Al-Qaeda calls for bomb and knife attacks targeting Americans

In the latest issue its English-language Inspire magazine, Al-Qaeda calls on Muslims to carry out bombings and stabbings in the U.S. and gives readers tips on how to conduct "professional assassinations" targeting Americans. Al-Qaeda particularly looks to a recent wave of attacks by Palestinians against Israelis as a model for assaults on American soil.

The terror group provides readers DIY guides for making parcel bombs, "door-trap" bombs, and magnetic car bombs in the 15th issue of the online magazine, which Vocativ uncovered on forums for al-Qaeda supporters, who also circulated the issue across social media. In a six-page article that includes "recipes" for the various types of explosives, the terror group explains how jihadists can "obtain a suitable security cover," locate a target's home, and collect information about a target using tools such as Google Earth and drones equipped with cameras.

The terror group also focuses on stabbings. It praises a recent string of Palestinian knife attacks and urges Muslims in the U.S. to carry out the same kind of violence. From October last year to early May, Palestinians killed 28 Israelis and two U.S. citizens in attacks, many of which were stabbings, according to Reuters. (Over the same time period, Israeli forces killed at least 194 Palestinians, including 133 people Israel said were assailants, Reuters reports.)

Now, al-Qaeda is seeking an expansion of those attacks "to the throats of Americans in their very own homes." In an article titled "O Knife Revolution, Head Toward America," al-Qaeda calls on "zealous Muslims in America who clearly see their Muslim brothers in Palestine being tortured" to attack Americans with knives since "supporters of Israel should pay with their blood and their economy the price for their support of Israel's crimes against Islam and Muslims." The idea, it says, is "to show that they want Americans to stop aiding Jews against Muslims in Palestine."

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It says that for the liberation of Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque, which is one of the holiest sites for Muslims, Muslims should "strike the West, particularly Americans in their own backyards." It adds: "We must continue what was done by the jihadists in the blessed attacks of September 11 (and in) the invasions of Madrid, Bali, London, and Paris."

It also calls on militants to "continue the path" of several terrorists who carried out attacks against the West, including Mohammad Atta—a leader in the September 2001 attacks—and the Tsarnaev brothers, who were behind the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings.

An image from al-Qaeda's Inspire magazine.

Al-Qaeda opened the belligerent discussion in its magazine, which is a major propaganda tool for the group created by U.S.-born terrorist and preacher Anwar al-Awlaki, by bragging about a December Washington Post-ABC News survey.The poll found that more than 75 percent of Americans doubted the U.S. could stop "lone wolf" attacks—attacks carried out independently by assailants and the kind of violence al-Qaeda is advocating.

The group also urges action outside the U.S., calling for the establishment of a Muslim state in Egypt and Syria to help liberate Palestine.

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