home Security Counter Terror ICT Report: Monthly Terrorist Activities – April 2014

ICT Report: Monthly Terrorist Activities – April 2014

Aug 11, 2014

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The following is a summary and analysis of the terrorist attacks and counter-terrorism operations that occurred during April 2014, as researched and recorded by the ICT Database Team. Among the most important events occurring this April:

On April 5, Indian intelligence (ISI) claimed that they foiled a plot to attack the US and Israeli consulates in India. Indian authorities made the discovery during an interrogation of Sri Lankan militant, Sakir Hussain, who was arrested on April 29 in Southeast Asia.
A series of attacks targeting police officers occurred throughout Egypt between April 2- 23. This was significant as it demonstrated a shift from high-profile suicide and car bombings against police installations towards low-level attacks on individual officers or small police posts. Ajnad Misr (Soldiers of Egypt), which formed in January, claimed responsibility for the majority of the attacks. However, attacks carried out on April 19 and 23 were claimed by Ansar Bait al-Maqdas militants.
On April 14, Chief Superintendent Baruch Mizrahi was fatally shot by gunman near Hebron, West Bank. His wife and one of his five children were moderately injured in the attack. No group claimed responsibility for the incident but, as a result of a police investigation, two Hamas operatives identified as Ziad Awawde and his son, Iz-Adin Ziad Hassan Awawde, were later arrested and charged with the incident.
On April 15, approximately 276 female students were kidnapped from a Government Secondary School in Chibok in Borno State, Nigeria. According to authorities, approximately 200 heavily armed militants arrived at the school during the night in 20 vehicles and kidnapped the students. Authorities said that 58 girls managed to escape into the Sambisa Forest, which bordered their school and was a known hideout of militants of the Boko Haram terrorist network. No group immediately claimed responsibility but several weeks after the attack Boko Haram said they had kidnapped the girls and threatened to sell them as slaves. At the time this report was published the girls had not been released. There has been world-wide condemnation and mass social media campaigns in protest.
On April 17, Daud Farhat and Yousef Ayyad were arrested in Bangkok, accused of plotting to attack Israeli tourists and of having suspected ties to Hezbollah.
On April 20, a series of suspected joint US-Yemeni air strikes in Bayda Province, southern Yemen, killed approximately 55 suspected Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) militants.
On April 30, a bomb and knife attack at Urumqi’s south railway station in China’s western Xinjiang region killed three people and injured 79 others. The attack occurred as the Chinese President Xi Jinping was ending a rare visit to the troubled Xinjiang region. The Turkestan Islamic Party claimed responsibility for the attack.