The new issue of the Islamic State’s weekly al-Naba newsletter includes a page of tips for lone jihadists that emphasized their first course of action in future attacks should be to escape from the site and live to kill again.
The advice comes after last week’s issue in which ISIS acknowledged Manhattan terror suspect Sayfullo Saipov as “one of the soldiers of the Islamic State of America,” but did not mention him by name, panned the size of the Home Depot rental truck he used in the West Side bike path attack, and noted the high casualty toll of the Oct. 1 mass shooting in Las Vegas.
(ISIS al-Naba graphic)
ISIS has also not issued a formal claim for the Halloween New York attack through their Amaq news agency, perhaps out of disappointment that Saipov was captured brandishing a paintball gun and BB gun after their propaganda has urged terrorists to become martyrs or elude capture and conduct serial attacks.
With a wash of blood over a Paris cityscape, the full-page graphic faintly shows a masked man peering through binoculars, checking bullets in a magazine, and aiming a gun. The two-year anniversary of the coordinated Paris attacks, including the massacre at the Bataclan concert hall, is Monday; the pro-ISIS Wafa’ Media Foundation released a propaganda poster this week showing the Eiffel Tower extending upward as a rifle and vowing to “kill the young before the older.”
The “advice to the mujahideen in the abode of the enemy” starts with the pre-planning stages, telling would-be terrorists to be faithful to Islam and “devote the intention in your deed to God” — not committing an act of terrorism for “showing off or seeking fame.” Ironically, ISIS marketed Omar Mateen like a cult figure after the Orlando attack, including distributing social media memes with the terrorist.
In planning, the jihadist is advised to “beware of randomness — make a good choice of place, time, and means of conducting the operation.”
“Choose from targets that will result in the greatest damage to the enemy, with the least expenses and simplest means,” the graphic continues. “Balance the necessity of the deed’s success and security necessities… be sure to have a contingency plan in case the original plan is hindered, and look for emergency exits to withdraw safely in the event that execution becomes impossible.”
As the terror plot is executed, the ISIS directive continues, the terrorist should “withdraw from the site by safe means,” and if that’s not possible “continue killing until you are killed.”
“Strike violently and be sure to inflict the greatest losses among the enemy. Focus on the main target,” the advice concludes. “Preserve calm and tranquility.”
ISIS has been publishing tips for jihadists in their Rumiyah magazine, but the monthly publication wasn’t issued as expected at the beginning of October and also has not been released this month. Al-Naba generally reports on news from inside territory occupied by ISIS, but its news briefs section recently highlighted the devastation of the California wildfires and the most recent issue discusses President Trump’s statements on North Korea.
A recent issue of al-Naba brushed off their massive territorial losses in Iraq and Syria, declaring that the Islamic State had passed through the “beginning stage” and predicted that the “universal kaffir [disbelievers] alliance” would disintegrate before ISIS does. The editorial called upon the “true believer” to act regardless of “whatever is lost” and “fight the infidels wherever they are, everywhere they are.”
Al-Naba was one of the mediums through which ISIS claimed responsibility for the Oct. 1 mass shooting in Las Vegas. A full-page infographic on the shooting showed a Mandalay Bay hotel covered in blood, claiming that Paddock had converted to Islam six months before. Law enforcement officials have said they’ve discovered no extremist links and ISIS has not offered proof of their claim.
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