ISIS releases propaganda video, posters threatening to bomb FIFA World Cup stadiums in Russia

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TNT Sports | June 16, 2018

The ISIS have, in a propaganda video, threatened to bomb FIFA World Cup stadiums across Russia.

The latest video released by the militant Islamic fundamentalists shows explosions taking place at football stadiums in Russia.

In the video is a voice that says: "We're watching you. We have drones, we're scouting out locations and we'll attack."

Whilst most publications have steered clear of publishing the video itself, the claims must be worrying for those in charge of the huge football tournament, as well as fans attending matches.

A still from the chilling video

The video has been circulating on social media and has also been observed by terrorism watchdog groups in private chats amongst militants.

Raphael Gluck of terrorism monitoring group JihadoScope told Daily Mail Australia: "Obviously this is wishful thinking [on ISIS' behalf] and make believe but governments are saying it's only a matter of time until drones are used in some shape or form to carry out terror attacks in the West."

This seems to be a fair assessment too, as ISIS have used drones to attack targets in Syria and Iraq already.

The World Cup kicked off in Moscow on Thursday with a 5-0 victory for hosts Russia over Saudi Arabia. There are expected to be millions of fans travelling to the country to watch games over the next month, this puts the event at high risk from terrorist attacks.

On Friday, ISIS released another set of posters calling for lone-wolf attackers to target stadiums during the competition.

One poster read: "The Terror Will Begin."

Some of the posters also featured explosions at prominent World Cup 2018 match venues. Another read: "I swear that the Mujahideen's fire will burn you. Just you wait…"

While moribund in Syria and Iraq, ISIS poses a real threat to Russia's World Cup that must be taken seriously, security experts warn.

Alarm bells have been ringing since disturbing photo-montages began to appear on social media late last year, the work of the ISIS propaganda arm known as the Wafa Media Foundation.

Crude and explicit, they showed superstars such as Lionel Messi and Neymar dressed in the frighteningly familiar orange suits used for videotaped executions.

Lying on the ground, with knives up against their throats or dying in flames, the message accompanying them was blunt.

"You will not enjoy security until we live it in Muslim countries," the posts said.

Brian Glyn Williams and Robert Troy Souza, authors of a report published last month by West Point's Combating Terrorism Center (CTC) on the dangers ISIS poses to the June 14 to July 15 World Cup, said the propaganda campaign unfurled by ISIS was "unprecedented".

"In just the past few years, there have been numerous successful terror attacks or thwarted plots in Russia by terrorists linked to or inspired by the Islamic state (ISIS)," they wrote.

"This suggests the group may have the capacity to launch attacks in Russia during the World Cup."

These attacks, said the US experts, can be either carried out by "lone wolves" — assailants who act on their own after being inculcated by ISIS propaganda — or by local jihadists.

TNT News with inputs from Agencies

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