Islamic State: Isis fanatics threaten terrorist attacks on Twitter employees for shutting accounts down

Extremists said Twitter was waging 'vicious war' by moderating messages

The Twitter headquarters in San Francisco, California (Getty Images)

Islamic State (Isis) fanatics have threatened to kill Twitter employees if they continue to shut down their accounts and stop them spreading propaganda.

The website is engaged in a constant battle to suspend accounts spouting hate speech, extremism and posting gory pictures and videos of executions in Iraq and Syria.

Tweeting under the handle @dawlamoon, an Isis-affiliated group claiming to be Al Nusra Al Maqdisia (The Supporters of Jerusalem) called on “lone wolf” terrorists to target the Twitter headquarters in San Francisco.

One message, translated by Vocativ, said: “#The_Concept_of_Lone_Wolf_Attacks Twitter management should know that if they do not stop their campaign in the virtual world, we will the bring the war to them in the real world on the ground.”

Another read: “Every Twitter employee in San Francisco in the United States should bear in mind and watch over himself because on his doorstep there might be a lone wolf assassin waiting.”

The account has since been suspended, no doubt to @dawlamoon’s fury.

Aqsa Mahmood, tweeting under the name Umm Layth, is one of many Isis members whose Twitter accounts have been shut down (TWitter)

Writing on the JustPaste.it forum, which is frequently used by Isis-affiliated groups, fanatics have shared tips on how to avoid Twitter censorship by slightly changing usernames and opening new accounts.

Calling Twitter’s moderation a “vicious war”, the writer claimed the closed accounts “found the curriculum of correct Islamic belief” and shows Muslims “what awaits them in the Islamic State”.

Many of the British men and women who have travelled to Syria to join Isis are known to use Twitter as a platform for attempts to encourage fellow UK Muslims to join them.

Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary, 24, who left his rap career in London to fight with Isis in Syria, posted a picture of himself holding a severed head with the caption: “Chillin’ with my homie or what’s left of him.”

A woman believed to be from London called Khadijah Dare said she wanted to be the first British woman to behead a Westerner and another woman, tweeting as @UmmKhattab__ threatened to decapitate David Cameron.

A spokesperson for Twitter said its security team was investigating the “veracity of the threats” with authorities in the US.