Islamic State calls for terror attacks in France, Belgium

New video released by jihadist group encourages Muslims to wreak havoc, kill infidels in Europe

Illustrative: A screenshot of a Islamic State video released in February 2015 that encourages Muslims in France and Belgium to conduct terrorist attacks in their home countries. The two men pictured are French-speaking foreign jihadists. (screen capture: al-Jazeera)
Illustrative: A screenshot of a Islamic State video released in February 2015 that encourages Muslims in France and Belgium to conduct terrorist attacks in their home countries. The two men pictured are French-speaking foreign jihadists. (screen capture: al-Jazeera)

The Islamic State terror group on Saturday released a new video threatening new attacks against France and Belgium, a month after deadly attacks in the French capital by radical Islamists left 17 dead.

The nine-minute video in Arabic and French entitled “A Message to France” claims that Islamic State operatives are deployed throughout both European countries and await orders to commit additional attacks, specifically in Paris and Brussels, Israel Radio reported.

“Islamic State fighters are deployed everywhere and your nightmare begins now, along with the real war,” the Walla news site quoted the Arabic-language video saying.

The clip opens with recorded statements by French President Francois Hollande and former president Nicolas Sarkozy, followed by a segment from a home video of Amedy Coulibaly, the terrorist responsible for attacking a kosher supermarket in Paris last month, killing four and injuring nine.

Amedy Coulibaly who was shot dead by French police on January 9, 2015, is seen in a video clip pledging allegiance to the Islamic State.  Photo credit: YouTube screenshot)
Amedy Coulibaly, who was shot dead by French police on January 9, 2015, is seen in a video clip pledging allegiance to the Islamic State. Photo credit: YouTube screenshot)

A flag of the Islamic State is prominently displayed on the wall behind Coulibaly as he declares his allegiance to the group. Coulibaly was also suspected of killing a policewoman a day before the attack.

Following Coulibaly’s segment, two French-speaking Islamic State fighters wearing military fatigues implored Muslims throughout France to kill non-believers.

“I call on my brothers who live among the infidels in France: If you can not emigrate, act within the country. Kill them with the weapons that you have available to you. Spit on them, burn their cars, burn police stations; don’t take pity on them,” one of the men said.

In a separate interview published earlier this week in Dabiq, the Islamic State’s online magazine, Hayat Boumeddiene, Coulibaly’s 26-year-old widow, said she was incredibly happy to now be living among the Islamic State and spoke of her deceased husband’s desires to join his “brothers” fighting the enemies of the “Islamic caliphate.”

Hayat Boumeddiene , 26, is wanted by French police for her suspected involvement in siege at kosher market  in Paris on January 9, 2015 and the killing of a policewoman in Montrouge on January 8. (Photo credit: AFP/French Police)
Hayat Boumeddiene, 26, is wanted by French police for her suspected involvement in the siege at a kosher market in Paris on January 9, 2015, and the killing of a policewoman in Montrouge on January 8. (Photo credit: AFP/French Police)

“His eyes would shine every time he saw IS videos,” Boumedienne said. She said that “everyone” should study the life of the prophet Muhammad and praise Allah, and called on more women to follow in her example and join IS,” Boumeddiene said.

Boumedienne traveled to Turkey several days before the January 9 terror attack and presumably continued on to IS-held territory in Syria.

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