Calls by an Islamic State-linked group for so-called lone wolves to murder Western children are going viral in Islamic fundamentalist chat rooms.
The violent message was uncovered by the U.S.-based SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks jihadist activity on the internet.
“I wish that I could travel to Europe or America or Australia and, by Allah, burn their children with oil in place of their men and women,” read the message, which was disseminated widely online.
“I would not choose a market, club, shopping centre, or park… no… no… no… I would choose a kindergarten and a maternity hospital to slaughter them.”
“Many other terrorist groups have pushed the idea of avenging civilian deaths within their areas of operation [in Syria] by targeting children in [government-controlled] cities and especially the children of those associated with the government and the military,” noted Harrison Akins, a researcher at the Howard Baker Center.
“However, by calling for the targeting of children in Western countries by lone wolf terrorists, an especially heinous and morally reprehensible act of violence, they are perhaps demonstrating both their current weakness and their desperation.”
Newsweek reported on the messages as much of the mainstream media was transfixed by U.S. President Donald Trump’s social media activities, which managed to draw in British prime minister Theresa May.
“Theresa May, don’t focus on me, focus on the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism that is taking place within the United Kingdom,” the President shot back. “We are doing just fine!”
British children have already been the targets of radical Islamic terrorism, most noticeably during the Manchester Arena terror bombing in May 2017, which was carried out by the son of an Islamist refugee from Libya.
“ISIS has made numerous justifications of killing children, stating in issue five of its Rumiyah magazine: ‘one should not grieve over the collateral killing of kafir [infidel] women and children’,” observed SITE Intelligence director Rita Katz.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.