the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Category: islamic Jihad
NJ office of Homeland Security : London Attack Highlights Threat From “Low-Tech” Weapons
Ridgewood NJ, according to the NJ office of Homeland Security the terrorist attack in London on June 3 highlights the continuing threat from “low-tech,” unsophisticated weapons such as vehicles and knives. Although there are no specific threats to New Jersey, these types of attacks require little preparation and could be conducted with little or no warning. Last week’s attack in London follows vehicle rammings at Westminster Bridge in London in May; in Stockholm, Sweden, in April; at a Christmas market in Berlin in December; on the campus of Ohio State University in November; and at a Bastille Day celebration in Nice, France, last July. ISIS and al-Qa’ida have encouraged their followers to attack where they are, with whatever weapons they can acquire. Last week, a pro-ISIS message encouraged its readers to kill civilians, with a caption reading, “Run them over by vehicles,” and showing an image with a truck, a knife, and a handgun (see photo).
The scenario for the attack on London Bridge and at Borough Market was similar to those of the attacks at Westminster Bridge and Ohio State University. In each case, the attackers drove a vehicle into pedestrians, then got out of the vehicle and began stabbing people. These multi-phase attacks extend the incident, thus increasing the number of casualties and amplifying the terror effect.
Homeland Security : Manchester Attack Calls Attention to Security Concerns at New Jersey Events
May 31,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, from the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security ,the bombing at an arena in Manchester, England, after an Ariana Grande concert on May 22 illustrates the need for security measures and vigilance by the public at the conclusion of a major event. Often at a concert or a sporting event, security measures such as checkpoints and bag checks are in place at the beginning, when ticketholders are entering the venue. After the event, however, there are fewer security measures, and since the event is over, security personnel and the general public may have a tendency to let down their guard. At the arena in Manchester, the attacker was able to inflict multiple casualties by detonating his explosives as spectators were exiting the arena, taking advantage of the fact that there are typically larger concentrations of people in confined spaces as spectators are leaving an event than when they are arriving (photo shows a crowd exiting on a stairway in Manchester).
The attacker was also able to avoid detection by security personnel by detonating his explosives outside the arena, rather than attempting to smuggle them in through a checkpoint. The explosion occurred on a walkway connecting the arena to the Victoria train station. Extending the security perimeter, by measures such as placing bollards to impede vehicles and adding surveillance cameras looking outward from the venue, could potentially reduce the threat. However, as at airports, no matter how far outward security measures are pushed, eventually there comes a point where security stops—and that seam becomes a vulnerability. Accordingly, an attack such as the one in Manchester could potentially occur in the United States, including New Jersey.
NJ Department of Home land Security ,ISIS: Call for Ramadan Attacks
in anti terror circles it’s euphemistically called the ,”Ramadan bomb-a-thon “
May 26, 2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, State of New Jersey Department of Homeland Security issues a Ramadan warning and repeat there are no known or credible threats to New Jersey in relation to ISIS at this time.
On May 25, ISIS released a video calling on supporters to conduct assaults and justified the killing of innocents during Ramadan, the most sacred month in Islam, which runs from May 27 to June 24. Historically, ISIS and its predecessor groups have called for an offensive campaign during this month.
The recent message encourages targeting civilians in the West, claiming that their deaths would serve as retribution for casualties in Muslim-majority countries. In 2015 and 2016, the group’s now-deceased spokesman, Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, urged followers to escalate attacks during Ramadan, encouraging those unable to travel to Iraq and Syria to conduct operations in the West—“The smallest action you do in the heart of their land is dearer to us than the largest action by us.”
Since 2006, ISIS and its predecessor group, al-Qa’ida in Iraq, have engaged in Ramadan campaigns, marked by complex coordinated operations in multiple countries throughout the month. In 2016, the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando and a bombing in Baghdad, killing 49 and 323 respectively, occurred during Ramadan. In 2015, attacks conducted within hours of each other targeted tourists at a Tunisian beach resort, killing 38, and worshipers at a Shia mosque in Kuwait, resulting in 27 fatalities.
During Ramadan, Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset and engage in increased religious observance. Traditionally, Muslims gather at mosques for evening feasts, known as Iftar, and nightly prayers. The month concludes with a three-day holiday, Eid al-Fitr, during which prayers and celebrations will be held at mosques, high schools, and parks throughout New Jersey.
There are no known or credible threats to New Jersey in relation to ISIS’s statement.NJOHSP encourages residents to report suspicious activity to local law enforcement and by calling 1-866-4-SAFE-NJ or by emailing tips@njohsp.gov.
Meet the American women who are flocking to join ISIS
By Paul Sperry
May 13, 2017 | 9:34pm | Updated
ISIS is recruiting an army of AK-47-brandishing women from the West who are just as bloodthirsty as the men they are marrying. Calling themselves “lionesses of Allah,” they are thought to now number more than 600, and they’re bearing the next generation of terrorists, whom they call “cubs of the caliphate.”
Many of these women are true believers who trust that even with horrific gore and bloodshed, they are helping carry out the holy work of Allah in restoring the ancient Islamic caliphate, and that once it’s reestablished, all believers will live in peace and harmony under Islamic rule.
Some of these ISIS brides living in Syria and Iraq have made the terrorist watchlist. Arguably the most dangerous is Sally Jones, 49, a British Muslim convert who goes by the nom de guerre Umm Hussain al-Britani. She is reportedly now on a British special-forces “kill list” after threatening Queen Elizabeth II.
https://nypost.com/2017/05/13/meet-the-western-women-who-are-flocking-to-join-isis/
New Jersey Man Plans 95th Terror Plot in US Since 9/11
May 09, 2017
Riley Walters
While the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, is on the retreat in some parts of the Middle East, its reach in the Western world remains a serious threat.
A recent arrest in New Jersey shows just how vigilant the U.S. must remain.
Gregory Lepsky was arrested on Feb. 21 for attempting to provide material support to a known terrorist organization. He intended to build and detonate a pressure cooker bomb at an undetermined location in the Manhattan area of New York City.
This is the 95th Islamist-inspired terror plot or attack within the U.S. since 2001, and the second confirmed plot of 2017.
A 20-year-old native of New Jersey, Lepsky was initially arrested after a family member reported he was threating to kill the family dog. Lepsky was taken into custody at the family residence, after which he threatened to kill his mother who was not present.
During a lawful search of Lepsky’s room, local police discovered a bubble-wrapped pressure cooker and a book titled “Martyrdom in Jihad Versus Suicide Bombing.” Police also found the family dog—wounded, but alive.
Over the next several days, Lepsky confessed to police that he was working for ISIS, that he had communicated with ISIS through Facebook, and that he had planned to detonate a pressure cooker bomb at an area of mass gathering in New York City.
Through Facebook, Lapsky noted his aspiration to die as a martyr after converting to Islam. He also noted his affinity for ISIS through a number of direct text and Facebook messages.
During an investigation of Lepsky’s phone and internet search history, the FBI found approximately 3,340 internet searches for material relating to ISIS, terrorist attacks, beheadings, and bomb-making material between Jan. 14 and Feb. 4.
Lepsky’s terror plot is part of an ongoing trend of ISIS-inspired domestic terrorism. His is the 84th such plot or attack on U.S. soil that has had a homegrown element. Indeed, ISIS remains the most significant inspirer of Islamist-inspired domestic terror, and was behind many of the 29 other plots or attacks seen in 2015 and 2016.
While ISIS is losing ground in the Middle East, it remains a powerful and insidious force in the area of homegrown terror. The U.S. must remain vigilant in the face of extremists who seek to undermine free, prosperous societies such as our own.
Inside a young Jersey Shore man’s alleged path to ISIS
By Alex Napoliello | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on May 07, 2017 at 2:08 PM, updated May 07, 2017 at 3:26 PM
POINT PLEASANT — The web searches relating to ISIS propaganda allegedly came in rapid fire.
“Where to buy black jihad flag,” “france terrorist attack,” “isis propaganda video.”
At least two dozen of these types of internet searches were among the thousands officials say Gregory Lepsky, 20, who is accused of plotting to build a pressure-cooker bomb in support of ISIS and detonate it in New York City, made in a one-month period earlier this year.
Those searches, along with other internet communications, reveal a disturbing path of how an alleged home-grown would-be terrorist from New Jersey may have become radicalized with the click of a mouse.
FBI: NEW JERSEY MAN WANTED TO BLOW UP PRESSURE COOKER BOMB IN NEW YORK CITY
Eyewitness News
Friday, May 05, 2017 11:38PM
Gregory Lepsky, 20, of Point Pleasant, was arrested on February 21 and is charged with one count of attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization.
According to the criminal complaint, Lepsky was taken into custody after he threatened to kill the family dog. The dog was found with a large slash to its back, but was still alive. Lepsky reportedly stabbed the dog because, in his view of Islam, the dog was “dirty.”
Following the arrest, officers searched the residence and reportedly found a new pressure cooker stored behind a roll of bubble wrap in his bedroom closet.
https://abc7ny.com/news/fbi-man-wanted-to-blow-up-pressure-cooker-bomb-in-nyc/1957612/
NJ Homeland Security issues terror preparedness warning for malls and shopping centers
April 14, 2017
Ridgewood NJ, After foreign terrorist calls to attack shopping malls in the West, which has been circulating in propaganda since 2015, the Limbecker Platz mall in the western German city of Essen closed on March 11. Two men were arrested after German police received a tip that ISIS contacted followers in Germany to attack the mall—the second terror plot against malls in the country since December 2016.
In December 2016, German police arrested two Kosovar brothers allegedly plotting to attack CentrO mall in Oberhausen, the largest mall in Europe. The brothers were later released due to a lack of evidence.
In September 2016, Dahir Adan attacked and wounded 20 people with a knife at the Crossroads Center shopping mall in St. Cloud, Minnesota. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack.
While there are no specific or credible threats to New Jersey, NJOHSP encourages mall owners and operators to consider the following risk mitigation measures:
Increase presence of security personnel to deter and prevent an attack. Visible uniformed security personnel at public entrances and on patrol throughout the facility can deter attacks, while non-uniformed security personnel can monitor mall staff and customers for suspicious behavior.
Control non-public access points and restricted areas. Mall owners should regulate access to non-public entrances via secure locking mechanisms, and they should use video surveillance to monitor all entrances and restricted areas for suspicious behavior and unauthorized access.
Train mall employees and security personnel on active shooter response. All full- and part-time employees should receive active shooter training during new-hire orientation. Active shooter response plans should be exercised with staff and security personnel quarterly.
Educate mall staff and customers on how to detect and report suspicious activity. Mall owners should develop an awareness campaign focused on indicators of suspicious behavior and terrorist surveillance. Information should include See Something, Say Something materials for display throughout facilities.
An Alleged Muslim Spy Ring – Is This Why Rex Tillerson Cleaned House?
by Tyler Durden
Feb 12, 2017 11:50 AM
Submitted by Duan via Free Market Shooter blog,
Shortly after Trump took office, and before Rex Tillerson was even confirmed as Secretary of State, a slew of State Department officials were removed from their positions (or were forced to resign) as part of an effort to “clean house” at the State Department. The whole affair was haphazardly covered by the media, especially by Jeff Bezos’s blog, which insinuated that the departures were “an ongoing mass exodus of senior Foreign Service officers who don’t want to stick around for the Trump era.”
Further analysis revealed that the officials were actually removed from their positions shortly after Tillerson visited the State Department office in Foggy Bottom prior to his confirmation:
“Any implication that that these four people quit is wrong,” one senior State Department official said. “These people are loyal to the secretary, the President and to the State Department. There is just not any attempt here to dis the President. People are not quitting and running away in disgust. This is the White House cleaning house.”
And, just a few weeks after the fact, it appears we know why Tillerson was so quick to purge existing staffers: he just didn’t trust them. It also appears his mistrust was more than justified.
On January 29th, United States Special Forces executed an operation inside Yemen, against al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), with the aim of gathering intelligence and killing leaders of the group. The raid was planned under the Obama administration, but the decision to execute the raid was “punted” to Trump, using the pretext of waiting for a “low loom” (moonless) night to execute the raid with maximum secrecy:
While the operation had been proposed, it was never green-lighted. Kahl said Obama felt going the mission would mark a “significant escalation” in Yemen and should be left to the next administration to decide.
“Obama … believed this represented a significant escalation of U.S. involvement in Yemen, and therefore … thought the next administration should take a careful look and run a careful process,” he told the WSJ.
In addition, defense officials expected the Trump administration to be more willing to approve dangerous missions, something that was almost certainly known by any remaining personnel who stayed on after Obama left office:
While seemingly indicative of a more aggressive stance by Trump, one official described the raid and new proposal as an outgrowth of earlier Obama-era operations that have pushed al-Qaida militants from their sanctuaries into areas and provided more opportunities for U.S. strikes.
“We expect an easier approval cycle [for operations] under this administration,” another defense official said.
Though the Trump administration attempted to push the raid as a success, at very best, the mission was anything but, resulting in the death of Navy SEAL William “Ryan” Owens, as well as injuries to three other servicemen. While the commandos did everything necessary to maintain the element of surprise, it appears as though AQAP adversaries on the ground had advance warning of the attack:
“Initial reports are always wrong, but it doesn’t appear to be a failure of planning or intelligence,” said the former special forces officer.
Almost immediately, the raiding force on the ground took intense fire, according to the briefing paper and a senior military official. Occupants of the targeted house and its compound, along with their guard force, moved to a separate cluster of houses nearby where families, including women and children, were staying. Armed women fired on the U.S. and Emirati forces.
“There were a lot of female combatants who were part of this,” said Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman, on Monday. “We saw during this operation, as it was taking place, that female fighters ran to pre-established positions — as though they had trained to be ready, and trained to be combatants — and engaged with us.”
While most know about the Yemen raid, most do not know about the dismissal of the three Aman brothers, Abid, Imran, and Jamal Awan. On February 2nd, they were abruptly removed from their positions of managing information technology for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Though they were initially suspected merely of stealing equipment, a connection with the previously-hacked computers of Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) revealed something far more sinister:
Three members of the intelligence panel and five members of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs were among the dozens of members who employed the suspects on a shared basis. The two committees deal with many of the nation’s most sensitive issues and documents, including those related to the war on terrorism.
As Mad World News reported, the Aman brothers were hired by the Obama administration, and access to top secret information regarding military operations. The committees they allegedly worked for had access to “the most sensitive and secretive government intelligence, including covert anti-terrorism activity… including the Yemen operation”:
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-02-11/alleged-muslim-spy-ring-why-rex-tillerson-cleaned-house
Study Reveals 72 Terrorists Came From Countries Covered by Trump Vetting Order
By Jessica Vaughan, February 11, 2017
A review of information compiled by a Senate committee in 2016 reveals that 72 individuals from the seven countries covered in President Trump’s vetting executive order have been convicted in terror cases since the 9/11 attacks. These facts stand in stark contrast to the assertions by the Ninth Circuit judges who have blocked the president’s order on the basis that there is no evidence showing a risk to the United States in allowing aliens from these seven terror-associated countries to come in.
In June 2016 the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest, then chaired by new Attorney General Jeff Sessions, released a report on individuals convicted in terror cases since 9/11. Using open sources (because the Obama administration refused to provide government records), the report found that 380 out of 580 people convicted in terror cases since 9/11 were foreign-born. The report is no longer available on the Senate website, but a summary published by Fox News is available here.
The Center has obtained a copy of the information compiled by the subcommittee. The information compiled includes names of offenders, dates of conviction, terror group affiliation, federal criminal charges, sentence imposed, state of residence, and immigration history.
The Center has extracted information on 72 individuals named in the Senate report whose country of origin is one of the seven terror-associated countries included in the vetting executive order: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. The Senate researchers were not able to obtain complete information on each convicted terrorist, so it is possible that more of the convicted terrorists are from these countries.
The United States has admitted terrorists from all of the seven dangerous countries:
Somalia: 20
Yemen: 19
Iraq: 19
Syria: 7
Iran: 4
Libya: 2
Sudan: 1
Total: 72
According to the report, at least 17 individuals entered as refugees from these terror-prone countries. Three came in on student visas and one arrived on a diplomatic visa.
At least 25 of these immigrants eventually became citizens. Ten were lawful permanent residents, and four were illegal aliens.
These immigrant terrorists lived in at least 16 different states, with the largest number from the terror-associated countries living in New York (10), Minnesota (8), California (8), and Michigan (6). Ironically, Minnesota was one of the states suing to block Trump’s order to pause entries from the terror-associated countries, claiming it harmed the state. At least two of the terrorists were living in Washington, which joined with Minnesota in the lawsuit to block the order.
Thirty-three of the 72 individuals from the seven terror-associated countries were convicted of very serious terror-related crimes, and were sentenced to at least three years imprisonment. The crimes included use of a weapon of mass destruction, conspiracy to commit a terror act, material support of a terrorist or terror group, international money laundering conspiracy, possession of explosives or missiles, and unlawful possession of a machine gun.
Some opponents of the travel suspension have tried to claim that the Senate report was flawed because it included individuals who were not necessarily terrorists because they were convicted of crimes such as identity fraud and false statements. About a dozen individuals in the group from the seven terror-associated countries are in this category. Some are individuals who were arrested and convicted in the months following 9/11 for involvement in a fraudulent hazardous materials and commercial driver’s license scheme that was extremely worrisome to law enforcement and counter-terrorism agencies, although a direct link to the 9/11 plot was never claimed.
The information in this report was compiled by Senate staff from open sources, and certainly could have been found by the judges if they or their clerks had looked for it. Another example that should have come to mind is that of Abdul Razak Ali Artan, who attacked and wounded 11 people on the campus of Ohio State University in November 2016. Artan was a Somalian who arrived in 2007 as a refugee.
President Trump’s vetting order is clearly legal under the provisions of section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which says that the president can suspend the entry of any alien or group of aliens if he finds it to be detrimental to the national interest. He should not have to provide any more justification than was already presented in the order, but if judges demand more reasons, here are 72.
https://cis.org/vaughan/study-reveals-72-terrorists-came-countries-covered-trump-vetting-order
TERROR AT THE TERMINAL
Fort Lauderdale Airport shooting suspect ‘had walked into FBI office claiming he was being forced to fight for ISIS’
Broward County’s Sheriff office confirmed the tragic news on Twitter and said one suspect is in custody
LATEST
BY ELLIE FLYNN
6th January 2017, 6:11 pm
He told officials he was hearing voices in his head, some of which were telling him to join ISIS and watch their videos, and was taken to hospital for a mental health evaluation.
Santiago, who also told the FBI the government controlled his mind, gunned down 13 people at Fort Lauderdale airport today, killing five and injuring eight.
The suspect’s aunt Maria Ruiz Rivera claimed the alleged shooter “lost his mind” while fighting in Iraq.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2554152/fort-lauderdale-airport-shooting-florida-latest-updates/
Several ISIS Arrests Near D.C. – Suspects Include US Soldiers & Police Officer
BY STAFFWRITER9 · PUBLISHED DECEMBER 27, 2016
On Monday, The Washington Times reported on a government issued message to police in Northern Virginia that informed the local officers of nine individuals that had been arrested on charges of aiding ISIS since 2014. The report, issued by the Northern Virginia Regional Intelligence Center on December 21, was labeled “law enforcement sensitive” and issued profiles of the nine residents in order to help state and federal agents recognize trends in ISIS’ recruitment of individuals. This specific report detailed Muslims located near D.C. that were intent on becoming mass killers in the name of jihad.
According to the report, all but one of the Northern Virginia residents were in their teens or early 20’s. Among the nine individuals arrested on suspicion of conducting terrorism planning through social media applications were well educated students, a police officer, Army soldiers, and bankers.
The Washington Times obtained the intelligence report detailing the nine individuals.
One man by the name of Ali Shukir Amin pleaded guilty to providing support to the Islamic State and was sentenced to 136 months in prison. Amin ran a pro-ISIS blog and tweeted instructions to ISIS supporters about how to hide money transfers using bitcoin and how to travel to Syria.
A woman by the name of Heather Coffman was sentenced to 54 months in prison after pleading guilty to making a false statement about her involvement in international terrorism. Discharged from the Army after only four months, Coffman worked in sales while she ran Facebook pages promoting ISIS.
Mohammad Bilor Jalloh served as a combat engineer in the Virginia National Guard before pleading guilty to conspiring to help the Islamic State in October. Jalloh allegedly tried to buy firearms with the intention of carrying out a “Fort Hood-style” massacre.
Mohammad Jamal Khaweis, who worked at multiple banks and hotels, was arrested in Turkey for conspiring to aid the Islamic State. He traveled to Syria in 2015 with the intention of becoming a foreign fighter, before changing his mind and escaping.
The oldest of the nine arrested, 36-year-old Nicholas Young, was working s a Metro Police officer before his arrest. Authorities report that he went to Libya to inform ISIS supporters of methods to use to avoid being detected by law enforcement.
ISIS Puts Out Holiday Attack List Of U.S. Churches
The terror group threatened “bloody celebrations in the Christian New Year”
By Gilad Shiloach
Dec 22, 2016 at 4:19 AM ET
The Islamic State published the names and addresses of thousands of churches in the United States and called on its adherents to attack them during the holiday season, according to a message posted late-night Wednesday in the group’s “Secrets of Jihadis” social media group.
A user going by the name of “Abu Marya al-Iraqi” posted an Arabic-language message calling “for bloody celebrations in the Christian New Year” and announced the group’s plans to utilize its network of lone wolf attackers to “turn the Christian New Year into a bloody horror movie.”
The series of messages appeared in a pro-ISIS group on Telegram, which also provides manuals for the use and preparations of weapons and explosives for aspiring assailants. The information, distributed in a number of posts, was all previously available online and includes a public directory of churches across all 50 states. (Vocativ does not publish specific information found in lists like these.)
In another group post, a member summoned “the sons of Islam” to target “churches, well-known hotels, crowded coffee shops, streets, markets and public places,” and shared a list of addresses in the United States, as well as in Canada, France and the Netherlands.
ISIS claimed responsibility for this week’s Christmas market attack in Berlin that killed 12 and injured 48. The group said that the assailant was a “soldier of the Islamic State,” who followed organizational orders “to target coalition countries.” The suspect was identified as Anis Amri, a Tunisian man in his 20s who reportedly had Salafi and jihadi connections in Tunisia and Germany. He is still the object of a massive manhunt in Germany.
The Islamic State has published such lists before — in June, Vocativ reported on a “kill list” that included more than 8,000 names and addresses, including that of police officers in the United States. The June list resulted in no known attacks.
https://www.vocativ.com/386579/isis-lists-u-s-churches-to-attack-during-the-holidays/
Prominent N.J. Muslim leader to face deportation again, report says
on December 03, 2016 at 12:24 PM
PATERSON — A prominent Muslim cleric will once again face deportation charges, eight years after the U.S. government tried to expel him over alleged terrorist ties, according to a report.
Imam Mohammad Qatanani, leader of the Islamic Center of Passaic County, told members of his mosque Friday that he will return to court next week, NorthJersey.com reported.
Christie: Hamas-Linked Mosque “Not Radical Jihadists”
Posted on February 5, 2016
Clarion Project, by Ryan Mauro, Feb. 4, 2016:
GOP presidential candidate New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is still praising a Hamas-linked mosque in his state, saying, “The folks in the local mosque in Paterson, the ones I interact with, they are not radical Islamic jihadists.” He is referring to the Islamic Center of Passaic County—and he’s praised its imam for years even though the Department of Homeland Security is seeking his deportation for his links to Hamas.
You can read our profile of the mosque and its leadership, including Imam Mohammad Qatanani, here.
He was arrested and convicted by Israel for his links to Hamas and then went to NJ to help lead a mosque founded and led by Mohammed El-Mezain, a Hamas operative sentenced to 15 years in prison for financing the terrorist group. El-Mezain was also the chairman of the Holy Land Foundation, which was shut down for being a Muslim Brothehood/Hamas front.