—- UPDATE —
14. ISIS has just issued a longer press release on the Sri Lanka attack, in which it provides what it says are the noms de guerre of the 7 bombers: Abu Ubayda, Abu al-Mukhtar, Abu Khalil, Abu Hamza, Abu al-Baraa, Abu Muhammad and Abu Abdullah. pic.twitter.com/3IVAZy4no8
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) April 23, 2019
Islamic State has claimed responsibility for attacks in Sri Lanka on Easter that killed hundreds of CHRISTIANS … and here we thought it would be the Amish.
Silly us.
Rukmini Callimachi’s thread detailing the attacks is absolutely chilling.
1. The Islamic State’s news agency has claimed responsibility for the string of bombings in Sri Lanka which left 321 people dead. It’s taken them more than 2 days to do so, which is unusually long for ISIS: pic.twitter.com/DolnkeSAkc
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) April 23, 2019
It did seem to take them a while to brag about murdering a bunch of innocent people this time around.
2. The claim published by the Amaq News Agency cites “security sources” and states that “Those who carried out the attack that targeted nationals of the Coalition and Christians in Sri Lanka the day before yesterday are Islamic State fighters” (as translated by @monaelnaggar).
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) April 23, 2019
3. Since the series of bombings on Easter Sunday, which hit churches as well as hotels where foreign tourists were staying, the Sri Lankan government has maintained that a local Islamist group was behind the assault but that they had help from an international network.
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) April 23, 2019
4. There are only two international jihadist groups that in my view have the know-how to do what happened in Sri Lanka: ISIS and al-Qaeda, and I would rule out al-Qaeda because post-Christchurch, their leaders issued a statement saying that attacks on churches are off the table
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) April 23, 2019
So basically if Obama wrote this tweet he’d say, ‘The jayvee team planned attacks on a bunch of Easter worshippers’.
We so do not miss that guy.
5. Remember that ISIS considers both directed attacks (meaning ones carried out by combatants they dispatched) and inspired attacks (meaning killings carried out by people inspired by their ideology) to be equally part of their war arsenal. Both in their eyes are legitimate.
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) April 23, 2019
6. The reason that intelligence agencies believe the Sri Lankan attack is the handiwork of an international jihadist organization is because of its sheer sophistication: 6 sites in 3 cities hit by 7 suicide bombers. Nearly all of the explosive charges went off with deadly effect.
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) April 23, 2019
Terrifying.
7. Even the attackers who were dispatched directly from Syria to attack Paris in 2015 were not as deadly. The suicide bomber who entered Paris’ Comptoir Voltaire killed only himself, for example. Death toll in Paris from 10 attackers was 130. Sri Lanka = 321.
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) April 23, 2019
Hundreds of people. Hundreds.
8. Carrying out that level of murder means that the cell had a talented bombmaker. We’ve seen numerous directed ISIS plots where the attackers couldn’t cook the explosives including in Hyderabad: https://t.co/adABc48Qh4
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) April 23, 2019
9. A plot of this nature involving at least 7 suicide bombers means this was no small cell. Imagine the backup that you need: Who drove the attackers to the sites? What safehouses did they use? Not hard to imagine that the core group relied on a dozen or more support staff
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) April 23, 2019
10. Once you have so many people involved, you need good operational security to make sure word of the looming attack doesn’t get out. They weren’t perfect given that authorities were warned earlier this month. But a plot of this nature takes longer than a month to hatch
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) April 23, 2019
Authorities were warned … infuriating.
11. I’m still researching this, but if the ISIS link in Sri Lanka proves true, this could be their most deadly attack outside Iraq and Syria. The only other attack that I can find that comes close is the Sufi mosque attack in the Sinai (311 dead). Sri Lanka is 321 and climbing.
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) April 23, 2019
12. Finally, it bears noting that ISIS has put out numerous claims for attacks in other theaters in the 2+ days since the Sri Lanka attack. Claims that take longer than 1 day are not uncommon. But 2 days? That’s rare. There’s a reason for this delay & I’d like to know what it is
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) April 23, 2019
Yeah, so would we.
13. Meanwhile, ISIS supporters say that Sri Lanka is the deadliest attack since the declaration of the caliphate in 2014. They brag that removal of their physical caliphate has done nothing to stop them: pic.twitter.com/WOqJDzqcoD
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) April 23, 2019
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