A militant Islamist organisation reported to have “strong connections” to the Islamic State has established itself in Denmark and is recruiting Danes to join its cause. The development will be of great cause for concern for Denmark, coming just weeks after a Danish mosque openly declared support for ISIS both on television, with one Islamist warning “It is an open war now”.
Millatu Ibrahim’s membership includes some of the most radical Danish islamists, and the group takes inspiration from the actions of ISIS, The Local has reported.
The organisation has already been banned in neighbouring Germany since 2012, but a video was posted to YouTube last week featuring Millatu Ibrahim branding. It was filmed in the Gjellerup Park, Aarhus, Denmark’s second largest city, and features an Islamist wearing a taqiyah, a rounded cap worn my some Muslims.
“We condemn those who worship democracy. We condemn them for eternity,” the bearded man says. Speaking in both Arabic and Danish he also lavishes praise on Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State, and former Al-Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed by American forces in 2006.
According to Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet, Millatu Ibrahim in Denmark was first established in the town of Vejle, central Denmark and has drawn known islamist members from across the country, a number of whom have previously fought in Syria and Iraq.
Speaking to Ekstra Bladet, Nico Prucha, a jihadist expert at the University of Vienna’s Austrian Institute for International Affairs said “there is a strong connection between Millatu Ibrahim and the Islamic State.
“Many followers of Millatu are full-blooded members of the Islamic State and fight in the Middle East for their caliphate. Millatu Ibrahim is a part of the European Islamist network, which has connections in Austria, Germany, Belgium, France and the UK so I’m not at all surprised that they’ve now shown up in Denmark.”
Two weeks ago Breitbart London reported on the open support for ISIS displayed by the Grimhoj mosque in Aarhus. Fadi Abdallah, a spokesman for the mosque told reporters “An Islamic state will always be what Muslims long for, therefore we cannot help but to support the Islamic State,” and an unidentified Danish-Turkish jihadist told media “It is an open war now. Isis has said that all infidels should be battled. They should be eliminated and soon it will be Denmark’s turn.”
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