ISIL prepares for Asia attack on Christmas

China may be the next target for the Islamic State, or ISIL, which made ferocious attack in Paris. The ISIL made songs in Chinese language and spread them online. Foreign media have already reported that the ISIL is targeting India, implying that terror threats are increasingly being noticed in Asia.

According to Hong Kong daily Ming Po on Tuesday, the ISIL posted a song in Chinese titled “We are Mujahid” at its online propaganda site Jihadology. The audio-only file lasts for four minutes and six seconds, and includes a song that urges Muslim’s participation in jihad.

The lyrics go, “Wake up Muslim brothers, the prophet has ordered us to resist, holding weapons high up,” which appears to be inciting terrorism against the Chinese government.

“The Islamic State has ordered its supporters to attack the Asian region,” Nanyang Technological University professor Rohan Gunaratna told Singaporean newspaper Lianhe Zaobao. “There is news that the ISIL terrorists will attack China, Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia during the Christmas holidays." On Chinese people’s ISIL participation, Gunaratna says that more than 300 Chinese have joined ISIL. Most of them are known to be Uighur people of Xinjiang.

Meanwhile, an ISIL terror red alert warning has been issued in India. Indian media including India Express recently reported that the ISIL has set India as target nation and said the “battlefield should be expanded to India.”

The U.K. daily Guardian said Monday that a 24-page ISIL document was newly released, which shows that the ISIL had aimed not to become a religious fanatic but to build a “Khalifa nation” that has a government and a self-sufficient fiscal and economic program. "The ISIL is an incredibly strategic, well-structured and carefully-planned organization and not just a run-of-the-mill terrorist group that is irrational, bloodthirsty and fanatical," said Charlie Winter, senior research associate at Georgia State University.

bonhong@donga.com