A swathe of destruction at the Christmas market on Breitscheidplatz in Berlin: ISIS terrorist Anis Amri carried out an attack with a truck there. Würzburg, Ansbach, or the Breitscheidplatz in Berlin: all of these attacks were remotely controlled by ISIS.

Before they blow themselves up, pick up a knife, or enter a death truck in order to kill as many innocent people as possible, attackers talk to their ISIS instructor once more.

How does that work? In order to find out, BILD reporter Björn Stritzel pretended to be an Islamist willing to carry out attacks. He pretended to be successfully recruited and was trained for several months (always in consultation with the security authorities).

Anis Amri killed 12 people in Berlin Foto: ISIS-Propagandavideo

In a new series, BILD documents the chats with the ISIS guides.

“Go to a hospital, look for the seriously ill, and slaughter them.” ISIS instructors kept sending messages like this to a certain German mobile phone number – mine. “Do not plan too much. Hit fast. The more time you take, the more mistakes can happen. As soon as the basic plan is ready, just trust in Allah.” I do not trust anyone, but the ISIS terrorists trust me. We kept communicating via a messenger service.

It began with a single question: “How can I send a video to Amaq?”

Amaq is ISIS’s own “news agency” that publishes letters claiming responsibility and videos by the “martyrs” after an attack. Under a false identity, I pose the question in a closed Telegram group.

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For several months, most of the time, I’m only a reader in this small group. Almost all of the other members are administrators for the most important pro-ISIS groups. This means that they administer the posts; they can edit and delete them, and create new ones.

Here they receive the latest announcements, directly from ISIS, and then globally distribute them as extensively as possible. I immediately receive an answer: “Ask ‘Saraya’, he can help you”, and “’Jundullah’ speaks English very well”.

Everybody knows what I mean by my question: the preparation for an attack. The recruitment of a new attacker – me.

My two English-speaking ISIS instructors apparently contact me from Syria – the country that has been a warzone since 2011 and that, along with Iraq, offers an ideal operating field for ISIS. Abu K., as I will call one of them here, is polite and cares for my safety. “Brother, if you’re planning something, I advise you not to communicate via Telegram.” ISIS prefers to use this messenger service for spreading propaganda. For planning an attack, the programme is considered not safe enough by many, despite its encryption. Abu K. has another important recommendation for me, his putative recruit:

“Abu Abdullah recommends that you also destroy your mobile’s SIM card.” Abu Abdullah is what the other instructor calls himself. Instead of using Telegram, Abu recommends the messenger service Wickr. Its security mechanisms are considered to be safer. Abu K. – who now calls me “Akhi” (brother) – explains to me: “Akhi, put the self-destruction timer for the messages to one minute. Sent messages will then be deleted on both devices after reading.”

Wickr also shows when a chat member takes a screenshot. So I photograph messages with a different device in order to avoid Abu K. noticing anything. Messenger services such as Wickr, Signal, and WhatsApp often feature strong encryptions. The technical detection of the messages is difficult, or even impossible, for the security authorities.

The terrorists who committed the ISIS attacks last year in Würzburg on July 18th (Riaz Ahmadzai) and Ansbach on July 24th (Mohammed Daleel) were also in direct contact with ISIS members via messenger services.

They were in contact with them until the last moment before the attacks, as later analyses of their mobile phones showed. Only a few hours after the attacks, ISIS “news agency” Amaq published standard confessions in which the terrorists are called “soldiers of the Islamic State”.

Videos of the attackers confessing responsibility followed soon after, in which the attackers pledged loyalty to ISIS “caliph”, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The quick release of these materials after the attacks suggests that Amaq is closely connected to the instructors behind the attacks.

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A few days later, Abu K. gets in touch again. He urges me to plan a concrete attack. He promises me that I will then be ennobled as a “soldier of the Islamic State” by the official ISIS propaganda. Prior to that, I am asked to send him a video claiming responsibility. “As salamu alaykum, akhi. Have you sent me something today or yesterday? I was not online.”

I reluctantly answer: “Walaikum salam! I am almost finished with the preparations. I just have to do one final test. If I send the video here, will it also reach you after the phone is destroyed?” No problem, Abu K. assures me, and has some good advice for me: “It is best if you put the self-destruction timer for messages to five days. You can do that in the settings (click on your user name on the left). This is just in case I am not online for one or two days, even though that rarely happens. But just in case, put it to five days, that’s enough for it to reach me….. inshallah. May Allah reward you, akhi.”

Then five days seem too long for Abu K., after all. He now asks me to put the timer to three days. I reply: “I will do that, akhi. May Allah reward you for your advice.” Abu K. seems content: “Okay, I will wait for your video.” But then Abu K. becomes impatient. He pushes me. Now everything is supposed to happen quickly. He therefore forwards me to a “German brother”.

Read part 2 of the BILD series: “ISIS wants a video claiming responsibility from me”