New reports of a car driving into a crowd and injuring at least 10 people have emerged from the capital of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Is the Islamic State behind it?
New reports of a car driving into a crowd and injuring at least 5 people have emerged from the capital of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Prior to running into pedestrians, the driver was approached by police in his black Peugeot for being in an unauthorized place, reports Dutch RTL News. The driver then drove off and plowed into people and hit a wall. Two people have been transferred to a hospital while the others were treated on location, according to the official Netherlands police Twitter. According to the Dutch Echt Amsterdams Nieuws, the driver of the car has been arrested.
Is the Islamic State behind it?
Dutch Broadcast Foundation is reporting that at this time the act does not appear intentional.
However, it does fit ISIS’ M. O. Last week, 3 Islamic State sympathizers did something similar in London when Khuram Butt, Rachid Redouane, and Youssef Zaghba coordinated attacks at London Bridge and Borough Market.
That ramming came a week after a suicide bombing in Manchester at an Ariana Grande concert. It also occurred just over a month after the Westminster Bridge attack that sent Britain’s Parliament into lockdown. During that attack, a man stabbed and killed an officer and was then shot and killed by police. Prior to being shot, the man drove a vehicle into pedestrians on nearby Westminster Bridge. 3 people died, including an American, Kurt Cochran.
The attack was carried out by a 52-year-old British-born man with a violent criminal record named Khalid Masood, born Adrian Elms.
Masood was an ISIS supporter. ISIS claimed him as a “soldier” to their cause. ISIS also claimed the London Bridge attack. The same day as the London Bridge attack, ISIS channels urged its sympathizers to run over civilians.
It’s currently unconfirmed if today’s attack was orchestrated or inspired by the Islamic State, but it carries ISIS hallmarks. In an ISIS magazine article from November 2016, ISIS suggested to jihadists how to carry out a successful attack as a lone wolf operative. In the article, ISIS said that a lone wolf should use a vehicle to plow into a crowd and to carry a secondary weapon.
Soon after, an ISIS-inspired student carried out vehicular attack on Ohio State University. The perpetrator, Somali-born Abdul Razak Ali Artan, also carried a machete. ISIS later claimed the attacked and named Artan as one of their “soldiers.”
A similar attack claimed by ISIS was carried out on July 14,2016 at a Bastille Day celebration in Nice, France by Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel. Bouhlel is responsible for murdering up to 84 people by ramming into them with a truck and shooting at them.
A similar ISIS attack took place at a Christmas market attack that killed 12 and injured 48 at Breitscheidplatz in Berlin-Charlottenburg, Germany in late 2016.
Islamic State sympathizers are posting celebratory memes online following a terrorist attack on Parliament and Westminister Bridge in London this morning.
