IS video urged jihadists to use lorry to murder people

ISLAMIC State issued a video to its followers last month urging them to launch an attack using a lorry to mow down crowds of civilians.

A video voiceover calls for would-be jihadists to “fill your cars with gas” and gave examples of suggested atrocities, including a suicide attack in New York, a sniper attack in London or using a four-wheel drive vehicle to run over crowds in Australia.

The video, recovered by analysts from the US-based International Centre for the Study of Violent Extremism, was distributed during the Ramadan fasting month through Isis -affiliated jihadist chat rooms.

The idea of using a vehicle was first proposed in Inspire magazine, the English language magazine of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in autumn 2010.

In a series of pieces, it laid bare how to carry out mass casualty attacks in the West through “Open Source Jihad”.

An article entitled The Ultimate Mowing Machine featured the use of a four-wheel drive vehicle or lorry to mow down crowds at a public event.

It gave detailed instructions in the practicality of such an attack that mirror many aspects of the Nice attack.

The article advocates using a large vehicle to strike a crowd in a congested area where they won’t be able to escape.

It suggested welding steel blades to the front of the vehicle and warned the driver would need significant speed to maintain momentum while striking a crowd. The first run would be critical because the crowd would inevitably scatter, it advised.

The article concluded the attack would likely be a “martyrdom mission” and the terrorist should try to take a gun to continue killing after the crowd scattered.