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Militant Islam Monitor > Articles > ISIS Village Raided In Bosnia - Bosnians In US Indicted For Aiding Terrorist Groups

ISIS Village Raided In Bosnia - Bosnians In US Indicted For Aiding Terrorist Groups

February 6, 2015

MIM: So much for the myth of the "moderate" Bosnian Muslims.

ISIS Flags Fly High, Now in Bosnia

Police special forces carried out a raid Thursday in a Bosnian village home to Muslim fundamentalists, after media published photos of local houses displaying the flag of the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group.

By the time forces arrived "the flags were no longer hanging" in the northeastern village of Gornja Maoca, said Kristina Jozic, a spokeswoman for state police agency SIPA, reports AFP.

Local television station FTV had on Wednesday broadcast photos showing the black and white flags of the ISIS jihadists hanging from the roof of a house, saying the images were taken in Gornja Maoca.

The isolated village lies close to the town of Brcko. Controlled by a local movement that adheres to the strict Wahhabi branch of Islam, it has been targeted in numerous police operations in recent years.

The last major operation in the area was in early 2012 after a Serbian national with ties to the local Islamist movement opened fire on the US
embassy in Sarajevo in October 2011.

Bosnian officials also carried out several raids at the end of 2014 against local Wahhabis, leading to the arrest of 26 people suspected of being members of ISIS or other jihadist groups in Syria and Iraq, or of having recruited fighters in Bosnia.

Only one of the suspects was detained and charged with terrorism: Husein Bosnic dit Bilal, considered a leader in radical Muslim circles in Bosnia.

According to estimates by Bosnian intelligence cited by local media, some 150 Bosnian fighters are currently fighting in Iraq or Syria, with around 20 killed. Some 50 other jihadists are believed to have returned to Bosnia.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/191001

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Bosnian Immigrants Plotted Over Facebook

CHICAGO (AP) – Six Bosnian immigrants accused of sending money and military equipment to extremist groups in Syria used Facebook, PayPal and other readily available services to communicate and transfer funds, according to a federal indictment.

All are charged with conspiring to provide and providing material support to groups designated by the U.S. as foreign terrorist organizations, including the Islamic State group and an al-Qaida-affiliated rebel group known as the Nusra Front.

The indictment unsealed Friday in U.S. District Court in St. Louis alleges they plotted by phone, Facebook and email; shared videos and photos related to their plans on social media sites; sent money via PayPal and Western Union; and shipped boxes of military gear through the U.S. Postal Service.

The defendants are accused of donating money themselves and, in some cases, collecting funds from others in the U.S. and sending the donations overseas. It says two of the defendants, a husband and wife in St. Louis, used some of the money to buy U.S. military uniforms, firearms accessories, tactical gear and other equipment from local businesses and ship it to intermediaries in Turkey and Saudi Arabia who forwarded the supplies to fighters in Syria and Iraq.

One of the suspects, Mediha Medy Salkicevic, a 34-year-old mother of four from the Chicago suburb of Schiller Park, appeared Saturday in federal court in Chicago. Wearing an orange jail uniform, she spoke only to confirm that she understood the charges. She appeared calm and smiled occasionally while consulting with her attorney.

Speaking to reporters afterward, defense attorney Andrea Gambino stressed that Salkicevic is considered innocent until proven guilty.

The indictment says the suspects used "coded language" in their communications over email and social media, using terms like "the beach" for places in Iraq and Syria.

But it says they also used terms such as brothers, lions, mujahids and shaheeds, or holy warriors and martyrs. Such language is commonly used among Islamic extremist groups and would seem likely to draw law enforcement scrutiny if posted openly on the Internet.

But terrorism financing expert Loretta Napoleoni said it's a clever tactic to use such usual channels for communicating and sending money as long as the amounts are small, noting that so many people use them that it's easy to "go below the radar."

"That's the easiest way to send money. … And frankly using the U.S. Postal Service is also a very good way not to be caught," said Napoleoni, author of "The Islamist Phoenix." "There is so much stuff going through."

The FBI arrested Salkicevic on Friday. If convicted, she could face up to 15 years in prison and a fine of up to $50,000 on each charge. The case will be tried in Missouri, where several other defendants were arrested. A bond hearing Monday will determine whether Salkicevic travels there on her own or in custody.

The indictment alleges the conspiracy began no later than May 2013.

All six people who are charged are natives of Bosnia who were living in the U.S. legally. Three are naturalized citizens; the other three had either refugee or legal resident status, according to the U.S. attorney's office.

Besides Salkicevic, the indictment names Ramiz Zijad Hodzic, 40, his wife, Sedina Unkic Hodzic, 35, and Armin Harcevic, 37, all of St. Louis County; Nihad Rosic, 26, of Utica, New York; and Jasminka Ramic, 42 of Rockford, Illinois….

http://www.wbtv.com/story/28049552/woman-accused-of-aiding-terror-groups-appears-in-court

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Bosnia Nabs ISIS Recruits Before Take-Off

Bosnian police on Wednesday arrested six people on suspicion of planning to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State (ISIS) group or organizing the trips, prosecutors said.

Bosnia's prosecutor said in a statement the six were members of "radical religious movements" and that some were on their way to Syria where they "intended to join the forces of Islamic State group," reports AFP.

Some suspects were arrested at Sarajevo airport. The others were stopped at border crossings in the northwestern region of Bihac and the northern town of Maglaj.

Bosnia's intelligence services estimate that some 200 Bosnian citizens have joined the jihadist groups in Iraq or Syria, according to local media reports.

Almost 30 of them were killed and around 40 are said to have returned to Bosnia.

Last year the Balkan state adopted a new law which anticipates sentences of up to ten-years for jihadists and their recruiters.

The first trial in which someone has been accused of recruiting jihadists to join the Islamic State group opened in January.

A radical Muslim cleric, Husein Bosnic, considered a leader of Islamist movement in Bosnia, is charged with urging followers to leave for Syria and Iraq to fight with Islamic terrorists when he preached in several Bosnian towns in 2013 and 2014.

Bosnia's Muslims make up 40% of the country's 3.8 million inhabitants, with the vast majority said to practice a moderate form of Islam.

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