ISIS Threatens World Cup Stadium Explosion
The Islamic State (ISIS) group released a new propaganda video calling for its supporters to carry out attacks during the World Cup in Russia, according to reports Wednesday. The video comes after the terrorists threatened to behead soccer stars including Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
The computerized footage shows bombs exploding in and around the Olympic stadium in Sochi. The terrorist group claimed it has jihadists in Russia who are planning attacks during the World Cup, which began Thursday. The tournament will be held in 12 stadiums located across 11 host cities. The final will be played at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.
The video, released by an ISIS-linked propaganda channel, is the latest in a series of threats by the group. A number of mocked-up posters have also been released showing a massacre as soccer fans gather to enjoy the games that will continue until July 15.
One of the mocked-up images shows flames engulfing a stadium and nearby facilities in Sochi in southern Russia. Another calls for lone-wolf jihadists to “kill them all” along with a photo of a knife slicing through a tournament logo. A third shows an armed militant with the caption “the terror will begin.”
In May, the terror outfit vowed to behead soccer stars in the images released on Telegram by a pro-ISIS group. In one photo, a chilling caption warned “the ground will be filled with your blood.”
Last week, European security experts warned ISIS poses a real threat to Russia’s World Cup and the warnings must be taken seriously.
Brian Glyn Williams and Robert Troy Souza, authors of a report published last month by West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center, on the dangers ISIS poses said the propaganda campaign unfurled by ISIS was “unprecedented.”
“In just the past few years, there have been numerous successful terror attacks or thwarted plots in Russia by terrorists linked to or inspired by the Islamic state (ISIS),” they wrote. “This suggests the group may have the capacity to launch attacks in Russia during the World Cup.”
Source: ibtimes
