Al-Qaida called for “lone wolf” attacks against major airliners in a Christmas Eve release of its online publication, “Inspire.”
The article says the purpose of the attacks is to “crush the enemy’s economy,” and describes a lone wolf as “hard to uncover, because none knows him but Allah. He has no relationship with any group or any individuals.”
The terrorist organization identified American Airlines, United, Delta, British Airways, easyJet and Air France as the airlines to attack, Daily Mail reports. It also targeted Bill Gates and former Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, although it describes Bernanke as the current chairman, even though he stepped down in February.
The magazine, published by Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, urges readers to take inspiration from Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the “underpants bomber” who attempted in 2009 to blow up a plane on Christmas. The attack failed when the bomb did not fully detonate, and he is now serving a life sentence in the U.S. It also praises Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, a suspect in the Boston Marathon Bombing in 2013 that killed three and injured over 200.
It provides instructions on how to build a bomb that can be “hidden” on an aircraft, Homeland Security Today reports.
“Inspire” editor-in-chief Yahya Ibrahim also wrote a letter about the magazine’s continued mission “to arm Muslim individuals.”
“Hereby, Inspire magazine is committed to arm Muslim individuals — as well as Muslim groups as is in this issue — in their Jihâd on America,” Ibrahim says. “Here, we give the Muslim ummah a bomb recipe that America fears it might reach the hands of other Mujahideen in other fronts.”
The magazine features multiple pictures, including descriptions of the airliners, a depiction of a bomb titled “the hidden bomb,” and pictures of Abdulmutallab and Tsarnaev.