IS calls on supporters to kill Americans and Europeans
The Islamic State group called on supporters to kill citizens of countries taking part in the US-led anti-IS coalition by any available means, in a statement posted online on Monday.
"If you can kill a disbelieving American or European - especially the spiteful and filthy French - or an Australian, or a Canadian... including the citizens of the countries that entered into a coalition against the Islamic State, then rely upon Allah, and kill him," said Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, the group's spokesman, in a message released in multiple languages.
In a forty-minute audio recording, Adnani also calls on the IS members to remain steadfast in their mission.
The group's spokesman then went on to address US President Barack Obama, telling him that IS will drag America into the ultimate war that will lead to its defeat and demise.
"O Americans and O Europeans, the Islamic State did not initiate a war against you as your governments and media try to make you believe. It is you who started the transgression against us and so you deserve the blame and you will pay a great price," Adnani says in his statement.
The United States and France are carrying out air strikes against IS targets across Iraq and are seeking to build an international coalition against a group increasingly perceived as a global threat.
The militants, who have declared a "caliphate" straddling Iraq and Syria, control swathes of territory in both countries.
Translation: Adnani's speech in English
IS has called on insurgents in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula to press ahead with attacks against the country’s security forces and continue beheadings – an announcement likely to deepen concerns over ties between the militant groups.
“Rig the roads with explosives for them. Attack their bases. Raid their homes. Cut off their heads. Do not let them feel secure,” Adnani said in the same statement.
On Sunday, Egyptian militant group Ajnad Misr – or Soldiers of Egypt – claimed responsibility for a bomb blast in a busy downtown Cairo street near the foreign ministry that killed two senior police officers and wounded several other policemen.
Ajnad Misr, which has claimed responsibility for previous attacks on police, said in a statement posted on its Twitter account and on a militant website that it had used an explosive device on “officers of the criminal apparatus” as part of its campaign against security forces.
It said the attacks will not stop until “the ruling tyrants fall and God’s sharia is established”.
Similar attacks have intensified since the overthrow of Egypt’s Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi, more than one year ago.
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