The Islamic State militant group has destroyed more than a dozen schools in a restive district of northern Afghanistan, threatening students and insisting that teachers must amend their curriculum, provincial officials said, voanews.com .

Abul Rahman Mahmoodi, the acting governor of northern Jawzjan province, told VOA that a girl’s high school was among the destruction by IS militants during the past 10 days in the Darzab district.

“I wish they had a proper curriculum. Based on our information, [the militants] do not have anything to offer,” Mahmoodi said. “They burned down a female high school entirely and plundered other schools in the area, taking their desks and chairs with them after destroying the infrastructure.”

According to provincial education officials, IS militants said an educational curriculum acceptable to Islamic State must be taught in areas that the group controls.

Girls forbidden to attend school

A local resident who did not want to disclose his name for safety reasons told VOA that IS militants warned girls not to attend school. They make up 40 percent of the 18,000 enrolled students in the district’s 47 government-run schools, which are currently closed for summer holidays.

Abdul Hai Yesheen, Jawzjan province’s education chief, told VOA the IS militants destroyed biology labs inside the schools. Islamic State adherents say they consider study of the human skeleton to be a form of polytheism.

IS and rival militants from the Taliban have clashed fiercely in a fight for control of Darzab, and Baz Mohammad Dawar, acting chief of the district, said 10 Taliban militants were beheaded after they were captured by IS fighters last week.

Islamic State and Taliban fighters streamed into Darzab last month from two directions, and scores of Afghan government forces in the area were under siege until counter-strikes by Afghan and U.S. forces took effect. The center of the district was held by the Taliban, with IS militants controlling areas outside Darzab’s center, but local officials said both groups subsequently were driven out by the combined Afghan and U.S. effort.

Airstrikes kill 7 IS commanders

Airstrikes carried out by U.S. unmanned aircraft, or drones, have killed at least seven IS commanders during the past two weeks, the local officials said.

Two IS commanders who were known as ruthless for the many beheadings they carried out reportedly were killed on Sunday in Darzab. Another five commanders, including the deputy IS leader in the province, were killed last week in neighboring Qoshtaipa district.

IS militants have been most active in eastern parts of Afghanistan until recently, but the extremists have been trying to establish a permanent presence in several of the country’s northern provinces.

Another source in the region who asked not to be identified told VOA that IS has been recruiting unemployed youths between the ages of 13 and 20 to join its forces. The militants are said to have recruited hundreds of fighters from Jawzjan and neighboring Sar-e-Pul province, where several districts are controlled by Islamic State or its affiliated groups.

Qari Hekmat, an ethnic Uzbek and former Taliban commander who switched his allegiance to Islamic State a year ago, is said to lead IS-affiliated groups in the region, and is credited with the recruitment of about 500 fighters in his new role. A large number of Central Asian fighters affiliated with the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), previously associated with al-Qaida and Taliban in Afghanistan, have joined the IS cause in the northern provinces.

The Philippine military is looking to deliver one big punch that will end the occupation of Marawi City by local terrorists who have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militant group in Iraq and Syria, like reported by straitstimes.com.

But Gen Eduardo Año, the chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), refused to say when his troops will throw the knockout blow at the gunmen from the Maute and Abu Sayyaf terrorist groups holed up in Marawi.

“While the Marawi siege (by the Maute-ISIS) is catastrophic, painstaking and destructive, the AFP, with our gallant soldiers, will ensure (it destroys) the entire group in one decisive major battle. We will not be pressured (or bound) by (deadlines). I will not talk about deadlines,” Año said on Sunday (July 2).

Fierce fighting between government troops and the terrorists enters its seventh week on Tuesday with the terrorists believed to have been contained in a square-kilometre pocket of the city.

The fighting has claimed the lives of 82 soldiers and policemen, 44 civilians and 303 terrorists, according to the latest count released by the military over the weekend.

The crisis began on May 23 when hundreds of gunmen waving the black ISIS flag rampaged through Marawi after a failed military attempt to capture Isnilon Hapilon, the Abu Sayyaf chief said to have been named by ISIS as its leader in South-east Asia.

Video captured by the military showed leaders of the Maute and Abu Sayyaf groups planning an assault on Marawi, a predominantly Muslim city, to establish an ISIS enclave in the region.

A vigorous military campaign that includes airstrikes-conducted with surveillance help from the United States and Australia-has since reduced the terrorist force of 400-500 to just a little more than 100.

A brutal block-to-block, street-to-street, house-to-house, room-to-room clearing operation has driven the remnants of the terror force to seek cover in buildings in four villages in the city’s commercial centre, where they slow down the advance of government troops with sniper fire.

On Saturday, Año said, the military killed 10 Maute snipers, leaving just a little more than 100 gunmen for the troops to deal with.

But government troops cannot rush the gunmen’s positions, as the terrorists are holding hundreds of civilians, including a Catholic priest, and using them as human shields.

The terrorists are believed to be looking to use the civilians as bargaining chips to get out of Marawi after one of the Maute leaders, Abdullah Maute, last week spoke to emissaries about trading the priest, Father Teresito Suganob, for his parents and relatives who had been captured by police.

The government has rejected any talks with the terrorists.

Abdullah Maute also spoke of his group’s willingness to withdraw from Marawi if the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the largest separatist group in Mindanao that has signed a peace agreement with the government, would intervene.

The MILF has said it is willing to step in to help resolve the crisis, but both sides must agree to its intervention.

MILF FIGHTERS INVOLVED?

It seems, however, that some groups do not want group’s help.

An Army officer told the Inquirer on Sunday that some MILF members were fighting alongside the Maute and Abu Sayyaf terrorists in Marawi.

The officer, who asked not to be named, said the MILF fighters were followers of MILF leader Abdullah Macapaar, also known as Commander Bravo.

He said, however, that the MILF fighters’ role in the terrorist attack on Marawi had no approval from Macapaar, one of the separatist leaders whose forces attacked communities in Lanao del Norte province in 2008 after the Supreme Court struck down a Moro homeland deal between the MILF and the government as unconstitutional.

“We know we are fighting not only Maute and Abu Sayyaf but also MILF,” the officer said.

The officer said most of the followers who joined the fighting in Marawi were from Camp Pukta in the town of Balindong in Lanao del Sur.

But Muhammad Ameen, chief of the MILF secretariat, said the information was baseless.

“It’s negative, baseless. They did not join the Maute in Marawi,” Ameen told the Inquirer by phone. “As far as we know, he (Macapaar) is in control of his men. Don’t entertain the report,” he said.

Zia Alonto Adiong, spokesperson for the provincial government of Lanao del Sur, said the MILF remained a partner of the government in the peace process, with some of its members risking their lives in helping rescue civilians trapped in the fighting in Marawi.

“The MILF already condemned the attack, and Commander Bravo respects the decision of the central committee,” Adiong said.

At least six police force members were killed when a group of Taliban fighters attacked their check post in Sheb Koh district in Farah province, Farah police confirmed on Friday.

The incident took place on Thursday night, Farah police spokesman Eqbal Baher told TOLOnews.

Baher said that five Taliban fighters were killed and nine others wounded in the clash.

According to him, the police check post is named Karez Shekhan.

Taliban is yet to comment on the report.

When Islamic State (IS) launched its so-called caliphate in 2014 it had seized territory in Iraq and Syria. However over the last 18 months, militants claiming allegiance to the group have carried out attacks in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, while the group also has sympathisers in India and Pakistan, like reported by worldwatchmonitor.org.

IS has “recognised” a number of existing Islamist terrorist groups in the Philippines, though it has stopped short of announcing a wilayet – or province – there, as it has within Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria and the Northern Caucasus. Last year the group issued a 20-minute video encouraging viewers who could not travel to the Middle East to “go to the Philippines”.

So is IS losing interest in the Middle East?

IS has been losing territory in Iraq and Syria for more than a year, as a result of co-ordinated military action. In addition, US-led forces have been working to ensure the group cannot establish a base in Libya to which it could retreat. So it has changed tack: instead of attracting fighters from around the globe to its so-called “caliphate” in Iraq and Syria, it wants to assert its presence globally through isolated “lone wolf” attacks – as we have seen in Europe – and more co-ordinated tactics by franchises, or organisations that affiliate themselves with the group, such as the Maute group or Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines. IS only claims responsibility for “successful” attacks that boost its propaganda agenda. The 20 June attack on Brussels Central Station, which ended in the death only of the perpetrator, did not elicit any such claim by IS.

Why is IS claiming a presence in Asia?

IS isn’t focusing exclusively on Asia, but the dissemination of an increasingly radical form of Islam in a number of Asian countries is creating a ready supply of recruits. IS is exploiting and fomenting existing grievances in Asia to co-opt existing terrorists and radicalise potential new members. The oppression and mass displacement of Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslim minority is also believed to be a push factor for joining an extremist group.

Why does IS have so much support in the Philippines?

The southern island of Mindanao has long been the location of an armed Islamist separatist insurgency, and recently that has attracted fighters from Malaysia and Indonesia, as well as countries such as Morocco. Malaysian intelligence sources said last year that around 200 IS fighters in Syria and Iraq came from Malaysia and Indonesia, and security experts have warned that they expect returning IS fighters to regroup in Mindanao and other nearby islands as IS loses territory in the Middle East.

Instability borne of chronic conflict, the availability of weapons, the jungles of Mindanao, and the porous maritime borders between the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia make it easier for insurgents to evade capture. Earlier this month, Indonesia’s military chief, General Gatot Nurmantyo, said this ease of travel had contributed to IS having a presence in nearly all the country’s provinces. In addition, local terrorist groups know Mindanao’s each and every small island and islet far better than many soldiers and policemen deployed there from other regions.

How big a threat does IS pose to Filipino Christians?

All Filipinos are put at risk by any terrorist violence, and in the Mindanao city of Marawi, where security forces are battling IS-affiliated militants from the Maute and Abu Sayyaf groups, thousands of residents – Christian and Muslim – have fled. However, there appears to be some targeting of Christians. A Catholic priest in Marawi and several worshippers have been abducted by the Islamists, and a cathedral and a church in the city destroyed.

Last year there were a number of “lone wolf” attacks on Christians in Asia. In June 2016, an elderly Christian shopkeeper was knifed to death after Sunday prayers near a church in north-west Bangladesh, in an attack for which IS claimed responsibility. In August 2016, an 18-year-old carrying a homemade IS flag stabbed a priest and attempted to detonate a bomb during mass in Medan, the capital of Indonesia’s North Sumatra province. Three months later a young man killed a toddler and injured three others when he threw a grenade into the grounds of a church in Samarinda, capital of East Kalimantan province.

IS affiliates have taken Christians hostage or killed them at checkpoints. Other attacks have targeted Westerners.

Thomas Muller, an analyst at Open Doors’ World Watch Research unit, said: “These IS affiliates have adopted a shock-and-awe strategy to create widespread fear quickly. Radicalised Muslims could rally under IS’s black flag, but this does not mean that they would succeed in taking and keeping hold of territory in Asia, as IS did in northern Iraq, where IS exploited weak infrastructure.

“[Philippines] President Rodrigo Duterte’s 23 May declaration of martial law in Mindanao shows how seriously his government is taking the threat the jihadists pose. So it is unlikely that the jihadists will succeed in seizing territory, and more likely that isolated attacks like the ones in Selangor [in Malaysia], Medan and Samarinda will continue.”

The more widespread threat to Asian Christians

Muller added that a greater threat to Asian Christians is the growing intolerance of non-Muslims seen in the mass protests against Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, also known as “Ahok”, an ethnic Chinese Christian. Ahok’s conviction last month for blasphemy, which coincided with his failed bid for re-election, followed mass protests against him that showed the power of the hardliners to stir up widespread anger and vilify a democratically elected leader. The Jakarta Post in April described the election campaign waged by Ahok’s opponents as “the dirtiest, most polarising and most divisive the nation has ever seen”.

Muller said the election marked a turning-point in Indonesian politics. “From now on, no member of a religious or ethnic minority will have any chance of standing for a nationally important political office. Also, we can expect the Islamic card to be used in the future to gain votes just like in any other Muslim country in the world. Indonesia has now lost its innocence in this respect,” he said.

At least 18 fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group including their  commander have been killed in air and group attacks carried out by Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) in various parts of eastern Nangarhar province.

Ataullah Khogyani spokesman of Nangarhar governor told BNA, the raids were conducted in different parts of Acheen and Koot districts of the province.

The ISIS adherents were targeted, while they were busy on organizing terrorist and destructive activities in the mentioned districts.

It has been said several terrorist centers, weapon storages and vehicles belonging of ISIS terrorist group have been destroyed during the attacks.

Casualties didn’t incur to civilians and Afghan security troops at the end of the assaults, Khogyani added.
Foreign rebels are also among the dead.

The commander of more than 80,000 US marines in the Pacific is urging Australia to join operations against Islamic State (IS) militants in South-East Asia, like reported by thenewdaily.com.au.

Lieutenant General David Berger is visiting Australia to check on readiness for the Talisman Sabre military exercises off the Queensland and Northern Territory coasts.

He told the ABC the “movement of violent extremist organisations” was a “very real problem” for countries like the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia.

The Hawaii-based commanding general of US Marine Corps Forces Pacific said he expected Australian forces could soon join American personnel fighting Islamic extremists in this region.

“Both of us have a long history of being an expeditionary force when needed, so we begin from a common point I think and we’ve operated alongside for 100 years,” General Berger said.

“Regionally where you’re looking for stability, where you’re looking to reassure other countries that there will be a strong enough force in the region to deter bad behaviour, I think absolutely yes — we would go where asked.”

The visiting US general warned that Australia’s neighbours would need assistance if they were to successfully stop the threat posed by IS-inspired militants.

“I think the potential for it to spread is there, we should not underestimate it,” he cautioned.

“It’s a different kind of a threat than North Korea but it’s also a threat that moves in order to survive — it doesn’t own a state so it’s mobile.

“Absolutely it should be of very much concern to countries in the region — including Australia and the US.”

Last week the Australian Government announced RAAF spy planes would soon start flying over the southern Philippines to help fight against IS-affiliated groups.

In September, Australia’s foreign spy agency chief warned Islamic extremism in South-East Asia, particularly in the southern Philippines was a growing national security concern.

“In Australia’s backyard in South-East Asia there are now ISIL affiliates — in Indonesia , in the southern Philippines,” Australian Security Intelligence Service boss Nick Warner told a panel discussion in Washington, using another acronym for IS.

NATO’s chief says allies have agreed to send more troops to Afghanistan, to help train and work alongside the country’s security forces, like reported by ap.org.

Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday that “15 nations have already pledged additional contributions.”

He said he expects other allies and NATO partners to pledge more contributions at a meeting of the military alliance’s defense ministers in Brussels later Thursday.

Britain has offered around 100 troops.

Stoltenberg said the increase does not mean that the alliance will once again combat the Taliban and extremist groups in Afghanistan, two years after NATO wound down its military operations there.

About 300 paratroopers are leaving Fort Bragg today for Afghanistan. Many of them are part of the 2nd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, and will be asked to work in a difficult and dangerous environment, like reported by stripes.com.

The soldiers are part of a larger group of 1,500 deploying paratroopers from the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division.

They will oversee security at a tactical base and serve as a quick reaction force in Helmand province, where some of the heaviest fighting of the past 16 years of war has taken place.

But Lt. Col. Kwenton Kuhlman, the battalion commander, isn’t worried about the mission.

“We’re ready. We’ve trained hard. We’ve trained well,” he said Tuesday morning, as his soldiers said goodbyes to family and friends.

Kuhlman said the upcoming mission isn’t keeping him or other leaders up at night.

“I’d like to think we’re keeping other people up at night,” he said. “We’re going to win. We’re ready.”

The Devil Brigade has already sent more than 700 soldiers to Afghanistan, where they will serve in a variety of roles across the country, from Kabul to Bagram to Kandahar.

The remaining troops will leave throughout the week, said Col. Tobin Magsig, commander of the 1st Brigade Combat Team.

“Today’s a big day for the 1st Brigade,” he said.

About half of the brigade combat team is set to deploy, including more than 300 soldiers who left last week for a separate mission in Kosovo.

Magsig said many of the remaining soldiers would stand by at Fort Bragg, ready to serve if military leaders decide they are needed.

He said it was natural for soldiers and their families to be nervous about the deployment, but he said families should feel confident that their soldiers are ready.

“Your Devils in Baggy Pants are well-prepared, well-trained and well-led,” Magsig said, using a nickname the brigade earned in its early history, fighting in some of the biggest battles of World War II.

In addition to the security force mission, 1st Brigade paratroopers also will be called to advise and assist Afghan army and police forces. And they’ll work to protect military and civilian leaders as they travel the country.

Magsig said the goal is to help the Afghans improve their capacity to govern and protect their nation.

Command Sgt. Maj. Robert Cobb, the brigade’s senior enlisted leader, said that mission would not be possible without the family members who soldiers left behind on Tuesday and others like them. When life at home is stable, paratroopers can focus on their mission, Cobb said.

“So, we put a lot of effort into family readiness groups and the rear detachment,” he said.

Cobb said the focus is largely on the families who have not been through a deployment before. The brigade wants to ensure there is a support structure that can help when issues arise.

Magsig said that support is part of the promise the brigade makes to soldiers and their families.

“We’re all about families,” he said. “We’re a family ourselves, and we rely heavily on our spouses and those we love.”

Earlier this month, most of the brigade gathered for the last time ahead of the deployment.

Magsig spoke to the soldiers as battalions cased their unit colors to mark the beginning of their deployment.

About 300 soldiers – from the 3rd Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment – were the first from the brigade to deploy earlier this year. Those soldiers have already assumed their mission in Kabul.

On Tuesday, soldiers chatted with their loved ones as they prepared to leave. Some made final checks of their equipment. Others posed for photos. For many, it was the last time the soldiers were with their families until the end of the nine-month deployment.

“Today is the hardest day,” Cobb said. “You’re emotionally torn between your military family that you’re leaving with and your real family back home.”

Spc. Trevor Moore was one of those soldiers. His wife, Atheena, is eight months pregnant. And this will be his first deployment.

While he’d like to be there for the birth of his son, James, the soldier said he also has a mission to do.

“I’m ready to go,” he said. “I wish that I had more time… but he’ll be here when I get back.”

“I’m probably a lot more nervous,” said Atheena Moore. “I understand he has to go.”

The two spent as much time as possible together ahead of the deployment, and they plan to talk as much as possible throughout.

Saying goodbye wasn’t easy for many of the soldiers, regardless of the experience level of the paratrooper.

Command Sgt. Maj. William Stockard, the senior enlisted soldier in the 2nd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, said each paratrooper handles the goodbyes differently. He had already said goodbye to his family before Tuesday morning, he said.

“You have to pull off the Band-Aid,” Stockard said.

Kuhlman, the battalion commander, said his children, ages 8 and 6, are only now starting to understand why their father has to go overseas. Still, he said he tried to explain the mission in the simplest way possible.

“There’s evil in the world, and paratroopers have to do something about it,” Kuhlman said. “We fight evil where evil is.”

The United States (US) State Department on June 26 designated Syed Salahuddin, the head of Kashmiri militant group Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM), as a specially designated global terrorist, reports Daily Excelsior, according to satp.org . The move comes just hours before the first meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington. As a consequence of this designation, US persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with Salahuddin and all of Salahuddin’s property and interests in property subject to United States jurisdiction are blocked. 

As a senior leader of HM, the State Department said in September, 2016, Salahuddin, also known as Syed Mohammed Yusuf Shah, vowed to block any peaceful resolution to the Kashmir conflict, threatened to train more Kashmiri suicide bombers, and vowed to turn the Kashmir valley “into a graveyard for Indian forces”. “Under Salahuddin’s tenure as senior HM leader, HM has claimed responsibility for several attacks, including the April 2014 explosives attack in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, which injured 17 people,” the State Department said. Following the designation of Salahuddin as the global terrorist, the State Department in a notification said he has committed, or poses a significant risk of committing, acts of terrorism. Designations of terrorist individuals and groups expose and isolate organizations and individuals, and result in denial of access to the US financial system. Moreover, designations can assist or complement the law enforcement actions of other nations, it said. 

Meanwhile, India welcomed the US’ move. “India welcomes this notification. It underlines also quite strongly that both India and the US face threat of terrorism,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Gopal Baglay said.