At around 1 a.m. local time, a group of ten gunmen stormed the family house of the federal Minister of Agriculture, Alhaji Sabo Nanono, in Tofai village, Gabasawa Local government area of Kano State and kidnapped his brother, Babawuro Tofai. The victim, who in his 50s reside with his wife and children in the compound. The Minister’s Personal Assistant confirmed the incident and added that the kidnappers have yet to contact the family with their ransom demands. (vanguardngr.com, 23 November 2020)

A suicide bomber detonated his explosives device inside a restaurant near General Kahiye Police training academy in the Hamar Jajab district near Mogadishu port. At least five people were killed and ten were injured in the attack. The al- Qaeda-allied al-Shabab Islamist group, which frequently carries out bombings in the capital, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Via its Amaq News Agency, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for a deadly attack in Vienna and posted a picture and video purporting to show the gunman Kujtim Fejzulai which the terrorist group refer to as “Abu Dagnah Al-Albany”. In the video clip Fejzulai is pledging his allegiance to the Islamic State leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Quraishi.

Following the overnight attack in the center of Vienna, police raided 18 locations throughout the country and detained 14 people for questioning. The gunman, who was killed by police minutes after he opened fire on crowded bars, was identified as a 20-year-old Kujtim Fejzulai, an Austrian-born son of immigrants from North Macedonia. He was a convicted jihadist who was released from jail in April 2019 after he attempted to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State. Fejzulai was armed with an assault rifle, handgun and a machete and was wearing a fake suicide explosives belt. Footage of the incident filmed by witnesses on mobile phones, showed no evidence of a second gunman, although the possibility had not been completely ruled out. The government declared three days of national mourning and held a minute’s silence at noon.

At around 8 p.m. local time, a gunman armed with assault rifles opened fire outside the Seitenstettengasse synagogue, the main temple in the capital. The gunman continued walking through the city center and indiscriminately fired at passersby at five other locations. Four people were killed in the attack and 22 others, including a police officer, were wounded before the gunman, who was wearing a fake explosives belt, was shot dead by police officers. During the attack, the capital police spokesman asked city residents to avoid all public squares in the city and public transportation. At the time of the attack the synagogue, which is guarded by police officers 24 hours a day, was closed. The attack happened just hours before Austria imposed new national restrictions to try to stem rising cases of coronavirus.

At around 11 a.m. local time three gunmen stormed Kabul University, shooting and tossing grenades. One of the gunmen, wearing an explosives vest, blew himself up inside the campus, while the two others engaged Afghan security personnel aided by U.S. troops in hours long fire exchange. The attack marked the second time in less than two weeks that an educational center was attacked in the capital following a suicide bombing on October 24 at an Islamic educational center in western Kabul. At least 20 people, mostly students were killed in the attack and 22 were wounded. Some reports suggested that the Iranian Ambassador, Bahador Aminian, and cultural attaché, Mojtaba Noroozi, were scheduled to inaugurate a book fair at the university, which was to host some 40 Iranian publishers. The Islamic State Khorasan (IS-K) militant group, which has staged numerous high-profile attacks in Kabul in recent years, claimed responsibility.

At around 9 a.m. local time, an attacker armed with a knife stabbed and killed three people at the Notre-Dame cathedral in the southern city of Nice. The assailant, a 21-year-old Tunisian national, Brahim Aouissaoui, repeatedly shouted "Allahu Akbar" or "God is Great" in Arabic, beheaded at least one of the victims. Police officers who arrived at the scene shot and detained the attacker. The attack follows days of protests in some Muslim countries triggered by President Macron defending the republication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad by the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, following the October 16 beheading of a teacher outside his school near Paris after he showed the controversial cartoons to his students. Following the attack, Prime Minister Jean Castex announced that the country’s terrorism threat level was placed on its highest level, with increased security at places of worship. The attack comes as the Muslim world is celebrating Mawlid holiday, which marks the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad.