Washington: The Islamic State (IS) threat on the US homeland has caused renewed concern as more details emerge about the man allegedly behind what the FBI is calling an “act of terrorism” in New Orleans on New Year’s Day that killed 14 and injured scores more.
US citizen and army veteran Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, was killed in the attack after driving into partygoers on Bourbon Street and engaging police in a gunfight. Found inside his rental truck was the infamous black flag of IS; it was later revealed he had pledged allegiance to the group in a series of videos posted to Facebook mere hours beforehand.
Though public perceptions of IS suggest it has now suddenly reappeared in the pantheon of terrorist organizations active in the US, top officials and analysts have been warning for months that a stateside attack was imminent.
“The attack was hardly unexpected – there had been flashing warning signs,” said Clara Broekaert, a research fellow at the Soufan Center who tracks the online activities of IS.
“In recent months, we’ve witnessed an unrelenting stream of rhetoric calling for violence during the holiday season, along with repeated chatter about low-tech tactics, from knife attacks to vehicle rammings.”
Both the outgoing FBI director, Christopher Wray, and the attorney general, Merrick Garland, called IS an ongoing and top national security concern in an October press release. In a rare public acknowledgment, the CIA director, Bill Burns, recently described IS as “resurgent”, a description now underscored by political chaos in Syria.
Since the summer, IS propaganda has steadily called for American targets to be “next” as a presidential election campaign rife with unprecedented political violence and assassination attempts bogged down law enforcement and intelligence attention.
On Rocket.Chat, the chosen encrypted communications platform of IS, supporters and recruiters mingled in the lead-up to the holiday season.
One user left a YouTube link on carjacking with the message: “For the brothers interested in stealing a car and using it in the next attacks.”
“In 2024 alone, at least five plots linked to the Islamic State – both inspired and directed – have been thwarted within the United States,” said Broekaert, adding that the success of the New Orleans attack, which IS did not yet formally claim responsibility for, has already given an “immense” boost to the group’s efforts online.
Ahead of the November election, there was an uptick in IS activities. It began with a Canada-based Pakistani national who was stopped before allegedly carrying out a plot against a New York Jewish center. Then in October, the FBI arrested an Afghan man in Oklahoma who authorities say planned an election day mass shooting in support of IS. Around the same time, a Maryland man was arrested on suspicion of supporting IS and allegedly trying to buy a Kalashnikov assault rifle.
Already inside IS chatrooms, supporters were applauding the alleged work of Jabbar, calling it a textbook operation. Manuals and social media posts emanating from IS or its predecessor organization, al-Qaida, have long advised the use of car ramming attacks.