In prose reminiscing “Scarborough Fair,” jihadists in Chechnya have been sending love letters to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
“Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, this town awaits your holy army!” This handwritten message was photographed outside of the Akhmad Kadyrov Mosque in Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, as a direct threat to the rule of Kremlin-backed Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, who practices Sufi Islam, which the Chechen jihadists despise. The mosque was named after his father, who was assassinated by Islamic extremists during the Chechen wars with Moscow, handing a significant blow to the Kremlin’s Chechen effort at the time.
Islamic State terrorists have responded by recently posting their own response on VK.com, the largest Russian-language social network. The Cyber Djihad page reads, “Be patient, o brothers and sisters, Inshallah [God willing] the day is not far off when the banner of Islam will hang in Dzhokhar and Shari’a law will be on the streets. Heads will fly from those who tear off the hijabs of the sisters and pluck the beards of the brothers.”
Dzhokhar is a historical name for Grozny, frequently used by the Islamic State, and the indigenous Solafist jihadist group in Chechnya, the Caucasus Emirate, headed by wanted terrorist Dokka Umarov. ISIS and the Caucasus Emirate have been at odds with each other as ISIS prefers militants to support the main caliphate effort rather than local, nationalist conflicts.
All of this correspondence has been widely shared on jihadist social networks around the globe.
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme, “I swear by Allah, we are waiting for you in Chechnya!”
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