(IntegrityTimes.com) – The UEFA Champions League games are eagerly looked forward to by fans around the world. However, there has been a ramp up of online chatter in Islamic State connected groups urging terrorist attacks on stadiums hosting the events. France’s interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, noted that the Islamic State has very recently called for the targeting of sporting venues. He added that the security for the match on Wednesday in Paris had been greatly reinforced.
According to some sources The Islamic State, sometimes known as ISIS or ISIL, is a transnational jihadist group whose goal is to establish a Sunni Islamic state after which they would continue to seize land and take over the entire Earth. IS specifically told their followers to try to recreate the suicide bombing attack on the Strade de France stadium back in November 2015, even using a photo the Paris St. Germain’s Parc des Princes stadium as a reference to the target they intended. The militant posts also urged other to attack using drones if they were not able to get to the location in person, referring to being stopped from their terrorist activities as being oppressed or constricted.
The messages were found on a pro-IS media channel, which while not officially connected to the Islamic State, there have been recent suggestions by their leadership that the channel’s violent directives may be a result of close co-ordination between the IS and their online supporters. ISIS also claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall in Moscow on Friday March 22 that resulting in the deaths of over 60 people.
Spain’s Ministry of the Interior has also responded to the threat of attacks at the Champions League matches by activating all of their alert and response systems. Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia reported that these response systems include over 2,000 national police and civil guard agents as well as local police forces.
Inmaculada Sanz, the acting mayor of Madrid, commented that while threats like these are often just propaganda to “provoke fear” they are still being taken seriously and that the terrorist alert level in Spain is at a four out of a possible score of five, which indicates they are treating the current situation as high risk.
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