A senior member of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has praised the recent terror attacks in Chattanooga and the Dallas area, and is urging followers to plan more global attacks, starting with America.
Khaled bin Umar Batarfi is seen in a video posted Wednesday on the AQAP website encouraging so-called “lone wolf” attackers.
“To the warriors of Lone Jihad: may Allah bless and guide your efforts,” he said.
“By the grace of Allah, lone jihad has proven and will always prove to be a strategic weapon, successfully hitting and penetrating the enemy’s fort,” he continued. “And the latest operation of Muhammad Abdulaziz, which occurred in the heart of American soil (Chattanooga), is a clear evidence of that. He penetrated the base, killing and injuring American Marines, in a blessed jihadi operation.”
The video appeared after a letter purported to be from the new leader of AQAP and its chief bomb-maker, Ibrahim al-Asiri, was released. In it he said, “We urge you to strike America in its own home and abroad.”
Batarfi elaborated on that theme in the video and he mocked the U.S government for not being able to protect its own soldiers on American soil. “As long as western governments and on top of them America (continue to) insult and desecrate our religion and continue its support for the Jewish nation which occupies Palestine, and as long as they aid the apostate rulers in the Islamic world…we will never stop targeting them and threatening their security,” he warned.
He also suggested that potential terrorists on American soil refer to AQAP’s English language magazine, Inspire, for guidance in planning attacks.
The al-Qaida branch claimed in January that it inspired the massacre of journalists at the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris.
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