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Bottom Line Up Front:. Militia activity in the streets of the U.S. mirrors their online presence. Given recent civil lawsuits against social media companies for failing to remove users "calls to activate cells" on their platforms, TRAC decided to re-examine the Militia News website to determine if there were any significant changes to its messaging. As Constitutionalists, Militia News strictly adheres to the Founding Fathers' document over any expansive modern-day interpretations of issues such as the Second Amendment. Historically, the site has devoted itself to gun rights, with hints of more libertarian views on taxation and other issues. TRAC assess that the site's recruitment strategy to appeal to a sense of "duty" to target traitors closely mimics Islamic State's recruitment message, the "duty to target Apostates." We also note some structural changes to the site since our first review. The site now includes a "Contact Us" page that links to the Patriot and Traitor website. While Militia News urges its readers to target traitors, the Patriot and Traitor site identifies which specific traitors to target: the politicians, judges, journalists, and government entities that it considers traitorous. By separating the motivator website (Militia News) from the hit list website (Patriot and Traitor), both websites are able to evade deletion.
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Image Above: Cartel presence by State. Lower image: links generated by TRAC content to corresponding and related cartel analysis.
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TRAC INSIGHT: Cartel Presence by State; Jalisco Nueva Generacion Cartel(CJNG) Achieves the Top Spot in the Country-Wide Territorial Campaign, Surpassing Sinaloa Cartel's Control Throughout Mexico. |
TRAC Analyst Hylda Fenton has noted that in the past year, the Jalisco Nueva Generacion Cartel (CJNG) has been on an incessant quest to perpetuate its dominance in many areas throughout Mexico. To date, the group has disseminated "tarp" messages and videos issuing warnings to other cartels, other "unknown" criminal actors and even government authorities in various regions, including San Luis Potosi, Michoacan, Mexico City, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Veracruz and Aguascalientes. Despite the federal government ordering the deployment of the armed forces in the country to combat drug traffickers, at least nineteen (19) cartels have active operations throughout the country, of which four have a presence in more than ten states, with Jalisco Nueva Generacion Cartel (CJNG) being the largest. Although the efforts of the CJNG have been met with increased resistance, their campaign to take over and become the dominant cartel in Mexico is finding success, as they have now surpassed the Sinaloa Cartel, and now operate in 27 states. Out of 19 cartels, 15 do not operate in an independent territory, but share small portions of various states with the top 4 cartels.
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TRAC INCIDENT REPORT: Mundi Sawadjaan's Cousin & Fellow ASG/ISEA Bomb Maker, Arsibar Sawadjaan, Killed Near Barangay Maligay, Patikul, Sulu, Philippines |
Acting on a tip from a local in neighboring Barangay Tanum, 45th Infantry Battalion (45IB) started combing the rural outskirts of Patikul. On 28 September, around 9:00 am local time, the army discovered an ASG/ISEA encampment near Barangay Maligay. A 50-minute clash ensued with 30 to 40 ASG fighters operating under Mundi Sawadjaan and ASG leader Radullan Sahiron. Arsibar Sawadjaan appears to be the only casualty in the encounter, the rest of the ASG unit escaped towards the east direction of Maligay. Though Arsibar Sawadjaan was an ASG/ISEA sub-commander, the real loss for Islamic State Philippines (ISEA) - Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) will be Arsibar's bomb making skills. Since 20 September 2020, eight members operating under Mundi Sawadjaan have surrendered in the area. Additionally, Mundi's top aid Hashim Saripada aka Ibnu Kashir, was arrested with bomb-making materials the day before in Barangay Recodo of Zamboanga City.
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Image (above): On the same day of the attack the following post circulated Telegram. While AQAP has not officially claimed inspiration for the attack, this post states, "Did you forget, oh France the black, #ansar_alsharia (the jihad base in the Arabian peninsula)?
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TRAC INCIDENT REPORT: Lone Wolf Knife Attack (Axe) Outside Charlie Hebdo Offices in 11th Arrondissement of Paris, France |
On 11 September 2020, the anniversary of 9/11 attacks in the United States, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) issued a call to action to any Muslim living in the nation of France to launch attacks on the Crusaders. Two weeks later, on 25 September, Zaheer Hassan Mehmood, armed with a butcher's axe, stabbed two documentary film company employees outside the offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris. The assailant had not realized that Charlie Hebdo had moved their offices to a secret location after the 2015 AQAP attack. In a selfie video found on Mehmood's phone, the assailant states that the reason behind his attack was Charlie Hebdo's decision to re-run the original Prophet Mohamed cartoon that offended many Muslims worldwide. Six others have been arrested in connection with Mehmood's attack. While AQAP has not claimed credit for the attack they did release a message on Telegram stating "Did you forget, oh France, the jihad base?"
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(Right Wing Extremism) Patriots Coalition PNW, Proud Boys, 1776 2.0 Militia, Three Percenters, Operation Werewolf Chat Logs on GroupMe Messaging Application Discussing Cell Strategy & Operations in Oregon |
A TRAC catalogue of chat logs from a GroupMe messaging application reveals organized right-wing activity in Pacific Northwest. GroupMe network evolved from a Facebook page started by Robbin Sullivan-Davis of Albany, Oregon, on 03 July 2020. The group spoke of organizing violent activities against BLM & ANTIFA / Anti-Fascist Action protesters. To be certain, the chat logs contain ideas that go much further than mere street fighting or shooting rubber bullets into crowds, many active members suggest killing fellow Americans who are protesting. There are two active GroupMe Application channels, one for daily chatting; the other for operational 'emergency' calls to action. The daily chat logs are much more active than the calls to activate cells, suggesting that Patriots Coalition PNW activity in the physical world at this point is much less than in the on-line world.
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Screen Shot (above): Original Facebook page that generated GroupMe Application group chat.
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(Claim) Islamic State: Sticky IED placed in house of border guard. PMU militiaman killed. |
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TRAC's Weekly Analyst Review is a small curated list of many events.
For more events TRAC is monitoring click here
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TRAC Weekly Analyst Briefing
As many of our clients know, we invite one organization a week to sit in on our Analyst Briefing. The briefings take place at 10 AM US eastern time and last an hour. We meet virtually in TRAC's online conference center.
If your organization is interested in attending, please schedule with the link below. We look forward to having you join us and ask questions.
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