Islamist militants in the Philippines on Friday (April 15) announced a new deadline of April 25 for the execution of three foreign captives and a Filipino, but scaled back their ransom demand in a video posted on social media. The captives – two Canadian men, a Norwegian man and a Filipino woman – were kidnapped from a beach resort on a southern island last September.They are believed to be held in the jungle on Jolo Island, a stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf group, which is known for bombs, beheadings and kidnappings.
THE Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), a notorious radical terror group in Southern Philippines, had “officially” pledged allegiance to the caliph of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

In the video, the captives, with machetes held to their necks, asked their families and governments to pay a ransom of 300 million pesos ($6.51 million) each, down from the figure of a billion pesos each that the militants demanded last year.

“This is already an ultimatum,” the masked militant leader said. “We will certainly behead one of these four,” he added, setting the execution for 3 p.m. on April 25.

There was no explanation why the ransom was reduced or a new deadline set. A spokesman for the Philippine military declined to comment, saying he had not seen the video. In the nearly two-minute clip posted on Youtube, the foreigners appealed for the militants’ demands to be met, Reuters reports.

“I am told to tell you that my ransom is 300 million,” said one man, who identified himself as Robert Hall. “My specific appeal is to the Canadian government, who, I know, have the capacity to get us out of here. I’m wondering what they’re waiting for.”

The other Canadian and the Norwegian also made appeals, but the Filipino woman was not allowed to speak.

The video was the fourth such appeal released by the ISIS afilliated militants. In their third clip last month, they set an April 8 deadline but no ransom was specified.

Security is precarious in the resource-rich south of the largely Christian Philippines, despite a 2014 peace pact between the government and the largest Muslim rebel group that ended 45 years of conflict.

Abu Sayyaf militants are holding other foreigners, including one from the Netherlands, one from Japan, four Malaysians and 10 Indonesian tugboat crew.

On the nearby island of Basilan, government troops are pursuing another faction of Abu Sayyaf rebels, who killed 18 soldiers and wounded more than 50 in an ambush. The military said 28 militants, including a Moroccan, were killed.

Norwegian police are looking at 20 suspected war criminals from Syria, following tips from refugees and local immigration authorities, a police official said. “We are taking a closer look at around 20 individuals, and we are currently assessing whether there is a basis to start an investigation,” Sigurd Moe, the superintendent of the war crimes section of the National Criminal Investigation Service, said in an interview.“It is people from both sides of the conflict. Both people we think have been on (Syrian president Bashar) Al Assad’s side and individuals from the rebellions,” he said.

The police had yet to decide whether to open formal proceedings, he said.

“What is new now is that we have decided to use a lot of resources on uncovering war criminals among the refugees arriving now,” Moe said.

“We are spending quite a lot of resources on finding these people, because we don’t want them to wander freely around the streets of Norway.”

Tips from refugees have increased as the number of refugees has grown, he said. They amounted to about 100 tips over the past six months.

“It can be anything from belonging to a military faction which we know has been committing serious crimes, or it may be other concrete tips that go for a more specific crime.”

Suspicions of war crimes were often triggered by pictures or videos on refugees’ mobile phones, which are screened by local police upon arrival, he said.

The material sometimes boasted of crimes being committed, he said.

(Agencies)

The coalition fighting terrorism in Syria and Iraq should do more to combat ISIL, Norway’s foreign minister said during a visit to Turkey that coincided with a deadly suicide attack on Istanbul’s tourist district. Borge Brende said the fight against terror should be stepped up as he made a trip to capital Ankara on Tuesday — the day a suicide attack in Istanbul’s Sultanahmet district killed ten people, mostly German tourists.The attack, in which a Norwegian national was slightly injured, according to the country’s Foreign Ministry, was blamed on ISIL by Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.
Condemning the attack, Brende told Anadolu Agency: “We are of course concerned that again ISIL is behind this.

“We have to step up in fight against terrorism. The coalition against ISIL has to do more in fighting terrorism.”

Norway is part of the coalition and has a training mission in northern Iraq. Last month, the U.S. asked for support from the NATO member in Syria.

The minister, a member of Norway’s center-right Conservative Party, was in Ankara to speak at a conference of Turkish ambassadors where he met Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and EU Minister Volkan Bozkir.
“I was visiting on a very sad day though, due to what took place in Istanbul, the terrorist attack,” he said. “I had the chance to convey my most deep condolences to President Erdogan and also to the foreign minister.”

Brende said instability in the Middle East was a crucial concern for Norway and stressed Turkey’s “very important” role in the region.

Referring to his meeting with Turkish officials, Brende said: “I used the opportunity to thank the government of Turkey and the Turkish people for your hospitality and the way you have received millions of asylum seeker and refugees from Syria to your country.”

Turkey has taken in around 2.5 million Syrian refugees since civil war broke out across its southern border in 2011. The country has also taken in hundreds of thousands of refugees from countries such as Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan.

Brende said the refugee crisis was a challenge for the wider world, not just Turkey, and pointed to an upcoming summit on the issue to be held in London as a sign that governments are tackling the problem.

“It is so important to step up the humanitarian relief but, in addition, we saw last year 1 million asylum seekers coming to Europe,” Brende said. “Germany and Sweden have taken many of these but Norway is also among the countries that received the most asylum seekers.”

The Syrian conflict has led to more than 250,000 deaths, according to the UN, and turned the country into the largest source of refugees, with nearly 8 million internally displaced and more than 4 million having fled to neighboring countries.
“I think what is more urgent than ever is to make sure that there is peace in Syria and that we find a way out of this impasse,” Brende said.

Calling for an inclusive government in Damascus to allow Syrians to take full control of their country, Brende emphasized that a political solution was essential.

“There must be,” the minister said. “There is no alternative. It cannot continue like today.”

Norway and Sweden were put on high alert as the 25-year-old ISIS fighter eluded intelligence services after he entered Sweden on Wednesday. Majid entered the Scandinavian country after fighting for ISIS in Syria. At a press conference Swedish police revealed ISIS fighter Majid entered the country via Germany, and it was believed he had crossed the border to Norway, however the jihadist was caught in Sweden tonight.”Security police have recieved concrete information about a concrete threat and we have started an investigation.
“We are looking for a specific man and we are doing everything in our power to find him,” security police boss Anders Thornberg said to broadcaster SVT.

Last night Sweden increased their terror alert to four (on a scale from one to five) for the first time in the country’s history and Norway has also introduced more security measures.

The increase comes in the Paris aftermath as ISIS has threatened that more attacks are imminent and according to Swedish police around 120 people who have fought in Iraq and Syria are currently in country.

Swedish and Norwegian police worked together to establish Majid’s whereabouts it was feared he was planning copy cat attacks on Scandinavian soil.

Police districts in Norway had been alerted and the Norwegian Police Security Service (PTS), comparable to the British MI5, asked Muslim communities to stay alert.

“A national intelligence squad has been created to give the PTS and regular police the best possible chance to detect and prevent planned terror in Norway,” PTS said.

The Iraqi man is also wanted in Denmark according to Danish TV2.

Terror fears are growing in Scandinavia after it was revealed yesterday that ISIS had killed Norwegian hostage Ole Johan Grimsgaard-Ofstad, 48, after they tried claiming ransom in September.

A Norway-based Iraqi Kurdish terror recruitment ring that sent people to fight in Iraq and Syria alongside Islamic State has been broken up, with 13 arrests made in Italy, Britain and Norway. Italian Carabinieri General Giuseppe Governale called it “the most important police operation in Europe in 20 years”.Italian authorities said the ideological leader of the ring was Najmuddin Faraj Ahmad, known as Mullah Krekar, who is already in prison in Norway.
He had been a founder of the now-defunct Ansar al-Islam insurgent group of Sunni Kurds, which aimed to install an Islamic caliphate in Iraqi Kurdistan and merged with IS last year.

Once living in exile in Norway, Krekar formed another group, Rawti Shax, to educate a new generation of Iraqi Kurds in Europe to violently overthrow the government in the Iraqi Kurdish region and replace it with a radical caliphate, Italian police said.

He developed a network of followers across Europe who communicated by internet chats, which Italian police monitored, leading to Thursday’s arrests.

Eurojust, the European Union judicial co-operation agency, said 13 people were arrested.

Italian authorities said arrest warrants were issued against 17 people, but at least one of them was killed in Iraq in 2014. The discrepancy could not be immediately explained.

The suspects are accused of international terrorism association.

The emergence of Islamic State provided Rawti Shax with a training ground, and at least six people were recruited to fight in Iraq and Syria, Italian officials told a press conference. At least two died in the region.

Police said Rawti Shax created a virtual university online to radicalise potential recruits, and a secret committee discussed attacks against Norwegian diplomats and MPs to negotiate Ahmad’s freedom.

Mr Governale, however, said the group’s primary activity was recruitment.

Ahmad was sentenced last month to 18 months in jail in Norway for praising the killing of cartoonists at the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, which had made fun of Islam and other religions.

He was also found guilty of urging others to kill a Kurdish immigrant in Norway.

The Norwegian suspects face a court hearing Friday in Oslo, Norway, pending a possible deportation to Italy, said a spokeswoman for Norway’s security service PST.

Earlier this year, Ahmad was freed after nearly three years’ imprisonment for making death threats.

The 59-year-old Kurd, who came to Norway as a refugee in 1991, was convicted in 2005 for a similar offence. Norway and the United States have accused Ahmad of financing Ansar al-Islam.

Norwegian prime minister Erna Solberg said: “If this means that Krekar leaves Norway, that’s fine.”

Radical Islamists have been caught infiltrating migrant reception centres in Norway and trying to recruit new arrivals to their cause, the Norwegian Police Security Service (PST) has warned. The extremists have been so visible that some migrants have asked whether or not they are really in Europe and free of the religious fundamentalism they claim to be escaping.“We have seen signs that extreme Islamists have approached the reception centres and asylum seekers. They have been there to get contacts. Aside from that, it’s difficult to say what their specific purpose is,” Jørn Presterudstuen from PST told Norwegian news agency NTB.
“We are of course worried about recruitment into radical circles: of course we are worried about every single person that may be recruited by extreme Islamists and their cause.”

Torshov reception centre in Oslo confirms that Islamists have visited and spoken to refugees at the centre.

“We had an incident here with an Islamist who has been in Norway for some years. His message was that the West had helped to destroy his homeland and they had to stand together within Islam. It was very important that they continued to go to the mosque and followed the rules, particularly with regard to women,” the centre’s manager, Hugo Limkjær, said.

An employee who did not wish to be named said that asylum seekers from Syria were fearful of the man.

“They were afraid and asked ‘Have we come to Europe?’. They said that they had fled from this, the extremism,” he told Norwegian broadcaster NRK.

Breitbart London has reported on the brazen move by Islamists who waste no time radicalising their latest Muslim recruits, approaching new arrivals as soon as they arrive in Europe.

Just last month German authorities cautioned that Islamists were taking advantage of migrants who were disorientated or without friends in their new country. An official in Bavaria said: “Salafists are trying to talk with unaccompanied youths who have come to Germany without their families and who are in particular need of support and connections.

“The Salafists are trying to use the desperate situation refugees find themselves in for their own goals”.

Norway is no stranger to migrants and is not immune to Europe’s migrant crisis. The country has seen a surge in the number of refugees arriving in recent months, with the the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration stating that their previous prognosis of 20,000 to 25,000 asylum seekers in 2015 is too low.

The UNHCR reports the number of asylum applications received in 2014 by EU member states rose last year by 25 per cent while Norway housed more than 47,000 refugees as of December 2014, but more have tried to make their way across the border with Russia on bicycles in recent weeks, exploiting a legal loophole prohibiting entry by car or by foot.

A Norwegian District Court sentenced controversial Kurdish cleric Najmuddin Faraj Ahmad, better known as mullah Krekar, to a year and a half in prison on Friday for threatening a Kurdish activist. “The threats were made under aggravated circumstances,” the court said in it’s ruling, cited by the local Norwegian Aftenposten newspaper.
Krekar in February said a Kurdish man living in Norway deserved to die after he posted images of himself burning the Koran.
Krekar said in an interview with broadcaster NRK that he would “send a gift” to whoever killed the man.

The cleric’s threatening statements were made in interviews with Norwegian and Kurdish television in February, one month after Krekar was released after serving two years in jail for making threats against three Kurds and Conservative Party leader Erna Solberg, now Prime Minister of Norway.

Krekar was the original leader of the Ansar al-Islam militant group, active in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region and Syria from 2001 until its merger with Islamic State in mid-2014.

The group carried out numerous deadly attacks, and is widely regarded as a terrorist organisation.

Krekar first went to Norway as a refugee in 1991, and has since repeatedly travelled to the Middle East. He has been on the UN terror list since 2006.

Two Canadian tourists and a Norwegian resort manager, as well as a Filipino woman, abducted by the Islamic State (Isis) affiliates from a popular resort in Philippines, appeared on a video released by the group late night on Tuesday. The four hostages were kidnapped from the Samal island in southern Philippines, and were taken to the Mindanao mainland on a boat by the gunmen on 21 September. Since then the Philippines army has been trying to locate them.In the nearly three-minute video clip, the four hostages are seen surrounded by masked, heavily armed militants. Isis banners are seen in the back.
The video shows the hostages pleading for help from the Canadian and Philippines governments. The fourth person, a Filipino woman, does not speak.

Canadian national Robert Hall is the first one to speak, who after assuring his friends and family of his health, tells that his life is in danger. He then requests his family and friends to contact the Canadian and Philippines governments to stop the military activities in southern Filipino province of Mindanao.

The next to speak to the camera is Kjartan Sekkingstad, the owner of Oceanview Marina from Norway. He makes the same request and emphasises that else “these people will kill us”.

The last hostage to speak is a Canadian national, John Ridsdel. The camera shows a militant holding a machete near the head of Ridsdel, who then pleads to the Canadian and Philippines governments to help them by ceasing bombing, artillery fire and other military operations in the area and resume negotiations.

At this, a militant wearing sunglasses step forward and repeats the demands of the group and speaking in English, says that any negotiations are possible only after military action is stopped in the region.

The Philippine army has said that the negotiations would be unlikely and its military offensives would continue.

Colonel Restituto Padilla, an army spokesman, told GMA News: “The policy of the government, as well as others who have been in this kind of situation, is that there is no negotiation that can be made with any of those who perpetrating this crime.”

On Monday, global youth Counter Violent Extremism (CVE) summit in New York found an unusual speaker. Yousef Assidiq, a former recruiter for Norway’s radical outfit, Prophet’s Ummah, shared stage with youths from various countries and spoke on how radicalization and violent extremism had marginalized him in the society and he now finds hismself a “free Muslim” after leaving radical thoughts behind. The Summit was roganised by the Department of States and over two dozen youths, working on the subject, were invited from across the world.Ummah is suspected to have been radicalizing youths and sent them to join the erstwhile Al-Qaeda and now to the Islamic State (IS).
Once a die-hard fan of yet to be banned outfit Ummah, Assidiq, now 27, has been travelling different cities in Norway. “I was born in a Christian family. As a teenager I would study a lot. In 2009, I embraced Islam however my family did not take it well. They disapproved my conversion. However, I was firm on Islam. I had just changed my religion but was upset when my family members, relatives and friends’ behavior changed towards me. I found myself alone. During this period, I would go for prayers. When I narrated my story to a person, Mohammed Bhatti, he embraced me and told me not to worry since they would be my family henceforth,” said the Sociology graduate from Oslo university.

“Bhatti kept meeting me and offered me to join his group, Prophet’s Ummah. I was attracted towards it since they would always talk about Islam, Muslims and seemed worried to help Muslims socially and economically. I would roam around with them to find new members for our outfit,” he added. “They had shown me videos of Iraq violence and persecution on Muslims in several other countries. While I would want to learn Islam, they would talk about ideology. My recruiter, Bhatti, had shown me videos of several terror attacks. He had kept 9/11 twin tower bombing photos as his facebook profile picture.

In 2010, a Norwegian daily newspaper, Dag Bladet, carried the caricature of Prophet in its edition. This sparked outrage among the Muslim community across Norway. “We came on the roads and a mob of 3,500 Muslims gathered to protest the printing of caricatures. While I delivered a speech, I found my mother had also come there to see if I was safe. Bhatti had become very emotional during his speech. He threatened saying if such acts were not stopped, there will be multiple 9/11 like attacks in Norway,” said Assidiq. He said he was upset with this since “I never wanted violence. I joined Islam since I love the religion. During this time I went home to meet my parents and who offered me an option. Either be with them or with the outfit. This was the turning point since I did not want to hurt my mother. Moreover, this was not the kind of Islam I love. The outfit was promoting hatred and training youths for militancy. I decided to quit the outfit and finally came home in 2014. Nobody stopped me but threat to my life began,” said Assidiq softly.

Assidiq was invited by the Department of State to speak and narrate his story as to how he returned to a normal life after change of heart. While the official figures say 80 youths, all trained by Ummah went to join the ISIS, Assidiq said unofficially more than 150 youths have left Norway and joined ISIS in Syria. “Now I find out potential youths in Norway through social media who could join the terror gangs. “I meet them and listen to them as to why they want to join the ISIS. “The major reason for the youths to join these groups, I found, is uncertain future, identity crisis, poor economic and educational structure of several Muslim youths, social security, loneliness, and unemployment” he said. Assidiq now sports long beard. Assidiq recalls incident of “discrimination” since he converted to Islam. “A woman had shouted at me taunting I should leave her country. These things hurt and Muslims go through this. We need to change people’s mentality,” he said.

Assidiq started a firm, Just Unity, in 2014, along with a female colleague. “We go schools to school and narrate m stories and tell the students not to adopt any radical route. With me also comes the woman whose son escaped from Norway and joined the ISIS. He was shot down while fighting for the ISIS in 2014. The mother of that guy narrates hear ordeal and the trauma she is going through. This is helping to convey our message to more students,” he added. Last week Norwegian Prime Minister, Erna Solberg, invited Assidiq to discuss the counter violent extremism.

Just Unity is now working to identify the youths who may have radicalized thoughts. “We search on internet and when spot any such youth, we meet them and offer them help like job and other things. Its bringing a positive and I could be able to save 30 youths from going and joining ISIS so far. “The terror operatives call me up on my cell phone and threat with dire consequences and even issue me threats through social media as well.

Meanwhile, Sitan Berger Rosland, Governing Mayor of Oslo, in an interaction with the Foreign Press at the United Nations on Tuesday, said that its not allowed to promote violence anywhere in the world. “Most effective way to stop youths from joining the extremists’ gangs, which they feel is fascinated, is by engaging them into dialogues and interactions. There is need to explain these young men the ideology of the extreme organization and that they are not going to achieve anything by violence. Moreover, banning such extreme organisations is not a solution,” said Rosland.

(indiatimes)

A Pole who allegedly fought in the ranks of Islamic State has been arrested in Norway. Radio ZET reports to this effect were confirmed by a spokesperson for Poland’s Internal Security Agency (ABW). The Polish citizen is now being held in a Norwegian prison, awaiting a decision on whether he will be extradited for trial in Poland.
For the offenses he has alleged committed he could face up to six years in prison in Norway and 25 years in Poland.
The suspect has reportedly asked not be transported back to Poland, claiming he might be threatened by “physical and psychological harm.” An ABW spokesperson said the agency had for several months been working with its Norwegian counterparts on the surveillance of the suspect.

This is not the first Polish citizen that has been accused of cooperation with Islamic State.

A Polish woman who collected funds for extremists was arrested in Germany and in June this year Jacek S. conducted a suicide attack on a refinery in Iraq.

On social media, IS-fighters and sympathizers have called for an exchange of the Norwegian hostage Ole Johan Grimsgaard-Ofstad, for currently imprisoned radical Islamist Mullah Krekar. After the Islamic State (IS) in their last magazine announced that they keep the Norwegian Ole Johan Grimsgaard-Ofstad (48) hostage, supporters and members of IS have tweeted actively on the issue.Under the Arab tag “sale of the Norwegian and the China man”, IS-affiliated fighters and supporters share their views on the matter. The vast majority support the “sales”.
Over 2000 twitter message with this tag have been posted in recent days.

Among the most re-tweeted messages on the topic, is a requirement for a release of Mullah Krekar in exchange for Grimsgaard-Ofstad.

“I suggest IS exchanges the Norwegian prisoner for Mullah Krekar detained by them (Norway),” writes Abu Sayyaf.

According to Aftenposten, Abu Sayyaf is an IS-fighter residing in areas in Syria which are controlled by the terrorist group.

The message is accompanied by a picture from 2012, where Krekar is arrested outside his home.

Several other IS-fighters have re-tweeted the message. “Mullah Krekar, a lion among lions from the mountains, held captive by the dogs from Norway. Ask Allah to put an end to your captivity, lion, “writes an IS sympathizer with Kurdish background.

Mullah Krekar is the founder of the Islamist terrorist group Ansar al-Islam, who are fighting for a free Kurdistan, with an Islamic rule. Much of the current Ansar al-Islam pledged allegiance to IS in August 2014.

Norway has been trying to get rid of the Mullah for years, but can’t extradite him due to the promise of a death sentence in Iraq.

Among the Norwegians who are working on the matter, the tweets of the IS members have attracted attention. It is primarily because it is considered a completely unrealistic scenario.

– Such an exchange is unthinkable, says a source close to the matter.

Norwegian authorities consider themselves bound by human rights in the issue of extradition of Krekar. They believe that Krekar risk execution or be subjected to torture if he extradited to Iraq or Kurdistan.

Norwegian authorities will consider it as unacceptable to extradite Krekar to IS as to Kurdistan or Iraq, the source told Aftenposten.

Mullah Krekar’s lawyer, Brynjar Meling, says his client has no desire to be extradited to IS.

– It is to Kurdistan he wants to go. Otherwise it is so that human trafficking is and remains prohibited under Norwegian law. So I have a relaxed view on this information, says Meling.

Norwegian authorities are still working feverishly to free Grimsgaard-Ofstad. Yesterday, Foreign Minister Børge Brende said that the image IS has published of the Norwegian, is taken under a month ago.

That is the government’s conclusion after doing technical studies of the picture.

– We work on the basis that Grimsgaard-Ofstad still is alive, said Brende yesterday.

Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg said on Wednesday that her country will not pay ransom for a Norwegian man believed to be in the hands of the Islamic State. “The government is taking this very seriously,” Solberg said. “We cannot and will not give in to pressure from terrorists and criminals.Norway does not pay ransoms. That is a principle we cannot give up in meetings with cynical terrorists.”

The terror group ISIS claims to hold the Norwegian, Ole Johan Grimsgaard-Ofstad (pictured), hostage in Syria. Prime Minister Erna Solberg confirms that a Norwegian citizen has been kidnapped and is being held captive in Syria. A crisis team headed by the Norwegian Foreign Ministry has worked on it for some time, NTB reports.It is not known when the Norwegian was captured, but his last post on his Facebook page was on January 24, indicating that he has been hostage for quite a while. But it has been publicly known just today.
His last Facebook post says:

“I am in Idlib, Syria. Going to Hama tomorrow. I finally made it.”

The reason why it has reached the media today is because ISIS, in the latest issue of the terrorist group’s own magazine Dabiq, has printed a picture of the Norwegian, where it is further claimed that he has been taken hostage.

The Norwegian is pictured in a yellow jump suit, allegedly beside a Chinese prisoner. A number of personal details about the two men are listed, including residence, age and education. It is also stated that “they are both for sale.”

– This is a serious and complicated matter. The goal of our efforts is to make sure our citizens are brought safely home to Norway, says Prime Minister Erna Solberg late Wednesday night.

In the crisis staff who have worked on this matter, both the police and the Armed Forces have participated.

The terror group demands ransom for the Norwegian, and a Chinese citizen who is named in the same magazine.

It is still unclear to the media why he went to Syria.

(Nadarajah Sethurupan)

It has taken two years but Norwegian security services have finally confirmed a Norwegian man of Somali descent was one of the terrorists who attacked a Kenyan shopping mall in 2013. On 21 September 2013, a group of terrorists attacked the Westgate Mall, an upmarket shopping centre in an affluent part of Nairobi, Kenya.During the ensuing siege the four young gunmen, also armed with grenades, shot indiscriminately at shoppers, staff and security services killing at least 67.
It took four days for Kenyan security services to lift the siege. The Islamists were killed by a combination of police action and the collapse of areas of the mall. The Somali terror group Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility.

Ever since the events in September 2013 the identity of one of the gunmen was suspected to be a Norwegian citizen called Hassan Dhuhulow, reports Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten. 23 years old at the time of his death, Dhuhulow arrived in Norway aged nine in 1999.

Before the attack Dhuhulow was already known to the Norwegian Police Security Service (PST). Several years earlier the PST had been tipped off about him and tried to stop his radicalisation.

Although the Norwegian authorities concluded their investigation a year ago, only now has the FBI finished its analysis of Dhuhulow’s dental records. From material gathered at the Westgate Mall his identity has now been confirmed.

Matters would have been faster had the PST and FBI been able to rely on DNA data, however that was not possible in this case because of confusion about his family background.

Chillingly, given the volume of migrants currently being processed across Europe, Aftenposten reports the investigation showed the family relationships given to Norwegian immigration authorities when Dhuhulow came to Norway in 1999, were incorrect.

The woman claiming to be Dhuhulow’s sister was no relation to him and she has been charged with perjury. Convicted at first instance, the ‘sister’ won on appeal. However, the case is now to be heard in Norway’s Supreme Court.

Two other Norwegian terrorists are known to have killed overseas. A 31-year-old Norwegian Tunisian, Jamel Mahmoudi, killed eight in a suicide bomb attack for Islamic State in Baghdad last year and 44-year-old Norwegian Somali, Burhan Ahmed Abdule, killed 27 in a suicide bombing of a Somali hotel in March 2014.

Norway’s government has held a ceremony to mark the fourth anniversary of the worst terrorist attack in the country’s recent history. A museum was also opened that displays items used by Breivik in the July 22 attacks.Some items used by Anders Behring Breivik to reap the deepest gash Norway has suffered in recent memory were put on display on Wednesday in the very building where the attack began, exactly four years ago.

The remains of the explosives-filled van Breivik detonated on July 22, 2011, are now on display in the July 22 Center – in the heart of the Regjeringskvartalet, Oslo’s government quarter where Breivik’s bomb killed eight people. The museum also displays faked identification documents he used to fool unsuspecting teens before his rampage later at Utoya Island resulted in the murder of 69 people.

“This will always be our darkest day,” Prime Minister Erna Solberg said at Wednesday’s ceremony, adding that Norway would always remember the 77 victims in the attacks “with love.”

“It’s the pictures that evoke the strongest emotions,” Jens Stoltenberg, now NATO secretary general, was prime minister of Norway when the attacks happened, said referring to images of the victims hanging on the walls as part of the highly controversial exhibition at the July 22 Center.

Attorney John Elden, who represented 115 relatives and survivors present at Breivik’s 2012 trial, rebuked the government ahead of the opening, saying that New York’s Ground Zero Museum did not “go so far as to exhibit Bin Laden’s possessions.”

Solberg, however, said it was the “right thing to do” to show people exactly what happened four years ago, despite the “deeply painful” emotions that the items evoke.

“It’s physical and concrete evidence that is extremely important for us,” said exhibition curator Tor Einar Fagerland, who heads the history department at the Norwegian Institute of Science and Technology (NTNU).

Speaking to public broadcaster NOK, Fagerland said the exhibition “doesn’t dramatize” what took place. “These items are on display to show how the attacks happened, and this is exactly what is important on the collective level with regard to how trauma is dealt with,” said Fagerland, who also teaches classes in memory studies at NTNU.

“This exhibition is not at all about the perpetrator,” Fagerland told DW via email.
That sentiment was shared by Unni Espeland Marcussen, who lost her daughter in the Utoya shooting.

“This is NOT a Breivik museum,” she wrote on her Facebook page. “This is about learning about what happened and about the consequences of extremism, which we must always oppose!” Dozens of Facebook users commented on Marcussen’s text with a simple heart, the symbol that is used by Norwegian society to remember the attacks.

The fundamental question

The question of how much of Breivik’s life to put on display harkens back to debates that raged during his trial in 2012.

The Norwegian people were divided as to whether the testimony given by the mass murderer – Breivik had confessed to the killings in advance at preliminary hearings – should be broadcast on national television and abroad.

“There were those who even said Breivik should be banned from speaking, because he’d already promised to use the trial to spread his views,” said Frithjof Jacobsen, chief political columnist at VG, one of Norway’s leading daily newspapers.

“‘Why should he be rewarded,’ they asked, and quite rightfully so,” Jacobsen said. “But then there were also many Norwegians who wanted to know exactly what happened – to hear this man’s words with their own ears so they could judge for themselves whether or not he was insane.”

Given that Breivik had already confessed, the only legal issue at hand was whether the defendant could be held accountable for his actions. The court eventually ruled he was sane, convicted him of 77 counts of murder and gave him a sentence that will likely amount to life in prison. But the more fundamental question as to whether his far-right views of what he saw as a “Muslim invasion” should be made public dealt with Breivik’s legacy and the extent to which he could alter Norway.

“Had he been banned from speaking, this would have changed the way court proceedings happen in Norway,” Jacobsen told DW. “Norwegians were ultimately unwilling to grant him that influence – regardless of how painful his words would be.”

What to do with Breivik

The debate as to Breivik’s presence in Norwegian cultural identity even extended to the government’s Environment Ministry, which is technically also responsible for overseeing the nation’s cultural preservation.

Ellen Oeseth, state secretary of the Environment Ministry, told DW there was “no way” to ignore that Breivik had become part of Norwegian history. How much his legacy will become part of Norwegian heritage remained unclear, she said.

“I wouldn’t say that he’s part of our culture, but he is part of our history,” Oeseth said. “What happened four years ago is burned into Norway’s modern history. And no matter what we do with the building where the bomb went off, it will always be part of our history. Even things that are not nice are part of our history.”

(DW)

An Oslo court sentenced a Norwegian man to eight years in prison on Monday for fighting for Islamic militants in Syria, in the second case of its kind in the Nordic country. Ishaq Ahmed, 24, had pleaded not guilty to the charges and had said he travelled to Syria to do humanitarian work. He was arrested last year when he returned to Norway after being shot in the leg in Syria.”The court finds it proven beyond any reasonable doubt that the defendant was an armed and active participant in armed forces belonging to both ISIL (Islamic State) and Jabhat al Nusra while he was in Syria,” the Oslo District Court said.
Ahmed was convicted of “planning or preparing of a terror act” and obtaining a firearm while staying with militants in Syria, it said.

Ahmed’s lawyer said he was considering an appeal. “My client disagrees and is disappointed by the verdict,” Thomas Randby told Reuters.

In May, three men were sentenced to prison terms of up to four years and nine months in the first convictions under a new Norwegian law to crack down on militants returning from the conflicts in the Middle East..

Authorities in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland estimate that hundreds of their citizens may have gone to Iraq or Syria to receive militant training. Western countries fear that radicalised fighters may come back to launch attacks at home.

Source: Reuters

‘I condemn today’s terrorist attack on a mosque in Kuwait City. An attack on people gathered for prayer is a monstrous and ruthless act of violence. Our thoughts go to the families of the victims,’ said Minister of Foreign Affairs Børge Brende.
The attack on a Shia mosque in Kuwait’s capital city is being described in the media as the worst terrorist attack in the country’s history. At least 25 people are reported to have been killed and a large number injured. A group affiliated to ISIL has claimed responsibility for the attack.
‘If it is true that ISIL is behind this attack, it will confirm once again the danger ISIL represents beyond its core areas of activity in Syria and Iraq. The international community must stand together to respond to the common threat posed by the spread of violent extremism,’ Mr Brende said.

‘We were horrified and deeply saddened to receive the news of Wednesday’s terrorist attacks in Baghdad. I would like to convey my deepest condolences to the Iraqi people, who are so often the target of terrorist attacks. The attacks are a clear demonstration of ISIL’s contempt for human life and norms of human decency,’ said Minister of Foreign Affairs Børge Brende.

‘We were horrified and deeply saddened to receive the news of Wednesday’s terrorist attacks in Baghdad. I would like to convey my deepest condolences to the Iraqi people, who are so often the target of terrorist attacks. The attacks are a clear demonstration of ISIL’s contempt for human life and norms of human decency,’ said Minister of Foreign Affairs Børge Brende.

Yesterday morning, reports emerged of an attack on a market in the Shia-dominated Sadr City district of Baghdad. 64 people are reported to have been killed and 87 injured in this attack alone, among them many women and children. A further two attacks took place in other parts of Baghdad later in the day. In total, at least 94 people are reported to have been killed in yesterday’s three attacks at separate locations in Baghdad, and at least 150 people have been injured.These are the deadliest attacks on the Iraqi capital so far this year, and it is feared that the death toll will continue to rise. ISIL has claimed responsibility for the attacks.
‘Sadly we often hear reports from Iraq about terrorist attacks claiming many lives, but the scale of yesterday’s attacks was particularly horrifying. ISIL must be fought both in Syria and Iraq,’ Mr Brende said.

The security situation in Baghdad is volatile and there have been several terrorist attacks in Baghdad this year. Moreover, parts of Iraq are under ISIL’s control.

Norway is participating actively in the international coalition to counter ISIL, and is helping to train Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga in Northern Iraq. Furthermore, the Government has recently decided to step up Norway’s efforts by increasing the Norwegian contribution to the international coalition against ISIL, both by providing a new military contribution and by strengthening civilian efforts.