Rawti Shax


Rawti Shax or Didi Nwe is a Kurdish dark web-based offshoot of the Kurdish jihadist group Ansar al-Islam. In October 2015, seventeen members, including the suspected leader, Norway-based Najmuddin Faraj Ahmad "Mullah Krekar", were arrested or indicted in a coordinated, Italy-led multi-nation sweep by police across Europe. The operation dismantled an integrated cell in Italy, Norway, the United Kingdom, Germany, Finland and Switzerland.
The network was accused of radicalizing and recruiting fighters for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, plotting attacks targeting Norwegian and British diplomats in the Middle East, and making preparations to establish a caliphate in Iraq's Kurdistan region. It was also suspected of operating its own military training camps. The Italian anti-terrorism chief Giuseppe Governale said that the operation was "the most important international police operation in Europe in 20 years".

Arrests and warrants

A total of seventeen people, all but one of whom were Iraqi Kurds, were arrested or indicted in the raids; seven in Italy, four in the United Kingdom, three in Norway, two in Finland and one in Switzerland. 26 properties were searched in total, including in Germany, where officials seized electronic devices and documents.
Arrested in Italy:
Arrested in Norway:
Arrest warrants in Finland:
Arrest warrant in Switzerland:
The network was in addition believed to have cells in Sweden, Greece, Syria, Iran and Iraq.
In March 2016 4 suspects previously arrested in the United Kingdom were released without charges, after winning a court case against their extradition to Italy.