ISIS terrorist group calls on its followers to take revenge for the New Zealand terror attack on two mosques
ISIS has called on its followers to retaliate for the terror attack against Muslims in New Zealand last week, in a rare message from one of its top figures.
The group’s spokesman, Abu Hassan al-Muhajir, broke a six month silence to call on Isis supporters to “take vengeance for their religion” in the 44-minute audio recording.
“This slaughter in those two mosques is no more than another tragedy among past and coming tragedies, which will be followed by scenes of force that reach all who were tricked to living among the polytheist,” he said in the message distributed by Al Furqan, a media organisation linked to Isis.
“The scenes of death in the two mosques are enough to wake the sleep and incite the supporters of the caliphate who live there, to take vengeance for their religion and for sons of their Ummah, who are killed everywhere in the world.”
The attack in Christchurch, New Zealand, left 50 people dead at two mosques during midday prayers. A 28-year-old Australian is the main suspect and in a manifesto, called himself a white nationalist out to avenge attacks in Europe by Muslims.
Isis has consistently made the argument that Muslims and non-Muslims cannot live side-by-side, and has used terror attacks such as these in its propaganda to make the case for its declaration of an Islamic state.
Even before the message appeared on Isis channels on the encrypted messaging app Telegram, experts had warned that the Christchurch massacre could be used for “reciprocal radicalisation”.
Isis supporters have claimed to avenge Muslims killed in Syria and Iraq, while far-right terrorists including the Finsbury Park attacker and the alleged New Zealand mosque shooter have claimed the same for victims of Isis-inspired attacks.
Security services fear a “domino effect” in atrocities and will be bracing for any potential impact from Isis’s latest call.
Al-Muhajir, who real name is not known, also commented on the ongoing battle for the last scrap of the Isis caliphate in eastern Syria. Isis fighters have been surrounded in a camp in the village of Baghouz and are facing a final onslaught from the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces.
Tens of thousands have filed out of the village over the past two months, among them nearly 5,000 surrendering Isis fighters. But the spokesman sought to downplay the losses.
“Do you think the displacement of the weak and poor out of Baghouz will weaken the Islamic State? No,” he said.
Isis’s defeat at Baghouz will end its control of inhabited land in the third of Syria and Iraq that it captured in 2014. However, the group will remain a threat, regional and Western officials say
The last message from Al-Muhajir came in September 2018, when he claimed responsibility on Isis’s behalf for an attack on an Iranian military parade in the city of Ahvaz.
Source: Independent
