The Federal Security Service (FSB) announced the elimination of a clandestine cell of terrorist group Islamic State (IS), composed of seven people, in the outskirts of this capital.

During the FSB operation, ammunition, firearms, extremist literature and electronic media were confiscated, Moscow television said.

Among the members of the cell created in 2016,, there are Russian citizens from the Russian Caucasian region and Central Asia, and their task was to recruit personnel for the IS.

The principal mission of the IS is to forcibly unify all Muslims to create a World Islamic Caliphate.

On 25th April the FSB arrested an IS member in the city of Nalchik, in the Russian republic of Kabardina-Balkaria.

Russian authorities found in the house of the suspect elements of a homemade bomb with which he intended to carry out an attack of great resonance, there was also literature of extremist trend and other evidence of his implication in the preparation of an attack.

On the 13th, the Public Prosecutor’s Office announced the investigation of the case of an IS cell, eliminated after offering resistance to the security forces, in the Tyumen region.

Witnesses said that when the anti-terrorist action was carried out, authorities suspended water and power services, as well as evacuated the neighbours of the Kalin district, where the radicals were located.

In the house, bought last March and where the terrorist cell was located, were found two homemade bombs and components for it, two Kalashnikov automatic rifles and religious literature, said the capital’s television.

The capital’s anti-violent extremism co-ordinator, Christina Kiernan, made the claim that jihadists who had come back from Syria and Iraq were now living “orderly lives” following public anger over the government’s decision not to strip people who fought for radical Islamic terror groups of their Swedish passports, like reported by breitbart.com.

“The IS returnees we have talked to so far have no known current crime, they have a job and an orderly life to the extent that we do not have knowledge of activities that can in any way scare anyone,” she insisted during an appearance on TV4 this week.

“So they are returning from this type of business and becoming caring, well-behaved citizens?” After Five presenter Tilde de Paula asked the Stockholm official to confirm.

“That is the experience of the people we have talked to,” Kiernan said, before admitting that “so far [this number] is only a few”.

Around half of the 300 militants the Swedish Security Service (Säpo) estimates left the Scandinavian country to fight in the Middle East are believed to have travelled back to Sweden, however a survey conducted in December revealed that local authorities had lost track of most of the returnees.

Commenting on the news, terrorism expert Magnus Ranstorp said the research highlighted the “deep culture of silence” in heavily migrant-populated areas of Sweden, with many residents unwilling to speak to police or other officials over issues regarding Islamism and returning jihadists.

As previously reported by Breitbart London, Ranstorp urged authorities to keep a closer track of returnees, warning that — with a “totally different threshold of violence” compared to the population at large and deadly skills acquired while fighting for the terror state — the government should do more to prosecute these potentially “extremely dangerous” individuals.

Stockholm city council’s suggestion that ISIS members have returned to live in Sweden as law-abiding citizens from whom the country has nothing to fear was also contradicted somewhat by an investigation by public broadcaster SVT last month, which found that one in three returned jihadists have committed serious crimes since travelling back from the Middle East.

The Federal Security Service (FSB) reported the arrest of five members of a clandestine cell of the terrorist movement Islamic State (IS), following operations in Majashkala and Grozny.

During the actions of the FSB and the Ministry of Interior in the capitals of the Russian republics of Dagestan and Chechnya, it became known that those arrested were preparing to carry out attacks in the cities of Kaspisky and Grozny.

In addition, five anti-personnel grenades, two magazines for a Kalashnikov automatic rifle, 80 rounds of ammunition of different caliber, three commando knives and recordings of suicide speeches were seized from the detainees’ homes, FSB said.

Recently, Russian security also reported on the elimination of another terrorist cell in the Russian region of Tyumen.

Previously, the Russian National Anti-Terrorist Committee (NAK) reported that in the last nine years, security forces managed to reduce terrorism-related crimes by 100 times.

The NAK reported at the time that it coordinates with the Ministry of the Interior, Justice, Education, Health and Communications to identify the formation of a terrorist group from its first steps.

In addition, emphasis is now being placed on prophylactic activity to avoid influencing the social networks of international recruiters, who work actively on the Internet.

Multidisciplinary groups can help, for example, to identify young people with violent behaviour or suicidal tendencies, many of whom fall or are at risk of falling under the influence of extremist formations.

The French Council of State has rejected appeals by families of people who had gone to Syria to join the Islamic State armed group, to allow their relatives to come home. France has said there would be no communal repatriation from Syria, and that the decision to allow children and relatives of jihadist fighters to return would be decided on a case by case basis, like reported by rfi.fr.

The Council of State, which acts as legal adviser to the French government and top arbiter of administrative cases, ruled Tuesday on four cases, three involving French women linked to the Islamic State who are currently being held, with their eight children, in a camp in Syria, and another filed by an uncle trying to have two young children repatriated from another Syrian camp under Kurdish control.

After looking at the requests on appeal, the Council said it did not have jurisdiction to decide the matter. It said allowing the women and children to return to France would require “negotiations with foreign authorities or an intervention on foreign soil,” which was beyond its remit.

Hundreds of children

Up to 1,700 French nationals are thought to have travelled to Iraq and Syria to fight with the IS jihadists between 2014 and 2018, according to government figures. Around 300 are believed to have died in combat.

Hundreds of French and other foreign fighters and their families are being held in camps by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which led the final push against IS in Syria. According to the UN children’s agency UNICEF, around 3,000 foreign children from 43 countries are being kept at the Al-Hol camp in Syria alone, which has taken in most of the people fleeing the defeat and collapse of the Islamic State.

Kurdish officials have warned they do not have the resources to hold all the captured fighters indefinitely.

But repatriation is politically fraught, and France has been wary of allowing any mass returns. Earlier this month Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said that “no communal repatriation” would be considered, and each situation would be studied individually.

Last month, authorities for the first time brought home five orphaned children of French jihadists from camps in northeast Syria.

Ten women repatriated to Kosovo from Syria at the weekend have been placed under house arrest on charges of participating in terrorist groups, a court said on Tuesday, like reported by sbs.com.

They were among a group of 110 Kosovo citizens brought back on Saturday from Syria, including 32 women, 74 children and four jihadists who had gone to fight in the country’s civil war.

The four fighters were immediately arrested and detained for one month awaiting questioning.

The women and children were sent to the Foreign Detention Centre in the outskirts of Pristina but were freed to go home after 72 hours.

Ten women were seen entering Pristina Basic Court in a police escort on Tuesday. The court said in a statement later that they had been placed under house arrest on charges of joining foreign armed groups and terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq from 2014 to 2019.

The state prosecution said all 32 repatriated women are under investigation and more of them are expected to appear in front of judges on Wednesday.

The prosecution has yet to file indictments.

After the collapse of Islamic State’s self-declared caliphate in Syria and Iraq, countries around the world are wrestling with how to handle militants and their families seeking to return to their home countries.

Kosovo’s population is nominally 90 percent Muslim, but the country is largely secular in outlook. More than 300 of its citizens travelled to Syria since 2012 and 70 men who fought alongside militant groups were killed.

Police said 30 Kosovan fighters, 49 women and eight children remain in the conflict zones. The government said it plans to bring back those who are still there.

International and local security agencies have previously warned of the risk posed by returning fighters. In 2015, Kosovo adopted a law making fighting in foreign conflicts punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

During the past few months, the mainly-Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have captured several jihadists of Irish nationality, forcing Ireland to confront the fact that up to several dozen of its citizens have joined the Islamic State (IS) in recent years. These include both native-born converts and more recent immigrants, like reported by jamestown.org.

The developments have come as a shock to Ireland, which has typically viewed itself as more successful at integrating immigrants than other European states, including the United Kingdom. Ireland has also prided itself on its detachment from foreign conflicts and global geopolitics on account of its long-standing neutrality. The IS detentions have therefore ignited significant debate in Ireland about both the extent of domestic radicalization and how the country should deal with such individuals. Ireland’s police estimated in 2018 that around 30 people from Ireland had joined IS (Independent, May 16, 2018). One of the best-known militants, Khalid Kelly, formerly a prominent member of radical Salafist groups in London and Ireland, died while conducting a suicide attack near Mosul in 2016 (Irish Times, November 6, 2016).

Public coverage of the IS detainees has focused heavily on Lisa Smith, a former member of the Irish Defence Forces, who left the military in 2011, converted to Islam and married a Muslim man. Following the collapse of this marriage, she traveled to Syria in 2015 (The Journal, April 7). During her time in the group, she married a British IS militant, Sajid Aslam. He was part of a group of British radicals who had traveled to Syria in 2014—he was reportedly killed fighting for the group in late 2018 (BBC, February 24, 2016). Later, in early 2019, Smith was detained by Kurdish fighters when leaving Baghouz, IS’ last territorial holding in northern Syria. In her first media interview, she said that she had joined IS because she wanted to live in a “Muslim country and environment” and had predicted that IS “wasn’t over yet” (Irish Times, March 10). However, in subsequent interviews, she dialed down her support for the group, saying she only joined the organization because she “just ran with the crowd”, saying she would “never join” a similar group again, and adding her daughter by Aslam—who was born in IS-held territory—is her “number one priority” (RTE, April 7).

Other Irish citizens involved in IS include Alexandr Ruzmatovich Bekmirzaev, a Belarusian living in Ireland who had converted to Islam at some point in Dublin before traveling to Syria in around 2013 (Irish Times, January 12). He was also captured in December by Kurdish forces in Syria, alongside two U.S. and two Pakistan IS members seeking to flee the group’s remaining territory. His story is more obscure, but he appears to have been part of an obscure radical Salafist network in Ireland in the early 2010s, which was centered around a Jordanian extremist who was deported to Jordan in 2016. This potentially involved Khalid Kelly, who was prominent in such circles in the early 2010s, and who may have helped radicalize Bekmirzaev and inspire him to travel to Syria. In an interview after his capture, Bekmirzaev said that he was motivated to travel to Syria in response to the actions of President Assad, however, he soon found himself in IS-held territory, although he said that he was “just a driver” (The Independent, February 10). This suggests that like many former IS members, he now aims to downplay his role in the group in order to avoid punishment.

The Irish Government’s response to the revelations that a number of its citizens had not only been active in IS, but had been captured and, like Lisa Smith, now expect to come “home” has been hesitant and largely ad-hoc. Following the detention of Smith, whose case, as an Irish-born woman and former soldier, has attracted the most attention, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said that allowing her to return to Ireland would be the “compassionate” thing to do. However, he also said that an assessment of her risk to others would be carried out on her return and that prosecution for any crimes committed abroad was possible. At the same time, he rejected suggestions that he should strip Irish citizenship from IS members, saying that “is the case with all Irish citizens, they will be permitted to re-enter the State should they try to do so” (The Journal, March 11). This relatively soft approach to IS members largely reflects that there is little public evidence linking these radicals to specific crimes, unlike the various UK and French radicals who were filmed conducting various atrocities. The lack of attacks to date in Ireland means that public opinion is still somewhat receptive to arguments that IS members were merely misguided, a sentiment fueled by the tone of Smith and Bekmirzaev’s recent statements.

Meanwhile, in the next few years, Ireland may face the return of one of the most famous of all international jihadists, John Walker Lindh, a U.S. national. Lindh was sentenced to twenty years imprisonment for supporting the Taliban in 2002, following his capture while a member of the group in Kunduz, Afghanistan in 2001. Since then, Lindh, who obtained Irish citizenship in 2013, has reportedly remained highly radical in prison, for instance translating high profile jihadist texts, as well as calling himself “Sulayman al-Irlandi”, in reference to his Irish heritage (, June 26, 2016). Lindh is due to be released in 2021, and there has been speculation that he may then seek to travel to Ireland. If this is the case, as Varadkar’s comments above indicate, Ireland seems likely to allow him entry.

The above developments will put pressure on Ireland’s institutional capacity to counter jihadist militancy, as well as to contain more subtle forms of pro-jihadist radicalization. The Irish authorities enjoy close relations with the UK secret services, although for obvious political-historical reasons these are rarely publicized, which is likely to help contain most foreign-originated plots against the country. However, much of the country’s counter-terrorism force is focused on issues such as pro-Republican Irish militancy, and expertise in jihadism is still limited. The country, due to its small number of jihadists and Islamist extremists, also lacks both counter-radicalization and de-radicalization programs. At present, it seems unlikely that jihadists will target Ireland directly, as its neutral foreign policy means it is relatively unappealing compared to other countries such as the UK. Indeed, two of those involved in the 2017 London Bridge attack, one of whom was married to a radicalized Irish woman, had two years previously examined possible targets in Dublin, before deciding instead to focus on the UK (The Independent, September 24, 2017). That said, Ireland’s increasing social liberalism, as illustrated by Varadkar being openly gay and having a same-sex partner, could mean that domestic jihadists nonetheless are tempted to stage an attack in the country which would resonate with Muslim conservatives. If Smith, Bekmirzaev and, perhaps, even Lindh himself, succeed in returning to live freely in Ireland it is possible that they could form the nucleus for small groups of pro-jihadist admirers, just as in previous jihadist generations, returnees from Bosnia, Pakistan, and Afghanistan helped, wittingly or unwittingly, to inspire new generations of militants.

A 23-year-old man has been arrested in Morocco, in a joint anti-terrorist operation with Spain, over an alleged plan to attack Spain’s Holy Week festivities, like reported by thedailybeast.com.

The man is Zouhair el Bouhdidi and he is a student at the University of Seville. According to police sources in Spain, the young man was preparing an imminent attack against the processions of Holy Week in Seville, one of the most important events of the Catholic calendar. According to the newspaper El Confidencial, el Bouhdidi has already confessed to the Moroccan police his plans to commit a “large-scale massacre” in the Andalusian city. The Spanish secret services had reportedly been following him for several weeks.

Holy Week in Seville is a celebration declared as a Fiesta of International Tourist Interest. Nearly 70 brotherhoods come out in procession with wooden sculptures depicting scenes of the Passion of Christ between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday. The procession called La Madrugada—on the night of Thursday into Good Friday—brings together hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world, crowded through the narrow streets of Seville.

El Bouhdidi allegedly intended to attempt the attack this week in Seville with a homemade explosive known as “the mother of Satan.” It is the same type of explosive that terrorists prepared in the attack on Barcelona ​​in August of 2017, and in the attack on the Bataclan in Paris in November 2015.

Spanish police are now investigating the home of the alleged jihadist. El Bouhdidi lives in Su Eminencia (‘His Eminence’), a humble neighborhood of Seville. Neighbors say that he had never caused problems, although he did not really associate with others, and that the blinds in his house used to be closed. His recent trip to Morocco has been interpreted by the police as a possible farewell visit to his family.

Spain’s CNI (National Intelligence Center) is investigating whether el Bouhdidi was inspired by, or connected to, a video that the Islamic State published in recent days, in which they threatened to attack the religious celebrations of Holy Week in Spain. The video has been broadcast by several jihadist groups on Telegram and includes images of the attacks in Barcelona and crowds of people participating in the processions of Holy Week in Spain.

The threats against Spain have been spread on social networks by the Muntasir Media Foundation, which is responsible for propagating jihadist messages and which had already threatened Spain last December. The recent video encouraged attacks against Holy Week in Andalusia, the region of Spain that corresponds to Al Andalus, which was Muslim territory before the Reconquest. Recovering Al Andalus is an old obsession for jihadists and often appears in many of their propaganda messages.

The thwarted attack would have taken place only 11 days before the general elections in Spain. In 2004, three days before the general elections, the Madrid bombings ripped through the heart of Spain’s capital, leaving 193 dead and more than 2,000 injured. Since then, the Spanish police have doubled up on terrorism protection in the days before each major election.

A suicide attack in Holy Week in Seville would have certainly claimed many victims, in addition to causing a huge international media panic. On the other hand, one of the great dangers of La Madrugada—the most famous procession—are the stampedes: In 2017, more than a hundred people were wounded after a stampede was set off by eight mischief-makers, who had been recruited through social networks for a dangerous prank.

One of the issues on the table in the electoral campaign is the possibility of tightening laws and borders to prevent the entry of jihadists, potentially hiding among other immigrants, into Spain. This is one of the proposals of the far-right party VOX, which has been growing in popularity in Spain according to all the polls. The president of Spain and main socialist candidate are both against hardening the laws. In recent weeks the controversy over the entry of jihadists in Spain has been present in all media and is generating polarized positions among the Spanish.

Saeed Qassemi (Ghasemi), a retired IRGC general, is an outspoken ultraconservative, renowned for his vitriolic attacks on reformist former President Mohammad Khatami and the incumbent “moderate” President Hassan Rouhani.

In an interview with the state-approved internet channel, Aparat, Qassemi maintained on April 14 that he had visited Bosnia in the 1990s to train Bosnian Muslim fighters against the Serbs while wearing the Iranian Red Crescent uniform, like reported by voanews.com.

In the same interview, Qassemi admits that he is divulging the fact since the Americans had already discovered the ruse and written about it.

‘Devoid of credibility’

IRGC’s spokesman, Ramazan Sharif, dismissing Qassemi’s remarks said, “Mr. Saeed Qassemi’s remarks, who for a while was in Bosnia voluntarily and has retired a long time ago, are his personal views, devoid of credibility and are not shared by the IRGC,” according to ISNA.

An hour after the IRGC statement, President Hassan Rouhani’s office also dismissed Qassemi’s remarks, saying that his claims help “the enemy”.

Qassemi’s remarks come just days after the U.S. State Department listed the IRGC as a “Foreign Terrorist Organization,” accusing it of supporting militant groups around the world.

The Iranian Red Crescent has also officially dismissed Qassemi’s claims and has threatened to sue him. “If an individual or a state entity has used the logo or uniform of the IRCS for operations against the aims and principles of the International Red Cross Society, it definitely happened without the permission of the IRCS or in coordination with it,” IRCS announced.

Even if the IRCS permission was sought, the statement argues, it would have never been given.

“Based on the four conventions ratified in Geneva, the IRCS is impartial in armed conflicts since it has the important responsibility of supporting the humanity, and the civilians,” the statement has insisted.

In his interview with Aparat, Qassemi, 59, revealed information concerning the presence of the Islamic Republic armed forces in Bosnia that might place the IRCS and the Islamic Republic in a tough position.

‘Side by side with al-Qaida’

During the interview, the former IRGC commander boasted about his role and that of his comrades in the Bosnian civil war, while they were wearing the IRCS uniforms.

“In Bosnia, in the heart of Europe, there were many developments. We were side by side with al-Qaida. The members of al-Qaida learned from us. From all over the world, mujahedeen poured into Bosnia, and there was a new development. Muslim jihadi units were established,” Qassemi maintained.

Referring to CNN reporter Christiane Amanpour, who is of Iranian descent, Qassemi said that she was the person who found out about their deception.

“This fellow compatriot of ours [Amanpour] — who all of our politicians, including [ultraconservative former President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad to [President Hassan] Rouhani, love to give her interviews — this dishonorable spy of the CNN, gave us away.”

Qassemi’s comments were followed by a harsh reaction from the IRCS on Twitter, dismissing the remarks as unfounded.

Moreover, the IRCS says that it has filed a complaint against Qassemi for his controversial comments.

Support for Bosnian Muslims

In the 1990s, the Islamic Republic widely supported Bosnian Muslims in their conflict with the Serbs and Croats. The support was orchestrated by Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, a mid-ranking cleric currently presiding over two authoritative bodies in Iran, the Council of Guardians and the Assembly of Experts.

To assist the Muslim Bosnians, Tehran launched a Bosnian-speaking radio station, and later a TV channel, called “Sahar” (“Dawn”).

Meanwhile, the Bosnian war helped the IRGC’s extraterritorial arm, the Quds force, to expand and gain power.

Qassemi is an Iran-Iraq war veteran who has turned into a political activist after retiring from his position in the IRGC. Notorious as a short-tempered person who loves to use vituperative words, he is one of the leading orators at the Iranian Hezbollah gatherings and assemblies.

Italian news agency ANSA says authorities have arrested an Italian convert to Islam and a Moroccan resident who met over the Internet and were preparing to fight with Islamic State in Syria.

Sicilian prosecutors who ordered the arrests Wednesday said investigators had identified the Italian suspect, 25-year-old Giuseppe Frittatta, from social media posts. They included extremist propaganda as well as photos of himself holding a knife with a 26-centimeter (10-inch) blade calling for deaths to “all westerners.”

The 18-year-old Moroccan, Ossama Gafhir, is alleged to have induced Frittatta toward extremism, and was following stringent fitness routine to prepare for combat.

Frittata — a Sicilian who changed his name to Yusef — allegedly was in contact with extremists in Italy and abroad. The arrests were carried out in northern Italy.

German authorities have arrested a man accused of joining the Islamic State group in Syria and later helping send another new recruit for IS from Germany to Syria.

Federal prosecutors said the 28-year-old German national, identified only as Volkan L. in line with German privacy rules, was arrested in Hamburg on Wednesday. He is suspected of membership in a foreign terrorist organization.

Prosecutors say that he traveled to Syria in November 2013 to join IS and underwent military training. They say he returned to Germany in March 2014 and turned his attention to finding new recruits.

He is accused of helping organize travel to Syria for one such person in summer 2014, acting as a go-between between the recruit and an IS member in Syria.