A former member of the Islamic State group says that Western recruits will attack their homeland as soon as security measures permit.
“Since Western fighters joined ISIS, they consider their home country as infidels,” the former terrorist said. “If they have a chance, they will carry out attacks,” CNN reported Thursday.
The man, who still subscribes to Islamic State’s overall philosophy while shunning its tactics in Raqqa, Syria, said that the goal is to “establish an Islamic state that will encompass the Arab world” before moving on to other countries.
In Syria the Islamic State group has banned philosophy as a “kind of blasphemy,” and music has been canceled from school curriculum, the man added.
When asked about the British accent of the Islamic State group member who killed American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, the man told CNN, “It is possible that the goal was to project the image that a European, or a Western person, executed an American so that they can showcase their Western members and appeal to others outside Syria and make them feel that they belong to the same cause.”
James Foley was killed Aug. 19, and Steven Joel Sotloff had the video of his execution broadcast over the Internet on Sept. 2. British officials believe former rapper Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary, 24, to be the prime suspect in both killings.
SEE ALSO: N.C. man tried to join Islamic State after months of ‘asking Allah to guide me’
The Islamic State group says that if America does not stop helping the Iraqi government attack its fighters, then a British citizen identified as David Cawthorne Haines will be killed next, The Associated Press reported Sept. 2.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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