IS threatens US with repeat of 9/11 in new video

The Islamic State threatened the United States with a repeat of the September 11 attacks, in a new campaign launched by the terror group.

The social media blitz was driven by pro-IS twitter accounts using the hashtag #WeWillBurnUSAgain, calling for lone-wolf attacks, hailing past killings and generally threatening violence.

According to the monitoring group SITE, which has been following the Islamic State online closely, the hashtag has been used in at least 15,000 posts since last week.

“In a time of lone-wolf attacks, and Americans and other Westerners pledging to the Islamic State, this kind of campaign should not be taken lightly,” said SITE Director Rita Katz, in a post on the group’s website. “In recent weeks, about 10 Americans were indicted for attempts to act on behalf of the Islamic State, and there are many with every passing day that the group operates on Twitter.”

The #WeWillBurnUSAgain tweets generally called for attacks against the US, with one including a photoshopped picture of US President Barack Obama in the notorious orange jumpsuit kneeling before a supposed jihadist.

https://twitter.com/90khelafa/status/586570763869749248

Another post had an image of a fiery dragon-like creature supposedly destroying the Statue of Liberty.

https://twitter.com/2bojandal66/status/586452398362591232

https://twitter.com/abouadem_8/status/586549433799696384

MUST STOP NOW: #ISIS rampant campaign #WewillBurnUSAgain promising another 9/11 & lone wolf attacks #WakeUpTwitter RT pic.twitter.com/3vsxqdYBBh

— Rita Katz (@Rita_Katz) April 10, 2015

The campaign was accompanied by a “greatest hits” video released by the group, showing the gruesome beheadings of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and the executions of other captives in Syria. In addition, the clip discussed the role of French terrorist Amedy Coulibaly, who along with the Kouachi brothers launched a reign of terror in Paris starting January 17, killing 17 people including four Jewish men at a kosher deli. Coulibaly had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in a video released by the terrorist after the deadly attacks.

“America thinks it’s safe because of the geographical location,” the video’s voice-over says. “Thus you see it invades Muslim lands, and thinks that the army of jihad won’t reach in their lands.

“But the dream of Americans to have safety became a mirage,” it went on.

“This Twitter campaign, along with other ones like it in the past, shows the Islamic State’s skill in forcing itself into Western conversations,” said Katz. “The planning of the hashtag two days prior and the content tweeted by these accounts shows a unified and structured method of online mobilization by the Islamic State and its followers.”