed Al Hardan came to the United States as an Iraqi refugee in late 2009. He became a legal permanent resident in 2011, and court filings show he allegedly sought to become a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2014.

Prosecutors are accusing Al Hardan of providing material support to the Islamic State and lying about his alleged involvement with the organization on that naturalization application.

“He allegedly represented that he was not associated with a terrorist organization when, in fact, he associated with members and sympathizers of ISIL throughout 2014,” the Department of Justice said in a news release, using an acronym for the Islamic State.

Al Hardan is also accused of receiving automatic machine gun training and not disclosing that on his application and in a subsequent interview with immigration officials, according to court records.

The other case involves a 23-year-old who was living in Sacramento.

Prosecutors allege Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab entered the United States as an Iraqi refugee in October 2012 and subsequently used social media to discuss his plans to travel to Syria and fight alongside terrorists. He allegedly traveled to Syria by way of Turkey in November 2013, and prosecutors claim he posted about fighting there before returning to the United States in January 2014.

According to court filings, immigration officials interviewed Al-Jayab in October 2014 and claimed he told them he was visiting his grandmother in Turkey. He also allegedly lied about his actions in Syria, and prosecutors charged him with making false statements about international terrorism.

“While he represented a potential safety threat, there is no indication that he planned any acts of terrorism in this country,” U.S. Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner said in a statement.

The arrests came on the same day the Justice Department announced an Uzbek national living in Idaho received a 25-year-prison sentence and a $250,000 fine for terrorism charges.

Prosecutors had alleged that 33-year-old Fazliddin Kurbanov had purchased bomb-making components and was storing them at his apartment in Boise. Prosecutors had accused him of speaking to people connected with the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and mentioning military bases as possible targets for a terrorist attack on American soil.

“The worst of intentions on the part of Mr. Kurbanov, that is the mass killing of Americans, were thwarted by the best of collaboration on the part of the entire law enforcement community,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Eric Barnhart said in a statement announcing the conviction.

The Justice Department said Kurbanov will face deportation proceedings once released from prison.

American al Qaeda suspect faces new U.S. terrorism charges

By Jonathan Stempel

(Reuters) – Federal prosecutors in New York unveiled new criminal charges on Wednesday against a U.S. citizen believed to have once been an al Qaeda operative, accusing him of involvement in a 2009 car bomb attack on a U.S. military base in Afghanistan.

According to a nine-count indictment, Muhanad Mahmoud Al Farekh, 30, helped prepare one of two explosive devices for use in the Jan. 19, 2009 attack.

Prosecutors said an accomplice detonated one device, while Al Farekh’s fingerprints were found on packing tape for the second device, which a second accomplice carried and did not detonate. The military base was not identified.

Sean Maher, a court-appointed lawyer for Al Farekh, did not immediately respond to request for comment.

The Texas-born Al Farekh was charged with providing material support to al Qaeda, providing material support to terrorists and using explosives. He also faces six conspiracy counts including to murder Americans, use a weapon of mass destruction, bomb a government facility and aid al Qaeda.

Al Farekh faces up to life in prison if convicted. He is scheduled to be arraigned on Thursday before U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan in Brooklyn, New York.

Also known as Abdullah al-Shami, Al Farekh had been detained in Pakistan prior to being flown to Brooklyn, where he first appeared last April 2.

He pleaded not guilty on June 4 to three criminal counts in an indictment made public a week earlier.

Prosecutors accused Al Farekh of providing material support to al Qaeda from Dec. 2006 to Sept. 2009, in a plot that involved two fellow students from the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada.

Al Farekh was purportedly inspired by Anwar Al-Awlaki, a radical cleric whose teachings are believed by prosecutors to have inspired terrorism plots including the 2005 London subway bombings and a failed 2010 bombing in New York’s Times Square.

Al-Awlaki was killed in a 2011 U.S. drone attack in Yemen.

The case is U.S. v. Al Farekh, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York, No. 15-cr-00268.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by David Gregorio)

California shooter’s visa record shows routine interview, no flags raised

By Mark Hosenball

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The record of San Bernardino shooter Tashfeen Malik’s U.S. visa interview in Pakistan shows it was conducted without any obvious irregularities and triggered no significant suspicions, according to a source familiar with the official State Department file.

The apparent lack of anything untoward in Malik’s interview in Pakistan for a K-1 “fiancée” visa that she was subsequently granted underscores the difficulty facing President Barack Obama’s administration as it seeks ways to improve security vetting of visa applicants. Current and former U.S. officials with knowledge of the visa vetting process said that even if the interview and security checks had been more stringent, it is unlikely they would have turned up any red flags on Malik.

The one-paragraph interview record, details of which have not previously been reported, cites documents that Malik used to prove her relationship with U.S.-born partner Syed Rizwan Farook, including a photograph of their engagement ceremony, e-mails and financial transfers between them, the source said.

The file shows that Malik told the consular officer who conducted the May 22, 2014 interview that she had met Farook online. The record says Malik correctly specified the date of Farook’s birthday and his job as a food safety inspector – tests to confirm that she genuinely knew him.

It contained no information about her political or religious views. The documents that Malik is believed to have shown to the interviewing officer were not retained in the file, the source said.

The brief interview report does not specify exactly where in Pakistan the interview took place, how long it lasted or the specific questions that Malik was asked.

After being granted the visa, Malik joined Farook in San Bernadino, California, where they married. She subsequently was granted a permanent residence, or Green Card, visa which required an additional security vetting process and an interview in the United States. On Dec. 2, the couple carried out an attack in San Bernadino that killed 14 people and which U.S. officials believe was inspired by the extremist Islamic State group.

Although the primary focus of a K-1 visa process is to authenticate an applicant’s relationship with a U.S. person, it also involves security clearances, including checks with U.S. spy, law enforcement and counter-terrorism agencies.

In the wake of the shootings, President Barack Obama ordered a review of the K-1 visa procedure and of a separate program that waives visas for citizens of some countries. The United States issued 35,925 K-1 visas in 2014, and rejected 15,838 applicants, according to State Department data.

A State Department official said that “all required procedures were followed” in Malik’s case, and declined to give further details.

HEAVY VISA WORKLOAD

Several Congressional committees are investigating how Malik was granted her visa in Pakistan and have obtained copies of all or parts of her visa files compiled by the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security.

While the probes are at an early stage, questions have been raised on Capitol Hill about the effectiveness of the visa vetting process and whether it needs to be tightened.

Some lawmakers have asked for the administration’s review to include a requirement that consular officers examine social media postings in vetting security risks.

The State Department said it already employs social media screening on a “case by case” basis and was working with other agencies to expand its use.

In Malik’s case, however, investigators say it appears there was little, if any, suspicious public online activity to find.

Although Malik’s apparent lack of previous militant activity would have made her hard to spot, the apparently routine nature of her interview highlights vulnerabilities in the U.S. vetting system, the current and former U.S. officials said.

U.S. authorities in Pakistan could have — but did not — seek a more extensive background investigation of Malik, which would have sought further details from security agencies in Washington and more on-the-ground checks in Pakistan.

The current and former officials said that consular officers who process applications and interview applicants are often junior and overburdened with casework.

Paul Pillar, a former CIA analyst, said the State Department should boost its funding for consular services to allow officers to spend more time examining each application, increasing the likelihood of rejection.

“One cannot expect U.S. consular officers to conduct the equivalent of an FBI background investigation on every visa application; the sheer volume of applications they must review would preclude doing so,” he said.

Jessica Vaughan, a former U.S. diplomat and consular officer now with the Center for Immigration Studies, a group which favors tougher visa enforcement, said that front-line visa officers often favor “customer service” — rapid processing of applications — over thorough background or security checks.

The process could be improved quickly by increasing the number of screeners, undertaking more extensive background checks and making the interviews more rigorous, she said.

Asked whether heavy workloads were undermining the effectiveness of screening, a State Department official said the department has “increased staffing appropriately” to meet a rise in global U.S. visa applications.

(Editing by Stuart Grudgings)

FBI Thwarts ISIS-Inspired Terror Attack in Upstate New York

Authorities foiled a New Year’s Eve terror plot by arresting a man who allegedly planned to commit an attack in upstate New York on behalf of the Islamic State, federal prosecutors said.

The Department of Justice alleges Emanuel L. Lutchman, a 25-year-old from Rochester, was planning an “armed attack” at a restaurant and bar in the city tonight, according to a news release. Prosecutors said Lutchman claimed the attack was ordered by a member of the Islamic State overseas, and the attack was to be “on behalf of (ISIS) and in furtherance of his plan to join” the group.

“The FBI thwarted Emanuel Lutchman’s intent to kill civilians on New Year’s Eve,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Charles Cohen said in a statement.  “The FBI remains concerned about people overseas who use the Internet to inspire people in the United States to commit acts of violence where they live.”

The formal charge against Lutchman is attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State, according to the news release, and he faces 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted.

The arrest comes in the wake of the of revisions to the National Terrorism Advisory System, which the Department of Homeland Security uses to warn Americans about terrorist threats.

The changes, implemented about two weeks after the San Bernardino mass shootings, give Homeland Security officials the ability to issue bulletins about the general risk of terrorist attacks, according to a news release from the department. Under the previous system, officials could only issue alerts if there were credible or imminent threats against the United States, the department said, and the circumstances never once warranted issuing an alert.

The current bulletin, issued Dec. 16 and still in effect, says the department has concerns about attacks from “self-radicalized actor(s) who could strike with little or no notice,” especially because foreign terrorist groups are using the Internet to spread their messages globally.

Grand Jury Indicts Friend of San Bernardino Shooter

The man accused of purchasing two of the assault rifles used in the San Bernardino terrorist attacks was indicted by a federal grand jury on Wednesday, according to a news release from the Department of Justice.

Enrique Marquez Jr. was indicted on charges that he lied about buying some of the weapons that his longtime friend, Syed Rizwan Farook, and Farook’s wife, Tashfeen Malik, used when they killed 14 people during a holiday party for Farook’s coworkers on Dec. 2 in southern California, the Department of Justice announced. Prosecutors also said Marquez was indicted on charges that he conspired with Farook to plot two other attacks in 2011 and 2012, which were later called off.

Prosecutors previously announced those plots involved using pipe bombs and explosives at Riverside Community College, where both Farook and Marquez studied, and a stretch of highway during rush-hour traffic. Prosecutors allege Marquez bought two assault rifles in 2011 and 2012 and claimed they were for his own use, when he was actually giving them to Farook for the attacks.

Marquez and Farook allegedly visited gun ranges to practice shooting, prosecutors have said, but Marquez ultimately distanced himself from his friend after other people in Southern California were arrested on terrorism charges. But the Justice Department has said the guns Marquez bought were among the four weapons authorities recovered after Farook and Malik died in a shootout with police, and forensic testing confirmed that those two rifles were used in the deadly rampage.

“Mr. Marquez is charged for his role in a conspiracy several years ago to target innocent civilians in our own backyard with cold-blooded terror attacks, and with providing weapons to an individual whose endgame was murder,” David Bowdich, the assistant director of the FBI’s office in Los Angeles, said in a statement.

Prosecutors said Marquez was indicted on two counts of making a false statement about the gun buys, one count of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists and two counts related to marrying one of Farook’s family members, which prosecutors allege was a sham to help the woman’s immigration status. The indictments came about two week after Marquez was charged.

Marquez, 24, is being held without bond pending a Jan. 6 court appearance, according to prosecutors. If he’s convicted of the most serious offense, conspiring to provide material support to terrorists, prosecutors said he faces a maximum prison sentence of 15 years.

Coalition Kills ISIS Leader With Alleged Ties to Paris Mastermind

An Islamic State official with close ties to the leader of the Paris terrorist attacks was killed, a spokesman for the United States-led coalition against the terrorist organization said Tuesday.

Col. Steve Warren, the spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve, wrote on his verified Twitter account that Charaffe al Mouadan died on Dec. 24. Warren wrote Mouadan, who was based in Syria, had “a direct link” to Adbelhamid Abaaoud, the ringleader of last month’s deadly attacks.

Warren said al Mouadan “was actively planning attacks against the west,” but did not elaborate.

The Islamic State has said it was responsible for executing the Nov. 13 attacks, during which gunmen and suicide bombers killed 130 people at various locations throughout Paris.

Authorities are still searching for accomplices, and several countries have ramped up their military operations in Iraq and Syria in an attempt to shut down the terrorist organization.

Al Mouadan was one of 10 Islamic State leaders that coalition airstrikes killed in the past month, Warren told reporters at a news briefing. He said several of those killed were planning attacks.

“As long as ISIL external attack planners are operating, the U.S. Military will hunt them and kill them,” Warren wrote on his Twitter page, using a different name for the terrorist organization.

Twin Explosions Kill At Least 19 in Syrian City

At least 19 people were killed and another 43 were severely injured when two coordinated explosions rocked a Syrian city on Monday, the nation’s official news agency reported.

According to the Syrian Arab News Agency, or SANA, a car bomb exploded in Homs, a city in western Syria. As people gathered around site of the initial explosion, apparently to survey the blast’s damage, a suicide bomber entered the crowd and detonated another explosive device.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British organization that monitors the ongoing conflict in Syria, reported a higher death toll of 32 and said at least 90 people had been injured.

It wasn’t immediately clear who was responsible for the attacks.

The explosions come about two weeks after 16 people died and 54 more were injured in other blasts in Homs. The Islamic State said it was behind the Dec. 12 attacks, Reuters reported.

Both terrorist attacks came after the United Nations helped implement a Dec. 5 ceasefire truce that allowed 700 people to evacuate the final rebel-controlled part of the city, one of the most heavily damaged in the bloody civil war that has caused millions of people to flee their homes.

Monday’s blasts came as at least 300 families were being evacuated from three other Syrian communities under similar United Nations-backed agreements, according to SANA. Two of the cities are located in Idleb province and another is located near the Syrian capital of Damascus.

United Nations officials have publicly said the organization hopes such agreements, aimed at getting relief to particularly embattled Syrian communities, will foster a nationwide ceasefire.

Iraqi Military Scores Big Victory Against Islamic State in Ramadi

The Iraqi military has scored another pivotal victory in the fight against the Islamic State insurgency, retaking control of a government complex in the important city of Ramadi.

Anbar Governor Sohaib Alrawi announced on Twitter on Monday that the Iraqi flag is now flying above the government compound in the city, which had been captured by Islamic State insurgents in May.

Ramadi is the capital of Anbar, Iraq’s largest province in terms of land area.

Iraqi forces had been aggressively working to recapture Ramadi, and had made major inroads in recent weeks. But the Islamic State insurgency continues to put up a fight, and The Washington Post reported that a military leader said about 30 percent of the city remains under ISIS control.

The military victory drew a mixture of celebration and caution, as the fight is still ongoing.

Col. Steve Warren, the spokesman for the United States-led coalition against the Islamic State, issued a statement congratulating the Iraqi Security Forces for the “significant accomplishment” of clearing and recapturing the government center, which he called “a proud moment for Iraq.”

Warren noted the coalition has conducted more than 630 airstrikes supporting the Iraqi efforts, as well as provided training and equipment to the forces working to defeat the Islamic State.

Warren, who shared photographs of the flag over the complex, said the coalition would continue to support Iraqi forces as they “move forward to make Ramadi safe for civilians to return.”

British, U.S. Governments Warn of Potential Christmas Threat in Beijing

The British and United States governments are warning their citizens about possible threats against Westerners in China’s capital city.

The Beijing embassies of those two counties issued nearly identical advisories on Thursday, saying they received word that Westerners could be targeted in the city’s Sanlitun district “on or around Christmas Day.” The governments urged their citizens to be vigilant.

Sanlitun is a busy shopping and entertainment district.

Beijing police issued a yellow security alert, according to a post on one of its social media pages. The post says that more people will visit hotels, restaurants, malls and entertainment venues during the holiday season, and police will ensure that people remain secure.

China’s official Xinhua news agency reported that a yellow security alert is the second-lowest warning level on a four-tier system.

Neither the British nor the United States government mentioned the nature of the threat, though other countries issued similar warnings.

Global Affairs Canada, while not specifically mentioning Beijing or issuing any kind of nationwide travel advisory, said its citizens “should exercise a high degree of caution due to the occurrence of isolated acts of violence, including bombings and protests” in China.

Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade told its citizens about the United States government’s warning and said “possible road closures and checks” could impact travel in Sanlitun. The French embassy also shared the United States’ information with its citizens.

Violent Conflicts Force 1 Million African Children Out of School

Violent conflicts in Africa, fueled by the Boko Haram insurgency, have forced more than 1 million children out of school, the United Nations Children’s Fund reported Tuesday.

The organization, commonly known as UNICEF, reported that the children have been forced out of class in northeastern Nigeria and the neighboring nations of Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

UNICEF said that total doesn’t include the 11 million kids in those four countries who were already out of school before Boko Haram began its insurgency six years ago. According to the Global Terrorism Index, the Islamic extremist group killed more people last year (6,644) than any other terrorist organization — including the Islamic State, to which it has pledged allegiance.

But Boko Haram is only partly responsible for the violence in Nigeria.

Fulani militants, who use often violent tactics to control grazing land for their livestock, killed 1,229 people last year, according to the Global Terrorism Index. Because Nigeria houses two of the world’s five deadliest terrorist groups, the country had 7,512 terrorism-related deaths last year. That was more than any other country but Iraq, which established a record with 9,929.

According to UNICEF, more than 2,000 schools are closed in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger. The organization says hundreds of them have been set ablaze, looted or otherwise attacked, and that some of the closures have stretched on for more than a year. In Cameroon, for example, UNICEF reported that 135 schools closed in 2014 and only one of them has reopened.

Part of the reason for the lengthy closures is that there’s a fear of future terrorist attacks. UNICEF reported that 600 Nigerian teachers have died during the Boko Haram insurgency.

Manuel Fontaine, UNICEF’s regional director in West and Central Africa, said in a statement that many children are now at risk of dropping out of school entirely as a result of the violence.

“The challenge we face is to keep children safe without interrupting their schooling,” Fontaine said in a statement. “Schools have been targets of attack, so children are scared to go back to the classroom; yet the longer they stay out of school, the greater the risks of being abused, abducted and recruited by armed groups.”

UNICEF said it’s taken some steps to help educate children in the region, like establishing some temporary learning spaces and expanding some schools, but they’ve reached less than 200,000 kids. Security issues and funding shortages have complicated the group’s outreach efforts.

UNICEF said it will need about $23 million to educate children in the four countries next year.