News Two terrorist attacks in two days

[blue_leaf77]

Two terrorist attacks in two days in two far separated countries:
1) On 12/01/2016, a suicide bomb detonated among a group of German tourists taking 10 lives.
http://edition.cnn.com/videos/tv/2016/01/12/turkey-suicide-bomb-kills-10-isis-damon-lead.cnn

2) Today another suicidal attack struck the capital of Indonesia, Jakarta. This one killed at least 6 people, 5 of them are the terrorists, one other a foreigner (according to CNN a Dutch national). The blast occurred on Thamrin street, home to several foreign embassies and a shopping district.
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/01/13/asia/jakarta-gunfire-explosions/

In both incidents, IS is suspected to have connection. Up to now, as far as I know, no group has explicitly claimed responsibility.

 

[Borg]

I believe that ISIS did claim responsibility for the Turkish attack.

 

[blue_leaf77]

I believe that ISIS did claim responsibility for the Turkish attack.

Any credible source please? I do remember reading that the criminal was an ISIS member smuggled as a Syrian refugee, but I thought that didn't come from internal source in ISIS.
thanks in advance.

 

[StatGuy2000]

In the case of the attack in Indonesia, it has been speculated that IS may have been involved (although no group has claimed responsibility), but one cannot rule out homegrown terrorist groups. For example, Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), a homegrown terrorist group that had been operating in Indonesia, Malaysia, southern Thailand, and the southern Philippines and affiliated with al-Qaeda (and were implicated in the 2002 Bali bombing) continues to be active in spite of their operational capability being degraded considerably by counter-terrorist operations in Malaysia and Indonesia.

One possibility is that there could be existing surviving members of homegrown terrorist groups in Indonesia like JI who have reconstituted themselves and allied themselves to IS (as has been known to happen in countries like Afghanistan, where former al-Qaeda and Taliban members have pledged themselves to IS).

Granted, everything I've written above are all speculation on my part, so you can take it for what it's worth.

 

[Borg]

Any credible source please? I do remember reading that the criminal was an ISIS member smuggled as a Syrian refugee, but I thought that didn't come from internal source in ISIS.
thanks in advance.

My mistake. I confused the statements from the Turkish government blaming ISIL for the attack with ISIL actually taking the blame. Unfortunately, there are so many attacks and atrocities by ISIL that it's hard to keep track of them all...

 

[blue_leaf77]

In the case of the attack in Indonesia, it has been speculated that IS may have been involved (although no group has claimed responsibility), but one cannot rule out homegrown terrorist groups. For example, Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), a homegrown terrorist group that had been operating in Indonesia, Malaysia, southern Thailand, and the southern Philippines and affiliated with al-Qaeda (and were implicated in the 2002 Bali bombing) continues to be active in spite of their operational capability being degraded considerably by counter-terrorist operations in Malaysia and Indonesia.

One possibility is that there could be existing surviving members of homegrown terrorist groups in Indonesia like JI who have reconstituted themselves and allied themselves to IS (as has been known to happen in countries like Afghanistan, where former al-Qaeda and Taliban members have pledged themselves to IS).

Granted, everything I've written above are all speculation on my part, so you can take it for what it's worth.

I must acknowledge that after the Bali event in 2002, there has been an on-going rise in the "pursuit" of Islamic knowledge among people who were, in prior to this incident, not very knowledgeable about their religion. More and more people, especially those around their 20-25, are getting attracted to pursue the teaching of this religion. I don't exactly know how this phenomena might have its root connected to Bali bombing, but it is happening. In one side, it's a good outcome when one views it from its potential of warding off this group of age from being fallen into street rascals if it turned out that they can't find a well-paying job after graduating from high school (one of the teachings is to abstain oneself from hurting others). In the worse side, however, the fact that these new Islam learners have not had strong foundation on the straight Islamic teaching makes them very susceptible to fall into radicals, those who blindly become a zealot to their superior. They would easily believe in anything their misleading teachers say, and these falsely led apprentices are the promising seeds of those terrorist.
Another possibility would be the returning battle volunteer from previously or currently warring states like Syria or Egypt. This speculation is based on a CNN article, though.

 

[blue_leaf77]

New developments of the case:
https://twitter.com/charliewinter/status/687642138914471936/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc^tfw
and
http://www.theguardian.com/world/li...s-gunshots-reported-in-jakarta-rolling-report

 

[mheslep]

WSJ graphic front page today. IS attacks outside Syria with fatalities since 2014. Includes Jakarta attack.