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Gunmen Kill Dozens in Terrorist Attack in Crowded Nigeria Market

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A large mob of unidentified gunmen stormed a crowded bazaar in northern Nigeria on Sunday, killing at least 43 people and wounding many more.

The attack took place in Goronyo township in Nigeria’s Sokoto state, beginning late Sunday and continuing into Monday morning.

“Forty-three people have been confirmed dead following the attack by bandits in Goronyo village,” Sokoto government spokesman Muhammad Bello said in a statement, while other reports speak of 49 dead.

“It was a market day and there were many traders,” Bello told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Witnesses said the weekly market was filled with people when the terrorists, riding on over 100 motorcycles, surrounded the area and opened fire on buyers and sellers.

The popular Goronyo market is open every Sunday hosting traders from Sokoto and neighboring Nigerian states as well as from the Niger Republic.

A woman displays a message on a placard during a protest to commemorate one year anniversary of EndSars, a Nigeria protest movement against police brutality at the Unity Fountain in Abuja, on October 20, 2021. (KOLA SULAIMON/AFP via Getty Images)

Eight of the traders killed were from Goronyo while the remaining ones came from the neighboring villages, reported Abdulwahab Yahaya, the chairman of Goronyo LGA.

Some of those present claimed that the attack was carried out by different bandit groups working together as a team.

One witness, who gave his name as Salihu, said the assailants raided the village market from the neighboring Gundumi forest which is few miles away.

“I believe it was a joint attack by bandits from different groups because of the way it was perpetrated. One group cannot carry out such attack; it must have been carried out by groups of bandits in the area,” Salihu said.

Police spokesman Sanusi Abubakar said that security operatives are present at the scene to conduct investigations.

For his part, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, who has been accused of negligence in reining in violence in the country, said the bandits are “currently under desperate pressure because of the intense and sustained air and ground operations against them in their hideouts by our security forces,” in a statement by his spokesman, Garba Shehu.

“The cowardly attacks on innocent people by the bandits show a rearguard action of criminals under pressure,” Buhari said. “But they will have no place to hide and our gallant security forces will not relent in the current offensive to defeat these callous enemies of humanity.”

Taliban Gives Cash Rewards to Terrorist Families: 'Heroes of Islam'

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Taliban “Interior Minister” Sirajuddin Haqqani, a U.S. “specially designated global terrorist,” handed out land and cash rewards to the families of jihadist suicide bombers in an event in Kabul on Tuesday, declaring them the “heroes of Islam.”

The Taliban, an Afghan terrorist organization, took over Afghanistan in August after President Joe Biden refused to abide by a peace deal that the former Afghan government, the Taliban, and the administration of former President Donald Trump agreed to before Biden’s arrival in the White House.

Biden’s decision to extend the 20-year Afghan War, rather than keep to Trump’s deadline to withdraw from the country, prompted a national military assault by the Taliban that resulted in their capture of Kabul and the abrupt flight of former President Ashraf Ghani, allegedly with $169 million in tow.

Biden’s foreign policy also resulted in millions of dollars in American military gear falling into Taliban hands, which the Taliban later displayed in a victory parade in the city of Kandahar.

Taliban spokesmen have repeatedly insisted that they would not allow terrorists to use Afghan soil for their activities and have pleaded with state actors, including America, to recognize it as a legitimate government.

The efforts appear to be working despite the group’s open and notorious ties to terrorism; the Biden administration praised talks with the Taliban last week as “candid and professional.”

TOPSHOT - A Taliban fighter stands guard as Muslim devotees offer Friday noon prayers at the Aba Saleh Almahdi mosque in Dasht-e-Barchi in Kabul on October 1, 2021. (Photo by Hoshang Hashimi / AFP) (Photo by HOSHANG HASHIMI/AFP via Getty Images)

A Taliban fighter on guard as Muslim devotees offer Friday noon prayers at the Aba Saleh Almahdi mosque in Dasht-e-Barchi in Kabul on October 1, 2021. ( HOSHANG HASHIMI/AFP via Getty)

Sirajuddin Haqqani’s giveaway to jihadist suicide bomber families represents the most blatant endorsement of terrorism for the Taliban since taking over Kabul. A spokesman for Haqqani’s “interior ministry,” Saeed Khosty, posted news and photos of the event on social media on Tuesday. The Afghan news agency Khaama Press reported on the news as coming from an authentic Taliban source.

Khosty referred to Haqqani with the honorifics Alhaj Mullah Khalifa.

“In his speech, the Interior Minister praised the jihad & sacrifices of Mujahideen [jihadists] & martyrs. He called them heroes of Islam & the country,” Khosty wrote. The families of the terrorists reportedly received 10,000 Afghanis (about $110) each, some unspecified “clothes,” and a promise that they would receive plots of land in gratitude for their relatives’ mass killings. Khosty did not specify who the suicide bombers the event honored were or which acts of terrorism they committed to have their families invited there.

The images shared in the account show a conference hall packed full of men, suggesting the event honored as many as dozens of terrorists. Some of those in the photos – presumably among them Haqqani – have their faces blurred or obscured by the camera angle.

Notably, the posts about the event represent almost the entirety of the English-language content on Khosty’s account, suggesting the Taliban intended the news to reach the Anglophone world as well as Afghan citizens.

Khaama Press noted that the Intercontinental is one of Kabul’s most lavish hotels and “was targeted by Taliban’s suicide bombers several times.”

Sirajuddin Haqqani is believed to be the leader of the Haqqani Network, a terrorist entity that maintains the Taliban’s ties with al-Qaeda and other jihadist organizations while the “political office” of the Taliban, headquartered in Qatar prior to the Kabul siege in August, leads Taliban public relations. In addition to an accomplished record of jihadist terror that allegedly includes hotel bombings in Kabul, Haqqani has contributed to the New York Times opinion pages, penning an op-ed titled “What We, the Taliban, Want” in February 2020. The New York Times did not identify Haqqani as a member of the Haqqani Network, but as a “deputy leader of the Taliban.”

“The Taliban and the Haqqani Network are separate entities,” Biden administration State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters in August.

In September, reports began surfacing that Sirajuddin Haqqani had received the authority to mandate who in Kabul has access to Afghan passports, potentially allowing the Taliban to prevent Afghans who had aided American operations in the country in the past two decades from fleeing.

While Taliban spokesmen repeatedly denied that the terrorist group sought to kill or otherwise exact revenge on interpreters and others with ties to American and Western forces, widespread reports began surfacing in August of killings of suspected allies at the hands of Taliban jihadists. Taliban leaders denied having given those orders.

Taliban fighters stand guard near the venue of an open-air rally in a field on the outskirts of Kabul on October 3, 2021, as the Taliban supporters and senior figures held their first mass rally in a show of strength as they consolidate their rule of Afghanistan. (Hoshang Hashimi/AFP via Getty Images)

Taliban fighters stand guard near the venue of an open-air rally in a field on the outskirts of Kabul on October 3, 2021. (Hoshang Hashimi/AFP via Getty Images)

The Biden administration reportedly handed the Taliban a list of these individuals, presumably urging the terrorists to let them leave the country, in August.

Sirajuddin Haqqani is one of several members of his family, who run the notorious Haqqani network, offered key roles in the Taliban terrorist government. Taliban leaders appointed Abdul Baqi Haqqani the minister of higher education and Khalil Ur-Rahman Haqqani the Kabul security chief after its takeover in August.

The FBI is currently offering up to $10 million for information leading to the arrest of Sirajuddin Haqqani. The Department of Justice has offered $5 million for information regarding Khalil Haqqani. Terrorism experts believe Khalil to be Sirajuddin’s uncle.

Follow Frances Martel on Facebook and Twitter.

David's Law: Tory MPs Push Bojo to End Online Anonymity Despite No Known Connection to Suspected Terror Attack

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There are growing calls within the Tory party for Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government to introduce draconian restrictions on the internet, including an end to online anonymity on social media, in the wake of the killing of Sir David Amess MP.

On Sunday, Home Secretary Priti Patel suggested that the government may seek to include a ban on anonymity on social media following the suspected Islamist attack.

The call has been picked up by many in the so-called Conservative Party, despite there yet being no reported indication that online abuse led to what is being investigated as potential Islamist terrorism.

Tory MP for Rayleigh and Wickford, Mark Francois, who was a close friend of the slain politician, has been leading the push to introduce a “David’s Law” which would end online anonymity.

Francois said that the forthcoming Online Harms Bill should be amended to prevent trolls from insulting or threatening public figures anonymously, saying: “In the last few years David had become increasingly concerned about what he called the toxic environment in which MPs, particularly female MPs, were having to operate in.”

“He was appalled by what he called the vile misogynistic abuse which female MPs had to endure online and he told me very recently that he wanted something done about it,” the Tory added.

There has been some pushback against the idea, with some claiming that the tragedy of Sir David’s death has been hijacked in order to usher in anonymity restrictions, which presently appear unrelated to the killing.

Responding to the focus being placed on social media abuse and the supposedly contentious political climate, Brexit leader Nigel Farage said: “Everyone is missing the point. Sir David’s murder is not about rhetoric in politics but terrorism. If we misdiagnose the illness then we won’t find a cure.”

In comments made to Breitbart London, Dr Alan Mendoza, the executive director of the Henry Jackson Society, said that Sir David Amess wasn’t killed because people are “rude on Twitter”.

Dr Mendoza said that the focus of the apparent terror attack should be on rooting out Islamic extremism and the “extremist teaching” out of communities in Britain.

The Henry Jackson Society director suggested that the government should take a “full-scale” approach in tackling the problems of “segregation and social division” embedded in some communities, as well as devoting more resources to anti-terror programmes such as Prevent, which reportedly had been allerted to Ali Harbi Ali, the alleged killer of Sir David, apparently without taking action.

Mendoza said that the government should also look to adopt the recommendations of the 2016 Casey Review, which called for “British values” to be instilled in immigrant communities in order to increase social cohesion. The review also said that a heavy emphasis should be placed on learning the English language and for immigrants to agree to an “integration oath”.

The report said that the failures to integrate migrant populations into the UK have come as a result of “regressive, divisive and harmful cultural and religious practices” being overlooked by government institutions out of “fear of being branded racist or Islamophobic.”

“This has not helped the communities which many well-intentioned people in those institutions have wanted to protect; more often it has played straight into the hands of extremists. As a nation, we have lost sight of our expectations on integration and lacked confidence in promoting it or challenging behaviours that undermine it,” the review stated.

On top of concerns about the government and the mainstream media focussing on the wrong target, civil rights campaigners have warned that an end to online anonymity could have dire consequences for speech and privacy rights in Britain.

Appearing on the Jeremy Vine programme on Tuesday, Big Brother Watch director Silkie Carlo said that when democracy comes under attack, people should stand up to defend its principles rather than rushing to enact restrictions.

“Anonymity has always enabled people to have debates about controversial issues, to bring corruption to light, and to speak about things better without necessarily wanting to be identified, like for example with workplace harassment,” Carlo argued.

The privacy campaigner went on to note that some of the largest online movements, such as Me Too, would have been stifled if people were not able to speak out anonymously against powerful sexual predators.

Carlo said that any criminal behaviour online should be handled by the police, and not by foreign big tech companies such as Facebook and Twitter.

In Communist China, citizens are required to provide government identification in order to post on social media, a move that widely regarded as intended to shut down political dissent.

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka

MP Slaying: UK Security Services Fear 'Rise of the Bedroom Radicals' as Lockdown Ends

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Britain’s security services have expressed fear that the end of lockdown will see a surge in attacks by lone wolf terrorists radicalised online during the Wuhan virus pandemic in the wake of Sir David Amess’s killing.

“Counter-terror police and MI5 have been concerned for some time that once we emerged out of lockdown there would be more people out on the streets and more targets for the terrorists,” a security source told The Telegraph, which is close to Britain’s governing Conservative Party, following the killing of Sir David Amess MP in a stabbing attack believed to have “a potential motivation linked to Islamist extremism” by police.

“Combined with the fact that lots of young people have been spending so much time online, it makes for a very worrying mix and there is a real concern about the possible rise of the bedroom radicals,” the source added.

“It’s a really important point actually, it really is. Coronavirus, pandemic, people being locked down at home, online, et cetera,” commented the Home Secretary, Priti Patel, during an appearance on The Andrew Marr Show.

“But what I would say, to put this into perspective, we have the best security and intelligence agencies in the world,” she told the BBC programme — despite recent revelations of massive failures by British intelligence ahead of the Manchester Arena bombing, for example, as well as the police and on-site security.

“I can’t sit and share with you [but] I know how they worked throughout the pandemic. I know the work that they do in terms of watching individuals – subjects of interest, tracking behaviours, monitoring anybody of interest,” she added.

In fact, many radical Islamic terrorists who have struck in Britain in recent years did so despite having previously come to the attention of the authorities, with some actually having been under active monitoring following previous terror convictions.

Full details of the state’s prior knowledge of the suspect in Sir David Amess’s killing are yet to be revealed, although it is said that he was previously reported to the Prevent deradicalisation programme.

Follow Jack Montgomery on Twitter: @JackBMontgomery
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Farage Calls for Military Veterans to Provide Security for MPs Following Sir David Amess Killing

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Security protocols for Members of Parliament will potentially be overhauled in the wake of the suspected terror killing of Conservative MP Sir David Amess, with Brexit leader Nigel Farage calling for military veterans to be tasked with protecting politicians.

A security review conducted by Home Secretary Priti Patel may see every MP offered a security detail while meeting with constituents at local surgeries, which will possibly be equipped with metal detectors, The Times reports.

The revamped security protocols come in the wake of Sir David Amess being stabbed to death while meeting with the public at a surgery in the Belfairs Methodist Church in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, on Friday.

It is currently believed that there was “a potential motivation linked to Islamist extremism” for the killing of the Tory MP, with a 25-year-old named by the press as Ali Harbi Ali being arrested on suspicion of murder and further detained under the Terrorism Act.

Commenting on the security of politicians in Britain, Nigel Farage called for MPs to be provided with personal security when holding pre-advertised meetings with the public.

Mr Farage, who acknowledged that his own high profile and strong views led to much more vitriol being directed against him than the average MP, said on GB News that he was forced to employing a security detail in light of “endless death threats” and attacks against him.

The Brexit leader said that he is “absolutely certain” that if Sir David had a trained security officer with him at the time of his murder “there is no way he would have been stabbed seventeen times.”

Farage suggested employing veterans from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to protect MPs, noting that they are trained to be on the “lookout for terrorism” and in dealing with civilians in difficult situations.

He also pointed out that it would be a positive way for veterans to serve their communities again, with many finding the readjustment back to civilian life difficult.

Mr Farage added that for pre-advertised events such as surgery meetings, there should be a vetting process for those wishing to attend.

“There ought to be a check on whether the person coming even lives in the constituency and there ought to be a way for those names just to be passed over to the local police to check whether anyone on that list is potentially a problem,” he said.

Some Members of Parliament have called for a pause in face-to-face meetings with the public, including Tory politician Tobias Ellwood, who wrote on social media that “MP engagement with the public… is a vital part of our work — our accessibility with the public. But understandable huge anxiety amongst MPs now.

“Until the Home Secretary’s review of MP security is complete I would recommend a temporary pause in face-to-face meetings,” Elwood said, suggesting that surgery meetings could be held online for the time being.

The Labour Party’s former Shadow Home Secretary, Diane Abbott, said that she would “prefer” to meet the public through a plastic barrier in order to prevent possible stabbings.

Others have cast a defiant tone, including Tory MP Alec Shelbrooke, who held a meeting with the public at a local supermarket following the attack on Sir David Amess.

“We cannot let events like this diminish the deep relationship between an MP and their constituents,” Shelbrooke said.

“I love that my constituents feel they can approach me in this way and the ability to do so is a foundation of British democracy,” he added.

The attack on Sir David Amess was the fourth attack on a British MP involving knives over the past 20 years. In 2016, Labour MP Jo Cox was shot and stabbed to death by a far-right terrorist, and in 2010 Labour MP Stephen Timms survived being attacked by a radical Islamist who stabbed him twice.

In 2000, Liberal Democrat MP Nigel Jones was assaulted with a samurai sword along with his aide, county councillor Andrew Pennington, who died of his wounds.

Both surviving MPs have stressed the importance of British politicians meeting with their constituents in the wake of the assassination of Sir David Amess.

“Our democracy relies on an open channel between those in power and the people who we represent. It’s vital to be able to meet people face to face so they can feel we are here and are working for them,” wrote Jones, now a member of the House of Lords, in The Telegraph.

Stephen Timms said that Sir David “was committed to his constituency in Southend, and gave his life — tragically and appallingly — in serving his constituents. Members of Parliament must always be accessible to their constituents, as David was.”

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka