"This is the first time the ‘caliphate' (Khilāfah) has claimed that the San Bernardino terrorists were its ‘soldiers.’”
Significant. —S. http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2015/12/islamic-state-issues-first-official-statement-on-san-bernardino-terrorist-attack.php Islamic State issues first official statement on San Bernardino terrorist attack The Islamic State has released its first official statement on the Dec. 2 terrorist attack in San Bernardino, Calif. The group’s Al Bayan “news” bulletin, released today, listed the massacre as one of the “caliphate’s” global operations. The English-language version of Al Bayan reads: California: Two soldiers of the Khilāfah executed an attack on the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California on the 20th of Safar. Light weapons were used, which led to the deaths of 14 disbelievers and the injuring of more than 20 others. An exchange of gunfire with American police followed, eventually ending with both attackers being killed in the path of Allah. We ask Allah to accept them both as shuhadā’ [martyrs]. This is the first time the “caliphate” (Khilāfah) has claimed that the San Bernardino terrorists were its “soldiers.” However, the Arabic version of Al Bayan contains a key difference. The SITE Intelligence Group reports that the attackers are described as “supporters of the Islamic State” in Arabic. This is consistent with how the ‘Amaq News Agency, which is affiliated with the Islamic State, labeled them in an earlier message <http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2015/12/islamic-state-affiliated-news-agency-praises-san-bernardino-shootings.php>. The distinction is an important one. The word “soldiers” implies that the shooters were part of the Islamic State’s international organization. But the word “supporters” is more open-ended, and includes individuals with no operational ties to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi’s jihadists. Thus far, the Islamic State has not published an official claim of responsibility. Al Bayan does not say that the terrorists in San Bernardino acted under the Islamic State’s direction, nor does the “news” bulletin provide any details that were not already available in press reporting. One of the two shooters, Tashfeen Malik, reportedly swore her allegiance to Baghdadi <http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2015/12/why-the-islamic-state-tells-supporters-to-swear-allegiance-before-dying.php> on social media just minutes after the attack got underway. Federal authorities are investigating whether Malik or her husband, Syed Farook, had any organizational links to the Islamic State or other jihadist groups. *Thomas Joscelyn is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Senior Editor for The Long War Journal.* __._,_.___ ------------------------------ Posted by: "Beowulf" <[email protected]> ------------------------------ Visit Your Group <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/grendelreport/info;_ylc=X3oDMTJmN3EydHE2BF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzIwMTk0ODA2BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTMyMzY2NwRzZWMDdnRsBHNsawN2Z2hwBHN0aW1lAzE0NDkzMzUyODA-> [image: Yahoo! Groups] <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo;_ylc=X3oDMTJlcXJvanNkBF9TAzk3NDc2NTkwBGdycElkAzIwMTk0ODA2BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTMyMzY2NwRzZWMDZnRyBHNsawNnZnAEc3RpbWUDMTQ0OTMzNTI4MQ--> • Privacy <https://info.yahoo.com/privacy/us/yahoo/groups/details.html> • Unsubscribe <[email protected]?subject=Unsubscribe> • Terms of Use <https://info.yahoo.com/legal/us/yahoo/utos/terms/> __,_._,___ -- -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "PoliticalForum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
