ISIS Fans, Supporters Launch #WeWillBurnUSAgain Campaign On Twitter; Threats Allude To 9/11 Attacks

ISIS supporters have started a campaign on Twitter with the hashtag #WeWillBurnUSAgain.” The Twitter campaign has sparked references to the 9/11 attacks in the United States including previous lone wolf attacks.

The hashtag was first used by the Twitter account of Rabitat al-Ansar belonging to a pro-ISIS media group last Apr. 8. The message with the hashtag was posted in a long series of tweets.

“We swear that lone wolves are present in all countries of the world and lurking for you. What happened in France is not far from you and will be repeated, but this time in the streets of American cities. The word will be what you see and not what you hear,” read the message.

The Twitter account indicated the time and place the campaign would begin. SITE, an intelligence group monitoring the activities related to terrorism and extremism, believes the campaign should not be taken lightly. SITE Director Rita Katz said that in a time of lone wolf attacks and the rising number of Americans and Westerners joining ISIS, the threat must be investigated.

Katz said that in recent weeks, 10 Americans charged for attempting to act in behalf of ISIS. Many of the group’s supporters operate on Twitter. The hashtag #WeWillBurnUSAgain has been used more than 15,000 times. A steady stream of threats calling for lone wolf attacks accompanied the hashtag.

Other users posted threatening messages with the hashtag with some claiming to be “lone wolves” and targeting U.S. citizens. Others allegedly called for “booby trapped” vehicles to hit U.S. targets.

Meanwhile, experts and analysts who monitor Twitter traffic of ISIS have observed something strange last week when several ISIS-related accounts suddenly disappeared, reports New York Times. A Twitter representative who asked not to be named had confirmed that about 10,000 accounts had been suspended on April 2 for “tweeting violent threats.”

The mass suspensions came amid mounting criticism that Twitter has allowed ISIS militants to exploit the popularity of the social network to spread propaganda and seek recruits. Previous reports had indicated that Twitter admitted to suspending as much as 2,000 accounts linked to ISIS per week in recent months.

The anonymous Twitter representative had attributed the account suspensions to the highly publicised efforts of hackers and other ISIS opponents to expose suspected accounts and expose them as violators. The representative said the company has received several reports.

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