The Holy Month of Jihad? Measuring Terrorist Activity During Ramadan in the Post-9/11 Era.
Reinier Bergema and Lucie Kattenbroek
During the spring of 2016, an audio message surfaced, purportedly coming from Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, the former leading propagandist of the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). Therein he called for attacks on military and civilian targets during the holy month of Ramadan.[ii] Although pressure on the ISIS Caliphate was mounting, his call would not fall on deaf ears.
On June 12, 2016, roughly a month after the audio message and a week after the start of Ramadan, Florida resident Omar Mateen opened fire at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, killing 49 people and injuring another 53.[iii] Barely two weeks later, on June 28, ISIS’ gunmen, armed with Kalashnikov rifles and suicide vests, attacked Istanbul Atatürk Airport, killing 45 people.[iv] And only days before Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan, on July 3rd a suicide car bomber killed 383 people in Baghdad's Karrada district.[v] This was the bloodiest terrorist attack in Baghdad’s history and the second deadliest attack worldwide in 2016.
http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/holy-month-jihad-measuring-terrorist-activity-during-ramadan-post-911-era
