ISIS Claims Responsibility For The Ohio State University Attack, Says Assailant Was Their ‘Soldier’

ISIS has taken responsibility for the Ohio State University attack where a Somali-born student rammed his car into a crowd before attacking them with a butcher knife. On Tuesday, Islamic State claimed that Abdul Razak Ali Artan was an ISIS “soldier,” who carried out the attack on the campus that injured 11 people.

Rita Katz, executive director of the SITE Intelligence Group, revealed the proclamation by the Amaq News Agency, the official news agency for ISIS.

The attack was said to be carried out in response to the Daesh’s “calls to target citizens.” This is the same language used when ISIS claimed responsibility for the Minnesota mall stabbings in September.

In the Islamic State’s propaganda, they stressed that supporters do not need to plan elaborate attacks in order to further the group’s cause. Daesh has routinely called for lone wolf attacks that use everyday objects such as cars and knives as to not tip off law enforcement.

“This is the sort of unsophisticated operation that the Islamic State has been calling for — easy to carry out and doesn’t require any sort of meticulous planning,” said Thomas Joscelyn, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

ISIS said the attack was “in response to calls to target the citizens of the international coalition.”

On his Facebook, Artan specifically protested the killing of Muslims in Burma and said that the U.S. should stop meddling in other countries.

“We are not weak. We are not weak, remember that,” Artan wrote.

Abdul Razak Ali Artan ranted on social media about sleeper cells and lone wolf attacks.

If the U.S. wanted “Muslims to stop carrying lone wolf attacks, then make peace with ‘dawla in al sham,’” a term for Islamic State.

Katz also warned of the dangers of terrorist propaganda being allowed to be posted on the internet.

Katz posted other ISIL attacks since the Mosul Offensive.

[NYDN]