I made my own avatar
Nigeria busts ISIS recruiting cell as U.S. dismisses group’s affiliation with Boko Haram: http://www.foreigndesknews.com/world/us/nigeria-busts-isis-recruiting-cell-as-u-s-dismisses-groups-affiliation-with-boko-haram/
Intelligence officials within Nigeria’s Department of State Services (DSS) arrested the five suspected ISIS members in the northwestern Kano State Thursday.
The individuals were allegedly responsible for creating ISIS sleeper cells and had plans to set up a jihadi training camp in Kano, according to DSS State Director Abdullah Chiranchi.
Meanwhile, U.S. officials have rejected reports of connections between Nigerian terror group Boko Haram and ISIS, dismissing Boko Haram’s pledge of allegiance to ISIS last year as a branding exercise aimed at increasing recruitment operations, Reuters reported.
U.S. intelligence officials have acknowledged, however, the cooperation between Boko Haram and ISIS fighters in Libya.
“There is no difference between ISIS and Boko Haram. Boko Haram is ISIS,” African-based Jasmine Opperman, the Terror Research and Analysis Consortium (TRAC) director of African operations told The Foreign Desk.
“A distinction between Boko Haram, or the Islamic State of West Africa (ISWA) and ISIS indicates a complete lack of understanding on the implications of an official pledge of allegiance by a group to the Islamic State,” Opperman said.
“The cell that has reportedly been exposed is thus an ISWA cell,” she added.
The collaboration between the two groups appears beyond the battlefield as Boko Haram videos are appearing on the Islamic State’s Amaq, a 24-hour ‘news wire’ reporting ISIS news, The Foreign Desk has observed.
This past weekend, Boko Haram killed approximately 30 soldiers in Niger, prompting 50,000 people to flee the town of Bosso in southeastern Niger, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency, UNHCR.
Collaboration confirmed
Anybody want space lobsters?
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
... so what does the US government gain by insisting that there's no link between Boko Haram and Daesh?
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
A more correct understanding of the situation. "Boko Haram is ISIS" is really a drastic over-simplification of the relationship between the two groups.
edited 11th Jun '16 7:00:12 PM by DeMarquis
By portraying BH as merely an ally of ISIS (correctly, I'd argue), they ensure that the public doesn't think that ISIS is overrunning parts of Africa.
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Isn't Boko Haram a part of Daesh In Name Only? The general impression I'd gotten was that it operates more or less independently, and just used the affiliation for name recognition.
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
They're a completely separate group that declared allegiance to ISIS under their current utterly insane leader. It used to be an armed reactionary group to Nigerian government corruption and what was seen as corruption of moral values caused by Western education (hence the name Boko Haram). While ISIS may have accepted the declaration, there doesn't seem to be any formal link between them whatsoever. They've also been taking a beating from the Nigerian army and their affiliate PMC's.
edited 12th Jun '16 2:31:47 AM by TerminusEst
Si Vis Pacem, Para Perkele
Just want to point out that there was a mass shooting in Orlando yesterday, with fifty dead. American news call it mass shooting, but I'm calling it terrorism. It isn't a weapon of just scary brown people and nefarious organizations.
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
Actually after it's been rumored that the shooter might have been affiliated with Islam people are calling it terrorism. To copy what I said in a different thread.
There's been a mass shooting at an LGBT nightclub in Orlando, Florida. At least 50 confirmed dead with a further 53 in hospital. The lone gunman was killed during a firefight with police. At this point it's been confirmed that he was armed with an AR-15 and two handguns.
There was a SWAT team member that was shot in the head but he was protected by his helmet and apparently in stable condition.
edited 12th Jun '16 9:07:06 AM by LeGarcon
Oh really when?
Yeah, hadn't seen the update. Now I regret my post because its yet another incident thats only terrorism if the dude has a Muslim name.
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
For whatever it's worth the FBI called it an act of terrorism before they discovered possibility of a connection to Islam. FOX didn't call it such until afterwards.
Oh really when?
Kudos to the Feds then. Not so much to Fox
The Guardian's live updates on the club shooting
edited 12th Jun '16 9:43:22 AM by TerminusEst
Si Vis Pacem, Para Perkele
Is he actually doing it on behalf of ISIS or is it because he's just an edgelord and they're known for their homophobia?
The law in the night
Authorities identified the shooter on Sunday as Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old man born in New York with Afghan origins.
Mateen, who was armed with an assault-type rifle and a handgun, was killed in a shootout with at least 11 police officers inside the Pulse nightclub in Orlando.
Ron Hopper, special FBI agent in charge of the Orlando office, confirmed that Mateen was interviewed twice by the agency in 2013, after he made "inflammatory comments" to co-workers alleging possible "terrorist ties".
In 2014, authorities interrogated Mateen anew for possible ties to an American suicide bomber.
In both cases, the FBI closed the investigations as they turned out to be "inconclusive" at that time, Hopper said.
Hopper also confirmed media reports that Mateen made 911 calls to police during the standoff, and referred to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL also known as ISIS) group.
Apparently he was already severely homophobic, abusive and generally unstable, also known to have visited jihadi websites (possibly finding a justification for his behaviour).
edited 12th Jun '16 1:56:01 PM by TerminusEst
Si Vis Pacem, Para Perkele
You know who else is like that and also from New York? Donald Trump.
So a lone wolf carrying out a hate crime motivated by his insane homophobia. Sigh.
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
And he only gets called a terrorist by way too many people for us sane people's comfort because he's Muslim. Western Terrorists is apparently an urban myth for those other people.
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
Well if he carried it out with the intent of sending a message to the LGBT community then yes, it is textbook terrorism, regardless of his background.
Yeah, also for waht I see, many lone wolf atack of ISIS are just carry out by their fanboys oversseas and them clian responsabilty?
"My Name is Bolt, Bolt Crank and I dont care if you believe or not"
Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018
That does appear to be the case, yes. At most they may have read an issue of Inspire or visited a jihadi website, but they are unlikely to have received proper training from Daesh members.
Santa Monica police arrested an Indiana man with a large cache of weaponry who apparently wanted to attend the L.A. Pride festival. No need to guess just what he wanted to do...
Amused
And the copycat shooters are already making themselves known.
Wonderful....
Formerly known as Bleddyn And I am feeling like a ghost Resident Perky Goth
I think this guy was arrested earlier in the day, and (given the amount of gear and prep he appeared to have) probably planned this without knowing what happened in Orlando.
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Even if they aren't directly connected to ISIS, lone wolves using their motifs and 'reasons' to lash out are just as dangerous and problematic as actual agents under commands of ISIS.
In a way they might be even worse. Striking at an actual, physical network of organized crime is relatively easy to one degree or another; dismanteling an actual ideology of raw sheer hatred and nihilism that spreads itself even without the need for direct links is much more complicated.
(Stratfor) Libyan Anti-Daesh forces make gains in Sirte: https://www.stratfor.com/situation-report/libya-anti-islamic-state-forces-make-gains-sirte
Most of the militiamen taking part in the advance are fighters from the city of Misrata. According to sources, fighters captured the Taqrift military camp from Daesh, and militia statements released on social media detail a number of other gains, though these remain unconfirmed.
Routing the Daesh in Sirte, where it had been hoping to build up a power center in Libya, is key to significantly damaging its prospects in the country.