Spanish intelligence has intercepted online ISIS messages urging jihadist supporters in the West to kill civilians by any means possible, including using Ebola as a chemical weapon and stabbing people with poisoned needles, a senior Spanish politician revealed.
Online conversations in chat rooms between jihadist propagandists were recently uncovered in which the terrorist organization issues an edict for "lone wolves" to carry out attacks with "deadly chemical products from laboratories", "poisonous injections" and "Ebola as a poisonous weapon", theLocal.es. reported.
The threats are being taken extremely seriously, Francisco Martinez, Spain's state secretary for security, said before lawmakers in parliament Thursday, adding that the conversations prove ISIS considers the internet to be "an extension of the battlefield."
Since rumors of would-be-militants weaponizing Ebola has long been circulating the international intelligence community, investigators were not surprised by the "many examples" of threats being talked about in online forums, Martinez, the second in command in Spain's interior ministry, said.
Specifically, three cases were highlighted to show how aspiring jihadis "linked to ISIS" had used internet chat rooms to secretly discuss the viability of harnessing the deadly virus and other toxins as part of a new terrorism offensive, according to Spain's RTVE media company.
One conversation, identified as having taken place between ISIS sympathizers in mid-September, referred to "the use of Ebola as a poisonous weapon against the United States," Martinez stated.
In another instance, perpetrators were discussing how "deadly chemical products" that had been stolen from laboratories should best be used to harm the human society, UK MailOnline reported.
Speculations are also rife that terrorist organization Japanese Aum Shinrikyo has been actively attempting to cultivate the deadly virus to attack people.
Meanwhile, the Islamic State has identified six benefits of maintaining a strong online presence, Martinez said. "Threatening enemies through propaganda, preparing operations, exchanging information, ideological training, recruiting new members and acquiring finance."
Earlier this month, suggestions of ISIS planning to use the Ebola virus to attack the United States were dismissed by Jeh Johnson, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary, according to Breitbart.
"We've seen no specific credible intelligence that [Isis] is attempting to use any sort of disease or virus to attack our homeland," he said in a speech to the Association of the United States Army.
