An article “Why Are Russian, Central Asian Militants Vanishing from Social Networks?” posted on Radio Liberty’s website notes that Russian and Central Asian militants fighting alongside Islamic State (IS), Al-Qaeda, and the Taliban in Syria and Iraq are disappearing from social-networking sites like Odnoklassniki and VKontakte.

Whereas just a few months ago, these networks were abuzz with propaganda and recruitment activity from personal militant accounts and official propaganda pages, many accounts have been banned, gone quiet, or closed.

Continual bans — particularly on VKontakte — as well as concerns that law enforcement agencies could monitor recruitment efforts likely account for some of the reduction of militant activity.

Some militants may have deleted their own accounts for security reasons.

Another reason for the slowdown in militant activity could be an uptick in deaths.

And there is also evidence that militants are moving over to the new and more secure Telegram messaging service.

Over the past months, IS has reportedly shifted at least some of its propaganda and recruitment efforts to the Telegram mobile messaging app.

More recently, Russian-speaking and Central Asian militants from IS-, Taliban-, and Al-Qaeda-affiliated groups have also opened Telegram accounts.

There are at least four official or semiofficial Russian-language IS news accounts on Telegram — IS News, ShamToday, FuratMedia, and Voenkorr.  The IS News account was advertised on Twitter last week as the official Russian-language IS Telegram group.

news.tj

A total of 56 militants have been killed in a clash between supporters and opponents of Taliban new leader Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansoor in parts of the southern Zabul province over the past three days, spokesman for provincial government, Gul Islam Sayal said Monday.

“The clash erupted between supporters of Mullah Akhtar Mansoor and his opponents led by Mullah Mansoor Dadullah in Khak-e-Afghan and Arghandab districts on Saturday, leaving 56 insurgents from both sides dead and 53 others injured,” Sayal told Xinhua.

According to the official, 47 of those killed in the clash were loyal to Mansoor Dadullah and the remaining nine to Mansoor.

This is the first time that a clash erupted among Taliban militants since the confirmation of the death of Taliban former leader Mullah Mohammad Omar in late July.

Taliban militants loyal to Akhtar Mansoor have yet to make comment on the conflict.

However, Abdul Manan Niazi, who claims to speak for Mansoor Dadullah’s camp in contact with media said that Akhtar Mansoor’s supporters attacked Dadullah’s positions in the said districts triggering the fighting.

Meanwhile, spokesman for Zabul provincial government, Sayal said that the clash between warring sides ceased today (Monday) but both sides are on alert and strengthening their positions.

A private television station was raided on Friday by Maldivian police in connection with an alleged IS video posted on YouTube that threatened to kill President Abdulla Yameen and other senior officials, days after a state of emergency was declared in the island nation.

Ibrahim Waheed, managing director of Sangu TV, said that the channel was stopped from broadcasting as the police searched its studios in the capital in a pre-dawn raid. The police seized hard disks from 27 computers and destroyed a safe at the office, Minivan news agency quoted Waheed as saying.

According to the court warrant, the police were seeking evidence related to the “video message uploaded to YouTube threatening to kill the president of the Maldives and senior officials of the state and to carry out terrorist attacks”.

The video was posted by a user called ‘Slavery slave’ with the Islamic State’s (IS) logo in the corner. The man threatened to launch terrorist attacks against the tourism industry within 30 days if the government does not comply with it demands that include withdrawal new anti-terrorism legislation.

Waheed said he was certain that Sangu TV’s staff and management would not have uploaded such a video. He said police officers “turned the office upside down” and had told the station’s staff not to answer phone calls during the raid. According to Sangu TV, the police had also turned off security cameras in its offices and left the station “in a crippled state”.

The raid comes after President Yameen declared a 30-day nationwide state of emergency on Wednesday, citing threats to national security and raising fears of imminent attacks. Yameen issued a decree suspending several fundamental rights, including the right to freedom of assembly, and granting the police sweeping powers to arrest suspects and carry out raids.

The Maldivian Parliament on Thursday impeached Vice President Ahmed Adeeb over an alleged attempt to assassinate Yameen. Ruling party lawmaker Yameen Rasheed, a close associate of Adeeb, is reportedly a shareholder of the Dhivehi Media Group company that operates Sangu TV.

Adeeb was arrested on October 25 after his return from an official visit to China for allegedly orchestrating the September 28 blast when President Yameen and First Lady Fathimath Ibrahim were returning home after performing Haj. The president escaped unhurt, but the first lady suffered a spinal fracture and is still in hospital. However, the FBI that investigated the blast said it found no evidence that it was caused by a bomb.

dnaindia.com

Pakistan today said that it was concerned over “rise of extremism” in India and targeting of prominent Pakistani personalities and artists in the country.

“Pakistan is concerned at the recent rise in extremism in India. We expect the international community to take note of it,” Foreign Office spokesman Qazi Khalilullah said at a media briefing here.

“We have also expressed concern on disruption of functions of prominent Pakistani personalities and artists, scheduled in India, by Indian extremist organisations,” he said.

outlookindia.com

The Islamic State, in statements attributed to it, claimed responsibility for an attack near the Bangladeshi capital that left one police officer dead and another wounded, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors extremist activity online.

The attack took place Wednesday at a checkpoint along a street about 30 miles from the capital, Dhaka, in what appeared to be the first assault on representatives of the Bangladeshi state to be claimed by the Islamic State. It comes as extremist violence is rising and as threats against vocal secularists in the country are increasing.

The Islamic State claimed the attack in a message circulated online, SITE said Wednesday.

“In a security operation, Allah enabled the soldiers of the state in Bangladesh to attack a police checkpoint,” SITE quoted the group as saying, and “the soldiers of the caliphate withdrew safely.”

khaama.com

Emissaries of the Islamic State (ISIL) in Pakistan try to recruit people and develop links with other terrorist groups, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said Wednesday.

“The group [terrorist] tries to fortify its positions in neighboring Pakistan, on territory of which, we register attempts of emissaries of the Islamic State to recruit people and to establish links with other terrorist groups,” Antonov said at the third ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting.

ISIL militant group, which has occupied vast territories of Syria and Iraq since 2014, has reportedly recruited hundreds of fighters from Central Asia.

ISIL is currently considered as one of the major threats to global security.

Russian Federation says that the request of military assistance from Afghanistan is at final stage.

“Your government had requested some military assistance free of charge… we promised to provide such types of assistance free of charge. Now it is under consideration of almost on final stage,” said Russian ambassador Alexander Mantytskiy during a press conference on Tuesday.

Mantytskiy added that Afghan forces should be supplied with equipment and training they need to defend their country.

He rejected speculations that Afghanistan may become a battle ground between Russia and the United States.

“There are so many speculations that Afghanistan is becoming the place of some kind of rivalry between Russian Federation, United States and Western Countries,” Mantytskiy said. “It is just speculation, you should understand…we do not have any hidden goals. We do not want to fight with America for Afghanistan…We want to continue cooperation”.

“We are ready to resume such cooperation with western countries, so your government, you people should request western countries to look at Afghanistan not as a rival place…but to assist you …and restart cooperation with us,” he added.

Russian Ambassador also said that some organizations are publishing news far from truth.

Alexander Mantytskiy urged media to only publish reports directly from their official sources.

A statement provided to journalists during the press conference turned the report far from the truth that Russian bombardment hit a hospital in Syria.

“I can’t describe those who wrote this as journalists, but their inventiveness is truly amazing. I’d like to say that this false story has been planted with a link to the Syrian Observatory for Human Right, which is base in London. It must be very convenient to monitor and report on Syrian developments without leaving London to collect information on the ground. I am going to disavow this information. Please note that the Russian Defence Ministry holds regular briefings, during which it informs the public about the targets of the Russian Aerospace Forces in Syria, that is, the ISIS targets,” the statement undersigned by the Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova stated.

khaama.com

Russia is concerned about the mass of the Islamic State militants in northern Afghanistan, near the borders with Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, as well as the fact that their influence is growing in the country, said Deputy Defense Ministry of Russia Anatoly Antonov at the third meeting of the Defense Ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and dialogue partners.

“Today 25-30 thousand foreign terrorists, militants, including the Asian-Pacific countries and, unfortunately, Russia are fighting alongside the Islamic State. If they return to homeland with the potential violence and extremism, then they will propogate radical ideas in our countries or will commit sabotage,” reports RIA Novosti citing the Deputy Defense Minister.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations is a political and economic organisation of ten Southeast Asian countries. It was formed on 8 August 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand.