Islamic State: ‘Lone Wolf’ Terrorists Should Use eBay, Craigslist to Lure Victims

The Islamic State magazine Rumiyah has published a set of tutorials for aspiring “lone wolf” jihadis, including advice to use websites such as eBay and Craigslist to lure victims for kidnapping and murder.

The UK Daily Mail also notes advice for carrying out vehicle, gun, knife, and arson attacks, plus praise for previous lone wolf attackers who “set heroic examples with their operations.”

Jihadis are advised to avoid taking “large numbers of the kuffar hostage in order to negotiate one’s demands.'” (“Kuffar” is another word for infidels.) Shopping malls, movie theaters, nightclubs, restaurants, college campuses, and similar venues are recommended as good locations for a hostage drama. The ideal scene for an attack is described as a location with few exits and minimal police or private security.

“Having gained control over the victims, one should then proceed to slaughter as many of them as he possibly can before the initial police response, as was outstandingly demonstrated by the mujahidin who carried out the Bataclan theater massacre during the course of the blessed Paris raid,” Rumiyah’s terror tipsters suggest.

The magazine proposes keeping some hostages alive as a means of gaining “wide publicity” to “more effectively plant terror into the hearts of the disbelievers” with a “more lengthy and drawn-out hostage scenario.” The jihadi is encouraged to contact the authorities and identify himself as a “soldier of the Islamic State” in such a scenario. Ideally, the authorities will respond by storming the scene of the hostage crisis and martyring the ISIS soldier after he has “inflicted upon the kuffar a just massacre.”

The article goes on to explain that, in the Internet era, enterprising jihadis can make the hostages come to them by such techniques as advertising small apartments to rent online. “It might even help to include in the ad that the apartment is ‘ideal for students,'” ISIS experts write.

Another recommended technique for luring kidnap and murder victims is to advertise items for sale – “something that requires the victim to enter one’s property” – and stipulate only cash payments will be accepted. The importance of placing realistic advertisements with believable prices for appealing goods is stressed, because Western law enforcement may be on the prowl for criminals advertising stolen goods at steeply discounted prices.

Lone wolves are told to refrain from launching attacks “until the target has fully entered the property and is comfortable, so as to avoid any struggle and prevent the chance of him fleeing.”

Rumiyah tells its readers that guns are easier to obtain than they might think, even in nations like Britain with ostensibly strict gun control laws. Clearly buying into the talking points of American gun control advocates, the article falsely states that guns can be purchased in the United States without background checks or ID from showrooms, gun shows, and online sales.

If all else fails, the trigger-happy jihadist can always try robbing a gun store for both firearms and cash, although Rumiyah notes that “tactical and gun shop owners are normally the type who arm and train themselves and would not be as averse to engaging in a firefight when attacked,” so attacking by surprise and running them over with a vehicle is advised.

The Daily Mail also quotes Europol Director Rob Wainwright warning that ISIS is working on creating its own social media platform for recruiting and organizing operatives around the world, in response to pressure by intelligence and law enforcement agencies to drive terrorist recruiters away from popular services such as Facebook and Google.