26 June 2015 Islamist attacks | |
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Location | Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, France Kuwait City, Kuwait Sousse, Tunisia Kobanî, Syria Al-Hasakah, Syria Leego, Somalia |
Coordinates | 45°38′34″N5°07′30″E / 45.6428°N 5.1250°E |
Date | 25–26 June 2015 |
Deaths | 403+ (not including attackers) |
Injured | 336+ |
Perpetrators | ![]() ![]() |
On 26 June 2015, attacks occurred in France, Kuwait, and Tunisia, one day following a deadly massacre in Syria. [1] The day of the attacks was dubbed "Bloody Friday" by Anglophone media [2] [3] [4] [5] and "Black Friday" (French : Vendredi Noir) among Francophone media in Europe and North Africa. [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
One attack at a Tunisian beach resort killed 39; a bombing at a Shia mosque in Kuwait City killed 27 and injured several; while in Kobanî a large-scale massacre by ISIL resulted in more than 223 civilians murdered, in line with over 79 assailants (including 13 suicide bombers) and 23 Kurdish militiamen, [11] dubbed the second-largest massacre by ISIL since summer 2014; a suicide bombing by ISIL in Al-Hasakeh, also in Syria, resulted in 20 fatalities; al-Shabaab militants killed 70 African Union soldiers from Burundi in Leego, Somalia; finally, one man was decapitated, while several were injured during the Saint-Quentin-Fallavier attack in France.
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant senior leader Abu Mohammad al-Adnani had released an audio message three days earlier encouraging militants everywhere to attack during the month of Ramadan. [12] ISIL also claimed responsibility for the attacks in Tunisia, Syria and Kuwait. [13]
According to The Guardian , there is no evidence that the attacks were coordinated among the perpetrators, [14] but their timing on a single day received significant coverage. One security analyst said the attacks added up to "an unprecedented day for terrorism." [13] In total, more than 403 people died and 336 were injured, not including any attackers involved.
On 7 June, the Institute for the Study of War released a statement predicting that simultaneous terror attacks would take place at around 29 June, marking the one-year anniversary of the terrorist group ISIL declaring itself to be a state. [15] [16] The statement noted that the ISIL's precursor organization Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) had a history of elevating violence during Ramadan. The paper said that ISIL was "likely preparing a surge of operations" during Ramadan to stoke regional sectarian and religious war, and to create military momentum. The paper argued that AQI had a history of promoting sectarian violence though the 2006 al-Askari mosque bombing, and that ISIL would use the movement of religious pilgrims during Ramadan to infiltrate soldiers into Shi'a areas, and also "likely target Shi’a populations outside of Iraq and Syria, particularly in Yemen and Saudi Arabia and possibly further abroad."
Three days before the attack, ISIL's Abu Mohammad al-Adnani called on jihadists to "make the month of Ramadan a calamity on the apostates" by initiating attacks and seeking "martyrdom". The three attacks in France, Kuwait and Tunisia were launched early on Friday morning. [13] [14]
The attacks took place three days before the one-year anniversary of ISIL declaring itself a caliphate on 29 June 2014. [17] [18] [19] Writing for The Guardian , journalist Kareem Shaheen wrote that, "There was no evidence that the near-simultaneous attacks were coordinated, but they highlighted the growing threat of attacks by jihadists, some of them inspired by Isis rhetoric, across Europe, Africa and the Middle East." [14] British professor Sajjan Gohel, the international security director for the Asia-Pacific Foundation think tank, said the attacks added up to "an unprecedented day for terrorism," and that while details of the planning were still unclear, it involved individuals "buying into the ... doctrine that groups like ISIS articulate." [13] They also occurred on Friday, during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, following an ISIL leader's call to make the month of Ramadan a time of "calamity for the infidels." [20]
Journalist Vivienne Walt wrote for Time that the attacks in France, Kuwait and Syria left "an impression that the group had adopted a new tactic of launching punitive external attacks rather than just focusing on state-building and territorial acquisition." The three attacks plus the killings in Kobanî "do not appear to have any military purpose and may suggest that ISIS has decided to pursue its war for territory in tandem with its war against the world of unbelievers, which includes almost everyone," Walt wrote. [21]
On 27 June, Politico reported that U.S. intelligence agencies were reassessing their previous characterization of ISIL as a “regional threat.” [5] In a February 2015 report, Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper classified ISIL as a "regional threat" and wrote: “In an attempt to strengthen its self-declared caliphate, ISIL probably plans to conduct operations against regional allies, Western facilities, and personnel in the Middle East.” [22] U.S. Congressman Ed Royce, the chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs, told Politico, “These attacks show that the [ISIL] threat is spreading well beyond Iraq and Syria. A continued safe-haven there means more attacks across the region, Europe and even here at home.... We also must destroy the online messaging that attracts so many young people with the counter message that [ISIL] offers no peace, no community, and no future.” [5]
On 25 June, ISIL fighters launched an attack on the Kurdish-held town of Kobanî, Syria, infiltrating the city en-masse and killing scores of civilians with guns and a series of suicide bombs. [23] [24] [25] [26] The attacks resulted in over 230 civilians dead, as well as 79 ISIL assailants and 23 YPG militia men. It was named the second largest civilian massacre by ISIL since it declared itself a caliphate on 29 June 2014. [27]
On 26 June, Islamist delivery driver Yassine Salhi decapitated a man and rammed a company van into gas cylinders at a gas factory near Lyon, causing an explosion and injuring two others. Three other people, including Salhi's wife and sister, were later arrested.
A suicide bombing took place on 26 June in Kuwait at a Shia mosque killing 27 people. The attack was claimed by ISIL. The Emir of Kuwait visited the location of the incident minutes after it happened. [28] The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility for the attack, and identified the perpetrator as "Abu Sulaiman al-Muwahhid". On 14 September, the court ruled that 15 out of 29 suspects had been found guilty, with seven receiving death sentences (five in absentia). [29]
The Sousse attacks occurred on 26 June in the Tunisian town of Sousse. At least 39 people, mostly European tourists, were killed when an armed gunman attacked two hotels on the beach. ISIL claimed responsibility for the attack. [13] Reports have since surfaced of alleged involvement and co-operation between the gunmen Seifeddine Rezgui and Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia. [30]
On 26 June, al-Shabaab militants attacked an African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM) base in the Leego district of Somalia and killed more than 70 African Union soldiers. The militants seized control of the military base. [31] [32] [33] Somali and AMISOM troops reportedly retook the base and town on 28 June while al-Shabaab withdrew and offered no resistance to them, but not before beheading the local deputy district commissioner among the captives they took. [34]
The Rojava–Islamist conflict, a major theater in the Syrian civil war, started after fighting erupted between the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) and Islamist rebel factions in the city of Ras al-Ayn. Kurdish forces launched a campaign in an attempt to take control of the Islamist-controlled areas in the governorate of al-Hasakah and some parts of Raqqa and Aleppo governorates after al-Qaeda in Syria used those areas to attack the YPG. The Kurdish groups and their allies' goal was also to capture Kurdish areas from the Arab Islamist rebels and strengthen the autonomy of the region of Rojava. The Syrian Democratic Forces would go on to take substantial territory from Islamist groups, in particular the Islamic State (IS), provoking Turkish involvement in the Syrian Civil War.
The following is a timeline of the Syrian civil war from August to December 2014. Information about aggregated casualty counts is found at Casualties of the Syrian Civil War.
The siege of Kobanî was launched by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant on 13 September 2014, in order to capture the Kobanî Canton and its main city of Kobanî in northern Syria, in the de facto autonomous region of Rojava.
Kobanî, officially Ayn al-Arab, is a Kurdish-majority city in northern Syria, lying immediately south of the Syria–Turkey border. As a consequence of the Syrian civil war, the city came under the control of the Kurdish-majority People's Protection Units (YPG) militia in 2012 and became the administrative center of the Kobani Canton, later transformed into Euphrates Region of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria.
The Women's Protection Units or Women's Defense Units is an all-female militia involved in the Syrian civil war. The YPJ is part of the Syrian Democratic Forces, the armed forces of Rojava, and is closely affiliated with the male-led YPG. While the YPJ is mainly made up of Kurds, it also includes women from other ethnic groups in Northern Syria.
The Military of the Islamic State is the fighting force of the Islamic State (IS). The total force size at its peak was estimated from tens of thousands to over two hundred thousand. IS's armed forces grew quickly during its territorial expansion in 2014. The IS military, including groups incorporated into it in 2014, openly operates and controls territory in multiple cities in Libya and Nigeria. In October 2016, it conquered the city of Qandala in Puntland, Somalia. It conquered much of eastern Syria and western Iraq in 2014, territory it lost finally only in 2019. It also has had border clashes with and made incursions into Lebanon, Iran, and Jordan. IS-linked groups operate in Algeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, and in West Africa. In January 2015, IS was also confirmed to have a military presence in Afghanistan and in Yemen.
The Battle of Sarrin refers to a military operation during 2015 in the northeastern Aleppo Governorate, during the Syrian Civil War, conducted by Kurdish YPG and allied forces against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in the town of Sarrin, in an effort to capture the town and the surrounding region.
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The Tell Abyad offensive or Martyr Rubar Qamışlo operation was a military operation that began in late May 2015 in the northern Raqqa Governorate, during the Syrian Civil War. It was conducted by the Kurdish-majority People's Protection Units (YPG) and the Free Syrian Army (FSA) against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The offensive took place from the end of May until July 2015. The campaign was the second phase of the Kurdish Operation Commander Rûbar Qamishlo, which began with the Al-Hasakah offensive, and involved the merger of the Kobanî offensive with the former. The focus of the campaign was to capture the key border town of Tell Abyad, and to link the Kobanî and Jazira Cantons in Northern Syria.
A suicide bombing took place on 26 June 2015 at a Shia mosque in Kuwait. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claimed responsibility for the attack. Sabah al-Sabah, the Emir at the time, arrived at the location of the incident after a short period of time. Twenty-seven people were killed and 227 people were wounded.
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The Battle of Sarrin was a military operation during 2015 in the northeastern Aleppo Governorate, during the Syrian Civil War, in which the Kurdish YPG and Free Syrian Army forces captured the town of Sarrin and the surrounding region from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
The following is a timeline of the Syrian Civil War from January to July 2015. Information about aggregated casualty counts is found at Casualties of the Syrian Civil War.
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