Kiwis tracked to war zones
A small number of New Zealanders continue to wage jihad for Islamic State in the Middle East, according to the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service.
The SIS and its Western partners are keeping tabs on a handful of Kiwis in the Middle East, according to information released by New Zealand’s spy agency under the Official Information Act.
SIS director Rebecca Kitteridge refused to reveal the exact number of Kiwis on the ground in Iraq and Syria, on the grounds that it could prejudice national security or their information sharing arrangement with the US, UK, Australia and Canada, known as Five Eyes.
This week US President Donald Trump ordered missile strikes against an airfield from which a deadly chemical weapons attack was launched, declaring he acted in America’s ‘‘vital national security interest’’ against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
This air strikes escalated the chances of all out war returning to Syria.
The bombings came days after New Zealander Mark John Taylor was declared a ‘‘global terrorist’’ by the US government, three years after he travelled to Syria and declared his allegiance to IS.
Taylor had been regularly in the spotlight during his time in Syria, most notably for mistakenly giving away the coordinates of the positions of IS fighters on Twitter in 2015.
In the ‘‘Strategic Intelligent Assessment’’ released by the SIS, they said they believed New Zealanders were still on the ground in Syria, and they could pose a threat if they were to return home.
‘‘NZSIS continues to receive leads concerning New Zealanders who have travelled to Syria for various purposes. New Zealanders who travel to Syria with the intent to associate with terrorist groups may one day attempt to return home,’’ said one report, dated January 29, 2016.
On July 27, 2016, another ‘‘Security Intelligence Report’’ said where individuals were already of security concern, their passports had been cancelled.
‘‘The NZSIS has recommended that the Minister of Internal Affairs ... cancel, suspend or refuse to issue the passports of... New Zealanders on national security grounds.
‘‘In each case NZSIS assessed that the individual concerned intended to engage in, or facilitate a terrorist act.’’
The report said NZSIS was seeking to protect the country from the ‘‘effects of returning extremists, who may further encourage radicalisation or bring skills and experience into New Zealand that increase the capabilities of individuals seeking to commit domestic terrorist attacks’’.
All of the released reports were severely redacted.