That the horrible terrorist attacks in Oslo on Friday that left some 90 persons or more dead– a bombing of the prime minister’s office and shootings at a Labor Party youth camp– were allegedly committed by a blonde, far right wing Norwegian fundamentalist Christian rather than by a radical Muslim group is being treated as a matter of surprise in some quarters. But if those journalists and analysts had been paying attention, they would not be surprised at all.

… Europol reports have long made it clear that the biggest threat of terrorism in Europe comes from separatist movements, then from the fringe left, then from the far right. In 2008, only one terrorist attack out of hundreds in Europe was committed by radical Muslims. In 2010, according to Europol [pdf], 7 persons were killed in terrorist attacks. Some 160 of these attacks that year were carried out by separatists. The number launched by people of Muslim heritage? 3.

A Europol report on terrorist attacks in Europe in 2009 says that out of hundreds of terrorist attacks iin Europe in 2009, most were the work of ethnic separatists. About 40 were carried out by members of the extreme left. A handful by the European far right. See also this analysis.

One terrorist attack was carried out in 2009 in all Europe by persons of Muslim heritage (I do not say ‘by a Muslim’ because terrorism is forbidden in Islamic law).

That is right. Out of hundreds. Exactly one.

via Informed Comments

A suicide attacker has killed at least two police officers in the Russian republic of Ingushetia, in the latest in a series of such bombings.

Shortly after the first attack, a car bomb was detonated in the same place in the town of Karabulak, officials said.

Forty were killed by a twin attack on Moscow’s Metro system last week, and another North Caucasus republic, Dagestan, has also been targeted.

The Kremlin blamed Islamists from the North Caucasus for the earlier attacks.

In terms of Indonesia, Indonesian police force have to be more friendly with Islamic institution (pesantren and madrasah) and Islamic organisation (NU, Muhammadiyah, Jama’ah Tabligh, etc) to win the heart and mind of them (Santri community). A report from Reuters:

The United States is having more success fighting terrorism under President Barack Obama partly because of his “radically different” approach to foreign policy, National security adviser Jim Jones said on Monday.

In an interview with ABC News, Jones said Obama’s efforts to reach out to world leaders and improve relations with law enforcement agencies had made it easier to track and kill terrorists than during the Bush administration.

“We have better human intelligence. We know where the terrorists are moving,” Jones told ABC.

“Because of the dialogue and the tone of the dialogue between us and our friends and allies … the trend line against terrorism is positive,” he added.

Indonesian police say DNA tests show that a militant killed in a police raid at the weekend was not Malaysian terror suspect Noordin Mohammed Top.

Indonesian national police official Eddy Saparwoko said Wednesday that the suspect shot dead during a siege in Central Java has been identified as a man named Ibrohim.

He says they compared the DNA with his family and the match was 100 percent.

DNA evidence also showed that the body is not, as was suspected, that of Noordin Mohammed Top, Indonesia’s most wanted terror suspect. Noordin has ties with the regional terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah and is suspected of planning the recent hotel bombings in Jakarta as well as other terrorist attacks in the past decade.

Police say Ibrohim was involved in the execution of the suicide bombings last month at the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels. They say Ibrohim had been working as a florist at both hotels since 2005 and was able to bypass security to bring into the hotels the explosives used in the attacks. Police say he also recruited the two suicide bombers.

Indonesian authorities believe they may have killed the terrorist mastermind during a raid on a central Java home yesterday.

Authorities are waiting on DNA tests to confirm whether the suspected organiser of bombings on two Jakarta hotels last month and other attacks, is dead.

Mr Rudd says it is a sober reminder of the threat of terrorism and has praised Indonesian police and security agencies.

“When it comes to the most recent incident at the Marriott in Jakarta, Australia’s view and the Australian Government’s view is that we should be sparing no resource whatsoever to track down those murderers responsible for this and other terrorist attacks,” he said.

“I would thank the Indonesian authorities for the actions that they have taken so far.”

Indonesian police have shot dead a man suspected to be fugitive Islamic militant Noordin Mohammad Top during raids in Central Java and were trying to identify his body, a police source said on Saturday.

Separately, police found five bombs during another raid on a house in Bekasi near the capital Jakarta, the source who is close to the investigation told Reuters.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Tuesday his country could guarantee security following deadly suicide bomb attacks on two luxury hotels in Jakarta last week.

The attacks at the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels killed nine people and wounded 53, including foreigners and Indonesians. The bombings were the first such attacks in the country in four years.

“My message to the world is that Indonesia can overcome this problem and will continue to guarantee even greater security in the future,” Yudhoyono said in a speech to inaugurate a new museum in the capital.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono says terrorists are to blame for Friday’s twin hotel bombings in the capital, Jakarta. The attacks appear to be a setback to Indonesia’s relatively successful counter terrorism campaign. But security analysts say the regional terrorist network, Jemaah Islamiyah, which has a history of bombings in Indonesia, remains dangerous despite the arrests of some of its top operatives.

Friday’s attack at the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in the Indonesian capital are the first major bombings in Indonesia since the 2005 bombings in the resort island of Bali – blamed on the regional terrorist network Jemaah Islamiyah.