While video games have been criticized for making players violent, an app developed by the Islamic State for young jihadists is further inciting hatred for the west among gamers. The games include attacks on landmarks found in global cities such as New York, London and Paris.
The targets of the bombings and terror attacks, similar to 9/11, include the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Statue of Liberty in New York and Big Ben in London, The Telegraph reports. Besides terror attacks, the Islamic State-developed app also teaches users to spell words identified with terrorism such as “rocket” and “grenade.”
Passing Extremist Ideology
Col. John Dorrian, spokesman of the international coalition battling the Islamic State, said the app is part of the jihadist’s bigger strategy to ensure the next generation acquire the extremist ideology. With the update of the app, launched in earlier part of 2016, the targets of attacks expanded to include the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower in the French capital city which was the subject of a jihadist terror attack in October 2015.
Islamic youth playing the games app developed by the Islamic State would accumulate points that would eventually allow them to pick the target of their terror attack from several western landmarks. They could also pick the weapon of their choice, including the use of commercial jets similar to what was used to destroy the Twin Towers in New York City in 2001, Dorrian said.
Russian Ambassador’s Assassination
Once the areas of the Muslim youth are freed from the clutches of the Islamic State, Dorrian proposed to de-radicalize the minds of these young people, brainwashed by the app, to prevent them from growing up as future jihadists similar to Melut Mert Altintas, the gunman who assassinated Russian Ambassador Andrei Karlov on Tuesday in Turkey. After shooting Karlov, the gunman screamed, “Allahu Akbar,” according to CBN.
He said in Turkish not to forget Syria and Aleppo which fell back into the hands of the Syrian government from rebels. In Arabic, the gunman said he is a “descendant of those who supported the Prophet Muhammad, for jihad.” It is the radical image of Islam that a reality show, “Muslims Like Us,” premiered by BBC on Dec. 12, sought to change and where the Islamic State-developed app is likely unwelcome.