Attacker on Ohio St. campus stewed over treatment of Muslims

columbus, ohio» The Somali-born student who carried out the car-andknife attack at Ohio State University stewed over the treatment of Muslims while apparently staying under the radar of federal law enforcement, underscoring the difficulty authorities face in identifying and stopping “lone wolves” bent on violence.

Abdul Razak Ali Artan was not known to FBI counterterrorism authorities before Monday’s rampage, which ended with Artan shot to death by police and 11 people injured, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press.

That’s in contrast to several other recent attacks, including those in New York; Orlando, Fla.; and Garland, Texas, in which those blamed for the bloodshed previously had come to the attention of federal agents.

Law enforcement officials have not identified a motive for the Ohio State violence but have suggested terrorism as a possibility. FBI agents continued to search Artan’s apartment for clues.

The mode of attack — plowing a car into civilians then slashing victims with a butcher knife — was in keeping with the recommended tactics of jihadist propaganda. And Facebook posts that apparently were written shortly before the attack and came to light afterward show Artan nursed grievances against the U.S.

He railed against U.S. intervention in Muslim lands and warned, “If you want us Muslims to stop carrying lone wolf attacks, then make peace” with the Islamic State.

“America! Stop interfering with other countries, especially the Muslim Ummah. We are not weak. We are not weak, remember that,” he wrote, using the Arabic term for the world’s Muslim community. He also warned that other Muslims are in sleeper cells, “waiting for a signal. I am warning you Oh America!”

The posts were recounted by a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity. The posts were taken down after the attack.

On Tuesday, an Islamic State news agency called Artan “a soldier of the Islamic State.”