The Islamic State group is targeting the U.S. Army, putting out a hit list of 700 soldiers — by name — and ordering its terrorist militia to “kill the dogs.”
United Cyber Caliphate, the Islamic State’s 3-month-old computer network hacking consortium, has posted a number of such lists. Analysts say most names appear to be publicly available and randomly chosen rather than stolen from a UCC website hack.
But a Pentagon official told The Washington Times that analysts have not found an open source for the Army “kill list” in the July 25 posting by the Islamic State, also known as ISIL, ISIS and Daesh.
One or more government sites might have been hacked, the Pentagon source said.
The Islamic State’s list begins with the headline, “We want them #dead. #Revenge for Muslims. kill the dogs.”
The Times reviewed the list. The soldiers are stationed at a number of bases, including Fort Riley, Kansas; Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; and Fort Belvoir, Virginia, about 21 miles south of Washington. The list includes the soldiers’ names, addresses, phone numbers and official email addresses.
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The soldiers’ professions appear to include infantry and special operations — the types of soldiers fighting the Islamic State and training Iraqi and Syrian forces.
The Islamic State distributed the list over a channel on Telegram, a popular messaging app that allows the terrorist organization to send encrypted communications, much to the dismay of Western powers.
The terrorist group, which operates its so-called capital in Raqqa, Syria, and has branched out to more than a dozen countries, put out a huge list of more than 8,000 random names in June. It also has sent smaller lists via social media. One contained the names of police officers in Michigan.
Army headquarters at the Pentagon released a statement to The Times saying it does not believe its networks were hacked.
“There is no evidence of any malicious activity or breach at this time on any Army network,” the statement read. “The Army is coordinating efforts with the Department of Defense as we work to determine the validity of any potential threats to personnel. In the meantime, our Criminal Investigation Command is working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and has provided the information to the chains of command. As always, we encourage soldiers to take prudent measures to limit the sharing of personal information online.”
One of the Islamic State’s gruesome strategies is to radicalize followers from afar and persuade them to kill. Providing hit lists gives would-be killers an identifiable objective.
Steven Stalinsky, executive director of the Middle East Media Research Institute, said the increasing number of kill lists should prompt the German government to crack down on Pavel Durov. Mr. Durov, a Russian exile living in Germany, is the developer and operator of the Telegram app.
MEMRI, which monitors jihadi traffic, captured the Army kill list.
“In Washington, at meetings I have held with government officials and on Capitol Hill over the past year, I have continually reiterated the need for them to contact the German Embassy and to address this issue,” Mr. Stalinsky said. “I am certain that if any jihadi organization was posting kill lists of German government officials, military personnel and ordinary German citizens, the German government would act immediately.”
Germany, which has taken in tens of thousands of Muslim migrants, has suffered a rash of Islamic terrorist attacks this summer.
• Rowan Scarborough can be reached at rscarborough@washingtontimes.com.
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