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ISIS Says Ohio State University Attacker Was a ‘Soldier’ ISIS Calls Ohio State University Attacker a ‘Soldier’
(about 1 hour later)
ERBIL, Iraq — The Islamic State on Tuesday claimed responsibility for the attack at Ohio State University, calling the student who used his car to drive into pedestrians before attacking with a butcher knife a “soldier of the Islamic State.” ERBIL, Iraq — The Islamic State on Tuesday claimed responsibility for the attack at Ohio State University, calling the student who used his car to drive into pedestrians and then attacked with a butcher knife a “soldier” of the terrorist group.
The one-paragraph statement was released on the group’s news wire, via the messaging app Telegram, and included the same stock phrases that they have used in previous claims. The group released a one-paragraph statement on its news wire, via the messaging app Telegram, that included the same stock phrases it has used in previous claims.
The student, whom the university identified as Abdul Artan, had warned about Muslims he described as belonging to “a sleeper cell, waiting for a signal,” according to a report by The Associated Press. If the United States wants “Muslims to stop carrying lone wolf attacks, then make peace with ‘dawla in al sham,’” Mr. Artan was said to have written, using a reference to the Islamic State’s physical presence in Syria and Iraq. Although there was no immediate evidence that the student had claimed allegiance to the Islamic State, or had any other communication with the group, the vast majority of attacks claimed this way have eventually been shown to at least have been inspired by the group’s propaganda.
A university police officer shot and killed Mr. Artan shortly after the attack began, but the sprawling campus in Columbus, Ohio, remained on lockdown for about an hour and a half as people ran for cover and barricaded themselves in academic buildings and dorms. The student, whom the university identified as Abdul Artan, had warned on social media about what he called mistreatment of Muslims, NBC News reported. If the United States wants “Muslims to stop carrying lone wolf attacks, then make peace with ‘dawla in al sham,’” Mr. Artan was said to have written on Facebook, referring to the Islamic State’s territory in Syria and Iraq.
Eleven people were transported to local hospitals; all are expected to survive In the same post, he wrote, “Every single Muslim who disapproves of my actions is a sleeper cell, waiting for a signal. I am warning you, Oh America.”
A university police officer shot and killed Mr. Artan shortly after the attack began on Monday. But the sprawling campus in Columbus, Ohio, remained on lockdown for about an hour and a half as people ran for cover and barricaded themselves in academic buildings and dorms.
Eleven people were taken to local hospitals; all are expected to survive.
The claim of responsibility “doesn’t prove that there is a connection to the Islamic State, but it increases the probability that there was one,” said Thomas Joscelyn, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “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.”
In its propaganda, the Islamic State has stressed that supporters do not need to plan a complex attack in order to further the group’s cause. It has explicitly called for would-be attackers to commit violence with cars or knives, or whatever else is at hand.
Hours after the attack on Monday, channels on Telegram run by supporters of the Islamic State erupted in applause, referring to the assailant as their “brother” and starting an Arabic hashtag that translated to #OhioAttack.
The statement on Amaq, the Islamic State’s news agency, on Tuesday referred to the Ohio attack by its Arabic hashtag, and said the assailant had carried out the violence “in response to calls to target the citizens of the international coalition.”