ISIS calls for attack on U.S. churches during holidays
The Islamic State has called on its adherents for an attack in the U.S. during the holiday season, and it has released a list of targets which include thousands of churches across all 50 states.
The announcement was posted in the "Secrets of Jihadis" social media group on the Telegram app on Wednesday night.
According to Vocativ, a user who goes by the name of "Abu Marya al-Iraqi" posted an Arabic-language message that called for "bloody celebrations in the Christian New Year." The message also contained plans to utilize the terror group's network of lone wolf attackers to "turn the Christian New Year into a bloody horror movie."
The post included a public directory of the churches across the U.S. Other messages posted on Telegram include manuals for preparing weapons and explosives for aspiring assailants.
In another post, a member urged "the sons of Islam" to target "churches, well-known hotels, crowded coffee shops, streets, markets and public places." The user also shared a list of addresses in the U.S., Canada, France and the Netherlands.
A "kill list" published by the terror group in June included more than 8,000 names and addresses. Some of the people in the list were reportedly police officers in the U.S. No known attacks were linked to the list.
Following the assassination of the Russian ambassador to Turkey in Ankara earlier this week, ISIS published a document containing the addresses and contact information of Russian embassies in a bid to incite more attacks.
The terror group has claimed responsibility for the attack on a Christmas market in Berlin on Monday. The jihadis said that the attacker was a "soldier of the Islamic State" who followed the orders "to target coalition countries."
The suspect, who was identified as Anis Amri, was killed by the police in Milan, Italy after four days on the run.
A video was released by ISIS showing Amri pledging allegiance to its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The group also acknowledged his death and praised the incident as "another attack" on Italian police.
