A pro-ISIS hacker, who goes by the names Abu Hussain al-Britani, has been linked to Sunday’s attack on the Garland, Texas, “Draw Mohammed” contest, and may have played a role in inspiring the gunmen, CNN reported Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the day after the attack, someone from a Twitter account believed to be al-Britani’s tweeted, “you ain’t seen nothing yet #QaribanQariba.”
First, Simpson urged people on Twitter to follow al-Britani. Then, al-Britani retweeted an apparent announcement from Simpson that he and Noofi had pledged allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. After news of the attack broke, al-Britani tweeted, “Allahu Akbar!!!!! 2 of our brothers just opened fire at the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) art exhibition in texas! #TexasAttack.”
“Allahu Akbar” means “God is the greatest,” while “s.a.w.” is short for “Peace Be Upon Him.” It’s common for Muslims to write “s.a.w.” or “PBUH” after the prophet’s name.
It is possible al-Britani had knowledge an attack was in the works. Several hours before the Garland attack he tweeted, “soon we will come to your streets with death and slaughter!”
The account used by al-Britani has now been suspended, but a person using the same moniker, similar handle and a well-circulated photo of al-Britiani opened a Twitter account on the day of the attack — the same day his old account was suspended — and tweeted, “I’m back again.” Included in that tweet were the English transliterations for the Arabic phrases, “God willing” and “May God reward you.”
The following day, someone tweeted from that account a photo purportedly from the Texas attack and in a separate tweet said, “you ain’t seen nothing yet #QaribanQariba.” The hashtag means, “Soon soon.”
Tweets between Hussain and Simpson seem to lend credibility to the Islamic State’s claim that it was responsible for the attack.
A week before the Garland event, Simpson mentioned the contest in a tweet to the account that’s believed to be Hassan’s and asked, “When will they ever learn?”
Came the response: “The brothers from the Charlie Hebdo attack did their part. It’s time for brothers in the #US to do their part.” It was a reference to a similar attack in Paris in which two self-proclaimed Islamist terrorists went on a deadly shooting rampage at the offices of a satirical newspaper known to lampoon Islam’s prophet.
As our own Bridget Johnson reported yesterday, ISIS posted a message online targeting the organizer of the Draw Mohammed contest, Pamela Geller, announcing, “Everyone who houses her events, gives her a platform to spill her filth are legitimate targets.”
The message also states that ISIS has “71 trained soldiers in 15 different states ready at our word to attack any target we desire.”
Via the New York Daily News, Geller is “in the crosshairs of ISIS because of her anti-Jihad activism.
“We have been in touch with Pamela Geller,” police spokesman Stephen Davis told The Daily News. “People known to be associated with ISIS have posted a direct threat to her. To whatever extent she will be in New York City, we will do a comprehensive threat assessment to determine what, if any measures, to take.”
“We have to treat it like it’s a direct threat because they named her—and we informed her,” Davis added.
According to the NYDN, ISIS said in a posting on the message board JustPasteIt that it was sending “all our Lions to achieve her slaughter.”
“Our aim was the khanzeer (swine) Pamela Geller and to show her that we don’t care what land she hides in or what sky shields her,” it said.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member