7 times ISIS has inspired terror attacks on US soil
Investigators probing the deadly New Year‘s Day terror attack in New Orleans say suspect Shamsud-Din Jabbar flew an ISIS flag on the back of the pick-up truck he used to mow down dozens of innocent revelers – killing at least 14 of them.
Jabbar, a former Army veteran who served in Afghanistan, joined ISIS before this summer and posted several videos on Facebook declaring support for the group before he carried out the heinous attack, FBI Deputy Assistant Director Christopher Raja said on Thursday.
“In the first video, Jabbar explains he only planned to harm his family and friends but was concerned the news headlines would not focus on the ‘war between the believers and the disbelievers,'” Raja said.
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But what exactly is ISIS and how many attacks have they been responsible for in the United States?
What is ISIS?
ISIS, IS, or the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, is a breakaway terrorist group from al-Qaeda that has conducted and inspired terrorist attacks around the world, causing thousands of deaths and injuries, according to the Director of National Intelligence.
The group embraces Sunni Islamist ideology that seeks to establish a global caliphate, a global Islamic state governed by a strict interpretation of Sharia law.
As well as terror attacks, the group has been known to carry out beheadings on videos and systematic rape and other sexual violence against members of other faiths. The group also targets fellow Sunni Muslims who stray from its harsh interpretation of Islam.
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Under former leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, ISIS seized stunning amounts of territory in Iraq and Syria by 2014.
Al-Baghdadi was killed by U.S. Joint Special Operations Command in 2019 and U.S.-backed forces ejected ISIS from its last stronghold in Syria before declaring victory over the terror group, although it continues to operate clandestinely there and in Iraq.
The group’s roots can be traced to 2004, when an Iraqi extremist network led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi merged with al-Qaeda to form ISIS’s predecessor group, al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI). In 2013, AQI changed its name to ISIS and in 2014 the group separated from al-Qaeda, declaring itself a caliphate, taking over vast swaths of territory in Iraq and Syria.
How active is ISIS in the US?
Experts say that the group inspires psychotic sympathizers to commit “lone wolf” attacks that blur the line between random crime and terrorism.
ISIS has become decentralized compared to a decade ago and some experts argue that ISIS is powerful today partly as a brand, inspiring both militant groups and individuals in attacks that the group itself may have no real role in.
The group’s credo and military successes have led armed extremist organizations in Africa, Asia and Europe to swear allegiance to it.
ISIS-inspired attacks in the US
ISIS has inspired several terror attacks on US soil over the last decade. Here are seven.
1. 2016 Pulse Nightclub massacre — 49 dead
Omar Mateen opened fire on a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, that was hosting “Latin Night” in June 2016, killing 49 people and wounding 53 others in the deadliest terror-related mass shooting in U.S. history.
The FBI previously said that he carried out the mass shooting in support of ISIS.
Mateen was born to Afghan parents in New York in 1986 and was living in Port St. Lucie, in Florida. He was killed after a three-hour standoff with SWAT team members.
2. New Orleans truck attack — 14 dead
Wednesday’s terror attack in New Orleans was carried out by Shamsud-Din Jabbar, who got behind the wheel of a white pick-up truck and barreled into dozens of revelers along the city’s famed Bourbon Street, leaving 14 people dead.
The FBI said Jabbar, a 42-year-old U.S. citizen from Texas, drove the rented Ford truck laden with an ISIS flag, weapons and a potential improvised explosive device (IED) into a crowd at approximately 3:15 a.m. local time Wednesday and injured more than 30 others.
He was subsequently killed in a shootout with police.
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4. 2015 San Bernardino shooting — 14 dead
In 2015, Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, shot up a San Bernardino County Department of Public Health training event and Christmas party, killing 14 people and injuring more than 20 others.
The couple, who were both Muslim, were killed following a shootout with police.
The FBI said the couple “homegrown violent extremists” inspired by foreign terrorist groups, although the agency did not specifically say they were inspired by ISIS.
Reports at the time said Malik, who was born in Pakistan and was in the U.S. on a green card, pledged allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on Facebook while the shooting was happening.
He was killed in a shootout with a SWAT team member.
5. 2017 NYC bike path attack — 8 dead
Uzbekistan native Sayfullo Saipov killed eight people by driving a truck into a bike path full of cyclists and runners in New York City in 2017.
Six of the deceased were foreign tourists, while thirteen were injured, including a Belgian woman who had both of her legs amputated. Prosecutors in New York described the vehicle ramming terror event as the worst terrorist attack since 9/11.
A Black Standard flag, one of the flags flown by the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and a document indicating allegiance to the terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) were found in the truck.
Saipov, a green card holder at the time, was given 10 life sentences plus 260 years in prison.
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6. 2016 Ohio State University attack — 11 injured
Somali student Abdul Razak Ali Artan plowed a car into a crowd at Ohio State University in November 2016 before stabbing several pedestrians with a butcher knife.
The attack left 11 people injured before Artan was shot and killed by a university police officer.
Law enforcement sources told Fox News at the time that they believed that the attacker was “self-radicalized” by ISIS propaganda.
Artan also praised American-born al-Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki as a “hero” and railed against U.S. interference in Muslim lands in a series of Facebook posts, officials said.
7. 2017 New York City subway bomber — 3 injured
ISIS-inspired Akayed Ullah set off a pipe bomb that partially exploded in New York City’s busiest subway station in 2017.
The device targeted the pedestrian tunnel between Times Square and Port Authority stops in Manhattan.
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Ullah was arrested after his bomb failed to fully explode, leaving him with serious burns. The blast spread panic but caused only minor injuries to three people near him.
After growing angry at American foreign policy in the Middle East, Ullah grew consumed by online Islamic State propaganda “glorifying brutally violent stabbings, shootings, and bombings targeting Americans,” prosecutors argued in federal court in Manhattan.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.