Al-Qaida of the Arabian Peninsula is urging lone wolves to continue their terrorist attacks on the United States, but are advising them to avoid targeting minorities to avoid having government officials label the acts as "hate crimes."
The group, known by the acronym AQAP, gave the advice in a publication titled "Inspire guide: Orlando operation," according to the website
The Foreign Desk.
The advice appears to be a response to the attack earlier in June on
a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida in which 29-year-old Omar Mateen killed 49 people and injured 53 using firearms.
U.S. Attorney General
Loretta Lynch said terrorism appeared to be a partial motivation – Mateen pledged his allegiance to the Islamic State (ISIS) in a phone call to police during the attack – but members of the Obama administration and congressional Democrats have called Mateen's actions a "hate crime" since most of the victims were gay and Latino.
AQAP, a rival terror group to ISIS, said lone wolf attackers should instead focus on "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.
"We stand by and support all Muslims who attack America in their homeland regardless of their affiliation to any group or loyalty," the guide continues, saying that the killing of civilians is justified because they elect the leaders and pay taxes to the government that has "oppressive polices against Muslims everywhere" and are at "war with Islam."
Ryan Mauro, national security analyst for Clarion Project,
told Fox News that AQAP is asserting itself above ISIS while backing its successful actions.
"Al Qaida is talking condescendingly toward ISIS while remaining supportive, like a guru of jihad mentoring a reckless amateur," Mauro told Fox.
Conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh on Tuesday said the publication shows that Islamic terrorist groups have a better understanding of American liberals than do many voters.
"We have a terrorist group, which is much more informed and clever than half the people that vote in this country about the Democrat Party and the American left," he said.
"So from now on, fellow jihadis, you go out and you kill white Americans, 'cause the U.S. government's OK with that, essentially," he said. "They won't call it a hate crime, and you'll get credit for your kill."
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