ISIS Militants
By Margaret Besheer
VOA News
August 8, 2024
New York — The head of the United Nations counterterrorism office warned Thursday that there is a risk of the Afghanistan-based Islamic State affiliate IS-Khorasan carrying out attacks abroad.
“ISIL-K has improved its financial and logistical capabilities in the past six months, including by tapping into Afghan and Central Asian diasporas for support,” Vladimir Voronkov said, referring to the terror organization by an acronym. “The group has also intensified its recruitment efforts.”
He told a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on the threat of terrorism that the activity of the self-styled Islamic State and other terrorist groups in Afghanistan “remains a significant concern.”
“We must unite to prevent Afghanistan from once again becoming a hotbed of terrorism,” Voronkov said, urging Afghanistan’s neighbors to counter and prevent the threat from IS-K from spreading.
The United Nations secretary-general said in a July 31 report that the threat from IS and its affiliates “remained high, with the group and affiliates continuing to demonstrate resilience and adaptability despite sustained counter-terrorism efforts.”
The report said following IS’s claimed deadly attacks at a memorial service in Iran on January 3 and at a concert hall in Moscow on March 22, Islamic State’s core “has reportedly directed operatives from Afghanistan and neighboring countries to undertake attacks abroad.”
Afghanistan’s de facto-ruling Taliban claim their security forces have eliminated IS-Khorasan bases in the country and degraded the group’s ability to threaten national security and that of the region.
Voronkov also warned that parts of Africa remain a hotbed of Islamic State activity, which is fueling instability, especially in West Africa and the Sahel. He said two IS regional affiliates — Islamic State West Africa Province and Islamic State in the Greater Sahel — have expanded and consolidated their areas of operations.
“Should these groups extend their influence in northern littoral states, a vast territory stretching from Mali to northern Nigeria could fall under their effective control,” Voronkov warned.
He said they also present a threat in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, northern Mozambique and Somalia.
“Elsewhere, the threat posed by ISIL-K resulted in heightened threat levels in Europe,” Voronkov said. “The group is considered the greatest external terrorist threat to the continent.”
Authorities in the Austrian capital, Vienna, announced Wednesday that they had foiled a plot by a 19-year-old, who had sworn loyalty to IS’s leader online, to carry out an attack at a concert this week by U.S. pop superstar Taylor Swift.
Two other Austrian youths, ages 17 and 15, were also detained. Organizers have canceled the three sold-out Vienna concerts out of caution, disappointing nearly 200,000 fans, many of whom traveled from abroad to attend the show.
Some information in this report came from The Associated Press.
Afghanistan International: The Afghanistan Freedom Front (AFF) announced on Wednesday that it had conducted an attack on a Taliban checkpoint near Baraki Square in Kabul. According to the group’s statement, three Taliban fighters were killed in the incident. AFF has shared a video of the attack on its social media platform. The group also mentioned in their statement that one Taliban member was injured during the attack. 
Ariana: A group of UN experts on Wednesday called on Australia to immediately fulfil its commitment to compensate the families of 39 murdered victims of war crimes committed by the Australian military in Afghanistan. In 2020, a military inquiry found that Australian soldiers killed 39 unarmed prisoners in Afghanistan, when deployed in the NATO-led mission. Some victims were tortured before being killed. “Australia has a duty to compensate victims of summary executions and torture under international human rights law and international humanitarian law,” the experts said. “It is unconscionable that families of deceased victims such as Mr. Nazar Gul, Mr. Yaro Mama Faqir and Mr. Ali Jan, all murdered in 2012, have been left destitute in the harsh living conditions of rural Afghanistan for over a decade.” Gul had three wives and 17 children depending on him. 
Tolo News: With the end of World Breastfeeding Week, the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) said that out of 28,228 children suffering from malnutrition in the past seven months, more than 10,000 of them were under the age of six months. Mohammad Amin Amin, a representative of UNICEF, said: “28,228 children have been admitted, among them 10,240 are children under six months of age, accounting for 36% of this statistic.” 
Ariana: A senior Iranian security official on Wednesday asked illegal immigrants to leave and return to their country in the next seven months. According to IRNA news agency, Ahmad Reza Radan, Iran’s Law Enforcement commander, said that Iran’s policy calls for the return of all undocumented immigrants from the country. This comes as most of the immigrants in Iran are from Afghanistan. 
