MADRID 2 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The mass attack perpetrated in New Orleans by a former member of the United States Armed Forces has led the authorities to investigate the possible role of the Islamic State terrorist group, a Sunni fundamentalist organization for which the terrorist, Shamsud Din Jabbar, had shown at least sympathies before ramming his vehicle into dozens of people who were celebrating the turn of the year in the middle of the street.
The authorities concluded shortly after the accident that it was an intentional attack, something they confirmed with a first search of the vehicle. According to the FBI, inside they located an Islamic State flag, as well as other weapons and potential explosive devices.
The president of the United States, Joe Biden, has also confirmed that Jabbar had published videos in which he said he was “inspired” by the Islamic State, a group that, despite no longer having the ‘caliphate’ that it proclaimed itself more than ten years ago in Large areas of Iraq and Syria continue to represent a major threat both in the Middle East and beyond.
The main US agencies, in fact, have publicly recognized the risks derived from members or sympathizers of the Islamic State and have pointed in particular to the special threat of affiliates such as the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), with a presence in Afghanistan and which In March 2023, he claimed responsibility for an attack that left more than 60 dead in an auditorium in Moscow. They also fear that it could re-emerge in Syria, taking advantage of the fall of Bashar al Assad’s regime.
The organization has not formally claimed responsibility for the New Orleans attack, although its followers have celebrated it on various channels, as noted by the Soufan Center, which specializes in information on terrorism. This ‘think tank’ recalls that other previous attacks in Western countries were not the direct work of the Islamic State, but rather of individuals who agree with its fundamentalist line and from whom the group founded by Abu Bakr al Baghdadi tries to obtain propaganda profits ‘after the fact’. ‘.
Without knowing in detail the background of the New Orleans attack, one of the Soufan Center experts, Colin Clarke, admits in statements to NBC News that the attack “simply confirms what a large part of the anti-terrorist community has said in the last year”, that “Islamic State is a persistent threat and will not just disappear.
The director of International Security of the Asia-Pacific Foundation, Sajjan M. Gohel, has acknowledged in statements to CNN that the New Orleans attack fits largely with the symbology and ‘modus operandi’ of the Islamic State, among other things because The person responsible sought to cause a massive number of victims – first by being run over and then by shooting – knowing that, as finally happened, he could lose his life by being shot by the security forces.
“The challenge now for the FBI is to determine whether it was inspired or directed by the Islamic State,” he adds. The FBI has asked for citizen collaboration to try to clear up this and other unknowns, such as whether Jabbar had any type of help inside or outside the United States to carry out an attack that, as Gohel points out, he seemed to have organized in advance.