Category Archives: Islamic State

Australian woman linked to Islamic State lived with teenage slave who was repeatedly raped, court told

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Allegations made in Melbourne magistrates court on Thursday as Zeinab Ahmad, 31, applied for bail, a month after she was charged with slavery offences

A woman accused of marrying Islamic State fighters allegedly lived with a teenage slave who was repeatedly assaulted and raped by the woman’s father.

The allegations were detailed in Melbourne magistrates court on Thursday as Zeinab Ahmad, 31, applied for bail, a month after she was charged with slavery offences.

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Trump says Islamic State ‘second in command’ killed by US and Nigerian forces

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US president calls Abu-Bilal al-Minuki ‘most active terrorist in the world’ and says he was eliminated in ‘very complex mission’

Donald Trump has said US and Nigerian forces killed the “second in command” global leader of the Islamic State.

“Tonight, at my direction, brave American forces and the Armed Forces of Nigeria flawlessly executed a meticulously planned and very complex mission to eliminate the most active terrorist in the world from the battlefield,” the US president said on his Truth Social platform on Friday.

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Militants and separatists launch coordinated attacks across Mali

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Al-Qaida-linked group JNIM claims responsibility for strikes on airport in capital, Bamako and four other cities

Islamic militants and separatists attacked several locations in Mali’s capital and other cities on Saturday in one of the largest coordinated attacks in the country in recent years.

The al-Qaida-linked militant group JNIM claimed responsibility for the attacks on Bamako’s international airport and four other cities in central and northern Mali on its website, Az-Zallaqa. It said the attacks were carried out jointly with the Azawad Liberation Front, a Tuareg-led separatist group.

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Australian women and children leave Syrian detention camp for Damascus – and potentially home

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Repatriation attempt comes after group was turned around when leaving camp in February. Albanese government says it’s not assisting cohort

Four Australian women and nine of their children and grandchildren have left al-Roj camp in north-east Syria, seeking to return to Australia.

The group is reportedly travelling across Syria by road to the capital Damascus, under the control of the Syrian government.

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Iraqi official urges Australia to take back alleged IS fighters during meeting with ambassador

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Iraq’s national security adviser Qassim al-Araji says he told Australian ambassador that countries should repatriate prisoners

A senior Iraqi government official has implored Australia to repatriate a group of suspected Islamic State fighters, raising the issue with Canberra’s top diplomat in Baghdad just weeks after the detainees were transferred out of Syria.

In a post on X, Iraq’s national security adviser, Qassim al-Araji, said he met with ambassador Glenn Miles last week, and told him that foreign detainees should be returned to their home countries. This is despite such a task being made more difficult by growing instability in the region, caused by the war in Iran.

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At least 65 Nigerian soldiers killed in jihadist raids in country’s north-east

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Gunmen from Islamic State West Africa Province overran four military bases and abducted 300 civilians, say reports

At least 65 Nigerian soldiers have been killed in jihadist raids across the country’s north-east in the last two weeks, as the west African state battles to contain one of the world’s deadliest terror groups.

On 5 and 6 March, gunmen from Islamic State West Africa Province (Iswap) overran four military bases in Borno state, the epicentre of the insurgency. Nigerian daily the Punch reported that about 40 soldiers were killed in total in these attacks.

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Angus Taylor snaps at journalist as Liberals ramp up rhetoric against Australian children in Syrian camp

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Opposition leader suggests 23 children and 11 women attempting to leave al-Roj are Islamic State ‘sympathisers’

Angus Taylor has suggested the Australian children remaining in a Syrian detention camp are “Isis sympathisers” as the Liberal party ramps up its rhetoric against the families of dead or jailed Islamic State fighters.

The opposition leader also chided a member of the press for attempting to force his response on why the group of 23 children and 11 women should be another country’s responsibility.

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Tony Burke says Australia has few options to block return of 34 women and children from Syrian camp

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One woman is subject to temporary exclusion order over security concerns, but home affairs minister says group is ‘not consistent’ in their beliefs

Tony Burke says authorities “know the state of mind” of each of the 34 Australian women and children stuck in a Syrian detention camp, but says his options to prevent them returning to Australia are limited.

The home affairs minister, who represents a south-western Sydney electorate with a high Muslim population, also warned Pauline Hanson’s recent derogatory comments against Muslims in Australia could incite violence.

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Alleged Australian IS fighters transferred from Syria to Iraq where they could face death penalty

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Dfat says it is aware Australians are among 5,704 detainees transferred out of Syrian prisons and into Iraqi custody

A group of Australian men suspected of being former Islamic State fighters are among more than 5,000 detainees transferred from Syria to Iraq, where they potentially face charges which could carry the death penalty.

Iraq’s national centre for international judicial cooperation confirmed last Friday it had taken custody of the 5,704 alleged former fighters from 61 countries, including citizens of Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the US.

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Tony Burke ‘taking advice’ from security agencies about Australian women and children in Syria seeking to return

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Temporary Exclusion Orders allow the home affairs minister to stop a person entering for up to two years, but there is a high bar for the powers

Home affairs minister Tony Burke is “taking advice” from security agencies on whether Australian women and children in a Syrian detention camp should be temporarily banned from returning, but it is unclear how many in the cohort such an order would apply to.

On Monday night, 34 Australian women and children – the wives, widows and children of dead or jailed Islamic State fighters – left from the al-Roj camp, in north-eastern Syria, after being released by Kurdish authorities for their expected repatriation to Australia.

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What is happening to Syria’s IS camps and their former residents?

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Experts say the detention centres were a breeding ground for extremism and a new generation of IS members

Humanitarians warned for years that the camps in north-east Syria holding tens of thousands of family members of suspected Islamic State (IS) fighters would have to be dealt with. Calling them a “ticking time bomb”, relief groups said the women and children could not just be left to rot in squalid desert camps indefinitely, because eventually they would come home.

Despite the warnings, most states ignored the problem, refusing to repatriate their citizens. At least 8,000 women and children from more than 40 countries have been stranded in the camps of north-east Syria since 2019.

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‘The pain remains’: France remembers victims of 2015 Paris attacks

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Bells ring out across French capital marking 10th anniversary of country’s deadliest peacetime attack

France has paid tribute to the 130 people killed 10 years ago by Islamic State gunmen and suicide bombers who targeted a stadium, bars, restaurants and the Bataclan concert hall in the country’s deadliest peacetime attack.

“The pain remains,” Emmanuel Macron wrote on social media on Thursday as he visited each of the sites that were attacked. Bells rang out across the city as a remembrance ceremony began at a memorial garden in central Paris attended by relatives and survivors.

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Terrorist turf war battle in north-eastern Nigeria leaves about 200 dead

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Fighting between Boko Haram and rival militants from Islamic State West Africa Province broke out on shores of Lake Chad

As many as 200 terrorists were killed in a turf war on Sunday between rival jihadists in north-east Nigeria.

The fighting between Boko Haram and rival militants from Islamic State West Africa Province (Iswap) broke out over the weekend in the village of Dogon Chiku, which lies on the shores of Lake Chad, a restive area located at the junction of Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon.

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Syria carries out preemptive raids against Islamic State

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Security operations came as Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa arrived in Washington to meet Donald Trump

Syria has carried out nationwide preemptive operations targeting Islamic State cells, a spokesperson for the interior ministry said on Saturday, as the country’s president arrived in the US for talks with Donald Trump.

Syrian security forces carried out 61 raids, with 71 people arrested and explosives and weapons seized, the spokesperson told state-run Al Ekhbariya TV.

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Two Australian women and four children escape Syrian detention camp and flee to Victoria

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The six Australians received no government assistance in their 500km journey from the violent Al-Hawl detention camp to Lebanon

Two Australian women and four children have escaped a Syrian detention camp and made their own way home to Victoria, as pressure mounts on the Australian government to repatriate its citizens.

The two women and four children – the Guardian is not revealing their names or ages – escaped from the notorious al-Hawl detention camp in north-east Syria, travelling more than 500km to cross the Lebanese border, where they were able to obtain Australian documents in Beirut.

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Mass grave reveals scale of unlawful killings by Egyptian army in Sinai, say campaigners

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Human rights group says hundreds of skeletons found exposed or buried just below ground during research into killings of civilians

Hundreds of bodies could have been buried at a mass grave discovered in Egypt’s Sinai province by human rights campaigners.

Bodies lying on the surface and others buried barely 30cm below were found at a burial site near a military outpost by the Sinai Foundation for Human Rights.

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Teenager convicted over IS-inspired plot to attack Taylor Swift concert

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Mohammad A, 16, given 18-month suspended sentence for helping plan foiled attack in Vienna

A Berlin court has convicted a Syrian teenager of contributing to an Islamic State-inspired plot to attack a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna.

Three dates in the US pop star’s record-breaking Eras tour were cancelled last summer after authorities learned of the plot.

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Suspected gunmen go on trial in Moscow over concert hall terror attack

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Islamic State affiliate group have claimed responsibility, though Russian investigators have sought to blame Ukraine

Nineteen people, among them the four suspected gunmen, went on trial in Moscow on Monday over a concert hall attack that claimed 149 lives, one of the worst terrorist attacks in modern Russia.

Four armed men from the former Soviet republic of Tajikistan allegedly stormed the Crocus City Hall on the outskirts of Moscow on 22 March last year, opening fire and then setting the building alight, injuring hundreds of people.

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Ten dead in ‘brutal’ attacks by Isis-linked militants on Mozambique wildlife reserve

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Thousands have been displaced and conservation work halted as series of killings jeopardises decades of work in Niassa, one of Africa’s biggest protected areas

One of Africa’s largest protected areas has been shaken by a series of attacks by Islamic State-linked extremists, which have left at least 10 people dead.

Conservationists in Niassa reserve, Mozambique, say decades of work to rebuild populations of lions, elephants and other keystone species are being jeopardised, as conservation operations grind to a halt.

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Police cited ‘malfunctioning’ barrier in New Orleans attack but didn’t take up maker’s offer to inspect and repair

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Manufacturer says city has not taken up its offer to inspect – and, if necessary, repair – blockade at no cost

After the deadly truck ramming attack on New Orleans’s Bourbon Street early on New Year’s Day, local police said they had intentionally left down a hydraulic barrier meant to prevent such violence because it had a history of malfunctioning – prompting the blockade’s manufacturer to contact the city with an urgent offer of free inspection and maintenance, according to recently obtained emails.

“We would like to bring out a technician for no charge in order to inspect all the Delta Scientific barriers in New Orleans and ensure they are functional and offer any solutions for maintenance or repairs needed,” Dianne Kennedy, the company’s assistant to general counsel and manager of contracts, wrote to the office of the New Orleans mayor, LaToya Cantrell.

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