Rukmini Callimachi, a terror expert who has studied the Islamic State for years, believes Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock may have been a jihadist.
Daily Star UK reports:
Vile terror group ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack, but cops have rejected this, claiming there is no evidence that Paddock was linked to the group.
The death worshippers then went on to claim that Paddock had converted six months before the deadly shooting.
She wrote: “ISIS has rarely claimed attacks that were not by either their members or sympathisers.
“I don’t buy the argument that they are now opportunistically claiming attacks to deflect from battlefield losses.”
She added that ISIS members in chatrooms were declaring the incident as a cover-up, and that Paddock was “one of their brothers”.
She also wrote: “ISIS considers an attack to be their handiwork if the attacker is sent or inspired by them.”
The Islamic State tripled down on the Las Vegas massacre on Thursday.
The Islamic terrorist group claimed Stephen Paddock converted to Islam six months ago.
Terror expert Rita Katz reported:
#ISIS doubling down again on its claim for #LasVegas attack, claiming Paddock “converted to Islam 6 months ago" & tallying casualties https://t.co/LI1gp1gT23
— Rita Katz (@Rita_Katz) October 5, 2017
IS Features Infographic on Las Vegas Attack in Naba 100 https://t.co/WHaCgoi5DD
— SITE Intelligence Group (@siteintelgroup) October 5, 2017
SITE Intelligence Group tweeted this out on Thursday afternoon:
In Naba 100 #ISIS featured an infographic on #LasVegas attack & indicated the shooter, “Abu Abdul Barr al-Amriki,” converted 6 months ago.
In Naba 100 #ISIS featured an infographic on #LasVegas attack & indicated the shooter, "Abu Abdul Barr al-Amriki," converted 6 months ago pic.twitter.com/5JhMFbU2Se
— SITE Intelligence Group (@siteintelgroup) October 5, 2017
Now this…
Intelligence officials translated the ISIS weekly newsletter al-Nabu including the remarks on Stephen Paddock, aka: Abu Abdul al-Amriki:
3. Below is the @siteintelgroup translation. ISIS earlier said shooter converted "months ago." Now they're saying it was 6 mos specifically pic.twitter.com/Lo6hF1S65M
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) October 5, 2017
Another terror expert, Michael S. Smith II, warns it would be a mistake to rule out ISIS was behind the Las Vegas shooting. Imagine if police rule out the group’s involvement and then ISIS provides evidence? It would badly damage the people’s trust in the U.S. government, Smith says.
Newsweek reports:
While Las Vegas’ Sheriff Joe Lombardo told reporters Monday that police “have no intelligence or evidence the suspect was linked to any terrorist groups or radical ideologies,” Smith warns that ISIS’s proven ability to avoid detection helps it send potential recruits a clear message: “Intelligence agencies in the West are not actually omniscient.”
[…]
While a number of analysts have tied ISIS attacks in the West to the group’s recent setbacks in the Middle East, Smith argues that striking targets in the West has always been a core tenet of the group, which evolved from a merger of jihadists groups that included Al-Qaeda in Iraq. In fact, Smith says ISIS claims to be the heir of Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, who long championed attacks in the West, despite not claiming responsibility for the September 11 attacks until more than three years later.
Smith says that, in order to compete with the existing Al-Qaeda affiliates and other jihadist groups not aligned to ISIS, the group will likely continue to devote its resources to planning attacks around the world. The group’s decision to release what is alleged to be a recent recording of its chief, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, is further evidence that the jihadists plan to remain on the offensive for as long as they can.
