Islamic State threat targets Detroit Muslim leaders

Robert Allen and Tresa Baldas | Detroit Free Press

DETROIT — Detroit-area Shiite Muslim leaders were encouraged to have extra security during Friday's prayer services after an anonymous, unverified online threat was apparently issued by the Islamic State terrorist group naming Michigan.

The apparent Islamic State threat issued earlier this week on Justpaste.it says that 71 soldiers in 15 states, including Michigan, are "ready at our word to attack any target we desire," according to the anonymous post.

Whether it's a legitimate threat, a prank or some kind of fear-mongering, it's "disturbing," said Dawud Walid, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations Michigan chapter. He said he hasn't seen anything like it before and advised the leaders about the threat, noting the Islamic State has "a particular loathing for Shia Muslims."

Walid said Shiite Muslims have been targeted in Iraq and Syria, where the majority of Islamic State casualties have been Muslim. He also said that recent incidents in Troy, Mich. — where a man attacked a store manager because he is Muslim — and Texas "have us concerned about a backlash against Muslims in metro Detroit."

Also targeted in the threat was Pamela Geller, the outspoken anti-Islamic activist who sponsored the art show in Garland, Texas, that showcased cartoon depictions of the prophet Mohammed. It threatened that Islamic State militants would "send all our Lions to achieve her slaughter," and those who give her a platform would also be in danger.

Mohamed Elibiary, an expert on terrorist groups, called the statement "largely bogus propaganda."

"ISIS's latest communique is going to try to attract individuals who want notoriety, and their lives are dysfunctional and aren't really going anywhere and they spend a lot of time behind a keyboard -– losers," Elibiary said.

Former Detroit FBI Chief Andy Arena, who worked for the FBI for more than two decades, said the apparent threat is another example of terror groups seeking to strike fear in the American public. He said the FBI has long been concerned about terror attacks on U.S. soil — big and small — and stressed that this latest apparent threat will rely on the FBI getting help and tips from the public.

"They are doing everything they can to track this stuff down. They're going to have to rely on the community, too," Arena said. "If someone in the Muslim community sees a change in somebody — a family member, a friend — they need to speak up. They need to talk."

Jack Tomarchio, a former high-ranking intelligence official for the Department of Homeland Security, said the threats cannot totally be discounted, but he doubted their claims of having active terror cells they control in this country.

"I would be surprised if they had a cadre of operators — that they have a fifth column in this country," Tomarchio said. "There's always going to be some knucklehead that thinks it's a great idea and may decide to self-volunteer. It's not easy to get people from across the ocean to come in and recruit Americans to get 71 people to do your bidding. That's a tall order."

Arena said terrorism has evolved over the years with groups relying on the Internet to recruit members. For example, he said, there are groups like al-Qaeda, which focus on spectacular attacks and recruit members who leave their homes and travel to Syria or northern Iraq for training. Such was the case for the Christmas Day bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian college student who is serving a life sentence for trying to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner with explosives hidden in his underwear.

Arena, who oversaw the 2009 Christmas Day bomber investigation, noted there's a new group of terrorists that's growing and equally troubling: those who follow terror groups at home on the Internet, join online and have very little training.

"If you go on the Internet ... you could become radicalized and commit a terrorist attack without ever leaving your parent's basement," Arena said. "And really, they could be just as dangerous."

He stressed: "This is the next type of threat that we're going to face."

While fears may be heightened because Michigan was named a potential target for a terror attack, Arena said that domestic terror threats are nothing new and urged the public to remain calm.

"We've been facing this type of threat for the last 14 years," Arena said. "Nothing's changed, so don't change the way you go about doing what you do."

And the FBI is on it, he stressed.

"Both FBI Headquarters and the FBI Detroit Field Office are aware of the referenced statement alleged to have been issued by (Islamic State)," the FBI Detroit office said in a statement Thursday, noting the FBI in Washington is taking the lead on the threat.

Contributing: Tanya Eiserer, WFAA-TV, Dallas-Fort Worth.