New Orleans terrorist Shamsud-Din Jabbar may have acted alone: What goes into the making of a lone wolf

The attack in New Orleans, which killed 15 people after the 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar ran a pickup truck at high speed into a crowd, is a signature Islamic State-styled attack.

It only shows yet again that the Islamic State may have died in the mainlands of Syria and Iraq, but its threat looms large across the world. While making a retreat, the now slain chief of the outfit, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, had said that the ideology of the Islamic State should spread far and wide. He had told his fighters to return to their home country and carry such lone wolf attacks.

Jabbar was a US citizen and army veteran who had served in Afghanistan. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is probing this case as an act of terror. Details on how Jabbar may have been radicalised are yet to surface as the investigations progress.

Text book Islamic State

The New Orleans attack clearly suggests that the Islamic State is anything but dead. It no longer operates like a full-fledged army any longer, but has its operatives in every nook and corner of the world.
The very fact that it does not operate as a large group is in itself a challenging job for the security agencies. There is plenty of propaganda material online, and how and who is getting self-radicalised due to such material being available is next to impossible for the agencies to track. Every time some material is taken down, newer ones emerge, and this has become a constant process for the agencies.

The attack carried out by Jabbar is a classic Islamic State-styled operation. It required no investment by the terror group; all it did was open up its propaganda material online and make it available for free.

In fact, around six years back, the Islamic State, like Al-Qaeda, had given tips to these self-radicalised Islamists as to how to carry out a terror strike with the bare minimum investment. Once a person is completely radicalised, all he or she has to do is drive a vehicle into a crowd or use a stone to smash someone’s head. All these amount to lone wolf attacks. The terror group had described a car, knife or stone as a weapon of choice. All the person has to do is kill someone in the name of Islam. This is what the Islamic State expects its foot soldiers to do.

In Syria and Iraq, the Islamic State has been beaten down, and operating in those countries is next to impossible. Furthermore, the Islamic State no longer has a structured leadership, and hence there is none to guide them. It is only in Afghanistan that the outfit operates in a conventional manner, but even there, it is facing stiff resistance from the Taliban.

In such a scenario, the easier option would be to have such lone wolves carrying out attacks in different parts of the world. All that the outfit expects is that it gets the credit, and this would mean that the outfit is very much alive despite being dead as a structured organisation. Jabbar in fact was driving the truck with an Islamic State flag on it.

The making of a lone wolf

Lone wolves are not trained specifically by the terror group and then sent in to attack. These are persons who are self-radicalised and self-motivated. They feel that everyone except for the Muslims should be killed since they are infidels or kafirs.

Lone wolf attacks have taken place in large numbers since the fall of the Islamic State on the mainland. Such incidents have been reported in France, Germany, Great Britain and now in the United States.

Two years ago, there were two such instances in Bharat. The Coimbatore blast was a lone wolf attack in which the terrorists attempted to blow up a Hindu Temple. Even in Mangaluru, Karnataka, a similar attempt was made, but the bomb exploded when it was being transported in an auto-rickshaw.

The question now is how do such persons get radicalised. Take the case of Jabbar. His profile sounds quite prolific when the FBI describes him as an army veteran. However, he has had a bad personal life and two failed marriages. He has been convicted in theft cases. This is where Jabbar begins entering the crime scene.

Such persons are weak in the head and, hence, easier to radicalise. Moreover, they are driven so deeply by their religion that the propaganda material put out works easily on them. They feel that they would have a sense of purpose if they kill people in the name of Islam, and this is exactly what the Islamic State capitalises on.

The degrees of radicalisation, however, vary, and those who go deep are the ones who become lone wolves. The rest go about preaching about the importance of an Islamic Caliphate and, in turn, end up radicalising other Muslims.

When Bharat set a shining example

Since the Modi government came to power, it has adopted a zero-tolerance policy towards terror. Under this government, one witnessed the death of the Indian Mujahideen. Gradually, terror groups in Jammu and Kashmir too became defunct, and the agencies today only deal with the proxy war by Pakistan. Similar is the case when it comes to the Khalistan movement.

In 2014, the Intelligence Bureau analysed that the Islamic State was making a huge impact on several Muslim youth. There were some cases of these persons leaving the country and joining the Islamic State. The first known case was that of Haja Fakkruddin from Tamil Nadu. Further, there were cases reported in Hyderabad as well.

However in dealing with these lone wolves, Bharat has so far done a good job. One of the most crucial operations that sent shivers down the spines of these Muslim youth was Operation Chakravyuh. This was a crucial operation which one could say brought down the menace of lone-wolf terrorism to a large extent.

In this, the agency officials themselves posed as Islamic State recruiters. Gradually, many began reaching out to them. The agencies kept these persons engaged for several months and eventually to them. Some who were less radicalised were counselled, while the others were arrested.

This operation was crucial as it made many sit up and take notice and not try any adventure. They had the fear that there was an army of agency officials closely watching every move of theirs. This was one of the most important operations carried out by the Indian agencies, which helped in curbing the lone wolf menace to a large extent.