RAMADAN’S “Night of Power” is considered to be the holiest day on the Muslim calendar, but for extremists that makes it “a good time to attack”, according to terror experts.
Security agencies are expected to be on high alert for the last 10 days of Ramadan, particularly on the Night of Power, to fall today on June 21.
Laylat al-Qadr, known as the Night of Power, is believed to be the date when the Koran was revealed to Prophet Muhammad in 609AD.
The Night of Power falls in the holy fasting month Ramadan on one of 10 days each year, changing according to the lunar calendar.
Muslims traditionally spend the night in prayer and devotion which is said to equate to 1000 months of proper worship.
But the significance of the event has also made it a target for terror attacks.
Deakin University counter-terrorism expert Greg Barton told news.com.au that the risk of terror attacks being carried out “on mosques … or large sporting events where there are lots of people” was increased during Ramadan, particularly on the “Night of Power”.
“Because this ‘Night of Power’ is the pinnacle of Ramadan, the perverted mentality of extremists says Ramadan is a good time to attack — contrary to what other Muslims believe — and they would choose that day if they could,” Mr Barton said.
“It’s supposed to be a time for peace, reconciling with family and friends, and asking for forgiveness but for IS, in this kind of perverse way, it’s an even better time to launch a terror attack.”
Mr Burton said there was also an increased likelihood of copycat terror attacks inspired by recent events in London and Finsbury Park where hired vans were used to mow down pedestrians.
IS has officially called for Australians to launch terrorist attacks before the end of Ramadan, urging them to follow the lead of their “brethren”.
Earlier this month, IS official spokesman Abu al-Hassan al-Muhajir released a statement via encrypted chatting app Telegram, urging followers to commit attacks during the religious celebrations.
“To the brethren of faith and belief in Europe, America, Russia, Australia, and others,” he said in Arabic, according to one translation.
“Your brothers in your land have done well, so take them as role models and do as they have done.”
The terror group has also repeatedly called for attacks “all through Ramadan” on the rest of the West and in the Middle East.
IS supporters this week used the terror attack at a Finsbury Park mosque to call for more atrocities against the West.
Text messages allegedly sent between pro-IS supporters appeared on Twitter, calling on fanatics to “wake up” to “the war starting now in your own streets”.
The texts, reported by Terrorism analyst Michael Smith, were sent to a WhatsApp group with 225 members in the aftermath of the suspected revenge terror attack, where a van ploughed into Muslim worshippers in the early hours of Monday morning.
“There are two areas of concern in that someone might (again) try something sophisticated — and Manchester reminds us that’s not always picked up by intelligence — or someone might do something ad hoc and with little planning with a sense of notoriety they’d achieve,” Mr Barton told news.com.au.
IS has officially called for Australians to launch terrorist attacks before the end of Ramadan, urging them to follow the lead of their “brethren”.
Earlier this month, IS official spokesman Abu al-Hassan al-Muhajir released a statement via encrypted chatting app Telegram, urging followers to commit attacks during the religious celebrations.
“To the brethren of faith and belief in Europe, America, Russia, Australia, and others,” he said in Arabic, according to one translation.
“Your brothers in your land have done well, so take them as role models and do as they have done.”
The terror group has also repeatedly called for attacks “all through Ramadan” on the rest of the West and in the Middle East.
IS supporters this week used the terror attack at a Finsbury Park mosque to call for more atrocities against the West.
Text messages allegedly sent between pro-IS supporters appeared on Twitter, calling on fanatics to “wake up” to “the war starting now in your own streets”.
The texts, reported by Terrorism analyst Michael Smith, were sent to a WhatsApp group with 225 members in the aftermath of the suspected revenge terror attack, where a van ploughed into Muslim worshippers in the early hours of Monday morning.
“There are two areas of concern in that someone might (again) try something sophisticated — and Manchester reminds us that’s not always picked up by intelligence — or someone might do something ad hoc and with little planning with a sense of notoriety they’d achieve,” Mr Barton told news.com.au.
Since Ramadan started on May 26 there have been seven terror attacks claimed by IS.
The attacks have killed 101 people in Australia, England, Iraq, Afghanistan, the Philippines and Egypt. Four Australian citizens — three women and one man — were among the dead in attacks claimed by IS during Ramadan this year. The suicide bombing which killed 22 fans at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, took place four days before Ramadan started.
It’s a pattern that has consistently emerged during the holy month.
In May last year, IS spokesman Abu Muhammed al-Adnani called upon the group’s followers to “make it (Ramadan), with God’s permission, a month of pain for infidels everywhere”.
Nine Italians, seven Japanese, two Indians and an American were killed on the “Night of Power” when IS soldiers burst into an eatery with knives and attacked the foreigners, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on July 2.
According to media reports the terrorists separated Muslims from non-Muslims by asking them to recite a passage from the Koran.
Those unable to recite a verse or two were tortured and killed, according to witnesses.
The same day, IS claimed responsibility for a massive truck bomb that killed more than 200 when it exploded in a Baghdad shopping district.
“The biggest truck bomb ever to be launched in Iraq occurred in central Baghdad killed 360 odd people, right at the end of Ramadan,” Mr Barton said.
A few days later, IS suicide bombers attacked three cities across Saudi Arabia targeting Shiite worshippers, American diplomats and security officers in a Medina mosque.
It came after 200 Iraqis were slaughtered by IS suicide bombers in the Karrada area of Baghdad killed entire families, with the death toll including dozens of children.
Other Islamist groups including al-Qaeda and al-Shabaab have also used the holy month to inflict death and destruction on its enemies.
(First reported by new.com.au) http://www.news.com.au/national/night-of-power-the-perverted-mentality-of-extremists-says-ramadan-is-a-good-time-to-attack/news-story/bff948fdc92e43fb0b9690d1b1e65f02 (June 22, 2017)
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