Terrorists see the world coronavirus crisis as a window of opportunity for new attacks

Jihadists and other militant extremists are seeing a world health crisis as a window of opportunity.

Leading terror organizations such as Islamic State have been calling on followers to increase attacks in recent days as world governments and militaries shift their focus to combating the COVID-19 pandemic.

While it may be premature to draw a direct correlation to a recent wave of attacks from Africa to Afghanistan in recent days, counterterrorism experts point to a spike in extremist propaganda describing the coronavirus outbreak as being sent by God to assist the jihadist cause.

Islamic State leaders quickly claimed credit for a deadly attack on Sikh worshippers in Kabul this week, and radical Islamist movements in Africa have stepped up their activity in countries such as Nigeria and Chad.

“Jihadis see the current crisis as a manifestation of the wrath of God, both upon the non-believers for their rejection of God’s law and crimes against Muslims, and upon those Muslims who have forsaken the duty of jihad,” said Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens, director of research at The George Washington University’s Program on Extremism. “They argue that fighting jihad is the surest way to guarantee protection from the virus.”

Bill Roggio, who analyzes jihadist terrorism at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said there was a consistent argument in messages from various outfits online — from the Taliban in Afghanistan to Islamic State and underground al Qaeda affiliates around the globe.

A “common theme,” he said, is that “coronavirus is a punishment from Allah to our decadent Western style of life.”

Islamic State has led the charge, calling this week on its network of affiliates in India to seize the moment and carry out attacks. The attacker in Afghanistan this week was said to be an Indian national angry about the treatment of Muslims in the divided Kashmir region.

The group’s propaganda is seizing upon the notion that “the Western world’s attention is now firmly on the health crisis, meaning a possible reduction in counter-terrorism capabilities.

Source: Washington Times