“And prepare against them whatever you are able of power and of steeds of war by which you may strike terror in the enemy of Allah and your enemy and others besides them whom you do not know, whom Allah knows.” (Qur’an 8:60)
“ISIS Threat Depicts Murdered Santa in Strasbourg Square,” by Bridget Johnson, PJ Media, December 14, 2018:
As Strasbourg’s Christmas market reopens today following Tuesday’s deadly attack, an ISIS-supporting media group disseminated an image of Santa riddled with bullets in the city’s center.
The poster shows a nighttime depiction of Place Kléber, the central square in Strasbourg, France, as a jihadist with a rifle propped against his shoulder surveys the scene. A Christmas tree is in flames behind the body of Santa.
“Beat him violently,” says the text in French. “Be sure to inflict the greatest losses on the enemy.”
A fourth victim has died from wounds suffered when Chérif Chekatt, 29, opened fire around the market. A fifth victim is brain dead and 11 more were wounded, with four still in the hospital.
Chekatt, a Strasbourg native with an extensive criminal history who was flagged as a potential Islamic extremist in 2015, was shot and killed in an encounter with a routine police patrol in the city on Thursday.
France24 reported that Chekatt was able to slip his weapons through a tight security perimeter to gain access to the famed Christmas market. French President Emmanuel Macron was expected to attend the reopening of the market.
ISIS issued a statement, citing their Amaq news agency, claiming “an attack by a soldier of the Islamic State, in the city of Strasbourg, east of France, Tuesday evening, in response to the call to target the nationals of the countries of the coalition.”
The format is similar to claims ISIS has made for other attacks in the past. ISIS also described the attack in the news briefs section of their weekly al-Naba newsletter released Thursday. The article highlighted French officials’ description of Chekatt yelling “Allahu Akbar” at the scene.
Independent media organizations form a growing online support network for ISIS that creates and disseminates propaganda for recruitment and incitement on behalf of the terror group, with the goal of widening the geographical scope of attacks and ISIS influence…