A new jihadi magazine set up by militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan has appealed to Muslims around the world to come up with technology to hack into or manipulate drones, describing this as one of their most important priorities.
The first issue of the English-language online magazine, called “Azan”, was published on May 5, the SITE intelligence monitoring group said. It compared Azan to “Inspire” magazine, set up by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
In what appeared to be an acknowledgement of the effectiveness of U.S. drone strikes, the magazine said these were affecting the war in the Waziristan tribal areas of Pakistan – where al Qaeda is based along with the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Afghan Taliban fighters.
Devoting a section of the 80-page issue to drones, it said these represented a challenge to the Muslim community, or Ummah.
“With the death of so many Muslim assets, this is one of the utmost important issues that the Ummah must unite and come up with an answer to,” said the magazine, which opens with excerpts from speeches from Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar and late al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
“Any opinions, thoughts, ideas and practical implementations to defeat this drone technology must be communicated to us as early as possible because these would aid the Ummah greatly in its war against the Crusader-Zionist enemy.”
Western officials say drone strikes have been highly effective in disrupting the activities of al Qaeda and its allies in the tribal region bordering Afghanistan. Critics object to the secrecy of the drone program, question its legality and raise concerns about civilian casualties.
Read more at REUTERS.
{Matzav.com Newscenter}
