I hope that I’m wrong, but it’s highly likely that these jihadis, regardless of which group they belong to, will use lone wolf jihadi operatives to kidnap and/or to murder high profile Westerners, for the sheer fear factor alone.
Attempted kidnapping in Turkey shows reach of the Islamic State
SAn explosion rocks Syrian city of Kobane during a reported suicide car bomb attack by the militants of Islamic State group on a People’s Protection Unit (YPG) position in the city center of Kobane, as seen from the outskirts of Suruc, on the Turkey-Syria border. (Gokhan Sahin/Getty Images)
SANLIURFA, Turkey — The men who snatched Abu Issa from the streets of this southeastern city were Turkish gangsters, but their client was the Islamic State, and they had been promised good money to spirit the Syrian rebel commander across the Turkish border into Syria.
The effort ultimately failed, but the story of the brazen daylight kidnapping and its chaotic conclusion has raised troubling questions about the militant group’s growing reach into Turkey, as well as the capacity of the Turkish authorities to contain it.
Over the past year, this NATO ally has come under intense pressure from the Obama administration to do more to halt the flow of thousands of foreign fighters who have swarmed into the country to join the war in Syria. Turkey says it is trying, and strict new border procedures, along with reinforced patrols, barbed wire and watchtowers, are evident at all the major crossing points into Syria.
Yet as the abduction attempt in recent days illustrated, the Islamic State has already established deep roots within Turkey and among the more than 1 million Syrians who have taken refuge there. One indication of that was this month’s discovery in the southeastern city of Gaziantep of a vast quantity of explosives and more than 20 suicide vests that police said were thought to have been stockpiled by the Islamic State.
More here. h/t: fjordman
