European and US law enforcement teams have disabled the key communications channels of the Islamic State group in a coordinated operation involving agencies in eight countries, Europol has said. “With this groundbreaking operation, we have punched a big hole in the capability of [Isis] to spread propaganda online and radicalise young people in Europe,” said Rob Wainwright, executive director of the European police agency. Amaq news agency was the main mouthpiece of Isis, the agency said, officially endorsed by the terror group in July 2017 and the primary source of information on its activities worldwide. A second operation in June 2017, led by Spain’s Guardia Civil, led to the seizure of servers that led to the identification of radicalised individuals in more than 100 countries worldwide. Britain’s EU security commissioner, Julian King, said the operation showed that “by working together we can stamp out the poisonous propaganda ... used to fuel many of the recent terror attacks in Europe.”

Source: The Guardian April 27, 2018 21:49 UTC