Scene of the Orlando attack
Scene of the Orlando attackPhoto: Reuters

In the most recent issue of a magazine published by Al Qaeda, the worldwide terror group called for terrorists perpetrating 'lone wolf' attacks to "avoid targeting places where minorities are found".

Recent events have shown that terrorists do not need to be in contact with, or commanded by, organized and established terror groups to do a lot of damage. 

'Lone wolf' attacks, as they're often termed, are carried out by people inspired by the ideas espoused by terrorist groups, while not being operationally associated with them.

In this magazine issue, instructions, suggestions and criticisms are offered to the potential lone wolf terrorist. There is a special focus on the US, where Omar Mateen carried out his lone wolf shooting attack. Among the instructions is a directive about precisely which segment of the US population to attack. 

The terrorist writer appropriates some left-wing ideas about minority groups being especially oppressed in America. 

"We call upon all those oppressed by America, be it a Muslim or not, to retaliate and take back their rights by any possible means from this oppressive state," the magazine trumpets. 

The writer then offers some criticism of Mateen's choice of venue. While nauseatingly lauding the attack for its success in murdering a high number of people, he nevertheless criticizes the fact that "most of the individuals present at pulse nightclub were Latino."

"We recommend that it is better to avoid targeting places and crowds where minorities are generally found in America," the writer asserts. "Therefore we advise targeting areas where the Anglo-Saxon community is generally concentrated. This class of the American community is the majority and it is the one that is in the American leadership."

Part of the reason given for this is to avoid the situation created by the Orlando attack, where there was a debate over whether it was motivated by primarily by Islam or by hatred of gays. Al Qaeda would like to make it clear to all that these attacks are motivated by global Jihadist ideas.

One only wonders how long it will take.