chat
185
comments
People watch a wildfire burn from a street corner Nov. 9, 2018, in West Hills, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
With a long history of the
terror group encouraging wildland arson, al-Qaeda supporters circulated a
new poster through media channels highlighting "California burning."
"They will question you about
the mountains. Say: 'My Lord will scatter them as ashes,'" says the text
citing the Quran, imposed over news photos from the blazes.
The al-Qaeda propaganda comes
shortly after one of the many media groups supporting ISIS operations
online claimed that the deadly wildfires in northern and southern
California are retribution for coalition bombings in Syria.
The image circulated online by Al-Ansar Media uses a photo of a burning building and misspelled the state "kalifornia."
"O america, This is the
punishment of bombing Muslims in Syria," states the text. "This is
Allah's punishment for you. And in shaa Allah, you will see more fires.
Praise be to Allah."
The Camp Fire in Butte County,
north of Sacramento in California's Gold Rush country, has claimed the
lives of at least 63 people, according to Cal Fire incident stats today.
The blaze, which started Thursday, has destroyed 9,844 residences and
336 commercial buildings, making it the most destructive fire in the
state's history as it ripped through Paradise, Calif., at a speed of 80
acres per minute. It was 45 percent contained today at 142,000 acres.
The cause is still under investigation.
The Woolsey Fire has torched
98,362 acres in Ventura and Los Angeles counties after starting on
Thursday, and was 69 percent contained today. The blaze resulted in the
evacuation of Malibu, reaching the Pacific Coast Highway. There have
been three fatalities and 616 structures destroyed including several
celebrities' homes. The cause of this blaze is also still under
investigation.
In a 2012 issue of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's Inspire
magazine, a tutorial by "The AQ Chef' under the "Open Source Jihad"
section -- al-Qaeda's name for lone jihadist terrorism -- highlighted
the damage caused by 2002 wildfires in Australia.
"In America, there are more
houses built in the country sides than in the cities. It is difficult to
choose a better place other than in the valleys of Montana where the
population increases rapidly. In the year 2000, a fire that is
considered to be the biggest in the American history flared up in one of
those valleys. It spread in a space equal to that of London. The fire
burnt down 70 houses as well as a hundred car. On July of the same year
and in the same place, a thunderstorm lighted 78 massive blazes in just
one day, most of them were deadly firestorms," the article said,
proceeding to cite other wildfires.
"We mention such examples only
to show the magnitude of the destructive impact that fires or firebombs
make, to then ask the question: Is it possible for us to cause a
similar destructive impact using a similar weapon? The answer is: Yes,
it is possible. Even in a shorter time and with much bigger destructive
impact."
Al-Qaeda proceeded to instruct
jihadists on how to pick the optimum weather conditions for arson,
including dryness and winds, and discussed where to set a wildfire for
maximum devastation.
An extensive step-by-step
pictorial then showed would-be terrorists how to make an "ember bomb" to
start the conflagration, encouraging use of a timer so that the
perpetrator could easily escape.
"The most important damaging result... is the spreading of terror among the targeted community," al-Qaeda said.
Posts
