Acts of Terrorism megathread

[grumbler]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-56553790

churchbombing by adherents of our favourite religion of peace.

So a church belonging to one "religion of peace" was ineptly suicide-bombed by adherents of a different "religion of peace?"

The story just needs a BJP angle to be complete.

keep drowning that fish...

Physician, heal thyself.

[Duque de Bragança]

™Religion of Eternal Peace™ at it again:

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210423-policewoman-fatally-stabbed-near-paris-french-pm-to-visit-site-of-attack

France will never give in to 'Islamist terrorism,' says Macron after policewoman's killing

President Emmanuel Macron said France would never give in to "Islamist terrorism" after the attack in Rambouillet, a tranquil commuter town about 60 kilometres (40 miles) from Paris, which revived the trauma of a spate of deadly attacks last year.

France's national anti-terrorism prosecutors said they had opened a terror investigation, also involving the DGSI domestic intelligence service, into the murder of a person holding public authority.

A source close to the inquiry told AFP the attacker shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is Greatest) during the attack.

Chief anti-terror prosecutor Jean-François Ricard, who spoke outside the station along with Prime Minister Jean Castex, confirmed that "comments made by the assailant" indicated a terror motive, without giving further details.

'By her side'

The attack took place in the secure entrance area of the station at around 2:20pm (1220 GMT), a police source added.

The 49-year-old woman, an administrative assistant and mother of two who was returning from a lunch break, was stabbed in the throat twice and died of her wounds shortly afterwards, the source said.

The attacker, 36, was fatally wounded when an officer opened fire on him.

He arrived in France illegally in 2009 but had since obtained residency papers, a police source said, adding that he was unknown to security services. He had just moved to Rambouillet.

Macron vowed on Twitter that "in our fight against Islamist terrorism, we will never give in," identifying the murdered woman as Stéphanie.

"The nation is by the side of her family, her colleagues and security forces," he said.

Elle était policière. Stéphanie a été tuée dans son commissariat de Rambouillet, sur les terres déjà meurtries des Yvelines. La Nation est aux côtés de sa famille, de ses collègues et des forces de l'ordre. Du combat engagé contre le terrorisme islamiste, nous ne céderons rien.

— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) April 23, 2021
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, who also visited officers in Rambouillet, said security would be stepped up at stations nationwide.

Spate of attacks

Several attacks over the last year have reignited concerns about the spread of radical Islam inside France as well as immigration.

In September, a Pakistani man wounded two people with a meat cleaver outside the former offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which had printed cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

On October 16, a young Chechen refugee beheaded teacher Samuel Paty who had showed some of the caricatures to his pupils.

And on October 29, three people were killed when a recently arrived Tunisian went on a stabbing spree in a church in the Mediterranean city of Nice.

In the most severe recent attack against French police, three officers and one police employee in Paris were stabbed to death in October 2019 by an IT specialist colleague who was himself then shot dead.

He was later found to have shown an interest in radical Islam.

These attacks came after the massacres carried out by Islamist extremists from 2015 that began with the massacre of staff in the offices of Charlie Hebdo in January that year.

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In France's deadliest peacetime atrocity, 130 people were killed and 350 were wounded when Islamist suicide bombers and gunmen attacked the Stade de France stadium, bars and restaurants in central Paris and the Bataclan concert hall in November 2015.

The next year a man rammed a truck into a Bastille Day crowd in Nice in 2016, killing 86 people.

Just a few weeks before, in June 2016, two police officers were stabbed to death at their home outside Paris by a man claiming allegiance to the Islamic State group.

Macron's government has introduced legislation to tackle radical Islamist activity in France, a bill that has stirred anger in some Muslim countries.

French media add the suspect had made some reconnaissance before perpetrating the attack.

PS: police woman but holding a clerical position, a secretary, so unarmed.

[Oexmelin]

Full story at AP.

PALATKA, Fla. (AP) — Joseph Moore breathed heavily, his face slick with nervous sweat. He held a cellphone with a photo of a man splayed on the floor; the man appeared dead, his shirt torn apart and his pants wet.

Puffy dark clouds blocked the sun as Moore greeted another man, who'd pulled up in a metallic blue sedan. They met behind an old fried chicken shack in rural north Florida.

"KIGY, my brother," Moore said. It was shorthand for "Klansman, I greet you."

Birds chirped in a tree overhead and traffic whooshed by on a nearby road, muddling the sound of their voices, which were being recorded secretly.

Moore brought the phone to David "Sarge" Moran, who wore a camouflage-print baseball hat emblazoned with a Confederate flag patch and a metal cross. His arms and hands were covered in tattoos.

A nervous, giddy chuckle escaped Moran's mouth.

"Oh, shit. I love it," he said. "Motherf----- pissed on himself. Good job."

"Is that what y'all wanted?"

"Yes, hell yeah," Moran said, his voice pitched high.

It was 11:30 a.m. on March 19, 2015, and the klansmen were celebrating what they thought was a successful murder in Florida.

But the FBI had gotten wind of the murder plot. A confidential informant had infiltrated the group, and his recordings provide a rare, detailed look at the inner workings of a modern klan cell and a domestic terrorism probe.

That investigation would unearth another secret: An unknown number of klansmen were working inside the Florida Department of Corrections, with significant power over inmates, Black and white.

https://apnews.com/article/government-and-politics-business-race-and-ethnicity-racial-injustice-only-on-ap-2b4106de3ebcbfae85948439a7056031

[garbon]

Something going down in Plymouth, England.

[Tamas]

Something going down in Plymouth, England.

They say its not terror related.

[Sheilbh]

Multiple fatalities - but, apparently, not terror related. No idea what's happening at this point though.

[Valmy]

So a robbery gone wrong? Domestic violence?

[Tamas]

So a robbery gone wrong? Domestic violence?

They are writing about a now-dead gunman and multiple fatalities. My guess is the gunman wasn't a Muslim hence the "non-terrorism" tag.

[Sheilbh]

So a robbery gone wrong? Domestic violence?

Still very few details.

I'd guess it's unlikely to be domestic violence given that it seemed to happen on a street. And it's not clear if the gunman had a licence for the weapon, but guns are not common here so I'd also think a robbery gone wrong is quite unlikely. The not thought to be terror related is from the local MP - who I assume has been informed that's the police's thinking - but I've not seen the police themselves say that. So it could be, or maybe organised crime? Or, sadly, a sicko with access to a gun.

But very little has been made public yet.

Edit: But apparently at least five dead

Edit: Although this doesn't sound very terrorism-y:

Eyewitness Sharron, who lives near Biddick Drive and did not want to give her full name, said what happened was "horrendous and so sad".

"Firstly, there was shouting, followed by gunshots - three possibly four to begin with," she said.

"This was when the shooter kicked in the door of a house and randomly started shooting ... He ran from the house shooting as he ran and proceeded to shoot at a few people in the linear park up from the drive."

She said the "shooter proceeded along Royal Navy Avenue still shooting".

Another witness, Robert Pinkerton, said he "walked around the corner" and "bumped into a bloke with a shotgun". He said the man was dressed all in black.

Like I wouldn't expect a terrorist to kick in the door of a house in a suburb of Plymouth and then start running down the street shooting people. It sounds very strange.

Edit: Six fatalities including the shooter - police have said it's not terrorism related.

[Valmy]

Ok so you want to murder somebody and are indifferent to getting away with it, then kicking down the door and just shooting the person is something you might do. But then why shoot randos on the street? Very odd.

[Sheilbh]

Ok so you want to murder somebody and are indifferent to getting away with it, then kicking down the door and just shooting the person is something you might do. But then why shoot randos on the street? Very odd.

Agreed - and domestic incident gone very wrong strikes me as pretty possible now I've read the kicking in the door bit. But I've no idea - we'll have to wait for more information.

[mongers]

Shooting random people in the street and in a park, sounds a lot like terrorism.
I think it was be safer to treat it as terrorism until proven otherwise, so be prepared for more and give the search for possible accomplishes/backers a very high priority. 

And since he's dead they can't accurately ascertain his mental state at the moment.

[Sheilbh]

Shooting random people in the street and in a park, sounds a lot like terrorism.
I think it was be safer to treat it as terrorism until proven otherwise, so be prepared for more and give the search for possible accomplishes/backers a very high priority. 

Maybe - although I feel terrorism as the default might be a distraction for the police/media.

Kicking in a door and attacking people in a house on a suburban street full of semis doesn't feel like a terrorist - it feels personal - even if he's then just shooting at random.

But it's very early and we don't know much. They've named the guy and apparently his social media is full of posts of him expressing despair about the future, struggling to lose weight and get a girlfriend (all fairly relateable ). It may be that there's something a bit incel-ish or strongly misogynist in that which I think probably would push it back to a form of terrorism - but we don't know.

Edit: Apparently looks like the victims are his family plus bystanders

[garbon]

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/aug/13/plymouth-shooting-police-reinstated-gunmans-firearms-licence-last-month

Plymouth shooting: police reinstated gunman's firearms licence last month

A gunman who killed his mother and four passersby, including a three-year-old girl, had his firearms licence revoked in December, but police reinstated it last month after he attended an anger management course.

Police will face an investigation over their dealings with Jake Davison, 22, who expressed sympathy for the "incel" movement and a keen interest in mass shootings. One resident from Plymouth, where the killing spree took place, said Davison's family had sought treatment for his mental health issues.

Detectives are also facing questions over the decision to treat the attack – which was Britain's worst mass shooting in over a decade – as a domestic incident rather than a terror attack. On Friday evening sources said the main motives under investigation were a hatred of women and mental heath issues.

As well as his mother, Maxine, 51, Davison's victims were named on Friday as Lee Martyn, 43, and his three-year-old daughter Sophie Martyn, whom he is believed to have adopted, and Stephen Washington, 59, and Kate Shepherd, 66.

Devon and Cornwall police suspended Davison's firearms licence in December last year over concerns about his suitability to hold a weapon, but deemed him suitable to have his gun back last month. He had held a licence since 2018.

The Guardian understands Davison had to attend an anger management course to get his licence back, and months ago was classed by police as being fit again to possess the three-shot shotgun, despite earlier concerns.

In 2020 he had a row with two youths and was reported to police, but he had no previous offences and agreed to attend the course, sources said. The police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), will formally investigate the handling of his gun licence by police.

...

[Tamas]

Aren't most of the Muslim suicide attackers frustrated loners as well? If they do this it's terrorism, if a non-Muslim white guy its domestic violence.