Spotlight on Global Jihad (September 8-14, 2022)

Main events of the past week

• This week there was a moderate decrease in ISIS’s activity around the globe. There were successful targeted killings in Turkey and Sinai.
• Turkey: A senior ISIS leader by the name of Bashar Khattab Ghazal al-Sumaidai was detained. He was initially identified as ISIS’s leader. Under interrogation, he admitted that he had held a senior position in ISIS. Several ISIS commanders who were planning an attack in Turkey were also detained.
• The Sinai Peninsula: Three senior operatives and a number of other operatives in ISIS’s Sinai Province were killed in a counterterrorism operation by the Egyptian army and the Sinai Tribal Union.
• Syria: ISIS continues to operate against the Kurdish SDF forces in the Deir ez-Zor-Al-Mayadeen region. There were clashes in the Al-Hawl camp in the Al-Hasakah region. In the desert area, ISIS operatives killed three fighters of the Fatemiyoun Brigade, an Afghan militia handled by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
• Iraq: A decrease in the scope of ISIS’s activity during the week.
• Afghanistan: Two IEDs were activated by ISIS against members of the Hazara Shiite minority in western Kabul. A total of 16 people were wounded.
• Africa: ISIS continued to attack Nigerian army forces in the northeastern Nigeria. Operatives of ISIS’s Mozambique Province continued to attack Christian civilians in the northeast of the country. In Mali, at least 30 civilians were killed by ISIS-affiliated operatives in the Mali-Burkina Faso-Niger tri-border area.
• Libya: The Libyan army killed ISIS’s leader in Libya.
• Propaganda: On September 13, 2022, ISIS’s Al-Furqan Media Foundation issued a recording of ISIS’s spokesman Abu Omar al-Muhajer calling on Muslims around the world to join ISIS. He calls on ISIS operatives to liberate prisoners from prisons around the world. The Al-Sahab Foundation, which belongs to Al-Qaeda’s leadership, issued a statement on behalf of the organization’s leadership commemorating the 9/11 attacks, praising the achievements of the attacks against the US and referring to future achievements of Al-Qaeda in Somalia and elsewhere.

Turkey

Senior ISIS leader detained^[1]

• On September 8, 2022, the Turkish authorities announced that a senior ISIS leader by the name of Bashar Khattab Ghazal al-Sumaidai, AKA Abu Zayd and Ustadh Zayd, had been detained. At first, they believed that they had arrested ISIS’s leader. However, his interrogation revealed that he had held a senior position in ISIS in the field of law and in “ISIS’s Ministry of Education and Justice” (Wizarat al-Tarbiya wal-’Adl). At the time of his arrest, Al-Sumaidai was carrying a forged identity card and his appearance was different from his actual appearance (Anatolia News Agency, September 8-9, 2022).
• Following Al-Sumaidai’s arrest, the question of the identity of ISIS’s current leader has arisen once again. The identity of the current leader, Abu al-Hassan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, is unknown but it is highly likely that he is Juma Awad al-Badri, the brother of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, ISIS’s founder and first leader.

Five ISIS commanders detained

• On September 7, 2022, the Turkish Interior Ministry announced the arrest of five ISIS commanders who had planned to carry out a terrorist attack in Turkey. On August 31, 2022, the Turkish security forces in the Gaziantep Province in southern Turkey captured ISIS’s official in charge of legal affairs, Ramu Muhammad al-Hamd, codenamed Rami Rimu, while he was planning to carry out an attack. Based on information revealed in his interrogation, four other ISIS commanders were detained in the Jarabulus region, in northern Syria and near the border with Turkey, while trying to infiltrate Turkey to carry out an attack. The four are the operative in charge of ISIS’s intelligence apparatus, Ibrahim al-Saleh, codenamed Abu Rasoul; the operative in charge of social media, Hussam Daoud, codenamed Abu Ayyub; the operative in charge of training, Ahmad al-Hilu, codenamed Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Shami; and Kami Aidan, codenamed Abu Rashid al-Imam. The Turkish security forces also detained six people who had collaborated with the above-mentioned operatives and assisted them. In addition, they found a Kalashnikov rifle and ammunition (Anatolia News Agency, September 7, 2022).

The Sinai Peninsula

ISIS activity

• This week, ISIS continued to operate in western and central Sinai against Egyptian security forces. Following are the main incidents:
  • On September 11, 2022, four Egyptian soldiers were killed in an exchange of fire with armed men, apparently ISIS operatives (Telegram, September 11, 2022).
  • According to another report, 11 ISIS operatives were killed in an exchange of fire with Egyptian soldiers and Sinai Tribal Union fighters in the same area (@mahmouedgamal44 Twitter account, September 12, 2022).

Counterterrorism activity

• Killing ISIS’s Sinai Province commander, his deputy, and the province’s “war minister:” On September 11, 2022, Egyptian army soldiers and Sinai Tribal Union fighters killed the commander (wali) of ISIS’s Sinai Province, Ahmad Suleiman Odeh, codenamed Al-Shaib; his deputy, Yunis Salim Salem al-Qaram, codenamed Abu Osama; and the operative in charge of the province’s military apparatus, Ahmad Munayzel Barakat, referred to as the “war minister”, in northern Sinai. It was reported that Odeh had been in charge of finance and logistics in ISIS’s Sinai Province before he took over ISIS’s leadership in Sinai after killing two of the organization’s senior operatives. Photos of the bodies of the three dead operatives were released by the Sinai Tribal Union (Sinai Tribal Union’s website, September 12, 2022; Al-Arabiya, September 12, 2022; Sinai Tribal Union’s Facebook page, September 12, 2022). This has been one of the most severe blows suffered by ISIS’s Sinai Province in the last few years.

The Syrian arena

Idlib region

• On September 8, 2022, Russian planes carrying out an airstrike in the rebel enclave in Idlib killed Sirajuddin Mukhtarov, an Uzbek commander in Katibat al-Tawhid wal-Jihad, one of the organizations comprising the Al-Qaeda-affiliated HTS. According to Russia, 20 other HTS commanders were also killed in the airstrikes (TASS Agency, September 9, 2022).

Deir ez-Zor-Al-Mayadeen region

• On September 11, 2022, at noon, ISIS operatives set up a roadblock on the Al-Khurafi road, between Al-Hasakah and Deir ez-Zor, and captured six SDF fighters near the village of Ruwaished, about 50 km northeast of Deir ez-Zor. The abductees were SDF fighters on their way back from the Al-Omar oilfield, about 15 km north of Al-Mayadeen, where they underwent military training. The six were led to an abandoned place, interrogated, and then shot to death. ISIS said this was “carried out as a preliminary response to the recent crimes of that militia (SDF) against women and children in the Al-Hawl camp” (Amaq, telegram, September 11, 2022).

• On September 11, 2022, SDF fighters were targeted by gunfire in the town of Jazra (maybe the town referred to in the report was Jazrat albuhamid), about 60 km northwest of Deir ez-Zor. One SDF fighter was killed and another was wounded (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, September 11, 2022).
• On September 6, 2022, an IED was activated against a Syrian army vehicle near the town of Muayziliya, about 45 km south of Al-Mayadeen. The passengers on board were killed or wounded, and the vehicle was destroyed (Telegram, September 7, 2022).

The desert region

• On September 11, 2022, ISIS operatives fired machine guns and (apparently RPG) rockets at a convoy of the Syrian army and the forces supporting it east of Hama. A fighter of the Al-Quds Brigade, a Palestinian militia supporting the Syrian regime, was killed and several other fighters were wounded (Al-Araby al-Jadeed, September 13, 2022).
• On the night of September 7-8, 2022, ISIS operatives attacked a convoy of the Fatemiyoun Brigade, an Afghan militia handled by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in the desert region east of Al-Sukhnah, about 60 km northeast of Palmyra. Three fighters were killed and others were wounded. Two vehicles carrying 14.5mm machine guns were put out of commission (Al-Araby al-Jadeed, September 8, 2022).
• Russian aircraft attacked ISIS terror hot spots in caves in the Rasafah Desert, about 40 km southwest of Al-Raqqah. No further details were provided (Al-Araby al-Jadeed, September 8, 2022).

Al-Raqqah region

• On September 7, 2022, a sticky bomb was activated against a vehicle of an SDF “agent” on the Karamah road, about 20 km east of Al-Raqqah. The vehicle was damaged (Telegram, September 7, 2022).

Al-Hasakah region

• On the night of September 7, 2022, there were exchanges of fire between a squad consisting of seven ISIS operatives (five men disguised as women and two women) and an SDF force in the Al-Hawl camp where family members of ISIS operatives are held, about 35 km east of Al-Hasakah. The seven operatives, who were trying to escape from the camp, did not heed the call to surrender and opened fire. One ISIS operative was killed and the six remaining ones, including two women, were detained. Two Kalashnikov rifles and an explosive belt were seized. Two SDF fighters who were wounded died of their wounds the following day (SDF Press, September 8, 2022).

The Iraqi arena

ISIS attacks by province^[2]

Diyala Province

• On September 8, 2022, an IED was activated against a Tribal Mobilization fighter in the village of Kabishat, in the Al-Hashemiyat region, west of Baqubah, about 35 km northeast of Baghdad. He was wounded (Telegram, September 9, 2022).

Kirkuk Province

• On September 5, 2022, an IED was activated against an Iraqi army vehicle near the village of Albu Shihab, south of Daquq, about 30 km south of Kirkuk. Three soldiers were wounded, and the vehicle was put out commission (Telegram, September 7, 2022).

Counterterrorism activity

Al-Anbar Province

• On September 10, 2022, the Iraqi Air Force attacked a vehicle carrying ISIS operatives in the desert region of the Al-Anbar Province (the exact location was not specified). Seven ISIS operatives were killed, including an ISIS commander (Khaliyat al-I’lam al-Amni Facebook page, September 10, 2022).

Summary of ISIS’s activity in the various provinces

• An infographic published by ISIS, summing up its activity around the world in the period between September 1 and September 7, 2022, indicates that the organization carried out 50 attacks in its various provinces around the globe (compared to 44 in the previous week). The largest number of attacks was carried out by ISIS’s Syria Province (14). Attacks carried out in the other provinces: Iraq (12); Mozambique (9); Central Africa (7); West Africa (6); and Khorasan, i.e., Afghanistan (2). A total of 150 people were killed or wounded in the attacks, compared to 93 in the previous week. The largest number of casualties was in the Central Africa Province (46). The other casualties were in the following provinces: Syria (31); Khorasan, i.e., Afghanistan (26); Mozambique (19); Iraq (18); and West Africa (10) (Al-Naba weekly, Telegram, September 8, 2022).
• The infographic indicates that there is a further increase in ISIS’s activity around the world. The organization’s activity in Syria, Central Africa, and Afghanistan was the most noteworthy.

ISIS attacks by week (according to ISIS data)

Africa

Nigeria

ISIS activity

• On September 10, 2022, a Nigerian police checkpoint was targeted by gunfire in the town of Geidam, about 200 km southwest of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State. A policeman was killed (Telegram, September 11, 2022).
• On September 9, 2022, a Nigerian army checkpoint was targeted by gunfire in the town of Banki, about 120 km southeast of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, in northeastern Nigeria. One soldier was killed and the rest fled. Ammunition and equipment were seized (Telegram, September 10, 2022).
• On September 9, 2022, a Nigerian army checkpoint was targeted by gunfire in the town of Gambaru, about 120 km north of Maiduguri, in Borno State, near the Nigeria-Cameroon border. Several soldiers were killed and the rest fled. Ammunition and equipment were seized (Telegram, September 11, 2022).
• On September 8, 2022, a Nigerian army camp was targeted by gunfire in Wajiroko, about 115 km southwest of Maiduguri, in Borno State. Several soldiers were killed or wounded (Telegram, September 10, 2022).
• On September 6, 2022, two Nigerian army “agents” were abducted and shot to death in the town of Karinwa, in Borno State, in northeastern Nigeria (Telegram, September 9, 2022).

• On September 5, 2022, a convoy of the Nigerian army and militias supporting it was targeted by gunfire on the road between the towns of Baga and Cross (also known as Cross Kauwa), about 135 km northeast of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State. Six soldiers were killed, three were taken prisoner, and the rest fled. Two trucks were set on fire (Telegram, September 8, 2022).

Counterterrorism activity

• During the past two weeks, Nigerian army ground and air forces killed 252 operatives of ISIS’s West African Province in operations on the outskirts of villages and towns in the states of Borno and Yobe, in northeastern Nigeria. In one of the operations, 52 operatives were killed, 14 were detained and three young women and their children who had been abducted were rescued, along with 19 other abductees in various areas. Weapons and ammunition were seized (PM News, September 8, 2022).

The Democratic Republic of the Congo

• On September 10, 2022, a Congolese army foot patrol was targeted by gunfire between the villages of Karahamba and Kabasiwa, near the city of Butembo in the province of North Kivu, in the northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Two soldiers were killed and another was wounded. Two assault rifles were seized (Telegram, September 11, 2022).
• On September 8, 2022, an attack was carried out on the Christian village of Mamudioma, on the road between Mbao and Kamango, in the Beni region in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Congolese soldiers fled and the staging zone was set on fire. A Christian civilian was killed and 20 buildings in the village were set on fire (Telegram, September 11, 2022).
• On September 6, 2022, an IED was activated against a Congolese Intelligence building in the town of Bolingira, near the city of Butembo in the province of North Kivu, in the northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Two officers were wounded (Telegram, September 7, 2022).

Mozambique

• Operatives of ISIS’s Mozambique Province continued their intensive attacks on Christian civilians in the northeast of the country. Following are the main incidents:
  • On September 11, 2022, an attack was carried out on the Christian village of Chibabid, in Cabo Delgado Province in the northeast of the country. ISIS operatives abducted and beheaded a Christian resident. They also set fire to the homes and property of the Christian residents (Telegram, September 12, 2022).
  • On September 11, 2022, the Christian village of Kolobola was attacked. The village is located in the Muidumbe region of Cabo Delgado Province, in the northeast of the country (about 95 km southeast of the Mozambique-Tanzania border). Four Christian civilians were beheaded and their homes were set on fire (Telegram, September 11, 2022).
  • On September 11, 2022, an attack was carried out on the Christian village of Chibabid, in Cabo Delgado Province in the northeast of the country. ISIS operatives abducted and beheaded a civilian. In addition, homes and property of the Christian residents were set on fire (Telegram, September 12, 2022).
  • On September 9, 2022, a Christian civilian was murdered on the road between the villages of Naguida and Nakoi, in the Macomia region, in the eastern Cabo Delgado Province in the northeast of the country (Telegram, September 10, 2022).
  • On September 9, 2022, the Christian village of Natatwelo was attacked. The village is located in the Memba region of Nampula Province, south of Cabo Delgado Province. A monk was killed and a church was set on fire (Telegram, September 10, 2022).
  • On September 8, 2022, the Christian village of Nahiko was attacked. The village is located in the Memba region of Nampula Province, south of Cabo Delgado Province. Four Christian civilians were killed. Over 120 homes and two churches were set on fire (Telegram, September 11, 2022).
  • On September 8, 2022, a Christian civilian was abducted and executed near the Rovuma River, in the Nangade region of Cabo Delgado Province (Telegram, September 10, 2022).
  • On September 6, 2022, the Christian village of Tshibin was attacked. The village is located in the Memba region of Nampula Province, south of Cabo Delgado Province. Four Christian civilians, including a nun, were murdered. In addition, a church, several buildings, two vehicles and property of a Christian mission operating in the area were set on fire (Telegram, September 7, 2022).

Libya

The killing of ISIS’s leader in Libya

• On September 7, 2022, the Libyan army announced that ISIS’s leader in Libya, Mahdi Dango, AKA Abu Barakat, had been killed and one of his escorts had been arrested in the Marzaq region in southwestern Libya, about 765 km south of Tripoli. According to the announcement, the special operations force of Major General Tareq Bin Zayd managed to kill Dango after prolonged surveillance and several attempts by him to hide.
• It should be noted that Dango was the most dangerous terrorist operative in Libya. He commanded ISIS operatives in the Libyan desert under the name the Desert Army (Jaysh al-Sahraa) ever since they lost their stronghold in the city of Sirte and fled from it in late 2016. In the intervening years, he planned several attacks and crimes in Libya, including the beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic migrant workers on the shores of Sirte on February 15, 2015.^[3] He also spent a certain period of time operating under the leadership of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in Mosul, before entering Libya. His killing is a serious blow to ISIS in Libya, especially in light of his extensive experience. It also deals a blow to the attempt by ISIS in Libya to establish itself in the south of the country in an attempt to renew ISIS’s activity and reorganize its ranks (Al-Arabiya, September 7, 2022).

Mali

• In several attacks carried out by ISIS-affiliated elements over the past few days, approximately 30 civilians were killed in the region of Gao, in the Mali-Burkina Faso-Niger tri-border area (Reuters, September 10, 2022; AFP, September 9, 2022). Additional sources reported at least 45 civilian fatalities (news band, September 10, 2022).

Somalia

• On September 10, 2022, an elite unit of the Somali army operated against the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Shabaab organization in the town of Mubarak, about 95 km southwest of Mogadishu. Al-Shabaab’s deputy commander in the town of Mubarak, codenamed Carab, and another official by the name of Aw Maaye, who was in charge of extorting the residents of this town, were both killed. In addition, Al-Shabaab’s commander in the town and dozens of operatives were wounded. Hostages held by the Al-Shabaab organization were released, but some of them were wounded (VOA, September 10, 2022).
• On September 6, 2022, an IED was activated at a bus station in Baraawe, a coastal city about 170 km southwest of Mogadishu. A Somali soldier was killed and nine others were wounded. So far, no organization has claimed responsibility for the attack, but it was apparently carried out by the Al-Shabaab Organization, judging by the characteristics of its previous attacks (All Africa, September 6, 2022).

Asia

Afghanistan

• On September 10, 2022, two IEDs concealed inside two bicycles were activated in a neighborhood of the Hazara Shiite minority in western Kabul. The first IED was activated near a crowded open market and the second at a bus stop. A total of 16 people were reportedly wounded (Khaama Press, September 11, 2022). ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, stating that three IEDs had been activated against the Hazara (“the polytheistic objectors”) in three different places in Kabul. According to ISIS, 15 members of the sect were killed or wounded (Telegram, September 11, 2022). It should be noted that members of the Hazara ethnic minority are a key target of attacks by ISIS operatives in Afghanistan.
• On September 6, 2022, a Taliban “agent” was abducted and executed in the city of Taloqan, the capital of Takhar Province, about 240 km north of Kabul (and about 55 km south of the Afghanistan-Tajikistan border. His motorcycle was seized (Telegram, September 7, 2022).

Lebanon

• According to a report by the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Mayadeen channel, the Lebanese security forces, acting on the basis of intelligence, detained eight ISIS operatives in the Qaraoun region, in the Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley, a Hezbollah stronghold. According to the channel, three of the detainees are terrorist operatives who planned to carry out an attack against the general staff of the Lebanese army and several other targets throughout the country. The other five detainees were recruited by ISIS in order to carry out attacks. Most of the detainees have Lebanese citizenship and one is an immigrant from South America (Al-Mayadeen, September 10, 2022). The level of reliability of the report is unknown, and this may be false information.

The battle for hearts and minds

• ISIS’s Al-Naba weekly devoted special space to ISIS’s attack on the Russian Embassy in Afghanistan, which was carried out in the previous week, on September 5, 2022. A total of 10 people were killed in the attack, including a Russian diplomat and a security guard, and at least 10 others were wounded. The author summed up the event in a feature article, an infographic, and an editorial, glorifying the attack and criticizing the rival organizations in the Salafist-jihadi arena, particularly the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.

• This week’s editorial in ISIS’s Al-Naba weekly, entitled “The Emirate of the Embassies,” severely criticizes the Taliban government in Afghanistan for condemning ISIS’s attack on the Russian Embassy in Kabul last week; for emphasizing the importance of foreign embassies in Afghanistan; and for enabling foreign embassies of “infidel” countries like Russia, which are fighting the Muslims, to operate on the soil of Afghanistan. According to the author, the Russian Embassy in Afghanistan is working to strengthen Russia’s influence inside and outside the Afghan space, like the Western (“Crusader”) embassies in Muslim countries. Not only do these embassies not help the Muslims, they also serve as dens for conspiracies and intrigues against them. Therefore, the author considers the incident as a legitimate terrorist attack intended as an act of revenge for Russia’s actions against the Muslims. In addition, the article criticizes the jihadi organizations that compete with ISIS, especially Al-Qaeda, which create distinctions between the near enemy (local Muslim regimes), the distant enemy (non-Muslim regimes) and against the “infidels” in general, and distinguish between the enemies of Islam, for which there is an Islamic consensus, and those for which there is no consensus. The article stresses that ISIS is the only one loyal to the true jihad and that the Muslim clerics who act on behalf of the “tyrannical rulers” in Islamic countries and the Salafist-jihadi leaders who claim that this is an illegitimate attack are wrong and misleading (Al-Naba weekly, Telegram, September 8, 2022) .

ISIS spokesman calls on Muslims around the world to join its ranks

• On September 13, 2022, ISIS’s Al-Furqan Media Foundation released a recording by ISIS’s spokesman Abu Omar al-Muhajer entitled “Gather around the rope of Allah and do not be divided.” In the 36-minute recording, the spokesman calls on ISIS operatives to liberate ISIS’s prisoners from prisons around the world. He also calls on Muslims and non-Muslims around the world – especially in Syria, Iraq, Africa, Yemen and East Asia – to join the ranks of ISIS (Telegram, September 13, 2022). He stresses that ISIS has marked the prisons where its operatives are detained as key targets for attack, until all the organization’s prisoners are liberated.
• The spokesman claims that in today’s reality, where the “infidel world” is divided between a Western-imperialist bloc and an Eastern-communist bloc and the two blocs are fighting each other for global control, the Muslims must unite around ISIS. He calls on Muslims around the world, saying that their “tyrants” would not help them, and calling on them to join the camp of Islam under ISIS, so that it will serve as a shield and a fortress for all Muslims in these circumstances. According to him, one of the reasons why Muslims should unite is the hostility of the Jews, Christians and others towards Muslims throughout history. He threatens that “soon, with the help of Allah, the blood of the Crusaders, Zoroastrians, Shiites and other infidels will be shed all over the world.”
• The speaker calls on the Muslims in Africa to attack the Christians and the foreign elements that are on the continent and are exploiting it. He adds that the revenge (i.e.: the massacring) of the Christian residents of Africa will continue and intensify, because of the Christians’ hostility towards the Muslims and their assistance to the Global Coalition that has killed many ISIS operatives. The spokesman severely criticizes the Sunni rebel organizations in Syria, Al-Qaeda, and the Taliban. He also criticizes the tribes in Sinai which cooperate with the Egyptian army and, according to him, serve Israel. He calls on them to change their minds before it is too late for them. He also harshly criticizes Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, calling them converts to Shiite Islam, those who abandoned Islam (murtaddin), and liars who do not operate on behalf of Islam, but rather for their own narrow interests.
• At the end of the recording, he calls on people around the world, wherever they may be, to join the ranks of ISIS (in other words, to convert to Islam and join the organization).

Al-Qaeda marking the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks^[4]

• Al-Sahab Foundation, which is affiliated with the Al-Qaeda leadership, published an announcement expressing joy for the attacks and stressing their impact on the United States and its status worldwide and the hope that it will soon be defeated in Somalia and elsewhere.

• At the same time, as in previous years, radical Islamic elements, mainly those affiliated with Al-Qaeda, commemorated the date on social media by expressing threats against the West and joy for the terror attacks (Telegram, September 11, 2022).

Ayman al-Zawahiri’s last audiotape released

• Al-Sahab Media Foundation, which is affiliated with Al-Qaeda’s leadership, released an audiotape, apparently the last one, by Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri, speaking before he was killed in Kabul. The speech was dedicated to the importance of Islamic education and Islamic information/propaganda as the main factor in the protection against adverse effects of foreign ideologies. The audiotape did not include any reference to Al-Zawahiri’s death (Telegram, September 12, 2022).

^[1] For further details, see the ITIC’s Information Bulletin from September 11, 2022, “Senior ISIS leader Bashar al-Sumaidai detained in Turkey” ↑
^[2] According to ISIS claims of responsibility and the Iraqi media ↑
^[3] For further information, see the ITIC’s publication from February 18, 2015, Spotlight on Global Jihad (February 12-18, 2015). ↑
^[4] For further details, see the ITIC’s Information Bulletin from September 14, 2022, “Comments by Al-Qaeda and its supporters marking the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks” ↑

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