Islamic State calls for jihadist attacks in Russia
Terror group addresses President Vladimir Putin, threatens to kill Russians 'in their homes'
The Islamic State terror group has called on its members and would-be members to carry out terror attacks in Russia, similar to those in France and elsewhere.
In a nine-minute video released on social media on Friday, a masked Islamic State member is seen saying: “Listen [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, we will come to Russia and will kill you at your homes … Oh Brothers, carry out jihad and kill and fight them.”
Russia has been a staunch ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad and launched its own airstrikes campaign against the Islamic State last year together with Iraq, Iran and Syria.
The terror group has been targeted by the US-led coalition against the Islamic State, which carries out near-daily strikes against the group, since June 2014.
The group, which controls large swaths of land in Syria and Iraq, has claimed a number of recent terror attacks in France and Germany, including the Bastille Day killings in Nice in which a jihadist plowed his truck into people on the promenade, killing 84, the murder of a priest in a Normandy town last week, and a suicide bombings in Ansbach, Germany also last week.