ISIS celebrates 9/11 attacks as ‘pivotal moment’ for Islam in first-ever statement on Twin Towers anniversary
ISIS has celebrated the 9/11 attacks that killed 2,977 people and injured 25,000 more as a "pivotal moment" in Islamic history.
The death cult’s propaganda arm made the comments as part of a rant on the anniversary of the 2001 Al Qaeda mass murder attack on New York
This is the first ever ISIS statement to be made on the anniversary of which directly refers to the attack masterminded by Osama Bin Laden.
SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors and analyses the the terror group, tweeted: "For the first time ISIS has published a statement for the anniversary of 9/11 in its Naba newspaper, celebrating the day as a ‘pivotal moment’ in contemporary Islamic history, while lamenting what Al Qaeda has become: short-sighted in viewing the US as its sole enemy."
ISIS was also said to view itself as the inheritors of the "9/11 mission” although Al Qaeda was "myopic traitors of the jihadi cause".
At the height of its power in mid-2014, ISIS had seized control of large parts of Syria and Iraq, declaring an Islamic "caliphate" and committing widespread atrocities.
The militant's state has collapsed after being beaten back across the Middle East - once holding large swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria.
But the terror group remains a threat worldwide as it uses online networks to plot or inspire terror attacks amid fears it may be regrouping in the Middle East and Africa.
COMMEMORATIONS DISRUPTED BY 'GOD'S LITTLE SOLDIER'
ISIS' maniacal statement comes as Americans are commemorating 9/11 with tributes that have been altered by coronavirus precautions and woven into the presidential campaign.
It will draw both President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden to pay respects at the same memorial without crossing paths.
In New York, a dispute over coronavirus-safety precautions is leading to split-screen remembrances today, one at the September 11 memorial plaza at the World Trade Center and another on a nearby corner.
ISIS have hailed the coronavirus as "" as they celebrate the pandemic which has infected 21million people worldwide.
Followers of the terror group also are urging their comrades to "weaponize" the virus by purposefully spreading it to "disbelievers".
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Trump is speaking at the morning ceremony, the White House said.
Biden plans to pay respects there in the afternoon after attending the observance at the 9/11 memorial in New York.
Thousands of family members are still invited.
But they will hear a recording of the names from speakers spread around the vast plaza, a plan that memorial leaders felt would avoid close contact at a stage but still allow families to remember their loved ones at the place where they died.
But some victims' relatives felt the change robbed the observance of its emotional impact.
A different 9/11-related group, the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation, set up its own, simultaneous ceremony a few blocks away, saying there was no reason that people can't recite names while keeping a safe distance.
